Search for Truth

by:

S.V. Mir Ahmad Ali

( WOFIS)World Organization for Islamic Services

Tehran - Iran

Searchfor

Truth

This publication was repeatedly published byWOFIS since 1973 - for a wide circulation -due to a great demand made by our readersthroughout the world.

No part of this publication may be reproduced

without prior written permission from theWOFIS, Tehran.

All rights reserved

Revised edition 1418/1998

Published by:World Organization for Islamic Services,

P.O. Box 11365-1545,Tehran - 15837,

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN.

In the Name of Allah,The All-compassionate, The All-merciful,

Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all Being;

the All-compassionate, the All-merciful;

the Master of the Day of Judgement;

Thee only we serve, and to Thee alone we pray

for succour;

Guide us in the straight path;

the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,

not of those against whom Thou art wrathful,

nor of those who are astray.

O' Allah! send your blessings to the head of

your messengers and the last of

your prophets,

Muhammad and his pure and cleansed progeny.

Also send your blessings to all your

prophets and envoys.

Dear Reader,

The book you now have in hand is one of themany Islamic publications distributed by thisOrganization throughout the world in differentlanguages with the aim of conveying the mess-age of Islam to the people of the world.You may read this book carefully and shouldyou be interested to have further study on suchpublications you can contact us through a letter.Naturally, if we find you to be a keen and ener-getic reader we shall give you a deserving res-ponse in sending you some other publicationsof this Organization.

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X

You may express your views on this publicationand the subject matter discussed in it, and howfar you have benefited from it or which part ofthe subject matter has proved useful to you andyour environment. You will be able, in thismanner, to introduce yourself as one of ourgood and active reader.Meanwhile, you can keep our address at thedisposal of your friends and those individualsinterested in Islamic studies.

Publication Secretary,

World Organization for Islamic Services( WOFIS)

DEAR READER

CONTENTS

Page

Transliteration .......................... xiiForeword - by the Author ................. 1The Truth Found .......................11

xi

TRANSLITERATION

FOREWORD

The monthly English magazine the "PeaceMaker", published from- Madras, had a vastcirculation. It was read by many in India andalso abroad. Its articles were greatly appreciatedby many great religionists. It was this magazinethat successfully answered Dr. Zwemer's mis-chievous article in the journal "Me MuslimWorld" attacking the Holy Qur'an as the `Wordof Man' and glorifying the Bible as the `Word ofGod'. The reply to Dr. Zwemer, given by thisMuslim magazine from Madras, led manydispassionate scholars of the Christian religioninto the Islamic fold.

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FOREWORD

One Mr. T. Swaminathan, a Christianmissionary at Trichinopoly in South India, whoregularly followed the treatment of differentreligious topics in the "Peace Maker", had em-braced Islam and had adopted the Muslim nameMuhammad `Ali. When this Mr. Muhammad` Ali embraced Islam he was thrown out of hischurch, and Mr. Anwaru 'd-Din Khan, who wasthen an agent of some Oil Company at Trichy,kindly financed him to start the manu-fature of aerated waters so that he could makean independent living for himself and his family.Having joined the Muslim ranks Mr.Muhammad `Ali arranged through the YoungMen's Muslim Association of Trichinopoly afew talks on Islam and the Holy ProphetMuhammad, peace be upon him and hisprogeny. I myself had to go to Trichinopoly inthis connection and deliver a few talks on thistopic. It was at this time that I came in contactwith Mr. Joseph and his teacher ProfessorViswanathan, a mathematics lecturer.

The mathematician, who requested me tokeep his name unknown, and Mr. Joseph hisstudent both had very frank talks with me about

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FOREWORD

the basic doctrines of Christianity as well asabout Islam. At the end of our talk Mr. Josephbrought detailed minutes of our talks and hadthem signed by me. I also took a copy of theminutes signed by Mr. Joseph and his mathe-matics teacher, and preserved it in my file alongwith the declarations I had received from otherswho had embraced Islam after discussing atlength their own doubts.

A few weeks ago some Christian friends ofmine had a long discussion with me aboutcertain basic doctrines of their faith. I handedover the copy of the minutes drawn up by Mr.Joseph which served very useful purpose ofsparing me the labour of once again repeatingmy arguments about the points to convincethem of the Islamic point of view in thesematters.

A few days ago it was brought to my noticethat attempts had been made upon someMuslim students in a Christian institution tomislead them against their religion and some ofthese young men even came over to me to clearup some doubts, and I gave them the sameminutes of my discourse with my friends at

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FOREWORD

Trichy. After going through the matter theyoung men copied down some of the argumentsand the very next day they came to report to methat they had successfully convinced the criticsagainst Islam and desired the matter in theminutes to be published for the benefit of ourown young men who very often had to meetunreasonable criticism against Islam and theHoly Prophet. I had to agree to their reasonableproposal.

One thing I would like to be made clear isthat the sole object of this publication is to armyoung Muslim minds with the truth, and nothingelse. If anyone does not want to read or hearanything against his own personal views, heneed not persue this matter or hear it persuedby anyone. I wish it to be known that what issaid in this small booklet is exclusively for thosewho are sincerely interested in knowing thetruth irrespective of the source or the quarterfrom which it comes. By this I mean only thosesincere seekers after truth who are tempera-mentally and purposefully earnest in seeking toknow the various points of view about one andthe same problem. It is a universally acknowl-

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FOREWORD

edged fact that, except for those who have beendivinely inspired to guide humanity towards thetruth, no mortal can ever be sensibly deemed tobe perfect in his knowledge. It is according tothis native want in man that Islam ordains manto seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.

It needs also to be known that Islam neveraccepts any belief which is professed in theblind following of someone else's views or anyhereditary concepts, no matter from whoseparents they are inherited. Islam invites eachsincere adherent to reflect, to think, to ponder,and then to judge independently for himself.Nothing which is not one's own is ever accept-able in Islam, even one's own faith in God.Every Muslim is ordained by the Holy Qur'anto profess his faith by his own personal andindividual scrutiny of his own belief.

To know or to acknowledge the truth or thereasonableness in arguments advanced by theopposite side is a task which never appeals tothe ordinary slavish mentality of the blindfollowers of a crowd. It needs an intellectualindependence opposed to the mental conges-tion in ordinary minds to establish and assert

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FOREWORD

one's own views against the views of a crowd; itneeds a tempered individuality in an integratedpersonality. The essence or the spirit of suchunique individuality is the latent native capabi-lity of the individual for leadership against thecommon slavish tendency of following thecrowd.

There are two kinds of mentality in a humanbeing. The one is the individual's endeavour tostand on his own and the other is being contentto be controlled by someone else. One whowants to stand on his own in his faith has thegenuinely independent mind, and the goodnesspossessed by such individuals really deserves itsreward, according to personal or individualmerits. The treasuries of goodness and virtuespresented by anyone can never reasonably orjustly claim the least appreciation, if they arenot his own.

Let everyone of us dispassionately and im-partially analyse our own views, testing themfrom various points of view or reasoning, andlet us accept only those views which success-fully stand up to cross-examination by the side

opposed to us.6

FOREWORD

One thing which every sincere seeker oftruth should know and must remember is, thathe should first remove any coloured spectacles.He must view everything without the least prideor prejudice for or against anything, and mustreadily acknowledge and own for himself what-ever he finds to be genuinely true and reason-able. Without this essential condition firstfulfilled nothing profitable can ever be gainedby any amount of endeavour. One who sits tojudge should not, and must not, belong or evenbe the slightest bit inclined towards any one ofthe contesting sides, for it is only then theverdict will be just, truely a reliable andacceptable.

