Gospel and the Quran
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In part I we decided that in our enquiry we shall use only logic and common sense and will not quote any authority to influence our decision.

Gospel and the Quran in Part II we shall be discussing some historical material and therefore to state facts about Gospel and the Quran, the use of quotations of appropriate sources will be necessary. Even then, these quotations will be as few as possible and, in any case, the conclusions arrived at will always be based on logic and common sense.

With this brief introduction we embark on our journey “in search of the right path”.

The Right Path
Prophets & Religion
Opportunity Lost
The Unjust Campaign
Opposition Tooth & Nail
The Ray of Hope
Rest Camp II (A Review)
Roman Emperor


Since we are accountable before God, we must know what is right and what is wrong.

There are two ways to determine the right path.

  1. We may use our own intellect or
  2. We may seek guidance from ‘Revelation’ of God, which has reached the humanity through Prophets.

We shall look into these sources a little deeply.

Human Intellect

As we have seen, human intellect is a very powerful and efficient tool bestowed by God upon man. In physical matters it has helped us to conquer the universe and to tame the forces of nature, but in non-physical matters its conclusions cannot be depended upon, as in this sphere it is not possible to conduct experiments to verify these conclusions.

Also human intellect is dependable, only when it is free from all sorts of interference and prejudices. We must realize that there is an animal in every man. When this animal assumes power, he makes all decisions in accordance with his own likings. Under this influence a person decides (i) to stick to the way of his forefathers to feed his pride and to assume false dignity as a superior group; (ii)  to sieze power to dominate over others to satisfy his ego; (iii) to grab wealth to strengthen his power and to grab luxuries of life; and (iv) to cater for his sensual pleasures.

The way of life offered by this animal is very attractive and luxurious.

Since man is easy going, he generally cannot resist the temptation offered by the animal, though outwardly he throws out his breast and proclaims that he is taking decisions in the light of his intellects.

To safeguard against this danger, the human race has adopted democracy as a way of life, so that our society may not suffer on account of the vagaries of individual leaders, who have their own criterion of good and evil. But unfortunately the current form of democracy has not been able to solve the problem.

Under this system the criterion is, that a concept is good if fifty one members, out of an assembly of one hundred, declare it to be good. The judgment of forty nine members is of no value, but the judgment of fifty one is sacred and must be enforced in the society under the label of ‘the will of the people’. It does not matter whether some or all the members of the majority group are working under the influence of the internal animal.

A few examples will enlighten us on this point:-

  1. some countries have shamelessly declared homosexuality to be legal. Even in this world they have earned diseases like AIDS as wages of sin. Yet they are not ashamed of it. Recently a group of its supporters had the face to project a demonstration from the lobby of the British Parliament.
  2. Another eye opener is found in many societies, who claim to be highly educated and civilized. Here illegal sexual contacts are not only permitted but are legalized and they proudly proclaim it to be a form of “personal liberty”. This corruption has reached shameful limits. Now in these countries a number of teenage girls are seen to be carrying their illegally born children with them while going to school. May God save the humanity from such horrors.
  3. Then there are nations, who are stock-piling nuclear weapons, knowing fully well what a nuclear war will do to the human race.


These are just a few examples, which clearly prove, how dangerous it can be for the human race, if the decision of good and evil is left to individual or so-called majority opinion.

It is apparent that these ideas of good and evil, and the nature of human actions in the light of the examples given above, can never be approved by the Creator and if we have to confront Him on the ‘Day of Judgment’ with honour and approval, we shall have to seek the guidance of God. So let us look at the second alternative.

Revelation of God

From time immemorial, human race has always been adopting some religion. It is of no use to discuss the forms of religion in antiquity, nor are of any significant interest the sporadic religions, which sprang up in various parts of the world making the worship of idols or fire etc as their basis. They have died their own death having none or only a few followers in modern times.

The only centre of attraction for us is the group of religions, which come under the “Prophet-hood System”. This system has a formidable volume of evidence to prove its genuineness, as it has been supported by billions and billions of people specially in the last 3000 years.

Human history records the coming of various prophets, who claimed that they had special communication with God, receiving Revelation from Him. They propagated the principles of virtue and opposed the evil ways, which had found way into the social structure of that time. All of them had to face opposition in the beginning but, on account of their selfless efforts, finally succeeded in gathering quite a number of followers around them.

Some people, in the past as well as at present, do not believe in the system of Prophet-hood. 

One objection, generally raised, is that they do not consider it reasonable, that a person, who eats, drinks and walks the street just like a common man, can be appointed to such an important job. If a prophet had to be sent, he should have been an angel or some other super being. This objection is not sound. A prophet does not only propagate principles but he also serves as a model by actually putting these principles into practice. If an angel does it, a common man can raise an objection, that the prophet being an angel can do so, but how can a weak human being equal the performance of an angel?

