जिस पुस्तक ने उर्दू जगत में तहलका मचा दिया और लाखों भारतीय मुसलमानों को अपने हिन्दू भाईयों एवं सनातन धर्म के प्रति अपने द़ष्टिकोण को बदलने पर मजबूर कर दिया था हिन्दी रूपान्तर की सफलता के बाद अब इंगिलश में प्रस्तुत है, महान सन्त एवं विद्वान मौलाना आचार्य शम्स नवेद उस्मानी के धार्मिक तुलनात्मक अध्ययन पर आधारति पुस्तक के लेखक हैं, ,,धार्मिक तुलनात्मक अध्ययन के जाने माने लेखक और स्वर्गीय सन्त के प्रिय शिष्य एस. अब्दुल्लाह तारिक, स्वर्गीय मौलाना ही के एक योग्य शिष्य जावेद अन्जुम (प्रवक्ता अर्थ शास्त्र) के हाथों पुस्तक के अनुवाद द्वारा यह संभव हो सका है कि अनुवाद में मूल पुस्तक के असल भाव का प्रतिबिम्ब उतर आए इस्लाम की ज्योति में मूल सनातन धर्म के भीतर झांकाने का सार्थक प्रयास इंगिलश प्रेमियों के लिए भी प्रस्तुत है,---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful,
The book which created a sensation in Urdu circles and transformed the outlook of more than a million Muslims vis-a-vis their Hindu brethern and Sanatan Dharma.
 |
| हिंदी भाषा में मक्का मदीना का इतिहास पर कुछ पेश करूंगा इन्शअल्लाह |
Now or Never
Researcher and Thinker
Maulana Shams Naved Usmani
Interpreter and Writer
S. Abdullah Tariq
Translator
Dr. Altaf Hussain Tak
(Reader, Deptt. Of English, Srinagar University)
Publisher
Raushni Publishing House
Bazar Nasrullah Khan Rampur, 244 901 (U.P)
e-book by: umarkairanvi@gmail.com
islaminhindi.blogspot.com
© All rights reserved by the writer; No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of the writer.
To dispel the doubts of the readers, my esteemed mentor, (late) Maulana Shams. Naved Usmani intended several times to issue some clarification, but eventually withdrew them and advised me to make the following amendments:
Some portions being complex and unclear are taken out to be published later in detail as separate works.
Such portions have thus not been included in this Translation.
To clear the misunderstandings regarding the remaining parts, an additional chapter be written by me and incorporated at the end of the book.
Due to my busyness I have so far been unable to fulfill his desire. God Willing, such a chapter shall in future be included in the original Urdu work as well as its translations.
· S. Abdullah Tariq
Contents
Translation's note
A voice in the wilderness
Perform your duty (Excerpts from a lecture of Maulana Shams Naved Usmani)
Fore word ( of original Urdu edition)
Ch. I. Prophecy of the revolution
Desecration of Ka'aba l Perpetual torment l Is real torment yet to come? l Warning of substitution l Are we Momin (the true believers) in the sight of Allah? lWho may that race be?
Ch.II The prophet of the Hindu race
Wonder-struck Krishna Menon lThe people of Noah too have lost their prophet lHindus are the People of Noah lEvidence the Qur'an
Ch.III. Mention of the Hindu race in the Qur'an
An allegation against the Qur'an lNo research has yet been done about the name of all the race mentioned in the Qur'an lThe Sabeans are the People of Noah
Ch.IV Common features and eternal kinship
Review of tendencies and relations is necessary lAstonishing resemblance lCommon traditions of Hindus and Muslims lKinship is eternally ancient lAdam in India l Noah in India lSome other prophets in India l Jesus in India lProphet Muhammad (PBUH) and India lArab Peninsula and India were once joined together lThe fresh polish can't shine over the layers of dust.
Ch. V The Vedas : The earliest scriptures
Introducing the Vedas lHow to Consider them holy lOne discourse in the light of another lJudge further
The final witness lSearch by the name of `Adi Granth' lEarliest scriptures are extant lThe Vedas are the first scriptures lThe Vedas and the other Hindu religious books
Ch.VI. The beginning of the Universe : Ahmad Mujtaba
The Ahmadic truth lThe truth about Ahmed is in every scripture lRational proof lScience needs guidance lThe Leader of the Universe is the beginning of this Universe lThe Qur'an also testifies
Ch.V II. Agni : An Enigma in the Vedas
Ch.VIII. Similarity of names in Islam and Hinduism
What other researchers say lThe Islamic name of Hinduism lThe name Allah is in every religion lRahman and Rahim
Ch. IX. Monotheism in the Vedic Dharma
Monotheism in Hindu Religion
Ch.X. The prophethood and the Vedic Dharma
Mention of prophets lProphet Muhammad's mention in the Bhagvata lMention of Noah in the Vedas lMention of prophet Muhammad in the Vedas
Ch. XI. The Life Hereafter and the Vedic Dharma
Punar Janam and the concept of Hereafter lHindu researchers admit lThe concept of Hereafter in the Vedas
The account of Paradise in the Vedas lAccount of Hell lAn interpretation of the transmigration of soul (Ava Gaman) or metempsychosis lOne more truth about metempsychosis
Ch. XII. Other Vedic Commandments
Prohibition of gambling lProhibition of wine lProhibition of usury lSimplicity in nuptial functions lMen forbidden to use female dress lWomen commanded to attend to domestic affairs lCommandment for women's modesty
Ch. XIII. Similarity of prophecies in Hadiths and Puranas
Ch. XIV. The truth about Ka'aba in the Vedic Dharma
Ilaspad lIlayaspad lNabha Prathiviya lNabhi Kamal lAdi Pushkar Tirtha lDaru Kaban lMakteshvar
Ch. XV. Maqam-e-Mahmud (The highest seat of praise) of Prophet Muhammad in the Vedas
Ch. XVI. The account of Dajjal in the Vedic Dharma
Ch. XVII. Why these secrets remained a secret?
Unexposed secrets of Hindus lOur negligence
Ch. XVIII. Belief in the former scriptures
Removal of a misunderstanding lThere is no religion other than Islam but...lNo scripture is absolutely rejected The implication of believing in the former scriptures lWhy there seems a contradiction lAre Hadiths contradictory too? lSee the real background
Ch. XIX. The mode of the mission
Are Hindus the people of the Book? lNot the People of the Book but Ummiyyin lThe mode of the mission in the light of Hadiths lIn the light of the Qur'an lGive unto Hindu religion its lost truth lTwo great disasters lWould that we understand..
Do this much at least lAn example of Americans Conspiracy or good policy? Summary lHindu scholar know The age is about to change lDivine argument lWould that...
Ch. XX. They too are searching.
Ch. XXI. Qur'an : The only criterion
Notes and references
Translator’s Note
It hardly needs to be asserted that we live in precarious times when the feeling of divisiveness is about to destroy not only the individual, social and national life but also the entire global human community. The entire world is torn with strife, hatred, prejudice, propaganda, military buildups, injustice, insecurity and terrorism. The human personality is also torn and disoriented, even disintegrated. Even the eternal human values like love, friendship, mutual trust and coordination have yielded place to egocentrism, narcissism and communalism. India, the biggest democratic nation o religious pluralism is no exception as is proved by frequent religious, ethnic and racial conflicts. These conflicts are only some of the outward volcanic eruptions that prophecy of a greater disaster, unless the efforts are made to eradicate the disease rather than to prescribe mendicancy. The disease, as can be testified by every sensible person, is group narcissism which has giver rise to psychopathological tendencies resulting in one’s sense of self-worth at the cost of other’s degradation.
It has become evident now that deliverance from such a sordid state does not lie I the adaptation of a merely intellectual perception that take man away from Nature and God. All the man-made ‘isms’ and ‘ideologies’ like Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Secularism and even Nationalism have failed to evade the human suffering and hostility. Even the advancement of science and technology has led us into the danger of becoming so homogeneous and computerized that we have lost all sense of individuality and sociability. Losing every sense of virtuosity and fellow-feeling we are unconsciously proceeding toward ‘Dark Ages’ when the deterministic factor was “Might is Right”.
The need of the hour, therefore, is to go back to religion which is the only means of uniting people together rather than pushing them back into ignorance, superstition, submissiveness and impoverishment. We must begin to find ways behind the veil of our difference so as to celebrate our uniqueness while realizing that our prophets and spiritual leaders pointed beyond themselves to one God. All the prophets and religious leaders have directed man towards such basic human values as will always engender a true feeling of brother hood and humanitarianism. No doubt, presently we are going through crisis of religious practices, tat we suffer the conflicts of the generation gap and the challenges of secularism that we recoil at the effects of propaganda, the threat of nuclear war and the pervasiveness of Nationalism. But, there still exists an unchallengeable common bond among all human beings i.e. their being created by one God.
The current fanaticism and enmity between diverse religious communities-including Indian Muslims and Hindus-can be evaded by guiding them towards their real Creator-God. An important beginning in this direction is to stress the need of mutual respect and reconciliation by emphasizing commonalities and similarities among different religious communities, and work for peace, justice and brother hood, it is to be inculcated in every human mind, to whatever faith he belongs, that we are living on the same planet, sharing the same goals of life, family, food shelter, security, education, health, happiness, progress and freedom for ourselves and for others, though we may differ on methods, ways and means of achieving and realizing them. This will also help us eliminate narcotics, promiscuity, violence and many other evils of materialism, nihilism and fascism that are plaguing our society. We shall discover that we have much more in common than we could ever imagine. This will also bridge the gulf caused by our incredible ignorance and illiteracy about each other’s beliefs and practices.
It is not impossible, provided we are faithful so such ideals and values and do something practical rather than pay a lip service of them. Moreover, we must get rid of the systematic hypocrisy of proclaiming one vision of mankind and living out a world of fundamentalism. Fanaticism and religious prejudices against one another. We should attempt to straighten the tangle in which people find other, and that we are in some sense incomplete with out the others, and that we should be at each other’s service particularly in fighting against anti-religious force who do violence to the spirit of respect and reconciliation.
In this direction Maulana Shams Naved Usmani’s endeavors-particularly his thoughts presented by the books “Agar ab bhi na jage to” (Urdu) and “Kitne dur kitne pas” (Hindi) are highly commendable. These books are concise, informative and impressive, opening new horizons of knowledge. Here Maulana tells us what belongs to Revelation and what is the product of human interpretation in Hinduism and Islam. It should be kept in mid that Maulana neither intends to cast aspertions upon Hindu Scriptures nor impose new meanings upon Islam but attempts to reveal new, and previously unthought-of dimensions in our understanding of the Holy Scriptures. These attempts verily prompt us to meditate upon those factors which, in this age of ours, should spiritually unite- rather than divide-Hindus and Muslims. May God succeed him in his efforts and reward Mr. S. A. Tariq for his conscientiousness and dedication in unraveling this hidden treasure to posterity.
I am highly obliged to Mr. Ghulam Nabi Hagroo, advocate Kashmir High Court for prompting me to translate the book Agar ab bhi na jage to into English in order to make it accessible to non-Urdu knowing readers; to Maulana Usmani and Mr. Tariq for making available the original references; and to my friend Mr. Abdul Rehman Mir for his comments and suggestions.
The setting sun asked-“Who will illuminate the world after me? Is there any one who has the courage to fight against the darkness.”
A flickering lamp then came forward saying-“ I will try my best.”
A voice in the wilderness
In a two-room rented apartment at Mohallah Angoori Bagh of an Indian city, Rampur, lives a man for the last fifteen years, spending most of his time in prayers, vigil, in bewailing upon the humanity and in remaining absorbed in studies. In the spare time he used to meditate:
if Muhammad (PBUH) the last of the prophets, is the First Creation of God, why the followers of other religions do not acknowledge him as their prophet? Earlier, the people who were not impressed by the Muslim’s character felt an inward change the moment they listened to the Qur’an. They were the native speakers of the Qur’anic language and realized fully its not being a human product. After the translation only the content remains whereas the divine language gets changed into a human language. Accordingly these translation do not have the same impact as the original, and the tragedy is that Muslims themselves have left reciting the Qur’an.
People still accept the Truth. Apparently their number may appear to be in hundreds and even thousand but in the total five hundred million population of the world their actual ratio is not even 1 : one lac. A universal revolution, therefore , can come only through the acceptance by race, but why doesn’t such a change take palace?
How can Muslims believe in the former tampered scriptures? How will the non-Muslims believe in the Qur’an? What were the causes that drew people away from their original natural religion in to various other beliefs and what are the main roots of the present diversity of the religious beliefs and customs? Unless the are clearly known how can there be a proper diagnosis and a proper treatment? How long will continue this injustice of man upon men?
Will the people go on shedding blood In the name of religion? How will the universal revolution come, about which there are prophecies in the Qur’an and Hadith (traditions of the holy Prophet)? Is there any reference of the present day conditions and their solution in the Qur’an?
Research gave him the solution, and the Qur’an answered his investigations thus : “ Verily (the truth revealed in) the Qur’an is (also) in the Scriptures of the former people”. Hadith revealed to him “ the people replacing (Muslims) will believe at last but through their own Scriptures.
He did not stop there. Research became his goal. When he studied the revealed Word of God, that had been forgotten with the passage of time and had succumbed to the thick layers of dust, in the light of the Qur’an the last and the most authentic divine revelation, the distances contracted the dust vanished; the truth and the false hood became obvious. He had found answer to his questions.
Towards the end of 14th century Hijrah (1979 AD) he suffered from yet another mental blow because of the disturbance that occurred in Ka’aba. One of the pretenders of Mehdiyat desecrated Ka’aba for a fortnight and for the first time in last 1400 years, Ka’aba was deprived of Adhan, prayers and circumbulation-Ka’aba, which according to his research is unanimously acknowledged as the First house as well as the Root of the Earth by the Qur’an and all other scriptures. The desecration of Ka’aba caused a commotion in the mind:
‘When the root of the earth itself in shaken, there will as a result of this commotion this man, who till then was a mere school teacher, thought again. ‘The disturbances have even crept in the House of God and I am still concerned with my livelihood!
He opted for premature retirement and decided to dedicate his whole time for the cause of his Lord God. The time had come to enlighten others by the knowledge that God bestowed him with, during the six years of hard struggle. A very meagre income, a little experience of writing, his words revealed his heart. He took to the streets, stopped everyone whom he knew and narrated to them the sad story of the entire humanity. And, while at home, whatever time was saved after research and studies, he implored humbly and earnestly before God.
The scenario changed amazingly: people who used to call him a genius, began to call him insane. Those who used to take him for an embodiment of virtuosity labelled him as an opportunist and government agent; and those who up to now acknowledged him as God-fearing started calling him one who had gone astray. Many people even agreed with him and began visiting him in order to listen to his words, but what about cooperating with his mission? This path seemed to be full of dangers, afflictions, and sufferings. To praise and be a well wisher was good but to join as a preacher demanded zeal and courage. For this, they were not yet prepared.
Today a few enthusiastic inspired young men are with him. They have completely dedicated themselves, under his able guidance, to religion and religious cause.
This inhabitants of Rampur know this man by the name of Shams Naved Usmani.
· S. Abdullah Tariq
Perform your duty
(Excerpts from a lecture of Maulana Shams Naved Usmani)
Let me put in my own words what I have understood from a Hadith of the holy Prophet (PBUH):
On the Day of Judgement a person will be presented before God. He may have prayed all his life, developed a great scar upon his forehead, and praised God throughout but neither understood the true disposition of his Lord and nor loved the Man-the most beloved of all His creatures. Do you know what will happen? God will ask, “Who are you? What sort of a friend are you? I was hungry and asked you for bread but you did not give?”(The person will) say, “O God! What do I hear? I had read, you are the Sustainers and do not eat yourself”.
Lo! The false plating of knowledge gets revealed
He will receive an answer, “Yes! But why didn’t you give bread to that servant of mine who was hungry? Had you given it to him you would have found its reward from me now?”
I take this Hadith to imply the following also- God will ask us, “I had gone astray, why didn’t you show me the right path?” The people will beseech, “O God! How can you go astray?” God will say, “My servants were going astray. Their spiritual food, the Holy Qur’an, was with you. You had with you the living picture of the Prophet’s character. How many people were searching for Satpurush (The Ideal Personage) and for the scientific truth. There was a whole race searching for truthful knowledge. Had you given it upto them, you would have got its reward from me now”.
Knowledge with out teacher is of no use. You have with you the knowledge of the Qur’an. Learn if from the Messenger of God and from his practical life. The race living with us, our neighbouring religious community has also a book of Gyan (Spiritual knowledge) but again Gyan with out Guru (Spiritual teacher) is futile. In the religion of this race it is written: Guru is Sakshat lakshan, the practical manifestation of the religion, the Satpurush. The main draw back that has crept in to their religion is that they have lost their prophet. Hindus do not know who was their first prophet. They are a truly Dharmik (devoted to religion) race, the race making the highest kind of religious sacrifices. You perform ablution in the morning, that too occasionally. They get up for their idols at 3 in the night and you do not get up early even for God. We do not have anything with us except the Qur’an the rest we have forgotten. At least convey this to the people who are searching for it. With this help them discover their prophet. if the community getting up 3’O’ clock will come to know the truth about their Prophet, their divine revelation and their true God then what an excellent servants of the real God will they prove who are the dedicated servants of demi-gods.
When a guest is invited, the food is to be prepared according to his taste. if goat is to be served, mutton will not do, Everyone’s food is different. The Svabhava spiritual food, and the temperament of every religious community is different. This race has a unique temperament. Once they are certain that someone is familiar with their Gyan and know it to the extent of perfections, they always surrender before his Gyan. Since it is a thing to be respected, they will never disrespect. But they will verily judge whether he says it with affection or with any business motive. Without sincerity. Nishkam Yog (Selfless or true sacrifice) is required. Curse be upon Sakam Yog (Sacrifice with a selfish motive) from God as well as from His servants. You will have to assure them of your sincere intentions. which you can demonstrate provided you have them.
The Qur’an sanctifies every religion. Where as the favours of every sanctifying entity are acknowledged, this one’s are not because of our inability to prove it be said that you have done it. You are going on washing you own clothes. Show them after sanctifying, what is Ekam Evam Advitiyam (One only with out a second). This is called Brahma Sutra, Kalma. We can not be Muslim without Kalma how can anyone be a Hindu without it? If I deny La Ilaha illallah, I will be an infidel. How are you a Hindu without accepting your Kalma, Brahma Sutra.
I told a Hindu brother. First believe in “Ekam Brahm Dvitiya Naste Neh Na Naste Kinchan (God is one, none other, No! Not in the Least)” only then are you a Hindu. This is the Kalima of the Vedas and we recite it. I told him, I recite Ekam Braham….. Now I will recite it in another language “There in no god but God, One with out second”. I said “ I will recite it in one more language : Lailaha Illallahu Wahdahu La Sharika Lahu”. I did bear testimony of God in three languages and will be rewarded (by Him) three times. Mufti Ilyas Sahib was sitting there. He also recited. Maulana Ismail Sahib was also present. He recited too. Now I asked this Hindu brother “ Is there any difference between them?” He answered. “No”. I said, “Can you recite in Arabic as we recited boldly in Sanskrit.” He answered, “Why not?” and then he recited Kalima.
Today’s youth is broad minded. Talk of Gyan only in the light of divine knowledge. Prove that Qur’an sanctifies.
I went to a Hindu scholar and said to him. “Pilgrims come to you to see the idols. Say what is your opinion about us?
What brings us here? we too have come for an, idol.” He said, “you people do not believe in idols.” I said, “you your self are made of clay. This idol of yours is made by God. I have come to visit this idol made by my God. Your religion commands you to fix your eyes upon the foremost part of your nose and not to fix your eyes upon the foremost part of your nose and not to look hither and thither but you people keep on looking at all those things that were prohibited and avoid looking at where they were commanded to.” I said, “While at prostration we gaze at the tip of our nose itself. By looking at our own image, we recollect the image of God. The Brahmanda (the entire universe) is a temple of God. a Mosque, or call it whatever you like, and therein are the idols made by God. By looking at them God comes to the mind. Everything reminds of its creator. By looking at the nose of our own God-made idol we pray: O! the sculptor of these living idols, You alone are the Lord, nourishing this idol by air, You alone are you Sustainer, and ‘O’ the killer, by stopping its breath, You alone are the master of our lives. You are our Brahma, the Creator, You are Vishnu you sustain us, and you alone are our Shiva. You make us die. You alone are our Karta, our Bharta, and our Sanharta (the destroyer). In Your power is our birth, our life, and our death.”
while I was saying this, he was empowered by a strange state.
“One who does not perform his duty towards his neighbour,” the prophet (after taking an oath) declared, “is not a Muslim”. We are not responsible for their sustenance but whatever we could do we should. if we have one bread, half of it is their due. If we are capable of uttering a word, only, we should utter it. If we can solve even three or four complications of the Vedanta, we should. But if you do good unto yourself and not unto your neighbour, whatever little remains with you will become impure and unlawful. A neighbour may belong to any faith whatsoever.
All races and religions of the world are the neighbours of other races, and religions. The entire world is looking at you. Perform your duty.
Foreword
Praise be to Almighty God who enabled me to present before you the essence of a part of Maulana Shams Naved Usmani’s fifteen year long study and research. The publication of these essays had started. in instalments, in Akhbar-e-Nau, New Delhi. Keeping in view their general acceptance and utility, I was prompted to put them in the present form, after necessary alterations, emendations and additions.
I am neither an author, nor a wrier. Besides my own limitations, I am conscious of the fact that the majority of my readers, who associate themselves with different maslaks (institutions), inspite of belonging to the same religions, have leaving aside any hope of their mutual co-operations, given their own institutions the status of the religion it self. Had I not been blessed with the unlimited kindness of my Gracious God and instant co-operation of fellow workers I would never have been able to compile Maulana’s scholarly contribution in its present written from. I have arranged these, during last one year, from a vast number of the tapes of Maulana’s speeches, his dictated notes, references and oral explanations.
If some parts of this presentation remain incomprehensible, the fault should not be attributed to Maulana’s study and research but to the limited capabilities of the writer only.
It is very important to explain that the real aim of these essays in neither to persuade the common Muslims to read the Vedas, nor to furnish interesting information but to draw their attention towards such mode of religious mission as has not received any attention so far. If I am able to instill in some hearts even a semblance of a will to act, it will be my good fortune.
May the Almighty (God) accept this humble service of mine and may He reward all those helpers and well wishers of mine whose precious help is testified by each and every word of this book. Amen!
Seeker of benediction,
· S. Abdullah Tariq
कुरआन से इलाज(Hindi/Arabi)(PB)
PROPHECY OF THE REVOLUTION
Desecration of Ka’aba:
Commenting upon the Jewish occupation of Jerusalem, the renowned theologian, Maulana Syed Ali Mian, had said the following words: “Why should such a humiliating defeat and disgrace, in the eyes of the whole world be inflicted upon them (the Muslims) when even in the immediate past the Divine Grace was radiant in their splendour? The miracles had taken place and the Divine troops used to come down to support them.”1
Ever since the entire Muslim population of the world has been, with hands raised, praying to God to restitute the Qibla-e-Awwal (The mosque of Jerusalem) to them but their prayers return back to them unheard. It seems that God’s succour unto Muslims has stopped. Things have come to such an extent now that attempts are being made to desecrate even Ka’aba.
The very first day of Muharram, 1400 (November 20, 1979) began with the abominable act of Muhammad bin Abdullah Qahtani claiming to be Almehdi (the promised one) as a result of which the subsequent fortnight turned out to be the worst period in the Islamic history of 1400 years. For fifteen days Ka’aba was stained with human blood, its walls were perforated with bullets, and no prayers, pilgrimage or even circumbulating was performed in it. During these fifteen days the entire Muslim community to the world kept on staring at the sky, waiting for the Divine troops to come. Earlier such troops had been sent by God in order to save His home (Ka’aba) and to destroy the army of Abraha. This time the flights of Birds didn’t come. God’s Messenger had prophecied, 1400 years ago, that once the guardians of Ka’aba themselves came down to the level of desecrating it, they would be ‘given rope enough to hang themselves’ so that they go on piling up blemishes in their register of deeds. The immediate capable of enjoying the status of leadership of the world
“Narrated Abu Hurairah : a person will take the oath of allegiance between the Pillar (the Black-Stone) and the Place (the place where Abraham stood to pray) and none but its own people would dare to desecrate Ka’aba. Once this desecration takes place, do not enquire how soon the Arabs will perish.”2
The fifteen days history of this accident bears testimony that the self-styled. Mehdi had taken the oath of allegiance between the Black-Stone and the place where Abraham stood to pray. Here is one more Hadith.
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: I heard the Holy Prophet, the truest of the true, saying : My people will be destroyed by the hands of the rebellious youth of Quraish”3
Events themselves bear witness that the group of persons responsible for this desecration of Ka’aba were the young people in the age group of twenty and twenty-two. Not only this, even the prophecy had been made about the person who will be the harbinger of this terrestrial commotion:
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of God said: the Hour will not be established unless a man from Qahtan appears, driving people with his stick.”4
Maulana Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri writes in the marginal notes of this Hadith in Sahih-Al Bukhari: ‘to drive people like herd of animals implies to subjugate them which might point towards the government and sovereign.”5
Perpetual torment:
Isn’t Maulana Ali Mian’s assessment that ‘God’s succour has stopped coming unto Muslims is a great scourge for the Muslims of the world? And if we have a true faith in Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) prophecy that the desecration of Ka’aba by its own people will be followed by the disaster of Arabs, doesn’t this news imply a great change at the global level? Look at the unfortunate condition of the Muslims of the world:
Muslims, not only in countries where they are in minority, but also where they are in majority, are facing the problems of the insecurity of their places of worship, life and property, honour and respect; and are entangled in diverse political and economic problems. The gas tragedy in Bhopal; the continuous communal riots emerging from Jabalpur and Jamshedpur; the tragic tale of Babri Masjid; the oppression of Muslims in Philippines, China, Russia, Mangolia, Burma and Yugoslavia; ethnic violence in Pakistan; subjugation of Arabs by Israel in spite of being ten times in number; the troubles inflicted by Arabs upon Palestinians and the mutual killings of Palestinians; the atrocities done to the members of various Islamic movements in Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Indonesia, Malaysia; groaning and Lamentation of the Muslims in Afghanistan; numberless persons massacred in the ten year Iraq-Iran war; dreadful famine in Ethiopia; Muslims entangled in various problems in different countries of Europe, Asia and Africa-what a humiliating and disgraceful picture does it present to our eyes!
“Narrated Thoban Maula : God’s Messenger said : ‘Very soon other folk, will come upon you in succession just as the hungry come upon the bowl (containing food)’. One of the persons said : ‘Is it because we will be in minority?’ The Prophet said : ‘No. You will certainly be in majority but you will be like foam over the river. God will take away the fright from the hearts of your enemies and ‘will instil cowardliness in yours’. One of the persons asked : ‘Oh! the Prophet of Allah why this cowardliness will be there?’ The Prophet said : Because of the love of life and fear of death.”6
Is real torment yet to come?
We label this period of our humiliation as our torment but if these conditions prove to be only the beginning of the real torture, then what? If God’s torment will prove more horrible than this, then? When God’s torment was inflicted upon the earlier disobedient races, their existence was obliterated. Shouldn’t the followers of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) be afraid of facing such an end? Let us get enlightened from the Qur’an : “He directeth the ordinance from the heaven up to the earth; then it ascendeth unto Him in a Ya’um (Day) whereof the measure is a thousand years of that ye reckon.”7 Most of the commentators conclude that the reference in the ayah is towards the Day of Resurrection, though in Sura Ma’arij (LXX) the length of the Day of Judgment has been expressed in the following words : “Fi ya’umin Kana Miqdaruhu Khamsina Alfa Sanah (In a day whereof the span is fifty thousand years). A single Ya’um (Day) when the command of God gets established has been rendered by the Qur’an equivalent to one thousand years. An explanation of this Ya’um is given in Sura Haj : “Have they not travelled in the land, and have they hearts where with to feel and ears where with to hear? For indeed it is not the eyes that go blind, but it is the hearts, which are within the bosoms, that grow blind. And they will bid thee hasten on the Doom, and Allah faileth not His promise, but Lo! a Ya’um with Allah is a thousand years of what ye reckon. And how many a township did I suffer long though it was sinful! Then I grasped it. Unto me is the return.” (22: 46-48) Look also at ayah 29-30 of Sura Saba : “They say : ‘when will this promise (come to pass) if ye are telling the truth?’ Say : ‘The appointment to you is for a Ya’um, which ye cannot put back for an instant, nor put forward.”
It is very necessary to concentrate upon these (above given) ayah rendered in the Qur’an at three different places. Isn’t it clear from these ayah that God’s system prevailing upon this earth is changed by Him after His One Ya’um or after our one thousand years in order to administer a fresh prudence and policy. Let the people who believe that the doom was meant only for earlier nations and that there is absolute freedom for them till the Day of Resurrection, realize that God’s respite is promised for a period of one thousand years.
Don’t be in hurry and do not ask that one thousand years have elapsed and still we enjoy the respite. Concentrate upon the following Hadith from Abu Da’ud :
“Narrated Sa’ad bin Waqas : the Messenger of Allah said : ‘Verity I hope that my Ummah (followers) will never become so meaningless and helpless in the sight of God as not to receive the respite even for half a day’. When Sa’ad was asked about the exact meaning of half a day he answered, ‘Five hundred years.” According to Jalaluddin Suyuti, the Muslims will continue to live for fifteen hundred years after Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) departure.8 The mention of this respite, even after the destined span of time, can be found in Shu’araa(xxvi : 204-9) of the Qur’an.
Warning of substitution :
Here is an important point to ponder upon. Once a prophet comes, it is the duty of his followers to attempt to set right the previous races in the light of the fresh teachings of the new prophet. This is the implication of having the status of the leadership of the world. With the prophethood of Muhammad. (PBUH) the Children of Israel were dethroned and the leadership, till the Day of Resurrection, was bestowed upon Muslims. So long as the world remains, no new prophet will come and the followers of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have got to perform the duty of removing the corruption from this world. Are the Muslims with their current state of affairs fit for this job? Still their leadership status should continue because Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the Last Prophet! Recollect all the datas again : Warring of doom to the Muhammadans after 1500 years; the news of the (spiritual) destruction of Arabs after the desecration of Ka’aba; all the signs of Muslims’ dethronment being obvious yet the leadership of the world with them. I shiver while writing it but it cannot be denied that all these facts point towards one direction : “Substitution or Change of Race” that has been prophecied by the Qur’an at numerous places. In other words, the leadership of the followers of Muhammad (PBUH) will again be restored through a new race embracing The Truth. Look at the following few ayah of the Qur’an related to the substitution of one race by another :
* “If it were His will, He could destroy you, O people, and create another race; for He hath power to do this”. (4:133)
* “Because God will never change the Grace which He hath bestowed on a people until they change what is in their (own) souls : and verily God is He who heareth and knoweth (all things)” (8:53)
* “Behold, ye are those invited to spend (of your substance) in the way of God; but among you are some that are niggardly. But any who are niggardly are so at the expense of their own souls. But God is free of all wants, and it is ye that are needy. If you turn back (from the path), He will substitute in your stead another people, then they would not be like you” (47:38)
* “(The same Messenger is also sent for) others of them (i.e. Ummis, the unlettered), who have not yet joined them (i.e the firsts): and He is Exalted in Might, Wise” (62:3)
* “O ye who believe! If any from among you turn back from his faith, soon will God produce a people whom He will love and they will love Him-lovely with the believers, mighty against the rejecters, fighting in the way of God, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault. That is the grace of God, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth, and God encompasseth all and He knoweth all things.” (5:54)
* “Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the least, for God hath power over all things.” (9:39)
God forbid; Is the warning of substituting a new race only a fake cry like that of lion! lion! Verily the Word of God is always true. Even if we try our utmost we won’t be able to change the will of God. However, our duty is to make such efforts as not to be included in doomed people. Besides, we must attempt to get included in the people in whom God entrusts the leadership of all races. We can do this provided we know which race deserves this honour. Such a guidance do we receive from Prophet Muhammad. See for example : “When, in Mecca, Abu Zar Ghifari embraced Islam at the august hands of the holy Prophet, he (the Prophet) said: ‘An oasis has been displayed before me and I think, it was Yasrib(Madina) only. Will you carry my message to the people? It is likely that they get benefited and you rewarded (for this).”9 Obviously, if it comes to one’s knowledge that such and such race is going to embrace The Truth, then the people who take the lead in getting them accept it will be specially rewarded.
Are we Momin (the true believers) in the sight of Allah?
Before proceeding, let us remove this misconception from our minds that mere recitation of La Ilaha illallah (there is no God but Allah) makes one entitled to paradise. The Jews used to say the same : ‘Even if we go to Hell it will be just for a brief period because once we are punished for our misdeeds we will enter paradise permanently.’ In a Hadith given in Al Bukhari and Al Muslim (most authentic books of Hadith) it is stated that the Prophet (PBUH) said : ‘you will behave exactly like the races before you.’ The holy companions asked, “Do the races imply the Jews and the Christians?” The Prophet replied, “Who else!”
No one knows how many of us are the Momins in the sight of God and how many either hypocrites or practical disbelievers. In order to know the implications of the term hypocrite let us revive the following story of Umar.
One day while he was holding the office, caliph, Umar knocked at the door of Huzaifa, a confidant of the Prophet. In a weary and gloomy mood he said to Huzaifa, “Swear in the name of Allah that you will speak the truth”. Huzaifa implored, “what are you going to ask, O Emir of Muslims”. Umar said, “No, swear first that you will give me a truthful account.” Then in a state of extreme commotion he said, “The Holy Prophet has told you the names of all the hypocrites of Madina. Speak honestly if my name figures in the list.”
God Gracious! Hazrat Umar, to whom the good news of paradise has already been conveyed, has the fright of being a hypocrite! He used to say: Belief is the name of the intermediary state between hope and fear. If I come to know that every person except one will go to paradise I will have the fear of being that person; and if (I come to know that) every person except one will go to Hell, I will have the hope in Allah’s benediction of being that one lone person”. Ponder for sometime. If the touchstone of Belief and hypocrisy is even one tenth of this, how many Muslims can verily be called the Believers, keeping also in view the warning of the Qur’an: “The Hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the fire”. (4:145)
Who may that race be?
Let us now attempt to find out the race upon which God would bestow the honour of leadership of all other races of the world. If God and His Messenger have guided us with the news of the change and its timing, then the reference to that race may also be found. Let us glance through the translated ayah of the Qur’an pertaining to the change or substitution of race.
In the translation of ayah 38 of Sura 47 (Muhammad) Abdur Razzaaq, Abd Bin Hamid, Tirmizi, Ibne Jarir, Ibne Abi Hatam, Tabrani and Baihaqi have quoted Abu Hurairah who narrated : When the Holy Prophet recited the ayah “if you turn your backs....”, his companions asked, “O messenger of Allah, who are these people who will replace us after we turn our backs, and they won’t be the like of us.” Then the Prophet patted on the shoulders of Salman and said, “He is the man and his race is the race. I swear in the name of Allah, in whose hand is my life, even if the faith goes to the Pleiades, these people of Persia will trace it out even from there.”10 A similar Hadith has been mentioned in the context of ayah 3 of Sura Jum’a in Al-Bukhari.
