'Say then: "_He is one Allah: * Allah the everlasting! * If He begetteth not, and He is not begotten; * And there is none like unto him. * He is Allah beside whom there is no god. He knoweth things visible and invisible. He is the Compassionate, the Merciful! * And when He decreeth a thing, He only saith to it, 'Be,' and it is. * There is no Allah but He; the Living, the Self-subsisting. Neither slumber seizeth Him, nor sleep. * No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision: and He is the Subtile, the All-informed! It is He who causeth to laugh and to weep * He causeth to die and maketh alive * He bringeth forth the living out of the dead and the dead out of the living: He quickeneth the earth after its death; thus it is that ye too shall be brought forth. * The East and the West is Allah's: therefore, whichever way ye turn, there is the Face of Allah: truly Allah is Omnipresent and Omniscient ... * This is Allah, your Lord. All power is His, But gods whom ye call on beside Him have no power over the husk of a date-stone!_" (THE QUR'AN, CXII, 1, 4. LIX, 22. II, III, 256. VI, 103. LIII, 44, 45. XXX, 18. II, 109. XXXV, 14.) 'Never until this day,' Ali replied, 'have I hearkened unto such words and I wish to consult Abu Talib, my father.'--'Do nothing of the sort!' the Prophet hastened to tell him, for Mohammad feared lest the news of his Mission should be noised abroad before the hour arrived to divulge it in open day. 'If thou dost come to Islam, O Ali! thou must keep the secret.' Greatly troubled in his mind by all he had just heard, Ali passed a sleepless night, but Allah (Glory be to Him!) guided him on the Road to Salvation. Early in the morning, he went to Mohammad and professed the religion of Islam with all his heart. From that day onwards, when came the hour of prayer, Ali followed Mohammad to the ravine to pray with him, unbeknown to the boy's father and uncles. But one day, when they were both praying at the place called, "Nakhlat-al-Mahal," Abu Talib caught them unawares and questioned the Prophet, saying: 'O son of my brother, what is this religion of which thou dost follow the rites in thy prayers?'--'It is the religion of Allah, of his Angels and His Prophets--the religion of our ancestor Ibrahim. Allah hath sent me to preach it to all men; and thou, the most worthy and the nearest of my relatives, I invite thee to tread the Road to Salvation.'--'I cannot give up the religion and the tradition of my fathers,' Abu Talib declared; 'and yet I hold thee to be so sincere that I believe in the truth of what thou sayest. Continue, however, to fufill thy Mission without anxiety, for no harm shall come to thee so long as I live.' Turning towards his son, he added: 'Thou mayest hearken to Mohammad, and follow him as obediently as thou canst, for he will never guide thy footsteps except in the path of righteousness.'