Alone among the entire creation, the human being is a thinking, rational
creature, endowed with the wonderful
powers of Intellect and Will. By means of these two amazing powers, he
can decide his fate and determine his path,
either choosing the way leading towards happiness or the miserable road
of tragedies and torments. He is the only
one responsible for his destination, and must therefore think deeply and
search for the path of salvation. Reason and
ration alone can guarantee the human being salvation, while blind prejudice
without contemplating the environment
around and heedless of the truth, is a sure path to eternal damnation.
The human race has taken great strides in the spheres of science and technology,
and is far too advanced in industrial
and productive domains, and in satisfying its material and worldly needs.
But unfortunately, the more the progress in
industry and technology, the more complicated and miserable life becomes.
The truth is, although, science in itself is a
great blessing depending on its proper use, material achievements alone
cannot grant happiness and spiritual solace
which a human soul in essence longs for.
On the contrary, these dizzying heights of progress have brought in their
wake, untold miseries such as psychological
depression, social breakdown and a tormentful conscience, not to speak
of the curse of wars, repression, injustice,
apartheid, exploitation and abuse of the sexes In this so-called enlightened
age!
Have we ever pondered about our fate? Just where are we headed? Let us
draw a picture of contemporary human
life and see for ourselves the pathetic state around us. What should everyone
of us do to stem this tragedy which has
infiltrated all aspects of our life?
ECONOMIC WOES
Researches conducted in America, Western Europe, Soviet Union, Japan and
the Third World bring out the
following statistics:
A total of 500 million people are plagued with malnutrition. About 40 percent
all over the world are deprived of
hygienic services, while 30 percent lack healthy drinking water. In addition
100 million people go to bed hungry each
night.
The infant mortality rate is so high that reports confirm 40,000 children
die every day. Out of every 1000 children in
the developing countries, 97 die from starvation.
A total of 15 million children, whose ages were less than 5 years, died from starvation in 1978.
Compare these pathetic figures, with what the world spends on militarization
to kill fellow humans. Statistics reveal
that 1 million US Dollars is spent on military industries for every minute
that ticks away.
FAMILY DILEMMA
Family is the basic unit of life and the nest which provides happiness
and peace. If this is the beautiful image of the
family which we aspire to create, the true image is quite different.
Statistics depict the dim side and draw the present terrifying picture of family life.
For 50 percent of women in the Soviet Union adultery is a way of life,
while in U K., official figures showed that one
in every 4 children born in 1988 was illegitimate. They will never know
what family life means. Figures issued by the
British Office of Population Census and Survey Statistics show a provisional
U K. total for 1988 of 787,600 live
births, of which 198,000 were registered outside marriage. Compared to
1984 the figure showed a 100 percent
increase.
Polls conducted for the British women in the first six months of 1984,
indicated a 27 percent rise in the number of
rapes.
A report released by the British Home Office states that 1 in every 5 British
children suffers from sexual or physical
abuse. These children are victims of the breakdown of family life, marital
infidelity and the mounting use of alcohol
and drugs.
An average of 4 children a week are killed in Britain by their parents
or guardians, and about 200 children each year
from parental abuse. Besides, every two weeks a child is slain in Britain
by strangers or other relatives, in most cases
their mothers' live-in lovers.
The tragedy of disintegrating family life is not confined to Britain alone, but is widespread in both the East and West.
Recent survey in the U.S. showed that 43 percent of married women are not
loyal to their husbands and often
indulge in extra-marital affairs.
The UNESCO Courier says that the highest percentage of births out of wedlock
is in the Caribbean, and in Central
and South America, where due to alcohol abuse or the inability of husbands
to find work the family breaks up,
leaving the children in poverty. Moreover, women lack security, as rape
and exploitation of the fair sex are the order
of the day in societies where moral values have deteriorated to animal
depths.
SEXUAL DISEASES
Inevitably, as a result of the breakdown of the legitimate natural relationship
between man and woman and the
spread of adultery, sodomy, prostitution and other kinds of sexual perversions,
venereal diseases are on the increase,
including gonorrhea, syphilis and the latest terror, AIDS. They have become
as dangerous as atomic, chemical and
biological weapons.
Reports released by the World Health Organization state that 5 to 10 million
people around the world are carriers of
the virus of AIDS, and the figure is likely to increase to 100 million
and even 200 million by the close of this century,
unless effective measures are taken.
A report published by a scientist in Boston affirms that 'during the next
3 or 5 years, AIDS will be the prime cause
for the death of people in the 20-29 age group'.
However, the general estimate is that the number of carriers of HIV, the
AIDS virus, is up to 100 times that of the
actual cases. The deadly scourge has even penetrated the foetus of the
victims, and a report says that in 1988, 2000
babies in the U.S. were born HIV positive.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BREAKDOWN AND DRUGS
The helpless miserable individuals who suffer from vagrancy and chronic
psychological and nervous illnesses, resort
to drunkenness and drugs to forget the dismal reality.
In 1985, figures proved that in the Soviet Union 50 million people were
alcoholics. Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev said that alcoholic addiction is one reason behind slowness of
production in the Soviet Union.
Alcohol is also responsible for 61 percent of traffic accidents and 40 percent of divorce cases.
