:CM 



Kamal-ud-Din, Khwaja 

Islam and other religions 





L71 




(In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. } 

ISLAM 

AND 

OTHER RELIGIONS 



BY 



AL-HAJJ KHWAJA KAMAL-UD-DIN 

FOUNDER OF 

IE WOKING MUSLIM MISSION, (ENGLAND) 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE WOKING MUSLIM MISSION 

AND 

LITERARY TRUST, 

The Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking, Surrey, 

ENGLAND. 



WORKS BY 




AUTHOR 



BP 
I7/ 






THE IDEAL PROPHET^ 

THE SOURCES OF Cl 

THE THRESHOLD Ol 

THE SECRET OF 

TOWARDS ISLAM 

ISLAM AND ZOROA! 

ISLAM AND CIVILIZ, 

TABLE TALK 

OPEN LETTERS 

ISLAM AND THE MUSLIM PRAYER 

THE RELIGION OF JESUS AND TRADITIONAL CHRISTIANITY 

THE GREATEST OF PROPHETS 

GLIMPSES FROM THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET 

THE SAYINGS OF MUHAMMAD 

ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY 

ISLAM ON SLAVERY 

SUFI-ISM IN ISLAM 

WOMAN IN ISLAM 

FOUR LECTURES ON ISLAM 

THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM 

THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM 

EID SERMONS 

INDIA IN THE BALANCE 

THE RE-INCARNATION OF SOULS 

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 

REVELATION A NECESSITY 

THE LEAGUE OF FAITHS 

JESUS AN IDEAL OF GODHEAD AND HUMANITY 

AL-ISLAM 

THE IDEAL PROPHET (HIS MANNERS AND SAYINGS) 

MUHAMMAD, THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PROPHET 

MUHAMMAD, THE HISTORICAL PROPHET 

ISLAM TO EAST AND WEST 

RAMADZAN 



ISLAM & OTHER RELIGIONS 

All religions are a matter of history. If a man 
must look to some Holy Scripture for the light he 
has to receive from a religion, no religion should claim 
our allegiance unless its record is absolutely authentic, 
In this respect Islam seems to me to possess merits of 
its own. The Scriptures of all other religions have now 
been found, as is even admitted by their respective 
adherents, to be wanting in genuineness. 

The Vedic verses are susceptible of contradictory 
interpretations ; they have given rise to innumerable 
sects, who differ from each other even in the fund 
amentals of their religion while they all receive their 
inspiration from the same book. The translation of 
the Vedas given by one class of Hindus is condemned 
by the others. The Bible is no more looked upon as 
the word of God. Even Rabbis and high dignitaries of 
church are to-day ceasing to believe in its authenticity. 
On the other hand, Al-Qur-an, the Holy Book of 



Islam, is admitted by friends and foes to be the very 
words revealed to Muhammad. The Book has main 
tained its purity till now.) 

( Now, whatever may be the worth of the teachings 
of a religion, I think, one cannot consider or accept its 
claims when its very source is of a dubious character?) 

We are constrained to come to the same conclusion 
as to the Founders of the various religious systems. 
We know nothing about the authors or recipients of 
Vedic revelations excepting their names. Similarly, 
the strictly historical aspect of the Lord of Christianity 
is not free from doubt ; we know very little of him. 
Mary, we read, gave birth to the illustrious Nazarene ; 
but soon after the event she and her husband fled from 
Judaea with the child ; and after some twelve years 
Jesus is seen in synagogues finding fault with the 
Rabbis. Then the curtain drops again, Another gap 
of some eighteen years, and the Master comes back out 
of an Essenic monastery, and is seen on the banks of 
the River Jordan. But his ministry was too short for 
him to become our perfect specimen and guide in the 
manifold and diverse walks of human life. A few ser 
mons, a few miracles, a few prayers accompanied by a 
few curses are not enough to give humanity a religion. 
His movements are of meteoric character which present 



few incidents of note and consequence, excepting his 
crucifixion. Moses was no doubt a great law-giver, an 
historic character, liberator of his nation from their 
bondage in Egypt, worker of wonders and performer of 
miracles, but not an example for practical purposes in 
real life. 

The life of Muhammad is different. From the 
cradle to the grave everything of note in his life is 
narrated and preserved in a well-authenticated record. 
(It is amazing to find in him an assemblage of the best 
of characteristics, so rare in others. One is at a loss to 
understand how he could unite in himself all the best 
qualities of different characters. He is meek and at 
the same time courageous ; modest as a maiden, but 
the bravest of the soldiers on a battlefield. While with 
children he is loved for his playfulness and endearing 
talk to the little ones ; when in the company of sages 
and old men, he is respected for his wisdom and far 
sightedness. Truthful, honest, trustworthy ; a reliable 
friend, a loving father and husband, a dutiful son, and 
a helpful brother, Muhammad is the same man whether 
in adversity or prosperity ; affluence or indigence can 
not change him ; unruffled in his temperament 
whether in peace or in war. Kind and hospitable, 
liberal in giving but abstemious for himself. In short, 



judge Muhammad from whatever angle of human 
character you will, and he is nowhere found wanting. 

The character of Muhammad is perfect. His 
opponents cannot lay a finger on a single flaw in his 
private life. And whatever has been said against his 
public career in one or two things, involves really a 
matter of principle. They say he had more than one 
wife ; that he waged war ; that he did this, that, and 
the other; but before we judge him in these matters 
we have to decide as to the validity of the principles 
under which he worked. If polygamy is a matter of 
necessity in certain circumstances and an economic 
measure sometimes, then why find fault with 
Muhammad, when all the great men and benefactors of 
humanity, especially in the world of religion, have all 
of them had more than one wife. As to the use of the 
sword, the whole world until now has taken the grea 
test pride in unsheathing the weapon. War has 
hitherto been an indispensable institution. A Prophet 
was needed to teach the world the true ethics of war, 
and who can deny the nobility of Muhammad in this 
respect ? He unsheathed his sword only to crush evil 
and defend truth. With great care I read the accounts 
of every war waged by him, and they were all in 
self-defence. 



