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my reply is, that in the days of peace and purity which shall at length arrive, the religion of Christ shall be more esteemed than that of Mohammed. Men shall then be more wise than to be satisfied with the pleasures which Mohammed allowed, and in which he indulged. They will find all that is pure in his religion made more pure in the Gospel; and all that is true in the one, set forth more clearly in the other. Many may rejoice that through the Book they learned the name of Christ; but they will cast aside the Book when they have found in the Gospel a better record of the faith. They shall then discern that though Mohammed was wise, and though he was permitted by God to display the eternal truth to some who would otherwise have worshiped many gods, he was not among the appointed prophets; and that it is impious to call him greater than Jesus, the last and holiest of the messengers of God.
Yet behold, said Aza, how the faith he taught has spread from land to land. Wherever the sword has been carried in the name of the Prophet, that name has been received.
In the wisdom of God has it been so ordered, replied Eber, because the faith of Mohammed is better than that of idolaters; and while it