I quote below the narrations given in the commentary of ayah 54, Sura Maida, in Tafsir-Fat’hul Qadir :
* Ibne Jarir reports from Shuri’h Bin Uba’id : when this ayah was revealed by God, Umar asked, “O Messenger of Allah! does it mean, I and my people?” (the Prophet) said, “No, but this man and his people (pointing towards) Abu Musa Ash’ari.”
* A’yazul Ash’ari narrated : The Prophet pointed towards Abu Musa Ash’ari and said, “this man and his race.”11
* Abu Musa Ash’ari narrated : I recited this ayah before the Holy prophet and he said, “O Abu Musa Ash’ari, this means you and your race-the people of Yemen.”12
* Narrated Ibne Abbas that the Prophet said, in connection with this ayah, “It means people coming from Yemen.”13
In ayah, 39 of Sura Toba, Shokani writes in Tafsire Fath’ul Qadir vol II, P. 345: “It is controversial as who are those people. It has been said that they are Yemenites and it also has been said that they are Persian. Without an authentic proof the exact identity of the race can never be determined.”
The important point to concentrate upon is, whether (God forbid) the true Messenger of Allah could have told such controversial statements: that is to Salman Farsi that they are Persian, and to Abu Musa Ash’ari, who was from Yemen, that they are Yemenites. Never, and certainly not. Consequently we have to find some relevancy between these apparently contradictory statements. Throughout the world, India is the only country where these two races-Persian and Yemenese-have come together. The people of Persia (Iranian) belong to Aryan race that had settled in the North India. similarly a large number of the people belonging to the Dravidian race of South India had settled in Yemen. Buddhists of Sindh namely Med, Sababja, Siyabja and Ahamrah races had also settled is Yemen.14 Even today we find there a great impact of the Indian civilization. The splendid forts like Hind, Hinda, Sham or Shyam, Ryam still exist there.15 The coming together of these two different races in India is an ideal example of the administration of the administrator of this universe so that the prophecies of the Holy Prophet, which at the time appeared contradictory, turn out to be true.
It is very important to point here out that Iranians and their sympathizers resort to the narrations referring to Salman Farsi whenever they discuss about the present revolution of Iran. Not doubting their intents, we assume that the narrations regarding Abu Musa Ash’ari may not have come into their view. Abu Musa, who had played a pivotal role in converting Jats to Islam.16
Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, a great propagator of Shah Wali-Ullah’s philosophy, writes in the commentary of ayah 3 of sura Jum’a “I believe that Wa akharina minhum (others of them) verily refers to the people of Persia and India as well as their followers.”17 Let us also look at the following prophecy of Shah-Waliullah: “One thing, I verily believe, is that if Hindus strengthen their firm domination upon India in every respect, even then it is necessary and certain, as per wisdom of Allah that He should inspire the Hindu nobles and leaders to embrace Islam as their own religion.”18
The first part of this prophecy, made during the Mughal period, has turned out to be true which means that at present the Hindus are dominant in India for all practical purposes. God willing, the next part of the prophecy i.e. their acceptance of Islam as their own religion will also come true.
I think I have presented a few arguments which are sufficient to prove that there are two sections of Muhammad’s (PBUH) Ummah (followers) : one comprises the present followers whose span is 1500 years, and the second, the Hindus of India who will collectively accept Islam as their own religion after which they will enjoy the status of the leadership of the whole world.
After listening to this heart shaking news one immediate reaction of yours may be to shrug it off and consider it a mere fantasy full of invented parables. On the other hand, finding yourself engulfed in emergencies you may decide to reform yourself, start considering though fully about your objectives and think over the strategy of extending invitation to those people who are going to lead the world. If in their becoming the Believers we also contribute a little, then verily it will be a great success of ours. Even otherwise, the Word of God is always true and does not need even an iota of help from us.
The warning of substitution given in ayah 39 of Sura Toba has been clarified still further in ayah 40. “If ye help not (the Prophet), it is no matter: For God did indeed help him when the Unbelievers drove him out: he had no more than a companion. They two were in the cave, and he said to his companion, ‘Have no fear, for God is with us’. Then God sent down His peace upon him, and strengthened
him with forces which ye saw not, and humbled to the depths the word of the unbelievers. But the word of God is exalted to the height, for God is Exalted in Might, Wise.” (9:40)
“If the present Muslims are not eager to fulfill their duty then, undoubtedly, God will bring to life a new race and prepare them to fulfill the mission of Islam” (Syed Suleiman Nadvi, Ma’ arif, January, 1939.)
THE PROPHET OF THE HINDU RACE
Wonder-struck Krishna Menon:
It is said that once during his stay in London Krishna Menon was with his friends when suddenly a friend of his addressed him thus: “This friend, sitting in front of you is a Jew. He asserts that he possesses a divine Scripture called The Torah and this book of theology was given to them by God through Moses.”
“I know it,” answered Krishna Menon.
Next, this very friend of his pointed towards a Christian and said, “He is a Christian and he too professes to be in possession of a divine Scripture, namely, The Gospel which God has sent unto them through Jesus.”
“I know that too”, Krishna Menon answered with a smile as if he was astonished by the repetition of these universally known facts. But the speaker was serious and, pointing towards a Muslim, started his topic again. “Here is our Muslim friend. He too professes to be in possession of divine Scripture The Qur’an and the personage through whom God sent this book of theology is Prophet Muhammad.
“Dear brother, I am fully aware of these things”, Krishna Menon answered in an extremely wonder-struck mood.
“Exactly” said the same friend, “every one of us is absolutely aware of these facts. But my dear friend, none of us knows who was the first human being to be inspired by The Vedas, which you call Adi Granth-the earliest, the most ancient and the great Book of theology from God to the mankind.”
If is said that in the midst of the inquisitive smile and surprise in the entire gathering, Krishna Menon, for the first time, got genuinely wonder-struck. He fell in a thoughtful silence as if he had realized for the first time he felt a vacuum in the professed scholarship of the Vedic philosophers. The Messengers through whom God sent The Torah, The Gospel and the Qur’an to men are known. If the Vedas are also, like these, the word of God and thereby, Holy Scriptures then who was the prophet who brought them from God. The event may be a fact or a fiction but, undoubtedly, the questions raised here will have been lurking in the minds of the followers of the Vedic religion for the last thousands of years.
The people of Noah too have lost their prophet:
Hindus accept that Ramayana and Mahabharata are written by human beings but the majority of them regard the Vedas as the word of God. However, they fail to tell through which prophet these were sent to the world. They have lost their prophets in mythologies. Each religious community of the world regards the personage associated with its scripture as its prophet but Hindus are the only religious race who have forgotten their original prophet. Keep this fact in mind and concentrate upon the following Hadith of the Mishkat (a book of the Hadith)
“Narrated Abu Sa’id : Allah’s Messenger said: Noah and his people will come (on the Day of Resurrection) and Allah will ask (Noah), ‘Did you convey (the Message)’? He will reply, ‘Yes, my Lord!’ Then Allah will ask Noah’s people, ‘Did Noah convey My Message to you?’ They will reply, “No; no prophet came to us.’ Then Allah will ask Noah, ‘Who will stand a witness for you?’ He will reply, ‘Muhammad and his followers (will stand witness for me).’ So I and my followers will stand as witnesses for him (that he conveyed Allah’s Message).”1
Here are the points to ponder upon: On the one hand, Hadith tells us that the people of Noah will refuse to recognise him as their prophet, and, on the other hand we know that of all the religious communities only Hindus do not know their prophet. Again, on the one hand we know that after the change the Hindu people will be the followers of Muhammad, the present Muslims being a means of bringing about this change and on the other hand, the Hadith also states that after Noah’s people refuse to recognise Noah, the followers of Muhammad (PBUH) will bear witness that Noah had conveyed the message of God to them. In other words, the witnesses, among the followers of Muhammad, will be knowing the relation between Noah and his people. Shouldn’t we infer from these obvious proofs that the present Hindus are the people of Noah?
Hindus are the people of Noah:
Even otherwise, it is an established fact that the Vedic religion is the oldest of all the religions of the world and Noah the earliest of all the prophets with Shari’at (the revealed law). But, before taking it for granted, it is very essential to investigate it from the Vedic religion itself. For the time being let us not accept this claim of Hindus that The Vedas are the Word of God but we should at least investigate that who, according to their scriptures, was the prophet to whom they were revealed. A French writer, A.J.A. Dubois, who studied the Hindu religion and Indian civilization for forty years subsequently, wrote a voluminous and most authentic book of its kind2 on Hindu rituals, customs, manners and traditions. Some of the facts, he related in this book will certainly be of vital interest to our readers:
“Suffice it to remark that a celebrated personage, revered by the Hindus, and known to them as Mahanuvu, escaped the calamity in an ark, in which also the seven famous Penitents of India were... The appellation Mahanuvu.... is a compound of two words-Maha, great and Nuvu, which undoubtedly is the same as Noah.”3
“It is practically admitted that India was inhabited very soon after the Deluge, which made a desert of the whole world....”14
“It is definitely stated in the Markandeya Purana and in the Bhagavata that this event caused the destruction of all mankind, with the exception of the seven famous Rishis or penitents whom I have often had occasion to mention, and who were saved from the universal destruction by means of an ark, of which Vishnu himself was the pilot. Another great personage called Manu, who, as I have tried elsewhere to show, was no other than the great Noah himself, was also saved along with the seven great penitents.... The universal flood is not, to my knowledge, more clearly referred to in the writings of any heathen nation that has preserved the tradition of this great event, or described in a manner more in keeping with the narrative of Moses, that is in the Hindu books to which I have referred.
It is certainly remarkable that such testimony should be afforded us by a people whose antiquity has never been called in question.....”5
The details about the event of Noah and the Deluge have also been given in the Bhavishya Purana and the Matsya Purana, the references of which will be given in the chapters to follow.
The word Manu has been used for a number of Hindu religious personages6 but Manu who figures most in the puranas, the Vedas and other Hindu scriptures is Noah undoubtedly. Even in the Vedas the mention of Noah by the name Manu is at 75 places. The English translator-commentator of the Vedas, Griffith writes in explaining the word Manu, in one of the mantras: “Manu is the man par excellence, or the representative man and father of the human race, regarded as the first institutor of sacrifices and religious ceremonies.”7
Besides these references of Noah in the Vedas and the purans, I am presenting here yet another authentic proof of the affiliation of Hindu race with Noah. Generally speaking, the relation between a race and its prophet can be established by the calendar which, in one way or the other, starts with the prophet himself. For example, Muslims count their calendar from prophet Muhammad’s Hijrah (Migration from Mecca to Madina), and the Christians theirs, from the departure of Jesus. Like-wise the Hindu people count the time of their main events from Noah’s times, and, thereby, count the period that elapsed since the Deluge in terms of sixty years as one year. Dubois writes “......the commencement of the true era of the Hindus, that is to say, of their Kali-yuga, dates from about the same time as the epoch of the Deluge-an event clearly recognised by them and very distinctly mentioned by their authors, who give it the name of Jala-pralayam, or the Flood of waters......And curiously enough, in all their ordinary transactions of life, in the promulgation of all their acts, in the their monuments, the Hindus date everything from the subsidence of the flood...... Their public and private events are always reckoned by the year of the various cycles of sixty years which have elapsed since the Deluge.”8
These are a few examples of Noah’s unique affiliation with Hindu history and scriptures. We have also seen from the Hadith of Al Bukhari, quoted in the beginning of this chapter, that the people of Noah will not recognise him as their Prophet and we also know that in spite of having a close relation with Noah, the entire Hindu race at present does not know him. It is also clear from this Hadith that on the Day of Resurrection the Muslims will testify that Noah had brought the Message of God unto his people. We also know that various other Hadiths also hinted at the race emerging finally as the true followers of Prophet Muhammad.
From all these testimonies it is obvious that after getting included amongst the followers of Prophet Muhammad they (Hindus) alone will be the witnesses on the day of Resurrection. However, in spite of all these testimonies the final and the most authentic proof needs to be discussed-it is the Holy Qur’an.
Evidence from the Qur’an:
All the people of the world have been divided into two races: Semitic race and Non-Semitic race. In non-Semitic races are included the Aryans, and in Semitic race the Jews, the Christians and the Children of Isma’il from Arabic peninsula. The Qur’an also bears testimony to this division of the world into two races, and attributes the origin of one of these races to Noah:
“Those were some of the prophets on whom God did bestow His Grace,-of the posterity of Adam, and of those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah; and of the posterity
of
one race -other
Abraham, and Israel-of those whom We guided and -other race chose.” (19:58)
race
This ayah of the Qur’an implies that in the posterity of Adam are to be found two different races: one of Noah and his companions, the other that of Abraham and Israel or what can be termed as the children of Ismael, and the Children of Israel. We know that the children of both Ismael and Israel are Semitic races. It is obvious, therefore, that Noah’s companions and their posterity should belong to Non-Semitic or Aryan race. The Aryan races inhabit largely in India, besides various other countries of the world.
The question, how to label the posterity of Noah’s companions as Noah’s “Ummah” should not arise because in order to be an “Ummah” of a particular prophet it is not obligatory to be from his posterity. We are Muslims, the “Ummah” of Prophet Muhammad even though most of us are not from his pedigree. We are his ‘Ummah’ because we accept him as our prophet. Among the Jews those who accepted Jesus as their prophet were called “Ummah” of Jesus Christ (Christians). With Noah only few of his companions were saved from the Deluge who were believers as well as his followers. Since the posterity of Noah’s companions or the present Hindus of Aryan ancestry do not accept the prophets after Noah as their prophets, we have termed them as Noah’s Ummah or the people of Noah or Noah’s race in these essays. It is a different question that these people do not recognise even Noah in his true capacity, which is what I meant by saying that they have lost their prophet in mythologies.
But
many that
are first will be
last, and the last
first.
(Matthew 19:30)
MENTION OF THE HINDU RACE IN THE QUR’AN
An allegation against the Qur’an:
I have overheard a large number of sincere Hindus, who are greatly impressed by Islam and acknowledge greatness of the Qur’an, complaining that though there is mention of other races in the Qur’an, there is no mention of the Hindu race. When we attempt to answer their complaints through various elusive explanations, aren’t we becoming unknowingly or unintentionally a party to the leveling of this allegation against the Qur’an?
I quote here from the book Masabihul Islam written in Urdu by Shri Ganga Prasad Upadhyai : “At so many places in the Qur’an it has been stated that God had been sending different prophets to guide the different races but none of these has been mentioned in particular. The strange thing is that the most ancient races like Hindus and Chinese etc., whose civilization is thousands of years old, are not even hinted at. It seems as if this divine inspiration called the Qur’an or the Word of God has nothing to do with human races of the world in general.”1
Verily the first people spoken to by the Qur’an were Arabs. But if it is not merely a 1400 year old book but a book that accounts for all the events and circumstances to come then how is it possible that it makes no mention of the oldest of all religious races which had been living in this world thousands of years before the Qur’an was revealed and still continues to exist in a large number. It is an allegation against the Qur’an! Did we ever try to trace out the name or reference of the Hindu race in the Qur’an? The word ‘Hindu’ is nowhere in the Qur’an but is the word ‘Chistian’ there? Shall we conclude, thereby, that there is no mention of Christians in the Qur’an? The Qur’an, on the other hand, uses the word Nasara for Christians. No Christian of the world calls himself Nasara though we know for certain that those people who call themselves Christians are phrased as Nasara by Qur’an. Like wise, the people who call themselves Hindus may have been mentioned by some other name in the Qur’an.
No research has yet been done about the names of all the races mentioned in the Qur’an.
There are a number of races mentioned in the Qur’an whose identity is yet to be traced by its commentators. These are As’habur Rass and Qaum-e-Tubb’a. The Sabean in particular have been mentioned (in the Qur’an) at various places along with the Jews and the Christians as if they are a big and one of the most prominent races of the world. For example : “Lo! of those who believe (in the Qur’an) and those who follow the Jewish (Scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabeans, whoever believe in God and the Last Day (the Day of Resurrection) and work righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord: up on them shall come no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (2:62)
In this ayah the Sabeans have been mentioned along with the Muslims, the Jews and the Christians. Besides, wherever the Sabeans have been mentioned in the Qur’an, it is along with these big races. We have not still been able to trace out this most important race, whereas, like the Muslims, the Jews and the Christians, they must at present and for the times to come, be as one of the prominent religious communities of the world. If we concentrate we will know that the field of our research has extremely narrowed. How many prominent religious communities are still in the world besides the Muslims, the Jews and the Christians? The Sabeans verily should be one of them. Let us look at it from a different angle.
Among the prophets of great stature the most important ones repeatedly referred to in the Qur’an are Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and lastly Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). See for example :
i) “And remember We took from the prophets their covenant, as (We did) from thee (O’Muhammed), from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary. We took from them A solemn covenant”. (33:7)
ii) “The same religion has He established for you as the one which He enjoined on Noah-That which We have sent by inspiration to thee-and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus....” (42:13)
We notice in these Qur’anic ayah that the big races mentioned together are the Muslims, the Christians, the Jews and the Sabeans. Similarly, the prophets of great stature mentioned here together and also at other places, are Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and Noah. Amongst these, the Muslims regard Muhammad as their prophet, the Christians to Jesus, and Jews to Moses. But about the Sabeans? We do not know. Consider again: the people of Muhammad are called the Muslims, of Jesus the Christians, and of Moses the Jews. But what about the people of Noah? No one knows. Is it probable that the people of Noah have been called the Sabeans2?
The Sabeans are the people of Noah:
Tafsir Ibne Kasir (the commentary of the Qur’an by Ibne Kasir) also refers to the statement of Abdul Rahman bin zaid that the Sabeans claimed to be the people of Noah.
I have gathered below the sayings along with my notes as well as the explanations, regarding the Sabeans, given by Hazrat Umar, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Is’haq, Abu Al-zanad, Qartabi, Allama Ibne Timiya, Imam Gazali, Imam Raghib, Mua’alim, Ibne Jarir, Ibne Kasir, Imam Suheli, Allama Showkani, Qazi Baizavi, Abdul Majid Daryabadi and Syed Suleiman Nadvi.
1. They were the inhabitants of the same place in Iraq where Abraham was born. [It has been affirmed by the excavation of the ruins of Orr, the birth place of Abraham, and the Indian civilization at Harappa and Mesopotomia that there has been a close relation among these two civilizations.]
2. They were ‘the people of the Book’. [It can be inferred from the references of the Sabeans in the Qur’an because they have always been mentioned along with those who were the people of the Book. Which book or Scripture Noah brought to the Sabeans will be discussed later.]
3. They used to recite La Ilaha illallah (there is no God but Allah) but were still polytheists.[that the kalma of the Hindus is also La Ilaha illallah will be analysed in the following pages.]
4. They used to offer prayers (Namaz) facing Yemen. [It has also been established by the studies of civilizations that a large number of the Hindu race had settled in Yemen. We still find there the forts called Shyam and Hind.]
5. The Sabean is a non-Arabic, rather than an Arabic name.
6. They were the worshippers of the Angels. [In Hindu religion most of the gods are the distorted versions of Angels. They worship them.]
7. They had a firm faith in Astronomy. [Among all the races of the world there is hardly any race which has such a keen interest in Astronomy as the Indian Hindu race has.]
8. They were the worshippers of the stars. [The worship of stars is part of the customs of the present Hindu race.]
9. They were the worshippers of the Fire. [The fire worship at the time of Havan, marriage and death rites is still in vogue in the Hindus.]
10. They were Zoroastrian race of Persian descent. [Zoroastrians are also fire-worshippers like Hindus. They are Aryans and the Aryans came to India from there only.]
11. They used to perform Ablution a number of times during the day. [In the world the importance of ablution or bathing in a ceremonial way is most prominent in Hinduism. None of their prayers is complete without bathing. Besides, on some occasions the collective bath is obligatory on their part.]
12. They were proselytes [That the same Hindu race will accept the Truth has already been proved in the previous chapter.]
13. They were subjugating and credulous. [About the substitution of this race there is a reference towards them in Hadith, as has been pointed out in the previous chapter.]
Such are the diverse, and even contradictory, conceptions of our scholars and commentators regarding The Sabeans and, surprisingly enough, all these come true about the Hindu race. Even if the different commentators in different ages had different opinions regarding the Sabeans, at present all these qualities are found in this (Hindu) race alone. It might be that in the past all the groups having the above qualities and conceptions had migrated to and assembled in India. I do not think there is still any place of doubt left as to who are the Sabeans. It is possible that in early ages the definition of the Sabeans could have been applied to different groups but in the present age, it is crystal clear as to who are meant by the Sabeans.
The discussion will remain incomplete if we do not mention here that even Hazrat Shah Waliullah regarded the Sabeans as Aryans as can be attested to by the following references. “Christ was verily a saint who attempted to carry his teachings to non-Israeli people or, in other words, to the Sabeans or the Aryan races.”3 “Iran at that time was the centre of Aryans or the Sabeans. Prior to it India enjoyed the status of being the centre4.” Besides, see also Maulana Syed Suleiman Nadvi’s assertion, in which he too regards the Sabeans as the inhabitants of the ancient India: “Just as there are Magdub (wrath earners) and dal (the people who went astray) among the people of the Book, there are similar other communities, in our opinion, with similar temperamental conditions among those who resemble the People of the Book. The two communities that the Qur’an familiarizes us with, are the Zoroastrians and the Sabeans which include the inhabitants of the Ancient Persia and India.”5
At the end let us also take into account that a small sect is found in Iraq and Syria which calls itself
‘Subi’. These people do not acknowledge any prophet after Hazrat Yahya (Jonah of the Bible) and it is most likely that the Qur’an may have called them the Sabeans too. But renowned researchers and discerning thinkers like Suleiman Nadvi and Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi have identified the Sabeans as the Hindu race only. Verily they will be knowing about the sect ‘Subi’. Besides, there is hardly any such quality in this ‘Subi’ sect, in addition to their being the people of the Book, as commentators have attributed to the Sabeans-these I have already mentioned above.
According to my understanding, the different terminologies used in the Qur’an have been applied to different communities at a time, and some times to different communities at different times. Therefore, it is possible that the term, ‘The Sabeans’ used in the Qur’an may also be applicable to the ‘Subi’ sect (referred to above) but, undoubtedly, the Hindu race is also included in the definition of the Sabeans.
COMMON FEATURES AND ETERNAL KINSHIP
Review of tendencies and relations is necessary:
It is very important for us to examine the times we are passing through after the spiritual death of the Arabs. A race changed in Arabia 1400 years ago and a race is about to change in India now. It is very essential, therefore, to compare the religious tendencies and corruptions of the two. We shall also analyse the common features in Hinduism and Islam. It too is not less important to glance through social, cultural, geographical and spiritual connections of Arabs and Indians because we have to understand in all respects the race we are going to invite towards the Truth. Let us, therefore, review the corruptions of the polytheists of Mecca and the present Hindu race.
Astonishing resemblance:
A Hadith of the Holy Prophet states: “Islam originated an stranger and it will revert to being an stranger as in the beginning. So it is a great news for strangers.....”1 Aren’t we passing through a similar period of the strangeness of Islam through which the Messenger of God and his holy companions in Mecca had passed?
* They (the polytheists of Mecca) used to worship hundreds of idols and these (the present Hindus) worship the thousands of them. Since then we do not come across any other race that worships the hundreds and thousands of idols.
* They used to bury their daughters alive, these burn their own women alive, and in some parts of Rajasthan the daughters are being still murdered the moment they are born.
* They used to bring before the Messenger of God various formulas of mutual compromise like “don’t vilify our idols, we will accept your God”, these people also, from time to time put before us the similar formulae of compromises like “accept the religion of humanity by picking up the good things from every religion”. None of the followers of any other religion or sect like the Jews, the Christians or the Communists dare say such a thing. They call only their own way of life, good.
* One of their groups used to circumbulate Ka’aba nakedly, and some of these, also worship nakedly.
* They had lost their scriptures (the Scripture revealed unto Abraham was nowhere to be found)and these have lost their prophet (These people call the Vedas, the word of God but the prophet un to whom they were revealed is not known to them).
What a strange resemblance is there between the religious tendencies of these two communities-one amongst whom we live today and the other amongst whom the Holy Prophet had been sent in Mecca.
The highest degree of religious corruption where the idolaters and polytheists of Mecca had reached during the days of Muhammad (PBUH) can exactly be found amongst the present Hindu race. One should never be astonished, therefore, by the history repeating itself and by this race’s being selected for substitution. Nobody could have imagined even the people of Mecca collectively embracing Islam few years prior to it. Only the holy companions of the Prophet had a firm faith in the prophecies of the Almighty and subsequently the people witnessed the greatest of the miracles taking place. Even today, though it might appear impossible to a few, I have a firm faith in the prophecies of God and His true Messenger.
Common traditions of Hindus and Muslims
* The Hindus are the earliest race with Shari’at (the Revealed Law) and the Muslims the last and God’s wisdom has assembled them together in one country, India.
* All the ancient temples and mosques in India have been constructed facing Ka’aba. Dubois writes in his book:
“The structure of the large temples, both ancient and modern, is everywhere the same..... Their architectural monuments, such as they exist today....... the entrance of the great pagodas..... Faces the east, a position which is observed in all their temples, great and small.”2
The Muslims know the reason of their mosques being in this direction, towards Ka’aba, but the Hindus do not. Different people give different explanations but no one has got the factual knowledge. May it be due to their old association with Ka’aba a fact which they have absolutely forgotten now? The customs have still remained where as the reality is lost. Even the pyre of the Hindus, like the graves of The Muslims, is always in the North-South direction.
* The Muslims circumbulate Ka’aba seven times during Haj and Umrah 3 and the Hindus, at the time of marriage, take pledge after making seven rounds around fire.
* The attire the Muslims use at the time of Haj, consists of the two pieces of unstitched cloth, one fastened round the waist and another to cover the upper body. Since thousands of years the Hindus too have been wearing the similar kind of dress at the time of visiting the places of pilgrimage. This dress is considered so sacred by them that in its changed version their men have been using it in the form of ‘Dhoti’ and women in the form of ‘Sari’ even in their diurnal life.
* At the time of Haj and Umrah when it is compulsory for the Muslims to cut hair and better still to shave it. The Hindus too have been shaving off their hair at the time of pilgrimage for thou sands of years.
* While performing Haj or Umrah when the Muslims are in Ahram (the holy dress) their men are not allowed to wear such shoes as would cover their insteps. During these days Hawai Chappals are used so that only two fillets remain on the insteps and no difficulty is caused while walking also. While on pilgrimage the Hindus have always been using filletless wooden sandals having only a peg like thumb on them.
* The Muslims name the child on A’qiqah4 (The Muslim ceremony of shaving the head of a newly born child on the seventh day after birth and a sacrifice made on that day.) and shave his head. The Hindus from the early beginning shave the head of the baby at a similar occasion, called by them Nam karan Sanskar.
Can you even imagine that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had borrowed (God forbid) these manners and customs from Hinduism 1400 years ago? The fact is that this race has an old affiliation with Ka’aba and they are the only religious community in the world that has still retained its traditions even in the form of meaningless rituals. If Noah had given these customs connected with Ka’aba to his people, then Moses and Jesus too would have given to theirs. With the passage of time, the truth about Ka’aba has been lost. While the various other races have lost these related customs too, it (Hindu race) is the only race that has still retained them in one or the other form. There are hundreds of identical examples which I am not quoting here for fear of prolonging this discussion, but it must be clearly understood that the unique and precious quality of this race is that if their lost truths are revived back for them, then their understanding of Islam will be easier as compared to other races. The defect of ignoring the reality at the cost of rites has already crept in even amongst the Muslims. It had been realized by the famous Urdu poet Iqbal when he said:
The reality is lost in the stories-
This community is lost in the absurdities.
But the book given to the Muslims and the Prophet sent unto them are preserved and protected till the Last Day. The Muslims will find their lost realities and essentials once they refer to the Qur’an and the Holy prophet. If the Vedas, as the Hindu scholars assert, is the name of the divine knowledge and not of any particular book, then it is to be concluded that the Book as well as prophet of the Hindu race are lost. We can return their essentials to them once we search their prophet and the Scripture for them.
Kinship is eternally ancient:
Kinships and relations are not made, they are eternally ancient. These are not merely physical but also spiritual irrespective of the tune of their getting manifested. This universal law is true not only of the individual relations but also of the relations between group and races. Not only the human but also animal, plant and mineral relations follow the same principle of being ancient It is a separate topic of which there are obvious scientific proofs. Keeping this in view, let us see the relation of the substituting race (Hindus) and their abode, India, with Arabs, the place of birth of Prophet Muhammad and the Arabs. I quote below the extracts from the works of various renowned researchers.
“In 1000 B.C. the people of Saba from Yemen also strengthened their commercial ties with India. The historian Josephus has written that during the age of Solomon, 950 B.C., there were commercial ties between Sapara, a place near Bombay, and Palestine. In this way the Indian Muslim, Chhint (a kind of cloth) and kerchiefs were popular among the Arabs, the references of which can be found in the Arabic poetry..... All the epithaps and inscriptions of Mauryan dynasty in Andhra have been written in Aramaic i.e., in Arabic style. Ashoka’s epithaps have also been found written from right to left.”5
“Now the question arises how 5000 years ago, the Arabic language was in vogue in Yudhishtra’s court in India. An answer to this question may be that 5000 years ago there was the domination of Abrahamic religion in this country.”6
One of the Indian communities was also found in Arabia since ancient times and Arabs used to call it ‘Med’.
“Astakhri has written that in all cities of Sindh the religion of non-Muslims is Buddhism and with them there is a race called Med..... After Jat and Med there has been in Arabia from ancient days, another race called Siyabaja or Sababaja..... Balazary in Futuhul Baldan and Ibne Khaldun in his History have repeatedly used Siyabaja..... In Arabia one more Indian race had settled to which the Arabs used to give the titles like Hamra, Ahamra, or Ahamarah”.7
“It is very surprising that the word ‘Hind’ should have been so dear to the Arabs that they named their ladies after the name of this country. Consequently this name has the same kind of importance in the Arabic poetry as Laila and Shirin in the Persian poetry”.8
The books of research scholars abound in such details. In Urdu, in particular, Maulana Suleiman Nadvi and Qazi Athar Mubarakpuri have written very comprehensive books on the Indo-Arab relations. I have presented here a few references sufficient enough to reveal that the ancient Indo-Arab relation had not only been social and cultural but also spiritual. For example “Researchers do not even hesitate to affirm that Arabs used to call Buzasif to Buddha only.”9
I have come across numerous legends regarding the religious connections and even the prophethood. Today, the Muslims generally believe that all the prophets mentioned in the Qur’an were from Arabian Peninsula only but the people who profess it do not explain into which part of Arab, Egypt, Iraq or Syria Adam and Noah were sent as prophets. Whatever the researchers have been able to find in this connection is briefly presented here.
Adam in India:
An interesting fact is that on Mount Sarandeep there is an impression of a very large foot which the followers of various religions consider to be sacred. The Muslims and Christians call it the foot impression of Adam, the Buddhists that of Buddha and the Hindus that of Shiva. The wonderful legend is not without any basis. There are similar references in the history of the Arabs.
“The Arabs claim that their relation with India is not merely a few thousand years old but right from the beginning it has been their paternal land. In Hadiths and Tafsirs wherever the legend of Adam has been mentioned it has frequently been reported that when Adam was thrown out of the celestial paradise he was put upon a terrestrial paradise, called India. He put his first step on Sarandeep (Sri Lanka), the impression of which still exists upon this mountain. In the commentaries (Tafsir) of Ibne Jarir, Ibne Abi Hatam, and Hakam it is stated that the place in India where Adam was made to descend is Dajna. Can it be concluded then that this Dajna is Dakhna or Dakkhin, a famous name attributed to the Southern part of India?”10
Here is a proof from one of the books of commentaries of the Holy Qur’an: “Ibne Abbas has said that the Tanur (Oven) of Adam was in India.”11
Let it be clear that the commentators and scholars have still not been able to trace out the place from the Qur’an, the Torah and the Gospel where Adam was made to descend. From the above reference, as well as from the footprints in Sri Lanka, one gets the clue that this might be the land where Adam was sent as prophet. Though these inferences may appear to be weak, it is vital to note that about no other part of the world such legends have been claimed.
Noah in India:
We know from the Qur’an that after Noah’s Deluge the Ark of Noah came to rest upon (Mountain) Al-Judi which is located at Kurdistan in Iraq. From the Bible we know that his boat came to rest upon Ararat (Mountain) range. (Judi is a mount of the Ararat range). But commentators have still not been able to say, in which part of the world Noah preached after the Ark came to rest. It has also not been found where Noah was for 600 years prior to Deluge. The Torah merely states that after the Deluge, Noah and his companions assembled together in Babel wherefrom they scattered throughout the world. “Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth.” (The Bible: Genesis 11:9)
The Qur’an says that water started gushing forth from the Tanur and it was the beginning of the Deluge: “(Thus it was) till, when our commandment came to pass and the Al-Tanur gushed forth water. We said: ‘Load there-in two of every kind, a pair (the male and the female).....” (11:40)
‘Tanur’ is not an Arabic but a Persian word used in the sense of an ‘Oven’ in which bread are baked. Most of the commentators have used it in the same sense and only few have taken it to mean the surface of the earth: which means that water gushing forth from the surface of the earth. But in the Qur’an ‘Al’ is used before the word ‘Tanur’ which implies ‘a particular Tanur’. Let us see the explanations of the scholars in this regard.
“If it is said that the word Tanur has a prefix ‘Al’ (used for the definite article in Arabic) then it is most probable that Noah already knew it. Hasan Basri reports that the Tanur was made of stone and Eve used to bake bread in it. Then this Tanur was possessed by Noah and he had been told: ‘Once you see water gushing forth from the Tanur, embark along with your companions in the Ark.”12
“That this Tanur was of Adam has also been stated by Muhammad Naim Moradabadi in his commentary of the Qur’an. Earlier we have quoted the statement of Ibne Abbas from Tafsire Fath’ul Qadir that the Tanur of Adam was in India. Let us look at it from a different perspective. While collecting together various facts about the word ‘Tanur’, Showkani has written “.....the eighth saying is that it is a place that exists in India.”13
It won’t be out of place to mention here that when I searched the word in Indian Railway time-table, I found that a place called Tanur is in Kerala and when I attempted to locate it in the map I found the place Tanur located at the sea shore in the district Malappuram of Kerala. It is on the western shore of India, separated from Arabia by the Arabian ocean. In the light of the above discussed legends can it be supposed that it is the same place wherefrom Noah’s Deluge started, as has been illustrated in the Quran? It correlates all other sayings about Tanur, concluding that the water had started gushing forth from the Tanur situated at the sea shore and the same is called ‘The Tanur of Adam’.
It should be recollected here that in preceding pages I have authoritatively proved Noah’s vital connection with Indian races in the guise of Manu. From the above quoted saying of Hasan Basri that “when you see the Tanur gushing forth water, embark along with your companions upon the Ark....” and from all other traditions in which it has been stated that ‘this Tanur was of Adam and is in India’, it can verily be affirmed that Noah, prior to the Deluge.
