Letters to the Editor

THE REVIEW OF RELIGIONS 65 dynamic leadership. I am sure that the improved quality and layout of this magazine will give even greater pleasure to its readers, and I would like to congratulate you and your staff, as well as to wish you all the best for the future. I hope and pray that your experience as founder editor of ‘The Muslim Herald’ will enable you to approach your new assignment with even greater expertise. May Allah make this new venture a contineous source of blessing and enlightment for those who are in search of truth and know- ledge. Yours sincerely, London (M.A. Saqi) The Sayings of Prophet Muhammad on whom be peace and Blessings of Allah Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet (peace be on him) said, “There are three types of people whom Allah will neither talk to, nor look at, on the Day of Resurrection. (They are): 1. A man who takes an oath falsely that he has been offered for his goods so much more than what he is given, 2. A man who takes a false oath after the Asr prayer in order to grab a Muslim’s property, and 3. A man who withholds his superfluous water. Allah will say to him, “Today I will withhold My grace from you as you withheld the superfluity of what you had not created.” Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle (peace be on him) said, “No doubt, you had better gather a bundle of wood and carry it on your back (and earn your living thereby) rather than ask somebody who may give you or not.” THE HOLY QURAN The Holy Quran with English Translation and Commentary Edited by Malik Ghulam Farid Original text in Arabic, with English translation of each verse. Full cross references to indicate where a particular subject appears again in the Holy Quran. Compact and concise commentary as footnotes to this comprehensive and popular edition make this a masterpiece of exegis and a unique guide to the beauties of the Holy Quran. Hardcover 1461 pp Price £7.50 Tafseer-i-Saghir (Urdu) by Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad Arabic text with word by word free-flowing Urdu translation in understandablesentences. Excellentfootnotesto help you comprehend the Holy Quran and an extensive alphabetical index of all the subjects dealt with in this Sacred Scripture make this edition an unparalleled piece of work which no Urdu speaking family should be without. Hard Cover 853 pp art paper Price £5.50 The Holy Quran with English translation by Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan This handy volume with original Arabic text and an English translation is strictly faithful to the text yet free-flowing and arranged in numbered paragraphs for one or more verses. More than forty pages of introduction supplemented with a 37 page index have already made readers acclaim this book in its second edition as the best gift given to them. Hard Cover 673 pp Price £4.00 Available from The London Mosque, 16Gressenhall Road, London, SW185QL. All cheques should be made payable to The London Mosque. THE REVIEW OF RELIGIONS 19 to this law of Holiness are two principles, which form the basis of “man’s creative co-operation with God-Justice and Righteousness, Justice being the negative aspect of Holiness; Righteousness, its positive aspect. In the common life, Justice meant the recognition of six fundamental rights. Righteousness was to manifest itself in the acceptance of duties.”1 The two primary principles of God’s dealings with his people are Justice and Mercy. These two attributes are represented respectively by His two names, Elohim (‘God’) and YHWH (the Lord). They are by no means divided into two separate powers, where the good and the evil are in a conflict with each other. God of Justice is the God of Mercy (Love), one and inseparable, both Justice and Mercy being complimentary aspects of His character. His Justice carries with it the affirmation of His being the Judge and His mercy is the expression of his character as Redeemer. The concept of original sin finds no place in Judaism. The distinctive feature of Judaism is, however, “its insistence that the consummation in the Beyond is conditioned by the fulfilment in the histori- cal and social contest of daily life. Unlike other creeds, Judaism refuses to admit the dualism that opposes the earthly to the heavenly, the temporal to the eternal, and consequently considers suffering and misery inseparable from the