After the Battle of Armageddon three great personages all of them in the rank of "Saviours" will jointly set out as a team to save every soul. Two of these have been referred to in the Bible as :
"And I (God) will give Power unto My two witnesses” [229].
These two witnesses are :
1) The Mahdi or the Saint Saviour i. e. Syed Imam Mohammad son of Syed Abdulla and Syeda Arnena Khatoon the third or last Imam from the descendants of Hasan the elder grandson of Prophet Mohammad. All the three Imams from this family shall have the same face and features as that of Prophet Mohammad [230].
2) Syed Imam Abul Qassim son of Syed Imam Hasan Askari and the Italian Princess Nargis Khatoon. At the age of 5 years this Imam miraculously disappeared from the town of Samarah in Iraq on 8th of the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal 260 A.H. when his father was martyred. This Imam is now hidden from human sight for the past 1150 years This Imam is the 9th or last Imam from the descendants of Hussain, the Great Martyr of Karbala, the younger grandson of the Prophet. Because this Imam miraculously disappeared from view he is popularly known as the "Gaibul Imam". He will reappear at the end of the present civilisation to save mankind from evil [231].
The Powers that these two Witnesses will have are given in the following verses of the Bible :
"These are the two olive tress, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth".
"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies, and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed" [232].
3) The third is Jesus, son of Virgin Mary. He was lifted alive to Heaven in 33 A.D. i.e. over 1950 years ago. He will return to earth in the same condition as he was lifted [233]. Bacause he has disappeared from human sight so he has become the third "Gaibun Nabi" or the third Prophet who has disappeared from view without dying on earth. The first two being Prophet Enoch before the Deluge [234] and the Jewish Prophet Elijah [235].
A. WHAT WILL JESUS PREACH UPON HIS RETURN ?
It is very important for the world to know what exactly would be the teachings of Holy Jesus after his return to Earth. Because his preachings will be gladly accepted by not only the surviving Jews and Christians but also by all the Non-Muslims the world over.
Since the Holy Bible is the only basis which will be acceptable to Non-Muslims. So let us study what it informs. When Jesus was lifted to Heaven, his teachings were :
"I have yet many things to say say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" [236].
Since his religion was incomplete in the Holy Bible, Jesus has recommended his followers to accept the religion of the "Comforter" (in Arabic "Rahmat-ul-lil-Aalameen"). This is the divinely conferred title given in the Quran to Prophet Mohammad, as mentioned in the undernoted verse of the Holy Bible :
"But the Comforter (i. e "Rahmat-ul-lil-Aalameen" or Prophet Mohammad), which is the Holy Ghost (i. e. Logos or Nur-e-Mohammadi, therefore two references are made in this one sentence of the Holy Bible to Prophet Mohammad) whom the Father (i. e. God) will send in my name he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you" [237].
The last of the Divine Scripture has confirmed that the preachings of all the earlier Prophets were incomplete. It was so even at the time of Jesus. It was only completed for the first time in 631 A.D., when the last verse of the Quran was revealed declaring :
"This day I (Allah) have perfected your religion for you (Oh Mohammad) and completed My favour ( i. e. The Quran) unto you, and have chosen for you as religion AL-ISLAM... " [238].
This verse of the Quran has fulfilled the foretellings of Jesus that "the Comforter... ...shall teach you all things".
Allah has not only completed His Preachings in His chosen religion but He has even taken upon Himself preserve it and make it superior to all others and has also disclosed the name of His chosen Messenger :
"Indeed We (Allah), even We have revealed the Reminder (i.e. the Quran) and indeed : We are most surely its best Guardian" [239].
"He (Allah) it is Who has sent His messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth (i.e. Islam), that He may cause it (Islam) to prevail over all other religions in the world. And Allah Sufficeth as a Witness.
"Mohammad is the messenger of Allah" [240].
Since the Divine Message of the Almighty has been completed by the Comforter, so Jesus will now teach the completed religion which is universal for all Mankind when it announces :
"Mankind is but one single community. Allah sent them (about 124,000) Prophets as bearers of good tidings (all over the earth) and as warners (or guides to the correct path and conduct) and revealed through them the scriptures with truth" [241].
"Lo ! this your brotherhood (of mankind) is a single brotherhood, and I am your Lord, so observe your duty towards Me" [242].
B. CHRISTIAN EMPEROR'S REACTION !
In the fifth year after the declaration of the Prophethood of Mohammad the persecution of Islam by the Pagan Maccans became very severe. The Prophet was forced to advise all Muslims, who had the means, to emigrate to Abyssinia. This was a Christian Country. They also believed in the unity of God. Jafar bin Abu Talib, cousin of the Prophet, was chosen as the leader of these emigrants. This is known as the first Hijrah.
The rulers of Macca sent ambassadors to ask the Emperor of Abyssinia for their extradition. The Maccans accused them of having left religion of their own people. So they had done a grave wrong in their own country. Against the wishes of the envoys, the Negus sent for the spokeman of the refugees. In the presence of the bishops of his realm, the Emperor questioned them about their religion. Jafar bin Abu Talib replied :
"We were folk immersed in ignorance, believing in many gods, worshipping idols, eating carrion, given to lewdness, severing the ties of kinship, bad neighbours, the strong amongst us preying upon the weak. Thus were we till Allah sent to us a messenger of our own from the descendants of Prophet Abraham through his eldest son Ishmael, whose lineage, honesty, trustworthiness and chastity we knew. He called upon us to believe in the oneness of Allah that we should acknowledge Him as the Creator of the Universe, ascribing nothing unto Him as partner. He commanded us to worship God only and eschew all the stones and idols that we and our fathers used to worship besides Him. He ordered us to be truthful and to restore the pledge and observe the ties of kinship, and be good neighbours, and to abstain from things forbidden, and from blood, and forbade us lewdness and false speech, and to prey upon the wealth of orphans, and to accuse good women. He enjoined upon us prayer and legal alms and fasting". Then he enumerated for the Negus the teachings of Islam and said :
"So we trusted him and we believed in him and followed that which he had brought from Allah. We refrained from that which was forbidden to us, and indulged in that which was made lawful for us. Our people became hostile to us and tormented us. They sought to turn us from goodness so that they might bring us back to the worship of idols as against the worship of Allah, the Most High, and that we might indulge in those iniquities which before we had deemed lawful.
"The Maccans persecuted and oppressed us, and hemmed us in and kept us from the practice of our religion. As a last resort we left our homes. We chose thee above all others because we considered you to be a believer in the earlier Prophets uptil Jesus. We sought thy protection, and hoped that we should not be troubled in thy land, O King !”
Then the Negus questioned him : "Have you got with you anything of that which he brought from Allah?" Jafar answered : "Yes". Then the Negus said : "Relate it to me", and Jafar recited Surah "Maryium" or "Virgin Mary" (Surah No. 19 of the Quran) :
The Negus and his archbishop heard with attention the wonderful description given in this Surah of the Quran about the birth of Virgin Mary and her dedication to the service of God. They were amazed to hear that the Quran informed that Virgin Mary used to get heavenly food inside her locked sanctuary. When Zakariyah questioned Mary from where comes these wonderful food and fruits she replied : "It is from God. He gives to whom He likes without any limit".
Thereupon Zakariyah prayed inside the sanctuary of Mary for a son inspite of his old age.
Zakariyah received immediately in this sanctuary the promise of a son named John. Thereafter the angel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would soon become pregnant with a son who would be named Jesus. That Jesus would be a Prophet of God. Jesus would be blessed with a Divine Scripture.
The Virgin Mary protested how can I get a son when no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste. The Angel replied it is ever so easy for God to do what He likes. He has only to
order: "Be" and in a flash "it is". So the Virgin Mary miraculously become pregnant without anyone even touching her.
