Sir Ahmed Hussain

“ Religion is a thing that must grow with man's intelligence; it is not a box of spiritual truths packed once and for ever, and unpacked for the gaze of successive generations. It is not enough to believe in certain facts that happened long ago, or to obey certain injunctions given long ago in a particular country; we must apply the spirit of a religion to the circumstances in which we live. ”

“ If we assume the existence of a God, interested in the governance of this world, it becomes impossible to deny that Muhammad was God's messenger, or, at least, God's prophet. It seems to me unlikely that a man could change the belief of nations by chance, incredible that he should do so were he an impostor. ”

“ The second Muslim doctrine which I have called the Principle of Perfection may be inferred from the second part of the Sura:—It is essential for our perfect development that we should worship God and implore Him for help and guidance in the discharge of the three-fold duty of our life.
No sane man thinks that he is perfect as he is. There is always a feeling of some sort in our mind that somehow, and in some respect or other, we are not as perfect as we should be. It is to remove this feeling of imperfection inherent in us that we have to worship God and supplicate His help and guidance. ”

“ True Science does not seek to deprive man of his Soul or to drive the Creator from his Universe, but it honestly endeavours to study His marvellous works ... to see the manner in which He has caused Nature to work out His design. ”

“ If (to take an extreme case for example) we cannot detest ourselves as others sometimes detest or hate us, we can at least try to love others as we love ourselves, "try to do unto others as we wish that others should do unto us". Thus the rule: "Love thy neighbour as thyself", is quite consistent with human nature and is the most comprehensive rule of conduct which has ever been laid down for the guidance of mankind. To my mind there is no better proof of the identity in spirit of Christianity and Islam than the confirmation of Christ's command by Muhammad himself. ”

“ How is the Maxim of Union and Loyalty inferred from the principle of Unity? Man, being a creature of God, should try to be godly and godlike, try to imitate God in actions, try to co-operate with his fellow creatures for the good of all, and should thus attain the ideal: "Union is Strength." ”

“ This theory which, in its more extended form, is called the Law of Evolution, has profoundly influenced, if not entirely revolutionized, the Science and Philosophy of our own times. It has not however succeeded, as was at first feared, in destroying men's belief in God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. ”

“ Because no other religion accords so well as Islam with the modern ideas of Science.
By applying the adjectives "good," "better" and "best" to religions, I indicate the degree to which each religion, by its tenets and teaching, induces men to seek their welfare فلاح: and by the word "Science" علم I mean simply the systematised knowledge of things known and knowable.
Science discovers things that are necessary or desirable for human welfare. Arts generally show the way in which those things can be obtained or manufactured. ”

“ A Muslim's right path, i.e., his right course of conduct, lies between two extreme paths or courses of conduct, viz., on the one hand, the path of those who sin, who knowingly and deliberately go against the will of God, which is manifest in Nature, and on the other hand, the path of those who unwittingly, through ignorance, go against His will. The right path lies thus:—
You thus see that true Islam consists in a threefold duty to God, to oneself, and to others, and this duty is to be discharged by simply adopting, under God's guidance, the mean between two extremes. ”

“ Religion.—No thinking man can help asking himself the questions: "Whence has this world come? Whither is it bound to go?" in other words, "What was the origin مبداٌ and what will be the end معاد of the world of men, animals, plants and things that I perceive?" The answers which each man gives to these questions constitute his religion. ”

“ There is another use of Religion to which I should refer briefly before I pass on to the main argument. You always intend doing many things but never succeed in doing them all, either because you change your mind or because somebody or something prevents you from carrying them out. It is nevertheless important to yourself and society that your wishes, which are naturally more numerous than your actions, should be as good as the actions themselves. ”

“ Some would call this Reality, God; but others would say that God is greater and higher than the Reality which manifests itself in different forms. He is above all that any man can think of or imagine. ”

“ He says: "Mankind progresses by the appearance of individuals in whom (besides the inventive genius) the instincts of co-operation and loyalty are more strongly developed". It is precisely those instincts that Islam fosters by its doctrine of the universal brotherhood of Muslims—a doctrine which implies primarily loyalty to your King. Just as the affairs of a family like yours, consisting of a dozen members, cannot prosper unless each follows loyally the lead of the eldest, or the wisest among you ”

“ God's messages which Muhammad delivered to men were all collected soon after his death and are preserved intact in a remarkable book called the Qur'an—a book which has lived through no less than thirteen centuries without undergoing the least alteration in a single word or even a dot! ”

“ Note that it is the indifference to religion and the consequent impiety of some of the Muhammadans of to-day that accounts mostly for their lack of co-operation, and for their loss of political power in modern times. Degradation is the lot of faithless Muslims, for as the Qur'an says, "Ye will be exalted only if ye be faithful Muslims."
From what has been said you can easily infer that we should adopt the mean between two extremes and must therefore believe that neither are all religions true nor are they all false, but that some religions are true and that Islam is one of them. ”

“ It seems true that almost every race of man is not only capable of believing in a Supreme God but, so far as the evidence goes, did reverence one God who was often also thought of as the Creator of the Sky or of the World.... There is a very strong body of evidence showing that every race of mankind possessed quite early in its development a feeling of awe and reverence towards an Unknown God. ”

“ The Qur'an commanded him, "Say I am a man like yourself." قل انا بشر مثلكم He therefore insisted that men should attach greater importance to the nature of the message than to the character of the messenger himself. "I am," said he "no more than a man: when I order you anything with respect to religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the world then I am nothing more than a man."
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"Ahmad" is another name of Muhammad. I have nothing to say to those mystics, who, by a reasoning peculiar to their doctrines, identify the Messenger (Prophet) with the Master (God) . ”