Drugs are becoming the bane of modern society. Cocaine addicts in the US grew to 5,8 million last year.
A report from Japan puts the number of those who committed suicide in Japan in 1986 at 25,524 people.
The human tragedy does not end there, for man also suffers at the hands
of fellow human beings. Injustice and
political repressions in the form of racial discrimination and narrow minded
nationalist and lingual prejudices are
tearing apart the social fabric by dividing human beings into watertight
compartments.
It is clear that material achievements and worldly pleasures have failed
to grant security, happiness and peace. It
means that the great technological leap is not just enough and lacks something
essential which the human soul and
psychology is in dire need of. If so, ration warrants the use of brains,
to go to the core of the problem. We, unlike
other creatures, are gifted with the amazing powers of Intellect and Will.
Then let us use them to find out the Creator,
because the major problem of present day man is that he has lost his faith
in the Exalted Creator and followed ideas
and thoughts which run counter to existence, universe and human nature.
EXISTENCE
Let us search for true happiness. Let us search and think. To start with,
let us contemplate on the human existence
and the environment around us. How did the world come into existence? Where
are we headed?
Is there a Creator who fashioned this wonderful world? If so, is there
any relationship that binds Him with His
creatures, especially the best of creation, the human race? What shape
does this relationship take?
Let us think deeply.
Since the moment man began to think on earth, he started to find answers
to these and other questions arising in his
mind.
Let us visualize this expanding universe. Let us think of its laws and
organization and the aesthetic and organizational
aspects of it. Was it created haphazardly? How does the Universe come into
being?
Development of the human mind, advance of sciences and the daily observation
of life and its sentimental feelings,
present us with a rational and scientific explanation of life. Grasp of
this truth will lead us to the path of good and
happiness and ward off the fits of anxiety, misery and loss.
Human mind perceives that every effect has a cause. Surely the universe
did not come into existence all by itself.
If ever there was a 'big bang', as the theory goes, some power was surely
behind it. Does not the systematic orbit of
the earth, the moon, the planets, and life on mother earth, speak of precise
planning?
Everything in the Universe, however big or small, indicates the existence
of a power behind. The blazing sun, the
serenely lit moon, the majestic mountains, the flowing rivers which end
up in the roaring sea, the colourful fauna and
flora, the taste of fruits, the fragrance of flowers, and above all the
sharp senses of the human being, all vividly
express the power of the Creator, Who gave everything form, shape, law
and order.
Any rational mind can perceive that the universe is created and set in
order by a Creator. Organization is the most
glorious expression of the existence of the Creator , and His Power and
Knowledge.
If we see a beautiful painting within an exquisitely wrought frame, we
know there must be an artist behind. If we see
an automation that works and produces by itself, we understand that there
is a designer behind. If we come across
an excellent book on medicine we realize there must be an authority on
medicine who compiled it.
The painting could not have been painted without an artist.
The machine could not have been designed without a designer.
The book could not have been written without an author.
Can we say that the book is the result of a freak incidence, and suddenly
or gradually evolved by itself? Can one
believe if told that the wind scattered the papers and the ink, then the
ink was spilled on the papers and, behold,
there was a good book on medicine?
It is obvious, that any sane mind will never believe such an absurd idea,
if not mock at it.
The brain admits the existence of the Creator and understands this fact
easily and clearly.
Many enlightened scholars of physics, medicine, botany, zoology and other
sciences have covered tremendous facts
proving conclusively that the universe was created by a Wise and Powerful
Creator, Who brought it into being in this
flawlessly perfect shape.
The following examples are food for thought:
1. Oxygen is one of the gases forming the atmosphere. It is essential for
human life. Without oxygen neither human
beings nor animals can survive on earth. It constitutes 21 percent of the
atmosphere, that is the most suitable
percentage that can allow life on earth. Should this percentage change,
decrease or increase a little, the whole life
system will go but of order and life will come to an end.
Who set this system in order and made oxygen in this perfect percentage
to preserve life and prevent its collapse?
Could this be the work of chance? No, certainly not. It is the work of
the All-knowing, Wise Creator.
2. The temperature at the surface of the sun, the source of light and heat,
is 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,700
degree Centigrade). The sun's distance from the earth is approximately
150,000,000 kilometres. This distance is
very suitable for the light and heat to reach earth adequately, allowing
man, plants and animals to live and flourish. If
the heat of the sun doubles, we would burn and change into ashes and if
it decreases by 50 percent we would freeze
to death.
3. If the waters of the ocean were sweet they would have been bad-smelling
and unhealthy, with no chance of life on
earth. It is the salt of the ocean which prevents the water from becoming
putrid and bad- smelling. Chloride and
sodium combine together to form salt, without which life would cease to
exist.
Who made the water of the oceans salty so that it remains clean? Who combined
chloride and sodium to produce
the edible salt?
4. The revolving earth takes 24 hours to rotate on its axis. One rotation
completes a day and night, and the speed is
ideal for plants, animals and the human species to exist on the earth's
surface. If the earth was to rotate or revolve
faster than its present speed then everything would fold up like a pack
of cards.
Who made its motion suitable for the benefit of man and other creatures?
Who set all these things in a perfectly balanced order and faultless motion?