"And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the Palm tree. She said : "Oh ! would that I had died ere this (child's birth without any father) and had become a thing of naught (i.e. dead and), forgotten".
''Then (Jesus as he was coming out of the womb of his mother miraculously) replied unto her from below her, saying : "Grieve not. Your Lord has placed a rivulet beneath you".
"(And the child Jesus said) : "Shake the palm-tree toward yourself, and you will cause ripe dates to fall upon you".
"(And the child Jesus said) : So eat and drink and be consoled. And if you, meet any mortal say : Lo ! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal".
"Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said : O Mary ! Thou hast come with an amazing thing (of shame that you have got a son even before you have been married) !
"Oh sister (this is an Eastern term of respect to address a woman of nearly the same age as yourself) of (the descendants of) Aaron (brother of Prophet Moses, the son of Imran) ! Your father was not a wicked man, nor was your mother a harlot !
"Then she pointed to him (Jesus). They said : How can we talk to a new born child, who is in the cradle ?
“He (Jesus) replied (from his cradle even though he was just a few hours old and said): Lo ! l am the humble obedient created slave of Allah. He will bless me with a book of Scriptures (i e. Evangel) and has appointed me a Prophet (for the Jews).
"And has made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive.
"And (has made me) dutiful toward her (the Virgin Mary) who bore me, and has not made me arrogant, unblest.
"Peace be on me the day I was born, and the day I die and the day I shall be raised alive (to heaven).
"Such was Jesus, son of Mary (because he had no father so he is refered to by his mother's name) ! (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt".
As soon as such a wonderful description of the miraculous defence by the new born Jesus of the Virginity of Mary was heard, which does not exist even in the Holy Bible, the Emperor and his priests burst into tears of joy. The Negus ran down from his throne and embraced Jafar bin Abu Talib saying : "You are my religious brother. You are free to live in my land where you like", and he showered his gifts upon them.
Then the Emperor of Abyssinia turned to the Maccan delegation and said : "Take back your gifts. For all the riches of the world I shall not hand them over to you. You may go".
C. IN SEARCH OF TRUE LIGHT
Here is a statement of a friend in search of true light. He states :
I was born at Calcutta of staunch Catholic Parents. My father was a preacher who was well versed in the Bible. My mother was so orthodox that she would give us our morning breakfast only after her return from Church. Since my younger days, I was required to memorise several passages from the Bible. My father often took me along with him when he went to preach. From the special attention he paid to my knowing certain controversial points, it was quite obvious that he wanted me to succeed him in his profession. I was given a scholarship from the Church funds. In return I was required to receive special coaching in the Holy Bible and in the science of administering it to others.
One night whilst absorbed in my studies an idea suddenly struck me. It was to examine the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The question arose as to how three different things can be logically one and the same. How anything singularly absolute in its unity with its indivisible oneness, can ever by itself become divided into three separate beings with three different attributes, contradictory to each other. How could this be justified ? I asked my father as to how he would explain the Holy Trinity in the light of attacks from other religions. His answer was :
"In matters of faith one has to stop reasoning. One should believe in the doctrine only by one's heart and not by intelligence".
The reply instead of relieving me got all my thinking centred on this question. I decided to find anyhow some logical arguments, to prove that one could be an absolute one and at the same time be three different persons, and the three different persons could at the same time remain the indivisible one.
One day I went to my College Professor. He was a very learned person and a devout Catholic. I posed my problem on the Doctrine of Trinity. The Professor replied: "Why don't you ask any one of our priests ?" I said : "I have already asked them but they say it is a matter of belief and it cannot be subjected to any logic. This has upset me. This has raised the question in me : if what I believe in, is unreasonable and illogical, why should I subject myself to any blind following ? Is God so unjust and cruel as to expect man to believe in a doctrine about Himself, which no human brain can ever reasonably conceive ? I request you, Sir, to some how give me some way of arguing out the possibility of such an existence as the doctrine of Trinity wants us to believe".
The Professor out of pity for my state of confusion replied : "My dear David suppose you want to prove by some scientific formula how water can remain a liquid and at the same time be a solid stone too. How can I do it ? I do not think any man on earth can ever prove such a possibility. How the Everlasting God, Who being the Everliving Life itself, can also at the same time be a mortal i.e. be Jesus to suffer death at the hands of the other mortals ? And how the same mortal person can die and yet at the same time be the Absolute Immortal God ?” Upon my pressing him for some logical answer he continued :
"By damning every non-Catholic religions as the devil's work we, Christians, have shut ourselves from the vast sources of knowledge which are available outside our own fold. If you are so desperate for knowledge please study the following researches by other Church Authorities :
1. "The Two Babylons" by Rev Alexander Hislop, published in 1953.
2 "Babylon—The Great Has Fallen ! God's Kingdom Rules" published by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 1963.
On going through these researches I was extremely shocked. I found that the theory of 3 gods in one or trinity in unity has been in existence from time immemorial. It was not originated by Jesus. For example in the land of India where we live, the Hindus worship a god with 3 heads on a single body. He is called Shiva. He comprises of :
1. "Brahma" or the Sun, who is the father of gods. He is the god of life i.e. the Creator.
2. "Shanker" or the Moon. The god that destroys the evils of darkness.
3. "Vishnu" or the Holy Spirit, who is the god of administration or the just ruler of the universe.
This is the origin of God the father, God the son, God the Holy Ghost.
I even discovered that the Babylonian god also comprised of a triad of :
1. Shamsh—the Sun-god or the father of the gods.
2. Sin—the Moon-god or the only begotten son of god.
3. Ishtar - the goddess queen of the heaven or the great Virgin Mother.
You can well imagine my surprise that Trinity in Unity has been in existance in the Pagan religions all over the earth from thousands of years before the birth of Jesus. They were copied from Babylonianism and incorporated into the Bible without any valid authority. That is the reason why it cannot stand before logic and reason. Jesus had never taught Trinity.
I used to meet my Protestant classmates and discuss matters regarding differences in our faith. There were some Muslim students also, but I met them only on the play-ground as I hated meeting Muslims, whom I took to be dangerous fanatics.
One day by chance I questioned one of my Muslim co-student at St Xavier's College Calcutta :
"You Muslims believe in : The sword in one hand and the Quran in the other".
I was surprised at his reply :
"How little you know about Islam. Come with me to my religious teacher. We call him a Sufi. He knows English. He has studied also the Bible. He will be able to satisfy you”.
Out of curiosity I went with him to the Sufi. I repeated my question. In reply he asked me if I have read the Bible. I confirmed I am a Bible student. Please bring out your Bible and check up the following references :
Abraham was blessed with his first son Ishmael when he was 86 years old (Genesis 16 : 15 & 16).
The angels foretold the birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16: 10 &11).
Ishmael was blessed by God (Genesis 17 : 20).
Isaac was Abraham's second son He was born 14 years later. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born (Genesis 21 : 5).
His birth was also foretold by Angels (Genesis 17: 17—19).
He was also blessed by God (Genesis 17 : 21).
Abraham died at the age of 175 years and was buried by Ishmael then aged 89 years and Isaac aged 75 years (Genesis 25 : 7 & 9).
Ishmael died at the age of 137 years (Genesis 25 : 17).
The Holy Prophet Mohammad (Peace of God be on him) and the Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael. Jesus and all the Jewish Prophets (Peace of God be on all of them) are the descendants of the children of Isaac. Hence the Muslims and the Jews are brethrens. We, Muslims, believe in all the Jewish Prophets as our Prophets also. Both of us are the children of Abraham (Peace of God be on him and all his descendants). Did you know that ? Both you and we follow Abraham's religion. Therefore if you do not have the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other hand then how can you expect your brethrens who follow the same basic religion to have the Quran in one hand and sword in the other ?
