saying, “These people—(1) they have venerated us, set us up as leaders, and lavished wealth upon us. Were we to follow him, they would take all of that away.” We have seen this with our own eyes in our own age.

I once debated a certain Christian scholar for most of a day. When the truth became clear to him, he was dumbfounded. So I said to him, while the two of us were alone, “What is stopping you now from following the truth?”

He answered, “Whenever I arrive before these donkeys—his very word—they spread carpets beneath the hooves of my mount, entrust me with their property and their women, and never disobey a command I give. I possess no trade, and I have memorized neither the Quran, nor grammar, nor fiqh. If I became Muslim I would have to wander the markets begging from people. Who could bear that with a willing soul?!”

I replied, “That will not happen. How can you imagine that if you (2) give preference to Allah’s good-pleasure over your own whims, He would disgrace you, humiliate you, and leave you in need? Even if, for the sake of argument, such a thing did befall you, what you would gain of truth, of deliverance from the Fire, and of safety from Allah’s wrath and anger is a complete recompense for whatever you might lose.”

He said, “Let us wait until Allah grants permission.”

I said, “The qadar (divine decree) is not a valid excuse. If it were, it would have been an excuse for the Jews when they denied the Messiah, and for the idolaters when they rejected the messengers—especially since you yourselves deny qadar, so how can you cite it as proof?”

He responded, “Leave this for now,” and fell silent.