In his book, Narsingh Aggarwal writes that Aryans came to India with Manu (Noah): “Aryans who were brought to India by Father Manu were not idolaters.”14 “A lawyer and a researcher of Gujarat, M. Zaman Khokhra, has revealed, after years of research, that Adam the 2nd (Noah) is buried in Gujarat. The basis of his assertion is an ancient 240 feet grave yard, located in the suburbs of Badela Sharif, 25 miles away from this famous city of Gujarat which is visited by people for centuries. The popular opinion about this nine yard grave, almost one furlong away from the village, covered with thick bushes and shady trees is that it is the grave of Noah’s son or grand son, Hazrat Qabit. But M. Zaman has proved, with the help of two veterans who can discover what is concealed in graves, that it is not of Qabit but of Noah himself15. Supporting his argument with references from various other veteran grave discoverers as well as saints he writes further:
“Badela Sharif is a border village and is situated in the north-east direction near Tandah town. five miles away from Gujarat. From here begins the Chhamb valley, and the Chinab and Tawi Rivers flow near by. Before partition Hindus used to call this graveyard Manu Mehrast. Manu Mehrast is a Sanskrit word and it means “boatman”. The same meaning can be derived from the Hebrew word Noah. In the classical Sanskrit books it is written that one of the sons of Adam invited all men, animals and birds together on the Ark. The reference of Noah’s Deluge has also come in ancient scriptures of Aryans which proves that Noah’s children had scattered up to India right from the very beginning. In Ayina-e-Gujarat it is written that the inhabitants of Gujarat are the children of Noah’s son Ham, and the Hamians had constructed splendid buildings and palaces in the environs of Kashmir. With the passage of time even the traces of Ham’s grave have vanished but the signs of their coming here are spread in this broad and wide land in the shape of cities and graveyards. The large heaps of soil and hillocks in the environs of Badela Sharif testify that sometime back here would have been very splendid villages and towns of the children of Adam.”16
After going through these research extracts let us look at this reference also: “Yaqut Hamvi has written that Sindh and Hind were two brothers from the children of Boqir son of yaqtan, son of Ham, son of Noah and with these two names these countries became popular.”17
Don’t these traditions and researches testify my opinion that before and even after the Deluge Noah had connections and associations with India? If you segregate these legends and research extracts about Adam and Noah you might call some of them or every one of them, if taken independently, unauthentic but after combining them together their position becomes stronger and authentic. Besides, in no other country do we find claims about the apostleship or demise of these prophets. If all these researchers have concocted fictions regarding a single fact then it is also very surprising that even the Arabs should have concocted identical fictions regarding a single fact then it is also very surprising that even the Arabs should have concocted identical fictions about the relation of Adam and Noah with India, and not with China, Russia, Japan, Europe, America or Australia.
Even otherwise, these things shouldn’t surprise us in any way for, the people of that age were sixty metres tall with a life span of almost 1000 years. Their passing through every part of the world should engender no surprise. The legend of longer life span is very popular, and about the height there is a Hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah, quoted in Sahih Al Bukhari, Ch. “Kitabul Ambiya”, that “Adam’s height was sixty metres and since then the height of the people went on decreasing”.
Some other prophets in India:
Verily, not only about Adam and Noah but also about other prophets, there are legends of their coming to India. I quote some of these here: “Researchers do not hesitate in affirming that the Arabs used to call Buzasif to Buddha only”18 One of the renowned scholars of the present century, Late Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani also saw the signs of prophethood in Buddha and asserted that ‘Zulkifl’ of the Qur’an and Kapilvastu are the names of the same personage.”19 Even in A.N. Kaningham’s report of the archaeological monuments (1862-63) we come across the following words: “While explaining about the mounts of Ayodhya, Kaningham has written that there is a religious place between Muni and Kabir mounts which is 64 feet from east to west and 47 feet wide. It has in it two graves which are being attributed to Hazrat Shith and Hazrat Ayyub (Job in Bible).”20.
“Even the Indian soil has not remained deprived of the prophets of God. Even a saint like Hazrat Mujaddid Alf Sani, who is rigidly orthodox in the matter of beliefs, was convinced of the coming of prophets in India and had sensed the signs of prophethood in some of its cities.”21
About M. Zaman Khokhra, whose reference I have quoted earlier from the Urdu daily Qaumi Jang, Rampur, the paper adds:
“M. Zaman Khokhra has traced various long and wide graves besides those of Noah and his son. According to him at Chogani there was a person known as Tanug Kan’ani who was son of Joseph. It is written in Ayinai Gujarat that Qazi Sultan Mahmood, with his expertise in discovering what is concealed in graves, has traced a number of graveyards in the neighborhood of Gujarat. He asserts that all these graves are of those prophets of the Children of Israel who were from the Children of Moses and Imran. From the ancient historical references it appears that Gujarat was not only the highest seat of learning and knowledge but also the spiritual abode of the prophets. There exists a grave at Ruwaila Sharif which is a few feet longer than other graves. It is believed that in this grave a saint from the Children of Adam’s Son Shith is buried. At Pasir Nagar there is a grave of Hamsialan who was captured along with his son at the time of the invasion of Bakht Nasr and had come to India after spending 70 years of imprisonment at Babel. His great grandfather was Harun. At Tanda town there is a grave of an Israeli Leader, Naqib Khushi. On the banks of the river Tami there are graves of king Fenus and Fananus. Both these saints are believed to be the children of Abraham’s son Afrasim. It is famous about Sultan Sinyadush that he is son of David..... There is a 9 yard grave at Rangdah. If all these age old graves have still retained their sanctity, it can be asserted that these are the miracles of the prophets only.”22
Although the above mentioned sayings and traditions are even lesser authentic than those about Adam and Noah, I have quoted them because they are prevalent.
Jesus in India:
About the coming of Jesus to India there are so many legends in Kashmir and Ladakh. Even the English and Russian researchers have mentioned it. I quote here some extracts from Acharya Rajneesh’s essay ‘Unknown life of Jesus’ printed in a famous Hindi Journal Kadambni, March, 1973.
“...... India has enough reasons to believe that Jesus stayed in a Buddhist monastery in Kashmir. There are so many legends in Kashmir that Jesus was there..... He had gone into a deep meditation after which he appeared in Jerusalem. At that time his age was thirty.”.....A French writer has written in his book, The Serpent of paradise “No one knows about his actions and where abouts for a period of 30 years. According to one legend he lived in Kasheer during these years.”
“A Russian tourist, Nicolas Notovitch, who had come to India around 1887 and went to Ladakh where he fell ill and stayed in the famous Hemis Cave. During his stay in the cave he read various Buddh Granths (Buddhist scriptures). He found, in these Granths, a lot of information about the teachings of Jesus and his travel to Ladakh. Afterwards, he published a book which mentions the stories of Jesus’s travels to Ladakh and other eastern countries. It has been mentioned in the book that from Ladakh Jesus went to phalgam, passing through the passes of highest mountains and crossing the snowy tracks and planks. At Phalgam he looked after his cattle for a pretty long time. Here he came across some Lost Signs of some races of Israel. It is believed that it is only after Jesus’s stay here that this place came to be known as Phalgam. The word ‘Phol’ in Kashmiri means ‘a Shepherd’ and ‘gam’ a village; hence ‘the village of shepherd’. Afterwards, on his way to Srinagar, Jesus stayed to relax at a place known as Ismukam23, where he gave some sermons. This village Ismukam has also been named after him: the resting place of Jesus.”
In the issue of December, 1978 of the same Journal Kadambni there is an article ‘Tibbati lama ke sannidhya men Isa’ (Jesus in the company of the Lamas of Tibet) by Shanti Kunj Haridwar. I quote below some excerpts from it.
“How and where Jesus spent these thirty years? In order to know it the scholars have conducted a lot of research. Among the research scholars, a Russian scholars Notovitch is ahead of others in making interesting assertions after touring diverse countries for forty years. The results of his laborious research have taken the from of a book entitled Unknown life of Jesus, published in 1898.
During his research tour Nicolas Notovitch went to Tibet also and saw an old Granth, written on palm leaves, in Hemis Buddh Vihar. Nicolas tells us about the days spent in this Buddh Vihar: ‘when I went in a cave, a Lama told me about a prophet whom he regarded as one of the incarnations of Buddha. The Lama called this prophet Jesus and said that ‘we utter the name of Jesus with reverence. We do not know much about him but the elder Lama has an old Granth in which much is written about Jesus’. Anyhow Notovitch managed to locate and take the photographs of this old Granth, comprising of 14 chapters and 244 stanzas. The information about Jesus given in the Granth is: Jesus came to India to attain the spiritual knowledge. During those days the caravans of merchants of Jerusalem used to come here for commercial purposes. Jesus also came to India, with one of the caravans, through Sindh valley. Since Jesus loved the entire mankind, all Vaish and Shudras loved him. In those days he was staying at Jagannath Puri. When the priests of this temple came to know that Jesus mixed up with the Shudras also, they took it ill. Once Jesus came to know about the indignation of the priests he left Jagannath Puri temple and went to Rajgrah. He remained there for six years and then reached Tibet via Nepal. After travelling continuously for 16 years he returned back to home land via Iran. During his travel he had spent a few years with the Lama of Hemis Buddh Vihar....
A similar account we find in the Gospel: when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a sage from east came to see him. Arthur Miller calls this sage Buddh Sanyasi, a Buddhist ascetic.....
Aziz Qureshi has written in his book Christ in Kashmir that in those days a large number of the Jews had settled in India, the relics of which still exist. The Gujars of Kashmir call themselves belonging to Istray’an tribe. Their names are still of the Jewish pattern. They speak a language resembling Hebrew-Hebrew was also the language of the Jews. Their houses also have the Jewish names. Jesus himself was born in a Jew family and had come to India along with the Jew merchants, who used to come here very often those days.....
The whole discussion will be incomplete without referring to Shri Swami Ayangar’s ‘Long Missing links and Discoveries about Aryans’, and ‘Isa Messiah aur Khuda (Jesus Christ and God). In his book Ayangar gives many pictures from James’ book by way of evidence..... a number of pictures have got the impression of Indian civilization......
In Bhavishya Purana 13:22:21-26, there is the following account of Shikadesh’s meeting with Jesus on Himalayas: One day Shikadesh went ahead of Himalayas to Huddesh where he saw a white robed and fair looking ascetic wandering in the mountains. When Shikadesh desired to get introduced to this ascetic, he said ‘My name is Jesus. I was born from a Virgin mother. I am an alien here. I am called Christ.”24
In order to affirm the coming of Jesus to India, the article also cities the reference from Ramesh Chander Dutt’s History of Civilization in Ancient India, and Dr Spencer’s Mystic life of Jesus.
These are the investigations of English, Indians and a Russian researcher. Whether you accept them or not (though there is no reason for any disagreement) let us go through the legends of the association of Prophet Muhammad with India.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and India:
“It is stated about Tamim Dari, one of the holy companions of prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that he had come to South India to propagate Islam. He died here and his grave still exists in the suburbs of Madras,”25 “In Tabqat Ibne Sa’ad, Sirat-e-Ibne Hashsham, and in Tarikh-e-Tabri etc it is written that in 10 Hijrah Khalid bin Walid came to the Holy prophet along with a delegation of Banu Haras of Najran. The Prophet saw the delegation and said “Who are these people who appear to be Indians”.26
From the above narration it is clear that the Prophet knew the Indians to such an extent that he used their reference in order to describe the features of unfamiliar people. Here are two more narrations which also prove that prophet Muhammad (PBUH) knew the Indians.
(1) “Though there were diverse Indian races in Arabia at the time of the Holy prophet, the majority was of Jat and Siyabaja who lived on the east coast or its nearby areas. All the Arabs were familiar with them and even the Prophet knew as well as recognised them. In the chapter ‘Babul Amsal’ of Tirmizi there are these words of Abdullah bin Mas’ud: Some people came near me whose body and hairs were like that of Jats”.27
About this Hadith, Imam Tirmizi writes that narrated thus, this Hadith is Sahih Hassan Gharib28. In the chapter of Meraj of Sahih Bukhari it is stated that the Holy prophet compared Moses to Jat in terms of complexion and physique:
(2) Narrated Ibn-e-Umar: The Prophet said, “I saw Moses, Jesus and Abraham (on the night of my Ascension to the heavens). Jesus was of red complexion, curly hair and a broad chest. Moses was of whitish complexion and straight hair as if he was from the people of Jat.”29
So far I have presented only those narrations which talk of the Prophet’s acquaintance with the Indians. The question is not of acquaintance only but of the association, love and affection he had for this country. See, for example : “The Arabs always had a great fascination for India. They believed that Dajna, the place where Adam was made to descend upon this earth, is in India. Preserved, there, was Prophet Muhammad’s Light in Adam’s forehead which also affirms that the first appearance of Prophet Muhammad was on this soil.”30
“There is a legend that the origin of the following four rivers is paradise: Nile, Euphrates, Jaxartes and Oxus. Nile is the river in Egypt, Euphrates in Iraq, Oxus in Turkey and Jaxartes is said to be the name of an Indian river. Can we call this fourth river of paradise, Ganges? Some people say it is river Sindh.”31
“In this connection there is a very popular saying among the Arabs that the Holy Prophet said, ‘I smell of a Divine fragrance from India.’ And Hazrat Ali has also stated that the most pious and fragrant place is India.”32
Not only this, the Holy Prophet has also prophesied of a Great Ghazwa (holy war of truth and untruth) in India, a Ghazwa that will redeem all its participants from Hell. Imam Nasai in chapter “Ghazwatul-Hind” of the Sunan and Imam Tibrani in The Mu’ajjam have quoted a narration of the Messenger of God; Narrated Sauban Maula: The Messenger of God said, “Two groups from my ummat (people) will remain secure from the Fire of Hell-those who fight the holy war in India, and those who will associate themselves with Jesus, (after his second coming).”33
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: We have been promised by the Messenger of Allah, that there will be a Ghazwa in India. If I participate in it I will sacrifice for it my life and property. If I am killed I will be the best martyr and if I return alive I will be Abu Hurairah redeemed from Hell.”34
May God accept us also for this Ghazwatul Hind- Amen.
Arab peninsula and India were once joined together:
These were some selective portions of a long story, based on commercial, cultural and spiritual ties between Arabia and India, a story spread over thousands of pages. Sometimes, one feels that they are the two units of the same computer whose contact with each other is indispensable, or like the telepathic contact between two twin brothers in spite of their being hundreds and thousands of miles from each other. After realizing this, it shouldn’t be amazing to infer that sometime back the two countries were geographically connected or even joined to each other.
According to the recent research of the geologists, the continents are never stationary but in continuous motion. 200 million years ago all the dry regions of this earth were connected with one another and the entire piece of land was surrounded by water. Various continents got detached from this huge piece of land and after drifting for sometime took the present shape and they are still in motion. On this topic, I quote some excerpts from Ronald Shelar’s essay “Earth’s Continents are Adrift”, published in the English issue of the Reader’s Digest, July, 1971. The drawings given ahead are also from the same essay:
“.....during its 4600-million-year geological history, oceans have opened and closed like accordions, and continents have been buffeted around like hulks on a stormy sea.... Admittedly, some of the pieces of the puzzle are missing, and scientists do not agree on all details. But the general outlines have been verified-and accepted by most scientists as geological truth. “Global Plate tec-tonics can no longer be referred to as a mere truth,” says Oceanographer Maurice Ewing, “Scientifically, it is as significant as Darwinian evolution or Einstein’s laws of energy and motion, and, as important to mankind.”
....The earth’s land surfaces rest on these plates (as do the oceans), and were once welded together in a single continent. Some 200 million years ago, this super continent began to split up, eventually forming the seven continents and the major islands, we now know, and were rafted to their present positions like parcels on a moving conveyer belt. These plates.... are being propelled across the globe by forces of undetermined origin, in various directions, at geologically wild speeds of a centimetre to 15 centimetres a year.... They learned, for instance, that the Atlantic Ocean floor is widening, pushing Europe and North America apart, at the rate of two and a half centimetres a year.... And by tracing the movements of the sea floors back in time, oceanographers were able to work out where the continents had originally started.... the first separation was a gigantic east-west crack in the earth’s crust, and a rift that appeared between the African-South American mass and Antarctica-Australia. India was liberated and started bolting north. The 200 million years it took the plates to sever and to reach their present positions comprise a phenomenally short time from the geological point of view.... The most spectacular of all was India, which, once it tore loose from Africa and Antarctica, raced 8,800 kilometres north and 180 million years, to ram under the belly of Asia, pushing up the Himalayas ahead of it.... The Himalayas will grow, and India will tire of burrowing under Asia and slide eastwards.”35
From the drawings, it is clear that originally India was connected with the present African Continent. After India’s separation this place, due to the changes of the millions of years, became the present Arabia.
Traditionally, it was believed that only human beings, birds, animals and some unseen creatures are animate whereas the rest of the things are inanimate. Subsequently, the science proved that even the trees and plants are animate. Today, the scientists assert that everything including minerals, earth, stones and the like have a life so much so that they possess feelings and emotions too. (Though it is proved by the Qur’an also, it is not our topic at present) In spite of these scientific assertions, the materialists will not believe in my assertion that there is some kind of mutual connection between all things of the world. Verily, under the guidance of an unseen power, there are relations of love and hate among things governed by different rules and regulations. Hence, it should not be surprising that there still exists relation between Arabia and India, even after their geographical separation, by means of the magnetic and radio waves which have been and are the cause of a deep spiritual kinship.
The fresh polish cannot shine over the layers of dust:
Look at the systematic policies of the Creator of this universe from any angle you like, you can’t help getting astonished at the perfect management.
Millions of years ago, the two adjoined parts of the earth disunite: on the one the first man puts his feet, and on the other, his wife is made to descend (according to the legend Eve descended in Jeddah). Hence the relation between these two regions begin right from the human existence upon this earth : the name of one region is India and that of another Arabia The Deluge of Noah starts from one region, and after sailing, the Ark finally stops on the second, wherefrom Noah ultimately returns back to the first.
In all ages, the people of different Indian races are found in Arabia. Even the prophets of one region maintain close connections with the other region. Finally, the last Prophet is born in Arabia in a community which prior to embracing Islam was the most erring community in beliefs as well as deeds, but which subsequently changed not only themselves but a large population of the world and made them Ummat, the followers of Muhammad. Now, after 1400 years, the Hindu community, also currently the most unique race of the world in going astray in its beliefs, is about to get associated with prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) In order to complete this mission the religious community upholding the final revealed law is put along with Noah’s Ummat possessing the first revealed law. Till now Vedic-ism, followed by Jainism, Buddhism and Sufi-ism have been retaining this country as the centre of spirituality, since Noah’s age. At present, the immediate need is to remove the thick layers of dust so that the shining trophy coming underneath causes no difficulty when it is polished. With the thick layers of dust over it, polishing will be absolutely impossible “Do they then only wait for the Hour, that it should come upon them unawares? But already have come some token thereof, and when it (actually) is on them, how can they benefit then by their admonition”. (The Qur’an 47:18)
THE VEDAS1
THE EARLIEST SCRIPTURES
Introducing the Vedas :
- To the foremost (Lord), we offer worship..... (R.V.1:1:1)
- “O Divine, Lustrous, Benevolent God, most ample, respectful adoration do we bring Thee. Thou art all-knowing. Remove from us the sin that leads us astray. Lead us through virtuous path to riches, happiness and all sorts of wisdom.” (Y.V. 40: 16)
- “Who by His grandeur is the Sole Ruler of all the moving world.” (R.V. -10: 121: 3)
- “O persons, Listen attentively. Narashans (Muhammad) will be praised among the people.” (A.V.-20:127:1)
- “They, forgetting the Last Day and insulting the knowledge and ‘wisdom, are approaching the limits, we have appointed.” (R.V.-1: 4: 3)
These are the translations of a few Vedic hymns. Concentrate upon them. Isn’t the present Hinduism contrary to these teaching of the Vedas? Do you see even the slightest contradiction between these teachings and prophecies, and the teachings and prophecies of the Qur’an? Such examples are not just a few, but they are in plenty in the Vedas-some of these will be cited in this chapter. Prior to it, let us see the belief of common Hindus about the Vedas and also what the Christian and the Muslim researches say about them. According to the general Hindu belief:
# The Vedas are Shruti Gyan (purely oral religious knowledge). For thousands of years they were not in the written form. The knowledge had been memorized by Pundits and came to us descending through generations. Max Muller was the first person to compile these, after great labour, in their present written form after hearing the memorized version from the Pundits. Because of their being in unwritten form, the common man had no access to these. Besides, everyone was not allowed to listen to the Vedic hymns.
# Hindus are unanimous on Vedas being ‘One’, originally, but today there are four. In this connection there are various presumptions: some believe that the original Veda is lost, some assert that one of these four is the real Veda, and some others say that these are the four parts of the one original Veda.
# The Vedas are Deva Vani (the Word of God.) Hindus attribute the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to saints whereas the Vedas are considered as the Word of God.
# They are Brahm nij Gyan (Knowledge of God Himself)
# The Vedas comprise of two kinds of knowledge: Vedmantra Shruti (the knowledge of the basics) and Ved Tantra Shruti (allegorical knowledge)
# The Vedas are Adi Granth (the earliest scripture)
Even Maxmuller, presently the first researcher of the Vedas in recent times, was able to get hold of Sayan Acharya’s commentary only in its perfect condition and that too after exhausting, for about twenty years, his purse and energy. The result of his efforts is the present printed version of this scripture, comprising of a large number of lost Vedic hymns, compiled with the help of hundreds of Indian pundits.2
“......it is the word spoken by the Aryan Man..... it belongs to the history of the world and the history of India..... (These are) the relics of former ages, the first place in that long row of Books which contains the records of the Aryan branch of mankind3
“The four Vedas are considered to be of divine origin and to have existed from all eternity, the Rishis or sacred poets to whom the hymns are ascribed being merely inspired seers who saw or received them directly from the Supreme Creator.”4
“The accounts of their origin, though differing in form, agree in teaching that they were the direct gift of God to man.”5
“The Vedas have not come down to the present times without considerable dispute as to the text.”6
“Who wrote the Vedas? It is a difficult question. Sincere Hindus consider them ‘the Word of God’ and not of any human being. It means that the Vedas are the divine knowledge.”7
The Christian scholar Dubois writes: “And such numberless mistakes have been introduced by copyists, either through carelessness or ignorance.”8
Commenting upon a letter, written by a contemporary of Shah Waliullah, Mirza Mazhar Jane Janan to Shah Abdul Aziz, Professor Khaliq Nizami writes: “He has categorically refused to treat Hindus as the like of the polytheists of Arabia, and has assigned to them the status of the People of the Book.”9
Mufti Maulana Muhammad Yahya of Mazahir-ul-Ulum, Saharanpur has written answering a letter: “In the letters written by Hazrat Mirza Mazhar Jane Janan, it is obviously stated that he regarded the Vedas as the divine scriptures.... Besides, in the written verdicts of Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Hai Lakhnawi there are references of their religious leaders, called by them Avtars. It means, therefore, that one can only demand proofs for their claim from these people, the Aryans, who call their religion divine and their books Scriptures, but one can not without any reason, deny their assertion outright. Even my teacher, Maulana Asadullah Sahib did not use to utter any indecent word for them.”10
The founder of Darul Uloom Deoband, Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi was indiscreet in this respect that he had forbidden to use vulgar or indecent language even about Shri Rama or Shri Krishna because, according to him, there was possibility of their being the Messengers of God.
How to consider them holy :
The essence of this discussion is that the probability of the Word of God, being in the Vedas, is there. At least those portions are surely divine which contain the age old prophecies of coming of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). However, collectively, the presence of the beliefs of monotheism and life hereafter, are not proof enough that they (the Vedas) may be treated at par with even the other tampered divine scriptures like the Torah, the Zabur (Psalms), and the Gospels. It is because of the following three reasons:
(1) There still are doubts whether even the present Torah, Zabur and Gospels, may be regarded as holy scriptures.11
(2) The words themselves are the best proof of their own authenticity. The mere presence of a few examples of monotheism and the Life Hereafter do not bestow the same status upon the Vedas as those of The, Torah, Zabur and Gospel.
(3) The Qur’an mentions the Torah, Zabur and the Gospel, but not the Vedas.
I will try to analyse these doubts one by one.
The problem of considering the present Torah, Zabur, and the Gospels, as the Holy Scriptures has been solved by Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi. He writes: “Generally, our scholars believe that the Torah and the Gospel are lost.... as a result of which they are not ready to treat these books (as they are in the Bible) holy at any cost. This belief has engendered a misconception as our scholars have failed to elucidate those Qur’anic ayahs in which the ‘People of the Book’ have been invited to act upon their own Books and have been charged of not doing so.....”12
“.....but for the Qur’an in which the revealed word is predetermined and completely preserved in its original shape and form, no scripture of any religion has retained this mode except in case of a few portions. Generally, their religious scholars, on the basis of their own religious understanding, compile the Books that comprise of the words as well as deeds of their prophets. In other words, these scriptures include the divine revelation in its Original Shape and form, e.g. the Ten Commandments of the Torah and a few of the serpistle of the Gospel, besides the teachings and interpretations of the prophets themselves. It is an established fact that when God doesn’t take exception upon the interpretations of prophets, it is to be treated as the revealed Law.”13
“The Qur’an was preserved in the form of a written book in the presence of the Prophet himself and the same arrangement persisted with continuity. But the revelation that came in the form of Hadith even according to these U’lama (Muslim scholars) was neither written in the days of the Prophet nor does it need the (same degree of) continuity. Now on the pattern of these very scholars it should preferentially not be deemed improbable if the earlier scriptures are treated at par with the books of Hadith. If these people (Muslim scholars) accept it, all their doubts will be removed.
* It has been unanimously agreed upon that there are some unauthentic narrations in the Books of Hadiths.
* Again, in the Books of Hadiths one single event has been narrated in different ways.
* In so many Books of Hadiths the scribes have made some technical errors which our researchers keep on rectifying.
Following these assertions, if the four Gospels of the New Testament be compared with four Books of Hadiths (Bukhari, Muslim, Abuda’ud, and Tirmizi) the slightest difference (in their state of authenticity) will not be observed.”14
“....Amongst Muslim theologians ShahWali Ullah Dehlwi used to present Bukhari and Muslim for this type of example of earlier scriptures.
......I have read the Urdu translation of Mr. Henry Scott’s commentary of the Gospels. He has attempted to compile and arrange the contradictions of the four Gospels in a way we do of the Books of Hadiths....”15
When we concentrate upon these facts we realize that these are the doubts that have come in our way of regarding the earlier Books as the divine scriptures. That these Books also contain in them the distortions is unanimously agreed upon. Often an event has been narrated differently and there have also been technical errors and changes while writing them which their researchers keep on rectifying.
Maulana’s explanations clarify that the hesitation in considering the former books holy, was really due to our comparing them with the Qur’an. However, if we consider the Books of Hadiths holy too, in spite of the same technical errors in them those are in the former scriptures, there won’t be any turbidness in considering them holy particularly when the Qur’an also supports it at a number of places. It should also be kept in mind that if the collections of Hadiths have the sanctity of having an unparallel research done before writing them (even then there are a number of unauthentic Hadiths), then Torah and the Gospels are superior in the respect that they contain the word of God too.
After the clarification of this point if we get enough evidence about the Vedas that the discourse included in them itself testifies of their being the Word of God, and the Qur’an also testifies it, we should not have any hesitation in accepting them the holy Scriptures in a way affirmed by Maulana Sindhi.
One discourse in the light of another :
The Word of God is itself its best proof. The topics discussed in the Qur’an are themselves enough proof of their truthfulness. Let us see some topics of the Vedas in the light of the Qur’an:
[I have followed Masabihul-Islam written in Urdu by the famous Arya Samaji author, Sri Ganga Prasad Upadhyai for the translation of all the Vedic Mantras, under the present heading below, though at places, I differ from his translations.]
The Qur’an The Vedas
Praise be to One who created this worlds. (1:1) Praise be to Allah, Lord of the world. (R.V. 5:81:1)
The Beneficent, the Merciful. (1:2) The Bounteous giver. (R.V. 3:34:1)
Show us the straight path.(1:5) Lead us through straight path for our benefit.(Y.V. 40:16)
Knowest thou not that it is Allah unto whom belongeth the sovereignty of the heavens and earth, and ye have not beside Allah, any friend or helper. (2:107) The Mighty, the king Supreme of earth and spacious heavens May Ishwar be our Succor. (R.V. 1:100:1)
He hath created everything.(25:2)
Parmatma engenders all subjects (creatures). (A.V. 7:19:1)
…… Spend, that is better for your souls (64:16)
.....If ye lend unto Allah a goodly loan He will multiply it for you. (64:17) God is One, He provides food to the gracious, charitable man.(R.V. 1:84:7)
Who feedeth and is never fed. (6:14) ....Parmatma not eating manages to feed others. (R.V. 1:164:20)
Naught is as His likeness. (42:11) Idol of that Parmeshwar cannot be carved. (Y.V. 32:3)
Unto Allah belongeth the East and the West. (2:115) His are all the directions (R.V.10:121:4)
And whither so ever ye turn, there is Allah’s countenance. Lo! Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing. (2:115) Creator of the world is everywhere from east to west, up above and below. (R.V. 10:36:14)
God hath eyes on all sides. God is facing in every direction.(R.V. 10:81:3)
We are nearer to him (man) than his jugular vein. (50:16) Thou art closest to us and our Protector. (R.V. 5:24:1)
....They encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He willeth. His throne includeth the heavens and the earth (2:225)
...He sendeth down the rain.(31:34) The heavens and earth have not attained the amplitude of that God. His bounds, the regions of mid-air and the rains from the skies have never reached.
That God and none else can have power over this creation.(R.V. 1:52:14 )
Hast thou not seen how the ships glide on the sea by Allah’s guidance? (31:31) He knows the ships that are in the sea. (R.V. 1:25:7)
Hast thou not seen how Allah causeth the night to pass into the day and causeth the day to pass into the night, and hath subdued the Sun and the Moon (to do their work), each running unto an appointed term; and that Allah is Informed of what ye do. (31:29) God, master of all living beings Ordained the cycle of days and nights. (R.V. 10:190:2)
As grace from Us, We reward him thus who giveth thanks. (54:35) Thou, O’Parmeshwar rewards a pious man. That is thy true disposition (R V. 1:1:6)
Lo! Allah loveth not such as are proud and boastful. (4:36) A man should pass with humility through the path of righteousness (R.V. 10:31:2)
Allah knoweth all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and Allah is aware of all things. (49:16) That Ishwar knows the entire world fully well.
(R.V. 10:187:4)
He knoweth both your secret and your utterance, and he knoweth what ye earn (6:3) One who stands or walks or deceives or hides himself or troubles other or when two men whisper secretly, the third Ishwar knows them all. (A.V. 4:16:2)
He is with you where-so everye may be. And Allah is Seer of what ye do.(57:4)
He is omnipotent over His slaves.(6:18) He predominates all living beings. (R.V. 10:190:2)
He knoweth all that entereth the earth and all the emergeth there from and all that cometh from the sky and all that ascendeth therein. (57:4) God beholdeth all between heaven and earth, and all beyond them. (A.V. 4:16:5)
And He is who sendeth the winds, glad tidings heralding His mercy. (25:48) He knows the pathways of the pleasant wind, spreading high and He knows everything they (the winds) support. (R.V. 1:25:9)
He it is who hath appointed night and day in succession. (25: 62) Ordained the days and nights (R.V. 10:190:2)
He hath appointed the night for stillness, and the Sun and the Moon for reckoning. (6:96) ...the great Creator, formed, like previous creations, the Sun and Moon. (R.V. 10:190:3)
His verily is all creation and commandment. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret. Lo! He loveth not the transgressors. (7:54-55) Pray humbly with hands uplifted to worship able Parmeshwar, the guide of earth and heavens to the righteous path. (R.V. 6:16:46)
(God is) the Great, the High Exalted.(13:9) God is truly Great. (A.V. 20:58:3)
There is no changing the words of Allah (10:64) God’s holy laws remain unaltered. (R.V. 1:24:10)
Thou will not find change in the law (approved) of Allah (48:23) None can alter His laws. (A.V. 18:1:5)
Yea, to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth : so that He rewards those who do evil, according to their deeds, and He rewards those who do good, with what is best.(53:31) Yea, even this great pair of Earth and heavens tremble in terror at Thy wrath, O’God! With Thy thunder Thou slewest the wicked and establisheth spiritual heights for the performer of good deeds. (R.V. 1:80:11)
He is the First, and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent and He has full knowledge of all things.(57:3) O Parmeshwar, thou art the Earliest, and the most learned. (R.V. 1:31:2)
Truth stands out clear from error. Whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trust-worthy Hand-hold that never breaks. (2:256) God, through his pure knowledge, hath segregated truth from false-hood and ordered O’people, have faith on truth and don’t follow the false-hood. (Y.V. 19:77)
And yet ye study the Scripture? Will ye not understand? (2:44) People of dull understanding see in Book yet they do not see and hear but actually do not hear. (R.V. 10:71:4)
And be not the first to reject faith therein, nor sell My signs for a small price.(2:41) O’eternal, Almighty God Thou art so precious I would not leave Thee for any cost, not for thousands, nor for billions, nor for hundreds, of earthly wealth. (R.V. 8:1:5)
Lo! That no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. (53:38) You are the one to act and you alone are to reap its crop. (Y.V. 23:15)
Verily God will not deal unjustly with man in aught: It is man that wrongs his own soul. (10:44) O Bright and Almighty Sustainer! Due to our own ignorance, we go astray: Have mercy, upon us. (R.V. 7:89:3)
By no means shall ye attain righteousness unless ye give (freely) of that which ye love. (3:92) He, who eats his earnings alone, eats sin. (R.V. 10:117:6)
These are the people who spend (freely) whether in prosperity, or in adversity, who restrain anger, and pardon all men. For God loves those who do good. (3:134) Bounteous is he who gives alms for cause of poor and needy. Success attends him. His enemies turn into his friends. (R.V. 10:117:3)
That such is the (man) who repulses the orphan (with harshness) and encourages not the feeding of the indigent. So woe to the worshippers (of such kind). (107:2-4) The man with food in store who, when the needy comes in miserable case begging for bread to eat, hardens his heart and eats himself, finds no comfort when in trouble. (R.V. 10:117:2)
Judge further:
If by chance you come across a lost brother of yours, will you refuse to recognise or hug him, though his features may have changed a little, even if his face bears out the familiar signs of childhood? It may be that due to the resemblances you will draw back in amazement, ask him questions about his past and concentrate upon the familiar signs. Subsequently, you will embrace him and love him from the core of your heart, deeper than even before. If he fails to recognise you at first, you will eagerly try your best to make him do so. Now, after observing the similarity, let us see some more signs of our lost brother and besides concentrating a little, ask him a few questions too.