Correctness in religious belief and thefaithful translation of belief into proper actionmust be the first concern of every sensible manand woman. The aim of a true religion isnothing but the disciplining of the human self toprepare it to have as much divinity as possiblereflected into it or to manifest divinity throughit. Discipline varies a great deal. Unless it iscomplete discipline will do more harm thangood, both to the individual as well as to the

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FOREWORD

society to which the individual belongs. Thequality or usefulness of a discipline is to bejudged by the degree of perfection and inter-gration of the human personality, and itsawakening or enlightening through the con-sciousness of commitment or its responsibilityto its self and beyond its self.

The first and the foremost fundamental of atrue or the true faith or religion is the belief inGod. Belief in the One God, the only Lord, ofthe Universe can never be equal to that inseveral imaginary partner lords of the worldwho derive their existence through the strayingof human minds in their bewildered search for aprotector which the native will to live seeks.

The faith in the One True Lord of theUniverse as a whole will naturally have all thegodly qualities integrated in it and the belief inthe several partner gods will necessarily be thecollection of a distracted component parts ofvariant qualities opposing or contrasting eachother according to the varying nature of thedifferent partners. Besides the degree of themerit of the faithfulness in the service exclus-ively to one supreme Lord will naturally differ

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FOREWORD

from the service to many masters of variantauthorities. There are many other points whichdemand serious consideration in this regard.

It is another separate question by itself,whether there can be the One Supreme Lord ofthe universe Who with the manifest ownership,integrity of his authority and the perfection ofhis control, runs the successful working of thewhole universe since its coming into being orthere can ever be more than one owner of theworld.

Falsehood is not easily swallowed by every-one. The cleaner the inside of a human bodythe more repulsive will be every dirty thing to it.A cleanly maintained stomach will immediatelyvomit the least dirty thing trying to enter evenits threshold, that is, the throat. Similarly a clearconscience of any human being with the qualityof wholesomeness in it, will never at all relishthe least falsehood. It is this latent factor in thehuman personality that makes a human beingcontent with falsehood or makes it restless toput it in the search for truth. Therefore, theseekers after truth are only those who have thenative cleanliness in them which longs to reflect

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FOREWORD

in it or to manifest through it the goodness ofthe All-good Creator, Lord, but the ego in mancompletely over-shadowed by the devilish spiritmakes one content or enjoy himself withdelusion of falsehood.

Man, a creature along with other creaturesof the Creator Lord, left to himself could byhimself never have gathered anything to becorrectly called knowledge about anything inthe universe, and more so about his knowingthe Creator Lord of the universe unless theLord Himself mercifully arrange for hiseducation and training. Hence the Lord's mercyin this regard manifested in the long line of thedivinely inspired guides called the apostles orthe prophets, the last of whom was the HolyPorphet Muhammad, peace be upon him andhis progeny, to abide in his guidance for ever:

I will pray the Father, and he shallgive you another Comforter that hemay abide with you for ever. (John,

14:16)and even with the conclusion of the apostleshipthe infinite mercy of the All-merciful did notleave man to stray, deluded by the false guides

10

and the selfish leaders of the world, but startedthe line of the divinely conditioned minds, theTwelve Holy Imams to immediately succeed theconclusion of the apostleship in the HolyProphet Muhammad, peace be upon him andhis progeny, to keep humanity duly guidedupon the royal road to salvation shown byMuhammad, peace be upon him and hisprogeny, the last Apostle of God through thelast or final heavenly word, that is, the HolyQur'an and declared:

There is no compulsion in religion;truly the right way has becomeclearly distinct from error; (2:256)Let anyone now know the Truth andaccept it thankfully or unthankfully(76:3).

Prof. S.V. Mir Ahmad Ali(of Madras)

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THE TRUTH FOUND

Joseph (Muhammad `Ali):I was born of staunch Catholic Christian

parents. My father Mr. D'Souza was a preacherwho knew the Bible almost by heart. My motheran orthodox Catholic would even give us themorning coffee only after her return fromchurch. My father was stationed in the town ofTrichinopoly in South India and I stayed withmy mother and other elders in the village calledLalgudi.

Even from my youngest days I was madeto memorize certain verses from the Bible.After passing the fifth standard from the

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SEARCH FOR TRUTH

Elementary School in the village, I stayed withmy father for my higher education in the townof Trichinopoly. By the time I passed thesecond form I had completed the study of allthe four Gospels in Tamil and knew manyimportant verses, in those four books, by heart.

My father sometimes took me along withhim when he went to preach, and from thespecial attention he paid to my knowing certaincontroversial points, and his teaching me themethods of explaining to the others thoseintricacies, it was quite obvious that he wantedme to succeed him in his profession. The strongdesire of the paternal love to make me a priestwas implemented by educating me with adetailed knowledge of the Bible and the scienceof ministering it to others. By the time I reachedform four in school I could preach the gospelsin my own way, supervised by my father. Manysenior missionaries admired my knowledge ofthe important doctrines of the faith. I passedform six and joined St. Joseph's College. ThereI came in contact with several classmates whowere protestants and whom some of them werewell ersed in the study of the Protestant Bible.

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THE TRUTH FOUND

I often met my protestant classmates anddiscussed matters of regard differences in ourfaith and the performance of rituals. Therewere some Muslim students also, but I metthem only in the play ground for I hatedmeeting Muslims whom I took to be dangerousfanatics. By the time I completed the first yearin the college, I was sufficiently grounded in theknowldge of the Christian faith as held by theCatholic church and had considerable knowl-edge of the Protestant view point also. Appreci-ating this knowledge of the Catholic faith in myyoung age, I was given a scholarship of Rs.15/-from the church funds and in return for thehelp I received, I was required to receive aspecial coaching in the guidance of deeperthoughts about certain parts the Holy Book,under the chief priest of the church, who lovedme to teach me very much and was veryintimately attached to me. He used the specialdevotional methods of worshipping Jesus andhis holy mother. Having appreciated in the firstgroup for my intermediate course I used to sitworking at the subjects till late at night.

One night when all were asleep and I was

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SEARCH FOR TRUTH

absorbed in my studies, an idea suddenly struckmy mind to examine the doctrine of the HolyTrinity, the basic formula of the Christian faith.The question of how three different things canbe one and the same, arose in my mind; that is,how anything singularly absolute in its unitywith its indivisible oneness, can ever by itselfbecome divided into three separate beings withthree variant native attributes opposed to eachother justifying the distribution into the threedifferent entities.

My failure to reconcile my belief in theTrinity with the reasoning of the science oflogic, created a mental restlessness in me. Dayspassed on and many a time I thought of askingmy father to help me in solving the problemwhich puzzled my mind, but I knew that myfather would never appreciate the least doubt inthe dogmatic belief of the Catholic School andmy venture to discuss anything hated by theCatholic faith, would only create furtherproblems in my domestic life. However, one daywhen I found my father in a happy mood, Iasked him as to how he would defend theChristian faith in the Holy Trinity against the

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THE TRUTH FOUND

attacks from the members of the other religionsof the world.

