Chapter 1
The Historicity
of Faiths and their Founders
|
All religions are a matter of history. Even with Islam, the
latest of all, more than thirteen hundred years have passed since
its birth, and if a man must look to some Holy Scripture for the
light he has to receive from a religion, no religion should claim
our allegiance unless its record is absolutely unimpeachable on
the score of authenticity. In this respect Islam seems to me to
possess merits of its own - merits which attach to no other religion.
For example, the scriptures of all other religions have now been
found, as is even admitted by their respective adherents, to be
wanting in genuineness. Even Rabbis and high dignitaries of the
church are today ceasing to believe in the authenticity of the Holy
Bible. The followers of Zoroastrianism can only point to five or
six verses that have come to them in their original purity, out
of all the revealed mass ascribed to that great prophet of Persia.
Vedicism, popularly known as Hinduism, presents another insurmountable
difficulty. The Holy Vedas were written in a language now obsolete
and what we should call “dead”; no one in India speaks
it or understands it. The Vedic verses are susceptible of contradictory
interpretations; they have given rise to innumerable sects, who
differ from each other even in the fundamentals of their religion
while they all receive their inspiration from the same Book. There
are atheists, theists, agnostics and deists, image-worshippers and
image-breakers, among Hindus, but they all take the same Book as
the authority to substantiate their respective views. The translation
of the Vedas given by one class of Hindus is condemned by the others.
On the other hand, al-Quran, the Holy Book of Islam, is admitted
by friend and foe to be the very words revealed to the Holy Prophet
Muhammad. The Book has maintained its purity till now. Fortunately
we live in times when reliable criticism has established the above
facts, and its verdict has not been questioned. Now whatever may
be the worth of the teachings of a religion, I think I could not
consider or accept its claims when the very source of our information
with respect to it is of a dubious character. From this point of
view I think I am justified in saying that there is no comparison
between Islam and other religions.
Founders of religions
I was constrained to come to the same conclusion as to the
founders of the various religious systems. The Vedic religion is
the oldest of all; but we know nothing about the authors or recipients
of Vedic revelations excepting their names, and these are but incidentally
mentioned at the beginning of the different Vedic Mantras (hymns).
Similarly, the strictly historical aspect of the Lord of Christianity
is not free from doubt and suspicion. Even if Jesus may be admitted
to be an historic character, we know very little of him. Mary, we
read, gave birth to the illustrious Nazarene; but soon after the
event she and her husband fled from Judaea with the child; and after
some twelve years Jesus is seen in synagogues finding fault with
the Rabbis and joining issue with the teachers of Judaism. Then
the curtain drops again. Another gap of some eighteen years and
the master comes back out of an Essenic monastery and is seen on
the banks of the River Jordan. But his ministry was too short for
him to become our perfect specimen and guide in the manifold and
divine walks of human life. A few sermons, a few miracles, a few
prayers accompanied by a few curses are not enough to give humanity
a religion. His movements are of meteoric character which presents
few incidents of note and consequence, excepting his crucifixion.
Moses was no doubt a great law-giver, an historic character, liberator
of his nation from their bondage in Egypt, worker of wonders and
performer of miracles, but not an example for practical purposes
in real life. In a word, the life of all these founders is enshrouded
in much mystery.
My surprise knew no bounds when I began to read of the Prophet
Muhammad. Like a panorama the events of his life passed before my
eyes one after the other. From the cradle to the grave everything
of note in his life is narrated and preserved in a well-authenticated
record. I was amazed to find in him an assemblage of the best of
characteristics so rare in others. I am at a loss to understand
how he could unite in himself all the best qualities of discrepant
characters. He is meek and at the same time courageous; modest as
a maiden but the bravest of the soldiers on a battlefield. While
with children, loved for his playfulness and endearing talk to the
little ones; when in the company of sages and old men, respected
for his wisdom and farsightedness. Truthful, honest, trustworthy;
a reliable friend, a loving father and husband, a dutiful son, and
a helpful brother, Muhammad is the same man whether in adversity
or prosperity; affluence or indigence cannot change him; unruffled
in his temperament whether in peace or in war. Kind and hospitable,
liberal in giving but abstemious for himself. In short, judge the
Holy Prophet Muhammad from whatever angle of human character you
will, and he is nowhere found wanting.
With a critical eye, I studied all that has been said about
him by his opponents. They could not lay a finger on a single flaw
in his private character. It is perfect. And whatever has been said
against his public character in one or two things, involves really
a matter of principle. They say he had more than one wife; that
he waged war; that he did this, that and the other; but before we
judge him in these matters we have to decide as to the validity
of the principles under which he worked. If polygamy is a matter
of necessity in certain circumstances and an economic measure sometimes,
then why find fault with Muhammad, when all the great men and benefactors
of humanity, especially in the world of religion, have all of them
had more than one wife? As to the use of the sword, the whole world
until now has taken the greatest pride in unsheathing the weapon.
War has hitherto been an indispensable institution. A prophet was
needed to teach the world the true ethics of war, and who can deny
the nobility of Muhammad in this respect? He unsheathed the sword
only to crush evil and defend truth. With great care I read the
accounts of every war waged by him and they were all in self-defence.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad
There is something unique in this great man; he is the only
teacher among the noble race of prophets who brought his mission
to success. Jesus was crushed by evil, and words of despair and
despondency were on his lips on the Cross. Muhammad really crushed
the serpent, but just in the moments of his victory, when the real
“generation of vipers” was at his feet, his character
revealed another noble aspect - that of forgiveness. No student
of history can read the conquest of Makka by the Holy Prophet Muhammad
without bowing down to that great hero. He not only forgives his
cruel oppressors, but raises them to places of dignity and honour.
Who knows what Jesus would have done if he had achieved any victory
over his enemies? After all, he said that he had not come to send
peace on the earth, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). Moses, Rama-Chandra
and Krishna, the other great teachers in the world of religion,
disclosed not a gleam of mercy in their dealings with their enemies.
 Next
Chapter (2) |
Top