5 

There is something unique in this great man ; he is the 
only teacher among the noble race of prophets who 
brought his mission to success. Jesus was crushed by 
evil, and words of despair and despondency were on 
his lips on the Cross. Muhammad really crushed the 
serpent, but, just in the moment of his victory, when 
the real " generation of vipers" was at his feet, his 
character revealed another noble aspect that of for 
giveness. No student of history can read the account 
of the conquest of Makka by Muhammad without 
bowing down to that great hero. He not only forgives 
his cruel oppressors, but raises them to places of dignity 
and honour. Who knows what Jesus would have done 
if he had achieved any victory over his enemies ? 
After all, he said that he had come not to send peace 
on the earth, but a sword. Moses, Ramchandra and 
Krishna, the other great teachers in the world of 
religion, disclosed not a gleam of mercy in their 
dealings with their enemies. 

It does not take long to pass in review the various 
religious persuasions just with their tenets and doctrines. 
Whatever may have been the original form of Hin 
duism, it is now one vast accretion of ceremonialism 
and sacrifice. In fact, there does not exist a definition 
of Hinduism wide enough to comprise all its sections 



6 

and subdivisions. Animism, element-worship, hero- 
worship, polytheism in its worst shapes, monotheism, 
though not in its pure form all come under the 
heading of Hinduism, (it possesses its philosophy, but 
it is a philosophy which has no bearing whatever on 
practical life ; it tries to solve certain riddles for 
example, the problem of ultimate pain and pleasure, 
and here it speaks of the transmigration of the soul ; 
but all th s is a species of mental luxury possessing no 
practical advantage. Ceremonialism and sacrifices, no 
doubt, are not without their uses, but they are of 
secondary importance a means to certain ends 
whereas in Hinduism they have become essentials. 

/ Judaism brought light and culture into the world, 
but in the course of time it too became merged in 
ceremonialism and sacrifice. The vice of ceremonial 
piety lies in the fact that when once a person has 
observed its demands he thinks himself to be better 
than his neighbour, no matter what crime he may 
commit. For this very reason the Brahmins in Hindu- 
fsm and the Pharisees in Judaism considered themselves 
absolved of all the duties laid upon other members of 
society. Jesus did not come with a new religion, nor 
did he found a church ; he was a Jew of the Jews. 
Jealous for the religion taught by Moses, he came to 



redeem the teachings of the Master from the formalism 
of the Pharisees. He had the courage to expose their 
hollowness and hypocrisy. In short, his aim was to 
reform Judaism, but his enemies would not allow him 
to do so, and so he failed in the end. Then St. Paul 
came on the scene, but instead of carrying on the work 
of Jesus, he grafted on the old faith something quite 
new and repugnant to it the religion of the Blood and 
its grace. 

It is called the " New Covenant," but it seems to 
me only a reappearance of old Paganism with a change 
of name and setting. The story of Christianity may be 
summed up in a few words : Man drowned in sin and 
God alienated from him and in anger. To appease His 
wrath He sends His own son to the world through a 
virgin s womb. The son is brought to the Cross and 
pays the penalty for all human sins, thus washing away 
the sins of humanity with his blood. He dies for all, 
and then through his resurrection brings new life to 
mankind. This is the superstructure of the Pauline 
schism as it was never taught by Jesus. But it is not a 
new revelation. It has now come to light that Jesus as 
portrayed by Paul and others as " the new Adam " is 
only the last of the virgin-born Sun-gods Mithra, 
Apollo, Bacchus, Horus, Osiris, and others ; all of them 



born at the first hour of the 25th of December. 

Thus, centuries before the construction of the 
Christian Church, different countries had already 
evolved a system of religion which Christianity repeated 
word by word in the writing of the early Fathers. In 
fact, the Roman Catholic Church, the first church on 
Pauline lines after Jesus, is just a replica of the old cult 
of mystery ; and Christian worship remains the sun- 
worship with all its old features. How can we 
stigmatize Paganism as a false religion when all its 
features did but forestall the official Church in 
the West ? 

(Viewed from this stand-point Islam alone shines 
forth. It is a religion of action, of good morals and 
ethics; a religion simple and practical. The Islamic 
tenets are not dogmatic in their nature, they are 
reasonable and consistent with intelligence. They have 
a direct bearing on life.^ 

Doubtless Islam is not free from some sort of 
formalities. Muslims also make sacrifice, but this is 
what the Holy Qur-an says : 

It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards the 
East and the West, but righteousness is this, that one should 
believe in Allah and the last day and the angels and the books 



and the prophets, and give away wealth out of love for Him to 
the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer 
and the beggars and for (the emancipation of) the captives, and 
keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate ; and the performers of 
their promise when they make a promise, and the patient in 
distress and affliction and in time of conflict these are they who 
are true (to themselves), and these are they who guard (against 



What a wonderful, decisive and bold statement ! 
It brushes away ceremonialism completely. Islam has 
a few formalities, but they seem to be essential one of 
them being the turning of the face, when in prayer, 
towards Makka. It indicates the place that gave birth 
to Islam, and is hence a necessity ; but the above verse 
says that doing so in itself is not a virtue unless thereby 
we are helped to observe certain beliefs and actions 
which are there set out. In fact, Muslims turn their 
faces to Makka to remember and renew the inspiration 
they first received from that sacred place ; and if turning 
our faces to Makka in itself is of no value, then what of 
other ceremonial acts ? 

