Proof and Personality
When signs of truth manifest themselves, it is as if God Himself has come out into the open. Then one must accept the true God. On the other hand, one who forsakes the true God, and attaches himself to a false one, can never prosper in this world of God.
The Quran has gone into the story of Moses and Pharaoh in several places and considerable detail. It describes what happened when the Pharaoh summoned the Egyptian magicians to take Moses on. The magicians threw their wands and ropes into the arena. By magic, they appeared as snakes, writhing on the ground. God then commanded Moses to cast his staff. It turned into a serpent, far larger than any other, which devoured all they had contrived. Finally, the magicians’ instruments reverted to their original form.
The magicians realized that Moses was not dealing in magic—he was dealing in divine truths. Moses’ miraculous display gave them a glimpse of the face of the Lord. They believed in him then and there. The Pharaoh was humiliated. Furious, he pronounced the severest punishment in the land—that their hands and feet should be amputated from opposite sides and then tied to the trunks of palm trees and crucified. When the magicians heard the sentence, they replied:
“‘Never shall we prefer you to all the evidence of the truth that has come to us.’” (20:72)
On the one side, the magicians were confronted with an extraordinary personality, and on the other, with clear proof. As befits a truthful human being, they left the former and took the latter. They preferred truth to power and proof to personality.
When confronted with a sign that conclusively proves the truth of something, there is only one thing to do. One must put his proof first and forsake people who oppose it. When signs of truth manifest in this manner, it is as if God Himself has come out into the open. Individuals who put personalities before them is like puting mortals before the Eternal God. Such a person has no place in God’s world, for he has offered allegiance to one who is not his true master; he has made a god of one who is not God. One who forsakes the true God, and attaches himself to a false one, can never prosper in this world of God.