Then he quoted two passages from the Quran :
"There is no compulsion in religion. The right path is very distinct from the path of error" (Quran Surah 2-AI Bakr: Ayat 256).
"Unto you your religion unto me my religion" (Quran Surah 109-Disbelievers : Ayat 6).
From these passages it will be quite clear that under Islam everyone is given full freedom to follow whatever religion one likes. There is no question of any kind of compulsion by Muslims.
You will appreciate that tolerance and persecution are two opposites. They are never compatible. The question is what does the history of Islam during the past fourteen centuries show whether Islam was ever spread with the sword in one hand and the Quran in the other ? Let us take the history of Jerusalem, a city sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
a) Jerusalem voluntarily surrendered to Khalifa Omar in 637 A.D. in accordance with a foretellings of Jesus in the city records (pages 263-273 of "Destruction or Peace"). Omar granted to all its inhabitants security for their lives, possessions, their Churches and the freedom to worship in whatever form they liked. There was no religious persecution or compulsion to accept Islam. Nobody was killed because of religion. The Bible was not burnt by the Muslims.
b) On the other hand, when Jerusalem fell into the hands of Christians in 1099 A.D. not only did they ride their horses over the dead bodies of the Muslims outside the city gate but even inside the Holy City of Jerusalem the Crusaders committed sacrilege by mercilessly massacring its entire inhabitants comprising 70,000 Muslims, the aged men, the defenceless women and the helpless children, who refused to be converted to Christianity under its "THE SWORD IN ONE HAND AND THE BIBLE IN THE OTHER POLICIES" (see also pages 184-185 of "The Saracens" by Arthur Gilman, London, 1887). Every copy of the Quran found in Jerusalem was burnt and destroyed by the Crusaders. About a million religious books of the Muslims were thus destroyed !
c) In 1187 A.D. Jerusalem was recaptured by Sultan Salauddin. The polarisation between Islam and Christianity stood out clearly on this occasion !
The Muslims did not ride their horses over the dead bodies of the Christian Crusaders, in the manner that the Crusaders had disgraced themselves, when they captured Jerusalem! They also did not slaughter the Christians in Jerusalem as did the Christian Crusaders who committed the sacrilege inside the Holy City by murdering 70,000 innocent defenceless Muslims comprising of the aged, the women, and the children. The Muslims also did not mutilate, destroy and burn the Holy Bible as the Crusaders had done to the Quran in 1099 A.D. There was no question of taking any revenge !
Thus the glaring differences between Christianity and Islam has stood out for all times. But that was not all. The Muslims showed how much nobler they were. Because history tells us that not only were all the prisoners of war set free, but even the prize captive—a Christian Princess—who was reserved for marriage to a Muslim prince as a prize-of-war was given her liberty to return. Further, the Christians were given full freedom to worship in whatever form they liked, the right or the wrong approach being entirely their responsibility ! There was no coercion or compulsion to follow Islam ! Nobody was killed on account of religion by the Muslims.
History cannot quote a single such example save and except from Islam—the religion in which men do not act according to individual desires and wishes, but live in absolute and complete surrender to the will of God, thus proving by actual facts that it is indeed the only religion of "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven". Then the Sufi handed over to me a copy of "Destruction of Peace" by Hajee Mahboob Kassim of Calcutta and asked me to study pages 302 to 315 and you will find the atrocities committed by the followers of the Holy Bible all over the earth in the name of religion particularly in Spain, Constantinople, Russia, Poland, Mexico, Peru etc. After reading the same, I was ashamed at what the Church had done in the name of Jesus and God.
He invited me to come with him to the Mosque and see for myself if there was any kind of compulsion or restrictions on anybody visiting the mosque or saying his prayers over there. I was cordially received at the Mosque and taken around and shown and explained. I was even given the opportunity to sit at one side in the mosque and pray and also to observe what was going on during a Muslim prayer. To my joy I found that a mosque is a house of God belonging to every one who wishes to pray therein. I was very much impressed by the genuine and the real brotherhood practised day and night amongst the Muslims. There is no reservation of places in the mosque or any sectarian segregation in any of the Muslim places of worship. I saw with my own eyes, Muslims of all ranks, all social and economic status, of different complexions, of various nationalities, all standing in one row, turning towards one direction, praying to one God, in one language and immediately after the prayer greeting each other by shaking hands with each other. Brotherhood or social equality claimed more in theory by the other schools of thought in the world, I found it to be a living reality in the daily life of the Islamic folds !
I put the following question to the Sufi :
"What proof have you besides the Quran to establish that Mohammad was truly a Prophet of God?"
He took the following verses from the Bible and read them to me serially :
"For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you".
"And it shall come to pass, they every soul, which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people".
"Yea ! and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days" (Acts 3 : 22-24).
I insisted :
"But the prophecy is about the advent of Jesus ?"
He replied :
"You read the verse again ! Does, not the verse say that God will raise a Prophet like unto Moses i. e. he will be a man born of a father and a mother as Moses was born ? Whereas Jesus was born only of a mother. Moses was a law-giving prophet and the one like him must also be a law-giver. Whereas Jesus was only a law-abider, following the law of the Ten Commandments already introduced through Moses. Mohammad brought a complete set of laws in the Quran. So this is not a reference to Jesus. Further Moses spoke to God face to face as one friend speaks to another. Jesus never spoke face to face with God. So this is not reference to Jesus. On the other hand Mohammad was invited to heaven on the night of Meraj, when he spoke face to face with God as one friend speaks to another. This Prophet would be from the Brethren of the Jews whilst Jesus was a Jew. So it does not refer to Jesus but to Mohammad who is from the Brethren of the Jews i. e. the children of Ishmael. You call Jesus son of God but these verses are talking about a Prophet so this reference is not to a son of God but to the Prophet called Mohammad.”
To further confirm from the Bible in the actual words of Jesus that these references relate only to Mohammad and none else the Sufi quoted from the parting advices of Jesus :
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and brings all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (St. John 14 : 26).
"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" (St. John 15 : 26).
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you unto all truth : for he shall not speak of himself ; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : he will show you all things to come" (St. John 16 : 12 & 13).
From these last advises of Jesus the Sufi pointed out :
1. The Comforter is the Holy Ghost.
2. The Comforter is the Spirit of Truth which has proceeded from the Father i.e. comes out of God.
3. Jesus has not come to teach all things but the Comforter who will come after Jesus will teach all thing and complete the Divine Teachings (Quran Surah 5—Al Maidah : Ayat 3, which is the last verse of the Quran announcing that the Divine teachings has now been completed).
4. The Comforter will not speak from his own accord but will say those things which he shall hear from God i.e. Quran or the Sayings of God. Which were revealed through Mohammad when he was in a state of trance.
Mohammad has been created by a command or word of God. Nobody else has been created in this manner. Everything has been created out him (St John 1:1 5). So Mohammad is the Holy Ghost, The Spirit of Light, and The Spirit of Truth. He has been created by the order of God. So he is "Amar Allah" i.e. "The Word of God" (Revelation 19 : 13) or the Logos. He has completed the teachings of Allah on earth which were incomplete uptil the time of Jesus.