Muslims do observe sacrifice, but not to appease 
Divine wrath. One of the objects is to " Feed the 



1. The Holy Qiir-dn, 2: 177. 



10 

poor man who is contented, and the beggar." 1 This 
institution also supplies an occasion for being benevo 
lent to others, and it is a symbol of the religion of 
Allah ; as the Holy Qur-an says, we have to submit to 
His will as the animals under the knife have to submit 
to ours. And then a verse on the subject in the 
following thundering words denudes sacrifices of the 
merits that had been attached to them by other 
religions such as the propitiation of Divine anger : 

There does not reach Allah their flesh nor their blood, but 
to Him is acceptable the guarding (against evil) on your part ; 
thus has He made them subservient to you, that you may magnify 
Allah because He has guided you aright ; and give good news to 
those who do good (to others). 2 

Christianity no doubt did away with all the rituals 
that Jesus observed himself, because his personal 
sacrifice, as they say, atoned for it and absolved the 
believers in the blood from the ceremonial burden. 
But another set of rituals and formalities entered into 
the Church as a legacy from Paganism, and the position 
is worse than before. 

Though all the peoples in the world were respec 
tively given a book for their guidance from the Lord, 

1. The Holy Qur-an, 20 : 36. 

2. The Holy Qur-an 22 : 37. 



11 

they are all lost to-day with the exception of the 
Vedas, the Bible, and the Qur-an. The two first 
scriptures are of a kindred nature, but the third 
exhibits an absolutely different character. The Vedas 
and the Bible speak respectively of some particular 
nations, the so-called " chosen people " of God or 
gods ; while the Holy Qur-an is neither a narrative of 
a tribe nor a story of any individual. It concerns itself 
exclusively with man in general. Man and his God 
is its chief theme.^ 

After speaking of the creation of the world and 
man, the chief interest of the Hebrew Scripture lies in 
one particular branch of the human race the descend 
ants of Abraham through Isaac. It speaks of the 
migration of the Israelites from the land of Abraham, 
their settlement in Egypt. The Bible is a complete 
story of the rise and fall of the Hebrews, with Moses 
at their head as the law-giver and bringer of good 
tidings of the coming race, and with Jesus, the last of 
the race, shedding tears of grief on their imminent fall. 
Just as the Holy Bible concerns itself with the Hebrews, 
so the Vedas speak of another race from Central Asia 
called Aryans, who crossed the River Indus and took 
up their abode in the western part of India. It speaks 
of their rituals and sacrifices, it refers to their fights 



12 

with the aborigines of the country and the final victory 
of the former over the latter. Thus the two books are 
more or lessa history of the two tribes, with the men 
tion of religion and its accessories as a matter of inci 
dent. The Holy Qur-an, on the other hand, is purely 
a book of God s religion given to man. The elevation 
and progress of the human race or its degradation 
or downfall are the chief topics of the Arab Revelation. 
(The Qur-an, doubtless, speaks of certain persons and 
certain nations, but such allusions are not the main 
object of the Book ; they come in by way of illustration. 
For example, the Book lays down certain principles 
and doctrines for human edification ; it warns man 
against the deeds that are sure to bring him to the 
lowest ebb ; it reads him lessons of morality and of 
ethics ; it speaks of spirituality and Godliness ; and it 
is in elucidation of these teachings that it makes 
reference to events in the lives of certain men 
prophets and their enemies and nations. It is for 
this reason that the Qur-an has not generally given full 
Accounts of the people thus alluded to. It is not a 
collection of stories, but a book of economic, moral and 
spiritual instruction)) 

Neither the Vedas nor the Bibile seem to specify 
any object of universal interest for their revelation. 



13 

4t 

God, no doubt, spoke to Moses at Sinai and ordered 
him to go to Pharaoh with a message demanding 
freedom for the Israelites. After the Exodus, He 
again spoke to Moses and gave him the Ten Command 
ments ; and Moses when in need of guidance goes to 
his Lord from time to time, . and the Lord expresses 
His will for the guidance of His people. Similarly, 
whenever the chosen people are in difficulty or in 
trouble, Jehovah sends His angels with words to meet 
the occasion. On the same lines we find various 
Mantras hymns in the Vedas revealed to the old 
Hindu rishis. The Ten Commandments undoubtedly 
promulgate the lines of action necessary to form a 
society. But any human society desirous of keeping 
itself in a healthy condition could have discovered 
these principles even without the help of any re- 
levation. Therefore, the Qur-anic Revelation is far 
above these primitive and temporal. needs. It comes 
to raise man to the highest height to which he is able 
to soar. The first call that came to Muhammad in the 
cave Hira is a call for the uplifting of man in general. 
Muhammad was not called upon to serve his own 
nation, nor did the heavenly dove descend from above 
to choose the Son of God from among his fellow- 
countrymen. Muhammad is inspired to raise his 



14 

fellow-beings from the depth of degradation to the 
zenith of greatness. His first Revelation is : 

"Read in the name of your Lord Who created. He 
created man from a clot. Read and your Lord is Most 
Honourale, Who taught (to write) with the pen : 
Taught man what he knew not. Nay ! man is most 
surely inordinate, because he feels himself self-suffi 
cient 55 . 1 

Man is ordered through Muhammad to read, to 
cultivate the art of writing, for the spread of books and 
enlightenment, and to discover sciences not known 
before, thereby bringing humanity to a position most 
houourable, because his Creator is Himself most 
honourable and His creation should index the greatness 
of the Maker. Matter reaches its physical consum 
mation in the form of man, and Nature cannot improve 
upon it any further. But the same matter evolves a 
new thing in the human frame human consciousness, 
the sum-total of the passions, which, when refined, give 
rise to intellect, sentiment, sociability, morality, ethics, 
religion and spirituality. As a full-fledged man on the 
physical plane evolves from a clot of blood in the 
womb, so was human consciousness in " clot 55 condition 



The Holy Qur-an, 96 : 17. 