Could this all be termed haphazardly? Certainly not, because it all speaks
of divine planning and evaluation.
The above examples are an undeniable proof of perfection, arrangement,
and wisdom which wild unpredictable
nature cannot by itself design. They point out the proof of a Creator Who
is All-knowing, Powerful and extremely
Benign.
Scientists assert that oxygen levels have remained at roughly 21% of the
atmosphere for 200 million years, whereas
they should have fluctuated widely according to some geochemical models
of the atmosphere. Were oxygen levels to
rise above 250/0 , spontaneous fires would break out; if they dropped below
150/0, many higher life-forms would
suffocate.
The fundamental unity of the pattern that permeates, the entire universe,
is by itself a proof of the fact that the
universe, as a whole is the handiwork of the same Designer, Creator or
as Voltaire puts it, the Cosmic Mind. It is
also a proof of His Omnipotence, how gigantic is the solar system and how
tiny is an atom, yet the unity of their
design and structure is simply marvellous.
In his book 'Introduction to Evolution' Dr. Paul Moody writes:
"The more I study science the more I am impressed with the thought that
this world and universe have a definite
design and a design suggests a designer. It may be possible to have a design
without a designer, a picture
without an artist, but my mind is unable to conceive of such a situation."
The more scientists delve into the secrets of nature, the more they are
convinced of the existence of a plan that
permeates the universe which ipsofacto implies the existence of a Planner.
Birth of a test-tube baby is no doubt an epoch-making achievement of science;
and so is man's landing on the man.
The fact however, remains that natural laws have never been transgressed.
A child is the by-product of the union of
paternal sperm and maternal ova. Thus, the womb was simply replaced by
a test-tube as an artificial nursery instead
of a natural one. Creation of Adam without parents and the birth of Jesus
without a father are yet par excellence
marvels of creation.
And moreover the fact remains that the moment Armstrong imprinted, amidst
the halo of a baffling spectacle, his first
step on the moon, he ejaculated: 'I see the Glory of God.' And he uttered
it thrice.
DIVINE MESSAGES
So, We are convinced that the universe has a Creator Who is Omnipotent
and Possessor of all attributes of
perfection. The conviction leads us to the inevitable conclusion that the
Creator has a decisive relationship with His
creatures.
From this bond emerges the fact that the Creator did not create the human
race in vain, and nor is physical death the
end of life. He, the Almighty had a firm reason for fashioning the human
race as the most advanced and excellent
form of life, and to this end, endowed them with the amazing powers called
Will and Intellect. He desires their good
and happiness both in this world and the Hereafter.
To think and discern, to sift truth from falsehood, to choose between transient
and eternal pleasures, He left it to the
human's free will. Hence man is at liberty either to take the path of salvation
or end up in the dismal depths of
disaster.
But of course, The Benign Creator did not leave the human beings in dilemma,
to wander about without guidance.
For this would not have been fair. And surely injustice is not one of the
attributes of the Almighty. The ultimate
objective was reforming man, guiding him and saving him from injustice,
misery and loss.
To this end, the Almighty sent Prophets in every corner of the globe as
mankind started to spread out in the earth.
Their message was the same. They preached love, brotherhood abstinence
from evil, and above all how to control
and harness will power, and use intellect for the betterment of mankind.
Although the medium of the divine messages
differed depending on the language spoken by the local people. the main
theme was remarkably the same:
Submission to none other than the Almighty To suit the stages of progress
and the development of intellect, there
were some minor differences regarding those messages, but the goal was
one, concentrated on Unity of the
Almighty, universal brotherhood, and the Day of Resurrection.
As the human race spread out around the furthest reaches of the globe,
geographical barriers separated them,
making or marring their state of development.
Undeterred, humanity continued its forward march, and in every age and
era, the benign Creator made clear His
signs of guidance. Those who believed, and used Will and Intellect for
the betterment of mankind, attained salvation,
while those who misused these powers to pursue their nefarious ends, plunged
fellow humans into wars, bloodshed,
slavery and all other sorts of oppression, and themselves passed away into
eternal damnation. Still there were others,
who adhered to religion simply out of superstition or some vested interests,
and the likes of these did more harm by
their ignorance, distorting the scriptures and the laws revealed to them.
However, through a succession of prophets,
the Merciful Creator held aloft the bright torch of guidance and repentance.
Though each following message was on
a higher wrung of ladder than its predecessor, the basic points were remarkably
the same.
Each stage of progress gave birth to new ideas. Human intellect began to
grow , and to keep stride with the
development, a more comprehensive message was revealed.
Although it is our firm conviction, that all holy books are monotheist
in essence, certain scriptures have been greatly
discoloured as a result of human tampering.
Even today after centuries of interpolations, the scriptures contain gems
of wisdom. It is for us to comprehend the
truth, by using our brains and will power, and search for the shores of
salvation.
Even today, despite their polytheist way of life and idol worship, passages
remain in the Hindu scriptures, or for that
matter in the Buddhist books, testifying the Oneness of the Creator. A
closer scrutiny of the Upanishad, Vedas and
other books held dear by the Hindus, reveal the startling facts that the
Creator is One and Only, although the Hindus
have conjured up a myriad of gods and godesses. The other passages in these
books, giving multiplicity and weird
illogical ideas, turn out to be plain fantasies and later interpolations.
