Editorial

EDITORIAL REVOLUTION WITHOUT MATCHES Mr. Gorbachev told journalists, We stand knee-deep in petrol and you are igniting matches. It would be irresponsible for a non-political journal such as the Review of Religions to be any party to such an explosion. But we cannot fail to comment on some aspects of the revolution currently taking place in Eastern Europe. The ballot box in Poland, the freeing of prices and cutting of subsidies; the East Germans voting with the feet, the breaking of the Berlin Wall; the bloody overthrow of Niolas Ceausescu, the Communist leader who held Romania in his iron grip for 24 years, the failure of Communist reformers in Hungary, the separation struggle of the 80% Catholics in Lithuania, the civil unrest in Azerbaijan and Armenia—are all momentous political and economic changes for, which the East and West was totally unprepared. Such changes are by no means over as we await the results of the first free elections in over 40 years due to be held in many countries between February and June this year. As the return to freer economies makes Eastern European contries turn to their neighbouring European Economic Community preparing for the removal of all barriers to greater economic and political unity by December 1992, both Japan and USA feel uncomfortable being left out in the budget deficits and face the cripling effect of high interest rates. Capitalism has some nasty lessons to teach the bureaucratic — ridden economics of Eastern Europe. The Eastern European comeback is partly a reaction to the failure of communism in a granting opportunities for the exercise of human freedom and in fulfilling the needs of man. These liberties are an intergral part of human nature. Any restrictions imposed by a state eventually have to yield. Many countries which have usurped human rights have a valuable lesson to learn from the experience of Eastern Europe. Neither NATO, nor the Warsaw pact, nor the cold war, nor nuclear armament had anything to do with the changes now taking place in Europe. That the West was caught napping by these changes is obvious from the muted and disjointed lukewarm response put by Western leaders. Only a few months earlier, they did not hesitate in taking unified action against Iran over Salman Rushdie’a Satanic Verses. Islam was REVIEW OF RELIGIONS 3 brandished as an enemy of western democracy. Yet, for several decades, the East was seen as the greatest enemy but when it came to welcoming the changes in the East, vested interests began to manifest themselves and plague the situation. Mr Gorbachev’s plea to the journalists not to ignite this situation is perfectly understandable. Because neither the East nor the West was prepared for these breath—taking dominoe effect changes, it is obvious that they are the result of some other power. The Mighty Hand of God Almighty is at work. He, indeed, is the Best of Planners. No power on earth can interfere with His decree. Who in his right mind could have foreseen a Communist leader of Mr. Gorbachev’s stature promise freedom of faith and conscience? This is precisely what he did in Rome. As far as the Review of Religions is concerned, this is the most momentous change in this revolution and because all religions have much to gain from it, we warmly welcome it. Atheism, fanned by Communism, has bred a generation of people for whom superstition is an alternative form of belief. Yet, untainted by the venom of orientalists and the religious bias preached from the pulpit in the West, the Eastern Europeans, and in particular the Russians, have a distinct advantage. They are generally fair – minded and logical in their approach and they are most certainly attracted by the truth. This truth prevails in its pristine form in the Ahmadiyya beliefs of Islam. Russian people and their past and future destinies do not by any means represent green pastures for the Ahmadiyya Community. Count Tolstoy was much impressed by the Review of Religions and complimented the Founder of Ahmadiyyat, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, on its scholarly articles. The Founder, who claimed that he was the Promised Messiah and world reformer promised by all great world religions, also prophesied the defeat of the Turks by Russia, the fall of the Czar and that a time would come when the followers of the Promised Messiah in Russia would literally number like grains of sand. The former prophecies were, of course, fulfilled at their appointed time, but the latter has been dismissed as a mere fantasy for the past ninety years by the opponents of Ahmadiyyat. Now that it appears to be a distinct possibility, these opponents can no longer ridicule it. These momentous changes have occured at the turn of the first century of Ahmadiyyat when it enters the centuries of its promised triumph. This (continued on page 10)