प्रतित्यं चारूमध्वरं गोपोथाय प्रहूयसे। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (1)
नहि देवोन मर्त्यो महस्तव क्रंतु परः। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (2)
ये महोरजसो विदुर्विष्वे देवासो ओजसा। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (3)
ये उग्रा अर्कमानृ चुरना धृष्टास ओजसा। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (4)
ये षुभ्राघोरवर्पसः सुक्षत्रासो रिषादसः। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (5)
ये नाकास्यधि रोचने दिवि देवास आसते। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (6)
ये ईड़ख्यन्ति पर्वतान् तिरः समुद्रमर्णवम। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (7)
आ ये तन्वन्ति रष्मिभिस्तरः समुद्रमोजसा। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (8)
अभि त्वा पूर्वपीतये सृजामि सोमयं मधु। मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि (9)
These are the hymns of the Rig Veda (1:19:1-9). See how at the end of each mantra the same words मरूद्धिरग्न आ गहि ‘Marudbhiragna AaGahi’ are repeated (The secret of Agni is revealed by the desert folk). Isn’t the style similar to that of Sura Rahman (of the Qur’an) in which one ayah Fabi ayyi alai rabbikuma tukazziban (then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny) has been repeated 31 times. It is not a mere coincidence because a similar kind of repetition is found in hymn 78, Book I of the Rig Veda where द्युम्नैरभिए प्रणोनुमः ‘Dyumnairabhi Pranonumah’ (to you with fair praise which I offer come) is repeated five times. In order to avoid protracted ness, I am not quoting here, all the mantras of this hymn and similar other examples. In the Rig Veda (10:133) the following words have been repeated at the end of six Shlokas न भन्तामन्यकेषां ज्याका अधिधन्वसु ‘Na Bhantamanyake-sham Jyaka Adhidh anuas’ (The weak bow-strings of our foes break). In the Rig Veda (1:105) वित्तं मे अस्य रोदसी‘Vittanme Asya Rodasi’ (Mark this my woe, ye land of Heavens) has been continuously repeated 18 times, कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ‘Kasmai Devaya Havisha Vidhem’ (what God shall we adore with our oblation?) (10:121) nine times-and in the Yajur Veda (ch.21) The mantras 48 to 55 conclude with दधुरिन्द्रियं वसवने वसुधेयस्य व्यन्तु यज्ञ ‘Dadhurindriyam Vasuvane Vasudheyasya Vyantu Yaj’. (For gain of wealth let them enjoy, Thou (O’devotee), offer sacrifice.)
Even in the Qur’an this kind of repetition is not only confined to Sura Rahman (55) but also in the following :
1) Sura Mursalat (77): Vaylun ya’um’aizin lil mukazzibin (Ah, woe that Day, to the rejecters of Truth) ten times.
2) Sura Qamar (54): Vala’qad yassarnal Qur’ana lizzikri Fa’hal min muddakir (But we have indeed made the Qur’an easy to understand and remember. Then is there any that will receive admonition?)Four times
Such illustratins are in plenty both in the Qur’an and the Vedas. It is obligatory to discuss the topics of (belief in) Monotheism, Prophethood, and Life Hereafter, as discussed in the Vedas, in the separate chapters.
So far as comparing the Vedas with former scriptures is concerned, I could read these scriptures (the Torah, the Gospel, and the Zabur), vide their English translations only, because of my ignorance of the Hebrew and Greek Languages. Obviously, these translations reflect the ideas and beliefs of the translators also, but in case of the Vedas I have attempted to understand their original Sanskrit version also. In this comparative study I have also gone through the available writings of Muslim scholars on the Torah and the Gospel. I have judged all these scriptures by the Qur’anic standards and I can honestly assert, in the name of Omnipresent Allah, that in their original versions, those scriptures (Torah, Zabur & Gospels) may be at par with the Vedas but in its (Bible’s) present translated version, I have found the Vedas much ahead of the Bible, and there is no comparison between them.
Such are the result of judging the Vedas and the Bible by the Qur’anic standards but the final criterion is yet to be seen: What does the Qur’an say about the Vedas? The Qur’an says : Li Kulli ummatin Rasul (To every people was sent a messenger) (10:47)
The final witness:
The divine scriptures mentioned in the Qur’an are, generally considered to be, the Torah, the Gospel, and the Zabur only. Objecting to this, Shri Ganga Prasad Upadhyai states:
“After Adam, the Qur’an mentions the four apostles: Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad. Four scriptures are attributed to them: The Torah to Moses; the Zabur to David; the Gospel to Jesus; and the Qur’an to Muhammad. The name of Adam neither figures among the Apostles, nor has any scripture been attributed to him. From Adam to Moses there is a huge time gap and during these times the human history has come across a number of ups and downs. So many new kingdoms are born and so many existing ones perish, but no ‘people of the Book’ are born!”16
It can be said that the Qur’an primarily is a book of guidance and not an encyclopedia of the prophets or their scriptures but, irrespective of the objections of Shri Ganga Prasad, the question verily emerges that among the prophets of stature, the Qur’an repeatedly mentions, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad with particular emphasis. The Qur’an mentions the scriptures of all these prophets except Noah, so mach so that David’s Book has also been mentioned. Why doesn’t the Qur’an mention Noah’s Scripture?
The same question can be repeated in these words: that the main religious communities mentioned simultaneously by the Qur’an are the Muslims, the Christians, the Jews and the Sabeans. Out of these the Qur’an attributes the scriptures to the first three races only and does nowhere indicate which book did Noah bring unto the Sabeans. Why isn’t it known? The question gains more importance when we know that the Sabeans in the Qur’an is the name of the Vedic races and there are also prophecies of this race embracing the Truth. Not only this, we even know from Hadiths, that the substituted race : Aajabul Qaum (the most wonderful race) will not directly believe in the Qur’an but will initially rediscover their lost scriptures and will accept truth only after confirming the Qur’anic teachings through them.17
Search by the name of Adi Granth:
What is most needed, therefore, is to search the names of the Vedic scriptures in the Qur’an. Once we attempt to do so, we shall be able to find that, besides the Torah, the Gospel, the Zabur and Abraham’s Scriptures, the Qur’an uses the words Suhufil Ula and Zuburul Awwalin (First Scriptures, and First scattered pages). The Sanskrit equivalents of these two words are Adi Granth and Adi Gyan. Hindus believe that the Vedas are Adi Granth and Adi Gyan. Have you ever considered the possibility of Suhufil-Ula and Zuburul Awwalin of the Qur’an being the same books called Adi Granth by the Hindus? It should be borne in mind that all our attempts to find out the names like Vedas in the Qur’an are going to be futile. Today the name of the scripture revealed unto David is ‘Psalms’ and if we attempt to trace this name in the Qur’an we won’t be able to locate it. The Qur’an has named this book as Zabur. It is identical with what we have discussed in chapter III, p.42 Today no Christian calls himself Nasara but we know that the Qur’an identifies Nasara to be those people only who call themselves the Christians.
What a great negligence! We know them as Nasara who do not call themselves Nasara; we know the Book of those as Zabur who do not call it Zabur; and here we have a large religious community, thousands, of years older than the Qur’anic revelation, who claim to possess Suhufil Ula or Zuburul Awwalin. In their vernacular they have been using these very words for their own scriptures but, inspite of living with them for about one thousand years, we have been saying without any research or even without studying their Adi Granths that Suhufil Ula and Zuburul Awwalin no more exist. Besides, there are not very many races who claim to possess a book by this name so that one could doubt the integrity of these claims-this is the only religious community that claims it. God forgive us. Perhaps He preplanned to disclose this secret at the time of the substitution of this race; otherwise, the Qur’an would have revealed unambiguously the name of the prophet unto whom Suhufil Ula and Zuburul Awwalin were revealed. Still it does not lessen our crime of negligence. In Qur’an only those personages are clearly stated by name which were known to the Arabs of the day and the rest of the important events can be traced out only after a thorough research which may be found in such comprehensive words, with which the Arabs of 1400 yrs. ago were also familiar, but they attributed their meanings to the things or persons they knew. It was, therefore, our duty, particularly of the Indian Muslims to find out the relation of this community with the Qur’an with which we have been living for more than a thousand years.
Earliest scriptures are extant
That the first scriptures are extant is confirmed by the Qur’an itself in this ayah: “They say: ‘Why does he not bring us a Sign from his Lord?’ Has not a clear Sign come to them (in the form) of all that was in the former Books of revelation?” (20:133)
This ayah clearly proves that the First Scriptures Adi Granth are not lost but are extant even today. Even the Qur’an presents it by way of a miracle and argument: that even after thousands of years, these Scriptures contain those teachings which have been collectively revealed and incorporated in the Qur’an. To those people who demand a proof for the existence of the First Scriptures, God has posed an indirect challenge: “Do you want a proof from the Qur’an? Do you want a proof in the Word of God? See the First Scriptures (Adi Granth) and you will have our proof, our miracle and our argument before you.”
So far this ayah has been taken to mean that the essence of all topics and teachings of the former Scriptures has been collectively presented before us in the form of the Qur’an and this is the miracle of Ummi (unlettered) Prophet given unto him by God. Verily, this too is the meaning of the above ayah but don’t you sense a similar kind of challenge in this explanation too? Unless you know what all the former Scriptures contained, how will you be able to understand this aspect of the miracle? How will you be able to conclude and prove that the Qur’an is the essence of all Scriptures.
Such is the emphasis laid down in the Qur’an to know the real teachings of the former Scriptures and also the implication thereby that they have not disappeared from the world.
The Vedas are The First Scripture:
“Suhufil Ula” is a very comprehensive term full of denotations and connotations: The term, implies all the former scriptures, in general, as well as the earliest ones in particular. Among the former scriptures that the Qur’an mentions, the Arabs were familiar with Suhuf-e-Ibrahim18, the Torah, the Zabur, and the Gospel. Noah, the event of the Deluge, the condition of his people, and his Scripture were not known to the Arabs to whom the Qur’an addressed first. An important evidence to this effect is given by the Qur’an itself, in Sura Hud, while narrating the facts about Noah and the Deluge, Allah says: “Such are some of the stories of the Unseen, which we have revealed unto thee (Muhammad). Before this neither thou nor thy folk knew them....” (11:49)
The Qur’an, in its distinctive mode, has employed such names for the former scriptures as were familiar to the people to whom it was initially addressing. At the same time, it did not neglect mentioning even the earliest scriptures, but used such comprehensive and multi meaning terms as could have been employed by God only. The words Suhufil Ula and Zuburul Awwalin did not create any problem to the earlier people because they took them to mean all the scriptures they knew. And the same explained to Ganga Prasad, the author of Masabihul Islam that : “Your books have also been mentioned in the Qur’an. There is verily the mention of Adi Granth or the Earliest Scriptures. How do you expect from Us not to mention the name of the book of your leader Noah in the Qur’an when we have mentioned the books of leaders of the other great races of the world in it-leaders like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.”19
Let us analyse the word Zuburul Awwalin. The Qur’an narrates: “Without doubt it (the Qur’an) is in Zuburul Awwalin. (26:196). ‘Zubur’ means ‘scattered pages’ and Awwalin means-the first, the earliest. Zuburul Awwalin, therefore are the earliest scattered pages. We know that the first prophet with the Revealed Law was Noah and the Hindus are the people of Noah. They declare the Vedas as Adi Gyan. Even the history of the Vedas (as stated briefly above) indicates that “the earliest scattered pages” verily comes true of them. Look at it from a different angle. God says (in the Qur’an) : “And before thee also the apostles We sent were men, to whom We granted inspiration : if ye realize this not, ask of those who posses the Message. (We sent them) with Bayyinat (clear) and Zubur.” (16:43-44) Here, besides the other meanings, it is also artistically hinted at, that all the revealed scriptures are either Bayyinat or Zubur, that is, they have been revealed either in Bayyinat or Zubur. Bayyinat means- ‘revealed in a very clear and simple language’. What is then different from Bayyinat? The facts revealed in allegorical language. It means that another meaning may be assigned to the word ‘Zubur’-i.e. revelations in allegorical language. In the Rig Veda, it is stated: “After the lore of Ancient times (in allegorical language) I make beauteous songs” (8:6:11). Judged from this angle too, the Vedic knowledge comes under the category of Zubur, and there is hardly any controversy in their being Awwalin, the earliest.
The final judicious proof of the Vedas being the earliest Zubur or Scripture revealed unto Noah is that, in the Purans (sacred works compiled by Vyasa) and other Hindu religious books there are prophecies about many prophets by names whereas in the Vedas only Noah and Adam have been referred to. There are also the details about Hazrat Ahmad (PBUH) in his capacity of being the Prophet of the celestial world and also the prophecies of his being sent as Muhammad unto this world. These prophecies about the Apostleship of the last Prophet are found in every divine scripture. The mere fact that no prophet after Noah (besides the prophesies of the last Prophet) has been mentioned in them, certifies that the Vedas belong to an age which is neither before nor after Noah.
I think there is hardly any doubt left now in considering the Vedas as the divine books or holy Scriptures. The topics of the Vedas themselves, the ideas of the Muslim scholars who have studied the Vedas, and the above quoted references of the Qur’an should leave no doubts in our minds about their being at least partially, the Word of God.
The Vedas and the other Hindu religious Books :
The Hindus regard the Vedas as the Word of God in which the alteration of any word is forbidden whereas the other religious books like the Puranas, the Upanishads, the Aranyaks, and the Smiritis are treated as the commentaries of the Vedas-their ideas and not the language are attributed to God. These books are attributed to Rishis and, therefore, the linguistic changes are permissible in them provided they do not distort the meaning. It is just like the difference between the Qur’an and Hadiths. In Kalyan Padam Puran Ank, this idea has been expressed as:
“The Word of God can never be changed into a similar kind of meaningful words. If they are changed, they no longer remain the Words of God. Judged from this standard, the words of the Vedas are the Word of God... Not only this, even the arrangement of the words in sentences too cannot be altered. The Puranas are like the sentences of holy saints. In these, the change of language hardly matters provided the meaning remains unaffected.”20 Hindu scholars claim that while memorizing the Vedas too much care has been undertaken not to allow even a minor technical change. However, we know for certain that these age old orally memorized Vedas were ultimately put in their present written form by Max Muller in the eighteenth century. Even if it is granted that enough care has been taken, there still ramains the strong probability of their getting meshed up with the Puranas and other religious books. All the English commentators of the Vedas and a number of distinguished Hindu scholars certify it. According to my research and assessment only those portions of the Vedas and other religious books comprise the real Veda that get authenticated by the Qur’an.
“Our “When
Lord! through
Condemn our want of
us not if we thought we
forget or fall violate Thy
into error”. laws, punish us
(The Qur’an not, O God, for
2:286) that inequity”.
(The Rigveda
7:89:5)
THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE AHMAD MUJTABA (THE CHOSEN ONE)
The Ahmadic Truth :
I have mentioned at a number of places that Hindu race has lost its religious truths in mythologies. The most important truth which these people knew and which forms the basis of a number of their mythologies is the Ahmadic Truth (Haqiqat-e-Ahmadi). In order to explain this, it is necessary to understand the Haqiqat-e-Ahmad which our scholars have elaborately analysed particularly the ones associated with mysticism. This is one of those truths which are to be understood in the fifteenth century Hijri, otherwise we can neither comprehend the factual position of the Hindu mythology, nor can we mend it. Look, for example, at the following ayah of the Holy Qur’an : “And remember when Jesus, the son of Mary said : ‘O Children of an Apostle to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.’ But when he came to them with clear signs, they said, ‘This is evident sorcery’.” (61:6)
This ayah clearly states that Jesus had already prophecied of the Apostle, Ahmad.
In the commentary of this ayah, the commentators have elaborately analysed that there was verily the prophecy about Ahmad in the Gospel but the Christians have tampered with it. Most of the commentators have not explained how the name of the Holy Prophet was Ahmad? In this context only those Hadiths have been referred to (by these commentators) in which the Holy Prophet said that his name was Ahmad too. Verily, we too believe that one of the names of Prophet Muhammad is Ahmad. But the questions is how? where? and when?
We believe in the Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad but if we are not able to know from these Hadiths the truth of this name Ahmad how can we answer the allegations of the orientalists? The Christians alleged that Muhammad came to know the name of the coming Apostle as Ahmad and (God forbid) coined the ayah of the Qur’an saying thereby that his name was Ahmad whereas it was Muhammad. See the following words of a Christian author:
“...The child was called Muhammad. This name was rare among the Arabs, but not unknown. It is derived from the root Hamd and signifies ‘the praised’. Another from is Ahmad which having been erroneously employed as a translation of ‘the Paraclete’ in some Arabic version of the New Testament, became a favourite term with Mohometans, especially in addressing Jews and Christians; for it was (they said) the title under which the Prophet had been in their books predicted....”1
“That the promise of Paraclete was capable of perversion we see in the heresy of Montanus; and it is probable that a garbled version of the same promise communicated to Mahomet may have given rise to the following passage.”2
In the history we do not find the name of Prophet Muhammad as Ahmad any where. It was only after his own assertion ‘I am Ahmad’ that this name became popular. His grand father Abdul Muttalib had given him the name Muhammad. Right from his childhood all the people of Arab used to call him by the same name. The title like Sadiq (most truthful) and Amin (most trustworthy) were also attributed to him but no where do we find any mention of this name Ahmad. All his holy companions knew him by the name of Muhammad. It was only his goodself that revealed, “I am Ahmad”. Isn’t it necessary for us now to understand the truth about this name Ahmad? Knowing that his name in the world will be Muhammad why did Jesus say to the Children of Israel “His name will be Ahmad,” though it was verily obvious to God too that it would open the door for various objections? Is the truth of the name, Ahmad, given to the Messenger of God (PBUH), different from ‘Muhammad, a truth towards which God wanted the earlier people to pay their attention?
Ahmad, in fact, was his name in the Celestial world. Before being sent to this terrestrial universe, before the creation of humanity, and even before Adam’s coming to this world, all of us existed. Our souls had already been created in the Celestial world. Subsequently these souls were incorporated in physical mould and were sent to this world. The souls of all the human beings that will come upto the Day of Resurrection are still existing. In the same Celestial world God had made us testify that He is our Cherisher and Sustainer. The Qur’an narrates it as-
“(And O’prophet tell your people to recollect the time) when thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam-from their Loins-their descendents and made them testify concerning themselves, saying ‘Am’ I not your Lord (who cherishes and sustains you)’? They said: “Yea! We do testify”! (This), lest ye should say on the Day of Judgment : ‘of this we were never mindful’: Or lest ye should say : ‘Our fathers before us may have taken false gods, but we are(their) descendents after them : will Thou then destroy us because of the deeds of men who were futile.” (7:172-3)
While commenting upon this ayah every Shiaet and Sunni commentator agrees that this covenant was taken from the souls of the Children of Adam even before their bodies were created. For example, Hafiz Ibne Qayyim writes in the Kitabur-Ruh: “It is apparent that this covenant was taken from the souls because the bodies were non-existent then.”3 While explaining this ayah Ka’ab Qarzi writes: “every soul had believed in God and testified His Cognizance before the bodies were created”.4 besides, it has been stated in the same book “God said: Walaqad khalaqnakum thumma thawwarnakum (It is we who created you and gave shape afterwards).... The word ‘thumma’ is used for delay... It is, therefore, clear that creating means ‘The creation of souls” 5
Even in the Celestial world, where we had affirmed that God alone is our Cherisher and Sustainer, there was prophethood but there was only one Prophet, Ahmad-the Chosen One. To God and Angels the name of this Prophet and Messenger of God was “Ahmad”. That Ahmad and Muhammad are the two truths about the same personage is a unified belief of the Sufis (mystics).
“And ‘Ahmad’ is another name of the Messenger of God and by this name alone is he popular in the heavens.... and this pious name is closely related to the Almighty God, and is one step nearer to God than the second name (Muhammad).”6
“In heavens he is popular among Angels by the name of Ahmad whereas among the people of this earth by Muhammad”.7
In this world the name of the Holy Prophet as Ahmad is not proved anywhere and still the Qur’an says that Jesus had prophecied of the coming of Ahmad. That he was the last of the messengers of God, can be attested to by a number of illustrations in other former scriptures, However, here the main purpose was to draw your attention towards the fact that all the former people had been told that the last Prophet upon this earth will be the same who was the first Prophet in the Celestial world-Ahmad. In this capacity he has been the Apostle of all the souls. This is what Jesus had told the Children of Israel that the Apostle Ahmad who was the Prophet of all of us in the heavens will physically come as the final Prophet after me.
The truth about Ahmad is in every scripture:
Our commentators have cited a number of references about the name Ahmad from the Torah and the Gospel. Therefore, I won’t quote them here but will present a few examples about Ahmad from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
Besides the Bible, there are reference of Ahmad even in the Vedas. See, for example वेदाहमेतं पुरूष महानतमादित्यवर्ण तमसः प्रस्तात A यनाय AA ‘Vedahmetam Purusham Mahanta-madityavarn Tamsah Prastat. Tamev Viditvati Mrityumeti Nanya Pantha Vidyate Ayanaya.’ “He, the source of all knowledge, Ahmet, is Mighty Personage. He is Refulgent like the Sun casting away darkness and ignorance. He only, who knows him feels not the pangs of death. For salvation there is no other path save this.” (Y.V. 31:18) अहमिद्धि पितुष्परि मधामृतस्य जग्रभ A अहं सूर्य इवाजनि ‘Ahmiddhi Pituspari Medhamritasya Jagrabh. Aham Surya Ivajani’.
“Ahmad was the first to offer sacrifice and achieved the glory like that of the Sun.” (R.V. 8:6:10)
It should be clear here that in the Qur’an the Prophet of God has been referred to as Sirajam Munira (Lamp Spreading Light) अयमिद वै प्रतीवर्त ओजस्वान संजयो मणिः A प्रजांधनंच रक्षतु परिपाणः सुमद्धगलःAA ‘Aimid Vai Prativart Ojasvan Sanjayo Manih. Prajandhanan Cha Rakchhatu Paripanah Sumangalah.’
“Ahmad, when returns, proves refulgent and mighty Pearl, guards completely all the creatures and the capital, and proves to be the best redeemer.” (A.V. 8:5:16) Similarly, in the Atharva Veda (20:126:14) the word Utahmedam has been used.
While translating the above mantras some mistakes are being committed. For example in the first mantra, the word ‘Ahmet’ has been used. In Sanskrit quite often‘d’ is replaced by‘t’. This word is being translated in two parts ‘Aham+et’ meaning ‘I’ and ‘it’ respectively. Consequently, the translation deviates far from the original. The same mistake has been made in the translations of other mantras.
Let us see Haqiqat-E-Ahmadi (Ahmadic truth) in Buddhism. In Buddhism, the word, ‘Buddha’ is synonym to Apostle, and lord Buddha had said to his disciple Ananda: “I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth nor shall I be the last”.8 Dr. Radha Krishnan also writes about the first Buddha “In Zen-Buddhism the name of the first Buddha is “Amidab”9” and the pronunciation of this word in Japanese is ‘AMID’10 that is Ahmad.
The word ‘Amidab’ or ‘Emethabh’ is a compound of the two words ‘EMETH’ and ‘Abha’: Emeth is the mutilated version of Ahmad and ‘Abha’ means light. So EMETHABH means “Refulgence or light of Ahmad”, which means that even in Buddhism, is this hidden truth that the Apostle was ‘the light of Ahmad’.
These were the former scriptures and traditions. Let us see what Hadiths say in this regard-
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: One day the holy companions of the Holy prophet asked him ‘O’ Messenger of God, when was the Apostleship bestowed upon you’? He answered, “At a time when Adam was still between body and soul”.11
According to Tirmizi it is Hadith Hassan.
Narrated Irbaz bin Sariya: (The Prophet) said, “Verily I was a prophet of God even when Adam was just a body of mud (that is the life was not given to him).”12 Hakim considers it as an authentic Hadith.
“Narrated Ansabi: I asked the Holy prophet, ‘O’ Messenger of God, since when are you the prophet?. He said, “Verily, I was a Prophet at the time when Adam was still between body and soul”.13 This Hadith has been reported by Imam Bukhari in his History, Abu Na’im in the Huliya, and Hakim regards it as authentic.14
Rational proof:
One of the rational proofs of Muhammad’s (PBUH) being the Prophet of the Celestial world is very obvious.
Every commentator agrees that Adam was not a prophet in Paradise but his real prophethod started when he was sent unto this terrestrial universe. For example God said to Angels: “I will create a Vicegerent on earth”. (2:30) we also know from the Qur’an that the knowledge of all things was given to Adam after his creation: “And he taught Adam the names of all things, then he placed them before the Angels”. (2:31)
Once we concentrate upon these Qur’anic ayah, the question arises whether God gave ‘this knowledge of all things’ Himself directly or through Gabriel or any other angel? In both cases it would be divine revelation and if it is proved that there was such a sort of revelation unto Adam, then his prophethood in the Celestial world is proved, which is not a fact.
The traditions too make it clear that Prophet Muhammad has said, “The knowledge of all things was given either to me or to Adam”. Delmi has quoted from Abu Raf’a that the Holy prophet said, “My people were shown to me when they were only mud and water; and I was given the knowledge of all things as was given to Adam”.15 It means that only two personages were given this knowledge. Among the two, Adam was not an Apostle (in the Celestial world) which clearly implies that he would have been given this knowledge through God’s Apostle ‘Ahmad’. It is a rational proof of Ahmad’s being a prophet in the Celestial world.
Science needs guidance:
Thousands of years have elapsed since the inception of human life on this earth. The time keeps running continuously wrapping up unlimited magnitudes, depths, light-houses and the exemplary fables towards that last moment when the chain of all the wonders of this world will perish by a crash and a new eternal life will start. With the passage of time the human mind is also going through the stages of evolution and once it reaches to its climax, this rational mind will also perish. Fourteen hundred years ago when human intellect passed from the childhood to adolescence, the Sustainer of this universe (God) sent the last of the prophets unto this world along with a Book in which is found the solution of all the problems that will emerge so long as this world exists. The Qur’an is the greatest miracle of Prophet Muhammad and its wonders will go on being unfolded so long as the world remains. God, the Almighty, says: “Soon will we show them Our Signs in the horizons and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this (The Qur’an) is the Truth”. (41:53)
Human intellect can never encompass the knowledge of God. Among those who tried to benefit from absolute knowledge is the Noble Prize winner Dr. Abdul Salam who after getting enlightenment form the Qur’an put forth the scientific theory that in the universe there are not a number of forces but one essential force which gets revealed through various manifestations. Against this, there are scientists who have been continuously involved in the process of solving the riddle how man came into existence on this earth. Darwin’s theory that man is the revolutionized form of a Chimpanzee has remained even upto this day merely a scientifically unproved theory. The human intellect has exhausted all its energy but it has neither proved nor will it prove the Darwinian Theory. Where human reason fails it should listen to the voice of the All-Acquainted and All-Knowing (God) who says: “Do they not then earnestly seek to understand The Qur’an, or are their hearts locked up by them”? (47:24) when science could not discover about the beginning of man how would it know anything about the creation of this universe? In this field too they are struggling merely in oblivion. It has been written in one of the topics of the August, 1977 issue of the most standard monthly English Journal “The Reader’s Digest” : “In recent years astronomers have been discovering.... a weird array of surprises that challenge some of our fundamental theories and tidiest assumptions about the universe.... an awesome new view of creation is emerging”.16
The theories will continue to remain in the process of being propounded and rejected, the direction of the investigation itself being wrong. Unless the research is conducted in the proper direction, how will the proofs of the reality be available? In the Qur’an and Hadiths there is a complete guidance regarding the creation of this universe as it was also there in the former scriptures. For the time being we will talk about the beginning of the universe because it is related to our earlier pages and also to the Haqiqat-e-Ahmadi.
The Leader of the universe is the beginning of this universe.
First, by His light, the imprint of Muhammad’s face was created,
Then by the refulgence taken from this mark, the universe was decorated. (Maulana Qasim Nanautvi)
Hadiths enlighten us not only with the fact that the office of the prophethood was bestowed upon the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad) even before the divine spirit was put in the body of Adam but also prove that the Spirit of Ahmad was created before the creation of the universe, the Angels, the Skies and the Earth, the other creations and also Empyrean. Then the Almighty God made the ‘light of Ahmad’ itself the means of creating all other creations.
Below I quote some Hadiths form Sheikh Ahmad Sarhindi’s Maktubat-e-Rabbani
# A famous Hadith Qudsi (Hadith containing the inspired word of God) states: (God says) “I was a hidden treasure. I loved to be known, and I created the whole creation in order to be known.”
“The first thing that was revealed from this hidden treasure was ‘love’ and this alone became the cause of the creation of all the creatures.”17 This Hadith has also been reported by Imam Ghazali and Ibn-e-A’rabi.18.
# In another Hadith Qudsi it has been stated by Allah about Prophet Muhammad: “Had you not been there I would have neither created the heavens nor revealed my Providence”.19
# Prophet Muhammad said: “The first thing that God created was my light.”20
From the above mentioned Hadiths it is clear that among the whole creation, the first thing God created was the light of Ahmad. The same thing has been proved in Buddhism and Hinduism as mentioned earlier. How important is the topic of the First Creation in the Hinduism can be seen from the following examples : “The topic of the First creation-A person who knows it becomes long lived, famous, enlightened, emblem of perpetual grace and a great scholar, and he also attains the divine enlightenment”.21 Knowing how significant is the “First Creation” even in the Hindu Scriptures a famous Hindu Scholar Doctor Chaman Lal Gautam Exclaimed : Neither has any Purana nor even temple been made of the First Creation, and nor has its worship been common. How Surprising! The First Creation should have been given the status of gods in a most prominent fashion.”22
I have presented here just a few examples. How many mythologies have been created by Hindu people about the First Divine Apostle, Ahmad, the First Creation, and what is the reality of these mythologies? It is a very interesting and useful topic which, God willing, I will discuss on some other occasion.
The Qur’an also testifies:
The truth elaborately analysed in Hadiths and other scriptures will not figure in the Qur’an-How can it be possible! Let us see : Qul in Kana lir Rahmani Waladun faa’na Awwalul Abidin (Say : If God Most Gracious had a son, I am the first worshipper) 43:81. Most of the Commentators have taken the above mentioned ayah to mean that if God had a son, I would have been the first (as Messenger of God) to worship him but it is absurd for Him to have a son, it is, therefore, impossible for me to worship him.23
Verily, this explanation of the ayah is also correct but there is one point of doubt in this meaning. Isn’t it an absolute truth that God has no offspring? Why should the Holy Prophet even suppose such an impossibility! Certainly the mind looks for some better explanation. In the above mentioned ayah the meaning of the Arabic word “In” is both ‘If’ and ‘not’. Probably it is due to this that Imam Bukhari has given the following explanation of this ayah in Kitabul Tafsir: “Say that the Gracious Lord has no Child. Therefore, I am the first hesitant to accept a Son.” Imam Bukhari has translated ‘A’abidin’as “The hesitant one” rather than “the worshipper”. No doubt, this word has been used in the sense also in the Arabic poetry but the commentators have raised various objections for giving such a far fetched explanation. Allama Showkani has expressed his reservations on this in Tafsir Fath’ul Qadir.
Consider: if the principle that the Hadiths are the best interpretations of the Qur’an is correct, then in the light of above quoted Hadiths, how obvious is the meaning of this ayah? It not only clarifies the above mentioned doubts but also testifies the holy sayings of the Prophet i.e. “You say: Gracious God has no son and I am the first among worshippers”. Every object of these universe-angels, earth, heavens, mountains, seas, plants and trees_worship God and are His worshippers. The first worshipper can be he alone, who was created first. God commanded the Prophet to declare: “The Gracious Lord has no son and I am its greatest proof because I am the First Creation. I could have claimed to be His Child or Son but I have been saying it that I am only His servant and Messenger. Then how can anyone else be his Son”? Besides this, see in the 1st ayah of Sur’a Nisa : “O’mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord, who created you from a single Nafs, and from it created its mate”.
Here the source of all human creation is said to be one Nafs. Nafs means ‘life’ and it applies to the body as well as the Soul. When we take Nafs as body, the meaning of creating the entire humanity from Adam and Eve, as stated in this ayah, is very obvious. And if Nafs is taken in the sense of the Soul, the creation of other Souls from the First Soul i.e. Soul of Ahmad is proved. (It should be borne in mind that the mate of soul is body. First all the souls were created from One Soul and then their counter parts, bodies, were made) when we try to know from the Qur’an about the stuff of which the human body is made, we come across the following words Teen (mud), Turab (Clay) A’laq (Clot of Congealed blood) Ma-e-dafiq (a drop emitted) Salsal (sounding clay) Hamai’n Masnun (stinking mud) Nutfah (a drop of mingled sperm).
Taking all these terms into consideration, the human body is a collection of impurities. These impurities and imperfections are present in the very existence of man. After coming into the physical mould man was led astray by Satan in Paradise even. Now see that according to God He Has created man on His own pattern : “(Established) God’s handiwork according to the pattern on which He has made Mankind”. (30:30) It was the First Soul to whom God attributed His own qualities and in the Qur’an called him Ra’uf ur-Rahim (most kind and merciful) (9:128) From this most immaculate and Pure Soul other Souls were created. When these souls were put into bodies, man became a combination of the best qualities and the worst in purities. The Qur’an too hints towards this fact : “We have indeed created man in the best of stature, then did We reduce him (to be) the lowest of the low”. (95:4-5). It means that the Soul was created first in the nature of God, and then it was connected with body which was impure. Hence the man is a combination of both these qualities.
It is clear that the Soul created in the best of the moulds is the same soul that has been called Ra’uf and Rahim. The above ayahs also prove that Prophet Muhammad, the mercy unto all the worlds, was the First Creation. The Cherisher and the Sustainer of the worlds had implied it at a time when He used the words Rahmatul-lil-A’aLamin (the mercy for all the worlds) for Prophet Muhammad. It is clear, therefore, that if the Last Messenger would have been sent only unto the mankind of this terrestrial world then how could he have been the mercy for all the worlds?
In the Qur’an Prophet Muhammad has been addressed at a number of places as Rasulum Min Anfusikum (Apostle of your own Nafs) and if Nafs is taken to be the soul then its meaning would be “the Apostle of the souls of you all” and not the Apostle of the Arabs only. It also proves Prophet Muhammad’s universality. Look at the following ayah of the Qur’an: “And remember we took from the Prophets their Covenant: as (We did) from thee (O’Muhammed), from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the Son of Mary: We took from them a solemn covenant”. (33:7) If you look minutely at this ayah you will find that in taking Covenant from all these Prophets, the name of Prophet Muhammad figures first of all. Such are the obvious proofs from the Qur’an of the holy Prophet’s being the First Creation and this is Haqiqate-Ahmad.
Since the Prophet’s name figures, among all scriptures, in the capacity of being the First Created One and also the Prophet of souls, the Qur’an clarified to the former people that this is not the Prophet of any particular race but the same Prophet who was once yours too-in the Celestial world, in the heavens above.
The universe before us is not yet completely,
‘Be and so it was’ comes the voice incessantly.