Another common objection is that if the prophets are sent by God, why were there so many of them and why are their teachings different from each other? Let us consider this matter in some detail. Each prophet has been deputed to a different area and it was necessary, because the means of communications between different parts of the world were scanty. Also the human race is passing through stages of evolution – (Not the evolution of Darwin: from monkey to man, but the real intellectual and cultural evolution.) With the passage of time there is significant progress and new problems arises requiring fresh interpretations. Also with the passage of time the followers of a prophet gradually forget principles of virtue and slip back into evil ways. Therefore there is full justification of the appearance of prophets at different times and in different parts of the world.

As to their different teachings, even the most cursory study of the teachings of prophets of this system will show that the foundation stone of the religion of every one of them is the Unity of God and His complete control over the Universe. Also the basic moral structure, as embodied in the TEN COMMANDMENTS, is common to the teachings of all these prophets. The difference is only in the emphasis on minor aspects of life and that was necessary on account of different circumstances, into which the humanity of that period was involved.

Thus we see that the objections raised against “Prophet-hood System” do not have much weight, whereas the evidence of billions and billions of human beings, living in different periods and in different parts of the world, on the basis of their intellect, were convinced with the truth of the message of these prophets, is overwhelming.

Also if we study the life of these prophets, we find that they worked selflessly for the guidance of human beings without getting any benefit for themselves. On the other hand they have undergone great sufferings while delivering the message of God, before they could convince the large number of people who finally became their followers.

And finally it is very important to note, that if we reject the “Prophet-hood System” and say that they were not the emissaries of God, we are questioning the integrity of such respected personalities as Prophets Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ and Muhammad (may peace be upon them). May God forgive the utterance of this blasphemy even for the sake of argument. This will also mean that the billions and billions of human beings of all ages and all countries were fools and were duped by the prophets. This is a very regrettable and desperate thought, as this lot covers an overwhelming majority of the human race and their collective intelligence and integrity cannot be brushed aside simply to support the view of a few unbelievers. In fact these billions and billions of persons have registered a vote of confidence in the Prophet-hood System, merely on the basis of their intellect.

If we disagree, we shall be lost in the dark without getting any guidance from any source, as to what is the right path as determined by God.

Thus it is apparent that the “Revelation of God” as conveyed to us through prophets is the only source of guidance for the human race to decide, what is good and what is evil.

If we do not accept Revelation as the final guiding factor, we shall be a prey to ordinary peoples’ opinion and hearsay. Some examples of freelance legislation have already been given. In the interest of humanity it is essential that checks and controls must be placed on freelance human decisions. Thus the “Will of God” should be supreme and the “Will of the People” should be allowed to operate within the limits set by God’s message sent to us through the prophets.

Since the prophets and their teachings based on God’s Revelation are so important for the welfare of the human race, we shall look into this subject more closely in the next few chapters.



A “Prophet” is a human being selected by God to propagate His message to the people of this world.

“Revelation” is the message which God conveys to his prophets through a special system of communication.

A written history of ancient times does not exist, but we know through continuous traditions, that Prophet Adam (may peace be upon him) was the first human being and naturally was the first prophet.

(Note: In the following pages the sentence “may peace be upon him” will be written as (PBUH) abbreviation.)

Then there is a long period of which there are no exact records. As human beings multiplied, various settlements must have come into existence. Since means of communications were scarce, there must have been local prophets. Several such prophets have been mentioned in the Holy Books.

Prophet Abraham (PBUH) was one of the exalted prophets and since his times some sort of a record is available. There are some indirect records in the shape of ruins, engravings, tablets and most of all continuous tradition. But considerable reliable information can be obtained from the Holy Books.
The most significant achievement of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) was his campaign against idolatry. He broke all the idols of his father, who was a sculptor, and defended himself by saying that one of the bigger idols had done so. They did not accept this explanation and thus indirectly their folly was exposed. But they were not prepared to change the ways of their forefathers. The King and the whole community subjected him to great hardships, which he bore patiently but after all he was successful in establishing the Unity of God and had a very large following.

Prophet Abraham’s (PBUH) faith was straight and simple with the Unity of God as its pivot. The Holy Books of all the prophets coming after him – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – exalt his faith and consider it to be the basis of their faiths.

Thus the faith of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) is a great joining force for the religions which followed.
For a long period after Prophet Abraham (PBUH) several prophets continued coming to this world and working among people of different areas.

Then Prophet Moses (PBUH) appears in the world. He has a long history, but here we are concerned only with the religious aspect. He had to fight for the “Unity of God” as the Pharaoh of Egypt had declared himself to be god. He had to leave Egypt along with his group of Israelites facing great dangers, as the army of Pharaoh was in pursuit. He had to take a great risk in crossing the river Nile, which he did in an excitement but God drowned Pharaoh and his army in the river.

Prophet Moses (PBUH) was thankful to God for this rescue and went ahead wandering in the desert of Sinai suffering great hardships. It is surprising that his followers escaping the wrath of the false god Pharaoh, were still adamant on worshipping idols and Prophet Moses (PBUH) had great difficulty in establishing the worship of “One God” but he succeeded in the end.

