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[Previous] then, of course, insist that the Torah has been tampered with, and in proof will quote the Qur'ánic verse: "They pervert the text of the Word of God." (17) It is, however, known where such distortion has occurred, and is a matter of record in critical texts and commentaries. (18) Were We to develop the subject beyond this brief reference, We would have to abandon Our present purpose.

According to some accounts, mankind has been directed to borrow various good qualities and ways from wild animals, and to learn a lesson from these. Since it is permissible to imitate virtues of dumb animals, it is certainly far more so to borrow material sciences and techniques from foreign peoples, who at least belong to the human race and are distinguished by judgment and the power of speech. And if it be contended that such praiseworthy qualities are inborn in animals, by what proof can they claim that these essential principles of civilization, this knowledge and these sciences current among other peoples, are not inborn? Is there any Creator save God? Say: Praised be God!

The most learned and accomplished divines, the most distinguished scholars, have diligently studied those branches of knowledge the root and origin of which were the Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and the rest, and have regarded the acquisition from the Greek texts of sciences such as medicine, and [Next]


17. Qur'án 4:45; 5:16.
18. Cf. Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Iqán, p. 86.
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