The answer was, "In matters of faith onehas to stop reasoning. One should believe in thedoctrine only by one's heart and mind."

This reply from my father upset me fur-ther more and disappointed me to a very greatextant and all my thinking got centred in thequestion which had become a definite problemto puzzle my mind further, and I wonderedsaying, "What! is this the foundation upon whichis built the huge edifice of the Christianityfaith? Is the basis of my own faith only a matterof a blind following of some dictated beliefwhich can never stand reasoning or the inde-pendent scrutiny by the dispassionate and im-partial arguments from the clean conscience?"

I became much worried and made up mymind to find some argument to somehow tomake my much disturbed mind at least imaginethat one could at one and the same time bethree different persons, and the three differentpersons, could at the same time remain one.

One day our professor of mathematicswas sitting alone in his room and I got in with

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his permission and asked him if he would helpme solve something which, to me, was anintricate and a perplexing problem. He verykindly asked me what it was. I asked him toexplain to me in what sense one and the sameperson could be three different beings and thesame three different beings with their individualdifferences could at the same time be theindivisible absolute one?

The Professor smiled and said, "Is it thatyou do not like my stay in this college?"

I asked him, "Why Sir?"He said, "What do you think the college

authorities which are staunch Catholics will dowith me, if someone informs them that I discussin my private room things opposed to theCatholic or the Christian faith in general? Willthey keep me on the staff of the college anylonger? If you want to discuss anything here,you may do so but mind you, you must confineyour discussion to the subject of your studies inthe college, otherwise you will be doing theworst harm to me, for I will be thrown out ofmy job."

I felt the truth in his statement and made

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an appointment with him to see him the nextsunday at 3:00 p.m. in his house near theCentral Market.

One Sunday when I met the Professor, hefirst asked me as to what made me enquire intothe Doctrine of Trinity. I said that I wantedto know how far the doctrine stood up toreasoning?

The Professor smiled and said, "Why don'tyou ask anyone of our priests?"

I said, "I have asked them but they say itis a matter of belief or faith, and it should notbe subjected to any logic or philosophy. This hasupset me. This has raised the question in me, ifwhat I believe in, is unreasonable and illogical,why should I subject myself to any blind follow-ing? Is God so unjust and cruel to expect manto believe in a doctrine about Himself, which nohuman brain can ever reasonably conceive? Irequest you, Sir, to somehow, give me somemethod of arguing out the possibility of such anexistence as the doctrine of Trinity wants us tobelieve in!"

The Professor smiled and said, "My dearJoseph, suppose you want me to prove by some

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mathematical formula how water can remainwater and at the same time be fire, or how astone can be a stone and at the same time bewater too. How can I do it? I do not think anysensible man on the earth can ever conceivesuch a possibility. How the Ever-living GodWho being the Ever-living Life itself, can alsoat the same time be a mortal, that is, be a manto suffer death at the hands of other mortals?And how the same mortal being at the sametime could be the absolute immortal God? It isa problem which our priests want us to believe,and we have to merely believe in it, and nonehas any choice of even questioning the practi-cability of this inconceivable dogma."

On hearing the answer I asked him,"Then, what about you, Sir? Don't you alsobelieve in it?"

He replied, "It is a matter of my ownpersonal and individual choice and decision.Even if I or the world were to believe in such adoctrine the liability still remains for everybeliever to answer the question if he or she canprove the doctrine as a reasonable or practicalphenomena."

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So saying this, he took out a booklet fromhis shelf and placed it before me and said, "Letany one of our priests answer the arguments putforth by the authors of the matters in this smallmagazine. If you promise me that you will notshow this magazine to anyone else, you maytake it home and go through it and return itto me as soon as you can. But I warn yourepeatedly to keep it to yourself."

Having given a copy of the magazine tome he went on saying, "The fact is when God,Whom we believe as One, is an Absolutely OneBeing in His perfect Unity, it means that God issingularly one in natural essence of His exist-ence, free from any different or variant factorshaving anything to do with His pure or AbsoluteUnity to justify His being The Absolute One,owing an indivisible existence, by Himself.Division suggests that the one is not anAbsolute One but a compound of some variantsand that which is a composed being can neverbe really one in the true meaning of oneness.

' The magazine was "The Peace-Maker" edited by Professor

S.V. Mir Ahmad Ali from Madras City.

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And certainly the one dependent in its existenceupon its different components can never beindependent in its action, whereas God is theAbsolute One, independently Omnipotent inHis will and His action.

"Besides how can any three which arethree separate beings, with three variationsjustify their being three separate entities,remain three separately as they are and at thesame time by themselves lose their differentindividual native properties differentiating themfrom each other, and become conceivably byabsolute indvidisible one, without the leastvariation in the essential oneness.

"An Absolute one must be totally inde-pendent in its existence, Mr. Joseph, it isimpossible to reason out the doctrine of theHoly Trinity. The science of mathematics or anyother science which any human genius can evercoceive until the end of time, can never solvethis inconceivable riddle."

He continued, "The only thing is that, weChristians are shut out of the vast sources ofknowledge about the truth and of the higherfactors in matters of religion which are available

THE TRUTH FOUND

outside our own fold, by damning every non-Christian thought as the devil's work. WeChristians, Mr. Joseph, in our madness to swellup our ranks have played such a disgraceful rollthat a great head like Sir E. Denison Ross hadto helplessly disclose the truth about this in hisforeword to the translation of the Holy Qur'anby George Sale."

I was amazed to hear the arguments ofthe Professor who was himself known as aCatholic, and at the same time I was very muchencouraged to know that my doubt about theunreasonability of the doctrine of Trinity wassomething which had made a highly educatedand enlightened mind like the Professor ofMathematics also to enquire into it. I was muchbenefited by the discussion with the Professorfor I came to know argument justifying thedoubt created in my mind.

My study of the matter in the magazine"Peace-Maker" and the translation of the HolyQur'an opened my eyes to many great and everyimportant factors that affect human life onearth. Once I visited the Professor in his houseand to my further amazement I found him

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possessing a great amount of literature onIslam.

I asked him, "May I know, Sir, if you haveembraced the faith of the Muslims?"

He replied, "It is a question yet to bedecided. You do not worry yourself about mypersonal choice. I, for the time being, want tobe known as no other than a Catholic Christian.I will tell you later."

I took the copy of the translation of theQur'an by George Sale and read theintroduction by Sir E. Denison Ross. TheIntroduction needs to be read with specialattention. Sir Ross says:

For many centuries the acquaintancewhich the majority of Europeans pos-sessed of Muhammadanism was basedalmost entirely on distorted reports offanatical Christians which led to thedissemination of a multitude of grosscaluminies.

What was good in Muham-madanism was entirely ignored, and whatwas not good, in the eyes of Europe, wasexeggerated or misinterpreted.. . . the Unity of God and that the

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simplicity of his [Muhammad's] creed wasprobably a more potent factor in thespread of Islam than the sword of theGhazi's. (G. Sale's translation of theKoran, Introduction, p.vii)This statement of the great Christian

scholar of international reput, created in me thethirst to know the original teachings of Islam,especially about the Islamic conception of God.

About four years passed away and by thistime I knew the contents of the Qur'an. Manythings had arrested my special attention. I haddiscussed many doubtful points with theProfessor whom I found to have read theQur'an several times with a better and morecritical view. I was now longing to meet someMuslim scholar to cross-examine him aboutcertain points about the Islamic faith.