15 

at the appearance of Muhammad, who was deputed to 
show his fellow-beings the right path, as revealed to 
him by God, that will bring forth all that is noble and 
good in man. 

This grand object the Holy Book takes for its revelation 
and makes mention of it in its very beginning. 1 When 
it defines the most exalted position which man is 
entitled to achieve, it also indicates the lowest degrad 
ation to which he may descend. In the story of 
Adam 2 the high and low conditions of man are 
defined. He is the vicegerent of God on earth. He is 
to receive homage from the angels of heaven and earth ; 
but if he is led astray from the right path he will be 
deprived of the means that contribute to his happiness. 3 
With all our civilization we have not as yet attained the 
height which we have to achieve under the directions 
of the Last Book. We have not secured the position 
of being able to bring the sun and the moon into 
subjection. 4 This is the goal which the Qur-an 
prescribes for us in our sojourn on the earth. In this 
connection the Qur-an further reveals to us that we 

1. The Holy Quran, 2: 5. 

2. The Holy Quran, 2 Sect. 4. 

3. The Holy Quran, 2 : 36. 

4. The Holy Quran, 14; 32-33; 16: 12. 



16 

possess the highest capabilities, 1 but, as we have arisen 
from an animal state and carry with us certain carnal 
cravings, the Book-warns us that our way to the goal is 
beset with difficulties. We are liable to be degraded 
to the lowest of the low, 2 and therefore we need 
guidance. :>> This is another purpose of the Qur-anic 
Revelation. We are in the dark 4 and we need a light, 
and the Book claims to be that light. Let St. Paul 
blackguard human nature ; Islam says that we possess , 
an immaculate nature at the time of our birth. Hell 
is the reward of sin, and heaven is reserved for those 
who leave this earth sinless. The child, who dies at 
its very birth, must go to heaven, under Islamic teach 
ing, but he is foredoomed to hell according to Christian 
principles ! In other words, heaven is our birthright 
under Islam. We may lose it by our subsequent 
misdeeds. But according to Christianity we are born 
for hell unless reclaimed by our faith in the Blood. 
Similarly, sin is a heritage according to Church belief, 
but it is an after-acquisition under Islam, and can be 
avoided.) 



1. The Holy Qur-an, 95 : 4. 

2. The Holy Qur-an 95 : 5. 

3. The Holy Qur-afi 95 : 6. 

4. The Holy Qur-an 14: Sect. I. 



17 

Thus the sole object of Christian Revelation is to 
bring man out of the slough of sin up to the brink of 
virtue, but Islam finds man already on its banks at 
his birth, and comes to raise him to its highest flight 
that will bring him near the precincts of Divinity. 
The Qur-an is rational in its teachings, while the Hindu 
and Hebrew books are dogmatic in imparting their 
messages. The books speak of God, of angels, of 
resurrection, and the Last Day ; of Divine messenger- 
ship, and accountability for presentations in the here 
after ; but they make no attempt to substantiate these 
verities by any intelligent argument. But the Qur-an 
makes frequent appeal to our understanding and 
rational judgment. It draws our attention to various 
manifestations of Nature as evidence of what it 
"enunciates. It would not ask its readers to accept any 
of its teachings except on the strength of reasoning. 

This is why modern science has only served to 
strengthen Muslim belief in the Qur-anic truths. We 
are rational beings. Reason and logic play a 
prominent part in all our beliefs and persuasions. 

Again, the first two revelations do not specifically 
speak of the articles of their faith ; each inquirer must 
gather them for himself from these books. In the 



18 

Christian churches the task fell to the Church Councils. 
The articles of the Christian faith as promulgated by 
the fathers were collected in the Book of Common 
Prayer, and have been the object of successive revisions 
from time to time. 

In Hinduism, want of a definite statement in the 
Vedas as to what were the articles of faith in the Vedic 
religion gave rise to innumerable sects that differ from 
each other even in their fundamental tenets. 

From such a fate the Qur-an has saved the 
Muslims ; for it has clearly laid down in various verses 
the Islamic articles of Faith. 1 

1 Thus, according to the Holy Qur-an, faith which 
cannot be translated into action is no faith at all.j 
Consequently, belief in something accepted as verity 
on the basis of a dogma does not come within the 
category of religious beliefs in Islam. In fact, dog 
matic doctrines have no significance for a Muslim. 
Faith, however, in the Qur-anic sense of the word, 
plays a most important part in moulding every human 
word or action. All our movements are the portraits 
of such of our concepts as are based upon sure and 
certain faith. Every item of our routine, however 

1. The Holy Qur-an, 2 : 285. 



19 

insignificant, is but a motion-picture of our belief in the 
existence or the non-existence of things. Any change 
in such a belief straightaway produces a change in the 
routine. Even a slight movement of our lips, or of any 
other part of the body, springs from some belief or 
other. For instance, we cannot utter a word unless we 
believe in the audibility and articulation of the sound 
we make as well as in the ability of our hearer to hear 
and give to our words the same meanings which they 
convey to us. Similar belief is always present in our 
mind concerning everything that emanates from us. 
This emphasizes the importance of a vigilant and wise 
choice of faith in every avenue of our existence, since 
soundness of action follows soundness of belief, and 
more especially is this so in our religious beliefs, seeing 
that no other belief approaches them in strength and 
influence on the ordering of our life. 