He, the Creator is One and Alone, otherwise
there would have been chaos all around, instead of order. The Almighty
is Self-existent, Omnipotent, Everlasting and
Merciful, and has certainly not created us in vain.
UNITY OF THE CREATOR
Let us take a look at the scriptures of the Jews, the Christians and the
Muslims to find out what common beliefs they
contain about the unity of the Creator. Later we will examine which one
of the holy books contains the ultimate Truth
and has withstood the test of time.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
"And he said, that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God!"
Exodus (8:16)
"Ye shall not make with Me gods of silver neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold."
Exodus (20:23)
"Hear, therefore, O Israel, the Lord our God, is one Lord."
Deuteronomy (6:4)
"Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord He is God;
there is none else beside Him."
"Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord
He is God in heaven above, and upon
the earth beneath, there is none else."
Deuteronomy (4:35-39)
"Thus saith the Lord...I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God"
Isaiah (44:6)
"For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed
the earth and made it; He hath
established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited,
I am the Lord: and there is none else."
Isaiah (45:18)
"To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?"
Isaiah (40:18)
"I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me; I girded
thee though thou hast not known
Me".
"That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that
there is none beside me. I am the Lord,
and there is none else."
Isaiah (45:5-6)
THE NEW TESTAMENT
"And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord."
Mark (12:29)
"And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth:
for there is One God; and there is none
other but He."
Mark (12:32)
" ...and there is none other God but one."
1 Corinthians (8:4)
"For there is one God."
1. Timothy(2:5)
THE HOLY QUR'AN
"Allah is He besides Whom there is no god, save Him, the Everliving, the Eternal"
Holy Qur'an (2:255)
"His is the creation and the command; Blessed is Allah, the Lord of the worlds."
Holy Qur'an (7:54)
"Allah - there is no god but He; His are the very best names."
Holy Qur'an (20:8)
"...nothing is like unto Him and He is the Hearing, the Seeing."
Holy Qur'an (42:11)
"He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hiddenmost and He is Cognizant of all things."
Holy Qur'an (57:3)
"And He made subservient to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever
is in the earth, all, from Himself,
most surely there are signs in this for people who reflect."
Holy Qur'an (45:13)
"And (remember) when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam,
from their loins, their descendents
and made them bear witness against their own souls (saying) Am I not your
Lord? They said yes: We bear
witness; lest (that was) you say on the day of resurrection, 'Surely we
were unaware of this."
Holy Qur'an (7:172)
TAMPERINGS WITH THE SCRIPTURES
We have seen the remarkable unity of message in the scriptures of the Jews,
the Christians and the Muslims. But the
question is why different creeds, or set of beliefs, when the source of
origin is One and the Same.
To find out the answer we have to delve deeper and scrutinize the texts
concerned, whether or not ignorant human
hands had dared to tamper with their contents. Which of them embodies the
ultimate truth and speaks as the final
word of the Almighty for humanity as a whole? Which one is more comprehensive
in view of man's multidimensional
personality, and is universal in character transcending barriers of race,
class, language, geographical factors
and...etc.? And how does it back up its claims?
Reason and ration should be the criteria for arriving at the ultimate truth.
Earlier, we had left out books of other major world religions, like the
Buddhists and the Hindus, for their
mythological and polytheist character, and no pretensions whatsoever to
speak for humanity as a universal whole.
These are more or less regional in outlook, while the inhuman caste system
preached by the idol-worshipping Hindus
is an absolute mockery of human values and nature itself.
To the above three, we can safely add Judaism and its chauvinistic preference
for only the children of Israel as the
chosen of God, which shows the havoc played by the Jews with the heavenly
scriptures reducing them to mere
national sagas.
The absurdity of the Torah is all the more evident. Chapter XIX of the
Book of Genesis ascribes a serious crime to
Prophet Lot, in a bid to give the Ammonites and Moabites an illegitimate
origin.
"And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there
is not a man in the earth to come in unto
us after the manner of all the earth: Come let us make our father drink
wine, and we will lie with him, that we
may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine
that night: and the firstborn went in,
and lay with her father, and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when
she arose. And it came to pass on
the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight
with my father. let us make him
drink wine this night also, and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may
preserve seed of our father. And they
made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and
lay with him, and he perceived not
when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughter of Lot
with child by their father. And the
firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father
of Moabites unto this day. And the
younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is
the father of the children of Ammon
unto this day."
Genesis (19:31-38)
Even David and several other upright god-fearing figures are not spared
by the Old Testament. which depicts them
as weaklings succumbing to wanton desires.
The question which arises is, if the Creator was perfect, and precisely
planned the intricate Universe, was He not
capable of choosing people with firm will power and higher intellect as
bearers of His message. An analaysis reveals
that He, the Glorious, did just that. but it was human envy and racial
hatred, which tried to discolour the Messages
and the Messengers.
Quite evident is the contradiction, between Monotheism and the text of
these scriptures. Let us take a look at the
Evangel or the collection of books by different authors, which the Christians
call the New Testament.