present world and the lot of human life. On the contrary, the earthly and the heavenly are in the view of Judaism in harmonious relation- ship to one another, the latter being regarded as inevitable result and deve- lopment of the former. Judaism rejects the dualistic idea of a pure spirit imprisoned in a body which is impure and hostile to the immaterial and spritual. For Judaism body and spirit have been united to one another in order to give rise together to a higher form of earthly life — the righteous man — and thereby contribute to the rearing of righterousness on earth in fulfilment of divine purpose.”2 Had the people of Isreal remained isolated from the rest of the world, they might have retained the purity of their faith and culture. But the little hill state of Judea contained only part of the race when Ptolemy I acquired it in 301 B.C. Samaria was inhabited by a mixed race, in Galiles and Peraea Greek settlements had been made. Egypt and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, however, had the full impact of the Hellenic civilisation. Jewish Hellenism reached its greatest development in Alexandria. Here Hellenistic Judaism became more Hellenistic than Jewish. The great monu- ment of the Hellenististic Jews in Alexandria is the Septuagint or ‘Book 1. Isidore Epstein, Judaism, pp. 25, 27. 2. Isidore Epstein, Judaims, pp. 140, 141. 20 THE REVIEW OF RELIGIONS of the Seventy’, the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. It was highly esteemed by the Hellenistic Jews, who permitted girls to read it and declared it to be the only language into which the Torah might be translated. It is difficult to ascertain how early traces of Hellenism are to be found in Jewish literature. It is claimed that the universalist passages in Isaiah were inspired in this period, and the Book of Ecclesiastes has been suspected of containing Stoic and Epicurean doctrines. But it is open to doubt. Greek influence came later and can be seen in the Apocrypha. Greek ethics cast in the mould of the Jewish Wisdom literature is presented in the Wisdom of Solomon. In his conception of Wisdom the author follows Proverbs 8 and 9, but Wisdom becomes in his hands an independent being, existing apart from the Deity, and, in a way, acting as the mediator between the divine activity and the world. The terms in which the author describes this mediation show the influence of Greek philosophy, specially of Stoicism recalling the doctrine of divine reason immanent in the world. The pressure of Hellenistic culture was gradually felt in Judea as well, and the higher order of priests were constantly adjusting themselves to this pressure. Though they frowned upon new and foreign ideas in religion, they were willing to adopt the outward forms of the dominant civilization. The members of this wealthy, aristocratic and worldly group gave birth to the important party of Sadducees. From these “pious ones” or “puritans” who had no interest in politics and much less in Greek culture, spring the powerful party of the Pharisees, to which most of the scribes and rabbis belonged. In A.D. 6 Judea became a Roman province and about the same time two new parties sprang up. The Zealots, the passionate upholders of a policy of rebellion against Rome and the Essenes, who disassociated themselves from politics. The Messianic expectation increased its hold on thousands of suffering Jews. If God cared at all for his chosen people, he would act soon and so in preparation for the Messiah’s coming they withdrew from the “corruption” of civilized society into monastic seclusion, where they fasted and prayed, ate together and practiced non-violence. They called themselves followers of “the way” and “sons of light”. JESUS OF NAZARETH It was in this Hellenistic world that there went out a decree from Caeser Augustus that all the world should be taxed.1 So Joseph went to 1. It is immaterial whether such an order was issued at this time or not. This is one of the most poignant passages in the New Testament (St. Luke 11, 2-7) and what St. Luke is trying to convey is that at this time it was the writ of the Roman Emperor which ran in the world. THE AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT The Ahmadiyya Movement was founded in 1889 by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the expected world reformer and the Promised Messiah. The Movement is an embodiment