Every religion lays down certain articles of faith as 
its basic principles, demanding from its adherents an 
implicit faith therein. These basic principles may or 
may not appeal to our intelligence, or serve any useful 
purpose for us in this life, but it is nevertheless claimed 
for them that they possess unique merits in securing 
salvation and happiness in the life beyond the grave for 
those who hold them, 



20 

As to that life, almost every religion strikes the 
same note. Faith in tenets diametrically opposed to 
each other in teaching have by different religions been 
invested with similar merits that are to accrue to the 
believer in his life after death. If a faith in the divinity 
of A and B, for instance, brings salvation to the believer 
according to one religion, it dooms him to everlasting 
punishment, in the life to come, according to the other. 
No religion, on the other hand, has any decisively 
logical support for its assertions. No one as yet has 
returned from behind the veil to bear witness to the 
truth of his faith. Under these circumstances one is 
forced to conclude that a religion s claim for belief in 
its doctrines should never be heeded, unless those 
doctrines satisfy our intelligence and have been tested 
in the crucible of utility as regards our present life. A 
plunge in the dark is a dangerous proceeding, but it is 
infinitely more dangerous to believe in things that not 
only have no bearing on our present life, but sometimes 
are actually harmful in their effects on the building of 
our character. 

Fear of punishment is, in most cases, the only 
deterring influence in crushing evil. The pressure of 
public opinion and legal penalties are the great dis 
couragers of wrong, and wherever they relax their hold, 



21 

evil begins to crop up. Thus, for example, prostitution, 
gambling and drinking have been the curse of Christian 
nations, chiefly for the above reasons. Public opinion 
in Christian lands is not strong enough to stop these 
evils, while legislation, on its criminal side, is nearly 
silent on the subject. The fear of punishment in the 
life to come acts as a deterrent in this respect in non- 
Christian countries. But this can hardly be so with 
believers in the Atonement. If God could not find any 
other remedy for the cleansing of human sin than that 
of sending His own sons from time to time to pay its 
penalty since Jesus was only the last of the Pagan 
Christs who came to give their lives for human 
salvation then there is no need of any good action on 
our part. There are very few of us who pursue virtue 
for its own sake. It is the reward of virtue, especially 
seen in its efficacy in counter-balancing the effects of 
sin, that we fulfil the law and lead a good life. But if 
the same thing is attainable merely by our belief in the 
Grace of Blood, few would think it worth while to bear 
the hardships and trials of the life of righteousness. 
Belief in the Atonement obviates the necessity for 
action. So it was held by Luther. 

The tenets of Islam, supported by Culture and 
Progress, have played havoc with old beliefs, and the 



22 

futility of such old beliefs has at last become exposed. 
They have lost all the force they once possessed for the 
moulding of good character. The world at large is on 
the highroad to belief in Unity, and even those who, 
like the Christians, still evince some sort of polytheistic 
tendencies, are now almost prepared to apologize for 
them. Belief in the Unity of God in its purest form, 
when rendered into action in our daily life, would bring 
our civilization to its climax ; but a lip belief in the 
Oneness of God is less meritorious even than the differ 
ent forms which Polytheism has adopted in the case 
above-mentioned. It is useless to sing hymns at the top 
of our voices, if we are not leading, and do not lead, 
Godly lives. God does not stand in need of any adoration 
from us ; and if He does. He is not worthy of the great 
names with which He is revered. I would go further 
than that ; I would say that if our worship of Him lies 
only in bringing offerings and sacrifices to His altar, 
and in the recital of praises and thanks to Him, it is 
neither creditable to God nor profitable to man. He is 
only another fetish, and the biggest in the world of 
religion. God should stand above these things. He 
needs no praise from us. The Qur-an is very explicit 
on the point. It says that our extolling or praising God 
does not contribute to His glory, nor does blasphemy 



23 

detract at all from His grandeur and dignity. Our 
prayers to Him should consist of such expressions, 
whether praise or thanksgiving to God or supplication 
to Him for some favour, as may help us to work out 
our own power and ability to our best advantage. 

Therefore, if the worship of a deity produces no 
moral effect on life, it need not be pursued. Similarly, 
if adoring one deity is equal in its results to the wor 
shipping of another, the choice among them is 
unnatural. Take man-worship by way of illustration. 
Jesus is the last of those favoured persons who from 
time to time have been placed on the throne of God by 
their fellow men And here I would mention two 
other persons who besides Jesus still command human 
allegiance as God. These are Krishna and Ram 
Chandra the two Indian deities who were adored as 
such a thousand years before the birth of Christ. Like 
Jesus, they are Eastern and come of coloured races, but 
as gods they are superior to him in many respects. They 
are more historic than the Nazarene. They can claim 
more genuineness for their life records, though these are 
not free from folklore. Their precepts and other 
utterances are, in general, more majestic, more awe- 
inspiring, and of greater practical utility than visionary 
sermons from the Mount. Jesus came of humble 



parentage and did not possess even a roof for shelter, 
but if Ram Chandra was a prince and later on a ruler, 
Krishna ruled the destinies of kings in his time. Jesus 
had nothing to sacrifice, as fer as worldly possessions go, 
but the Indian gods gave up the best worldly things in 
the service of humanity. Jesus was crushed by evil, 
but Ram Chandra crushed evil, and Rudra another 
name for Krishna had been the crusher of evil 
throughout his life. The actions ascribed to these great 
men by their narrators are transcendant. They are 
like shadows of the powers of the Almighty, while the 
Bible is silent in the case of the sacred Carpenter in this 
respect. If we have to seek our God in an incarnate 
form, I see no special reason for giving precedence to 
Jesus over others. Our belief in him has not helped 
mankind any more than the Hindu belief in Krishna 
and Ram Chandra. In one respect Christianity has 
been woefully at fault. In the matter of culture and 
civilization Christianity has proved an implacable 
enemy to human advancement. It crushed science as 
long as it had the power to do so, and would do the 
same to-day if the modern world would suffer it. 
Only the other day the Bishop of Ripon proposed to 
give scientific research a holiday for ten years. This was 
but an echo of the old cry of tyranny and oppression 



25 

that came from the Church against culture and science 
in the Middle Ages, though it is clothed in the 
euphemisms of modern refinement. 