WHO FOUNDED CHRISTIANITY
Christian historians and researchers themselves assert Christianity to
be the religion imagined, conjured up and
written by Paul the hellenized Jew. The creed known as Christianity they
say, was emptied by Paul of the true
teachings of Jesus. For example, the doctrine of trinity can be found in
the beliefs of the pagan Persians and Indians.
Thus the religion invented by Paul, and named Christianity by him has nothing
to do with The Messiah, as is evident
by the following facts:
"If by Christianity we understand faith in Christ as the heavenly Son of
God, who did not belong to earthly
humanity, but who lived in the Divine likeness and glory, who came down
from Heaven to earth, who entered
humanity and took upon himself a human form through a virgin, that he might
make propitiation for men's sins
by his own blood upon the cross, who was then awakened from death and raised
to the right hand of God, as
the Lord of his own people, who believe in him, who hears their prayers,
guards and leads them, who,
moreover dwells and works personally in each of them, who will come again
with the clouds of heaven to judge
the world, who will cast down all the foes of God, and will bring his own
people with him unto the home of
heavenly light so that they may become like His glorified body- IF THIS
IS CHRISTIANITY, THEN SUCH
CHRISTIANITY WAS FOUNDED BY ST PAUL AND NOT BY OUR LORD" (Jesus or Paul,
p.122 Dr. Annold
Meyer, Professor of Theology, Zurich University).
The idea of Trinity was started by Paul, but was given a final shape by
Athanasius in about 325 A.D. Trinity is not
mentioned at all in the Bible.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says:
"The Trinity is the term employed to signify the central doctrine of Christian
religion.... in the unity of Godhead
there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these
three persons being truly distinct one
from another. Thus in the words of Athanasian Creed; the Father is God,
the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is
God. And yet there are not three but one God. This doctrine was not clearly
grasped even by Athanasius. He
says at another place that whenever he forced his understanding to mediate
on the divinity of Jesus his toilsome
and unavailing efforts recoil on themselves, that the more he wrote the
less capable was he of expressing his
thoughts. This confusion is explained away as "Mystery", yet the Bible
says "God is not the author of
confusion"
Corinthian (14:33)
FACTS ABOUT GOSPELS
"The speeches in the Fourth Gospel (even apart from the early messianic
claim) are so different from those in
the Synoptics, and so like the comments of the Fourth Evangelist himself,
that both cannot be equally reliable
as record of what Jesus said Literary veracity in ancient times did not
forbid, as it does now, the assignment of
fictitious speeches to historical characters; the best ancient historians
made a practice of composing and
assigning such speeches in this way". (C.J. Cadoux - The Life of Jesus.
P. 16).
"The Gospels which were produced clearly reflected the conception of the
practical needs of the community for
which they were written. In them the traditional material was used, but
there was no hesitation in altering it or
making additions to it, or in leaving out what did not suit the writer's
purpose. (T.G. Tucker The History of the
Christians in the Light of Modern Knowledge, P. 320).
"A copyist would sometimes put in not what was in the text, but what he
thought ought to be in it. He would trust
a fickle memory, or he would make the text accord with the views of the
school to which he belonged. In
addition to the versions and quotations from the Christian Fathers, nearly
four thousand Greek MSS of the
Testament were known to exist. As a result, the variety of reading is considerable."
(Prof J. R. Dummelow
Commentary on the Holy Bible, P.16).
Another major defect of the Christian creed, is the belief that Jesus is
the begotten son of God. It is claimed that
Jesus was one of the Trinity because he was the only son of God, but there
are other sons of God mentioned as well
in the Bible.
About David the Bible says :
"...the Lord has said unto me Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."
Psalm (2:7)
"...thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn."
Exodus (4:22)
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
Mathew (5:9)
"But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God..."
John (1:12)
"...son of Adam, which was the Son of God."
Luke (3:38)
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God."
Romans (8:14)
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children
of God: And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may also be glorified
together."
Romans (8:16-17)
In addition to the above mentioned discrepancies, the Old and the New Testaments
are at variance with proven
scientific facts. Thus, reason dictates us to give up the hope for our
quest for truth in these two scriptures. So what
should we do? Where should we turn to?
But wait, there is no need for despair. We have yet another divinely revealed book called the Our'an.
Let us examine it. To our amazement, as the next chapter will help unfold,
the Qur'an does not contain a single
statement assailable from a modern scientific point of view.
HARMONY BETWEEN SCIENCE AND QUR'AN
In his book 'La Bible, le Coran et la Science' translated into English
under the title 'The Bible, The Qur'an And
Science', Dr. Maurice Bucaille, an eminent French surgeon, devoted himself
to a thorough, examination of the
scriptures in the light of modern scientific knowledge'. In the course
of his study, he has made a valuable contribution
to the understanding of the verses of the Holy Qur'an , His observations
about the authenticity of Qur'an, deserve a
special mention as it will go a long way to despel the prevailing doubt
about the compatibility between religion and
science. He tells us:
"It was a totally objective spirit, and, without any preconceived ideas
that I first examined the Qur'anic
Revelation. I was looking for the degree of compatibility between the Qur'anic
text and the data of modern
science. I knew from translations that the Qur'an often made allusion to
all sorts of natural phenomena but I
had only a summary knowledge of it. It was only when I examined the text
very closely in Arabic that I kept a
list of them at the end of which I had to acknowledge the evidence in front
of me. The Qur'an did not contain a
single statement that was assailable from a modem scientific point of view.