As time passed on, Judaism, the religion preached by Prophet Moses (PBUH), lost its original shape due to the tampering of his Holy Book, Torah,  and the despotic monopoly of religion and its interpretation assumed by the religious leaders. So God sent Prophet Christ (PBUH). Here again the Unity of God was the pivot of his faith. He declared the faith of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) to be the basis of Christian faith and Torah, the Holy Book of Prophet Moses (PBUH) was accepted as a part of Christianity. Thus it is not possible that the Unity of God, which is the cardinal point of the faiths of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) and Prophet Moses (PBUH) could in any way be set aside by Prophet Christ (PBUH).

As is the fate of all prophets, the people opposed Prophet Christ (PBUH) tooth and nail and made his life miserable and finally tried to crucify him on false charges, but he was saved by God. In the mean time he had done his job and had succeeded in gathering around him enough followers who may carry his message to the unbelievers.

Then about 600 years after the Prophet Christ (PBUH), Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) appeared on the scene. His problem was the same. The influence of previous prophets had faded out by now. There were hundreds of idols placed in the holy shrine of ‘Kaba’, a building constructed by no other than Prophet Abraham (PBUH), the well known idol breaker. When Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) tried to point out their folly to the people of Mecca, they offered him wealth and kingship of the area in exchange of the stoppage of his campaign against their “gods”, but he rejected their offer. Then they started to persecute him and his followers. They bore hardships patiently for thirteen years, all the time persisting in the campaign to establish the Unity of God. But gradually the opposition became unbearable and he had to leave his birth place Mecca and went to Medina, where he was more successful in his mission. Now he had passed the test and God helped him and gave him success. He was soon able to convert a large number of people and regained the city of Mecca and removed all the idols from ‘Kaba’. And thus Islam took its roots and in a very short time spread over various parts of the world.

The Great Epic

This great epic, though described here in a sketchy way, is spread over thousands of years, wherein hundreds of prophets have devoted their lives to bring the teeming millions of human beings to the fold of God. There is no record, even through hearsay, that any prophet secured any personal benefit out of this struggle. On the other hand they suffered great hardships in establishing the Unity of God and consequent surrender to His will alone. This was necessary because without believing in the Unity, we do not attach any importance to Revelation and consequently to the ‘Day of Judgment’ and we can easily imagine what the actions of such persons will be, when they have no sense of accountability.

This brief review of the coming of Prophets has brought out the following points:-

  1. In all fairness, nobody can, even for a moment, doubt the integrity of the prophets, who devoted their lives to convey the will of God to billions of human beings, and therefore, in our own interest, we must believe in the Revelation, as that is the only source for knowing the will of God.
  2. It will be noted that Unity of God is the central theme of the teachings of every prophet. This proves that they are all parts of the same system and this is quite natural, since all of them are emissaries of the same One God.Their teachings differ in minor details, which was necessary keeping in view the different conditions which were to be found in different areas and in different periods of time
  3. The most significant point, which forces itself to our attention, is the continuity in the faiths brought by the prophets.

Judaism plainly proclaims that this faith, is based on the faith of Prophet Abraham (PBUH). Christianity went to step further and included the Revelations of Prophet Moses (PBUH), “The Torah”, the Revelation of Prophet David (PBUH) “The Zabur”, and that of several other foregoing prophets into a book under the title of “The Old Testament” and made it an essential part of Bible.

In Islam,  is was made compulsory to recognize all prophets, from Prophet Adam (PBUH) onwards, alongwith their Revelations, with so much emphasis on this aspect, that a person cannot be proclaimed as a Muslim, if he does not accept equal status of all foregoing prophets. This also proves, that the differences that are there, must be minor, while the backbone of oneness of God holds them together.


In the last chapter we have seen that all the religions brought by the prophets were basically the same and that every prophet emphasized the importance of the foregoing prophets and their Revelations.

Under these circumstances a very happy situation should have arisen, but unfortunately it did not happen. Whenever any new prophet appeared in the world, all living followers of the previous prophet should have joined forces with the new prophet, as he was the emissary of the same God and the new prophet fully recognized the old religion. In this way the number of believers would have increased considerably and the will of God would have reigned supreme throughout the world. It is surprising that whenever a new prophet appeared, an attitude of strong opposition has always been taken by the followers of the previous religion. This is like boycotting a new Governor when he replaces the old one, though both represent the same authority.

Prophet Moses (PBUH) declared his faith to be a continuation of the faith of Prophet Abraham (PBUH)

The new Prophet Christ (PBUH) also declared the same. Also in the Holy Book of Jews it was clearly stated that in due course they should expect a new prophet, who will be their redeemer (Messiah).

Inspite of all this, the Jews did not accept Prophet Christ (PBUH), opposed him tooth and nail, persecuted him in every possible way and finally tried to crucify him, though God in his mercy saved him.

Thus the Jews lost a great opportunity. Had they joined the Christians, they would have served the cause of God’s party and their strength would have protected both groups from the tyranny of the godless Romans, but instead they persecuted the Christians in every possible way. So the retribution of God overtook the Jews very soon. Now it was their turn. The Romans persecuted the Jews to such an extent that they had to leave Palestine and to seek refuge in various countries.