Religion has been regarded as a necessary human 
institution from the days of Adam and Eve. But it 
should be treated as a back number if our pursuit of it 
possesses no utility. The whole question depends on 
the article of faith upon which a religion insists. If it 
asks us to believe in such tenets as have come under 
discussion in these pages, I think we are none the worse 
for dispensing with it. But if it invites our faith in 
doctrines that bring out all that is noble and good in 
us, and urges us to u?e all the powers of nature, whether 
reposed in the human frame or in the rest of the uni 
verse, to our best advantage, then religion becomes a 
most essential human institution. I repeat, God is not 
in need of human worship, but if our worship of Him 
inspires us to follow His ways as they are to be observed 
in the universe, ways that work out the best of civilization 
on righteous lines, it ought to be part and parcel of our 
life. I would go to my God fifty times a day in such 
prayerful mood, though Islam prescribes but five 
prayers only. 

The greatest blessing that has come to us from 
science is our belief in the existence of Law, and the 



26 

knowledge that only our submission to it can bring to 
us success and happiness. Law is the order of time. 
Every atom of nature and its various combinations, 
including the human frame, owes its very existence and 
further development to implicit obedience to Law. 
From the nebulous stage up to the human frame, 
everything is a slave to Law. Religion will be doing 
the greatest possible service to humanity if it inspires 
man with a strong belief in Law. Virtue and vice, 
both in their growth and origin, are commensurate 
with strength or weakness of our belief in Law and its 
forces. Criminality comes to the surface in quarters 
where Law can be avoided without fear of detection, 
and it becomes absolutely non-existent if we believe in 
the inexorableness of its punishments. 

If Law is all in all in this way, and our belief in it 
is the greatest factor in the building of our character 
and in the achievement of success, it needs our strong 
belief not only in its Maker, Who invests it with full 
force in its operation, but in many other things con 
nected with Law. Law demands as well the services 
of its " functionaries," who must keep it always in 
force, since without them it would be but a dead letter. 
Again, Law, or such portion of it as rules human 
destinies, whether discovered or revealed, should be 



27 

preserved in such a form as may be of service to all 
units of humanity. It has not fallen to the lot of all 
men to make researches in the realms of Law, nor to 
be inspired by the contemplation of its source. There 
are but a few chosen persons of the human race who 
are favoured with this gift, and it is their duty to guide 
and enlighten their fellow men. Again Law loses all 
its force, and cannot compel universal adhesion, unless 
and until some reward or punishment comes inevitably 
to its fulfiller or breaker. Lastly, there ought to be set 
times for such reward and punishment when the 
fruits of submission or disobedience to Law should 
become manifest to all. Thus if Law is the lever of the 
whole machinery in the universe, and our belief in it 
facilitates progress, we should also, to make it a reality 
in our eyes, believe in the Maker of the Law, its 
functionaries, its record, and the custodians thereof. 
We must believe, too, in the reward and the punish 
ment ordained by such an administrative system. For 
illustration, take any human institution that contributes 
to our civilization, and we shall find it revolving on 
the pivot of the above-mentioned seven principles, with 
Law as one of them. Take the government of any 
country. No society, even in its most primitive state, 
can work on healthy lines without some sort of govern 
ment acting in it as a sovereign political authority. It 



28 

works through its laws. It must have machinery to set 
them in motion. It must reduce its laws to a record 
they may be laws unwritten but imprinted on the tablet 
of the human mind and entrust them to intermediate 
officials to convey them to the general public. The 
government also needs a court of law to administrate, 
etc. If the Law is a thing so important, and I may say 
the only key to our advancement and perfection, it 
should be the first duty of religion to inspire in us a 
strong stimulus for respecting it. I find myself unable 
to attach any value to a faith which lacks such incen 
tive. I cannot imagine any greater harm to the very 
fabric of human society than that which accrues to us 
by reason of our belief in a doctrine that either weakens 
our sense of responsibility or enervates our energy and 
divests us of motive for action. A religion that 
belittles the. importance of Law is best forgotten For 
this reason I had to give up my belief in Atonement 
and other similar doctrines. I could not see, as I 
remarked before, any necessity for believing even in 
God, if such belief is not attended with the result I 
havementioned above. Law and its rules are the main 
things in the whole universe. Law demands an un 
swerving belief in its existence and implicit obedience. 
It is inexorable in awarding its penalties to its disbe 
lievers and breakers. No other belief can save the 



29 

transgressor of the Law from its demands in this life ; 
and should not the same apply to the hereafter ? 
Should not religion, then, inculcate, first of all, the 
necessity and importance of our faith in Law ? It must 
speak of other verities also, because belief in the Law, 
and that alone, is of no avail, if unaccompanied by 
belief in other essential things. 

The word "Islam" literally means submission to 
laws, and a Muslim is one who obeys the Law. Law of 
course means the Divine Law, whether discovered by 
us as law of nature or revealed to man by God Himself. 
The Qur-an uses several other words as synonyms of 
Law ways of God, His limits and His bounds, His 
government, His premeasurement of good and evil, 
and the Throne He sits upon, etc. These words, in 
fact, convey different functions and aspects of Law. 
The Law prescribes limits ; for no action in itself is 
either good or bad, it is its use or application, and the 
circumstances under which it is used or applied, that 
make it good or bad. The Law thus defines the limits 
under which an action brings good to its doer or others ; 
and in this respect it becomes a virtue. Any transgres 
sion from the prescribed bounds means wrong, 
wickedness, and sin. 