"I repeated the same test for the Old Testament and the Gospels, always
preserving the same objective outlook.
I n the former I did not even have to go beyond the first book, Genesis,
to find statements totally out of keeping
with the cast-iron facts of modem science.
"On opening the Gospels, one is immediately confronted with a serious problem.
On the first page we find the
genealogy of Jesus, but Mathew's text is in obvious contradiction to Luke's
on the same question......the latter's
data on the antiquity of man on Earth are incompatible with modem knowledge.
"The Biblical data concerning the antiquity of man are therefore inaccurate.
"...Mathew's phantasms, the flat contradictions between Gospels, the improbabilities,
the incompatibilities with
modem scientific data, the successive distortions of the text - all these
things add up to the fact that the Gospels
contain chapters and passages that are the sole product of human imagination.
These flaws do not, however,
cast doubt on the existence of Jesus' mission: the doubt is solely confined
to the course it took.
"The Old Testament represents a vast number of literary works written over
a period of roughly nine hundred
years. It forms a highly disparate mosaic whose pieces have, in the course
of centuries, been changed by man.
Some parts were added to what already existed, so that today it is sometimes
very difficult indeed to identify
where they came from originally.
"The inevitable result of the multiplicity of sources is the existence
of contradictions and oppositions: many
examples have been given of these. The authors of the Gospels had (when
talking of Jesus) the same tendency
to magnify certain facts as the poets of French Medieval literature in
their narrative poems. The consequence
of this was that events were presented from each individual narrator's
point of view and the authenticity of the
facts reported in many cases proved to be extremely dubious.
"It must be stressed that when scientific data are discussed here, what is meant is data definitely established.
"Subsequent to the first trials of ballistic missiles, people imagined
a day when man would perhaps have the
material possibility of leaving his earthly habitat and exploring space.
It was then known that a verse existed in
the Qur'an predicting how one day man would make the conquest. This statement
has now been verified.
"...if you can penetrate the bounds of the heavens and the earth, then
do penetrate (them). (But) you cannot
penetrate except with (Our) authority."
Holy Qur'an (55:33)
"... in the West, Jews, Christians and Atheists are unanimous in stating
(without a scrap of evidence however)
that Muhammad wrote the Qur'an or had it written as an imitation of the
Bible. It is claimed that stories of
religious history in the Qur'an resume Bible stories. This attitude is
as thoughtless as saying that Jesus Himself
duped His contemporaries by drawing inspiration from the Old Testament
during his preachings; the whole of
Mathew's Gospel is based on this continuation of the Old Testament... What
expert in exegesis would dream of
depriving Jesus of his status as God's envoy for this reason? This is nevertheless
the way that Muhammad is
judged more often than not in the West. It is a summary judgement that
does not take account of the fact that
the Qur'an and the Bible provide different versions of a single event.
"The above observation makes the hypothesis advanced by those who see Muhammad
as the author of the
Qur'an quite untenable. How could a man, from being illiterate, become
the most important author in terms of
literary merit, in the whole of Arabic literature? How could he then pronounce
truths of a scientific nature that
no other human being could possibly have developed at the time, and all
this without once making the slightest
error in his pronouncements on the subject? For me there can be no human
explanation to the Qur'an."
Surgeon Maurice has made extensive studies in various fields covered by
the Qur'an e.g. Creation of the Heavens
and the Earth, Astronomy, Water Cycle, Earth's Relief, Earth's Atmosphere,
Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, The
Flood, Exodus and above all, Human Reproduction. His views on human embryo
after he quotes relevant verses of
the Qur'an are summed up as under:
"...As for observed facts such as the evolution of human embryo, it is
quite possible to confront different stages
described in the Qur'an with the data of modern embryology and find complete
concordance between modern
science and verses of the Qur'an referring to this subject."
"He created man from (small quantity of) sperm..."
Holy Qur'an (16:4)
"The Arabic word nutfa has been translated by the words 'small quantity
(of sperm)' because we do not have
the terms that are strictly appropriate. This word comes from a verb signifying
'to dribble, to trickle'; it is used
to describe what remains at the bottom of a bucket that has been emptied
out. It therefore indicates a very small
quantity of liquid. Here it is sperm because the word is associated in
another verse with the word sperm. (see
Holy Qur'an 75..37-39)
"Another verse indicates that the small quantity in question is put 'in
a firmly established lodging' (qarar) which
obviously means the genital organs. (see Holy Qur'an 23:13)
"...the adjective which in this text refers to 'the firmly established
lodging' is, I think, hardly translatable, It
expresses the idea of a firmly established and respected place. However
this may be, it refers to the spot where
man grows in the maternal organism.
"Once the egg is fertilized in the Fallopian tube it descends to lodge
inside the uterus; this is called the
'implantation of the egg'. The Qur'an names the lodging of the fertilized
egg (as) womb. (see Holy Qur'an 22:5)
"The implantation of the egg in the uterus (womb) is the result of the
development of villosities, veritable
elongations of the egg, which, like roots in the soil, draw nourishment
from the thickness of the uterus
necessary to the egg's growth. These formations make the egg literally
cling to the uterus. This is a discovery of
modern times.