The Christians, left alone, were no match for the Romans. For almost three centuries the Christians faced great difficulties at the hands of the Romans. They could not even hold their services openly. They could only meet secretly in the catacombs, which were underground passages in Rome. Hundreds of Christians were thrown into the arena of the great open air theatre, Coliseum, where amongst shouts and laughter of the Roman audience, they were devoured by lions or burned alive or beheaded by armed knights or killed in some other cruel way. It was in the reign of Emperor Constantine that the Christians got some relief.

When the Roman Emperor Theodosius accepted Christianity, it became the state religion of the Roman Empire. The Christians had suffered injustice for more than three centuries, so they should have appreciated the pain of persecution. Also their own faith gave prime importance to kindness, service and charity. Yet the surprising fact is, that like the Jews and Romans, they also became aggressive and the non-Christians had to lose their temples, their private property, civil rights and sometimes even their lives.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) got his prophet-hood in the year 610 A.D. and Islam was proclaimed to the world. As in the Holy Book of Jews, so also in the Holy Book of Christians, it was clearly mentioned that a new prophet will appear who will guide them to the right path.

This was another opportunity, when the forces of God could join hands and could spread the message of God throughout the world, conquering the godless forces for ever. But this opportunity was also lost, this time by the Christians. They assumed the same attitude towards Islam, as the Jews had against Christianity.

However, they could not persecute the followers of Islam, as Arabia, where Islam had its roots, was not ruled by Christians, nor was any of the Christian kingdoms at a convenient distance from Arabia to enable them to launch any large scale invasion. However, they came out with a different strategy. The period 500 to 1000 A.D. has been given the title of “Dark Ages”, as far as the Christian West is concerned. There was almost total illiteracy and lack of knowledge. Also, means of communication were scarce. So the Christians had no fear that Islamic ideas will reach the general public.

As a further precaution they started a strong campaign of allegations against Islam which were nowhere near facts. The campaign was so continuous that the simple folk came to believe them as facts, and thus a deep rooted prejudice and hatred against Islam was instilled in the mind of the common Christian. Some details of this campaign are given in the next chapter.



The Christian campaigners used every means to malign Islam and the Muslims. Books of History children stories, Comic sketches, in fact every medium available to them, was used to present Islamic way of life in such a way that a common Christian may have the bitterest hate for Islam.

This propaganda was carried out mainly on three issues:-

  1. Muslims were barbarians and fanatics.
  2. Islam is permissive and allows polygamy, so that every Muslim has a number of wives in his ‘harem”.
  3. Islam has spread through the might of sword.


It was alleged that followers of Islam were wild and cruel. A Muslim was often represented in children’s book as an Arab riding a horse and flashing his sword. It was told that wherever the Muslims went, they killed people and committed all sorts of atrocities and they were dirty and ignorant heretics and what not.

In recent years the western intellectuals have realized that it does not pay to hide facts, as with the enlightenment of modern times, facts will after all come into the open. This new trend has been dealt with in a future chapter. At present a quotation from a recent book printed by Christian sources will be of interest to the reader. The book is entitled: “Our World – through the Ages” compiled by Platt & Drummond and published by Prentice Hall – U.S.A. The book says:-

“In the Middle Ages, London and Paris were dirty and dismal but Cordova (Spain under Muslim Rule) and Baghdad sparkled with glamour. Danger lurked at night in the dark and muddy streets of European cities, but the paved avenues of Cordova glittered with thousands of lamps.

“When Europeans paid little attention to personal cleanliness, Moslems were bathing and changing their underwear daily.

“When even rich Europeans were illiterate, there were many schools for poor Moslems.

“When European doctors were attempting magic cures, Moslem medicine was surprisingly modern.

“Like that of Rome this magnificent Arabic civilization had been built upon foundations laid by many ancient peoples. Tolerant Caliphs invited learned men of many lands and religions to study at Moslem universities and libraries.

“In these centuries Moslem culture threw a powerful beam of light into the darkness of Western Europe. Many a great Persian, Egyptian and Jewish scholar was writing his manuscripts in Arabic.

All this and much more is contained in reliable and unchallenged historical records and other sources of information.

This clearly proves how unjustified the Christians were in making the allegation of barbarism against the Moslems.


The second allegation was that Islam encourages sexuality and allows a man to marry several wives.

This is really surprising, as Islam lays the greatest stress on sexual chastity, so much so that if it is proved that a pair is guilty, then according to the Islamic Law, the culprits may get the maximum penalty of being stoned to death.

Of course a Muslim is allowed to have more than one wife but under very strict conditions. The reason for this permission is, that Islam wants its followers to keep strict purity and chastity in sexual matters and does not allow free and illegal relations of the two sexes. In Western society it is very easy for men and women to have illegal relations on temporary or even permanent basis. On the other hand, in Islam, if a man wants relations with a woman, he will have to marry her publicly and will have to be responsible for her maintenance and that of her offspring. Also it is binding on him to give equal rights to his wives.

