The Words | Reply to the Anglican Church | 780
(780-780)

Reply to the Anglican Church

One time, as a artifice, a pitiless enemy of Islam, a cunning politician, a suspicious parson who wanted to swagger and show off, asked us four things, —in the form of denial, at a terrible time he had his claws at our throat, in his glee at our misfortune; he wanted six hundred words. A reply was needed like a slap in the face of his glee, and his wiles, and his denial, like spitting in his face, to silence him. I won't address him. I have the following answer for a lover of truth.

He asked first: "What is the religion of Muhammad (PBUH)?" I replied: It is the Qur'an. The basic aims of the Qur'an are the six pillars of belief and the five pillars of Islam.

In the second he asked: "What has it given to life and thought?" I replied: To thought, the affirmation of Divine unity; to life, moderation and the middle way. My witnesses for this are

Say: He is God, the One.46 * Therefore stand firm [in the Straight Way] as you are commanded 41 In the third, he said: "What remedies has it for the present atrocities?" I replied: The prohibition of usury and interest and the payment of zakat. My witnesses for this are these:

God will deprive usury of all blessing 48 * God has permitted trade and forbidden usury49 * And be steadfast in prayer, and practise regular charity [zakat].50 In the fourth, he asked: "How does it look on man's revolutions?" I replied: Labour, striving, are fundamental. Wealth should not be accumulated in the hands of tyrants, and held on to. My witnesses for this:

Man has nothing save that which he strives.51 * Those who store up gold and silver and do not spend it in God's way, announce to them a most grievous penalty.52


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46. Qur'an, 112:1.
47.Qur'an, 11:112.
48. Qur'an, 2:276.
49. Qur'an, 2:275.
50. Qur'an, 2:43, etc
51. Qur'an, 53:39.
52. Qur'an, 9:34.

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