His Quranic title is Rahmat-ul-lil-Aalamin (Quran Surah 21 — The Prophets Ayat 107) which means a Blessing or Comforter for the Universe. Hence it coincides with the Bible. He was given by the Pagans of Mecca the title of "Al Amin" or "The Faithful and True" by which he has been referred to in the Bible (Revelation 19 : 11). Can there now be any doubt about the Promised Prophet from the Brethren of the Jews? He is Mohammad, who is the Comforter to come after Jesus. He it is who has completed the Divine Religion through the Quran or The Sayings of God, which would be uttered by Mohammad in a state of trance from his mouth. When you consider all these numerous references from the Bible they prove just like the numerous lines of your thumb-print that it relates to you and only you, so also all these references from the Bible proves without any scope for doubt that all these numerous references in the Bible relate to none else but Mohammad, the Promised Prophet, the Comforter of the Universe who is to come after Jesus and who has actually completed the Divine Message.
I replied: "You have shown by inference that the numerous references in the Bible refer to your Prophet Mohammad, but can't you find the name of your prophet in the Bible to convince everyone ? I was quite confident that the Sufi would never be able to find the name Mohammad in the Bible which I had read over and over again so often. So I was absolutely sure I had trapped him with an impossibility !
The Sufi immediately brought out The Old Testament—Hebrew Text with English Translation, printed in 1950 in London for the British & Foreign Bible Society. He opened page 1159 and read verse 16 of Chapter V of the Song of Solomon in Hebrew (Transliterated) :
"Hikor mumethakeem Wey khoolo Mahamadeem Zey dodi wey zey rayee beynoth yerushalayeem".
Translation :
"His mouth is most sweet: And he is called Mahamad. This is My beloved, and this My friend (declares God), O daughters of Jerusalem".
He then referred to the word "Khoolo" and said it is the equivalent of the Urdu word "Kahlao" or the Arabic word "Kaloo" or the English word "Call" all of which means "to call".
When the existing official Bible gives the name of Mohammad in the Hebrew Text, said the Sufi, can there now be any scope for doubt about Mohammad if you are a true believer in the Bible? I was simply dumbfounded beyond imagination. I was shocked that the translators of the Holy Bible to misguide the Christians and the Jews have deliberately forged this Holy Scripture from "And he is called Mahamad" into "Yea he is altogether lovely".
The argument of the Sufi was so strong and unbreakable in view of these numerous Bible references that I could not doubt him. Then I asked him : "Do you not believe in Jesus as the son of God ?”
The Sufi replied : "Can there be a son to any one without a wife? Can anyone or you yourself, who believes in the sonship of Jesus, at any time sensibly imagine Virgin Mary to have been used by God as a wife to enable her to conceive an issue ? Let us seek the protection of God against any such devilish straying of our minds. Sonship, if used in the Bible, can only mean a created thing or the one who has received life from God. Otherwise what do you say about Jesus addressing himself as a "son of man".
"The son of man is come eating and drinking and ye say, behold a gluttonous man, and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners !" ( St. Luke 7:34 ).
Jesus never claimed that he was the only begotten son of God. Rather he affirmed that he was an inferior being and a servant of God according to his teachings in the Holy Bible :
"..........for my Father (i. e. God ) is greater than I (Jesus)" (St. John 14:28).
"Verily, Verily, I (Jesus) say unto you. The servant (i.e. Jesus) is not greater than his Lord (God) ; neither he (i.e. Jesus) that is sent greater than He (God) that sent him (Jesus)" (St John 13:16).
Please now study the very First Commandment of Jesus :
"And Jesus answered him, the First of all the Commandments is, 'Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord ( i. e. Our God is one Who has no father, mother, husband, virgin wife, brother, sister, begotten son, daughter or any other form of plurality ) :
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment" (St Mark 12 : 29-30).
The parting advice of Jesus was :
"..........but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God" (St. John 20: 17).
So mankind are the brethren of Jesus. His father is the Father of all of us. His God is also the God of all us. So there can be no doubt that Jesus is not the son of God unless you wish to call all Mankind sons of God !
The Bible has used the phrase "son of God" for Adam because he was created by God out of clay but without any father and mother (St. Luke 3:38). In the same chapter Jesus is called "the son of Joseph" and not son of God (St. Luke 3:23).
The creation of Adam without any parents is an even greater miracle than the creation of Jesus out of Virgin Mary. Do you worship Adam as the son of God ? "No !" Then how can anyone worship Jesus ?
Besides this Eve, the mother of all mankind was created out of the ribs of Adam i. e. a man but without a mother. Women are always the mother of children like Virgin Mary was the mother of Jesus. Is not the creation of Eve without a mother a greater miracle than the birth of Jesus through the Virgin Mary ? Do you worship Eve as Daughter of God ? "No !"
Then how can you worship Jesus as son of God when he is a less miraculous creation than both Adam and Eve ? Further Adam is called in the Bible "Son of God". So it will be very clear that the phrase “son of God" in the Bible does not mean a son in the physical sense but only a phraseology to express an unique creation of God.
Then he again handed over to me the copy of "Destruction or Peace" and asked me to read Chapters 5, 6 & 10 to 14.
On going through the same I discovered that this theory of Trinity in Unity was invented by one Nimrod, the son of Cush (Genesis 10: 8), the Mighty Hunter in rebellion before the Lord (Genesis 10 : 9). Nimrod, King of Babylon, claimed himself to be the only begotten son of god born of the virgin queen of the Heavens without any human contact on Christmas day ! The Babylonian faith proclaimed that Nimrod or son of God was the sin-bearer, who would sacrifice his life during Easter to save those sinners who ate sacramental bread as his body and drank wine as his blood to become the pure sinless deity. Under the Babylonian religion all his followers were honoured with the title and were called "sons of god". This teaching of Babylon has also been reproduced in the Holy Bible without any authority from Jesus as :
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14).
Nimrod was the Builder of the Tower of Babel. When it was put to the idolatrous worship of the Sacred Virgin Mother and her divine son of God with a halo around their heads then God changed the single language of the people overnight causing disunity amongst mankind (Genesis 11 : 1-9). The Bible warns: “Wherefore my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry" (1 Corinthian 10 :14).
As long as this Babylonian religion of "The son of God" and "Trinity" will remain there will be no peace and unity amongst mankind on earth. Jesus never taught this pagan theory that he was the son of God or Trinity in Unity. In support the Sufi quoted the teachings of Jesus from the Bible :
"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (i. e. Nimrod of Babylon)" (St. Matthew 15:9). From this teaching of Jesus from the Bible, it will be clear that Jesus has forbidden his worship in any form including son of God.
I was shocked at these unrefutable facts. I then asked but cannot God come on earth in the garb of Jesus ?
The Sufi replied : "Mr David, God to Muslims means One ! Who is from Eternity and will remain till Infinity. One who is Omnipotent and All Powerful, The Omniscient, The All Perfect The Formless, The Shapeless, the Invisible. He is the One upon Whom all depend, but Who does not require any assistance from anybody, the One and Only Who is incomparable i.e. One Who has no equals like father, mother, son, daughter, wife etc. the Creator of everything. When He is Omnipresent, He cannot be born or come to any place be it earth or any where else because He is already present there all the time. Now I would like you to ponder a little over your belief as to whether by any stretch of the imagination Jesus could be God in the light of the above
description of God. Then let us study the prayer of Jesus in the Bible :
"...... Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli Eli Lams Sabachthani ? That is to say My God, my God, why hast Thou foresaken me ?" (St. Matthew 27 : 46).
What is this ? If Jesus was god then how could he be foresaken by God ? If he is God then whom is he calling God ? If he is God then how can he be helpless and can't even save himself ? If one cannot save himself then how can he save ahybody else let alone all the sinners who believe in him ?
"Your Bible reports in this verse that your God Jesus was foresaken by his God in which case the foresaken God automatically and quite naturally forefeits his personal merits to be a God or son and his relationship of being a God or a son of God ends. He cannot be either a God or a son of God. What do you have to say ? Of what profitable use can the attachment to a foresaken God or son be ? Mr David please tell me ?"