These restrictions have proved successful and, as a proof, it can be seen that very few Muslims (perhaps one in a thousand or even less) have more than one wife. The Islamic society does not permit laxity in this matter and sexual crimes, as already stated, can even earn a death penalty. Even when Islamic Law is not in force in any country, such culprits lose status in the society. In Islam it is not possible to have a common-for-all sexual orgy, as is going on in Western society and yet these very people assume an air of sanctity and object to a legalized second marriage.

This strange philosophy that having any number of boy or girl friends and their free mixing without any restraint, is quite moral, but a legalized second marriage with full responsibilities is a sin, is really beyond comprehension. A very interesting demonstration of this philosophy was seen by the world, when King Edward VIII of England wanted to marry Mrs. Simpson legally. It as not even a second marriage, but the whole English nation stood up against the King as Mrs. Simpson was a divorcee. However, the Christian religious authorities came up with the suggestion that he cannot marry Mrs. Simpson but can keep her as a mistress, which they will overlook. This shows clearly that premarital relations, illegal births, and even keeping a lady as a mistress can be tolerated even at the highest level, but having a legal second wife is considered as a sin.

Some people raise a question, as to why Islam permits having more than one wife.

Now what should a man do, if his wife is invalid? Should he go free and date with other women, all the time assuming airs of piety for having only one wife? Or should he divorce his invalid wife and make her go out of his life and let her face this wide world unprotected and unprovided for inspite of a long period of love and companionship?

Take another case. Suppose a wife is barren and cannot produce children. The man wants to have children as a natural urge and also to have an heir for his wealth and property. As in the previous example, should he divorce her and throw her out of their life of love, though it is not the fault of the wife? Or should he go without any children and die heirless?

There are several other circumstances, where a second marriage is the only solution. Islam has allowed having more than one wife under strict conditions. This is not only a decision, which is based on common sense and human sympathy, but it also saves individuals from living a sinful life.

Islam & the Sword

The third allegation against Islam has been that it has spread through the use of force.

  1. The Muslims refute this charge by pointing out what the Quran says about this matter, for the words of Quran are binding on Muslims.
  2. “There is no compulsion in faith”. (Quran: 2:256)
  3. (O Muhammad!) “Say to those who insist on being unbelievers, ‘I do not worship those whom you worship and you do not worship Him whom I worship, and the position will remain the same in future. So let your faith be yours and my faith mine”. (Quran: 109: 1-6)
  4. There is a phrase which often forms a part of this propaganda. It is alleged that the Muslims made the following offers to non-Muslims:-

“Qurab, tribute or sword” meaning thereby: “Accept Islam or pay tribute or die”. If an objective enquiry is made, it will be proved that this allegation is baseless.

All citizens have to pay taxes to the government of the country. Muslims paid Zakat and other taxes. Also in addition they were liable to do compulsory military service. The Non-Muslims had to pay only one tax called “Jazia” which has been called by the propagandist as “tribute”. In return the non-Muslims got two privileges:-

  1. Complete protection of their personal property and places of worship with freedom to keep any faith and to worship in any way they like.
  2. Exemption from military duty. Nobody can object to such a tax. In fact it was a concession to non-Muslims, as it exempted them from military service. Today many citizens of any country will gladly pay a much higher tax in exchange of such exemption.
  3. The allegation that Islam spread through the might of sword does not appear to be factual. The Muslims have ruled over a very vast area of the globe and for long periods. Many of these areas have a large number of non-Muslims even today. Had the Muslims used the sword for converting them to Islam, where would they have been?

Let us look at this matter form another angle. Today Indonesia is the country having the largest number of Muslims. Now Indonesia has never been conquered by any Muslim King. Then, who used the sword to convert the Indonesians to Islam? Islam spread in Indonesia through the influence of Arab traders, who naturally were not flashing swords.

Another recent occurrence may be mentioned here. During the Korean War, some of the U.N. troops were also sent there. The Koreans came into contact with some Turkish soldiers of the U.N. Force and they were so much influenced by their observance of Islamic principles, that a good number of them accepted Islam. Today a considerable Muslim community has come up in Korea and their number is increasing. Here again we do not find any sword doing the job. The same has happened in Japan.

Thus we see that the Christians tried to blackout facts and did not allow their common man to know about Islam. Also to strengthen this blockade they put forward false allegations maligning Islam. It is regretted that the Christians took up this attitude. They are believers of “Prophet-hood System” and their faith tells them that prophets have been coming one after another bringing the word of God in accordance with the requirements of the age and the stage of mental development of the human race. If this had not been so, only one prophet and his message would have been in force till the ‘Day of Judgment’. The Christians expected that Jews should have accepted the new Prophet Christ (PBUH) and for the same reasons it was hoped that they should have accepted the new Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).



The blackout of facts about Islam and the campaign of false allegations against Muslims did not satisfy the Christian clergy.

