eternal glory referred in His Book to the words uttered by those wanderers
in the vale of remoteness and error: “‘The hand of God,’ say the Jews, ‘is
chained up.’ Chained up be their own hands; And for that which they have
said, they were accursed. Nay, outstretched are both His hands!” “The hand
of God is above their hands.” Although the commentators of the Qur’án have
related in divers manners the circumstances attending the revelation of
this verse, yet thou shouldst endeavor to apprehend the purpose thereof.
He saith: How false is that which the Jews have imagined! How can the hand
of Him Who is the King in truth, Who caused the countenance of Moses to be
made manifest, and conferred upon Him the robe of Prophethood—how can the
hand of such a One be chained and fettered? How can He be conceived as
powerless to raise up yet another Messenger after Moses? Behold the
absurdity of their saying; how far it hath strayed from the path of
knowledge and understanding! Observe how in this Day also, all these
people have occupied themselves with such foolish absurdities. For over a
thousand years they have been reciting this verse, and unwittingly
pronouncing their censure against the Jews, utterly unaware that they
themselves, openly and privily, are voicing the sentiments and belief of
the Jewish people! Thou art surely aware of their idle contention, that
all Revelation is ended, that the portals of Divine mercy are closed, that
from the day springs of eternal holiness no Sun shall rise again, that the
Ocean of everlasting bounty is forever stilled, and that out of the
Tabernacle of ancient glory the Messengers of God have ceased to be made
manifest. Such is the measure of the understanding of these small-minded,
contemptible people. These people have imagined that the flow of God’s
all-encompassing grace and plenteous mercies, the cessation of which no
mind can contemplate, has been halted. From every side they have risen and
girded up the loins of tyranny, and exerted the utmost endeavor to quench
with the bitter waters of their vain fancy the flame of God’s Burning
Bush, oblivious that the globe of power shall, within its own mighty