ll not
dispel the surrounding darkness nor light up the house--it will set both
the bearer and the house on fire. Can we, in such an instance, blame the
lamp? No, by the Lord God! To the seeing, a lamp is a guide and will show
him his path; but it is a disaster to the blind.

Among those who have repudiated religious faith was the Frenchman,
Voltaire, who wrote a great number of books attacking the religions, works
which are no better than children's playthings. This individual, taking as
his criterion the omissions and commissions of the Pope, the head of the
Roman Catholic religion, and the intrigues and quarrels of the spiritual
leaders of Christendom, opened his mouth and caviled at the Spirit of God
(Jesus). In the unsoundness of his reasoning, he failed to grasp the true
significance of the sacred Scriptures, took exception to certain portions
of the revealed Texts and dwelt on the difficulties involved. "And We send
down of the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy to the faithful:
But it shall only add to the ruin of the wicked."(45)

The Sage of _Gh_azna(46) told the mystic story
To his veiled hearers, in an allegory:
If those who err see naught in the Qur'an
But only words, it's not to wonder on;
Of all the sun's fire, lighting up the sky
Only the warmth can reach a blind man's eye.(47)

"Many will He mislead by such parables and many guide: but none
will He mislead thereby except the wicked..."(48)

It is certain that the greatest of instrumentalities for achieving the
advancement and the glory of man, the supreme agency for the enlightenment
and the redemption of the world, is love and fellowship and unity among
all the members of the human race. Nothing can be effected in the world,
not even conceivably, without unity and agreement, and the perfect means
for engendering fellowship and union is true religion. "Hadst Thou spent
all the riches of the earth, Thou couldst not have united their hearts;
but God hath united them..."(49)

With the advent of the Prophets of God, their power of creating a real
union, one which is both external and of the heart, draws together
malevolent peoples who have been thirsting for one another's blood, into
the one shelter of the Word of God. Then a hundred thousand souls become
as one soul, and unnumbered individuals emerge as one body.

Once they were as the waves of the sea
That the wind made many out of one.
Then God shed down on them His sun,
And