I was struck dumb — I did not know what to say and what to do with the faith I already possessed as a staunch Christian ?
"Besides," the Sufi continued: "Do you think Jesus to be God Himself when he falls down crying, praying to some one else to remove the cup of death by crucification ? Does Jesus have a single one the attributes of God such as Everliving or Omnipotent ?”
Then I asked out of curiosity : "Do you Muslims study every other religion before you embrace Islam ?" He replied : "We are born of Muslim parents. All Muslims have been commanded by God to compare and contrast the truth, i. e. Islam, with every other faith and then come to our own conviction. Because mere blind following of any particular doctrine is not good. Therefore study of religion and being thereby convinced and then having faith is the only correct way.
I asked : "Do you believe in the Holy Bible as a Heavenly Book or not?" In reply to my question the Sufi requested me to answer the following questions :
1. "Is this Bible, which is in your hands, the book which Jesus himself wrote as the Divine scripture revealed to him by God ?”
I had to say, "No ".
2. "Did Jesus dictate this Bible to any one during his life ?”
"No".
3. “Was this Bible written by any one in his presence on his behalf ?”
"No".
4 "Was this Bible which is in your hands written around the time of Jesus ?"
"No".
5. "Was this Bible which is in your hands today written within one or two years after the departure of Jesus ?”
"No".
"Then", he said, "please read page 17 of 'The Founder of Christianity and His Religion' published by the Christian Literature Society, Madras. In the said book Christian Authorities have stated :
"The whole Bible consists of sixty six books written by forty different authors over a space of about fifteen centuries”.
It is clearly said in the said research that :
"Jesus Christ himself wrote nothing".
"Oral teaching was for several years the only means employed in the spread of Christianity. It was for the guidance of those young converts, that the earliest writings of the New Testament were composed".
The same book further discloses that:
"They were probably written about twenty years after the death of Christ".
On page 18 it is stated :
"The Gospels do not give a complete history of the life of Christ, they are rather memoirs."
I said : "But the Bible is the word of God inspired and written by the disciples of Jesus." He again questioned:
"Mr. David, if the Bible is the Book of the disciples of Jesus and cromprises only of the inspired words of God, then how would you account for the differences in the Book ? Does not the Catholic Bible Douay contain some books which the Protestant versions does not accept ?
"Have you read what Mr. Wilson says about the Bible in his introduction to the "Diagiot"—published by The Watch Tower Bible, a Trust Society ?
"If it had not been published by kingly authority it would not now be venerated by English and American Protestants, as though it had come direct from God. It has been convicted of containing over 20,000 errors. Nearly 700 Greeks MSS are now known and some of them very ancient whereas the translators of the Authorised Version had only the advantage of some 8 MSS none of which was earlier than the tenth century".
Is not the present Bible based upon only 8 manuscripts whereas there are 700 manuscripts now available ? You claim what is contained in all such manuscripts are also the inspired words of God. Then why God did not make these manuscripts available at the time of the Authorised Version of King James I ? In view of all these facts brought to light, if you still believe in the Bible as the inspired word of God, you may do so but you can't expect the world to accept it. If you make a serious and an impartial study of the Old and New Testaments, you will find in them several blasphemies which the Jewish mind has fabricated against their numerous prophets. As an example let us look at the prophets Noah, Lot and David :
"And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard :
"And he drank of the wine, and was drunken ; and he was uncovered within his tent.
"And Ham. the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
"And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness" (Genesis 9 : 20-23).
Noah getting over-drunk (Genesis 9 : 21).
Lot commiting adultery with his own daughters (Genesis 19:30-38).
David taking possession of his neighbour's wife" ( 2 Samuel 11 :2-5).
I exclaimed in utter surprise :
“What ? Do you Muslims believe in these Prophets of God i.e. other than Mohammad to be totally sinless and holy?"
The Sufi recited the following verses from the Holy Quran :
"There is not a nation but a warner has gone among them" (Quran Surah 35—Fatir : Ayat 24).
"And We ( Allah ) made them (i.e. the Prophets ) leaders, who guide (mankind) by Our (Allah's) Command and We (Allah) inspired in them the doing of good deeds (as such all the prophets are pure and sinless ) and the right establishment of prayers and the giving of charity and they were true worshippers of Us (Allah)" (Quran Surah 21—The Prophets : Ayat 73).
"The Apostle (Mohammad) believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. They all believe in Allah (God) and the Angels, and the Divine Scriptures and the Prophets ; we make no difference between any of the Prophets" (Quran Surah 2—Al Bakr: Ayat 285).
The Sufi explained that from Adam the first man and prophet till Jesus about 124,000 Prophets have come all over the earth for the education of Mankind. Muslims are compelled to accept all these prophets to be sinless and pure. We do not make any distinctions between them. The religion of God was incomplete till the time of Jesus because the people of the world had not yet developed mentally to be able to bear the complete rules of God which was completeted only by the last sentence of the Quran.
It convinced me that Islam alone, is an all comprehensive faith which recognizes all other prophets and religions and which contains in it a perfect harmonious integration of all that is good, found partly in the older religious orders of the world. The sacred book of Islam i.e. the Holy Quran, is the final expostion of the Divine Light in its Perfection, which was revealed at different times, through the other heavenly scriptures, in parts suiting the various evolutionary levels of conception by the human minds. The limitation of the human mind of the different ages, did not allow even prophets like Jesus to speak out the whole of the truth. Jesus had to depart with many things yet to be told to his people (St. John 16: 12). Jesus had to tell his people to wait until the advent of the Spirit of Truth to disclose the whole of the Truth (St. John 16 : 13).
I was very much impressed by the Universal aspects of the religion of Islam.
Every answer from the Sufi was with an unchallengeable authority and with an unbreakable argument. I was awakened to differentiate between genuine truth and the fabrications of falsehood and to know many new factors to which I was blind all these years. But I did not know how to reconcile the dawn of true knowledge of the Divine Light with my original blind dogmatic belief and my belonging to the Christian faith. I wanted to find out some failure on the part of this Sufi to answer satisfactorily some question or the other, so that I may have some excuse, be that even a false one, to maintain my positon in the Christian faith.
I, at last, ventured to ask one more question. "There is the doctrine of atonement of expiation of sins of men through the blood of Jesus. Jesus having paid the price of the sins of man i.e. one who believes in Jesus is cleansed and saved. Have you any such accommodation in Islam ?"
The Sufi smiled :
"My friend, the greatest of God's gifts to man is common sense. If man forfeits it of his own accord, then none can save him. Now kindly let me know if this doctrine appeals to reason and common sense. A, for example, a Christian by faith i. e. a believer in Jesus Christ as his Saviour, plunders the house of B and rapes the women and kills the male members of B's family. Does sense or logic agree to A being let off unpunished by any law, particularly the law of the All Just Lord of the Universe, simply because A accepts Jesus as his Saviour ?"
I had to say "No" because, to say otherwise would mean I forfeit my common sense and go against reasoning.
He continued : "There is one very grave aspect of the doctrine of atonement through the blood of Jesus i. e. when we pay for a thing, the thing becomes our own and the previous owner of the thing forfeits all his claim over it for the price he has already received. Is it not so ?" I said "Yes". Then he said "If the sins of man have been paid for, then God has no right to punish any sinner. Every sinner who merely believes in Jesus would be free to do anything in the world, which his brutal passions dictates him to do, for God his Lord has no right at all even to question any sinner, for Jesus has met the cost of all his sins whatsoever they may be ! Thus there is a direct encouragement to commit freely any amount of sins including murder and rape without any fear ! Can this ever be sensible logic or common sense ? Can such doctrine help life on earth to continue for even one moment in security and stability with everyone racing with each other other in boasting who can commit more sins ?”