(Iqbal)
AGNI: AN ENIGMA IN THE VEDAS
The first mantra of the Rig Veda begins with the praise of Agni. “Agni mile” (all praise be to Agni)-(1:1:1) The scholars of both the groups of Hinduism, Arya Samaji and Sanatan Dharmi, agree that the word Agni is actually Agrini ( vfxz.kh ) which means the First, Foremost, before which there is naught. Whenever any Muslim goes through the above mentioned mantra he concludes that Agni in the Vedas is the name of Almighty God. But if you study the Vedas further, the meaning of Agni becomes confusing because sometimes it denotes God and sometimes a human being. For example Agni dutam wrani mahe (we chose Agni the Messenger, the herald) (R.V. 1:12:1) and Tvamagne prayad dakchinam naram (Agni, the man who giveth guerdon to the priests) (R.V. 1:31:15)
People familiar with Haqiqat-e-Ahmad (Ahmadic truth) will not have any difficulty because they know that God has given his own attributes to the First Creation. To be Ra’uf and Rahim (the Most Kind and Merciful) are His own attributes. In the Qur’an He has used these attributes even for that beloved servant of His, who was created by Him first of all in the World of Souls. See the Qur’an (9:128).
Hence, God bestowed His attributes even upon the First Creation This truth is stated in all scriptures, and, after getting distortion it took the shape of polytheism and mythologies in the various religions of the world. From the unintelligibility of this mystery of giving Godly attributes to the First Creation emerged the conception of Avtars as the coming of God Himself unto this world in the human mould. A misunderstanding of this truth gave rise to the notion of ‘Son of God’: the Jews fitted this label upon Ezra and the Christians upon Jesus. And due to an exaggeration of this fact attempts have been made to elevate Prophet Muhammad higher than the status of being a Servant (of God).
Agni, or to be the First, is an attribute of God and, in the capacity of being the First Creation, this attribute was also bestowed upon the First Servant. The complexity of this secret was not hidden from God as He Himself has stressed upon the investigation of this secret at a number of places in the Vedas. He has also said that this secret would be discovered by inspired ‘Rishis’ who can understand speech as required for religious purposes. (R.V. 10:71:3) The Vedas have also made the prophecy that the secret of Agni will get revealed through Manthan that is investigation and research. Again: “Your prosperity depends upon it and after the disclosure of the secret you will become the leaders of the world”. (R.V. 3:29:5) It has also been hinted at that “the Maruts (race belonging to desert) will investigate this secret” (R.V. 5:3:3). And it has also been prophecied that the “Final Fire-Stick” (the Qur’an) is to be laid upon the ‘First Fire Stick’ (The Vedas), that is, when the Vedas will be studied in the light of the Qur’an only then the mystery and glory of Agni will get unfolded. (R.V. 3:29:3)
The main purpose of elaborating Haqiqate-Ahmad (the truth about Ahmad) in every scripture, at a time when all religious communities believe in their prophets only and deny others, was to unify the world and various groups on the principle that the last Prophet, whom they deny, is known to all religious communities not only in the capacity of being the last Prophet but also the first of all Apostles. The need of the hour, therefore, is to clarify the complicated truth about Ahmad in these scriptures in the Light of the Qur’an so that the whole mankind is unified around the truth of One Prophet only.
To whom does Agni refer to in the Hindu scriptures? Without understanding this, neither the belief in Monotheism, (as given in these scriptures) nor the conception of prophethood will get clarified because this word has sometimes been used for God and sometimes for Ahmad. Keeping this in view, I preferred to elaborate this issue before discussing the topics like monotheism, prophethood and Life Hereafter.
Never get entangled in the diurnal pace,
Lo! More than that is your time and space.
(Iqbal)
SIMILARITY OF NAMES IN ISLAM AND HINDUISM
What other researchers say:
In the preceding pages I have stated at a number of places that I will prove the presence of the Word of God in the Vedic Dharma. Prior to this I quote here some references to explain the opinions of my predecessors about the Hindu race and their religion:
“It can not be denied that there is the conception of monotheism in the Hinduism too but this religion has become so old that due to the change of times, the pure monotheism has no longer remained in it.”1 Even Alberuni, a great authority on the Hindu religion, considers the Hindu gentry as monotheists and the public as the polytheists. In Chapter 11 of the Kitabul Hind he writes: “Idol worshipping is the religion of the common people where as the gentry do not practise polytheism. ”Among great Muslim theologians, Mirza Jane Janan accepted the interpretation of Hindus about their idolworship and considered them to be originally monotheists.2
Lastly I quote Shah Abdul Aziz : “According to the Holy Qur’an-Wa immin ummatin illa khala fiha nazir (To every people God did send those who warned them)...Generally the Hindu Avtars were the Manifestations of the truth but Hindu people in general could not comprehend the difference between the apparent and the manifestations of the Truth as a result of which they erred by regarding them as deities. Same is the case with a number of Muslims who indulge in Tazia processions, Mujawirs of graves or follow Jalal Bukhari and Shah Madar.3”
The Islamic name of Hinduism:
Let us begin by concentrating upon the very name of Hinduism. The real name of this Vedic Dharm is not Hindumat but Sanatan Dharm and Shashvat Dharm. Sanatan means “Eternal, perpetual and ancient” and Shashvat “inspired straight from heavens to earth”. Sanatan Dharm and Shashvat Dharm therefore, are synonym of the Qur’anic word. Deene-Qayyim (Religion Straight and Eternal). In Gita (18: 45, 47) the words used for this are Sva-Dharm and Svabhava Niyat Karm which means taught by Nature and not by parents. The Qur’an also calls Islam Addin indallah (Religion of Allah), Din-e-Qayyim (Straight and Eternal religion) and Din-e-Fitrat (Religion inherited from Nature). We firmly believe that every prophet presented before his people, Islam. Adam and Noah also had come to establish firmly, Islam. With the passage of time their teachings got metamorphosed. The believers of other religions have named their own religions differently but the most ancient people have still retained the original name Islam at least by its attributes and qualities.
The name Allah is in every religion :
Even the name of God has not escaped the disputes though the uniformity of the name ‘Allah’ has remained same in every religion. In different races and religions the Almighty is referred to with different names like Allah, Bhagwan, Ishwar, Khuda, God etc. ‘There is hardly any disagreement regarding the fact that One God can be referred to by any of these names. Linguistic variations do not matter. The Qur’an tells us that Allah has so many attributes whereas the personal name is “Allah only”. This word Allah which is Al+llah can still be found almost in every religion with minor phonetic changes.
“Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi’s research reveals that the name of the Central City of Tibet, Lasa is actually Lahsa, meaning the Home of Allah. This city is the traditional centre of the religious culture of the Aryans. He further adds : ‘When I expressed this idea before Maulana Hamidud-Din Farahi, he said that this root of God’s name seems to be the oldest of all religious words which has been used with a slight variation, by every religion.”4 Infact Il, Illiah, Eloh Elohim, Ilah, Lah, Lahut are the words of the same root which have been used in the sense of ‘The Worshipped One’ in different religions. Late Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has also testified it : “In all these races there exists a faith in the existence of an unseen God and he is called by the name ‘Al-Ilah’ or Allah. The same word Ilah has taken the shape of either Il or Eloh and sometimes Ilahia.5” Pandit Sunder Lal writes in his book Gita aur Qur’an.
“The Qur’an gives the Supreme Being the name Allah. In Rig Veda, one of the names by which Ishvara is styled is “Ila” which has its root in ‘Il’ meaning ‘to praise’ or ‘to worship’. A whole ‘Sukta’of Rig Vada is an invocation to ‘Ila’. Nearly 6000 years ago, in the language of Sumeria, ‘Il’ was the term applied to God. The Sumerian city known as Babylon was really called ‘Bab-El’ or ‘the door of God’. The term is employed in several places in the Torah of Jews and the Zend Avesta of the Parsis... The usual style was Iliha or Iloh. It is thus clear, that from the time of Rig Veda down to the present day, the term Allah has in one style or another come to be applied to God.”5
Arya Samaji scholar, Shri Ganga Prasad Upadhyayi writes: “We do not know which language Adam, whom Muslims regard the first man, spoke and which word he used for God. Every entity capable of being worshipped is called Ilah and by just adding ‘Al’, Allah has been specified for a unique Entity. In the Rig Veda, which is considered to be the millions of years old, the word Ilah has been used for God. The literal meaning of the word Illiah is ‘The worshipped one’. In the Vedas this word has been used mainly for Allah. Ved mantra (1: 1: 2) clearly means : O’ Allah, worthy to be worshipped, by living as well as by ancient, by young as well as by old, The seers alone know Thee well”.7
Rahman and Rahim :
After seeing the similarity of the names of Allah let us analyse His first attribute Al-Rahman or The Particular Rahman. The Brahmanism, like the Trinity of Christians, has divided the essence of Allah into three parts : Brahma (the Creator) Vishnu (the Preserver or Sustainer) and Shiva (the Destroyer) whereas in the Vedas it has been clearly propounded that only One God creates, preserves and destroys. Wherever these three names figure, Brahma comes in the beginning. Let us concentrate upon this word Brahma or Brahm. In Sanskrit language there is a general rule that at the end of a word often a dot (.) is put on it which gives the sound of ‘m’ or ‘n’... It is just as we use in English language “a” at the end of most of the names and say Ashoka for Ashok and Rama for Ram. In Sanskrit when a dot (.) or ‘n’ is used after Brahma it gives the sound Brahman and when we write this word in Sanskrit it becomes Brahman (ब्रह्मां ) -sounding as Voh Rahman or That Rahman, Al-Rahman. The manifestation of the quality of Rahm (Mercy) begins with the creation itself and therefore the Creator in Hindu religion is referred to as the Brahman (Al Rahman) and Brahmim (Al Rahim). Besides, just as Rahman in Islam is not the proper name of God but only His greatest attribute, similarly in Hinduism Brahman is an adjectival name.
It should also be recollected here that before the Holy Prophet the people of Arab were allergic to the word Rahman because they considered it the name of the God of other religions. Among other religions, in Hinduism this word has been particularly used for God. Among Christians also this word Rahman was used for God, as can be testified by the words written on epithaps in Yemen: “With the power, grace and mercy of Rahman, Messiah (Jesus) the Holy Spirit, Abraha, the viceroy of the king of Abyssenia inscribed the following epithaps on this famous stone.”
Thus we noticed that the name of Din (religion) in these two religions is same and the name of the entity who ordered them to act upon Din is actually the same, the difference is that of language, pronunciation and, above all, of thought and comprehension. Let us now see how, inspite of the thousands of years of negligence and distortions, the basic teachings in this Word of God have remained the same though the Hindu people have lost sight of it due to their detachment from the Vedas.
Say : Call upon The Truth
Allah, or call (God) is one but
upon Rahman : the sages (for His
by whatever name numerous attributes)
ye call upon Him, have called Him by
(it is well) : for to many a names. (R.V.
Him belling the 1:164:46)
Most Beautiful
Names.
(Qur’an 17:110)
MONOTHEISM IN THE VEDIC DHARMA
Monotheism in Hindu religion:
Before analysing the concept of monotheism in the Vedas let me quote here some well-known Hindu scholars in this regard :
“Penitiants or Rishis gave currency to the custom of idol worship so that with the help of the idol they could see face to face the Infinite Entity in finite (physical) mould”1
“To consider One Omnipotent God as one’s only Master, to shun away selfishness and pride, and to meditate constantly with dedication, passion and true love is the divine worship that is free from all corruption.”2
Again, here are some more references from the hundreds of the testimonies in the Hindu Scriptures on the bases of which it can firmly be asserted that the original Hindu religion presents the conception of One God in the same way as has been presented by Islam. The Brahm Sutra of Hindu Vedanta is as:
Ekam Brahm, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan (There is only One God, not the Second: No, nor, not in the least). It has also been said in the Vedanta, about God: Ekam evam advitiyam (He is One. There is none to associate with Him).
“Who by His grandeur hath became Sole Ruler of the moving world that breaths and slumbers; He is Lord of men and Lord of cattle. What God besides Him shall we adore with our oblation?” (R.V. 10: 121: 3)
“By Him the heavens are strong and earth is steadfast, by Him light’s realm and sky-vault are supported: by Him the regions in mid-air were measured. What gods besides Him shall we adore with our oblation?” (R.V. 10: 121: 5)
“He has no form, no form, no shape. He is the adoration itself.” (Y.V. 32 : 3)
“Abandoning God, deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall the worshippers of false gods and goddesses. (Y.V. 40 : 9)
“Praise only Mighty God” (R.V. 8 : 1 : 1)
“Praise Him who (is) Matchless and Alone.” (R.V. 6 : 45 : 16)
“The Lord of the universe, the unequalled, worshipable God. He is the protector.” (A.V. 2 : 2 : 2)
“The Only Lord of all created beings. He fixed and holdeth up this earth and heavens. What gods besides Him shall we adore with our oblation?” (R.V. 10 : 121 : 1)
The names attributed to various gods in Hinduism are Infact the names of the One God : His name is Brahma, Vishnu, Indra, and Sarasvati-all denoting the same One God, (Agni).
“O Agni, Thou art Indra, the Sustainer of our tenderest wishes, Thou are Vishnu of the mighty stide, adorable : Thou Brahmanaspati, Thou Brahma” (R.V. 2 : 1 : 3)
“Agni, Thou art king Varuna whose laws stand fast; as Mitra, wonder-worker... Aryama, heaven’s Lord art Thou, enriching all.” (R.V. 2: 1 : 4)
Rudra art Thou, O Agni, the Asura of Mighty heavens: Thou art the Maruts’host, Thou art the Lord of food. Thou goest with red winds: bliss hast Thou in Thine abode. As Pusan Thou thyself protectest worshippers.” (R.V. 2 : 1 : 6)
“Giver of wealth are Thou, Thou art God Savitar, Granter of precious things. As Bhaga, Lord of men, Thou guardest in his house, him who hath served Thee well.” (R.V. : 2 : 1 : 7)
Thou (Agni) art Aditi to him who offers gifts : Thou Hotra, Bharati. Thou art Ila, Thou Sarasvati”. (R.V. 2 : 1 : 11) With these obvious evidences from the Vedas, the concept of different gods, having different names, appears absolutely baseless. As stated earlier the idols of this One God can never be made. If you see minutely, the Vedas clearly state that the people in general use these attributes to invoke only One God. (Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, Guru, Yam Vayu, the Matreshva etc.) These are the attributes of One God. “Him with fair wings though only one in nature, wise singers shape, with songs in many figures.” (R.V. 10 : 114 : 5) This is exactly the same as in the Qur’an “God! there is no god but He. To Him belong the most beautiful names.” (20 : 8) Again, the Vedas, exactly in the Qur’anic way state that the gods whom you worship do themselves worship One God only. “Giver of vital breath, of power and vigour, He whose commandment all gods (angels) acknowledge : The Lord of death whose shade is life immortal. What God besides Him shall we adore with our oblation?” (R.V. 10 : 121 : 2)
Here is the rendering of the same idea in the Qur’an
“Those whom they call upon, do deserve (for themselves) means of access to their Lord-even those who are nearest. They hope for His mercy and fear His wrath”. (17 : 57)
In spite of having such a clear conception of One God in The Vedas why a vast number of gods and deities were conceived by the Hindus? The following reasons seem to be responsible for it.
# Non-existence in the written form :
Due to their being the earliest as well as completely orally preserved in the hearts only, it was not possible for a common man to distinguish The Vedas from the human word. Hence due to the unintelligibility every age old hearsay and myth was taken to be the religion. Although a complete care is now being taken to preserve the Vedas written just two centuries ago, but whether all that has been compiled in the name of the Vedas is the original, has not been asserted even by the compilers themselves. We have already seen the views of the commentators and compilers of the Vedas in Chapter V. Admitting of interpolations Gandhi ji writes : “Those interpretations of the Shastras that contradict the truth can never be truthful.”5 At another place Gandhi writes.
“The question arises what to do with the Smiritis which contain texts that are in conflict with other texts in the same Smiritis and that are repugnant to moral sense... I have always suggested often enough in these columns that all that is printed in the name of scriptures need not be taken as the Word of God or the Inspired Word.”6
# Wrong translation or interpretation:
Since a large portion of the Vedas is allegorical, a perfect translation based on one’s own reason is not possible. These portions can be translated correctly only in the light of the Holy Qur’an, the last and the most authentic Word of God. An example of this has been given in the preceding pages where I have illustrated the reference of the word ‘Ahmad’ in the Vedas.
# Common Hindu’s ignorance of the Vedas:
Hindu scholars have completely isolated the common man from the Vedas. A number of mistakes could have been avoided if the people had not been ignorant of them. For example, take the worship of multiple gods and deities. It has been stated in the Vedas that One God can be invoked by a number of names. Due to sheer ignorance of this fact every name has been converted into a separate god by the Hindus.
Hence it can be concluded that the concept of monotheism in the Vedas is exactly as it is in the Qur’an.
THE PROPHETHOOD AND THE VEDIC DHARMA
Brahma has suffered the same lot as Agni. Brahma i.e., Rahman has been used in the Hindu religion for the Creator, for the Soul of Ahmad and also, for the First Man, Adam. In all these three contexts, instead of understanding the real implication, the Prophets have been considered as gods and that is how the concept of Avtars rather than prophets has emerged. In the light of our knowledge we could have made clear to them their wrongly based conceptions of polytheism but we ourselves were totally ignorant of its actual basis. The word Brahma has been used for Adam in Hari Vansh Purana.
Mention of Prophets:
“Brahma split himself into two parts, one part became Man another Woman, and from these the entire mankind was created”.1
The moment this reference comes across a Muslim he immediately recognises that it refers to the creation of Eve from the left rib of Adam and from these the birth of entire mankind. However, these were a few examples how the former knowledge can be purified in the light of the Qur’an, the most authentic available Word of God. For the time being, see the obvious references of the prophets and their prophethood in the Hindu Scriptures : “Whenever, in this world Dharma decays and sin waxes strong, the Exalted and Supreme Lord Hari manifests, by giving birth (to a soul), so as to guide the entire humanity”.2
Such was the purpose of sending prophets to this world. Let us see the following extracts about Noah and the Deluge.
“...Suffice it to remark that a Celebrated Personage, reverenced by the Hindus, and known to them as MAHANUVU, escaped the calamity in an ark, in which were also the Seven Penitents. The appellation MAHANUVU is well worthy of remark. It is a compound of two words-MAHA, great, and NUVU, which is undoubtedly the same as Noah”.3
“It is practically admitted that India was inhabited very soon after the Deluge, which made a desert of the whole world”.4
“It is definitely stated in the Markandeya Purana and the Bhagavata that this event caused the destruction of all mankind, with the exception of the seven famous Rishis or Penitents whom I have often had occasion to mention, and who were saved from the universal destruction by means of an ark, of which Vishnu himself was the pilot. Another great personage, called Manu, who, as I have tried elsewhere to show, was no other than the great Noah himself....5”
“Being thus addressed, Bhagavan complimented him, and said: ‘O’ spotless one, I have been truly known by you. In a few days time, O king, the universe shall be deluged with water, along with mountains and forests. The Devas have made this boat to rescue the creation from such a calamity,... O king! you take charge of this boat and help the distressed at the time of impending danger...6”
“Then the seven destructive clouds would spring up from vapours... and would rain in torrents till all the seas become united into one great mass. Infact, the whole earth would be covered with one vast expanse of water, then get hold of that yonder boat and put the seed of creation and the sacred Vedas in it.”7
“At the beginning of the re-creation of the universe which would follow the period of destruction (caused by the Deluge), I shall propagate the Vedic knowledge. So saying, He suddenly vanished away. The King, till the time of dissolution, of which the intimation was given to him by Lord Vasudeva, engaged himself in meditation till the commencement8”.
Besides these references about Noah, Let me quote also some Shlokas (ayah) from the Bhavishya Purana given by Pandit Ved Prakashs’ book9 in which there are clear references of other prophets with their original names10
“Adam and Eve took birth from Vishnu’s mud. In the Eastern part of the Paradise, Parmeshwar had constructed a big and beautiful forest spreading over an expanse of 4 Kos (eight miles). Adam’s impatience to see his wife led him to see Eve under the forbidden tree. Atonce Satan appeared there in the guise of a snake. This cunning enemy cheated Adam and Eve, made them violates the commandment of Vishnu, and the husband took the forbidden fruit that led both of them to this terrestrial universe. Both of them sustained by means of the leaves of the wild fig. Subsequently a number of children were born to them, and all of them were called Malechh. Adam lived for 930 years11”.
“...From them was born a child named Noah. He ruled for 50012 years. He had three sons: Sim, Sham, Bhav. Noah, the true devotee of Vishnu was engrossed in the Pantheistic meditations. One day Vishnu told him in dream: ‘O dear Noah, listen! on the seventh day there will be a disaster in the form of a Deluge. You immediately embark the Ark along with the People. O’ the devotee of Indra, save your life, you are elevated’. Acting upon this advice this great personage (Noah) constructed an Ark, 300 hath (an arm’s length) long, 50 hath wide and 3000 hath deep. With his family and the couples (male+female) of each creation, he embarked the Ark and started praising Vishnu.... For forty days there were torrential rains as a result of which all the land was flooded and all the four seas united into a great mass... After the Deluge the great mystic Noah resumed life along with the members of his family. Noah’s sons became popularly known as Sam, Ham, Yaqut....”13
- “His three sons Abraham, Nahur and Haran would be the leaders of Malechha”14
- “Once King Shikadesh went to a country Hund, beyond Himalayas. There, between the moun tains, he saw a fair looking, white garbed and respectable personage. Being pleased he asked him who he was. He said, ‘I am Issa (Jesus), born from a virgin mother. I preach righteousness, the teachings of Malechha religion.’ On hearing this the King asked ‘What is your opinion about Dharma’? When Issa Masih (Jesus Christ) heard this he said ‘Due to the decline of righteous ness and the ignorance of Malechha Desh I have come here... O king listen from me the religious talks established amongst Malechha. It hardly matters whether you take holy bath or not. (What matters is) Soften your hearts while worshipping God. Let man worship God with dedication, love and fairness. God is Immortal. The holy and beneficial image of Ishwara can always be found in the heart itself. It is why my name is Jesus Christ.’ After hearing this, the King became the follower of Jesus Christ15”.
- “In the meantime a pious Malechha named Muhammad will come there....Raja Bhoj will say to him : ‘I make obeisance to thee O’ yea! the dweller of the desert, conqueror of Devil, possessor of miracles, absolved of evils, truthful, knower and the image of devotion to God! Consider me your protected slave’. Looking at the marble statue in front of Raja Bhoj Muhammad will say that ‘it can eat my left over and will show Raja this miracle. At hearing as well as observing this Raja will get completely wonder-struck and will believe in Malechha faith16”.
After the above mentioned ayah it has been stated that “in the night a viceregent of God will come to Raja Bhoj and say to him that the circumcised, bearded Person, feeding upon holy animals and without having a choti (lock of hair on the top of the shaven head), is an intimate devotee of God”.
The Bhavishya Purana, from which I quoted the above mentioned references, is also one of those evidences that some Hindu religious monopolists have started hiding now. One group of Hindus, Arya Samaj categorically disowns it whereas Sanatan Dharmis, who because of their conservativeness are not ready to leave anything from their complete religious heritage (and they are in huge majority) treat it as an authentic religious scripture. There was a time when the common people were not allowed to learn Sanskrit. Researchers like Alberuni, Griffith and Max Muller had learnt Sanskrit after endeavors and in a situation when they had to face a bitter opposition from the Pundits. In those days the so-called Pundits had no fear of the passing of these proofs in the hands of common people. But now, when Sanskrit language is being revived under the official patronage and the current Sanskrit learners also are not afraid of the Verdicts of Pundits (as in older days the common people were forbidden to recite the Vedas) some groups within the Hindus themselves have started concealing the things that could guide one towards the real religion, particularly the material that testifies Islam. Gita press Gorakhpur, which is the greatest press printing Hindu Scriptures, categorically refuses to accept the Bhavishya Purana as an authentic Purana. However, the greatest Guru (religious scholar) of Sanatan Dharma, Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya, the number of whose disciples exceeds one million, accepts it as the holy Scripture, and the reference from his Shanti Kunj have already been given in Chapter IV under the heading “Jesus in India”.
Prophet Muhammad’s mention in the Bhagavata:
The statements of the Bhavishya Purana are too clear to have allowed any possibility of tampering. However, at places, where the prophecies about the apostleship of Prophet Muhammad have been made, the translations have been altered or tampered with. For example, look at the following Shlokas of Shrimad Bhagvata Purana:
Agyan heto krat Muhammad A’ndhkar Nasham Vidhayam hi Tadodayate Vivekah.
(When, the man is to receive the divine blessings through the appearance of collective good, then the wisdom of Mohmad (Muhammad) will appear for the eradication of the darkness of ignorance.17)
In the above Shloka the word ‘Mohmad’ has been divided into two parts Moh+Mad, and translated as ‘greed of material world’ and ‘wine’ respectively. In this way the above Shloka has been translated as :
When the man is to receive the divine blessings through the appearance of collective good, then by the eradication of ignorance like Moh and darkness like Mad, his wisdom appears.
These were the Purans. Now look at the mention of Noah and the qualities of Prophet Muhammad in the Vedas. Before this it is very necessary to understand that in the Vedas Noah has always been referred to as Manu. Though, like Agni and Brahma, Manu has also been used for various person ages and one out of the fourteen (Manus) completely corresponds to Adam, yet in the Purans, the Vedas and other Hindu Scriptures, the Manu that has been mostly discussed is Noah only. Whenever Prophet Muhammad is mentioned in the Vedas, the word Narashansa has been used just, as the word Paraclete has been used in The Torah and in the Gospel which means ‘Worthy of Praise’-the same meaning is of Muhammad in Arabic. Similarly in the Vedas, the Holy Prophet has been named as Narashansa which denotes the “highly Praise-worthy personage.” The exact synonym of this Sanskrit word is the word ‘Muhammad’ in Arabic.
In the translations of the below mentioned Vedic hymns I will use words ‘Noah’ for ‘Manu’ and ‘Muhammad’ for ‘Narashansa’. First a few illustrations regarding Noah.
Mention of Noah in the Vedas:
- “O Agni, Noah certifies thy prophethood” (R.V. 1:13:4) In this hymn, Griffith, the English translator of the Vedas adds a footnote : “Noah was the man par excellence, or the representative man and father of the human race, regarded as the first institutor of sacrifices and religious ceremonies (after Deluge)”. And see
- “Like Noah, we will establish thee, Agni, performer of the rite, Invoker, ministering Priest, exceeding wise, the swift immortal Messenger”. (R.V. 1:44:11)
- “Noah hath established thee a light, Agni, for all the race of men”. (R.V. 1:36:19)
In all these above mentioned hymns Agni has been used for ‘the Soul of Ahmad’. Likewise, in the four Vedas, Noah’s name has come at 75 places in the following manner: 51 in the Rig Veda, 2 in the Yajur Veda, 14 in the Atharva Veda and 8 in the Sama Veda. Now see the references about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Mention of Prophet Muhammad in the Vedas :-
- “Dear Muhammad, sweet of tongue, the giver of oblations, I invoke to this our sacrifice”. (R.V. 1:13:3)
- “I have seen Muhammad, him most resolute, most widely famed, as’t were the Household Priest of Heaven”. (R.V. 1:18:9)
- “To mighty Muhammad, strengthening his might, to Pusan (Al-Mehdi), ruler over men, we pray with hymns. Even as a chariot from a difficult ravine, bountiful Vasus, rescue us from all distress”. (R.V. 1:106:4)
While translating the above mentioned hymn Griffith has added in his note : “Naras’amsa is a mystic name of Agni”. The mention of Prophet Muhammad by the name of Narashans appears at 16 places in the Rig Veda, 10 places in the Yajur Veda, 4 in the Atharva Veda, and once in the Sama Veda-which means that the name of Prophet Muhammad figures at 31 places in all.
It won’t be out of place to mention here that, according to Pandit Amar Nath Pandey, who is not only a mystic but has also conducted researches on the Arabic Alphabets, Hindus may deny 30 times but will not deny the thirty first time. According to him the Arabic Alphabets are also 31 and in Sura Rahman, after counting his favours 31 times, Allah has posed this question “then which of the favours of your Lord will ye (Jinns and Men) deny”.
The hymn 127 of Book 20 of the Atharva Veda is very important among all the references about Muhammad :
“Listen carefully to this, ye men, a laud of glorious bounty shall be sung of Muhammad. We shall protect that refugee from 60,090 enemies. He rides a camel and owns 20 she-camels. The heavy ens bow down to his greatness. This leader has been bestowed with 100 coins of gold, 10 wreaths, 300 steeds and 10,000 cows.” (A.V. 20:127:1-3)
About the translation of the above mentioned three mantras Pandit Ved Prakash has written so many chapters in his book18 wherein it has been proved that in allegorical language 100 gold coins imply 100 As’hab-e-Suffa (Companions of Platform), 300 hourses signify 313 crusaders of the Holy war of Badar, 10,000 cows are the army of the 10,000 holy companions of Prophet Muhammad who were with him at the time of the conquest of Mecca and 10 wreaths imply Ashra Mubashshira. (10 closest companions of the Prophet).
It is, particularly, worth mentioning that in the Puranas and other Hindu Scriptures there are stories of a number of Prophets but in the Vedas only Adam and Noah have been mentioned. Also in the Vedas there are prophecies about the last Prophet Muhammad as are in the Scriptures of other Prophets. This is also an authentic proof of the Vedas being the divine Scripture (Zuburul Awwalin, Adi Granth.) of Noah. There is also a weak narration that “Noah was given two Scriptures, one before the Deluge and another after it19”. In this sense too, the word, Zuburul Awwalin (the foremost scriptures), which is a plural, may have been used for many prophets but it is also possible that it stand for two or many Scriptures to Prophet Noah only.
In the Rig Veda (1:163:1) the words Samudraduta Arban have been used for the Last Prophet, Muhammad. According to ‘Vishal Nalanda Shab’d Sagar’ Lexicon ‘Sa’ means ‘with’, ‘Mudra’ means ‘seal’, ‘Dut’ means ‘Messenger’ and ‘Arba’ means Arabia : ‘N’, at the end of the word in the Sanskrit language is often superfluous.
Consequently ‘Samudraduta Arban’ means ‘An Arabian with a Seal’. The Arabic word Khatam also means the seal. Prophet Muhammad is also called Khatamu-n-Nabi’in because while putting the seal on the chain of apostleship he closed the possibilities of any futher prophet.
In the Vedas, the Hindu Scriptures, and other divine books there also are clear statements of the two titles and positions (Ahmad and Mahmood) of Prophethood of Muhammad which will be discussed later in detail.
“Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts
of Israel. I will gather yet
others to him besides
those already gathered”.
(The Bible, Isaiah 56:8)
THE LIFE HEREAFTER AND THE VEDIC DHARMA
Punar Janam and the concept of Hereafter:
The concept of Hereafter is most significant because it is the only one of the three basic faiths which has been mutilated in almost all the religions and races including those who are the monotheists and also very explicit in their conception of the prophethood, though they hardly acknowledge the Prophethood of ‘Muhammad, the Last Prophet. They are not clear about the Last Day, Reward and Punishment, Paradise and Hell. Some believe in the transmigration of souls, some negate the Last Day and some refute the Last Judgement on the plea that (God forbid) by getting crucified Christ has redeemed them of all their sins. Even in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and The Psalms, the concept of Hereafter is very ambiguous and vague. However in the Vedas there is a clear and detailed account of the Life Hereafter, Reward and Punishment, and also of Paradise and Hell. The transmigration of soul crept into the Hindu belief at a later stage. Though there are signs that the believers of the transmigration of soul lived even before the Vedic Period, a whole race believing in many lives is only a subsequent development. Ask any Hindu: If in the process of reward and punishment one has to come to life again and again in different moulds what do the words Swarg (Paradise), Narak (Hell) Parlok (the life Hereafter, Next world) and Yamdut (The Angel of Death) in your scriptures imply? He won’t offer a satisfactory answer. Even most of the Hindu scholars fail to give any convincing explanation of this question. The fact is that due to their being completely cut off from the Vedas, the concept of Hereafter has got distorted. How did the concept of transmigration of soul crept in and what is its reality? I will throw light upon this issue after presenting the illustrations from the Vedas about the life Hereafter. For the time being it should be kept in mind that the occurrence of a key word Punarjanam in connection with the transmigration of soul itself, negates the coming to life again and again. In Sanskrit Punar or Puna’ means ‘again’ or ‘Next time’, therefore Punarjanam means ‘Next life’, ‘Life Hereafter’ and not ‘coming to life again and again’. In this regard see the statements of some Hindu Scholars.
Hindu researchers admit :
“There is no mention of Punarjanam in the Rig Veda.” So writes Dr. Radha Krishnan1, Yet it is very much there. Dr. Krishnan may not have noticed it. The Vedas not only mention Punarjanam in the sense of Life Hereafter but also refute the idea of the Transmigration of Soul.2
“For Punarjanm there is a word Pratyabhava which means to come to life in the world other than this...”3
“I have already stated that the second name for Punarjanm is Parlok. (Next world)”4
“Shastras say that the dead go to Parlok”.5
In the Vedas the concept of the life hereafter is exactly the same as that of Akhirat in the Holy Qur’an. See the remarks of one more scholar Rahul Sankratyayan, on this issue.
“In the classical Indian literature Chhandogya was the first to propound that a creature gets revived according to his deeds not only in Punarjanm i.e., the Life Hereafter but also in this world. Probably the preachers at that time did not foresee the danger inherent in the principle they were Propagating”.6
Dr. Farida Chauhan writes : “In the Vedas the mention of Punarjanm is certainly there but after this present life there is reference of one more life, not of thousands of lives.”7
Shri Satya Prakash Vidya Lankar writes : “That there is no theory of the transmigration of soul in the Vedas, I can bet on this.”8
“Whether the concept of Hereafter is in the Vedas or not? This is a very amazing question like the one if anyone asks whether there is soul in human body or not. All the Vedas certify the Life Hereafter... The Day of Judgement is the basic principle of all the inspired religions and all the Vedas bear witness to this fact... In the Vedas, like the Holy Qur’an, the three principles have been considered as the basics of the religion: 1) monotheism, 2) Prophethood, 3) The Day of Judgement.”9
After going through these illustrations of a few Hindu scholars, let us see the references of the Day of Judgement, Paradise and Hell in the Vedas.
The Concept of Hereafter in the Vedas:
“O’ Agni, with Thine redeeming powers bear (this man) to Punyalok (the region of Pious i.e., Hereafter)” (R.V. 10:16:4)10
“O’ Agni this (dead) man will wear a second life.” (R.V. 10:16:5)
These two examples clearly reveal the concept of the life Hereafter in the Vedas. The Vedas everywhere mention the life hereafter rather than passing through a number of lives. This conception is not vague even but it has come along with a very detailed account of the reward and punishment as well as of Paradise and Hell. I present here a few of these illustrations.
