e friends of the Prophet, who had turned
their face toward God, wherever they went, were harassed, persecuted,
stoned and vilified. At such a time this blessed verse was sent down from
the heaven of divine Revelation. It revealed an irrefutable evidence, and
brought the light of an unfailing guidance. It instructed the companions
of Muhammad to declare the following unto the infidels and idolators: "Ye
oppress and persecute us, and yet, what else have we done except that we
have believed in God and in the verses sent down unto us through the
tongue of Muhammad, and in those which descended upon the Prophets of
old?" By this is meant that their only guilt was to have recognized that
the new and wondrous verses of God, which had descended upon Muhammad, as
well as those which had been revealed unto the Prophets of old, were all
of God, and to have acknowledged and embraced their truth. This is the
testimony which the divine King hath taught His servants.

In view of this, is it fair for this people to repudiate these
newly-revealed verses which have encompassed both the East and the West,
and to regard themselves as the upholders of true belief? Should they not
rather believe in Him Who hath revealed these verses? Considering the
testimony which He Himself hath established, how could He fail to account
as true believers them that have testified to its truth? Far be it from
Him that He should turn away from the gates of His mercy them that have
turned unto and embraced the truth of the divine verses, or that He should
threaten those that have clung to His sure testimony! He verily
establisheth the truth through His verses, and confirmeth His Revelation
by His words. He verily is the Powerful, the Help in peril, the Almighty.

And likewise, He saith: "And had We sent down unto Thee a Book written on
parchment, and they had touched it with their hands, the infidels would
surely have said 'This is naught but palpable sorcery.'"(170) Most of the
verses of the Qur'an are indicative of this theme. We have, for the sake
of brevity, mentioned only these verses. Consider, hath anything else
besides the verses been established in the whole Book, as a standard for
the recognition of the Manifestations of His Beauty, that the people might
cling to, and reject the Manifestations of God? On the contrary, in every
instance, He hath threatened with fire those that repudiate and scoff at
the verses, as already shown.

Therefore, should a