Page:Book of Ighan (1915).djvu/117

Rh thou wilt become informed of the mysteries of the "return" and "revival" and dwell in the loftiest chambers of security and assurance.

One day a number of the opponents of that peerless Beauty (Mohammed), who were deprived of the Ca'aba of the Eternal, said to Him by way of derision, u Surely God hath covenanted with us that we should not believe in (any) messenger until (one) should come unto us with a sacrifice which should be consumed by fire" (K. S. 3). The import of this is that the Creator had covenanted with them that they should not believe in a messenger unless he perform the miracle of Abel and Cain, that is, offer a sacrifice, and a fire come from heaven to consume it; as they had heard in the story of Abel, and which is recorded in the books. His Holiness said, in answer, "Messengers have already come unto you before me, with plain proofs and with the (miracle) which ye mention; why, therefore, have ye slain them, if ye speak truth" (K. S. 3)? Now, be just; how could those servants who were in the age and cycle of His Holiness, be actually those in the age of Adam or other Prophets, when the interval between Adam and that time was several thousand years? Why did that Essence of Truthfulness attribute to the servants of His age the murder of Abel or other Prophets? Thou hast no other alternative except to ascribe falsehood and vain saying to His Holiness (which God forbid!), or to say that those wicked ones were the same who contradicted the