The account of Paradise in the Vedas :
- “Watch ye, through your truthfulness, there is a place of spacious view” (R.V. 1:21:6)
In his explanatory note to “The place of spacious view” Griffith has written in his English translation, “Sayana explains : in the station which preeminently makes known the experience of results (of actions) that is in heaven (Svarga)”11
- “O husband and wife, begin performing noble deeds begin them unitedly. The faithful enjoy this life of Svarga.” (A.V. 6:122:3)
- “Thy sons shall serve God with their oblation, and thou, moreover, shall rejoice in Svarga”. (R.V. 10:95:18)
- Let those who know receive before all others the vital breath proceeding from the body. Go to the heavens. Stay there with all thy members. By paths which gods (angels) have traveled, go to Svarga. (A.V. 2:34:5)
- Boneless, cleansed, purified by him who cleanseth, they go resplendent to the world of splendour Fire burneth not their organ of enjoyment : much pleasure have they in the world of Svarga. (A.V. 4:34:2)
- “All these streams of butter, with their banks of honey, flowing with wines, and milk and curds and water will reach to thee in heavenly life, enhancing thy pleasure. The lakes full of lotus flowers will come to thee strengthening thy soul”. (A.V. 4:34:6)
These are some of the promises of the favours of Paradise. Let us now go through the account of Hell.
Account of Hell :
prior to the Vedas see the translations of the four verses of Shrimad Bhagvata Maha Purana. The account of Hell presented here is very similar to the one presented in the Qur’an:
- “And forthwith begins his torments the burning of his limbs, by piling up flaming faggots all about him; consuming his own flesh, carved by himself or cut by others; Having his entrails torn out, while life is still in him, by dogs and vultures in Yama’s domain; the agonizing bite of snakes, scorpions, gnats and such like; suffering the hacking of his limbs one by one, or their breaking by elephants; being hurled down head long from the tops of mountain peaks; being plunged in water, or buried in pits. Men and women alike undergo the torments of the Hells Tamisra and Andhatamisra, Raurava and others, which they have brought upon themselves by sinful mutual attachment.”12
Now one example from the Rig Veda:
- “They who are full of sin, untrue, unfaithful, they have engendered this abysmal station”. (R.V. 4:5:5:)
In the explanatory note of this verse, Griffith writes :
‘This abysmal station : that is, says Sayana, Narakasthanam or hell. The wicked are the cause of existence of the place of punishment prepared for them.”
Concentrate upon these illustrations regarding the Life Hereafter, Paradise and Hell; and then judge for yourself how identical are they to the Islamic conceptions presented in the Qur’an and Hadiths. Aren’t these age old Vedic references, exactly corresponding to the Qur’anic rendering of these conceptions sufficient to prove that the Vedas do contain divine ayah? If some of the responsible Muslim scholars essay to reinterpret these scriptures that have gone through multiple literal as well as semantic distortions and have become vague over these years, in the light of the latest and most authentic scripture the Holy Qur’an and unravel the portions that are identical with the teachings of Islam: and then the Hindus be offered to consider Monotheism, Prophethood, and the Life Hereafter, in the light of their own scriptures, will it not be easier and even fruitful then to invite them towards their Original Right and Straight religion?
Look at the translations of the above cited mantras and Shlokas. There is no mention of the Transmigration of Soul in them. It is not that I cited the translations of those mantras only which contain a clear conception of Hereafter, Paradise and Hell. Infact the concept of the transmigration of soul does not exist anywhere in the Vedas. All these are later insertions as the references given by various Hindu researchers (in the previous pages) certify.
I have translated the above quoted Vedic hymns keeping in view the translations of Sanatan Dharmi, Arya Samaji and Griffith’s English translation. Now let us look at some translations of Pandit Durga Shankar Satyarthi given in his essay discussing the life Hereafter.
- “Awful and fierce, fiend-Slayer, thunder wielders is He with boundless knowledge makes enlighten (Men) Merciful to hundreds, Mighty with a Canopy, not giver of five lives to dead. O’ Hindus, be thou all of the God of lightening.”13
- “The reference of born again and again, like Satan was given (by the people of) ancient days. Subdue those having this conception as thou subdue thy sins. The goddess (for death) burns away the life of mortals (i.e. make hurry because your life keeps on proceeding towards death)”14
- “Forgetting the Last Day and rejecting disdainfully thought and reason, they try to reach our or dined limits (try to transgress them)”15
- “Achieving with thy praise honey-tongued, they count their doubts (with cognizance they compute their sins). Say to the devotees they will be granted eternal life certain”.16
In his essay, Pandit Durga Shankar has referred to the various Vedic mantras in addition to the above quoted ones17 in order to prove, very reasonably, that the conception of the life Hereafter in the Vedas is completely the same as given in the Qur’an in which it is mentioned that there will be an everlasting life of Reward and Punishment after the Day of Judgement. No mention has been made of the Transmigration of soul or Metempsychosis and, contrary to it, this conception has been refuted and it has also been ordered to subdue a person having such a belief.
It is necessary to mention here another vital point. I have quoted the above Vedic mantras from Pandit Durga Shankar’s essay but when I tried to locate them in other translations I found that all translators have translated them in completely different ways and the meanings expressed are not anyway in harmony with each other. Whenever the translators have intended to digress from the original “Word of God” and to conceal the conception of Hereafter, they didn’t even agree with one another, and every one of them gave his own elucidations and explanations.
An interpretation of the transmigration of soul (Ava Gaman) or metempsychosis:
I have received a number of letters asking me to analyse the Hindu belief of the Transmigration of Soul. The reference from the Vedas and Hindu researchers that have been quoted here make it explicit that in the original Hindu religion there was only the conception of one lasting life after the present one. However, every self invented story, myth and false belief has always some basis. According to my research the conception of metempsychosis is not baseless too. But it is an attempt to understand ahead of one’s own times, some truths expressed in metaphorical language as a result of which their real meanings have got aberrated and the story of the transmigration of soul came into existence. The truths that form the background of this conception of metempsychosis belong to the realm of the allegorical domain of knowledge and therefore it is not proper to present them before the common people. However, the explanation of some of its aspects is necessary because without understanding falsehood, it is difficult to challenge it. Therefore, keeping in view its usefulness I will try my best to simplify only two allegorical truths in simple and straight forward language-truths whose unintelligibility has given rise to the misconception of the transmigration of soul.
In human body there are millions and billions of living organisms. The blood that runs through our body also consists of countless red and white blood corpuscles. The food that we take in the form of fruits, vegetables and meat has also in it millions of bacteria’s, among which a large number remain alive even after cooking these vegetables and meat. Same is the case with milk, egg, honey or other eatables that we take. So much so that even while drinking pure water we take the millions and billions of living organisms in our body. All these eatables in the human body go through a changing process in order to get converted into blood or get discharged in the form of tears, urine, stools and other human excretion. Among the sperms that are stored in a male’s back, one Germs of Life fertilizes one female egg inside the womb of a female and after nourishment gets converted into a new human form. The living beings that come out of our body through tears, urine, stool and other refuses reach in the vegetable organism by getting mixed in fertilizers wherefrom they enter in the abdomen of animals in the form of their food. There are some Germs of life also that take the shape of the little ones of the animals. Then these living beings come out in the shape of the excretion of these animals and enter in the bodies of ants, flies, worms and insects in the shape of their food. A number of animals eat other animals, e.g., when beasts eat animals, these living beings get transferred somewhere in the human organism in the shape of food. In this way it is an eternal and endless process of life which will continue even up to the Last Day. Living beings travel in different shapes through different bodies and at every stage only one Germ of Life out of the millions reaches at its final destination where its journey culminates in the form of a man, animal, plant or a tree. Rest of the Germs of Life continues their process of getting transferred from one man, animal, or plant into another until they reach their final destination. Take it like this: Only one Germ of Life of a male, after entering in the maternal womb, takes the shape of a baby. This Germ of Life reaches its final destination but other millions and billions of Germs of Life getting discharged from the same organism; have also to come to forefront in various shapes. Through his excretion, getting mixed up with the earth, a number of Germs of Life reach in a plant. Now among all these only one reaches its final destination and takes the shape of a plant while the rest of these, that are in the leaves and branches of this plant in various different shapes, are yet to reach their destination. These become the food of some goat. Now among the Germs of Life that enter into the body of the goat, there comes the destination of only one of them which takes the shape of a kid in the body of a She-goat. Rest of them enters into the bodies of those who eat the flesh of the goat. Here also only one reaches its goal and the rest of them get transferred somewhere else. Even here out of those who enter in the human body through the milk of the goat only a few reach their destination and others get transferred somewhere else through the human excretion. In this way, this continuous process keeps on going and this is the truth of the transmigration of soul. Just as, while traveling to some place we change various conveyances like rickshaw, train and taxi, and ultimately reach our destination, and none of these conveyances is our destination, similarly different living beings reach their destination after passing through different carriers (organism). All these organisms are their conveyances or carriers. The appearance of these Germs of Life in the form of various organisms like plants, animals, lions, foxes, dogs, pigs, cows, goats and human beings or passing through these organisms, is the Transmigration of Soul. Some Germs of Life appear in their final shape, after reaching their destination, only after passing through millions of organism whereas there are still millions of others who are yet to reach their destination.
The system of life that God has established is such. The more we concentrate upon its minutest details, the more it increases our intellectual amazement and the warnings of the Holy Qur’an echo in our ears: “Will ye not then think?” “Will ye not then consider?”
“will yet not foresee”? “Have ye not then the power of understanding”? “Have ye not then eyes to see”? ‘Do ye not then praise your Lord?”
When in accordance with the established order of the administrator of this universe a Germ of Life reaches its final destination in the human mould, its journey ends. After this man has to spend his life according to the directions given by his true Master and Sustainer. After his death, his final rewards and punishments will be given to him in the Next Life. He does not have to come into life again and again in this world in any animal mould though the other living beings coming out of this human being, whose journey have not finished, continuously keep on moving towards their destination. This illustration is to be understood by the following Hadith of Prophet Muhammad.
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: the Messenger of Allah said, ‘I have been continuously transferred through the best classes of the Children of Adam in every age till I was born in the present age.”18
It means that the Germ of Life of Prophet Muhammad passed through the bodies of the best personages of all ages from the creation of Adam till it finally appeared in the form of the best and the holiest body of Prophet Muhammad.
The word “Germ of Life is my own coinage and it does not have its real scientific equivalent. But it should be clear that both the ‘theory of evolution’ and the ‘genetic theory’ are still incomplete and scientists themselves have considered them mere unproved theories. Whatever I wrote in the previous pages has its basis in the following Hadiths.
- “Narrated Ibne Abbas: On the day of Arafa a covenant was taken from all souls at Noman after they were taken out of Adam’s back and spread like particles and they were addressed thus: “Am I not your Cherisher and Sustainer?”. All the Souls said, “Verily You are19”.
- Narrated Hazrat Ata: (the Messenger of Allah said): At the time of Covenant the souls had been taken out from Adam’s back and then returned back unto it.”
- Narrated Zuhak: (the Prophet said): the day when Allah created Adam all the souls coming upto the Last Day were also taken out from his back like ants and the covenant of his being their Cherisher and Sustainer was taken from them, to which all the Angels were witnesses20”.
The above Hadith has been reported in different words by different narrators of Hadith. From these Hadiths we come to know that all human beings that will come upto the last day were int he back of Adam in the shape of miniature germs as these Hadiths have attempted to bring home to us in the phrases ‘like ants’, ‘like particles’. I named it in my own vocabulary as ‘Germ of life”. The Hadith that mentions the passing of these Germs of life through various classes of various ages has already been quoted. Even then I repeat it here:
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: the Messenger of Allah said: I have been continuously transferred through the best classes of the Children of Adam, in every age till I was born in the present age.”
From the words “the Children of Adam” used in this Hadith it is clear that the Holy Prophet was being transferred through the best classes of the Children of Adam and it is also implied that other humans may have been transferred through different other classes also instead of the Children of Adam only. The true knowledge is with God only.
Before this scientific age the result of the revealing of the truth of this allegorical knowledge was the concept of the Trans-migration of Soul. In every divine scripture there are two kinds of knowledge: one of the basics or fundamentals, and second allegorical. The allegorical knowledge was meant for a different age and before that time the revealing of it was not allowed. It is only after 1400 years of the last Prophet, Muhammad’s physical existence, and after the event of desecration Ka’aba that the second period was to commence in which the allegorical science would have been gradually revealed. How did I fix this second age will be described at some later occasion in the light of the Qur’an and Hadith. For the time being it is sufficient to understand that until the maturity of human mind after the commencement of the scientific age the unfolding of this allegorical knowledge had resulted in the misconception of the theory of Transmigration of Souls. Prior to Qur’an the main cause of the distortion of the religions and the mythologies was that they tried to unfold the allegorical knowledge before hand.
One more truth about Metempsychosis :
Out of many truths concealed behind the misconception of the Transmigration of Soul and misunderstandings which gave rise to this erring belief, I have analysed only one in detail. Now I will explain here one more hidden truth in the background of metempsychosis and then you can consider how clear ideas become erring beliefs due to the misunderstandings. Here are some illustrations which, I think, will verily clarify this!
- “The Rig Veda (8:6:21) has already warned us about the allegorical language of the Sanatan Dharm : “After the lore of ancient times (in allegorical language) I make beauteous songs.21”
- “In Kath Mamayani and Kapishthal etc. of the branches of the Vedas, there is mention of one hundred and one deaths: Out of these a hundred of them are the death of senses, death as ignorance, illness, death of patience by misery, lasciviousness and anger etc. All these have cure.”22
- “By not gaining knowledge from the Vedas, by leaving to act upon them, by laziness and by eating the wages of inequity and unlawful gains, comes the death of a Brahmin.”23
- “It is a clear fact that the death of a man does neither occur by illness or sin nor by ignorance or laziness but illness is verily the death of his ideal physical health and sin is ths death of his ideal human morality, his spiritual death. Ignorance is the death of his intelligence and judgement and lethargy and laziness is the death of his power of action (all these are the spiritual deaths) but the treatment to physique and body, true knowledge to the mind and repentance to soul can give second life (Punar Janm) to the man in this very world.24”
- “How inwardly through sin, our human nature dies repeatedly and Atma (Soul) becomes inhuman. The moment a man commits the crime of greed and of plundering and looting to his people, in the sight of God this sin gives his soul the shape of a dog, in this world itself where he is still living, because dog is the manifestation of these weakness. Shameful lust makes the soul like pig, foolish ness like ass, wickedness like snake, the troublesome nature like scorpion etc. but this change of nature of the soul is not the last or the final punishment from God. He will punish the evil-doers in the Parlok (the Life Hereafter) after proving their sinfulness.25”
This was one more truth lying behind the theory of the Transmigration of Soul. In Vedas there is clearly the mention of only one lasting life after the present one as I have already discussed with illustrations from Hindu researchers and also from the Vedas. But in some portions of the Vedas there is the mention of hundreds of deaths. The persistent spiritual deaths occurring in the body in this world itself and consequently adapting the nature of various animals is synonymous to becoming the same animal. Due to an unintelligibility of this reality the misconception of getting revived into animal moulds after repeated physical deaths in this world ifself, became the basis of the theory of the transmigration of soul.
This is an example of how by paying attention towards the true teachings of the true Books, the people having misleading conceptions can be led to the right path and clear conception.
“All of them are put to shame and confounded, the makers of the
idols go in confusion together.” (The Bible, Isaiah 45:16)
OTHER VEDIC COMMANDMENTS
Prohibition of gambling:
“A gamester’s wife leaves him aloof, her mother hates him. No one lends even a penny to the gamester” (R.V. 10:34:3)
From this verse to verse 13 the individual and social detriments of gambling are enumerated, and in verse 13 it is stated:
“O gambler! play not with dice. Cultivate thy cornlands, enjoy the gain and deem that wealth sufficient”. (R.V. 10:34:13)
Prohibition of wine:
“Quaffed juices fight within the breast” (R.V. 8:2:12)
“The drunken praise not Thee (O God) with their wine those scorn Thee who are flown with wine. Thou findest not therefore such wealthy men Thy friend”. (R.V. 8:21:14)
Prohibition of usury:
“(O Indra) thou deprive him of his wealth who lends it to gain more from it (i, e users V. 3:53:14)
Simplicity in nuptial functions:
“Straight in direction be the paths, thornless whereon our fellows travel to wooing.” (R.V. 10:85:23)
Men forbidden to use female dress:
“His body glistens with wicked fiend when the husband wraps about his limbs the garments of his wife.” (R.V. 10:85:30)
Women commanded to attend to domestic affairs:
“Go to the house to be the household’s mistress and speak as lady to thy gathered people. Happy be thou and prosper with thy children here: be vigilant to rule thy household in this home. Closely unite thy body with this man, thy husband. So shall ye, full of years, rule your company.” (R.V. 10:85:25-27)
Commandment for women’s modesty:
“Since Brahm has made thee a dame (you should) caste down Thine eyes and look not up; more closely set thy feet. Let none see what thy garment veils”. (R.V. 8:33:19)
The work is
incomplete and there is no leisure.
The Monotheism’s light is yet to reach its measure.
(Iqbal)
SIMILARITY OF PROPHECIES IN HADITHS AND PURANAS
In various purans there is a detailed account of evils that will spread when the period of kaliyug (the present age) will be about to expire. I quote below some portions of the Harivansh Purana and the Vishnu Purana in order to compare these with the prophecies made by the Holy Prophet about the same period.
Harivansh Purana Hadiths of
Vishnu Purana Prophet Muhammad
- People will Narrated Jabir: I heard
unnecessarily take false Allah’s Messenger (saying):
oaths and make false before the last Day the
promises. population of liars will
- In Kaliyug the rulers will increase. Hence beware of
be careless in their company.
protecting their (Sahih Muslim)
subjects, after Narrated Abu Hurairah:
becoming slaves of their He (the Holy Prophet) said,
wives. Brave will have “When you see breach of
no right upon the trust prevailing every
crown and kingdom. where, wait for the Last
The rulers will live the Day”. When asked what
meanest lives. The will cause this breach of
tendency to steal from trust to prevail, the Holy
others will increase in Prophet said, “when
all the people. People inefficient people will be
will aspire to be rich by entrusted with reign and
gulping down the power, wait for the Last
wealth of others. Not Day”.
only the meanest but (Sahih Bukhari)
also the noblest will Narrated Abu Hurairah:
gulp down borrowed Allah’s Messenger said:
money. People at that “When booty will be
time will worship treated as an individual’s
wealth only. Nobles will own property....when a
be disrespected and no husband will obey his
one will reprove the wife... when the meanest
wicked. persons of a race or group
- Towards the end of this will be its leaders..... and
yug the following when a man will be
conditions will prevail: revered for fear of mischief
Religious scholars will and wickedness.”
sell religion, both (Tirmizi)
scholars as well as elites Narrated Anas: Allah’s
will take to corruption Messenger said, “From
under the garb of among the portents of the
religion. In Kaliyug the Hour are (the following)
religious scholars will Religious knowledge will
strike a bargain for their be taken away (by the
prayers; women will sell death of sincere religious
their beauty and the scholars).
whole earth will be full (Religious) Ignorance will
of dissolute women. prevail.
Women will abscond There will be prevalence of
their poor husbands open illegal sexual
and marry with riches intercourse.
alone. The Drinking of alcoholic
licentiousness will drinks (will be common).
prevail to such an The number of men will
extent that seven year decrease and the number
old girls and ten year of women will increase to
old boys will bear such an extent that one
children. The wicked man will be supposed to
people, pretending to look after fifty women.”
leave drink, dine, and (Bukhari, Muslim)
dance, will be called
noble and pious but
they will spend life
contrary to the Vedic
commandments.
Women will be greater
in number as compared
to men.
Note : I have borrowed the these topics of the Harivansh and Vishnu Purana from Pt. Shri Ram Sharma’s Bhoomika (foreword) to these Puranas.
Your look
will change it, is
not surprising;
To you the world of
possibilities is
calling.
(Iqbal)
THE TRUTH ABOUT KA’ABA IN THE VEDIC DHARMA
Is it possible to find the references of Ahmad, Muhammad and the Qur’an in Vedic Dharma and not of Ka’aba? I have already stated that Hindu people have a deep affiliation with Ka’aba. Their circumbulating-like religious ceremonies certify it. They have retained the rituals and forgotten Ka’aba. The construction of all ancient temples in the direction of Ka’aba (the cause of which is not known to them) is a very vital proof of it. In the Vedas and the Puranas there are different names for Ka’aba. Even today large Hindu gentry is aware of this fact whereas the common people are ignorant. The present translations of the Vedic mantras are such that on the basis of these it is impossible to prove the details of Ka’aba given in the Vedas. Besides, the truth about Ka’aba in the Vedas is a very lengthy and complicated topic which deserves a full length book. However, I will analyse below, the words used for Ka’aba in the Vedas and the Puranas which will prove that in Hindu religious scriptures the mention of Ka’aba can be found by various names, such as
Ilaspad, Ilayaspad, Nabha Prathiviya
Nabhi Kamal, Adi Pushkar Tirtha
Daru Kaban, Makteshvar.
These names have been used in the Vedas and puranas for the greatest Tirtha (holy place), the location of which is still not known. It is not because of being thousands of years old or belonging to pre-historic age that its location has become unknown. All other personages and places mentioned in Hindu scriptures have been associated, under the impact of the feeling of kinship and faith, with India though they may not have any historical bases.
There is no historical evidence of Shri Rama and Shri Krishna. There is no historical evidence also that Shri Rama had any connection with present Ayodhya and Shri Krishna was born in present Mathura but Hindu people have such a great faith in these personages that they have taken for granted Ayodhya and Mathura as their place of birth even in absence of any authentic proof. Why has this holy Tirtha (various names of which have been given above) mentioned in the Vadas and Puranas, not been believed to be in India? Why its location has been declared as unknown? Let us concentrate upon the various names of this Tirtha.
Ilaspad :
Il, Illiah, Ila, Ilaya-all these words in Sanskrit language and in the Vedas also, mean “the worshipped one”, as discussed in Chapter Vlll. The letter‘s’ in the word ‘Ilaspad’ is superfluous and pad means the place. Hence the literal meaning of the word Ilaspad is, ‘the place of Ila’. Sir M. Monier Williams’ Sanskrit-English Dictionary also states the meaning of the word ‘Ilaspad’ as “Name of a Tirtha”, and Griffith has translated it as ‘Ila’s place’, or ‘the place of Ila’: Ila, he thinks, is the name of some god.
* It may be mentioned here that a popular name of Ka’aba among Muslims is Baitullah (the House of God in Arabic).
Ilayaspad:
It is a synonym of Ilaspad. Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya in his Hindi translation of the Vedas has translated it as prathivi ka pavitra sthan meaning the holiest place upon earth.
Nabha Prathiviya:
‘Nabha’ means the “centre”, prathivi “earth” and hence Nabha Prathiviya means “the centre of earth.” Every Muslim is aware of the fact that Ka’aba alone is called “the centre of earth” (Naf-e-Zameen). Now see the Vedic mantra in which these words have been used:
Ilayastva pade Vayam Nabha Prathiviya Adhi
(Our place of Ila is upon the centre of earth) R.V. 3:29:4 now says: which holy place is Ilayaspad? After this explanation given by the Veda itself, does there remain even the slightest doubt? I have quoted only fourth mantra of Bk lll, Hymn 29 of the Rig Veda because to give the translations of all the succeeding mantras will be a very lengthy process. However, the translation of mantra 11 makes it explicit that it is reference to Ka’aba only because this mantra is about Narashansa, i.e. Prophet Muhammad. In the Rig Veda 3:29:11, it is stated:
“... When Agni (Ahmad) appears (in humanly form) then he is known as ‘Asur’ (the last to come) and ‘Narashansa’ (the praised person meaning ‘Muhammad’ in Arabic). Let us now concentrate upon the remaining names of the above noted Tirtha.
Nabhi Kamal:
In the Padam Purana it has been stated that from this Tirtha alone began Srishti (the creation) In the Qur’an it is mentioned that ‘the first House appointed for men was that at Mecca’(3:96) and about the genesis of Ka’aba we learn from Hadith:
“Narrated Abdullah bin Umar, Mujahid, Qatada and Sadi that at the time of the creation of Earth and heavens the first thing that emerged on surface of the water was, ‘Ka’aba’. Initially it was white foam which had freezed and subsequently the earth was spread from within it”.1
See the verbal relation of Nabhi Kamal with Nabha Prathiviya and also consider the explanation of it given in the Padam Purana (and decide). Can it be some thing else than Ka’aba. See also the explanation of Nabhi Kamal in the Harivansh Purana. Though it is apparently mythological you can easily isolate the real truth from this story:
“With the intention of bringing into being the creation Bhagwan (God) created Kamal and appointed Brahma, the greatest worshipper and the creator of all organisms, in charge of it. It had all the qualities of the earth and his (Brahma’s), throne was the earth itself. The buds coming out of the womb of this earth changed into mountains and the place in between these mountains is Jambu Dwip2, the centre of the greatest place of action and worship. The petals of this Nabhi Kamal must be understood as the minerals and mountains of the inner earth. It is a place very difficult to understand and it is inhabited with non-Aryan races. Under this Kamal is Patal (to Hindus abode of serpents and demons) for Satans and still underneath Narak (Hell). The Kesar surrounding the Nabhi Kamal are the centres of unity and the drinking water around its four sides (Zamzam in Muslim’s vocabulary) has been called the four seas. The masters of great knowledge, the old Maha Rishis have stated it like this: ‘that this Nabhi Kamal alone is the source of all creation in this world. From this Nabhi Kamal the mountains, streams and different regions spread”.3
Adi Pushkar Tirtha:
Literal meaning “the most ancient holy place of the Sustainer of all”. It has also been used in the Padam Purana for Nabhi Kamal: “If anyone has been a desire in his heart to serve Pushkar Tirtha he is redeemed of his sins.... one who goes on for the pilgrimage of Pushkar Tirtha deserves an immortal reward: so have I heared.... Among the holy places Pushkar Tirtha is the oldest of all. By going to Old Pushkar and taking a holy bath there one achieves salvation.4
The reference of the holy bath seems to refer to Zamzam (the name of an stream near Ka’aba) and prior to this (on page 95 of Padam Puran Ank, Kalyan) it has been said, “it is the most hidden secret of Rishis”.
Daru Kaban:
In Sanskrit Dar means ‘wife’ and Ban or Van, ‘forest’. In the Bible (Revelations of st. John, Ch. 12) Ka’aba has been called ‘a woman’ and in the Qur’an. Mecca has been called “Ummul Qura” meaning “the mother of Settlements”, and Arab is known as ‘forest’. Leaving this complicated detail how Daru Kaban means Ka’aba, concentrate upon the meaning of Daru Kaban as given in the Nalanda Vishal Shabd Sagar dictionary: “the name of van (forest) which is regarded as Tirtha”. See also the translation of the Vedic mantra in which this word figures:
“O’ worshipper! yonder near see shore, Daru Kaban is not man made. Worship in it and with His grace reach to paradise”. (R.V. 10:155:3)
The Vedic mantra itself states where Daru Kaban is located.
Makteshvar:
By calling this Tirtha of Mecca “Daru” it has been said that it does not exist in this country.5 It will suffice to see the meaning of the word in Sir M. Monier William’s Sanskrit-English Dictionary:
Makh: The City of Mecca, Yagya (place of sacrifice) Makteshvar means “Mecca of God” or place of offering sacrifice to God.
These are some of the examples that I have analysed. Besides these, at several places there are various other names for Ka’aba as Mandar Vrikchh, Sita, Jambudwip etc.
MAQAM-E-MAHMUD (THE HIGHEST SEAT OF PRAISE) OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD IN THE VEDAS
The heavenly name of the Holy prophet is Ahmad, and the earthly Muhammad. After this earthly period he has been promised of Maqame Mahmood (the most laudable position) for which we also pray after every Adan (the Muslim call for prayers). In the Vedas there is a mention of all these three positions or statuses :
“As Germ celestial Agni is called bodiless soul (it is a reference to the position of Ahmad). When born in physical shape he is called Asura (the last to come) and Narashans and when enlightening the universe he is Matarishva and he hath, in his course, become the rapid and light like wind (spiritual) (R.V. 3:29:11)
In the above mantra Matarishva is the reference to his third status and obviously, it is Maqame Mahmood (The seat of highest praise). The English translator of the Vedas, Griffith, has written that this is a very mysterious word. At another place in the Vedas there is a reference to all these three statuses :
“First Agni sprang to life out of Swarg Loka (Heaven) in the form of Light (Nur), the second time from us came Jatavedas (born with knowledge-Ummi); thirdly the manly souled was in the Jal (in the Vedas Jal is a symbol of spirituality). They who work for human good are always shedding light. Those serve him only, who sing hymns for him. (R.V. 10:45:1)
Agni, we know thy three powers in three stations, we know thy form in many a divided place. We know what name supreme thou hast in secret; we know the source from which thou hast proceeded”. (R.V. 10:45:2)
Rise! book
of the universe is turning
a new page ;
In the East and the west has
started your age.
(Iqbal)
THE ACCOUNT OF DAJJAL IN THE VEDIC DHARMA
The appearance of Dajjal is one of the signs of the Last Day. From various Hadiths we come to know that Satan in the human mould will appear as Dajjal. He will be a person of unlimited strengths and no one will dare to resist before him. He will go on conquering all the earth and will command the people to call him God. Those who succeed in preserving their faith from his falsehood, to them has been given the good tidings of Paradise. Then Jesus will come and, after getting inspired from Al Mehdi (the guided one), will kill Dajjal. Prophet Muhammad has said, “Every prophet has warned his people against the sedition of Dajjal. This will be the greatest of all seditions”. But, according to the statement of Prophet Muhammad no prophet had prophecied that Dajjal will be blind of one eye. Prophet Muhammad has also said that Dajjal will not have the courage to enter Mecca and Madina. There is also a clear reference of Dajjal in the Bible where he is called “Beast”, “flase prophet” and “Anti-Christ” but in Hindu religion his being blind of one-eye is also hinted at. Obviously, ‘the blind of one eye’ has not been plainly stated but the implications closer to his being blind of one-eye have been referred to in the Hindu religion only. There he has been named as Andhak Asur: Asur means ‘one who comes at the end’ and Andhak means “person like a blind”. The discussion of Andhak Asur or Dajjal or Anti-Christ that has come in the Harivansh Purana is quoted below. Like most of the parts, this part has also taken the mythological shape. Even then the clear indications about Dajjal can be found there1-(the words in the brackets are mine).
In spite of having thousand hands (most powerful) thousand heads (most wise), two thousand feet (having easy access to each part of earth) two thousand eyes (extremely prudent), the Satan, due to ego and pride, was walking like a blind and, therefore, became popular as Andhak (as blind)”.2
“When a great turmoil rose in the world all pious personages thought of devising plans to kill him. Naradji said that on Mandar Parvat (hills in Mecca) is the most sacred garden “Kamdham” made by Shankara (one of the names of God). Without Shiva’s (another name of God) permission no one can enter it. With Shiva’s grace, no one can crush this First Panth (ummah.)” 3
“Such is the grace of this Mandarvrikchh (Ka’aba) that no where can such a bliss be at tained.”4
“Andhak Asur (blind like Dajjal) decided to go on Mandar Parvat (hills in Mecca) and accompanied by various devils proceeded with pride towards the abode of Shiva (Ka’aba). He said to Mandar Parvat : ‘O hill! you know, I have given word to my father not to succumb before any power (Satan has taken respite from God till the Last Day). I will break you into fragments.’ Saying this he exterminated the top of a hill. When those Satans started throwing the hill-top, it (Hill) started destroying themselves by falling upon his accompanying devils. Andhakasur turned furious and roared : “I challenge the master of this Van (Forest, desert of Arab) for a fight’. On hearing this Bhuteshvar Rudra with a Trishul (the formation of Trishul is like the word Allah in Arabic and therefore, it implies ‘with the help of Allah or God’) came forward along with first and second Panths (ummah) to kill Andhakasur.”5
“He threw an Agni shaped Trishul at Andhakasur which pierced through the heart of the king of Devils... The Lost Shobha (reverence) of Mandrachal (Mecca) revived.
Come, let us lift afresh
veil of enmity that us divide,
and bring once again
together our brethren.
The heart’s land lies desolate,
let us build a new temple there.
The highest shrine it should be,
its spiral reaching heaven’s skirt.
Votaries all to it must wind,
singing songs to gain new strength.
Vigour and peace lie in their chant,
in love lies man’s deliverance.
(Iqbal)
WHY THESE SECRETS REMAINED A SECRET ?
Unexposed secrets of Hindus:
Dear Muslim brothers! We call ourselves the followers of Prophet Muhammad. Our mission, therefore, is to remove the darkness of ignorance from the world. We had resolved to establish the rule of God upon this earth. Do you think we still deserve this status? How the claimants of removing the clouds of ignorance have themselves been the victims of a great criminal ignorance! You can gauge it from the fact that whatever I am presenting here before you in the shape of research (and it is possible that you may have some difficulty in believing in it) is mostly known to the learned Hindu theologians.
Hindus know that their greatest shrine (called by them Adi Pushkar Tirtha) is in Mecca. They say that their original Shiva Ling is the Black Stone at Ka’aba (Shiva Ling is not the name of any dirty thing. “Shiva” means God and “Ling” means symbol-therefore Shiva Ling means “the Symbol of God”).
It has also been concealed from Muslims that at the time of death Hindus used to whisper “An-Kahi” in the ears of the dying to save him from the agonies of the last moment. It is stated that in older days whenever the symptoms of expiration prevailed upon any Hindu personage, he was removed from bed and laid down upon earth... and An-Kahi was whispered in his ear to save him from the agonies of expiration, though the common Hindus did not know the meaning of these words. However, during Akbar’s regime a Brahimn revealed these words. Thus these words are also in Dabistan-ul-Mazahib, published by Naval Kishore Press:
La Ilah harni papan ila lamba parm Padam
Janm baikunth par ab hoti to jape nam Muhammadam
By reciting la ilah (there is no God) sins get effaced and by reciting illallah (save one God Allah) Param padvi (the leadership of the world) is achieved. If you want eternal paradise recite the name of Muhammad.
Such is the meaning of An-Kahi which, at the time of death, is whispered in the ear of the dying person.1
The translators have slightly modified the translation of this “An-Kahi” due to the ignorance of not knowing the Maqame Mahmud, one of the statuses of Prophet Muhammad. Even then the identical kind of meaning has been retained. I will discuss the real importance of this mantra at some other occasion.
Hindu gentry verily believes that one day the entire Hindu race will become the believers in the Holy Qur’an but this is also one of the secrets which has been hidden from the common Hindus and also from the Muslims in particular.
Dubois writes:
“After his investiture the newly initiated member takes part in what is known as the young man’s feast, which is prepared for him and for other young Brahmins who have recently been invested with the cord.
At the termination of the repast the young man again seats himself on the raised platform of earth, facing the east. His father seats himself by his side, but with his face turned towards the west. A cloth is then thrown over them hiding them from the eyes of the assembly. Meanwhile the father is whispering in his son’s ear..... “Remember, O my son, that there is only one God, who is the Creator, Lord, and source of all things; whom every Brahmin should worship in secret. But know also that this is a great mystery that must never be revealed to the Vulgar and ignorant people. Should you ever reveal it, surely great misfortune will fall upon you.”2
The Manu of the Deluge is so well known to Hindus in the capacity of Noah that they recite these tales to their children. For example read the editorial of the Hindi comic Tinkle3 :
“My little friends! One day a disastrous Deluge occurred and the whole earth was drowned. This story has been narrated by many people in many different ways. It’s account is to be found in the Vedas and Matsya Purana too, and the story of this Deluge is also in the Bible. Ishwara (God) commanded Hazrat Noah to construct a big Ark and embark therein of each kind of (organ isms) two, male and female besides his (Noah’s) own family. Hazrat Noah did the same. After this it rained day and night for forty days. Only Hazrat Noah and other living creatures in his Ark remained alive. In this issue we present before you an interesting story based upon Hazrat Noah and the Deluge. How is it?