Once I thought of Hinduism but what Idaily see with my own eyes - the curses ofuntouchability and the reservation of the castesystem prevalent before us, and besides every-thing else, the idol worship and the observanceof innumerable rituals - did not prompt me totake up any enquiry into the tenets, the practice

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of which manifested in the daily life of themillions of the Hindus living with us. I couldnever understand the superiority exclusively andarbitrarily claimed for the members of certaincastes, simply because they had accidentallybeen born in those folds. I had seen with myown eyes how the people belonging to certaincastes are imagined as lower in the society andare treated as the untouchables, not allowedeven to enter into the Hindu temples. I hadseen these poor souls being prohibited even todraw drinking water from the wells reserved forthe superior classes.

I met several Brahmin pandits but noneof them could answer any of my objectionsagainst the several Hindu theories regarding theauthorities of the hundreds of gods andgoddesses and the observance of the ritualswhich did not appeal to me in the least.

The havoc in the social life played byHinduism, dividing humanity into castes andsub-castes and the unreasonable superiority ofone caste over the other, is itself so muchrepulsive that none would like to take anytrouble of executing any studies about the

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doctrines of the faith.While resenting against the caste system

and the sectarian segregation in the Hindufolds, I was automatically reminded of thesimilar restrictions among we Christians. Thecaste hatred has been sunk so deep in the mindsof the Hindus that even after enteringChristianity they are unable to overcome thecomplex. I asked to myself.

"Why criticise other people and theirbelief when the religion which I myself belongto, has in it the sectarian segregation of theBrahmin Christians, the Naidu Christians, theChuckli Christians and the similar manysectarian differences, having a full sway over thesocial order? Are not churches in Christendomowned exclusively for the members of particularsects? Are there not churches belonging to aparticular sect which cannot be used by thepeople of the other different sect? Has notChristianity failed to unite mankind into onehuman society? Did Jesus mean all thesedifferences and dissensions which we theChristians have innovated? Is it not then thatwe are far away from the original objects of the

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mission of Jesus Christ?"Against the irreconcillable differences and

the innumerable dissensions of the social orderin the folds of Hinduism and Christianity, I wasvery much impressed by the genuine and thereal brotherhood practiced day and night amongthe Muslims. I found that a Muslim mosque isthe mosque belonging to every one who callshimself a Muslim and that there is noreservation of seats in the mosque or anysectarian segregation in any of the Muslim placeof worship. I saw with my own eyes, Muslim ofall ranks, all social and economic status, . ofdifferent complexions, of various nationalities,all standing in one row, turning towards onedirection, praying to One God, in one language,and immediately after the prayer, shaking handswith each other. Brotherhood or social equalityclaimed more in theory by the other schools ofthought in the world, I found it to be an everexperienced and a living reality in the dailylife of the Islamic folds.

One day I was informed by the Professor,who by this time had become an intimate friendof mine, that a Muslim scholar, Mr. S.V. Mir

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Ahmad Ali, a Lecturer in the governmentMuhammadan college, Madras, had to deliversome talks in English on the life of the Prophetof Islam in a Hall near the Big Juma Mosqueunder the auspices of the Muslim YouthAssociation of Trichinopoly town. I and myProfessor, both attended the three talks andmet the Lecturer who was an old friend of myProfessor. We had a heart to heart talk with theLecturer about several important topics. TheLecturer presented to me a few more backnumbers of the magazine "The Peace-Maker".

During my meeting with the MuslimLecturer I asked him if he would kindly answersome questions for my own information. Hesaid, "I will most willingly do it".

I put the following questions which hevery cheerfully answered, "What proof have youbesides the Qur'an to establish that Muhammadwas truly a prophet of God?"

He answered, "Have you your own Biblewith you?"

I said, "Yes".He took the following verses and read

them to me one after another:

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For Moses truly said unto the fathers, Aprophet shall the Lord your God raise upunto you of your bretheren, like unto me;him shall ye hear in all things whatsoeverhe shall say unto you.And it shall come to pass, that every soul,which will not hear that prophet, shall bedestroyed from among the people.Yea,, and all the prophets from Samuel andthose that follow after, as many as havespoken, have likewise foretold of thesedays. (Acts, 3:22-24)This is that Moses, which said unto thechildren of Israel, A prophet shall the Lordyour God raise up unto you of yourbretheren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.(ibid., 7:37)Jesus says:And I will pray the Father, and he shallgive you another Comforter, that he mayabide with you for ever. (John, 14:16)Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It isexpedient for you that I go away: for if I gonot away, the Comforter will not comeunto you; but if I depart, I will send him

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unto you. (ibid., 16:7)I have yet many things to say unto you, butye cannot bear them now.Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, iscome, he will guide you into all truth: forhe shall not speak of himself; butwhatsoever he shall hear, that shall hespeak; and he will shew you things tocome. (ibid., 16:12-13)I read the passages which I had already

gone through several times beofre, but this timethe perfect confidence with which the Lecturerasked me to read the verses from my ownsacred scriptures in support of his claim, threw anew light upon them for me to understand thematter dispassionately. Yet I replied:

"But the prophecy is about the advent ofJesus?"

He smiled and said, "You read the versesagain! Does not the verse say that God willraise a Prophet like unto Moses, i.e., he will be aman born of a father and a mother as was bornMoses; whereas Jesus was born only of amother. Besides the Prophet promised by Godmust be a man like Moses but you yourself call

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Jesus as the son of God. Moses was a law-givingProphet and the one like him must also be alaw-giver, whereas Jesus was only a law-abider,following the law or the Ten Commandmentsalready introduced through Moses. Besides, onemust betray his common sense as well as hislearning to say that I and he, two differentperson, i.e., the First and the Third personmean the same, or that the one who departsprophesying about the advent of some one else,to be one and the same."

The argument was quite reasonable andunbreakable.

Then I asked the Lecturer, "Do you notbelieve in Jesus as the son of God? CannotJesus be God himself in the form of a man?"

The Lecturer smiled and very cheerfullyreplied, "Can there be a son to anyone withouta wife, my friend? Can anyone or you yourselfwho believes in the sonship of Jesus, at any timesensibly imagine virgin Mary to have been usedby God as a wife to conceive an issue? Let usseek protection of God against any such devilishstraying of our minds. Sonship, if used in theBible, can be only to mean a creature or the

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one who has received life from God. Otherwisewhat do you say about Jesus addressing himselfas a son of man?

The Son of man is come eating anddrinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonousman, and a winebibber, a friend ofpublicans and sinners! (Luke, 7:34). . . the Son of man be ashamed, . . . (ibid.,9:26)Saying, the Son of man must be deliveredinto the hands of sinful men, . . . (ibid.,24:7). . . the Son of man shall give unto you:. . .(John, 6:27)"Jesus addressed God as his father and

also as our father which means that God istaken as the father of Jesus as much as He isthe father (or the Creator) of anyone of us andhence Jesus' sonship can mean in the sense of acreature of God. The term son of God used byJesus himself refers to himself as God's servant.This fact is testified by the verses by which everyprophet of God until Adam has been termedthe son of God in Luke, 3:23-30, Jesus is calledas the son of Joseph and the geneology of

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Joseph is traced to Adam and Adam is calledthe son of God. Read the 38th verse of thesame chapter:

Which was the son of Enos, which was theson of Seth, which was the son of Adam,which was the son of God."These ready answers from the Bible

created a very deep impression upon my mindabout the amount of comparative study theMuslim do and how strong and reasonable theyare in their faith in the Unity of God.