"The act of clinging is described five times in the Qur'an..."
"Something which clings is the translation of the word 'alaq'. It is the
original meaning of the word.
"The original sense of something which clings 'corresponds exactly to today's
firmly established reality.
"Chewed flesh' is the translation of the word mudhgha; 'intact flesh' is
Lahm. This distinction needs to be
stressed. The embryo is initially a small mass. At a certain stage in its
development, it looks to the naked eye like
chewed flesh. The bone structure develops inside this mass in what is called
the mesenchyma. The bones that
are formed are covered in muscles; the word Lahm applies to them.
"It is known how certain parts appear to be completely out of proportion
during embryonic development with
what is later to become the individual, while others remain in proportion.
"This is surely the meaning of the word 'mukhallaqa' which signifies 'shaped
in proportion' as used in verse 5
sura 22 to describe this phenomenon.
"We fashioned.........into something which clings....into a lump of flesh
in proportion and out of proportion.
"More than a thousand years before our time, at a period when whimsical
doctrines still prevailed, men had a
knowledge of the Qur'an. The statements it contains express in simple terms
truth of primordial importance
which man has taken centuries to discover."
The thesis of Surgeon Maurice which covers more than 250 pages, may perhaps
be summed up in a few words:
Changes made by men in the Old Testament and the Gospels are responsible
for contradictions, improbabilities and
incompatibilities between the scriptures and the modern scientific knowledge.
This view is shared by some other
eminent scientists and writers. The Qur'an made a pointed reference to
it but Christendom refused to accept it
century after century.
Such flaws in the scriptures need not detract men from the existence of God or the mission of Jesus.
The Qur'an is, historically speaking, the most authentic Book of Revelations;
nothing in it is incompatible with the
modern scientific data which has been definitely established.
When statements contained in the Qur'an about this life are factually true,
would not the statements contained in it
about the Hereafter be taken to be equally true?
In short, the Qur'an contains many other scientific facts, which modern
knowledge is just beginning to unravel. Even
its literary aspects are beyond the reach of the best of Arabic literati,
as the following challenge stands eternally
supreme today nearly a millenium and a half after its revelation.
"Or do they say, he (the Prophet) invented it? Bring then a Surah (chapter)
like it, and call (to your aid) anyone
you can other than Allah, if you be truthful."
Holy Qur'an (10:38)
ISLAM PROPHESIED
Thus as is clear, The Almighty never leaves a people without guidance,
and never does the message come to an
abrupt end upon the passing away of a prophet. For in such a case, the
very truth would be open to doubt. As a
matter of fact, every divine message has foretold in explicit terms about
the coming of the last divine message, and
the final prophet, whose mission will be universal lasting till Doomsday.
In the Holy Qur'an, The benign Creator gave us the most comprehensive law
dealing with shaping of an embyro to
the mysteries of space. But it is we who are groping in the dark. We ourselves
are to blame for our misery.
The Jews stopped obeying the Creator more than two milleniums back. Instead
of propagating the truth they
disobeyed the Creator , falling headlong into the narrow depths of nationalism
and turning chauvinists. It was a great
crime indeed, for they breached the covenant and sowed discord among the
human race.
Jesus Christ came, preaching the divine message and giving glad tidings
of the final messenger to come, but he met a
stormy reception at the hands of the Jews, who mocked at and ridiculed
him. His message also met a tragic end as
analyzed earlier. No sooner, had he departed, Paul, the hellenized Jew
distorted the whole contents, transforming the
divine truth into the creed called Christianity today. The few true followers
of the great messenger were persecuted
and for centuries havoc was wrought with his teachings, resulting in the
numerous Gospels which are in circulation
today.
None could be considered as the Almighty's own word, and are more or less
books of tradition of a very brief
period of the last days of Jesus. But even despite these distortions, some
fragments remain in them, which direct any
discernible reader towards the ultimate truth. The same is true of other
religions, which contain, truth peeping out
from underneath the centuries old pile of interpolation.
Let us summon our Intellect and Will power and embark on a search for truth.
Let us sift through the huge stack and
cast an analyzing glance at the parchments of truth waiting to be discovered.
They are there in the sacred books of all
religions, eager to guide us to the straight path, provided we are sincerely
after the rationale truth.
The following passages leave no doubt, as to where the ultimate truth lies,
and who, we are commanded by the
Creator to follow:
According to the Old Testament, God tells prophet Abraham:
"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a
blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee; and in thee shall all families of
the earth be blessed."
Genesis (12:2-3)
And to Hagar:
"...I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered
for multitude. And the angel of the Lord
said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt
call his name Ishmael, because the
Lord hath heard thy affliction."
Genesis (16:10-11)
And regarding Ishmael the elder son of Abraham; in whose direct lineage
Prophet Muhammad was born, the Old
Testament says:
"As for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold I have blessed him, and will
make him fruitful, and will multiply him
exceedingly. twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great
nation."