30 

I cannot cite a stronger statement on behalf of a 
revealed religion and its necessity than that which I 
find in the last section of the second chapter of the 
Holy Qur-an : 

"Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the 
earth is Allah s ; and whether you manifest what is in 
your minds or hide it, Allah will call you to account 
according to it ; then He will forgive whom He pleases 
and chastise whom He pleases, and Allah has power 
over all things. The Apostle believes in what has been 
revealed to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers, 
they all believe in Allah and His angels and His books 
and His apostles : We make no difference between 
any of His apostles ; and they say : We hear and obey, 
our Lord ! Thy forgiveness (do we crave), and to 
Thee is the eventual course. Allah does not impose 
upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability ; 
for it is (the benefit of ) what it has earned, and upon it 
(the evil of) what it has wrought : Our Lord ! do not 
punish us if we forget or make a mistake ; our Lord ! do 
not lay on us a burden as Thou didst lay on those before 
us ; our Lord ! do not impose upon us that which we 
have not the strength to bear ; and pardon us and grant 
us protection and have mercy on us ! Thou art our 



31 
Patron, so help us against the unbelieving people." 1 

First it speaks in clear terms of six things written in 
bold letters on every page of nature, and their existence 
is palpable even to a most superficial observer, since the 
denial of it is attended by immediate unrelenting 
penalty. These are the things in reality that can rightly 
be given the name of Truth or Verity. The so-called 
verities adopted as such by various persuasions are 
merely dogmatic. 

The verities spoken of in these verses are as follows : 

1. The universality of Divine Government the 
working of His Law in Heaven and in the Earth. 

2. Our unavoidable accountability to God for our 
every action hidden or manifest. 

3. His law of retribution ever in operation, with 
occasional remission under given conditions. 

4. Our ability to submit to His Laws. 

5. Laws of action and their results, i.e., we reap 
what we sow. 

6. The Hereafter the time to bear the fruits of 
our actions. It may be immediate, since sometimes we 



1. The Holy Qur-an, ii. 284, 286. 



32 

are punished immediately for wrongs, or it may be in 
the future what is popularly styled the Last Day or 
the Day of Judgment in religious parlance. 

No special revelation from God, no elaborate 
teaching of tutor divine is needed to bring home to us 
these truths. Everything in nature speaks of them. No 
one with a grain of wisdom in his head can deny them ; 
which being so, the case for religion and its necessity, as 
well as the nature of its tenets, is obvious enough. Even 
an atheist must bow down to these six laws. In fact, 
they are his creed if we eliminate the work "God" or 
"His" from the above. He accepts the yoke of Law 
quite meekly. His only trouble is the inability to 
believe in the Mind from which Law emanates a thing 
of easy proof in the light of modern scientific researches. 
Even those who take exception to some of the 
above-mentioned verities, for example, the fourth our 
ability to obey the Law are compelled to believe in the 
working of these six laws on the physical plane. Every 
thing in the universe contradicts their dogma. 

In this connection I would make a few remarks 
concerning the fundamental doctrine of Christianity 
the doctrine of so-called Original Sin. If sin means 
our violation of Law, the doctrine falls to the ground. 
Admittedly we are capable of doing wrong, we violate 



33 

Law, but this propensity in our nature does not deny 
our ability to observe it. The whole machinery of a 
government in human society works on the assumption 
that the members of such society are capable of obeying 
the mandates of the government. Without such 
assumption or belief, the very existence of working of a 
body like the British Parliament and in the same 
category come various other legislative bodies becomes 
an anomaly. 

We believe in the working of these six laws in the 
tangible world, but some of us do not see our way to 
concede the same belief to them in the life beyond the 
grave, 

A keen study of the laws or commandments of 
God, as given in the Bible, will show that there is not 
a single word in them that cannot be fulfilled by man. 
Some there may be who evince a certain laxity in 
observing some of the said commandments, but the 
human race is not lacking in those who are or have 
been true Muslims obedient to those laws. 

But to return. The said six laws compel our belief. 
If we wish to live as good citizens under the govern 
ment of the Lord, and attain true success and happiness, 
we must look for those laws and sit at the feet of those 
who are their custodians and teachers. It is in this 
respect that the quoted verses of the Qur-an speak of the 



34 

Prophets and the Books they brought from God. The 
Books came to reveal the Will of the Lord or His ways 
under which He rules all things in heaven and earth. 
There is one thing more which is so necessary to infuse 
in us a spirit strong enough to inspire an implicit 
obedience to Law, and that is our belief in its unfailing 
and unavoidable working, together with its inexorability 
in the exaction of its penalties. In this connection all 
the revelations from on High that belong to the various 
religious persuasions speak of certain sentient beings 
called Angels. According to Qur-anic teachings they 
are a body that bring Law and every force in nature 
into operation and keep them so. This is their function 
and the object of their existence. They act as a life or 
soul in everything in the universe, They set the facul* 
ties of nature in motion, I do not propose to enter 
into a long discussion of the subject, but merely to 
emphasize the fact that if we do need a strong belief in 
Law and our obedience to it, we can never achieve it 
unless we believe in the existence of beings like Angels. 
It was in this light that I have named them in these 
pages the " functionaries" of Law. 

We may or may not believe in any religious system, 
but we must and do believe in these verities. They 
are part and parcel of our health and happiness ; and 



35 

they ought to be the articles of faith in any religion 
which claims to have come from God. They are : 

1. Law. 

2. God, as the Source of Law. 

3. Angels functionaries of Law. 

4. The Books the records of Law. 

5. The Prophets the intermediate persons who 
received first messages from the Lord for the promulga 
tion of Law. 

6. The Hereafter the time to bear the fruits of 
our actions which have been in accordance with or 
against Law. 

7. The Day of Judgment The day of retribution 
of our actions as explained above. 

These are the seven verities spoken of in the 
Qur-anic verses which demand our belief, a belief which 
is given to them by every person in his mundane affairs. 