One can say that the faith of the Muslimis not a matter of mere blind following of anyprescribed belief in unreasonable dogmas, but itis the result of a sincere comparative study ofthe various schools of thought.

I asked the Lecturer, "Do you Muslimsstudy every other religion before you embraceIslam?"

The Lecturer replied, "No. Even as weremain Muslim, born of Muslim parents, we,have been commanded by God to compare andcontrast the truth, i.e., Islam, with every otherfaith, then own for ourselves a belief orconviction of our own which alone shall be

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acceptable to God - as mere blind following ofany particular doctrine, be that from our ownparents, will not be of any credit to such abeliever. Read what the Holy Qur'an enjoinsupon those who have already professed Islam astheir faith merely by heredity."

I asked, "Do you believe in the Holy Bibleas a heavenly Book or not?"

In reply to my question the Lecturerrequested me to answer the following questions:

l. Is the Bible which is in your hands, thebook which Jesus wrote as a scripturerevealed by God to be called the book?I had to answer, "No."2. Did Jesus order or desire at any time inhis life to write anything on his behalf?"No."3. Was this Bible which is in your handstoday written during the life time ofJesus?"No."4. Was this Bible which is in your handstoday written immediately after thedepature of Jesus?"No."

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"Then" he said, "please read p.17 in TheFounder of Christianity and His Religion,published by the Christian Literature Society,Madras. It is said in the book:

The whole Bible contains sixty-six bookswritten by forty different authors over aspace of about fifteen centuries."It is clearly said in the book that:Jesus Christ himself wrote nothing."Oral teaching was for several years - the

only means employed in the spread ofChristianity. It was for the quidance of thoseyoung converts that the earliest writings of theNew Testament were composed.

"The same book further discloses that:They were probably written about twentyyears after the death of Christ."On p.18 it is said:The Gospels do not give a completehistory of the life of Christ, they arerather memories."I said, "But the Bible is the word of God

inspired and written by the disciples of Jesus."He again smiled and said, "Mr. Joseph, if

the Bible is the book of the disciples and of

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Jesus, how would you account for the differencein the Book, if it is an inspired word of God?Does not the Catholic Bible Duay contain somebooks which the Protestant version does notown? 1) Paralipomen, 2) Baralipomenon; 1)Esdras, 2) Esdras or Nehemias, Tobias, Judith;1) Machabees, 2) Machabees.

"Have you read what Mr. Wilson saysabout the Bible, in his introduction to theDiaglot published by the Watch Tower Society?

If it had not been published by kinglyauthority it would not now be veneratedby English and. American Protestants, asthough it had come direct from God. Ithas been convicted of containing over20,000 errors. Nearly 700 Greeks MSS arenow known and some of them veryancient whereas the translator of thecommon version had only the advantageof some eigth MSS none of which wasearlier than the tenth century."Is not the Bible based upon only eight

manuscripts whereas there are 700 manuscriptsnow available? If what is contained in all suchmanuscripts is also the inspired word of God,

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why were these manuscripts left away? In viewof all these facts brought to your light, if youstill believe in the Bible as the inspired word ofGod, you may do so but you can't expect thewhole world to do it. If you make a serious andan impartial study of the Old and New Testa-ments, you will find in them the amount ofblasphemies which the Jewish mind has fabri-cated against Lot, David, Noah and Abrahamwho were the Holy Apostles of God; vis:

And Noah began to be an husbandman,and he planted a vineyard:And he drank of the wine, and wasdrunken; and he was uncovered within histent.And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw thenakedness of his father, and told his twobrethren without.And Shem and Japheth, took a gannent,and laid it upon both their shoulders, andwent backward, and covered the nakednessof their father; and their faces werebackward, and they saw not their father'snakedness. (Gen., 9:20-23)"Lot committing adultery with his own

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daughters; (see Gen. 19:30-38)."Noah getting over-drunk; (see Gen.,

9:21)." David taking possession of his

neighbour's wife; (see 11 Sam., 11:2-5)."I asked, "What? Do you Muslims believe

in the prophets of God other than Muhammadto be totally sinless and holy?"

He answered me by reciting to me the fol-lowing verses of the Holy Qur'an:

Say: "(O Muslims!) We believe in Allah

(God), and in that which has been sentdown on us and sent down on Abraham,Ishmael, Issac and Jacob, and the Tribes,and that which was given to Moses andJesus and the Prophets of their Lord; wemake no division between any of them,. . ." (2:136)The Messenger (Muhammad) believes inwhat was sent down to him from his Lord,and (so do) the believers (Muslims); eachone believes in Allah and His angles, andin His Books and His Messengers; we makeno division between any one of HisMessengers. (2:285)

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"The above verses of the Holy Qur'anbear clear testimony to the fact that, as one ofthe fundamentals of his faith, every Muslim hasto believe not only in the Holy ProphetMuhammad, peace be upon him and hisprogeny, but in all the other prophets astruthful and holy and should not make anydistinction between them.

"The following verse of the Holy Qur'aninforms us of the fact that prophets were raisedby God, among all nations in all parts of theearth:

. . . not a nation there is, but there haspassed away in it a warner. (35:24)"It convinced me that Islam alone is all

-comprehensive faith which recognizes all otherreligions and which contains in it a perfectlyharmonious integration of all the good foundpartly in the other religious orders of the world.The sacred Book of Islam, i.e., the Holy Qur'an,is the final exposition of the Divine Truth in itsperfection which was revealed at differenttimes, through the other heavenly scriptures, inparts suiting the various evolutionary levels ofconception by the human minds. The limitation

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of the human mind of the different ages, did notallow even prophets like Jesus to speak out thewhole of the truth. Jesus had to depart withmany things yet to be told to his people. Jesushad to tell his people to wait until the advent ofthe Spirit of Truth to disclose the whole of thetruth. (John, 16:12-13)

I was further impressed by the universalaspect of the religion Islam.

Every answer from the Lecturer was withan unchallengeable authority and with anunbreakable argument. I was awakened todifferentiate between the genuine truth and thefabrications of falsehood- and to know many newfactors to which I was blind all these years. ButI did not know how to reconcile the dawn oftrue knowledge of truth with my original blinddogmatic belief and my belonging to theChristian faith any longer. I wanted to find outsome failure on the part of the Lecturer toanswer satisfactorily some questions or theother, so that I might have some excuse, be thateven a false one, to maintain my position in theChristian faith.

The Lecturer continued after some time

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with the question:"Shall I ask you something if you do not

mind answering it for my information?"I said, "Yes."He said, "Do you think Jesus to be a son

of God or God himself?"I said, "Jesus according to the Christian

belief is God himself in the form of His son."He asked, "Can you ever conceive anyone

to be the immortal god and at the same time bea mortal (man) to be caught in the hands ofother mortals to suffer death?

"Can anything be high and at the sametime low, black and at the same time white?Can there be darkness and the same time light?What philosophy is this?"

