The Words | GLEAMS | 740
(724-779)

Sometimes Opposites Comprise Their Opposites

Sometimes opposites conceal their opposites. In the language of politics, the word becomes the opposite of its meaning.

Tyranny has donned the cap of justice.15 Treachery has found a cheap dress in patriotism. Jihad and war in God's way have been called revolt. Enslavement to the animal passions, the despotism of Satan, have been called freedom.

Things have become their opposites, forms have been transposed, names

have been swapped, places have been exchanged.

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Politics Based On Self-Interest Is Savagery

The politics of the present, which is founded on self-interest, is a rapacious beast.

If you feign affection for a ravenous beast, you will not attract its compassion but will whet its appetite.

Then it will turn on you, and both its claws and fangs will want their rent from you.

* * *

No Limit Has Been Placed On Man's Powers, So His Crimes Are Great

Unlike the animals, there is no natural limit on man's powers; the good and evil that proceed from them are infinite.

If the selfishness of this power and the egotism of that one are combined with pride and obstinacy, man commits such sins16 that up to the present mankind

Has found no name for them. Just as they indicate Hell's necessity, so their penalty can only be Hell.

And, for example, in order to justify just one of his lies, a man sincerely desires the downfall of Islam.

The present has shown that neither is Hell unnecessary, nor is Paradise won easily.



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15. This speaks of the present as though seeing it.
16. This is a prediction about the future.

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The Words