The present is the mother of the future. The 
after-life is the child of the present. The former 
evolves out of the latter. Matter, in its evolutionary 
course on the physical plane, receives its final perfection 



36 

in the human frame, but it gives rise to another order 
the order of morality, ethics and spirituality. Life 
with the progressive elements in it leaves the body at 
our death like the aroma from a fruit or a flower. It 
is like a vapour, but it possesses vast potentialities for 
creating a great cloud full of healthy rain. But Law, 
as I said before, rules every step of progress in the 
course of evolution. It is in obedience to it that success 
or full development attends the progressive element in 
its journey. We therefore need a system of law that 
may help us to work out our future life on desirable 
lines so that we may secure a full measure of bliss in 
higher regions. 

And the code of it must and can only come from 
the original Intelligence, Source of all life and its 
progress ; hence the necessity for a Revealed Reigion to 
disclose the abovementioned verities, with full details 
for working them out. Any other system of religion is 
but a nursery-tale, whose function it is to feed credulity 
and gratify the " child " in man. But the " child " 
matures one day in intelligence and judgment and 
begins to see things in the light of reason and culture. 
It is on this account that religions based on dogma and 
superstition are becoming exiled from the lands of 
culture and advancement. 



37 

Before concluding these lines I should like to say a 
word on the Law of Remission as promulgated in the 
Qur-an. It is based on Equity and Justice, and satis 
fies every demand of reason. The sacred Book, after 
mentioning our ability to abide by Law and then re 
ferring to our accountability for our actions, speaks of 
such mitigating circumstances as may avail to remit 
the penalty of Law for its breach. Says the Qur-an : 

Allah does not impose upon an> soul a duty, but to the extent 
of its ability. For it (soul) is (the benefit of) what it has earned, 
and upon it ("the evil of) what it has wrought. Our Lord ! do not 
punish us if we forget or make a mistake ; our Lord ! do not lay on 
us a burden as Thou didst lay on those before us. 1 

Therefore the mitigating circumstances are : 

1, Forgetfulness of Law, as in the case of Adam, 
according to the Qur-Anic version. 

2, Unintentional omission, 

3, Inability under particular circumstences to 
meet the demands of Law. 

No one can take exception to the logic and ration 
ality of the provisions. They bring Divine forgiveness 
for our wrongs, but we must approach the Master ot 
the Judgment for it in prayerful humility. The Holy 
Qur-an for this reason has formulated the said three 
provisions in the form of a prayer. 

1. The Holy Qur-an, 2 : 286. 



A FEW SALIENT FEATURES OF THE 
RELIGION OF ISLAM WHICH ARE 
NOT GENERALLY KNOWN 

(a) It is absolutely monothcisic no division in the Godhead- 
prayers are addressed directly to the Invisible God. Muhammad 
is as much a Prophet of God as Jesus, Moses, etc., upon whom all 
be the blessings of God, but like all other prophets before him, he 
is every bit a human being. Islam has neither ritual nor priesthood. 

(b) It abhors warfare except in extreme cases of self-defence. 

(c) The position it has given to woman is still unapproached by 
the laws of the most progressive nations of the modern world. 
According to Islam, there is no difference between man and 
woman materially, spiritually, morally. 

(d) It is the only religious outlook on life which can grapple 
with the disruptive forces at work in the world to-day. 

(e) It is a widely admitted and unparalleled achievement of 
Islam, that it has created a world-wide brotherhood of man under 
the Fatherhood of God. 

(f) Islam alone has succeeded in abolishing all unconscionable 
barriers of distinction, based nationality, colour and language. 

ATTITUDE OF ISLAM TOWARDS OTHER 
RELIGIONS 

<{ Every nation had an apostle" (The Qu ran, ch. 10, v. 47). 
No religion other than Islam recognizes this truth. 

SOME POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS 
ABOUT ISLAM 

It is wrong to think : 

that Islam was spread by the sword ; 

that Islam is synonymous with polygamy ; 

that, according to Islam, woman has no soul ; 

and that the Islamic conception of Paradise is sensual. 

THE CREED OF ISLAM 

There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His apostle, 



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i 

ISLAM AND CIVILIZATION 

BY 

KHWAJA KAMAL-UD-DIN 

Islam and Civilization, a most wonderful discourse 
on the subject and a very learned exposition of the 
Principles of Civilization given in the Qur-an. Thu 
book is one of the latest works of the late Khwaja Sahib 
and equals the work of Ghazzali & Ibn-i-Arabi. 

Price Rs. 2/8/- pages 160, Beautifull bound. 

CONTENTS 

FOREWORD 

Chapter I -The Quranic Conception of Religion. 
Chapter II Religion, Culture and Science. 

Chapter III -The object of Divine RevelationiLieuten- 
ancy of God and Human Civilization. 

Chapter IV -The Kingdom of God Another Name foi 
True Civilization. 

Chapter V Cankered Civilization. 

Chapter VI - Ethics of War. 

Chapter VII Divine Attributes and Human Character 

Chapter VIII The Definition and Division of tht 
Muslim Faith. 

Chapter IX Unity of the Human Race. 

APPENDIX I 

Islam, Rationalism, and Christianity Our Future 
Activities 

APPENDIX II 

The Holy Qur-an on Moral Building, Anger and Desire 
By .Khwaja Nazir Ahmad. 

Printed by Sh. Mohd. Ahmed at the Northern Army Press, 65, Railway Road, La- 

Published by Khwaja Abdul Ghani, Secretary, 
The Woking Muslim Mission and Literary Trust, Brandrcth. Road, Lahore 



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Kamal-ud-Din, Khwaja 

Islam and other religions 



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