The Lecturer continued saying:"Do you ever consider that there is one

other question confronting the doctrine of theTrinity which needs to be answered by everyTrinitarian, that if any three different beingswhich are three different entities are also at thesame time one, with absolute unity in all theperfet sense or meaning of Oneness? What isthe common control which makes them remain

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three and also be one at one and the sametime? If there be any factor of such a wonderfuland inconceivable phenomenon causing thisamazing effect, then that supreme causativepower which controls the number and the unity,will alone be the Omnipotent God and not anyone of the three which are only the controlledcomponents.

"Besides, there arises another problem,the question a believer in the Trinity will haveto answer, i.e., as to who is it that controls ordetermines the splitting of one into only threedifferent others, to be neither more nor less innumber? There must be some cause for thiscontrolled effect, and that the causative factoracting supreme over three will be theOmnipotent God and not any one of the threewhich will only be the effect of the supremecontrolling cause.

"Similarly, will arise the question, what isthe causative power which effects the three tobe only one when joining together and notdivided into any groups of beings? If there beany such cause, that supreme controlling causewill be the Omnipotent God and not any one of

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the three which will only be the subservientone.

"Under any circumstances no sensibleman can ever reasonably believe in any effectwhatsoever, without some causative factoreffecting it.

"However, the Holy Trinity is only aproblematic doctrine created by the ChristianChurch which no logical reasoning can everprove true."

I had to helplessly agree to the views ofthe Lecturer, for I could not reasonably believein the existence of anything being itself and atthe same time being its opposite.

"I would like you, Mr. Joseph," said theLecturer, "to ponder a little over the belief thatJesus being God himself or the son of God, wasso terrified at the impending crucification thathe shouted:

"Eli, Eli lama sabachthani?" (My God, myGod, why has thou forsaken me?) (Math.,27:46)"What philosophy is that? If Jesus was

God himself, does it mean that god wasforsaken by God Himself? Can that be god who

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felt helpless and shouted to be rescued?"Your Bible itself, Mr. Joseph, reports

that the son of God was forsaken by his father(God) in which case the forsaken son automatically and quite naturally forfeits his personalmerits as a son and his relationship of being ason to his father. What do you say? Of whatprofitable use can the attachment to a forsakenson be, Mr. Joseph, please tell me."

I was struck dumb. I did not know what tosay and what to do with the faith I alreadypossessed as a staunch Christian.

"Besides," the Lecturer continued, "do youthink Jesus to be God himself when he fallsdown crying, praying to someone else to removethe cup of death by crucification?"

I asked, "All right Sir, how do youreconcile the violence used by the Prophet ofIslam to his being an Apostle of God?"

Immediately came the reply from theLecturer, "Please, Mr. Joseph, quote a singleinstance from the whole of the life history ofthe Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be uponhim and his progeny) to show that he has evercommitted any unprovoked aggression or any

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single instance of his taking the least initiativein attacking any single soul. Every expedition ofa battle he led or he allowed, was only inself-defence. Had he not defended as he did,today his advent in this world and his teachingsabout the truth about God which the world haslearnt only through his holy mission, would havebecome some legends of ancient times full ofblasphemies for you and for me, only to be readin some story books and thus be deluded by thefalsehood for all times. The Bible does notpreach self-defence. The Bible only preachesself-surrender to the extent of handing overevery thing of one's possession when anythingwhich was in one's hand has been taken away byany aggressor. Does any Christian power followthis? Did Rome, the seat of Catholicism, abideitself by these teachings of the Bible? Did notRome, with His Holiness the Pope in it, wagean unprovoked aggression against anotherChristian people of Abyssinia in the last worldwar?

"Why go to the political history of theChristian nations of Europe? Why notremember the inhuman method employed by

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the Christendom to spread its faith? Can theworld forget the Edict of Milan, recorded atlength in all books of the history of theChristian Church? Not to uproot any evil but intheir madness to swell the ranks of the followersof their own established churches, the inhumanattrocities and the brutal conduct of theChristian authorities would need volumes torelate the heinous deeds in all their details.Gibbon has pictured their character andconduct in his famous work The Decline andFall of the Roman Empire:

"`At Minorca,' says Gibbon, `the relics ofSt. Stephen converted in eight days 540 Jews;with the help, indeed, of some wholesomeseverities, such as burning the synagogue,driving the obstinate infidels to starve amongthe rocks, etc.' (vol.ii, p.69n) In Alexandria theJews were expelled from the city, theirsynagogues appropriated to the use of thechurch. The account of the Jews who have beenplundered, sent naked into banishment, starved,tortured, left to perish in prison, hanged andburnt by the Christians would fill many volumes.

"Gibbon further reports:

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" '. . . in almost every province of theRoman world, an army of fanatics withoutauthority and without discipline, invaded thepeaceful inhabitants; and the ruin of the faireststructures of antiquity still display the ravages ofthose barbarians who alone had time and incli-nation to execute such laboricus destruction.'(vol.2, pp.55-56)"

I was ashamed to hear what Gibbon hasreported. I had to quietly listen to the recordsof the disgraceful conduct of the Christians. I, atlast, ventured to ask one more question, "Thereis the doctrine of atonement or expiation of sinsof men through the blood of Jesus. Jesus havingpaid the price of the sins of man, i.e., he whobelieves in Jesus is cleansed and saved. Haveyou any such accommodation in Islam?"

The Lecturer smiled and replied, "Myfriend, the greatest of God's gifts to man is thecommon sense. If man forfeits it of his ownaccord, then none can help him.

"First, let me know if this doctrine appealsto reason and common sense. A, for example, aChristian by faith, i.e., a believer in Jesus Christas his Saviour, plunders the house of B and the

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members of B's family. Does sense or logicagree to A being let off unpunished by any law,particularly the law of the All-just Lord of theuniverse, simply because A accepts Jesus as hisSaviour?"

I had to say, "No", because, to sayotherwise would mean I forfeit my commonsense and go against reasoning.

He continued, "There is one very graveaspect of the doctrine of atonement through theblood of Jesus, i.e., when we pay for a thing, thething becomes our own and the previous ownerof the thing forfeits all his claim over it for theprice he has already received. Is it not?"

I said, "Yes."Then he said, "If the sins of man have

been paid for, God has no right to punish anysinner. Every sinner who merely believes inJesus would be free to do anything in the worldwhich his brutal passion dectates him to do, forGod his Lord has no right whatsoever even toquestion any sinner, for Jesus has met the costof all his sins. Can this ever be sensible logic orcommon sense? Can this doctrine help life onearth to continue for one moment in peace and

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security?"He continued, "Please remember, Islam

wants every individual to be kept bound by hisbeing answerable with his individual responsibility to virtue against vice, in the interest ofhis own individual life as well as the interest ofthe collective life in this world, himself as amember of not only the human race but also ofthe creation of the Lord as a whole. Islam con-tinuously invites and encourages man towardsrighteousness with the promise of the blissfullife in the hereinafter and repeatedly warns himagainst vice and the consequent chastisementfrom the All just Lord. The Holy Qur'anrepeatedly warns saying:

And be on your guard against a day whenone soul shall not avail another in theleast, neither shall intercession on its behalfbe accepted nor shall any compensation betaken from it, nor shall they be helped.(2:48)Whoever goes aright, for his own soul doeshe go aright; and whoever goes astray, to itsdetriment only does he go astray; nor canthe bearer of a burden bear the burden of

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another, nor do We chastise until We raisean apostle. (17:15)O you men! surely We have created you ofa male and female, and made you tribesand families that you may know eachother; surely the most honourable of youwith Allah is the one among you mostcareful (of his duty); surely Allah isknowing, Aware. (49:13)"While threatening man with grievous

punishment in recompense for his evils, theHoly Qur'an discloses also the infinite mercy ofthe All-merciful Lord Who does not want man,however much a sinner the individual be, to betotally dejected or hopeless of the mercifulpardon from Him. The only condition for thepardon he needs, being inner's repentanceagainst his vices, with his intention of amendinghis conduct in the future, and turning whole-heartedly to obedience and gratitude to theAll-merciful Lord for His infinite Grace.