Love
Yours.
Anand Chacha
The word Hazrat used before Noah in the above lines indicates that the writer knows Noah in the capacity of the Prophet of Muslims but even then he mentioned before the children the name of the Bible only and not of the Muslims and the Qur’an.
There are sufficient evidences available that some Hindu scholars are fully aware of the reality of Ayodhya and they have presented it before other Hindu elites in the sense that their real Ayodhya is occupied by Muslims. The Indian Muslims do not go beyond the recovery of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya whereas in the hearts of some selective Hindus the ambition is getting roots that they have to free their original Ayodhya from the Muslim’s occupation. This is a very great hidden secret in their blossom which has even slipped to the lips of a few of these people.
While giving interview to Sajid Rashid, once this desire came at the lips of Mr. BAL Thackeray, the leader of the Shiv Sena, but he checked his words and even Mr. Sajid did not poke further. While answering a question Mr. Bal Thackeray said:
“Look! don’t go too far in the past. Talk of the present. If you go back far in history, I can point out a number of mosques which had been the temples earlier and whose signs are still existing. Are you ready to return these to Hindus? I didn’t want to say it nor am I claiming it as a right but I am simply replying to your enquiry. If you go back too far in past there were idols in your Mecca. Now if we claim that in Mecca there were idols of our people and, therefore, return it to us, would you people accept it? That is why I said, “Talk of the present. Let bygones be bygones.”4
There are plenty of examples like this. We won’t have any hesitation in sharing with them this place of worship with pride and pleasure but only if they find their lost religion and act upon it, and that too in the light of the prophecies made in the Vedas and the Qur’an.
Our Negligence:
An average Hindu is still ignorant of these facts. If these facts, with the authentic proofs from their own scriptures, will be revealed to them the present controversy of Ram Janam Bhumi will automatically disappear and history will repeat itself exactly in the way it had 1400 years before: with the idol worshippers of Arab and 360 idols in Mecca.
In short, Hindu gentry have concealed these facts from Muslims and from Hindus in general by transforming them from father to son. Currently these secrets have become known to many common Hindus but the Muslims, who had been entrusted with the duty of showing right path to other people, are still ignorant.
Hindu scholars are also aware of the fact that the time of change is very near (their ego restrains them from proclaiming this truth publicly) but before the Muslims Ummah we are still compelled to present proofs after proofs and even then they say this is an imaginary fable based upon all kinds of fabulous traditions. The written references of all the above mentioned secrets may not be presented to these people because all the efforts are being made to hide these from the public. As a result of it only verbal or oral references of these facts are being given but we can authoritatively prove all these revelations. We won’t need proving them either. You will also get these proofs provided you too go close to them instead of being biased of treating them heathens. How the people will hide the facts about the Qur’an, the Holy Prophet, and the House of Allah (Ka’aba) even after knowing them completely, has been illustrated by the Qur’an itself in the following words:
“They recognise it as they recognise their own sons.” (2:146) Even the learned scholars of the Hindu community completely recognise these truths in the light of their scriptures and traditions.
Unless we are fully aware of the ideas and notions of our neighbours with whom we have been living for a thousand years, we cannot present Islam before them in the right way. Can’t it be termed as a sheer ignorance? Shouldn’t we be afraid of being caught as victims in the Court of Allah because of this ignorance? Hasn’t the time of our awakening approached yet?
It is to tread
willingly on Martyrdom of love;
O’ people take it easy to be a Muslim now.
(Iqbal)
BELIEF IN THE FORMER SCRIPTURES
Removal of a mis-understanding:
‘Seeing is believing’. After going through illustrations of the Qur’anic teaching in the Vedas given in the last few chapters (there are plenty of them in the Vedas) there is hardly any place to doubt that the Veda is the collective name of all the lost Scriptures attributed to Adam and Noah. These were not statements, of moral and social rectifications compiled by any philosopher thousands of years ago but these were the fundamental beliefs of religion and also those particular hints and statements about Haqiqate Ahmad and Muhammad that were presented by the prophets of all ages. However, in the Vedas Haqiqate Ahmad is a central topic.
It may create a doubt in the minds of some people that I Endeavour to prove that Islam and the present Hinduism are the same religion or I am putting forward a religion which is the combination of the two or trying to lessen the individuality and superiority of Islam. I seek refuge with Allah against all those attempts of Satan through which such thoughts will emerge in my mind. I always aspire for Allah’s help from all those tricks of Iblis (Shaitan) through which he might creates suspicion in the minds of sincere readers.
There is no religion other than Islam but...
Gracious God has clearly stated at two places in the Qur’an that a religion other than Islam will never be accepted but at both these places it has also been explained that every prophet propagated to his people nothing but Islam:
“Say: ‘we believe in God, and in what has been revealed to us, and the Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus and the prophets (before them), from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to God do we bow our will.
If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).” (3:84-5)
To believe in the teachings revealed to every prophet implies that all of them have been the instigators of Islam only. Look at this too :
“The religion before God is Islam: nor did the People of the Book dissent therefrom except through envy of each other, after knowledge had come to them. But if any deny the signs of God, God is swift in calling to account.” 3:19)
Here also it is clear that to the People of the Book only Islam had been presented which they changed into something else. The Qur’an states it in a different way thus:
“Mankind was but one nation, but different (Later)” (10:19)
No Scripture is absolutely rejected :
The Qur’an makes it explicit at a number of places that the true and essential religion throughout all ages and time was Islam only. All the scriptures or the Divine Books contained the teachings of Islam only. Today there is a general misconception among Muslims that with the coming of Prophet Muhammad the religions of the earlier prophets got repealed and with the coming of the Qur’an the scriptures revealed upon the former prophets stand abrogated too.
May Allah forgive us all. This thinking is contrary to our basic conceptions. We can never be true Muslims unless we believe in all the prophets and also in the Books brought by them. And when all the prophets brought the religion Islam only, what will be the meaning of abolition of their religion? The Qur’an never repealed the former scriptures but, as stated at various places (by Allah) in the Qur’an, it has attested as well as testified all the former Books.
There can be two possible reasons of this misunderstanding
1. The Din (religion) of every prophet was Islam and Shari’at (the laws) were different. The Holy Qur’an states. “To each amongst you have we prescribed a Shari’at” (5:48). Din is different from Shari’at, the former is the sum of the basic beliefs like the belief in Monotheism, Prophethood, Hereafter and Destiny (Divine decree). In the scriptures of all the prophets Din (Religion) was essentially the same (Islam) but Shari’at of each was different. Shari’at is the name of that practical aspect of religion which deals laws (e.g. punishment for theft and drink ing). Every prophet practised his own Shari’at repealing the earlier one. With the coming of the Last Prophet, Muhammad, Shari’at-e-Muhammadi repealed all the earlier Shari’at. Once the meaning of Din and Shari’at got mixed up, a misconception emerged that Din of all the former prophets was different from Islam and hence stands discarded now. Initially, non- Muslims should be invited towards their original Din, Islam, which they have given up, and only then should they be asked to practice Shari’at-e-Muhammadi (the laws given by Prophet Muhammad). First their deteriorated beliefs will be set right and only then will come the turn of implementing in practically in their lives. Even Prophet Muhammad, at the initial stages at Mecca had started with the same note with the polytheists of Mecca: “I have not come before you with a new (religion) Din but I am presenting the Original Din of Abraham whose followers you claim to be.
2. All the former scriptures have been abrogated! The second reason of this misconception is that today none of these scriptures is available in its Original form or text. The solution of this, in relation to the Vedas at least, has already been analysed in Chapter V under the title “How to consider them holy?” In the present mutilated version the falsehood in them is to be discarded and the truth is to be owned and made popular. It is, therefore, duty of this Ummah to investi gate and do research in order to separate the truth from falsehood.
The implication of believing in the former scriptures:
The Qur’an, at various places, has invited the People of the Book to act upon their own Books (Scriptures) and has reproved them for not doing so. For example:
“But why do they (Jews) come to thee (O’prophet) for decision, when they have (their own) Torah before them?-Therein is explained (the plain) command of God; yet even after that they would turn away. For they are not (really) people of Faith.” (5:43)
“Say: ‘O People of the Book! Ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Torah, The Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord.” (5:68)
These ayah make it explicit that the People of the Book should be invited through their own scriptures. Otherwise, what interpretation can be given of these ayah in which they have been commanded to establish the Torah and the Gospel. It is obvious that once these people honestly believe in the Word of God in them and leave the interpolations, they will find facts in these books as would, undoubtedly, affirm their belief in Islam and the Qur’an.
Now the question arises how to determine that portion of these Books which is the Word of God, and that which has been tampered with. In order to know this, we will have to work very hard. We will have to study other religions in the light of the Qur’an so that we can identify the Word of God in them and invite their people also to believe in it. In the Qur’an not only the People of Book but also Muslims have been perpetually commanded to believe in the former scriptures
“Each one (of them) believeth in God, His angles, His books, and His apostles”. (2:285)
Consider thoughtfully what are the implications of this implications of this decree of believing in the former books. Not only does the Qur’an say that these books have changed but the believers in these books too attest to this fact.
Today it is thought that just by accepting that those books were revealed on prophets the act of having a belief in them is fulfilled. Even if there had been a passing reference of these books in the Qur’an it would have been obligatory on our part to believe the fact that they were revealed. Why the emphasis to believe in them, as if otherwise ‘you won’t be believers’ has been rigorously made at a number of places. It is clear that the implication is to believe in those portions of these Books which are being attested to by the Qur’an and such portions will become obvious only when we investigate them. It is extremely obligatory on our part in general and those who possess the required ability in particular that they dedicate themselves to the cause to reveal the reality before us so that we can believe in them as per the commands of God and invite the People of the Book towards Islam as the Qur’an would expect us to do. Only then can we present Islam to them in its true shape claiming :
“See, the religion of every age was the same-Islam.”
Why there seems a contradiction?
* The Qur’an blames the People of the Book for not acting upon their own scriptures. (5:43)
* The Qur’an invited the People of the Book to stand fast by the Torah, the Gospels, and the revelation (Books) that has come before. (5:68)
* The Qur’an also makes mention of them being tampered: “Change the words from their (right) context and places”. (5:41)
* Then the Qur’an also confirms or testifies these: “It is He who sent down to thee, in truth, the Book confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Torah (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this”. (3:3)
* And the Qur’an even persuades the believers (Muslims) to believe in them (the former Scriptures) too: “Say ye: we believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord; we make no distinction between one and another of them: and we bow to God (in Islam)”. (2:136)
There is no contradiction in the Qur’anic ayah. Why then do we feel the apparent contradiction in them? Let us wait and glance through some Hadiths. Hadiths help us in explaining the true meaning of some portions of the Qur’an.
Are Hadiths contradictory too ?
Narrated Jabir: one day Hazrat Umar bin Khattab brought some leaves of the Torah to Holy Prophet and requested, “O’prophet, Here are some leaves of the Torah”. The Prophet remained silent. When Umar started reciting (them) the facial complexion of the Prophet began to change. On observing this Hazrat Abu Bakar said, “Beware O! Umar, Don’t you see the holy face of the Prophet?” Hazrat Umar looked at the Prophet’s holy face and said, “I seek refuge with the Lord from His wrath and that of His Prophet. We are contented with, that Allah is our Cherisher and Sustainer, Islam our religion and Muhammad (PBUH) our Prophet.” The Prophet said, “I swear by Lord, in whose hands is my life, If Moses were amongst you and you had obeyed him after deserting me, you verily would have gone astray. Had Moses been alive at the time of my prophethood he too would surely have been my follower.”
(Darmi, quoted in “Babul A’atisam” Mishkat)
Look at another Hadith
“Narrated Abdullah bin Umar: the Holy Prophet said: “...Cite the traditions of the Children of Israel. It is not a sin”. (Bukhari quoted in “Kitabul I’Im”, Mishkat)
It means-listen to whatever knowledge is with the Children of Israel, and convey it to others-the practical example of this is Hazrat Salman Farsi who on the basis of the prophecies made about Islam and the Prophet of Islam in the Christian Scriptures, came to Madina in search of Prophet Muhammad. And when he narrated the authentic traditions of the Torah and the Gospel before Prophet, his face became radiant, and he not only heard it himself but, after getting his holy companions assembled together, conveyed to them also.
Now here is a portion of another Hadith Sahih (agreed upon) that reflects the legal validity of the former scriptures:
“... The Jews of Madina came to the Holy Prophet (with the intention of conspiracy) and mentioned: “A man and a woman amongst us committed adultery. What is your verdict about them?” The Prophet said: “What is the decree of the Torah regarding it?” They replied “we disgrace them and set them free after lashing”. On hearing this Abdullah bin Salam said, “you are telling a lie because the Torah commands to stone them to death. Get the Torah. “They opened the Torah but put a hand over the verse indicating the commandment of stoning to death, and recited the verses before and after it. Hazrat Abdullah understood this and said, “Take off your hand”. After the hand was taken off, the verse indicating ‘to stone to death (the adulterers)’ was there. They had to accept it then. The guilty were stoned to death by the order of Prophet Muhammad.” (Quoted in the Commentary of Sura Maida by Ibne Kasir.)
This is one case where the decree in the Torah was exactly in accordance with the Islamic Shari’at. The Prophet of Allah showed the Jews the decree from their own scriptures. Now judge whether there is any contradiction between these Hadiths too?
See the real background :
No, there isn’t a contradiction! The background of the first incident is this: In the initial days of the Prophet’s life at Madina, When the holy companions of the Prophet were not fully matured in knowledge, Hazrat Umar, being very enthusiastic to learn, used to go to a school, Baitul Midras, in order to listen and note down the Torah. From there he had brought the pages of the Torah to the Holy Prophet. The Prophet was very annoyed and made it clear that at that stage it was obligatory to follow the Shari’at brought by Muhammad (PBUH) only and the interest in other knowledge was not only unnecessary but also dangerous. Afterwards, in later days of the period at Madina When the Prophet was confident of the ability of his companions to judge truth from falsehood in the light of the Qur’an, he allowed them to quote those portions of the Torah and the Gospel which were in accordance with the Qur’an.
Second Hadith also belongs to the same period whereas the third event proves that if prudence demands and the aim is to complete the arguments on the People of the Book then it is to be done by presenting before them those teachings of their scripture which are in accordance with Din-e-Islam. These are the portion, the Qur’an confirms and the People of the Book are being persuaded to put these untampered portions in action, otherwise, they have no ground to stand upon. Upon these confirmed portions does the Qur’an ask the Muslims (believers) to believe.
THE MODE OF THE MISSION
Are Hindus the People of the Book?
When it is known that the Vedas contain (in them) the word of God and they are the people of Noah, the first question that emerges is: ‘Can the Hindu people be called the People of the Book’? The question gains added significance when we notice that some of our respectable old men have placed the Hindu people at least in the category of the ‘like of the People of the Book’. For example:
“But Muslims are very tolerant in this respect and Arabs have not included Hindus in the category of infidels and polytheists but have treated them as the ‘like of the People of the Book’. In this regard Syed Suleiman Nadvi has made a scholarly discussion in his book Arab wa Hind ke ta’lluqat (Indo-Arab Relationships)”1
“In the Persian translation of the most ancient History of Sindh (Indus), Chach Nama, it is mentioned that ‘Muhammad bin Qasim acceded to the request of the people of Brahminabad (Indus) and allowed them to remain in the Islamic kingdom of Sindh in the same capacity as the Jews, the Christians and the Parsees used to live in Iraq and Syria.”2
“Bilazari contains this correction: the pagoda of India is also like the synagogues and churches of the Jews and the Christian and like the fire-temples of the Zoroastrians”.3
Should we include the Hindu people in the category of infidels and polytheists or should we treat them as the People of the Book? An understanding of the question is very important because according to the Qur’anic commands the mode of establishing connections and relation with different communities is different. And more so because an appropriate mode of inviting people (towards Islam) can only be determined, in the light of the teachings of the Qur’an and Hadiths, when we know the technical Qur’anic terms used for such people.
Now let us concentrate upon the term Mushrik (one who ascribes partner to God) which has been used even for the People of the Book. When the Jews regarded Uzair (Ezra) and the Christians, Jesus as the son of God, they automatically became Mushriks. Even a number of Muslims can not escape from this label because of their (wrong) actions and conceptions. It is therefore, clear that even the People of the Book can be labelled as Mushriks. Same is the case with the term kafir (infidels). The Holy Qur’an states:
“Verily they performed infidelity who say: God is one of the three in a Trinity”. (5:73)
Kufr (Infidelity) means ‘to deny’. Denying of any Islamic belief or basics, even in the least, is infidelity so much so that, at certain occasions, even Muslims can not escape it. A famous Hadith states:
“those who deliberately shun from Namaz (the prayers) commit infidelity.”
We notice that, like Shirk (ascribing partners to God), Kufr, (infidelity) can be of various degrees and the believers of no faith escape from coming under any of these degrees. If we can (presently) designate anyone as an absolute infidel it is the group of atheists who have no conception of God. Beyond these, all the races and groups get, in different degrees, involved in the infidelity but can never be called absolute infidels.
Inspite of being involved in Shirk, the Hindu people believe in God and have an affiliation with the Word of God, even though ambiguous. The concept of prophethood is also in them, though largely deteriorated, and they do not say, like atheists, that there won’t be anything after death. On the other hand, they have a faith in reward and punishment though in the shape of a misconception called the transmigration of soul. Hence, if the term infidel refers to those who are ‘absolute infidels’, the Hindu community can not be grouped into it.
Can they be called (then) the People of the Book? When God’s apostles came to every race why the Qur’an calls the Jews and the Christians alone the People of the Book? It seems that the people of the Book are those people who still have maintained an affiliation with the Book of God (even though it is mutilated) and this affiliation is through a well recognized prophet. In other words the People of the Book know and believe in the prophet who brought the Divine Book for them. Obviously, the Hindu community does not fall within this definition because, inspite of having a Divine Book, they have no relation with it and they have even lost their prophets in mythologies.
Not the People of the Book but Ummiyyin:
If Hindus can not be called the People of the Book which other Qur’anic term should we use for them. In order to know it we will have to go back 1400 years because there we come across a race who used to call themselves as the followers of Abraham but did not possess the Book (given by God to Abraham), That is they had no connection or affiliation with the Book. The Qur’an has called the race, ‘the group of Ummiyyin’. The word ‘Ummi’ does not mean illiterate as it is supposed today. it was used in this sense much later.
Zujaj has explained that ‘Ummi’ is a person who has the qualities of the Arabs. To be illiterate was a peculiar quality of the Arabs. According to some scholars ‘Ummi’ is related to ‘umm’ (Mother)... Since the condition of an unlettered is exactly the same as that of a child at the time of its birth, it has been associated with mother. It is attributed to Imam Baqar that he used to link this term with Ummul Qura (Mother of habitations-Mecca). Since the people of Mecca i.e. Qur’aish largely, were unlettered, the word ‘ummi’ got associated with the unlettered.”4
Hindu people, like the ‘Ummiyyin’ (The plural of Ummi) 1400 years before, them turn their faces towards Mecca while praying, and even in all their religious ceremonies one can see the glimpses of the rites associated with Ka’aba, and more so, the most of their ancient temples have been constructed facing Mecca. Similarly when we attempt to see the Qur’anic explanation of ‘Ummiyyin’ we come across the following words:
“And there are among them Ummiyyin who know not the Book but (see therein their own) desires and they do nothing but conjecture.” (2:78)
Like the qualities enumerated above, this Qur’anic reference also fits aptly upon the Hindu people. About Ummiyyin the Qur’an categorically clarifies that they are not the People of the Book but entirely a different group:
“And ask to the People of the Book and the Ummiyyin do ye (also) submit yourself to Islam?” (3:20)
It is clear that the Qur’an classifies the believers in God (other than Muslims) into two groups: “The People of the Book” and “Ummiyyin” and the qualities and attributes of “Ummiyyin” given by the Qur’an and the scholars well ayahed in it are:
* They do not know the Book and, therefore, their knowledge of the Book is based upon conjectures and suppositions.
* Like ancient Arab race they are the People of Ka’aba, as they have close affiliation with Ummul Qura (Mecca), i.e. Ka’aba has a unique status in their prayers.
Currently there is only one race in the world for whom the above explained term ‘Ummi’ comes true-Hindus. If you consider further, the Qur’an has mentioned the two groups of ‘Ummiyyin’ through whom the Prophet’s message destined to be conveyed to the world: one group that lived 1400 years before in Arabia and among whom the Apostleship was bestowed upon Prophet Muhammad, and the second group who had to come later, Akharin (others of them)5. It is this second group “others of them” about whose acceptance of Islam, the Qur’an has prophecied at a number of places and even the Hadiths have hinted, by way of explanation, that they are the Hindus of India.6
The mode of mission in the light of Hadiths:
Hadiths have taught us the method of inviting this race towards Islam. You yourself can see from the following Hadiths:
“Narrated Abdul Rahman: a person who had heared it from the Holy Prophet himself, narrated to me: the Messenger of Allah said, “Verily in the later stages of Muslim ummat there will be a race whose requital will be like the requital of the holy companions (of the Prophet). They will instruct the people for righteousness, restrain them from evil deeds, and will fight against the seditious.7”
“Narrated Abu Uba’id: I enquired from the Messenger of Allah, “can anyone be better than us when we have submitted ourselves to you (after taking oath of allegiance) and fought the holy wars shoulder with you. The Prophet said, “Yes! After you there will be a race who will believe in me even without seeing me.”8
Hazrat A’mr bin Shoeb reports from his father who reports from his grand father: Once the Messenger of Allah asked his companions, “In terms of belief and faith which creation is the most wonderful and most resolute according to you?” The holy companions answered, “Angels”. The prophet said, “(What is there strange in their belief) why shouldn’t they believe when they are so close to God?” The holy companions said, “(O’ Prophet) they are the ‘prophets”. (The Prophet) said, “Why wouldn’t they believe when they received direct revelation?” The holy companions said, “O Prophet then it is we people” (The Prophet) said “Why wouldn’t you believe when I am present amongst you?” The Narrator narrates that the Prophet then said “Verily among the whole creation, there will be a race strong enough in terms of belief as well as the most wonderful. They will come after me. They will find the scriptures; there into will be the Book. They will believe in whatever will be in there.9”
In the above Hadith ‘the Book’ implies the Qur’an. It means, therefore, that they will find the Qur’an. in those scriptures. This interpretation gets authenticated by the following ayah of the Qur’an.
“Verily, it (The Qur’an) is in the scriptures of the men of old.” (26:196)
Did you notice! According to Hadiths this race will not directly believe in the Qur’an but will in a way first discover their own scriptures. In other words, this race will be completely cut off from their own scriptures and would rediscover them as it were. In these scriptures they will find the Qur’anic teachings and, accordingly, will submit themselves to ‘The Truth’. Hence their belief will be the most wonderful and great enough to have the requital (by God) like the companions of the Holy Prophet.
By this time you must have realized which is the unique race among all the religious races of the world that has with it the scripture but is completely cut off from it.
In the light of the Qur’an:
The basis of the mission (of inviting people towards religion), in the light of the topics discussed at a number of places in the Quran, are the belief in God, in Hereafter, and doing the righteous deeds.
“Those who believe (in the Qur’an) and those who follow the Jewish way and the Christians and the Sabeans-Any who believe in God and the last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord: on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (2:62)
Amongst the majority of the religious communities of the world the main deterioration has always been in their belief in One God and the life Hereafter. Every religious community disowned the new prophet primarily because of their unwillingness of setting right their deteriorated conceptions of Monotheism and of the life Hereafter according to the teachings of new prophet and besides these, they were not willing to mend their bad deeds. The Jews denied the prophethood of Jesus and Muhammad. Had they been willing to abscond their deteriorated versions of Monotheism and the life Hereafter, and also leave their bad deeds, they would have no hesitation in accepting the prophethood of Jesus because he had come along with the similar teachings (as the Jewish scriptures originally contained). Similarly, due to the deterioration in these besics, the Jews and the Christians denied the prophethood of Muhammad, otherwise they were very sure of his being very truthful. It is why the Qur’an conveys the good tidings to these religious communities, merely on the basis of these three fundamentals, that ‘if you set them right (in accordance with the commands of God) then you needn’t fear anything. It is undisputed that the belief in the last Prophet and the Qur’an is also a must. Why then has the Qur’an conveyed the good tidings to the believers of these three fundamentals only? It clearly implies that the Gracious, All Learned, and All Knowing God knows if they set right these three fundamentals, they will subsequently believe in the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the Qur’an too.
We can present these fundamentals-Monotheism, Hereafter, Righteousness-before the Hindu people from their own religious books-the Vedas. Regarding the mode of invitation, the Qur’an guides us thus:
“Invite (all) to the way of God with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious”. (16:125)
To invite with wisdom implies neither the inferiority complex nor the evasion of calling right as right and falsehood as falsehood. Wisdom does not even specify the sycophancy of the prevalent government or accepting any religion like Akbar’s Din-e-Ilahi. But paying everyone in the same coin? Islam has allowed that too but in certain conditions. It has decreed that wisdom means the right assessment of the circumstances. On occassions the Prophet of Allah remained patient even after observing the terrible torture inflicted upon Bilal and khabbab on the burning sand and on other occasion ordered the advancement of the Islamic troops for curbing the sedition. The former period was of Islam’s impoverishment and later of advancement towards a strong Islamic state. Even in the Mode of this Mission different methods were used at different periods. In the first three years the mode of secret preaching was employed though the Truth was truth even at that time. Afterwards, during the entire period at Mecca the propagation of this religion went on patiently even in the wake of worst possible cruelties and compulsions. Ultimately came a period when the oppression was crushed right at its inception. If we do not inherit this wisdom of the mode of mission from the personage who was blessed with Grace of Omniscient God we will face defeat at each front. Wisdom is one of the ways taught by the Messenger of God:
“And (he is) instructing you in scripture and wisdom” (2:151)
The importance of wisdom along with the teachings of the Scripture (the Qur’an) can be guessed from the following proclamation of the Qur’an:
“He granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing. But none will grasp the Message but men of understanding.” (2:269)
Give unto Hindu religion its lost truth:
We have witnessed the results of converting Hindus into Muslims. After getting converted a convert becomes absolutely isolated in his society. The hatred against Muslims increases and Muslims also fail to adjust this new convert in their society and, consequently, he gets entangled in the matrimonial problems and the problems of livelihood. We can not present even the least example of such brotherhood as Ansars of Madina showed towards Muhajirin when they made them their brethren. There are cases when the ‘new convert’ returned back to their old faith in sheer disgust. This is the example of those few who have the courage to embrace Islam. The majority does not even now get influenced at all by the excellences of Islam when they observe the deteriorated repulsive values of Muslim masses. Under these circumstances, there is only one effective way of invitation: Without attempting to convert Hindus we should try to restore Hinduism to its original form. Such a method will prove beneficial for converting the whole race rather than the individuals.
Hence at present the only genuine mode of inviting other religious communities, particularly Hindus, towards Islam, the Qur’an and Hadiths is to revive their own religion to its original form and not to adopt a method that will make us liable to the accusation of religious conversion, apostasy, and the change of creed. We must give it up and employ the same method in relation to the religious community of Noah as our Prophet employed in introducing Islam to the people of Abrahamic religions.
Two great disasters :
The reason that the Qur’an places great emphasis on practical wisdom in religious mission gets confirmed by the historical evidences. The present century itself witnessed the occurrence of two important turns in history when the practical wisdom of non-Muslim triumphed as Muslims could not use it, and at both the occasions millions of the people retreated from even on the verge of embracing Islam. One of these two great events occurred in Russia and another in India itself.
Out of all the religions of the world that he had studied, Comrade Lenin, the leader of the Communist Revolution of Russia, had been deeply impressed by Islam and he wanted the Russians to embrace Islam. It is believed about him that his interest in Islam was the result of his acquaintance with a pious man, Buqra Khan who had impressed him and whose blessed company had left a great impact upon Lenin. However, Lenin tried his best but due to the ignorance and unsagaciousness of the Egyptian scholars and the policy of the British Government this golden opportunity was lost. The details of this event have been reported by an Indian Communist leader who had a personal relations with Lenin. Listen to it in the words of Muhammad Abdullah, retired I.A.S.
“M.N. Roy, a popular Indian Leader was an active member of Communist International Russia ` during 1921-22. He had played a vital role in the proletariat movement of Germany, France and China. He had good relations with Lenin and an Indian friend of his had taken refuge in Russia due to the prevalent political conditions in the then India. He too had good relations with Lenin. In his autobiography what he has stated about Lenin’s faith and interest in Islam is worth seeing : After the regime of Czar when Lenin came to power and established the Communist Government, he called a meeting of his intimate comrades in which he said, “...we have succeeded in establishing our own government but in order to make it stable and function, it is very essential to own a way of life that is in accordance with the human nature. It is because a man needs not only bread for survival but also a religion for spiritual satisfaction. I have studied all the religions minutely and I think that none but one religion has the capacity to support our communist ideology. Therefore, I will give you the name of this religion here only. Don’t hasten to form your own conclusions because this question pertains to the life and death of Communism. Take your time and consider thoughtfully. May be I am wrong but we must think coolly before we take any final decision-I think Islam is the only religion closer to the economic programmed of Communism.” On hearing this there arose a noise in the entire gathering but Lenin advised them to consider it cool heartedly and suggested, “exactly after one year from now onwards we will reassemble to decide whether the communists should profess any religion, and if so, which one.”
When the external affairs ministry of the Great Britain came to know of it they took it as a great danger for the British empire because if Communism and Islam combined the Russians would enjoy an impregnable power and dignity as compared to Britain. At once they raised an issue : Can Islam accept an atheistic and agnostic view point like Communism? The scholars of Al-Azhar, ignorant of this background, gave such a verdict as the Government of Britain wanted. The verdict was printed and distributed throughout the world so much so that its copies are still available with the Muslims living in the Muslim area of Russia. Obviously Lenin too came to know of this. He got wonderstruck and said “I thought Muslims were wise but it seems they too are rigid and orthodox like other religions.” The result was that the whole scheme remained as it was and those who opposed it took a sigh of relif.”10
Now the other example, pertaining to India itself, of the practical wisdom of non-Muslims :
It is believed that Dr Ambedkar, the most popular Harijan leader of India, was desirous of embracing Islam along with the entire Harijan population of India. When Gandhiji came to know of it, he asked Ambedkar “which Islam do you want to embrace? That of Sunnis or of Shiait? If you want to become Shiait there are various sects within it, which sect of Islam would you embrace? If you want to become a Sunni, it too has different sects like Deobandi, Barelvi, Wahabi etc. and every one of these hates the other and denies its allegiance to Islam. After listening to this discussion, Dr. Ambedkar changed his mind and said, “I had a liking for this
religion, Islam, primarily because, I thought there is no caste system in it.”
These admonitory stories are still fresh in the pages of history.
Would that we understand...
The entire life of God’s Messenger (PBUH) is a practical illustration of inviting people towards Islam with wisdom. During the days of strangeness of Islam, God’s Messenger said to people: I do not invite you towards a new religion but the True religion of Abraham. Today when Islam is in a similar state of strangeness, isn’t it our duty to present the Truth before these people in a similar way saying: we do not propagate a new religion. We accept Hazrat Noah (Manu) as Prophet and his Message, that has become vague in your hands with the passage of time, can be clarified in the light of the most authentic Book of God available at present i.e., the Qur’an.
Believe me this race, for centuries, has been in search of the personages who could make them understand their religion which they are unable to understand for themselves. But they stick to it merely because it is their own religion.
Along with the troops of Mahmud Ghaznavi, who demolished the Somnath Mandir, had come Alberuni to whom they are obliged even to this date because he had attempted to understand their religion. This mission could best be fulfilled in the light of the Qur’an and Hadiths : can’t we present Islam to them saying this was your true religion’ and can’t we prove, by solving their various riddles in the light of Qur’an, that this was the religion, Noah had put before them?
Don’t deny it outright. Don’t say : where Islam the most straightforward and holy religion and where Hinduism a collection of absurdities! there is no resemblance! It is not a religion at all !!!
Before passing any Judgement it is essential to study their religion.
Maulana Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi has quoted a Hadith Narrated by Umar (saying) “It is very likely that a person who is born a Muslim and remains absolutely ignorant of infidelity may disintegrate every link of Islam one by one.”11 A vast number of our scholars have critically evaluated the Torah, the Gospel and the Zabur during the past 1400 years of the Islamic history but how many of them studied Hinduism? No doubt, a few attempts have been made but they are in the nature of tracing and comparing its drawbacks in the wrongly translated scriptures with the excellences of Islam. The point may be valid but once you put the translations of these Urdu books before Hindus, they will exhibit more repugnance instead of accepting them. If you analyse their scriptures objectively you will realize that Islam can be presented to them in the capacity of their own religion and they too will never hesitate to accept it.
Do this much at least:
To begin the research of this kind immediately is not possible for everyone. Even the familiarity with the Hindi language will not suffice because the real misconception started with the Hindi translations of the Vedas, the Puranas and the Upanishads. The Muslims having the religious background will have to come forward to learn Sanskrit. Obviously, it is a painstaking job but when the scriber of God’s Messenger (PBUH), Zaid in a few days could learn the Syriac language, Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi, the Syriac and Hebrew languages, Alberuni, Sanskrit, why can’t our young men, fully acquainted with the Qur’an and Hadiths, learn Sanskrit? Unless such a new Muslim generation is ready we can do one thing at least-try to bridge the gulf of hatred, a thing that American Muslims have already started, the brief outline of which is given below:
An example of Americans:
Three years ago the Jews and the Christians of America established a joint forum of Abrahamic religions, the main aim of which was to develop mutual understanding and evade the religious repugnance. Since the Muslim population in America has increased to the extent of getting the cognizance of a minority, the Muslim scholars asked the forum why they were set apart when Abraham is an illustrious prophet of theirs too. The forum was reorganized and named ‘Muslim, Christian, and Jews Leadership Forum’. All the three declared themselves as the followers of Abraham. In spite of certain religious differences, in which case each one will stick to his creed, there are many a common features which should be highlighted before one another.
First a clergy Forum was formed with eight coming from each faith. The group met for six two-hour sessions in order to have the mutual discussion. They probed with one another their religious scriptures, religious beliefs and conceptions. They then framed the constitution of the Forum. Next a lay Forum was formed with some more persons representing each religion. They familiarized one another with their social, cultural and ritual customs. Ultimately on September 17, 1986 a public symposium was presented at the university of Detroit which became the occasion to open the dialogue to the larger religious community representing 29 Muslims, 36 Jews, 91 Christians and some others. In this symposium, the scholars of all the three religions made platform presentations. An In ãan born Muslim theologian Dr Muzammil Hussain Siddiqui also participated in all the representatives on eschatological social and theological issues. Since then the Forum has been going on well and producing the best possible results. At present, I would like to put before you some references from vol 7, No 2 of its official organ Healan. Though this 48 page journal merits to be read completely. I quote here only such extracts as are necessary by way of introduction.