“ In the same way Science may show you water or anything that is useful, Arts may show you different ways of getting it, the Government of your State may offer rewards or even threaten punishment; but you will not drink, that is to say, you will not take advantage of the good things shown you and placed at your disposal, unless you are thirsty, unless there is something in you which impels you to it. This thirst, this something that is the moving force or motive, is created or furnished by Religion. ”

“ He, being the One and only God, is all the three together, Creator, Preserver and Ruler, at all times and in all places. It is we who, in order to understand Him properly and adore Him rightly, separate in our minds His three principal attributes, and think of Him as our Creator when we worship Him, think of Him as our Preserver when we seek His protection, and think of Him as our Ruler or Judge when we solicit His guidance. It is only we, finite and conditioned creatures, that are tied down to and limited by time, place and circumstances. ”

“ Whenever any people went astray and deserted Islam for idolatry a prophet arose among them to preach Islam and bring them back to righteousness.35 Each prophet or messenger of God did nothing but try to restore the universal religion to its pristine simplicity and purity. ”

“ I hold that Islam is such a religion.52
Let me begin by showing a conformity of Islam to a modern idea, that there are more 47worlds than one.53 There are still some religions which assume that there is no other world than the world we live in, and that God created and maintains it for men only. Science has proved that such assumptions are unwarranted, and has even suggested grounds for believing that there are beings in the innumerable worlds of stars. This world of ours with its inhabitants has therefore no right to monopolise God to itself. ”

“ What is not Islam.
N my previous Note I tried to sketch briefly what is true Islam. I now offer a few observations on, or illustrations of, what is not Islam. In order to know anything quite well, it is desirable not only to know what it is but also to know what it is not.
1. The religion taught by the Qur'an and the Traditions احاديث of our Prophet is Islam and not "Muhammadanism," as it is often named. Those who profess Islam are Muslims and not "Muhammadans," as they are called. ”

“ I use the word in the restricted sense of "Islam as taught by Muhammad." If you take Islam to mean belief in one God and virtuous conduct in life, you may say that there has not been and will never be any true religion besides Islam. In this sense Islam is the only true religion. See p. 27, last para. of Note 2 p. 19, and of this Note pp. 33, 34.
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"A man must not do reverence to his own sect or disparage that of another man without reason. Deprecation should be for specific reasons only, because the sects of other people all deserve reverence for one reason or other. ”

“ The chief use of religion lies in the desire that it fosters in men to live well, and virtuously.49 It is true that for most men the fear of punishment and the hope of reward, either here or hereafter, are motives for right conduct: and some religions (and even Islam as taught by some Moulvies) give glowing pictures of Heaven 45and Hell awaiting good and bad people after death.50 But these motives are unworthy of the higher nature قوا ئى ملكو تى of man. They are like the crack of a whip or the show of green grass to a horse that will not run. ”

“ Most modern Philosophers agree in believing that Mind and Matter are but two aspects of One Reality underlying All. Just as a big building like the Falaknuma Palace presents different aspects when viewed from different directions, and yet is one and the same building ”

“ Desire to seek or solicit guidance of that Power in the daily life of man.
You will thus see that both the Lord's Prayer in the Bible and the Opening Chapter of the Qur'an go to the roots of all religions ever professed by man. They are truly Universal Prayers. No man need hesitate to join in the solemn recitation of either. ”

“ In that section of the world in which Christianity is the prevailing and accepted form of religious belief, the temporal might of those nations professing one great form of the Christian creed, the Roman Catholic, has undoubtedly waned in comparison with that of the nations professing what is generally called the Protestant faith. There are many varieties of non-Roman Catholic Christianity, but Protestantism is a label sufficiently comprehensive and sufficiently well understood for our purposes. ”

“ Still the fact is duly recognized by modern Science that there are differences not only of kind but also of degree in everything—ideas, feelings, desires, actions, objects and attributes of objects—with which we are concerned. Although you may not have a word expressive of degree in every case, yet you can practically ascertain the extremes and the mean in all cases without exception, and can so order71 your conduct as to avoid the one and adopt the other in all cases. ”

“ None of them can ever reach finality. As the experience of mankind grows continuously, new facts or new phases of old facts are discovered in the course of time. Just as men have to adapt or adjust themselves to new facts (or to changes in old facts) or else die; so men's Science, Philosophy and Theology have to adjust themselves to new facts or else become empty nothings.85
II.
I have often said that I believe Islam to be the best religion because (so far as I know) it accords best with the current ideas of Science. ”

“ Creator = Preserver = Adjuster.
God said unto Moses, I am that I am—Exodus, iii, 14.
20 Some Sufis define Nature as Individual plus his Environment. By individual they mean any one capable of thinking of himself as "I" or "Me" and every thing else as "not I" or "not me" which is his environment.
21 It may be said that all the three ideas of God's relation with Nature (the three "isms" I have mentioned in brackets) are but different degrees of a man's desire for communion with his God. ”

“ The Law of Evolution which I mentioned in the previous Note is but a Theory of Creation, an explanation of how Nature has come to be what she is. New facts which future ages may discover may prove the theory to be either right or wrong. ”

“ Let me conclude this Note with a short answer to the question why religion is necessary to Man23. No society is possible without religion, because of the dual nature of Man. As our poet says, با بها ئم بهره داري با ملائك نيزهم and as all modern men of science (such as Sir Oliver Lodge and others) admit, there is a higher and a lower in every man's nature, the one lifts him up and the other pulls him down in the scale of animal and social existence. ”