He continued : "Please remember, Islam wants every individual to be kept within strict bounds by his being answerable for all his individual acts with full responsibility for virtue against vice. Is not this in the best interest of man's own individual life as well as in the interest of the collective life in this world ? Everyone of us are members not only of the human race but also of the creation of the Lord as a whole. Islam continuously invites and encourages Man towards righteousness with the promise of the blissful life in the hereafter and repeatedly warns him against vice and the consequent chastisement from the All Just Lord. The Holy Quran repeatedly warns saying :
"Whoever does aright, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he does aright. And whoever commits errors, it is to his own detriment only does he go astray. Nor can the bearer of a burden bear the burden of another. We (Allah) never punish anybody until We (Allah) have sent an apostle (for their guidance to a straight path)" (Quran Surah 17—Israel : Ayat 15).
Now please study your Bible and you will be shocked to learn that Christians also have been similarly warned by Jesus with a request not to mock the All Just God :
"But let every man prove his own work, and then he shall have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another.
"For every man shall bear his own burden (of sins and not in another).
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked : for whatsover a man soweth (i.e. does), that shall he reap" (Galatians 6 : 4, 5 & 7).
"And as I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened : and another book was opened, which was the book of Life : and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works" (Revelation 20:12).
"But I say unto you, that every idle word (or deed) that man shall speak (or do), they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment" (St. Matthew 12 : 36).
''And these shall go away into everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into life eternal" (St. Matthew 25 : 46).
The Sufi pointed out : Now will you realise that you have been warned by Jesus in the Bible that there is no such thing as atonement in Jesus ? Rather you are blaspheming by making a mockery of the All Powerful God, Who alone has power to dispense Justice on the Day of Judgment.
Then he continued saying : "After all we are human beings, who are liable to lapses and errors. If we are sorry for our sins , and do "Tauba" (i.e. promise never to repeat again the sins and compensate those who have suffered from our wrong acts), the All Merciful Allah will forgive us. He is Rahman-ur-Rahim (i.e. All Beneficient and ever Merciful), The Raufur Rahim (i.e. Oft Forgiving).
“For goodness sake, tell me, Mr. David, which do you think is reasonable and sensible, either making man atone in Jesus and indirectly encouraging the commitment of sins on the basis that the price of his sins have already been paid for by Jesus as copied from the illogical teachings of the Babylonian faith or the logical and sensible warnings of Jesus in alerting him as regards his fundamental duties to abstain from vice, i.e. keeping him warned of the natural law of getting punishment from an All Just Lord who punishes misconducts or disobediences ?" On the day of Judgement, will not the mockery of God rebound on Christians?
I felt that I had at that moment understood the Religion of the doctrine of atonement upon which rested the modern edifice of the Christian faith by ignoring the real teachings of Jesus. The Divine Mercy of the Lord dawned upon my heart, with a new radiating light. I realised, I had found the true Light of the Divine Guidance which can never fail me in this life or the next. I thanked God for liberating me from the clutches of the grossly misleading dogmatic christian doctrines and leading me to His Light of "Thy will be done on Earth as it is Heaven". My conscience through impartial enquiry has led me to the unchallengeable truth that Islam is the glowing light to the Straight Path of Salvation which the All Merciful Lord Himself has shown man through His last Apostle Mohammad
(May peace of Allah be on Him and his descendants and his followers)
.
Out of joy I embraced this Light of Guidance "Thy will be one on Earth as it is in Heaven" by declaring :
"La illaha il Lallah Mohammadur Rasul Allah"
i.e. There is none worthy of Divine worship except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The Sufi congratulated me saying :
BLESSED are you who honestly searched for the Light of True Guidance.
BLESSED are you, who was favoured by Allah's kindness in guiding you to His true Light.
BLESSED are you, whose heart has joyfully embraced the light.
BLESSED are you, who has accepted after serious research what is right with full conviction as to what is the right path.
BLESSED are you, whom no power on earth can now deviate from the Right Path of Divine Guidance.
BLESSED are you, whom the Lord will forgive your past mistakes - Amen".
D. THE OPENING CHAPTER
when informed of the opening chapter of the Quran which comprises of 7 small verses was so much dumbfounded that he remarked : Such a wonderful opening, which in these 7 small sentences brings out what is God and what is His relation with man and what is man's pleadings to Him for the guidance of his life, is not to be found in the opening of any of 39 books of the Old Testaments of the Jews nor in the 27 books of the New Testaments of the Christians nor in the Purans or Gita or Vedas or Upanishad of the Hindus nor in the Pali canons of Buddhism with its books of "Pitaka" nor in the Japaness "Kojiki" or "Yengishiki" nor in any of the numerous religious books he has had the opportunity of studying. So how can such a wonderful opening be of the Book of Islam. Surely such a book would surely be far superior to all the other religious scriptures of the world. Well here is the English translation of the opening Chapter of the Quran :
"With Allah's name we start, the Most Beneficient, the Ever Merciful".
1) "Praise be to Allah, the Creator-Sustainer of the Universe".
2) "The Most Beneficient, The Ever Merciful".
3) "The Owner of the Day of Judgement".
4 "Thee we worship and Thee we ask for help".
5) “Guide us on the straight path".
6) "The path of those whom Thou has favoured with Thy grace".
7) "Not (the path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those astray".
The whole of the Quran is an explanation and elaboration of this small Chapter. Hence it is the essence of not only the Quran and Islam but it also comprises of those golden principles upon which all the religions of Earth have been founded. An unbelievable wonder—a living miracle for all who have goodwill, a pure heart and an open mind to realise.
E. EUROPEANS' DISCOVERY OF SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD
Goethe, the famous German poet and philosopher, seems to have been moved to raptures over his discovery of the Religion of "Surrender to the will of God", when he declared after going through the Quran :
"If Islam be submission to God's Will, in Islam we live and die".
An English research scholar Thomas Carlyle has remarked :
That God is great, and that there is nothing else great. He is the Reality. Wooden Idols are not real. He is real. He made us at first, sustains us yet; we and all things are but the shadow of Him, a transitory garment veiling the Eternal splendour; "Allah Akbar, God is great! "—and then also 'lslam' that we must submit to God. That our whole strength lies in resigned submission to His will whatsoever He do to us, for this world and for the other. The things He sends to us, were it death and worse than death, shall be good, nay shall be best; we resign ourselves to God. 'If this be Islam', says Goethe, 'do we not all live in Islam ?' Yes all of us that have any moral life ; we all live so. It has ever been held the highest wisdom for a man ...." [243].
F. EUROPEANS CONFIRM PERMANENCY OF CIVILISING POWERS OF ISLAM !
Canon Isaac Taylor, who formed a very decided opinion on the civilising powers of Islam, reports :
"It is not the first propagation of Islam that has to be explained, but it is the permanency with which it retains its hold upon its converts. An African tribe, once converted to Islam, never reverts to paganism and never embraces Christianity. When Mohammadanism is embraced by a Negro tribe, Paganism, devil-worship, fetishism, cannibalism, human sacrifice, infanticide, witchcraft at once disappear. Natives begin to dress, filth is replaced by cleanliness, drunkenness becomes very rare, gambling is forbidden, the immodest, dance and the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes cease. Hospitiality becomes a religious duty, female chastity is regarded as a virtue, industry replaces idleness, law, order and sobriety prevail, a feeling of humanity, benevolence and brotherhood is inculcated. Polygamy and slavery are regulated, their evils restrained. Islam above all, is the most powerful total abstinence association in the world, whereas the extension of European trade means the extension of drunkenness and vice and the degradation of the people. Islam introduces a civilisation of no low order, including a knowledge of reading and writing, decent clothing, personal cleanliness, veracity and self-respect. Its restraining and civilising effects are marvellous. How little have we to show for the vast sums of money and all the precious lives lavished upon Africa ? Christian converts are reckoned by thousands, Muslims converts by millions. These are the stern facts we have to face. It is a pity to ignore them. We ought to begin by recognising the fact that Islam is not an Anti-Christian faith, but it is a half-Christian faith" [244].