"For goodness sake, tell me, Mr. Joseph,which do you think is reasonable and sensible,either making man intoxicated and carelessagainst sinning, i.e., making him unreasonably

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confident of the price of his sins as has alreadybeen paid by someone or alerting with hiscommitment to virtue against vice, i.e., keepinghim warned of the natural consequence ofgetting punished by the All-just Lord, for anymisconduct or disobedience?"

I felt that I had that day understood thehollowness of the doctrine of atonement uponwhich is built the whole edifice of the Christianfaith. The divine mercy of the Lord dawnedupon my heart, a new light of the divineguidance. I thanked God for liberating me fromthe clutches of the grossly misleading dogmaticdoctrine and leading me to Islam which I havemyself found through an impartial enquiry thatit is the right and the straight royal road tosalvation which the All-merciful Lord Himselfhas shown man through this Last ApostleMuhammad, may peace be on him and hisdivinely chosen descendants.

When I disclosed my acceptance of thetrue arguments advanced by the Lecturer andthanked him, he told me:

"Mr. Joseph, you must thank God forblessing you with the fulfilment of His merciful

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promise to every sincere seeker of truth!"The All-merciful Lord by His infinite

mercy has fulfilled His merciful promise to givemankind the everlasting guidance through theHoly Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon himand his progeny) who would abide in hisguidance for all times. (John, 14:16)

"In Muhammad (peace be upon him andhis progeny) was fulfilled the divine promise forthe Prophet, and the promise of the Lord toraise Twelve Princes in the seed of Ishmael wasfulfilled in God's raising the Twelve Holy Imamsin the family of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him and his progeny) who is thedivinely chosen issue of Ishmael.

And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee:Behold, I have blessed him, and will make

him fruitful, and will multiply himexceedingly; twelve princes shall beget, and

I will make him a great nation. (Gen.,17:20)

"All these Holy Imams were of the purestcharacter and of an undoubtedly godly conductand though they never received any educationfrom any other mortal in this world, all of them,

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like the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace beupon him and his progeny), were the wonderfulstores and the divinely caused fountain-heads ofknowledge to enlighten the world with the trueknowledge about the Lord of the Universe.

"Eleven of these Twelve divinely commis-sioned Imams or Guides lived as the perfectmodels of pure humanity in complete resigna-tion to the Divine Will and all of them weremartyred. If anyone wants to see a perfectmodel of a man surrendering his all, mostwillingly suffering the worst and the mostpainful afflictions in the way of the Lordoffering the sacrifice of even his six months oldbaby son, and even his severed head glorifyingthe Lord from upon the point of the lance onwhich it was raised after it was severed, onemust see the Holy Imam Husayn at Karbala'.The world will find Husayn not shouting `Eli,Eli, lama sabachthani', or desiring in the leastthe removal of the cup of death, but drinking itcheerfully, glorifying the Lord in his last thanks-giving prayers while he was being butchered inthe worst heartless way.

"As the promise of God to give mankind a

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prophet to abide forever has been recorded inthe Old Testament, this great sacrifice has alsobeen prophesied in Jeremiah:

For this is the day of the Lord God ofhosts, a day of vengeance, that he mayavenge him of his adversaries. and thesword shall devour, and it shall be satiateand made drunk with their blood: for theLord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in thenorth country by the river Euphrates.(46:10)"

After coming across so many sane and unbreak-able arguments against the doctrine of the HolyTrinity and also about many other fundamentalsof the Christian belief, I only wondered howcould such an unreasonable faith attract such ahuge number of people in the world. Once Ifound my father returning home very happy andimmediately as he arrived he called me and said:

"You will be glad to know my dear sonthat, today I got hundred and nine souls intoour fold. At the baptism of such a big number inone day the Rev. Father, the chief of ourmission praised my services very much and hasincreased my salary as well as my travelling

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allowance and has awarded me with a tokenreward of Rs.109/- corresponding to the numberbaptised through my efforts."

I asked, "Who are they, father, who werebaptised today?"

The reply was, "They are from five sur-rounding villages. There are men, women andchildren, hundred and nine souls together."

I asked, "Are they all educated?"The reply was, "No. They are the poor

people of the cheries (slums). They are onlylabours in the paddy fields of their villages."

I asked if they have understood fully theirundertaking as converts to the Christian faith?"Will every one of them stand any cross examination against their decision to leave the foldsthey were in, and their joining the Christianbelief?"

The reply was, "What do you mean? I toldyou they are all uneducated poor illiterateslabours from the slums. The group consists ofmen, women and children. Now, I will have togo there everyday and coach them up in thedoctrine of our faith."

On hearing this I smiled, and seeing me

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smiling, my father asked, "Why do you smile,Joseph? What is the matter?"

I said, "Nothing father! I do not see in thismass conversion, any matter of pride or pleas-ure which any true religion or any genuine orreasonable faith can claim for itself, for it isnothing but exploiting the illiteracy and ignor-ance of the poor labourers. It is leading thementally blind ones into something which theyneither know nor recognize. Do you think,father, that any sensible man can reasonablytake pride in getting some illiterate men,women and children to accept his own idealsand justifiably claim the least merit or value tohis thoughts?

"While the entry into a faith like Islam, iseffected only after a detailed study and enquiryby the learned ones with perfect conviction. WeChristians pride over our success in swelling upour ranks by mass conversions of illiteratelabours, who, by circumstances, are forced toaccept the Christian doctrine without knowingwhat they do is right or wrong. An ignorantmind is like a blank sheet: one can draw upon itwhatever one's fancy chooses and once the

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inscription is made to be settled upon such rawmaterial, any artist can pride over the platehaving any particular design of his own. If wetoday, to win the sympathy of the ignorantmasses, boast before our illiterate converts, ofour humility and self-sacrifices in the cause ofthe spread of our faith, will the outer world alsoforget the Edict of Milan, father, and will all,the records of the history of the brutal outragesthat Christendom committed against the Jews,in its own passionate eagerness and anxiety toswell its ranks, all together totally vanish?"

I continued, "If you kindly permit me,father, I would like to know from you if thisBible in your hands is to be merely read, memorized and preached to the others or it is to beacted upon in our daily life? If it is to be actedupon, will you kindly show me, father, if theChristian world could ever practice the principleof turning the other cheek also if one is alreadysmitten? Could any sincere Christian till now,give away his shirt when his coat was takenaway? Will you, father, surrender our wholehouse if anybody invades our residence andtakes possession of any of the rooms in this

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premises? If the Christian powers of the worldreally believe in this doctrine of self-surrender,why do they maintain their millitary and policeforces? Kindly tell me, father, if there is anyearthly use of merely believing in any goldenideals which can only adorn the pages of somebook and which can only be preached but neverpracticed. Why should we not reasonably acceptthe doctrine of self-defence taught by Islam, andthe principle of pardoning our offenders if theyare repentent and amending their conduct?