- A Christian priest Rev. Oscar Ice said in his speech : “Three major world religions developed from Abraham-
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All are marked by a belief in One God, reverence for many of the same prophets and a much greater respect for human life than existed in the pagan world.”12
- “By entering into dialogue with one another in a relatively safe and private environment, trust and familiarity began to develop and with these a concern to care for one another”13
- “In March, a full-length television feature was broadcast by NBC titled “Under Siege”. The city of Dearborn and its Shiite population were identified as terrorism danger points. The clergy met together to review the film and to form a written repose to NBC about the dangers of stereo typing a whole people as terrorist”.14
- “In September a Jewish Synagogue in Istanbul, Turkey, was bombed during worship. As the Detroit Jewish community gathered for a memorial service, two Muslim clergy in the forum wrote a letter of condolence and requested to join hands to work for peace. Another Muslim Imam attended the service. Solidarity of religious concern was being manifested”.15
- Imam Muzammil Siddiqui said in his address:
“.... These and many other differences do exist between Islam, Judaism and Christianity but there are many commonalities also as I mentioned before. Respect and reconciliation means that when we differ we may do so with respect, dignity, politeness and argue with logic and in best possible manners. As Muslims we must listen to the advice of the Qur’an: “And do not argue with the people of the Book; except with what is best” 29:46)16
“....Our traditions can really play a very positive role and by getting involved in these words we shall discover that we have much more in common than we ever could imagine. This will also remove the distance that we have now. Much of the prejudice, fear and hatred is due to our distance from each other.... with better communication we shall be able to understand each other’s concerns and may help to make this a better world....”17
- See also the excerpts from the speech of a Jew scholar Dr. Marc H. Tannenbaum
“......the core foundational issue is the incredible ignorance that we have about one another...”18
“....The notion is that all Muslims are savages. All Muslims are barbarians. All Muslims are terrorists. That could become a religious lie...we must dismantle those religious lies before they become joined with political and military power that can bring about the destruction of the universe....”19
- “From says this conflict in India grew out of group narcissism. The Muslims believed they had a monopoly of all truth and salvation. ... The Hindus returned the belief and felt they were right. If you go to the Sikhs, you will find the same issue. If you go to Tamils, you find the same issue. This same issue is at root in conflicts around the world....”20
These were the excerpts of the speech of a Jew scholar. Prior to it you have also seen excerpts from the speech of the Christian and Muslim scholars. the other issues being discussed in the Forum are as follows :
# What makes a good Muslim, Christian, Jew.
# Expressing our faith in the presence of other faith.
In this context a Christian priest said, “We present ourselves in such an attractive way that others will want us join.” The Muslims facilitator Imam Abdullah Bey El Amin stated, “That his faith..... was actively involved in inviting people to join. Their only criteria are belief in God and belief in Hereafter.”21
# How do we think of God?
# The effect of terrorism in the community.
# To eliminate the avert material from the media and school texts.
This is a glimpse of the attempts of the American Muslims. The three mutually aversive religious communities found a common heritage so as to find a congenial atmosphere in which they could make one another understand their religion while living their respective faiths. In this friendly struggle that religion alone will be successful which is most authentic If God, the Most High, and Willeth.
Conspiracy or good policy?
Can’t we in India unite the two religious communities on the basis of Noah’s (Manu’s) prophethood so that the mutual aversions get replaced by a congenial atmosphere which the sincere Americans are trying. If we initiate such a programme, it will have a universal appeal because even the Jew and the Christians regard Noah as their Prophet. They have found the commonalities among the Semitic races only whereas we can pave way for the unity of both major religious communities of the world-the Semitic and the non-Semitic, which includes the Hindus, Muslims, the Christians and the Jews.
This aspect is worth considering. Let the common people amongst Muslims, their politicians and scholars decide whether it is a conspiracy of converting Muslims to Hinduism or the policy of Islamizing as well as unifying the entire world.
Summary:
Here is the summary of the Mode of Mission in the light of the Qur’an, Hadiths, and the historical examples.
1. The foundations for the international unity be laid upon Noah’s religion so that the aversion yields place to mutual understanding.
2. The learned scholars should analyse the Hindu scriptures in the light of the Qur’an so that they be invited towards their True religion through their scriptures only.
Again it is to be kept in mind that further delaying is not possible as the fifteenth century has already commenced. Now that you know the Prophecy of the great change (after 1500 years) given in the Qur’an and Hadiths. You also know the warning “don’t ask how soon the Arabs will perish” given in the Hadith narrating the Event of disturbances in Ka’aba. It is not time to wait but to act. Realize that we are on the verge of a decisive turn of the history and we have to pay the centuries old debt to this nation.
Hindu scholars know :
That the tune of change is nigh, is already known to Hindu scholars. Here is a proof:
“Such evidences are available as will prove that the Yug (age) is about to change. Kaliyug is bidding adieu and a new epoch is ushering which can be called Satyug. According to the statistical data given in the Manu Smiriti, Ling Purana, and Bhagvata the present period is the period of crises..... Keeping all the statistical data in view, it is the time when the change should take place i.e.,20 years between 1980-2000”22.
How far this statistic is correct-we can’t pronounce any final judgement but about the finality of the fifteenth century Hijrah, the Muslims must have an unshakable faith.
The age is about to change :
Now the sighs of the showers of enlighten, about which prophecy has been made in the Qur’an and Hadiths, are visible. Look up and see, the sky is getting overcast with thick dark clouds and a whiff of fresh breeze is expected any moment. No doubt there will be thunder-bolts and lightening in these dark clouds but the Gracious Lord has already guided us how to escape from these. It is the time to awake from the sweet slumber.
Divine argument :
All the languages of the world in which the divine scriptures have been revealed, as per the human knowledge, are already dead, except the Arabic language which is the language of the Qur’an and will survive till the last Hour. The death of languages like Sanskrit, Chaldean Aramaic, Syriac and Hebrew was also a divine sigh that all the Scriptures except the Qur’an have been rendered unintelligible now. But lo! :
At the close of the period when this most ancient race is predicted to turn into believers through their own scriptures, the evidences of the revival of the Sanskrit language, among all the dead languages of the world, are visible. Verily the scheme of the Gracious God is beyond the comprehension of human reason. Under the patronage of the Indian Government Sanskrit language is being revived to such an extent that the majority of our future generation, whether Muslims or Hindus, will verily be Sanskrit knowing. Such a generation, after mastering the Sanskrit language, will not resist investigating the Vedas, in spite of their being given the status of a forbidden tree by the Pandit, and from here only will commence that climax when, according to Hindu religion Satyug (the Golden Age) will replace Kaliyug (the dark age).
Would that....
It is an unlimited favours of God’s generosity upon us to be born in a country where, as compared to other Muslims of the world, we have innumerable opportunities of putting, theoretically as well as practically, before Noah’s people the Mission of Islam. It is upto us to acknowledge this favours of His, humbly or remain completely as His ungrateful servants. God’s wisdom has gathered the followers of the last Prophet Muhammad at a very critical juncture of the human history amidst a race who are the people of Noah, the first prophet of God bearing Shari’at (the law). All the evidences are available to certify that history is going to repeat itself and, therefore, it is going to end where it had begun. History is full of admonitory tales. Will there be any other chance of awakening for us now?
Alas! Only a few of us have begun to think in terms of inviting those people towards Islam amidst whom we have been living for a pretty long time and that too by sensing a threat in their aims and intentions. It would have been far better had we begun it for the pleasure of God because the fear of God’s wrath must always come first of the fear of the people. It alone should have motivated us to do what we have neglected so far.
The most important issue is that the various Muslim organizations lack the mutual coordination. However, there is the basis on which all the Muslims can get united-The Qur’an. All the political and religious organisations of Shiaits, Sunnis, Barelvi, and Deobandi believe in the Qur’an, and all the Muslim parties and organizations can be brought together at a single platform to listen to the call of the Qur’an.
“Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur’an, or are their hearts locked up by them?” (47:24)
The Qur’an is calling time and again:
‘I have with me the solution of all the problems; Make me the Judge.’
We have been driven back from everywhere but still we insist upon the Judgement of our own reason. May Allah guide us towards the straight path! May He bless us with the divine guidance of finding out the solution of all our problems from the Qur’an? And May He includes us too among those who will invite towards Islam, those who are chosen by Him for the exaltation of His religion! Amen!
THEY TOO ARE SEARCHING
Hindu race possesses a precious quality-they are highly concerned over the existing contradictions in the Purans, Upanishads and other scriptures. They are searching. Those who are not eager are not rewarded by God. They are not ready to leave their religious heritage but they have realized themselves that the true meaning and implications of the myths, stories and fables should be something different. Here are two examples of this mode of thinking
* “It is the principle of the Indian way of thinking that a person who demonstrates the congruity in all the three-Upanishad Brahma Sutra, and Gita-and derives from them a unified essential knowledge, will be accepted as Acharya and only he will be paid attention to and obeyed.”1
* “The question arises as to what to do with the Smiritis that contain texts that are in conflict with other texts in the same Smiritis and that are repugnant to the moral sense. I have always suggested often enough in these columns that all that is printed in the name of scriptures need not be taken as the Word of God or the inspired Word. But everybody can’t decide what is good and authentic and what is bad and interpolated. There should, therefore, be some authoritative body that would revise all that passes under the name of scriptures, expurgate all the texts that have no moral value or are contrary to the fundamentals of religion and morality, and present such an edition for the guidance of Hindus. The certainty that the whole mass of Hindus and the persons accepted as religious leaders will not accept the validity of such authority; need not interfere with the sacred enterprise. Work done sincerely and in a spirit of service will have its effect on all in the long run and will most assuredly help those who are badly in need of such assistance.”2
* “Buddha was silent about Atma and Parmatma as if these had no existence. Shankara said there is nothing but Brahm; the world is an illusion, a thing to be discarded completely. Such ideas and ideologies have been the integral part of our national thinking for about 2500 years. Though we have achieved some remarkable success in the spiritual experiments, we have faced a number of difficulties in the worldly affairs. We lost kingdom and remained completely deprived of power. We have also realized the strengths and weaknesses (or Limits) of a particular spiritual force. As a result of it we have become capable of practising the Vedic and the Upanishadic ways and verily it can be inferred that whatever new thinking will now emerge will be more complete.”3
Are you willing to come forward on the basis of the implied appeals in these paragraphs?
You alone possess the perfect solution.
With you alone lies the congruity of all contradictions.
Will you not be the Messiah of the restless and agitated humanity?
Remember! This time you have with you the cure. If you hesitate to prescribe it, it won’t take God much time to send another healer.
QUR’AN: THE ONLY CRITERION
If my writings, at places, give the reader an impression that I regard the present translators of the Vedas as dishonest, he should discard it. The concealors of the truth are in every religious community, including Muslims. The endeavors of the Hindu scholars who have translated the Vedas are commendable because they have attempted to carry such knowledge to the people as the so called Pundits, for thousands of years, had considered, a forbidden tree for the common masses but which forms the basis of the True Hinduism. I’ve known Shri Ram Sharma Acharya personally. He is a very efficient person who has established a good research centre for studying every religion. His only drawback, according to me, is that he analyses every religion by the Vedic criterion or making the Vedas as the ultimate criterion. (Alas! at the time of printing this book, he is no more in this material world.)
A knowledge that was concealed for thousands of years itself needs to be investigated in order to be made intelligible. Biased by various age old beliefs, the human mind can not understand the Vedas merely on the basis of his own reason and, accordingly, how anything can be a criterion for other religions and religious scriptures if it cannot be understood directly. The Word of God can neither be understood in the light of a lamp, nor in the light of human reason but only in the light of the Word of God Himself. And the Last Word of God is the Qur’an whose every word, according to the general consensus, has been safely preserved. If the translators of the Vedas study them in the light of the Qur’an, all those mysteries and riddles will get solved which have so far remained an enigma for them and on the basis of which Max Muller had said:
“It is impossible for a scholar and perhaps it will be impossible for a generation of scholars to solve the hymns of the Vedas satisfactorily.”
I believe that most of the Hindu scholars are not deliberately committing mistakes while translating the Vedas but the roots of these mistakes lie in those beliefs and conceptions from which the minds should be purified prior to the study of the Vedas.
Once the translators understand it and study the Vedas in the light of the Qur’an, we will have such translations of the Vedas available to us as will resolve all the contradictions of Vedanta, Gita and Upanishads and the Hindu race will reemerge as the harbinger of the revolution, the promise of which has been made both in the Vedas and the Qur’an.
“.....the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over
to you and be yours. They shall follow you; they
shall come over in chains and bow down to you,
saying: ‘God is with you only, and there is no other,
no god besides Him.” (The Bible, Isaiah 45:14)
NOTES AND REFERENCES
Chapter I
Prophecy of the Revolution
1. Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi, Alam-e Arabi ka Almiya P. 23.
2. Allama Safarini, Lawami’ul Anwar, Vol II, P. 122.
3. “Kitabul Fitan” in Al-Bukhari.
4. “Kitabul, Manaqib Quresh”, in Al-Bukhari.
5. Shiekh Ya’ qub Al Bimbani, Sharahul Bukhari, Alkhairul Jari, Marginal note No. 14.
6. Abu Dawud and Baihaqi quoted in “Bab Taghaiurul Nas”, Mishkat.
7. Sura Sajdah, Ayah 5. All the subsequent references from the Holy Qur’an will be given in the text itself. While translating the Qur’anic Ayah I have consulted The Glorious Qur’an by Maulana Abdullah Yosuf Ali, and Holy Qur’an by Marmaduke Pick hall. In the book, mostly the translation has been quoted unless it was necessary to quote the original-even when the words “the Qur’an states” are used. (Translator).
8. This explanation has been given by Allama Nawab Qutbud-din khan Dehlwi in the Urdu interpretation of this reported in chapter “Qurbus-Saa’t” of Mishkat.
9. Reported in Musnad-e-Ahmad, Muslim, Tibrani. Tibrani. See syed Abul A’ala Maududi, Sirat-e-Sarware Alam Vol. II (Isha’ate Islam Trust, Delhi, 1979) P. 539.
10. Tafsir Fat’hul Qadir, Vol 5, P. 41
11. This Hadith has been cited by Ibne Sa’ad and Ibne Abi Shiba in Musnad, Ab’d bin Hamid, Tirmizi and Baihaqi in Dalail, and Hakim treats it as Hadith Sahih.
12. This Hadith has been quoted by Abu Sheikh, Ibne Marduya, Shu’aba, Baihaqui, Ibne A’sakar and Hakim in their compilation.
13. This narration has been quoted by Ibne Abi Hatim, Abu Sheikh, and Bukhari in his History. See Tafsir Fat’hul Qadir, Vol II, PP 49-50
14. Risala Ma’arif (Azam Garh) No 5, Vol 89,
15. Maulana Shibli, Sirat-un-Nabi, Vol I, PP 115-16.
16. Meharban Ali Badautawi, Jaton Ki Islami Tarikh P 89.
17. Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, Shah Walliullah Aur Un Ka Falsafa, (Hind Sagar Academy, Lahore), P.166.
18. Alfurqan (Bareilly): Shah Walliullah Number, 1941 (2nd edition) P. 158.
Chapter II
The Prophet of the Hindu race
1. Al-Bukhari quoted in Mishkat Chapter “Hisabu wal Qisas.”
2. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies
3. Ibid. P. 48
4. Ibid. P. 100
5. Ibid. PP. 416-17
6. It is said about Adam that from Manu’s left side shatrupa (i.e. Eve) was created. See Hanuman Prasad Potdar, Ram Charit Manas. (Gita press Gorakhpur, Ed. 15,) P. 154 and Kh. Hassan Nizami Dehlwi, Hindu Mazhab Ki Ma’lumat (Halqa Mashaikh, Delhi edition, 20 December, 1927) P. 6
7. This explanatory note is in Griffith’s translation of The Rigveda in Bk. 1: Part 13 Verse 4.
8. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, PP. 416-17
Chapter III
Mention of the Hindu race in the Qur’an
1. Shri Ganga Prasad Upadhyai, Masabihul Islam (Tract Vibhag, Arya Samaj Chowk, Allahabad, 1963) P. 43
2. In the Abrahamic race are included the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims because all of these have faith in Abraham. There is hardly any race in the world who believes in Abraham and not in any other prophet after him.
3. Alfurqan, OP. Cit. P. 304
4. Ibid. P. 310.
5. Taken from the presidential address of Maulana Syed Suleiman Nadwi, delivered on the occasion of the Annual Conference of Jamia’ti Ulama, Bombay, Feb., 1945 Quoted in Hukumate Illahiyah Aur Ulamai Mutakhirin. Complied by Abu Muhammad Imamuddin Ramnagri, (Maktaba Nishati Saniyah, Hyderabad, 1964).
Chapter IV
Common features and eternal kinship
1. Ch. “Kitabul Imam” of Al-Muslim Quoted in Syed Jalaluddin U’mri, Ma’ruf wa Munkar, P 218.
2. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies. P. 579.
3. Haj means pilgrimage of Ka’aba once in a year in the month of Zilhijja . It is one of the five pillars of Islam and is obligatory on every Muslim who can afford to bear the expenses. Umrah means pilgrimage of Ka’aba on the days other than Haj days. It is not obligatory except for a Muslim who visits Mecca. (Translator)
4. A’qiqah: the explanation in the Brackets is my incorporation. (Translator).
5. Islam-e-Kamil, compiled by Dr. M.A. Siddiqui, Professor of Arabic and Persian, Allahabad university, Cited in Faran (Karachi) January, 1959. P. 11.
6. Dharam Pal, Kuf’r Tod, Quoted in “Awqaf” (Quarterly) P. 29.
7. Qazi At’har Mubarakpuri (Compiled) Narjil Se Nakhil Tak quoted in Ma’arif No. 5, Vol 89.
8. S. Sulaiman Nadwi, Arab aur Hind ke Ta’aluqat PP. 12-13.
9. Ibne Nadim, Kitabul Fihrist P. 345 in Ibid, P. 115
10. Ibid, PP. 1-2.
11. Tafsir Fat’hul Qadir Vol II P. 474.
12. Lubabut Tavil Vol III, P. 189 (Pub in Egypt) Quoted in Maulana Abdul Rashid Nomani, Loghatul Qur’an (Nadvatul Musasnifin, Delhi, 1400 Hijrah).
13. Tafsir Fat’hul Qadir, Vol II, P. 474.
14. The Hindu Muslim Question. P. 12.
15. Roznama Qaumi Jang (Rampur), March 13, 1988 and Roznama Munsif Hyderabad.
16. Ibid, March, 1988.
17. Qazi At’har Mubarakpuri, Khilafate Rashidah aur Hindustan (Nadvatul Musannifin, Delhi, 1972) P. 25.
18. Arab aur Hind Ke ta’aluqat, OP. Cit, P. 115
19. Shah Moinuddin Ahmad, in Risala Ma’arif, OP Cit, No. 3, Vol. 95, P. 171.
20. Muslim India (Urdu), April 1988, P. 15.
21. Maktubat Vol I No. 295 Quoted in Shah Moinuddin Ahmad Nadvi, “Islam mein Dusre Mazahib aur Ahle Mazahib Ki Haisiyat” in Risala Ma’arif No. 3. Vol. 95. P. 171.
22. Qaumi Jang, OP Cit.
23. This word is written in Hindi like this : made of Isa (Jesus) and Maqam (place). Presently this place is known as Ashmukam and is situated at a distance of 70 Kilometres from Srinagar and 15 Kilometres from my town Bijbehara. It is still considered holy and is visited by the people of every religious community. There is a holy Shrine there but it is attributed to a different Muslim Syed Zainuddin. (Translator).
24. Kadambni, December, 1978. PP. 135-39.
25. Khilafate Rashidah aur Hindustan OP., Cit, P. 47.
26. Ibid P. 30.
27. Ibid. 29.
28. Tirmizi Sharif (Urdu) : (Rabbani Book Depot, Delhi, 1973) Vol II, P. 135.
“These are the technical terms used in connection with the authenticity of Hadiths (Sayings of the Holy Prophet).
29. “Kitabul Ambiya” (Wazkur Filkitabi Maryam) in Al-Bukhari.
30. Tafsir dur-re-Manshur (by Allama Suyuti) Vol I, P. 55 quoted by Syed Sabahuddin Abdul Rahman in Risala Ma’arif Feb. 1975, PP. 87-8.
31. Syed Sulaiman Nadwi, Arab Hind Ta’aluqat, PP. 2-3.
32. Sab’hatul Marjan fi Tarikhe Hindutan, Ch. I Quoted by Syed Sabahuddin Abdul Rahman in Risala Ma’arif, Feb. 1975. p. 88.
33. Sunane Nasai (Mujtabai, Delhi), Vol II. P. 63.
34. Sunane Nasai and Imam Ahmad (Imam Ibne A’sakar and Imam Ibne Kasir too have reported this Hadith. In fact it is stated in the Al Badaya wan Nahaya, Vol. 9, P. 95 “About Ghazwa -i-Hind there is a Hadith reported by Hafiz Ibne A’sakar etc. Gulam Ali Azad has quoted the above mentioned two Hadiths, in Sab’hatul Marjan, P. 21).
For details see Khilafate Rashidah aur Hindustan, OP. Cit, P. 36.
35. Readers Digest, July, 1971, PP. 127-34.
Chapter V
The Vedas - the Earliest Scriptures
1. The references from the Vedas will be given in the text itself using the following abbreviations:
R.V. for The Rig Veda
Y.V. for The Yajur Veda
S.V. for The Sama Veda
A.V. for The Atharva Veda
Usually only the translations alone have been given unless it is extremely necessary to quote original. Even then I have given the transliteration, after consulting Maulana Usmani and Mr. Tariq because I Personally do not know Sanskrit.
(Translator)
2. Pandit Shri Ram Sharma, Bhoomika, Sam Veda. P. 12, 1989 edition.
3. Max Muller, Quoted by Griffith, Hymns of the Rig Veda (Preface To The First Edition) Vol I.
4. Ibid.
5. W. J Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, P. 3.
6. Ibid P. 5
7. Dr. Sampurnanand in “Vedic Sahitya”, P. Ram Govind Trivedi, (Bharti Gyan Pith Kashi) PP. 23-24.
8. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Op. Cit, P. 174.
9. Tarikhe Mashaikhe Chisht Vol 5.P.58 quoted by Maulana Akhlaq Hussain Qasmi, Risala Rubi (Delhi) Feb. 1988.P.13
10. Ibid.
11. It has been generally agreed by all the scholars that the ‘Five Books of Moses’, the ‘Four Gospels’ and ‘Psalms’ of the Bible are the interpolated versions of the three Major Scriptures of the world The Torah, The Gospel and The Zabur revealed upon Moses, Jesus and David (P.B.U.T.) respectively. In this book I have retained the original names. (Translator).
12. Alfurqan (Bareilly): Shah Walliullah Number; 1941, P. 282.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ganga Prasad Upadhyai, Masabihul Islam, P. 43.
17. A’mr bin Shoeb’s narration, “Bab Sawabe Hazihil Ummah” in Mishkat.
18. Some people possessed a few scattered pages of the Suhufe Ibrahim (Scriptures revealed upon Abraham).
19. For details see the Holy Qur’an
Sura Ahzab 33 ayah 7
Sura Shura 42 ayah 13
20. Kalyan Padam Purana Ank October, 1944. P. 3.
Chapter VI
The Beginning of the Universe-Hazrat Ahmad Mujtaba
1. Sir William Muir, The Life of Mahomet, Abridged edition (London: Smith, Elder and Co. , 15 water 100 Place, 1877), P. 5.
2. Ibid. P. 164.
3. Allama Hafiz Ibne Qayyim, Kitabul Ruh, Urdu translation Maulana Raghib Rahmani, Ruhon se Miliye Khabon Ko Samjhiye (Maktaba Alfalah Deoband), P. 249.
4. Ibid. P. 253.
5. Ibid. P. 249.
6. Hazrat Mujaddid Al’f Sani, Maktubate Rabbani (Urdu translation) (Madina Publishing Company, Karachi), Vol III, Part II, Letter 94.
7. Mowahib-ul-Ladunniah, Urdu translation Sirate Muhammadiya (Afzalul Matale, Hyderabad, 1342 Hijrah), P. 170.
8. Paul Carus, Gospels of Buddha, P. 217
9. Gautam Budh-Dharm aur Darshan, P. 150.
10. Dr. Radha Krishnan, Recovery of Faith, P. 154.
11. Tirmizi quoted in “Bab Sayyidil Mursalin: II” of Mishkat.
12. Baihaqi, Ahmad, Hakim, quoted in Sirate Muhammadiya, OP. Cit., P. 7
13. Imam Ahmad quoted in Sirate Muhammadiya Op. Cit., P.8
14. Ibid.
15. Tafsir Fat’hul Qadir, Vol I, P. 52
16. “New Visions of the Universe” in Reader’s Digest, August 1977. PP. 29-33.
17. Maktubate Rabbani, Op. Cit; Letter 122, P. 160.
18. Dr. Mir Wali-ud-Din, Qur’an aur Tasawwuf (Nadwa tul Musannifin, Delhi, 1945), P. 109.
19. Maktubat, Op. Cit., No. 93. In the footnote of this Maktub it is stated “that Delmi in Musnad Firdos has quoted an identical reference from Ibne Abbas. Similarly it is in Mawahib. Besides, in Mustadrak, Hakim has reported a Hadith of a same theme. Allama Subki in Shifa-us Suqam has retained it. Alama Balqini too has retained it in Fatawa. Hence semantically, there is no doubt about the authenticity of this Hadith.”
20. Ibid.
In the footnote of the same Maktub it is stated:
“According to Allama Zarqani in Sharahul Mawahib, and in Mahaziratul Awail it is considered as Hadith Hassan, and Sheikh Mohiuddin Ibne Arabi has also reported it in Futuhat. And Muhaddith Abdur Razaq has also quoted a similar Hadith narrated by Jabir.
21. Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya, Hari Vansh Purana. 1: 54, P. 59.
22. Dr. Chaman Lal Gautam, Vishnu Rahassya, P. 276.
23. Quoted in Maulana Abdul Rashid Nomani, Lughatul Qur’an Vol. IV. P. 156.
Chapter VIII
Islam and Hinduism - Similarity of
Names
1. Maulana Shah Moinuddin Ahmad Nadvi, “Islam Mein Dusre Mazahib aur Ahle Mazahib Ki Haisiyat”, Risala Ma’arif, No 3. Vol. 95, P. 178.
2. Ibid PP. 180-81.
3. Fatawa Azizi, Vol I, PP. 132-34.
4. Maulana Nurul Haq Alvi, Alfurqan (Shah.... No.) OP. Cit., P. 332.
5. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Tarjumanul Qur’an (Sahitya Academy Delhi), Vol I, P. 247.
6. Pandit Suder Lal, Gita aur Qur’an. English translation Gita and Qur’an by Syed Asadullah (Indo Middle East Cultural Studies, Hyderabad Deccan) P. 5.
7. Masabihul Islam, OP Cit. PP. 14-15
8. Allama Shibli, Siratun Nabi (Compiled by Sayed Sulaiman Nadwi) Vol. I,P. 111.
Chapter IX
Monotheism in the Vedic Dharma
1. Dr. C. L. Gautam, Vishnu Rahassya, P. 149.
2. Commentary on Gita (Kalyan, Gorakhpur) P. 326.
3. Shri Ram Nath Suman (Compiled) Ahinsa and Satya P. 31.
4. M. K. Gandhi, “The problem of Woman” Harijan : November 28, 1936.
Chapter X
The Prophethood And The Vedic Dharma
1. Hindu Sanskriti Ank (Kalyan, Gorakhpur, January, 1950), P. 795.
2. Shrimad Bhagvat Maha Purana. 9:24:56.
3. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies. P. 48.
4. Ibid. P. 100.
5. Ibid. PP. 416, 417.
6. Mat’sya Purana. I : 29-35.
7. Ibid. 2:10-11.
8. Ibid. 2:14-16.
9. Vedon aur Puranon Ke Adhar Par Dharmik Ekta Ki Jyoti.
10. In the translation of these Shlokas I have, at places, taken help from ‘Islam, the First and Final Religion, PP. 8-9.
11. In these Shlokas the word Adam figures as Adam, Eve as Haw’yawati, Paradise as Pradan Nagar (inhabitation of Rewards) and for Satan Kali.
12. According to the Torah, Noah’s age was 650 years at the time of the Deluge.
13. In these Shlokas the word “Niyuh” has been used for Noah Whereas Ham and Yaqut are same.
14. In Sanskrit “ABRAM” has been used instead of Ibrahim or Abraham. It is worth mentioning that in The Torah it is stated that the first name of Abraham was “ABRAM” only and subsequently the Almighty named, him Abraham and said to him, “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” (The Bible: Genesis 18:5)
All these three extracts are the translations of the Shlokas of “Prati Sarga Parva” of Bhavishya Purana, 1:4.
15. In the above mentioned Shlokas of Bhavishya Purana, Part III (Prati sarga Parva; 2:21-30), in the original Sanskrit, “Isha” has been used for Isa; “Himtung” for Himalaya; “Masi” for Massiah. Pandit Shri Ram Acharya has translated “Himtung” as Himalaya.
16. These are the translation of “Prati Sarga Parva” Bhavishya Purana. Khand 3, Adhyai 3, Shlokas 5-16 Here, in original Sanskrit “Muhammad” has been used for Muhammad. It is also clear from these Shlokas that the word “Malechh” was used for non-Aryan just as the Arabs used “A’ jam” for non-Arabs and the Jews “Gentiles” for non-Jews. Now this word “Malechh” is being used in negative sense. But in the Vedic language it does not have any negative connotation.
17. Shrimad Bhagvata Mahatma Purana 1:2:76.
18. Narashnas aur Antim Rishi.
19. Kitab-ut-Tejan Fi Muluke Hamir (Majlis Da’iratul Ma’arif, Usmania Hyderabad) first edition, P. 372.
Chapter XI
The Life Hereafter And The Vedic
Dharma
1. Dr. Radha Krishnan, Upanishadon Ki Bhoomika (Raj Pal and sons, Delhi), P. 42.
2. The Author
3. “Parlok aur Punar Janam Ank”, Kalyan, Gorakhpur, January, 1969. P.164.
4. Ibid. 165.
5. Ibid.
6. Darshan Digdarshan, P. 403.
7. Punar Janam aur Ved, P. 93.
8. Awagawan, P. 104
9. Pandit Durga Shankar Satyarthi “Ved aur Punar Jeevan” Risala Kanti (Hindi) July 8, 1969.
10. The Rigveda 10: 16: 4.
11. Max Muller was the first to make the Vedas public after going through the Vedic commentary of Sayan Acharya.
12. Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3:30:25-28.
13. The Rigveda 1: 100:12 in Kanti OP. Cit. July 8, 1969.
14. The Rigveda 1:92:10 in Kanti Op. Cit. July 8, 1969.
15. Ibid. 1:4:3.
16. Ibid. 1:44:6
17. When I compared Pandit Durga Shankar’s translation of these Shlokas with the other translations, I didn’t find this translation anywhere. However, there is the possibility of this translation in the Sanskrit words contained in the Shlokas.
18. Al-Bukhari quoted in “Bab Sayyidil Mursalin”, Mishkat.
19. Quoted in Tafsir Ibne Kasir (Urdu translation published by A’atiqad publishing House, Delhi), Vol II, P. 43.
20. Ruhon se Milye, Khabon ko Samjhiye, Op. Cit; P. 253.
21. Hindi Journal ‘Marg Deep’, April 1977, P. 8.
22. “Parlok aur Punar Janam Ank” Kalyan, Gorakhpur, January, 1969 P. 16.
23. Pt. Shri Ram Sharma, Tantra Maha Vigyan, Part I P. 98.
24. Marg Deep, April 1977, P. 8.
25. Ibid. May 1977. PP. 10-11.
Chapter XIV
The truth about Ka’aba in the Vedic
Dharma
1. Rahbar Farooqi, Ma’arifat-e-Ka’aba. P.5 quoted in Tafsir Mawahib-ur-Rahman by Amir Ali, Vol 4. P.15.
2. Jambudwip =
JA+ambu+dwip
Life + water + Island
Water wherefrom the Life started,
Ka’aba
3. Pandit Shri Ram Sharma, Hari Vansh Purana, Part II. PP. 499-501.
4. “Padam Purana Number” Kalyan (Gorakhpur), October, 1944. P. 96.
5. Kalyan, January 1980. P. 225
Chapter XVI
The Account of Dajjal (Anti-Christ) in
the Vedic Dharma
1. This story has been narrated in such a way that the prophecies were given the shape of bygone-events.
2. Shri Ram Sharma Acharya, Hari Vansh Purana Vol. I.P 492.
3. Ibid. PP 497-98.
4. Ibid. PP 498-99
5. Ibid. PP. 502-03
6. Ibid P. 504.
Chapter XVII
Why these Secrets remained a secret?
1. Akhbar (newspaper) Qaumi Jang, January 19, 1981, P.4
2. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, OP. Cit, P. 166.
3. The children’s comic “Tinkle” 109: 83 (issue) Page 15. The words within the brackets are mine.
4. Weekly Blitz (Urdu) March, 1987, PP. 14-15.
Chapter IXX
The Mode of the Mission
1. Maulana Shah Moinuddin Nadwi “Islam Mein Dusre Mazahib Aur Ahle Mazahib Ki Haisiyat” published in Risala Ma’arif No 3: Vol. 95: Page 178.
2. Chach Nama Elliot Vol. I, P. 186 quoted in Risala Ma’arif 3:95:180
3. Ibid.
4. Abdul Rashid Nomani, Loghatul Qur’an.
5. For details see Sura Jum’a 62: ayah 2-3
6. This topic has been discussed in detail in Chapter I of this book.
7. Baihaqi quoted in Mishkat “Bab Sawabe Hazihil Ummat.”
8. Ibid.
(A Hadith of the similar topic and nature has been cited by Ahmad and Darmi).
9. Ibid.
10. These extracts have been taken from the essay of Muhammad Abdullah (Retired I.A.S.) published in Soviet Union (Urdu) Vol. 28, June, 1982.
11. Maulana Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi, Muqaddima Arkane Arba’a (1981) P. 15.
12. Healan (published by Ecumenical Theological Centre Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.) Vol. VII No 2. P. 5.
13. Ibid. P.6
14. Ibid. P.6.
(It may be pointed out here that instead of translating these citation I have consulted and quoted the original English Journal Healan. (Translator).
15. Ibid. P.6.
16. Ibid. P.15.
17. Ibid. P.36.
18. Ibid. P.29.
19. Ibid. P.32.
20. Ibid. P.33
21. Ibid. P.39
22. See Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya’s essay in Akhand Jyoti (March, 1981), PP. 39-40
Chapter XX
They too are searching
1. Anasakti Yog. P.8.
2. M. K. Gandhi, “The Problems of Women”, OP. Cit.
3. Dr. Inder Sen: Kalyan (January, 1950) PP. 208-9.
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