Charles R. Watson has confirmed his findings :
"It may be boldly asserted that no people in the world give the impression of being so religious minded as do Muslims. Their whole life is saturated with the consciousness of God" [245].
G. ANALYSIS ON 50 YEARS INCREASE IN WORLD POPULATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON MAJOR RELIGIONS
The World Almanac and Books of Facts 1935 informs that the position of World Population and major religions in 1934 were as under. As against that the position 50 years later according to Reader's Digest Almanac and Yearbook 1983 is now :
1934 / 1983 / Difference
World Population 2,000.000,000 / 4,721,000,000 / 136% increase
Christianity 683,400,000 / 1,000,000,000 / 47% increase
Buddhism 150,180,000 / 245,000,000 / 63% increase
Judaism 15,630,000 / 15,000,000 / 4% decrease
Confucianism & Taoism 350,600,000 / 305,000,000 / 13% decrease
Hinduism 230,150,000 / 500,000,000 / 117% increase
Shintoism 25,000,000 / 63,000,000 / 152% increase
Islam 209,020,000 / 700,000,000 / 235% increase
From the above statistics it will be clear that World Population have increased on an average of 136%.
The increase of Shintoism by 152% as against the average world population increase of 136% is due to the fact that the population increase in Asia is much higher than the world average. So this in reality is no increase at all.
The increase in all the other religions except for Islam have been far less than the average increase in population. These statistics show that people must have been leaving these religions during the past 50 years !
This leaves only Islam which has had an increase of 235% as against the world population increase of 136%. This means that during the past 50 years the only religion in the World that has won converts and that also of as much as about 100% over and above the average increase of Population is Islam ! Does this not disclose what the Divine Will is ? That eventually all religions on Earth will fade away. Only will remain Islam !
H. THE NEW CIVILISATION
In about seven years from the battle of Armageddon the Mahdi assisted by Jesus and the other saints will not only fill this planet with such piety that Man's wishes would be granted before they are prayed for and Man would start following Allah's wishes even before His orders are issued but He would also bring about a complete universal change effecting the animals and the nature of this earth [246] as detailed below :
1) ALL EVIL DOERS SHALL CEASE TO EXIST
“For evildoers shall be cut off (during the Battle of Armageddon) : But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth".
"For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be : yes, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and he shall not be" [247].
2) THE END OF THE CURSE OF THE TOWER OF BABEL !
Mankind would return to that stage they were in before the curse of God at the Tower of Babel, which broke up the unity of mankind by changing their language overnight. This incident had taken place about 4,000 years ago. To quote the words of the Holy Bible :
"And the whole earth was of one language, and one speech".
"And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they all have one language, and this they begin to do : And now nothing will be restrained from them, which they imagined to do" [248].
A golden opportunity will thus present itself to the survivors for progress to a wonderful future in an undreamed of manner. This time the progress will not be based upon selfish materialism but will be spiritual and enlighted as described hereafter.
3) WEAPONS OF WAR DESTROYED AND WARS WIL BE FORGOTTEN !
“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people : and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more [249].
4) THE BLIND WILL SEE, THE LAME WILL DANCE, THE DUMB WILL SING
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped".
"Then shall the lame man leap as a hart ( i. e. like a young deer), and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert" [250].
5) FAMINES WILL BECOME A THING OF THE PAST—PLENTY ALL AROUND !
"……..And I will cause the shower to come down in his season, there shall be showers of blessings".
"And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase and they shall be safe in their land and shall know that I am the Lord ... "
"And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them ; but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid" [251].
6) WILDERNESS AND DESERTS WILL BECOME FULL OF FRUITS AND FLOWERS : EVEN THORN TREES WILL CHANGE !
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose" [252].
"Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree : and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off" [253].
"Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest".
"Then Justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field" [254].
7) WILD ANIMALS SHALL BECOME TAME & HARMLESS
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamp, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them".
"And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,
"And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox".
"And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice (i e. a cobra's) den —
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord......." [255].
"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain saith the Lord" [256].
8) THE HIGHWAYS SHALL BECOME SAFE FOR TRAVELLING !
"And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be calfed the way of holiness, the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein".
“No lion shall be there nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there".
"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" [257].
9) THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH IN PEACE
"But the meek shall inherit the earth ; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of Peace" [258].
10) MANKIND'S WISHES WILL BE GRANTED BY GOD EVEN BEFORE THEY ARE PRAYED FOR !
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I (God) will answer, and while they are not yet speaking, I will hear" [259].
11) MANKIND WILL BE BLESSED WITH NOBLE CHILDREN !
"They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble ; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them" [260].
12) MAN WILL POSSESS HIS OWN HOUSE AND ENJOY THE FRUITS OF HIS OWN GARDEN AND LABOUR !
"And they shall build houses, and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them".
"They shall not build and another inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat, for as the days of a tree the days ot My people and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” [261].
13) THE EARTH WILL BE FILLED WITH PIETY !
"God be merciful unto us, and cause his face ( i. e. Prophet Mohammad and the Madhi because they have identical face and features ) to shine upon us. Selah''.
''That Thy way (AL ISLAM) may be known upon earth. Thy saving health among all nations".
"Let the people praise Thee, O God, let all people praise Thee".
"O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah".
"Let the people praise Thee, O God, let all the people praise Thee".
'Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God even our own God, shall bless us".
"God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him" [262].
14) THE WHOLE EARTH WILL SING PRAISES UNTO ALLAH !
"Make joyful noise unto God, all ye lands".
"Sing forth the honour of His name, make His praise glorious".
"Say unto God, How terrible art Thou in Thy works ; through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee".
"All the earth shall worship Thee, and Shall sing unto Thee, They shall sing to Thy name. Selah" [263].
I. TOO WONDERFUL TO BELIEVE !
The Holy Prophet Mohammad has informed :
"Hazrat Iman Mahdi and Jesus will bring about such wonderful conditions of piety and spiritual revival that even the dead would petition Allah to give them permission to come out of their graves just to see these most wondrous conditions in man's history on earth" [264].
These petitioners amongst others would comprise of about 124,000 Prophets that have come all over the earth in the past and the millions of saints who have completed their tenure and have left this earthly life !
These very foretellings of such unbelievably wonderful conditions have been described in all the religious books of the East including Buddhist, Hindus, Islam, Jamasef Nama, Old Tibetan records, etc in addition to all the astrological foretellings. This would be the Golden Age for Man on Earth.
Just think of it — no more wars, violence, sins, crimes, starvation, hunger, poor housing or sickness ! Your children instead of being disobedient and bringing shame and disgrace upon their elders would become noble — "the apples of your eyes" Gone would be the days of evil ! Man will be able to communicate with fellow human beings by spiritual telepathy even though thousands of miles apart and even communicate with animals and nature.
What a splendid blessing these joyous surroundings will bring about for Mankind !
But this is not all ! Even the wild animals will change suddenly and miraculously ! The wolf and the lamb shall feed together ! The lion shall eat straw like the bullock ! Dust shall be the serpent's meat ! Even the cobra will not sting nor poison a child, putting his finger into the cobra's den !