In the year 1095 A.D., the people declared a ‘holy war’ against Muslims, announcing that “God wills it.’ The pretext was that they would free the city of Jerusalem from Muslims, so that the Christian pilgrims could go there freely. In fact, Jerusalem had been under the Muslims for the last four hundred years and Jew and Christian pilgrims were given the best of treatment. So there was no basis for any complaint.

The fact was that Jerusalem at that time was ruled by the Saljuk family of Muslims and they were very active and adventurous. The Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, whose frontiers were closed by, was afraid that the Saljuks may conquer his territory also. So as a counter_ measure he appealed to the Pope to help him in the name of Christianity. Thus the Pope gave this war the colour of religion and gave it the name of “Crusade”. All the countries of Europe responded to this appeal and the “Crusades” took the form of a series of wars spread over two hundred years. They adopted all sorts of strategies. Sometimes several kings of different countries joined a crusade with their combined power. At another time they were cruel enough to organize a Crusade of children. The study of Crusades is very interesting but this is not a book for historical details. All these efforts earned nothing for the Christians except defeat, loss of lives and disappointment.

The Christians failed to win the crusades but they gained in other ways.

A quotation from the book “Our World through ages” (Platt and Drummond – Prentice Hall – U.S.A.) will enlighten the reader:-

“The Crusaders failed to win the Holy Land but they succeeded in helping to make a new Europe. Crusaders had discovered that others had much to teach them. They had been amazed at the magnificent civilization of Moslem and Byzantine cities. They were shamed by their own filth, when they saw how clean the Moslems were. Moslem and Byzantine achievements in medicine, science, philosophy and art stimulated Europe. Now European sailors began to use the compass. More European ladies began to wear gowns of velvet, silk, muslin, calico and damask. At castle banquets appeared more foods seasoned with oriental spices and such rare fruit as peaches, watermelon, dates and lemons. In castle rooms oriental rugs and tapestries became more common. Some of these products came directly from the Moslems. Others came by way of the Moslems from the far East.”
(Page 182)

Thus the iron curtain which the Christian propaganda had erected with blackout of information and false allegations came down with a crash through their own wrong step of organizing Crusades.

The Europeans, thus awakened from ignorance and dazzled by the advancement of Muslims in science, medicine, arts and infact in all spheres of civilized life, made up their mind to achieve that advancement themselves. But the propaganda against Muslims which had been carried out for centuries did not free the minds of the common Christians from prejudice. Instead of recognizing the leadership of Muslims in these fields, they tried to dig out old treasures of manuscripts, paintings and sculptures of Greek and Roman periods, claiming them to be their legacy and the basis of their newly founded “European Civilization”, which they brought up as a rival to Islamic Civilization. In history this movement is known as “Renaissance”, which means re-birth. But during this close contact with Muslims, they also obtained first hand knowledge of the faith of Islam. They saw complete equality between all persons irrespective of their colour or financial status. They were also pleasantly surprised to see that every person had a free access to Quran and that there was no clergy to stand between a person and God.

These were the ideals which the Europeans only dreamed of, while their lives had become a misery between the pincers of feudal lords and the clergy. Inspite of all this they never thought of joining hands with the Muslims, but they revolted against they tyranny of their clergy. Thus the Protestant creed took its root and finally Martin Luther started a movement, which in history is called “Reformation”. He demanded free access to Bible and the abolition of the controls of the clergy which they exercised under the garb of various religious “sacraments”. As a result, the Christians were divided into two big sects – the “Roman Catholics” who remained loyal to the Pope and “Protestants” who supported the new movement. It is really surprising that Bible was not accessible to a common Christian for several centuries after Prophet Christ (PBUH), as it was kept chained and locked to a desk in a special form in the church and only priests had an access to it. It was as a result of this movement that the Protestants translated the Bible in poular languages and made it available to the common man.

Even at this state the Christians were not prepared to work out an understanding with Islam. Thus the opportunities of the forces of God joining hands together were continuously missed. Had they objectively studied Islam, they would have been assured of not losing their Christian identity by joining with Muslims and the position of the forces of God would have been much brighter in comparison with the godless powers, which are threatening the world today. Thus opportunities which repeatedly offered themselves to the human race to develop the forces of God, to subdue the godless forces and to spread the glory of God for all times to come, were unfortunately missed by the human race again and again. But we should never be disappointed of the mercy of God. Recently some trends have developed and there is a ray of hope, as we shall see in the next chapter.



The last few chapters present a very depressing picture of the situation into which the “Prophet-hood System” religions involved themselves in mutual hatred resulting in great hardships and losses. Though several opportunities of joining together arose, they were not utilized on account of blind prejudice, even to the extent of hiding and twisting facts, caring very little for moral and intellectual integrity.

However, with the advent of modern era of enlightenment, things are now changing. A number of intellectuals are now writing books representing facts in the correct perspective and are thus, at least in part, making amends for the injustice done in the past. This change has come in both the fields: (i) information about the contribution of Islam to knowledge and culture and (ii) description of the basic principles of Islamic religion.

Two quotations have already been given one in Chapter IX concerning the comparative barbarism and culture of the Europeans and Muslims and the other in Chapter X concerning the results of Crusades.

