politics.” But current politics has become so intermixed with lies and trickery and evil that it has come to resemble the very whisperings of Satan. However, the pulpit is the seat of delivering divine revelation; political gossip does not have the right to rise to that high position.

The Second: “The purpose of the Friday Sermon is that the admonitions of certain Qur’anic suras should be understood.” Yes, if the majority of the Islamic nation conformed to the essential teachings and incontestable matters of Islam and the ordinances which are well-known, and they carried them out, it might have been desirable for the Sermon to be given in a known language and for the Qur’an to be translated, [^2] if it were possible, so that the theoretical matters of the Shari‘a and its subtle matters and abstruse teachings might be understood. But Islam’s well-known, incontrovertible ordinances such as the five daily prayers, fasting in Ramadan, and zakat, and the unlawfulness of murder, fornication, and wine are neglected. The ordinary people do not need to learn their necessity or unlawfulness; they need through encouragement and warning, to be reminded of those sacred decrees, and, by their sense of belief and feelings for Islam being stirred, to be prompted, encouraged, and reminded to conform to them. However lowly and ignorant they may be, they understand the following brief meaning from the Qur’an and Arabic Sermon: “The preacher and the reciter of the Qur’an are recalling the pillars of belief and Islam, which are known by me and everyone, and teaching us, and reciting them.” A longing for them is born in their hearts. What words are there in the universe which can be compared with the miraculous, instructive reminders, warnings, and encouragement of the All-Wise Qur’an, which comes from the sublime throne?

[^2]:The Twenty-Fifth Word, about the Qur’an’s miraculous inimitability has shown that a true translation of the Qur’an is not possible.

The Sixth

THE SIXTH: Since the great interpreters of the law among the righteous early generations of Islam lived close to the time of the Companions of the Prophet (UWBP), the age of light and age of truth, they were able to receive a pure light and make pure interpretations. But the interpreters of the law at this time look at the book of reality from behind so many veils and from such a long distance it is only with difficulty that they can see even its clearest letters.

If you say: The Companions also were human and not free of error and differences, but interpretation of the law and the ordinances of the Shari‘a depend on their justice and truthfulness, on which the Islamic community