Just let us visualise what unimaginable opportunites this period of peace and unity will provide mankind for progress in whateve.field Man wants — scientific or otherwise. Now there would be nothing to stop man in his advancement.
Indeed these conditions would be incredible !
J. THE 1000 YEARS HAPPY PERIOD FREE FROM SATAN !
"And I saw an angle come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand".
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years".
"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he most be loosed a little season" [265].
The Holy Bible has also confirmed thus :
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" [266] .
This period of 1000 years is called by The Watch Tower Bible Society as the seventh day or Seventh millennium of man's existence on this earth since the creation of Adam. Hence they call it the Sabbath period of 1000 years wherein Man would perform only good and holy acts, deeds and things. This will be a period free from demonism and the temptations of Satan, who is chained for 1000 years.
One is tempted to ask : Which Satan ? Will it be Lucifer or Iblis or somebody else? When Iblis is praying all the time to his Lord as shown earlier it will be clear that it cannot be Iblis. Then who could be this devil ? Surely it is our own human selfish instincts, i. e. our selfish desires. So from this it would appear that the spiritual revival of mankind will be of such a high order that all selfish desires of greed, lust, anger, jealousy, hate etc. , will be completely subdued for 1000 years. Man would be one brotherhood of Universal Love and Peace ! Something to strive for, something to look forward to. The ideal goal of humanity — Love, Happiness and Universal Peace ! The Garden of Paradise on this earth for all Mankind !
K. JESUS OF NAZARETH KING OF MANKIND—I. N. R. I.
Here are a few of the many foretellings of the Holy Prophet Mohammad about Jesus. Space does not permit the inclusion of all the many Hadis in this respect. These few will be quite sufficient to show the importance of Jesus in the eyes of Muslims. Shortly after the battle of Armageddon the Mahdi will advise Jesus to marry. Jesus will marry a Muslim Lady. Jesus will be blessed with noble and pious children [267].
The mission of the Mahdi will be completed upon the conversion of all the people on earth to Islam and the bringing about of the wonderful conditions described before. Then he will appoint Jesus as his successor and Khalifa or Viceroy of Allah over entire mankind [267]. This should be around 7 years after Armageddon. At that time the Mahdi will be around 40 years of age. He will depart from earthly life. Jesus will perform his last rights and bury him [267]. With the Mahdi will depart many of the Saints who had appeared at the time of Armageddon.
So Jesus of Nazareth the son of Virgin Mary will become the king of the third Civilisation or the universal kingdom of the pious "United Mankind" [267]. You can now image what progress and success for all mankind will be started by Jesus which will carry on for many centuries to come.
Jesus out of respect for Prophet Mohammad will not set up his Capital at Macca or Madinah. Jesus will make Jerusalem, the city of his forefather king and Prophet David [267] as his capital and will rule from there.
Jesus will live for about 40 /45 years after his return to earthly life [268].
Jesus will die a natural death. He will die as a Muslim. His last rights will be performed by Muslims and he will be buried by Muslims [269].
Jesus will be buried by Muslims in the spare space next to the grave of the Holy Prophet Mohammad inside Masjid-e-Nabavi or "Mosque of the Prophet" at Madinah. Both these Prophets will come out of their graves from Masjid-e-Nabavi on the "Day of Judgement" [270].
This will be the greatest honour that can be bestowed upon Jesus by the Muslims in accordance with the numerous instructions that have been left behind by Prophet Mohammad. Such an unique honour has not been been blessed upon any other of the earlier Prophets. Jesus will be very happy at this exceptional honour and respect shown to him by the Muslims.
Thus it will be seen that Jesus has been blessed with the highest respect and honour by Prophet Mohammad ( Peace of Allah be upon both of them).
Further the foretelling made 2000 years back that Jesus will be king of the Jews is getting atlast fulfilled but in a very magnificient form in as much as that Jesus will not be king of only one community i.e. the Jews but of all united Mankind ! This foretelling in Latin is :
"IESUS NAZARENUS REX lUDAEORUM"
Which is being translated as :
"Jesus of Nazareth King (of Mankind) out of the Jews — I. N. R. I.”
List of References to Chapter 12 :
[229] Holy Quran, Surah 2—Al Bakr : Ayat 213.
[230] Page 613, "Destruction or Peace" by Hajee Mahboob Kassim published 1971 at Calcutta.
[231] Page 569, Vol. 2, "Tafrihul Askia Fil Ahwal Ul Anbia" and Page 133, Vol. 2, "Rahmat Ul Lil Aalamin "by Sulaiman Munsoorpuri and pages 2-&, 'Durri Maqsood" by Shia Scholar Khan Bahadur Aulad-e-Hyder Bigrami.
[232] Holy Bible — Revelation 11 : 4 & 5.
[233] Holy Bible — Acts 1 : 9-11
[234] Holy Bible — Genesis 5 : 24
[235] Holy Bible — 2 Kings, 2:11.
[236] Holy Bible — St John 16 : 12.
[237] Holy Bible — St. John 14 : 26.
[238] Holy Quran, Surah 5 —Al Maidah : Ayat 3.
[239] Holy Quran, Surah 15 — Al Hijr : Ayat 9.
[240] Holy Quran, Surah 48 — Al Tatah : Ayats 28 & 29.
[241] Holy Quran, Surah 2 — Al Baqr : Ayat 213.
[242] Holy Quran, Surah 23 — Al Mominun : Ayat 52.
[243] Page 56, "Hero as a Prophet" by Thomas Carlyle, published by Oxford University Press, 1909.
[244] Page 50, 'The Life of Mohammad" by Canon Isaac Taylor.
[245] Page 38-39, "What is this Moslem World ?" by Charles R. Watson, published in London 1973.
[246] Page 27, Hadis No. 5218, "Miskat Sharif" by Abu Mohammad Hussain originally published in Ramzan 737 A. H. and revised by Shaikh Abdul Huq Mohaddis Dehelvi, Published by Mohd. Sayeed & Sons, Quran Manzil, Karachi.
[247] Holy Bible — Psalms 37 : 9 & 10.
[248] Holy Bible —Genesis 11 :1 & 6.
[249] Holy Bible — Isaiah 2 : 4 and Micah 4 : 3.
[250] Holy Bible — Isaiah 35 : 5 & 6.
[251] Holy Bible — Isaiah 35 : 8-10.
[252] Holy Bible — Isaiah 35 : 1.
[253] Holy Bible — Isaiah 55 : 13.
[254] Holy Bible — Isaiah 32 : 15 & 16.
[255] Holy Bible — Isaiah 11 : 6 – 9.
[256] Holy Bible — Isaiah 65 : 25.
[257] Holy Bible — Isaiah 35 : 8-10.
[258] Holy Bible — Psalms 37 : 11.
[259] Holy Bible — Isaiah 65 : 24.
[260] Holy Bible — Isaiah 65 : 23.
[261] Holy Bible—Isaiah 65 : 21 & 22.
[262] Holy Bible—Psalms 67 : 1—7.
[263] Holy Bible—Psalms 66 : 1—4.
[264] Page 327 Vol. 5 "Miskat Sharif".
[265] Holy Bible—Revelation 20 : 1—3.
[266] Holy Bible—2 Peter 3 : 8.
[267] Page 485, Vol 2, "Tafrihul Azkia Fil Ahwal Ul Anbia".
[268] Page 51, Hadis No 5272, "Miskat Sharif".
[269] Page 85, "Aalam-e-lslam aur Yahudiat" by Arif Dehelvi M. A., published by Friends Publication Multan.
[270] Page 51, Hadis No 5272, "Miskat Sharif".
[271] Holy Bible—St. John 18 : 37-39.
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