Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/287



the robber to himself: This is the Prophet of God who passes by and with him one of his dis ciples. If I should come down I would be the third. He then goes on to say that the robber tried to show his humility by following not Christ but his disciple. Jesus rebukes them both because of their sins. (Vol. IV, p. 110.) " It is related that Jesus (on him be peace) passed by a blind man who was a leper and lame of both feet because of paralysis and his flesh was consumed by leprosy, and he was saying: Praise be to God who has kept me in good health and saved me from many things which have befallen others of his creatures/ Then Jesus said to him: O thou friend, from what kind of affliction do I see that you are free? and he replied: O Spirit of God, I am better than those in whose heart God has not put anything of his knowledge and his grace/ And Jesus said: You have spoken truly. Stretch forth your hand/ and he stretched forth his hand and became of per fect health both as to his body and his appearance, for God had taken away all his sickness. So he accompanied Jesus and worshipped with him." (Vol. IV, p. 250.)

Al-Ghazali often pictures the power of Jesus to heal the sick, for Christ as the Merciful One ap peals to Moslems always and everywhere. We have for example in the Masnavi-i-Ma anavi this beautiful picture which can be found in prose, section by section in Al-Ghazali too.