of true and real Islam. It seeks to unit mankind with its Creator and to establish peace through- out the world. The present head of the Movement is Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad. The Ahmadiyya Movement has its headquarters at Rabwah, Pakistan, and is actively engaged in missionary work at the following centres. AHMADIYYA MUSLIM MISSION AFRICA: BENNIN P.O. Box 69, portonova. GAMBIA P.O. Box 383, Banjul. Tel: 608 GHANA P.O. Box 2327, Accra (OSU New Estates). Tel: 76845 IVORY COAST Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, 03 BP 416, Adjame- Abidjan 03. KENYA P.O. Box 40554, Nairobi (Fort Hall Road). Tel: 264226. Telex: c/o 22278 LIBERIA P.O. Box 618, Monrovia (9 Lynch Street). MAURITIUS P.O. Box 6 (Rose Hill, Mauritius. NIGERIA P.O. Box 418, Lagos (45 Idumagbo Avenue). Tel: 633 757 SIERRA LEONE P.O. Box 353, Free- town,Tel :40699/22617 SOUTH AFRICA Mr. M.G. Ebrahim, P.O. Box 4195, Cape Town (Dar- ut Tabligh-il-lslami). TANZANIA P.O. Box 376, Dares Salaam (Libya Street). Tel: 21744 UGANDA P.O. Box 98, Kampala, Uganda. ZAMBIA P.O. Box 32345, Lusaka. AUSTRALIA: Dr. Ijaz-ul-Haque, 19 Bram Borough Road, Roseville 2069-N.S.W Sydney AMERICA: CANADA 1306 Wilson Avenue, Downs- View, Ontario M3M 1HB. Tel: 416 249 3420 GUYANA Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, 198 Oronoguq and Almond Streets, P.O. Box 736,Georgetown. Tel: 02-6734 SURINAM Ahmadiyya Muslim Mis- sion, Ephraimszegenweg, 26 P.O.B. 2106, Paramaribo. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO Freeport Mis- sion Road, Upper Carapichaima, Trinidad, W.I. US.A. 2141, Leroy Place, N.W. Wash- ington 8, D.C. 20008. Tel: 202 23 2-3737. Cables: ISLAM. AISA: BANGLADESH 4 Baxi Bazar Road, Dacca-1. BURMA 191-28th Street, Rangoon. FIJI P.O. Box 3758,Samabula (82 Kings Road), Suva,Tel: 38221. INDIA Darul Masih, Qadian. Tel: 36. INDONESIA Jalan Balikpapan I .No. lO, Djakarta Pusat 1/13. Tel: 36 5342 JAPAN Ahmadiyya Centre, 643-1 Aza Yamanoda, O-Aza Issha, Idaka-cho, Meito-Ku, Nagoya 465.Tel. 703-1868 PAKISTAN (Headquarters) Rabwah, Dist. Jhang. PHILIPPINES Haji M. Ebbah, Simunal, Bongao.Sulu. SINGAPORE 111 Onan Rd,Singapore 15 SRI LANKA Colombo M.E.M. Hasan, 24 San Sebastin Street, Ratnum Road, Colombo 12. EUROPE: BELGIUM Maulvi S.M. Khan, 76 Av. due Pantheon Bte 5 1080, Brussels. DENMARK Eriksminde Alle2, Hvidovre- Copenhagen.Tel: 753502 GERMANY Die Moschee, Babenhauser, Landstrasse, 25, Frankfurt. Tel: 681485 HOLLAND De Moschee, Oostduirlaan, 79, Den Haag. Tel: (010-3170) 245902 Telex: 33574 Inter NLA30C NORWAY Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Frognerveine 53, Oslo-2. Tel: 447188 SPAIN Mission Ahmadiyya del Islam, Mezquita Basharat, Pedro Abad.near Cordoba. Tel: 160750 Ext. 142 SWEDEN Nasir Moske Islams Ahmadiy- ya Forsamling, Tolvskillingsgatan 1. S-414 82 Goteborg, Sverige. Tel: 414044 SIWTZERLAND Mahmud Moschee, 323, Forschstrasse 8008, Zurich. Tel: 535570. Telex: 58378 MPTCH Islam 374/XA UNITED KINGDOM 16 Gressenhall Road, London SW18 SQL. Tel: 01-874 6298. Telex: 28604 Ref: 1292 REGD. No. L 5746 The REVIEW of RELIGIONS The Review of Religions is the oldest magazine of its kind published in the English language in the Indo-Pakistan Sub- Continent. Its first issue was published in 1902 and it has been continuously published since. It bears the distinction that it was initiated under the direction of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian,the Promis- ed Messiah himself. During more than eighty-one years the message of Islam has been conveyed through this magazine to hundreds of readers and many fortunate persons have recognised the truth of Islam and accepted it through studying it. The articles published in it deal not only with the doct- rines and teachings of Islam but also set forth a comparative appreciation of the teachings of other faiths. One of its outstanding features is the refutations of the criticism of Islamic teachings by orientalists and non-muslim scholars. It also presents solutions in the light of Islamic teachings of the problems with which the Islamic world is from time to time confronted. A study of this magazine is indispensable for the appre- ciation of the doctrines of the Ahmadiyya Movement and the teachings of its holy Founder. Printed by Unwin Brothers Limited, The Gresham Press, Old Woking, Surrey Published by The London Mosque, 16 Gressenhall Road, London, SW18 SQL