80 YEARS AGO DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE HOLY QURAN (The following is an extractfrom the August’issue of the Review of Religions, 1910) If we return to the Christian scriptures, we find that they do give clear tests by means of which one may easily see the truth of as claimant to prophecy, and if the Christians are faithful to their scriptures, let them apply these tests to those claimants whose truth they desire to judge. A few clear tests are given in the prophecy of Moses which the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessing of .God be upon him, claimed to have fulfilled in his own holy person. One of the tests is to.be found in the following line of Deut. 18:20:Bu£ the.prophet, says the Word of God revealed to Moses, which shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, even that prophet shall die. In these words, God gives a sure criterion to test a prophet We are told,here that God shall destroy any prophet who is presumtous enough even to fabricate a-single revelation. The wrath of God is kindled, .so furiously against a false pretender that he is consumed to ashes even if he speaks a single sentence, nay a single word in the name of God which He has .not commanded him to speak. Nay, it even appears, from the verse quoted above .-that the prophet may have spoken a thousand true revelations, but if he fabricates even a single word and speaks it in the name of God which He has not bidden him to speak, he will be brought to nought even -for the utterance of that single word. Now I ask the Christians. Is.not the verse .quoted above a true Word of God? Do they not believe it to be a true revelation from God to Moses the Prophet? The test given therein must be infallible and every prophet who presumes to speak even a. word in the.name of God which He has not bidden him.to speak, must speedily be brought to naught, for such is the import of the verse .already quoted. Now let-the Christians, if they are sincere believers in the Word of-God revealed to Moses, test the claim of the Holy Prophet, may peace and the blessings of God be upon him, by this criterion. The Holy Prophet spoke not one-word but hundreds of thousands of words in the name of God. Every word which we find written in the Holy Quran, claimed to haveibeen received direct from God. He gave out every verse of the Holy Book as the actual Word of God, a word which the Almighty God had spoken to him. This revelation extended not over one day, or one week or one-month or one 20 REVIEW OF RELIGIONS year, but over about a quarter of a century—over three and twenty long years. And the Prophet who spoke these words in the name of God and who continued to do so for twenty three years, far from being brought to naught, prospered every day. Every morning brought him new success and every year brought him new glory; And he did not pass away from this world until his mission was firmly established In the land. The seed which he sowed grew and prospered until it became a thriving tree in his own life-time and bore fruit in abundance. He won a success which is admittedly unique in the annals of history. So according to the Word’of God already quoted, he was a true prophet, in fact the most true prophet if degrees of comparison are admissible in the case of prophets. If Christians believe that it was God who spoke to Moses and that the criterion given in the Word of God is a true criterion, they must also believe that the Prophet who rose at Mecca was a true Prophet. He was not brought to naught like a false prophet. On the other hand he won a glorious success such as was never won before him by any claimant to prophethood. Nay, not even by Moses to whom the Word of God already quoted was revealed. Hence the Christians, and the Jews as well, cannot escape either of the two conclusions:- Either they must accept the Holy Prophet, may peace and the blessings of God be upon him, as a true Prophet, or they must reject the Word of God revealed to Moses as false. Let them choose between the two alternatives. They cannot call the Holy Prophet (may peace and.the blessing of God be upon him) false and believe the revelation of Moses as the true Word of God. But no reasonable man, even if he be not a believer in the revelation of Moses, will question the soundness of the criterion given in the verse of Duternomy quoted already. That God should destroy every false preten- der and vouchsafe His assistance to every true claimant is a criterion which will commend itself to every reasonable man. Do not the earthly goverments seize, and inflict exemplary punishment on every person who tries to impose upon the people by falsely pretending to be a government official? Why should not God, similarly, seize and inflict exemplary punishment on every person who poses to be a vicegerent of God on earth while he is not so? If God should not do so, and if the false pretenders should be as successful as the true prophets, what criterion would there be by which men should be able to distinguish between the true prophets and the false pretenders? This law of God becomes very apparent when we read some of the chapters of Jeremiah. Mark how vehemently God inveighs against the false prophets of the time of Jeremiah: The prophets prophesy falsely in my REVIEW OF RELIGIONS 21 name: I sent them not,’neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and deceit, and the seduction .of their own hearts. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not yet they say sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. (Jeremiah 14:14,15) Again, Thus saith the Lord of hosts : hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord, Behold the whirlwind of the- Lord’s indignation shaR come forth, and a tempest shall break out, and come upon the head of the wicked. I did not send the prophets, yet they ran, -I have not spoken to them,’ yet they prophesied — I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in My name, and say, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart ofthe prophets, that prophesy lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart? Are not My. words as afire, saith the Lord, and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore behold! I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, who steal My words every one from his neighbour.- Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, who use their tongues, and say, the Lord $aith it Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord, and tell them and cause My people to err by their lying, and by their wonders, when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have riot profited this people at all, saith the Lord. (Jer 23:16-32). When the Lord is always against false prophets and His ‘wrath is kindled against them and consumes them, as fire consumes chaff, why was it that His wrath was not similarly kindled against the Holy Prophet of Islam, may peace and blessings be upon him, if he was’ not a true prophet. Was the law of God changed in the time of the Holy Prophet? Was the God of the day s of Jeremiah different from the God of the days of the Holy Prophet? Did God forget His original Law according to which he destroyed every false prophet? Did God forget His original Law according to which He destroyed every false prophet? Did he make a new law in the days of the Holy Prophet, by which He gave His succour to false prophets and destroyed their enemies? Perhaps Jesus after his ascent to heaven and after taking his seat on the right hand of God persuaded His father to reverse His former laws and, instead of bringing to naught false prophets, to aid them and grant them a glorious success, such a s He had never granted even to His elect in days gone by. Attention may also be drawn to the fate of the false REVIEW OF RELIGIONS prophet Hananiah, a contemporary’of Jeremiah. When Hananiah spoke a false prophecy in the presence of the priests and of all the people, then said the Prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord-hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth, this year-thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. When such used to be the fate of the false prophets, it is indeed wonderful that the divine law should have been reversed in the time of the Holy.Prophet, may peace and the blessings of God be upon him, and that in the sixth century after Christ, a Prophet whom the Christians call false, should have received an assistance from God which was not granted even to true prophets before him! From the Old Testament I now pass to the collection of booklets and epistles which the Christians call the New Testament. The wonder is that here too we find the same law given with regard to the false prophets which we find given in the books of the Old Testament. Jesus, comparing false prophets to evil trees which bring forth evil fruit, said: Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is-hewn down, and cast into the fire. From this it is apparent that even according to the teachings of Jesus, a false prophet is hewn down like an evil tree and is cast into fire. Thus he also gave the same criterion which was given in the Word of God revealed to Moses and in the revelation sent to Jeremiah, but alas, the Christian missinoary will not apply this criterion. The Prophet of Islam, may peace and blessings be upon him, they say, secretly collected his materials from the Christians, the Jews and other sources, then spent many a midnight hour in working up this material into elaborate surahs and then gave them out as the words of Divine revelation which had been spoken to him by God. This he continued to do from day to day uhtil twenty three long years were passed and during this time his mission was firmly established while his enemies who had sought to destroy him were themselves destroyed and the land which was once peopled by his bitterest enemies was at last converted into a land of devoted followers. With every new revelation he received new assistance from God and as his revelations gained in volume, his glory increased until it saw its consummation on the day when the revelation was completed. Yet the Christians say that this man was a false prophet and that what he gave out as revelation was not the Word of God but his own fabrication. We say, if such a prophet was a false prophet, it follows as surely as day follows night that the word which God is said to have spoken to Moses and to Jeremiah after him is a lie and that Jesus told a lie when he said that a false prophet is hewn down like an evil tree. REVIEW OF RELIGIONS • 23 Christians can not call the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of God be upon him, a false prophet, believing in the revelation of Moses and Jeremiah as a true Word of God. it is strange that a person, who has not been sent by God should every day fabricate new revelations and should tell every morning hew dreams, while God has sent him no revelation and has shown him no vision, and that he should continue to do so for about a quarter of a century but God, far from visiting him with His consuming wrath, should grant him greater and greater success every day until he reaches the highest pinnacle of glory to which no prophet ever reached before. If even false prophets can prosper like true prophets .and God grants His assistance to false pretenders as He grants His assistance to His true messengers, where is then the criterion to distinguish a true prophet from a false one? If the criterion given in the revelations to ‘Moses and Jeremiah is a sound criterion-and. every reasonable man must admit its soundness—the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of God be upon him, is pre-eminently a.true prophet. If the Christians cannot admit his truthfulness, they must reject the revelations of Moses and Jeremiah as false and deceitful words. (from page 15) yoga is whether it is a religion. The answer to this question is both no and yes. It is no, if by religion is implied dogmas and blind beliefs, indoctrination and sectarianism, ‘narrowness and exclusiveness. On the other hand, the answer is yes, if-any religion through guidelines, orientation and application of its principles in daily life helps one to harmonize with oneself and with others and to discover the kingdom of heaven which is’ within each one of us. Yoga can then rightly be considered the religion and not a religion. The religious instinct in man is rightly channelled in yoga science through regular prayers and meditations. One can conclude from the above exposition that yoga science, its integrated approach and techniques are universal and holistic, accessible to one and’ all, independent of religion, country, sex, political ideology, colour and creed.
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