Page 47 - New English Book L

46

fanatical than ever. His hatred to Ishmael (pbuh) and his
claim to the birthright makes him forget or overlook
the Law of Moses (pbuh) which forbids a man to marry
his own sister under the pain of capital penalty. If Paul
were inspired by God, he would have either denounced
the Book of Genesis as full of forgeries when it says
twice (xii. 10-20, xx. 2-18) that Abraham (pbuh) was the
husband of his own sister, or that he would have exposed
the Prophet to be a liar! (God forbid.).

But he believes in the words of the book, and his
con-science does not torment him in the least when
he identifies Hagar with the barren desert of the Sinai,
and qualifies Sáráh as the Jerusalem above in heaven!
(Gal. iv. 25, 26). Did ever St. Paul read this anathema of
the Law:-

“Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter
of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the
people say: Amen”? (Duet. xxvii. 22).

Is there a human or divine law that would consider
more legitimate one who is the son of his own uncle and
aunt than he whose father is a Chaldean and his mother an
Egyptian? Have you anything to say against the chastity
and the piety of Hagar? Of course not, for she was the
wife of a Prophet and the mother of a Prophet, and herself
favoured with divine revelations [1] .

The God who made the Covenant with Ishmael (pbuh)
thus prescribes the law of inheritance, namely:if a man has
two wives, one beloved and the other despised, and each
one has a son, and if the son of the despised wife is the
first-born, that son, and not the son of the beloved wife, is
entitled to the birthright. Consequently, the firstborn shall
inherit twice that of his brother (Duet. xxi. 15-17). Is not,
then, this law explicit enough to put to silence all who

[1] Kinds of revelation in Quran: 1-inspiration. 2-from behind a veil. 3-by the
sending of messenger. (Editors)