Below are given some very significant quotations from a recent scientific book “The search for Elements”. (Faucett Publication) The author Dr. Asimov, educated at Columbia University and teaching at Boston University School of Medicine is a well known scientist and has won several awards:-

“During Europe’s lowest period, between 500 and 1000 A.D. (called “Dark Ages”), the western Europeans thought of the Moslems only as a devilish people with a false religion. In 1096, the knights of the Western Europe launched the Crusades to win back the Holy Land, which had been under Moslem control for about 450 years.

The crusaders found that the Moslems were more civilized and knowledgeable than they had supposed. They brought back news of new products used by the Arabs (such as silk and sugar) and of advances in medicine and alchemy beyond anything known in Europe.

“The important originator of Arabian Alchemy was Jabir. His life time coincided with the height of Baghdad’s glory in the eighth century.

It appears that Jabir was a very careful alchemist. He wrote out the formulas for producing a number of new materials. Furthermore he was not satisfied with the notion that all substances were made of Aristotle’s four elements. (Water, Earth, Air and Fire).

In the ninth century Baghdad produced a second great alchemist, properly known as Al-Razi, a name later changed by Europeans to Rhazes. Al-Razi described his experiments so carefully that modern scholars can repeat them. He described Plaster of Paris, for instance, and the manner in which it could be used to form casts holding broken bones in place.

Perhaps the greatest medical man of the Middle Ages was known as Ibn-Sina. After his book was translated into Latin, he became famous among European scholars under a mispronounced version of his name, Avicenna”.

A recent book entitled “The 100”, written by Michael Hart and Published by visual Library, New York, has become a best seller. In this book the author, though a Christian, has ranked Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as number one, assigning place number three to Prophet Christ (PBUH) he writes:-


“A striking example of this is my ranking Muhammad higher than Jesus, in large part, because of my belief that Muhammad had a much greater personal influence on the formulation of Moslem religion than Jesus had on the formulation of Christianity. “Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as they differed from Judaism), St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology and the author of a larger portion of the New Testament.”

The well known writer and historian Thomas Carlyle writes:-

“Muhammad elevated the Arabs into torch-bearers of light and learning”.

George Bernard Shaw, world famous intellectual says:-

“If a man like Mohammed were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness”.

“Time” magazine (July 15, 1974) invited opinions on the subject: “Who were history’s greatest leaders”?

Jules Messarman, a United States psychoanalyst, wrote:-

Leaders must fulfill three functions:-

    1. Provide for the well-being of the led,
    2. Provide a social organization in which people  feel relatively secure and
    3. Provide them with one set of beliefs. People like Pasteur and Salk are leaders in the

               first sense.

People like Gandhi and Confucius on the one hand, and Alexander, Caesar and Hitler on the other are leaders in the second and perhaps the third sense.

Jesus and Buddah belong to the third category alone.

Perhaps the greatest leader of all times was Mohammad who combined all three functions. To a lesser degree Moses did the same.”

Dr. Maurice Bucaille, a French doctor has written a book in French also translated by him in English, entitled “The Bible, The Quran and Science’.

Since original sources of Christian religious literature were available to him, he has produced a document of high value, his researches being directed towards the authenticity of the texts of the Gospels and Quran. All Christians and Muslims must read this book for enlightenment. Below are given a few excerpts, (related to the topic in hand) from the Introduction written by him in his book:-

“If we take into consideration the objective facts of religious history, we must place the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Quran on the same level, as being collections of written Revelation. Although this attitude is, in principle, held by Muslims, the faithful in the West, under the predominantly Judeo-Christian influence, refuse to ascribe to the Quran the character of a book of Revelation”. “The Quran directs all Muslims to believe in the scriptures that precede it (Sura 4, Verse 136). It stresses the importance of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the Prophet Jesus, to whom they allocate a special position. His birth is described in the Quran and likewise in the gospels, as a supernatural event. Mary is also given a special place, as indicated by the fact that Sura 19 bears her name.

The above facts about Islam are not generally known in the West. This is hardly surprising, when we consider the way so many generations in the West were instructed in the religious problems facing humanity, and the ignorance in which they were kept about every thing related to Islam.”

(Note: We shall have occasion to refer to this book a little later in connection with other topics.)

Important Change of Attitude

The few quotations given above show that a change is coming in the attitude of the Western intellectuals, and they are no more hiding facts about Islam. But all these quotations are individual opinions of the learned authors.

A noticeable change seems under way at the highest level of the Christian world.

    1. In 1967, the Vatican office invited Christians to offer their best wishes to Muslims with “Genuine religious worth” at the end of the Fasting month of Ramdhan.
    2. In March, 1969, Cardinal Koenig proclaimed unity with Muslims at the Great mosque, Muslim University of Al-Azhar, Cairo.
    3. In 1970, Office for Non-Christian Affairs at the Vatican produced a document resulting from the Second Vatican Council, under the French Title, meaning:- “Orientation of a Dialogue between Christians & Muslims”. It says:-


“The new position calls for a revision of our attitude towards it and a critical first set about progressively changing the way our Christian brothers see it. This is the most important of all.