Genesis (17:20)
And about the right of the firstborn:
"If a man have two wives, one beloved another hated, and they have born
him children, both the beloved and
the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated; Then it shall
be, when he maketh his sons to inherit
that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn,
before the son of the hated which is
indeed the firstborn: But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated, by
giving him the double portion of all that
he hath; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn
is his."
Deuteronomy (21:15-17)
Note: Ishamel was 14 years old when Isaac was born.
Elsewhere the Old Testament foretells to Moses the coming of a great Prophet:
"I will raise them up a Prophet from amongst their brethren, like unto
thee, and will put my word sin his mouth
and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him."
Deuteronomy (18:18)
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;
I have put my spirit upon him: he
shall bring judgement to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up, nor
cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking-flax shall he not quench:
he shall bring forth judgement
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgement
in the earth: and the isles shall wait
for his law.
Isaiah (42:1-4)
"Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages
that Kedar doth inhabit: let the
inhabitants of the rock sing, Let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory unto the Lord
and declare His praise in the islands."
Isaiah (42:11-1 2)
Note: Kedar was Ishmael's eldest son and the ancestor of Prophet Muhammad.
"...The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined
forth from Mount Paran (Faran in
Arabic), and He came with ten thousands of saints, from His right hand
went a fiery law for them."
Deuteronomy (33:2)
"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather unto yourselves together,
that I may tell you that which shall
befall you in the last days... The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until SHILLOH come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
Genesis (49:1&10)
Shilloh means peace, or Islam in Arabic. In other words, the prediction
may well be about the Almighty's final
message to mankind - Islam.
About Jesus, who was but a Prophet only:
"And the multitude said, This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee."
Mathew (21:11)
"And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a Prophet
mighty in deed and word before
God..."
Luke (24:19)
"We know that thou art a teacher come from God."
John (3:2)
"Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This
is of a truth that Prophet that should
come into the world."
John (6:14)
The following passages of the New Testament lend further proof to the Prophethood
of Muhammad (s.a.w.) as the
final Messenger of the Almighty:
"And this is the record of John (the Baptist) when the Jews sent priests
and levites from Jerusalem to ask him,
who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed I am not
the Christ. And they asked him, what
then? Art thow Elias? And he saith I am not. Art thou THAT PROPHET? And
he answered, No. And they asked
him, and said unto him, why baptizest thou then, if thou be not the Christ,
nor Elias, neither THAT PROPHET."
John (1:19,21,25)
"But when the comforter is come, whom I shall send unto you from the Father,
even the spirit of the truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."
John (15:26)
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away:
for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of
judgement: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because
I go to my Father, and ye see me
no more; Of judgement because the prince of this world is judged. I have
yet many things to say unto you, but
ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come,
he will guide you unto all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, t hat shall he
speak: and he will shew you things to
come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall she
wit unto you."
John (16:7-14)
It is admitted that if the correct word in the original Greek version of
the New Testament was 'Proclete' then it
means "AHMAD" in Arabic from the semitic root H M D.
After centuries the translation was changed into 'Proclytos'. The translation
of this Greek word was supposed to be
'Comforter' or 'Advocate'. However it was not realised that both the terms
are the titles of Prophet Mohammed, as
shown below:
Rahmat-ul-Lil-Alameen which means the 'Comforter of this world and the
next'.
Shafi-ul-Mudhnibeen which means 'Advocate of sinners'.
To sum up: The prophet after Jesus would be: God's Elect (Mustafa). Inhabitant
of the villages of Prince Kedar son
of Ishmael, from Arabia. His religion will be known as Shilloh that is
peace or Islam. His light will shine from Mount
Faran in Mecca. The sceptre of Judah will pass on to him. God will put
his words in his mouth. He shall not fail. He
shall be known as Ahmad, Comforter, or Advocate.
How explicitly, the holy Qur'an corroborates these facts, when it says:
"Those who follow the Messenger-Prophet the Ummi, whom they find written
with them in the Torah and the
Evangel; he commands them good and forbids them evil, and he made lawful
to them the good things, and
prohibits to them the bad (impure) ones, and he removes from them their
burden and the yokes which were
upon them. So those who believe in him and honour him, and help him, and
follow the Light which has been
sent down with him: These are they the successful."
Holy Qur'an (7:157)
Thus dear readers, in the light of these undeniable facts, it is clear
that we and the wide universe have been created
by the All-wise and Omnipotent Creator Who sees and watches our every minute
act. We have a destination, and
our deeds in this life span will be judged in the Hereafter, where due
retribution awaits us. Each and every sign in this
wonderful universe indicates to us the straight path of guidance, and only
by using our powers of Will and Intellect,
we can reach the garden of salvation.
Our main goal is to make our readers aware of the significance of independent,
objective and rational thinking, and
awaken in them the quest for truth.
We do not want, by these few pages to close the subject. What we want is
to stir up the human mind and
conscience to obvious facts. This book is only the beginning of the road,
and by sifting chaff from grain, we
discovered the eternal truth about Islam, which has a comprehensive set
of laws for each and everything.
Therefore, in order to make peace prevail and help build a harmonious society,
it is incumbent upon us to glean at
the wonderful code of human behaviour called 'Sharia'. Please look forward
to our next Book 'The Meaning of
Islam' which will help you discover that Islam is a complete way of life.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
