Of the second part of the siftings

the New Testament. Let them read all the epistles of the Apostle Paul, and let them write them in their hearts, living according to the heavenly precepts, so that a bill of divorce may no longer be handed over, but that they may be made co-heirs with Christ Jesus. To Whom is glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.

¶ The seventh error of Avicenna concerning the persecution of the faithful and Christians.

A decorative drop-cap 'I' is adorned with floral motifs and intricate leaf scrollwork, encased within a rectangular frame.In the tenth book of the Metaphysics, errors spill out regarding the persecution of Christians, where in the last chapter he says: If, however, there are any among them who in any way discord from the law, let them first be corrected so that they may repent; but if they are unwilling to do so, let them be killed. For he ought to moderate the gravest penalties and insults for those who do not obey the king in this world. For not every man ceases to do evil because of what he fears in the future for that which he harms. This Avicenna drew from the Alcoran original: "alcorano". But tell me, Mahomet, after God, as you assert, told you so many times not to introduce force into laws—in chapter 4 and chapter 15 of the Alcoran—do not inflict any evil or insults upon the unbelievers, even if they speak ill of God through anger and ignorance. For we have made the pleasing and beautiful things of each nation seem right to them; withdraw, for when they return to God, they will know how to reveal their works to God. And in chapter 19 of the Alcoran, it is said that nations are not to be compelled to the faith, because unless God wills it, no one can believe, for He leaves the evil and the indiscreet in their filth. More on this there. And in chapter 59: Do not inflict any force upon them by punishing them, but only explain the Alcoran to them. And in many other places, how do you presume to speak against your own God, who persuaded you of these things, by saying that God commanded you to capture, kill, and despoil the unbelievers, or compel them to believe or pay tribute? You do great injury and insult to God, before Whom coerced services are vile; therefore, He wants servants faithful and believing to Him by their own free election. You say in chapter 19 that God told you: To those who contradict, say: let their businesses be for them, yours for you. He does not say that you should inflict violence upon them. Elsewhere you say such contradictions of Jews, Christians, and others will be settled on the last day. Elsewhere you introduce God praising you for your piety and gentleness—how do you not manifest yourself as such in deed, and falsify the testimony of God? What is this, that you make your God contradict Himself as many times as you have changed your opinion? In chapter 25, you say that an unbeliever who has faith after having been forced, and who retains the faith and the law in his heart, will not be damned, but doing these things willingly, etc. For you know that Christians have the faith of one God without a partner or another god. And therefore, according to you, they are believers; therefore, even if they seem to consent to you because of coercion, they nevertheless remain Christians in their heart. With you, therefore, they will not be damned. Why, therefore, do you oppose Christ in the Christians to such an extent that you persecute those whom you do not deny are saved in their own law? Christians were before you,

and Christ possessed a great part of this world in His faithful, with the most constant obedience even to the death of infinite martyrs. Why do your followers persecute Christ, to take away the people He has acquired? We are comforted, however, by the Gospel, which you insult after so many approvals, where Christ says: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake: rejoice and be exceeding glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Behold, this is our consolation in every tribulation and anguish, because we are transferred from death to eternal life. But after Mahomet saw that he was failing in truth, and that the lies he alleged from the Testament and the Gospel could not long be hidden from the ignorant and unlearned people, as Christians and Jews denied this truth—since in neither or in either of the books, whether Testament or Gospel, is there any mention or naming of Mahomet—he turned himself to arms and said to the people: God has ordered me to conquer nations with the sword until they testify that there is no god except God and that I am His messenger. If they do this, they will immediately save their blood and their money. Struck by terror, therefore, many obeyed the command and were saved from the shedding of blood and from rapine, and they shall be named the saved, or Muselmanni original: "musselmanni". And observe how he often asserts himself to be the sole messenger of the native Arabs, who previously had no prophet. Then he says generally in the chapter of the prophets that God said: We did not send you except to the universality of nations, in this, as in other things, attributing a contradiction to his God. The final resolution of the proof of all things read in the Alcoran is, therefore, the sword. Thus, in the chapter of the prophets in the Alcoran, it is written about Mahomet: You have spoken dreams and composed blasphemies, or perhaps you are poetizing; come at least with one miracle, as the predecessors did. He answered: God said, He destroyed the cities before them that did not believe, nor would you even believe in miracles except through the sword, etc., saying in his own manner that God ordered violence to be inflicted on men, making God, whom he writes of most often, [appear] coercible, variable, and fallacious. Let us conclude, therefore, that the Alcoran is obscure, inordinate, dark, deadly, and abominable to the intellectual nature, although it may seem palatable to the bestiality and animality which belongs to this sensible world.

¶ The Second Book. Containing annotations on Avicenna regarding doubtful medicines in which he is not held by more learned physicians.