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men think when they say `We believe' they shall be
let alone and not be put to proof?" (13) The believers
were few and the enemy attacking in force, seeking to
blot out the new-risen Sun of Truth with the dust of
oppression and tyranny. Then Salmán (the Persian)
came into the presence of the Prophet--the Dawning-Point
of revelation, the Focus of the endless splendors
of grace--and he said that in Persia to protect themselves
from an encroaching host they would dig a moat
or trench about their lands, and that this had proved
a highly efficient safeguard against surprise attacks.
Did that Wellspring of universal wisdom, that Mine
of divine knowledge say in reply that this was a custom
current among idolatrous, fire-worshiping Magians
and could therefore hardly be adopted by monotheists?
Or did He rather immediately direct His followers to
set about digging a trench? He even, in His Own
blessed person, took hold of the tools and went to work
beside them.
It is moreover a matter of record in the books of the
various Islamic schools and the writings of leading divines
and historians, that after the Light of the World
had risen over Hijáz, flooding all mankind with Its
brilliance, and creating through the revelation of a new
divine Law, new principles and institutions, a fundamental
change throughout the world--holy laws were
revealed which in some cases conformed to the practices
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13. Qur'án 29:2.
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