"For goodness sake let me know, father,how can three different ones at the same timebe three as well as an absolute one, bothnumerically and also in the essential nature ofperfect unity?

"On what reasonable grounds can the onewho is forsaken by God, be god himself and ifJesus is to be believed as the son of God whatclaim to the relationship with his father can aforsaken son have?

"What right has Christendom to claim anytruth in it when its spread was caused by theinhuman attrocities committed by the Christianforces against the Jews which conduct of the

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brutal outrages committed in the holy name ofChrist, has been fully reported even by theChristian authorities on Edict of Milan and bythe world renowned Christian scholar Gibbon inhis famous work The Decline and Fall of theRoman Empire.

"The doctrine of atonement through theblood of Christ, will naturally attract thosesinners who have sinned and who do not wantto give up sinning under the protection of thedoctrine that the price of their sins has alreadybeen paid away, and however much worstsinners they themselves choose to be, they willnot in the least be chastised for their heinouscrimes, for, after Jesus having paid away for thesins of man, God must have forfeited His claimto punish the sinners thereafter.

"There are many such things, father,which need a dispassionate study and animpartial judgement.

"I tell you, father, that whatever be theconsequences and whatever misfortune mayafflict me, 1, as one, have decided not to sellaway or forfeit my concience and common senseto the belief in such unreasonable dogmatic

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doctrines. I have embraced Islam, and if you donot get angry with me and kindly allow me toexplain to you the details of my enquiries, I willdo it whenever am wanted to do so. I do notlike any thought or belief of mine to be swal-lowed by anyone by force, for the religion Islam,which I now openly declare to have embraced,enjoins that there shall not be any compulsionin the matter of faith as the truth has beenrevealed against falsehood."

To my utter surprise I found my fatherfully attentive to my exposing my personal viewsand convictions; and at the end he said:

"Son! Do not think that your father is afool. I have been occassionaly confronted withsuch ideas during my life whenever I had theoccasion of discussing religion with my Muslimfriends. But today the sincererity and theboldness with which you expose your ownconvictions make me bold to decide about thematter. I shall tell you later but for God's sakekeep this matter strictly confined to you.Otherwise, be sure we will be thrown out intothe street as destitutes."

A few days later my father had a long talk

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and he decided to declare himself a Muslim.The details of our sufferings and the socialpersecution we had to pass through are ahistory by themselves.

I, now, for the information and guidanceof every seeker of truth, openly declare theactual findings of my sincere enquiry that Islamis not only the last of the mighty religions whichhad revolutionized the world and changed thedestinies of nations, but it is also the perfectand all-inclusive faith which contains in itself allthe good, found partly in all other religionswhich had preceded it. One of the most distin-guishing and striking characteristics of Islam isthat, it requires of its followers to believe thatall the religions of the world that preceded it,were revealed by God for the respective peopleof those ages. It is one of the fundamentals ofthis faith that its followers must believe in allthe prophets who were sent into the worldbefore the holy Prophet Muhammad, peace beupon him and his progeny, as truthful andsinless.

Muhammad, peace be upon him and hisprogeny, is the name of the Holy Prophet

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through whom this all comprehensive faith wasrevealed in its complete or perfect form andmeaning, for humanity as a whole for all times.It is the West that named this faith as Moham-medanism on the fashion of Christianity,Buddhism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism andHinduism. Otherwise, the name of this religiousorder is already given in its book the HolyQur'an as ISLAM, as quite opposed to themethod of naming the order after its founder.The founder of Islam himself is called a MUSLIM

as any other believer. As the various prophetspreached this same truth among differentnations at different times in different languages,every apostle of God is spoken of in the HolyQur'an as a Muslim. Thus, I have found, beyondall doubts that Islam is the religion whichhumanity needs for its progress in all spheres oraspects of its material as well as spiritual life, toearn salvation in the end.

Therefore, a true Muslim is one whobelieves in all the Prophets of God as truthful,and all the heavenly books as the true and theHoly word of God whereas:

1. A Jew (an Israelite) believes only in

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prophets of Israel and their own books.2. A Buddhist believes only in LordBuddha and in his sayings.3. A Christian believes only in JesusChrist and in a lesser degree in prophetsof Israel and the books of the ChristianChurch.4. A Hindu believes only in the sages thatappeared in India mentioned in theVedas.5. A Confucianist believes only inConfucius and his teachings.6. A Zoroastrian believes only inZoroaster and his teachings.Now mark the differences:A Muslim has to believe in all the

Prophets as truthful and sinless and their holybooks as the true word of God, revealed for thepeople and for the age. He also believes inMuhammad, peace be upon him and hisprogeny, as the Last of the Apostles of God andhis book, the Holy Qur'an as the Last of theRevealed Word of God to abide for ever.

Therefore, the identification of a trueMuslim is that:

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1. He is an Israelite for he believes in theTen Commandments and the law of retri-bution with its legitimate bounds.2. He is a follower of Christ in doing awaywith all the rituals of the Pharisees, andin denouncing their hypocritical observ-ances. He observes the laws of mercypromulgated on the Mount Olive when itleads to reclamation. His object is refor-mation through mercy or retribution asthe case may be.3. He is an Aryan Hindu in doing awaywith the images worshipped in place ofGod.4. He is a Sanatan Dharimic in payingrespects to all godly men and creeds.5. He is a Buddhist in preaching NirvanaSelf-effacement as the key of salvation.6. He is an Unitarian in establishing theUnity of God and the brotherhood ofmen.In short, he (a Muslim) embraces,

through the Holy Qur'an, every beauty in everyreligion, and turns his face from that which hasbeen added to the religion of God by man, and

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that is Islam.With the truth sufficiently explained, will

not every one of us love it, or will not every oneof us embrace it?

This solemn declaration I make just to behelpful to those who sincerely desire to knowthe Truth which they need for themselves tolive the life in this world to reach the blissfuldestination which is called salvation.

None can ever deny that there can neverbe any other way to please God than tocompletely surrendering ourselves to His will,an act which is called ISLAM.

Thus, the promise of the Lord toAbraham's seed was fulfilled in the advent andsuccess of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peacebe upon him and his progeny, in establishing theTruth for all times:

For Moses truly said unto the fathers, aprophet shall the Lord your God raise upunto you of your brethren, like unto me;him shall ye hear in all things whatsoeverhe shall say unto you.And it shall come to pass, that every soul,which will not hear that prophet, shall be

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destroyed from among the people.Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel andthose that follow after, as many as havespoken, have likewise foretold of thesedays.Ye are the children of the prophets, and ofthe covenant which God made with ourfathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thyseed shall all the kindreds of the earth beblessed. (Acts, 3:22-25)I once again make it openly known that

this true and sincere declaration of some facts ismeant not for anyone who does not like toknow anything against his fixed belief, but forthose free thinkers who are seriously busy insearch for truth and are ready to acknowledge itirrespective of the quarter or the agencythrough which it manifests.

Let me conclude with my sincerest thanksand gratitude to the All-merciful Lord for Ihave realized the fulfilment of His mercifulpromise to guide aright those who sincerelyseek the truth.

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