We must clear away the outdated image inherited from the past, or distorted by prejudice and slander”… and “recognize the past injustices towards the Muslims, for which the Christian West, with its Christian education, is to blame”.

Under the title “Emancipating ourselves from our worst prejudices” the document addresses the following suggestion to Christians: “Here also, we must surrender to a deep purification of our attitude. In particular, what is meant by this are certain “set judgment” that are all too often and too lightly made about Islam.” “ for the Muslim ‘Allah’ is none other than the God of Moses and Jesus”. “The Muslims profess the faith of Abraham and worship with us the sole merciful God, who is the future judge of men on the Day of ‘Reckoning’.

“In fact, Islam was hardly any more fanatical during its history than the sacred bastions of Christianity, whenever the Christian faith took on, as it were, a political value.”

“Holy War: In Arabic it is “Al Jihad fi Sabil Allah,” the effort on God’s road – the effort to spread Islam and defend it against aggressors … It does not lead to extermination but to the spreading of God’s and man’ rights to new lands … The past violence of the ‘jihad’ generally followed the rules of War.. at the time of the Crusades, moreover, it was not always the Muslims that perpetrated the worst slaughters.”

“We find …. In the traditional expansion of Muslim thought, a principle of possible evolution in civilian society.”

    1. On 24th April 1974, Cardinal Pignedoli, President of the Vatican Office of Non-Christian Affairs, officially visited King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. The cardinal conveyed to King Faisal a message from Pope Paul VI expressing “the regards of His Holiness, moved by a profound belief in the unification of Islamic and Christian worlds in the worship of a single God to His Majesty King Faisal as supreme head of the Islamic world.”
    2. Six months later – in October, 1974, the Pope officially received the group of Grand Ulema of Saudi Arabia. It occasioned a dialogue between Christians and Muslims on “the Cultural Rights of Man in Islam.”

The Grand Ulema of Saudi Arabia were also received by His Grace Bishop Elchinger at his cathedral in Strasbourg. During their visit they were invited to say their prayers in the choir. This they did before the altar, keeping their face towards Mecca.

In the foregoing 5 articles the reader has gone through some astounding facts. Can any reader, Muslim or Christian, believe it to be true?

Believe it or Not, everything is true and can easily be verified from Vatican sources.

How is it that news of such far reaching consequences did not reach the common man even in these days of vast dissemination of news?

The answer is – it is the same old disease. Inspite of the change in the attitude of the highest religious authority of the Christendom, the common Christian does not want to come out of his egg-shell of blind prejudice and instead of facing facts, he wants to black them out.

However, there is no cause for any disappointment. The truth has now come out and they day is not far off, when, with God’s grace, this resistance will melt away and the forces of God will unite and will establish the glory of the Lord in the whole world, vanquishing the god-less forces.



This ends Part II of this book. As a result of our enquiry in Part I, we were convinced that there is a God and a ‘Day of Judgment’ and hence felt the necessity of finding the right path. The purpose of Part II was to find out what the right Path is, so that by following it we may ensure our success on the ‘Day of Judgment’. We saw that inspite of its wonderful power, the human intellect fails badly when it comes under the influence of selfishness and prejudice, as was illustrated by several shameful decisions taken by man under the garb of personal liberty or national pride.

Thus the only reliable source for knowing good and evil is the Will of God as revealed by Him through His prophets. The Prophet-hood System proved to be a reliable establishment as supported by continuity over centuries and acceptance by billions of human beings. Its reliability is also confirmed by adherence to a uniform faith in the Unity of God and by the fact that every prophet has recognized the previous ones and has also prophesied about the coming of the next prophet and those prophecies have come true.

Looking at the case of the last three prophets, we see that Prophet Moses (PBUH) claims that the faith brought by him is the same as that of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) and his book promises the coming of a “Messiah” after him. Prophet Jesus Christ (PBUH) came as the ‘Messiah’. He not only confirmed the faith of Prophet Moses (PBUH) but also declared the ‘Torah’, the book of revelation of Prophet Moses (PBUH) as part of his religion and thus the ‘Torah’ is included in the Christian religion as part of the Old Testament.

Also there are numerous references in the gospels foretelling the coming of a new prophet.

Then came Islam through Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Islam makes it compulsory for its followers to recognize all the foregoing prophets.

As far as Prophet Christ (PBUH) is concerned, he gets an honourable mention in Quran 25 times. The facts about his birth and his leaving this world are most respectable as they should be, while the many different interpretations of these events, as given by Christians, are blasphemous.

We have seen in the previous chapters, that inspite of this unquestionable continuity of the prophet-hood system, the human race has not accepted it on account of prejudice and sticking to the faith of their forefathers at any cost. The Jews did not accept Prophet Christ (PBUH) and persecuted the Christians most cruelly. The Christians, in turn, did not accept Islam and not only waged wars against Muslims for hundreds of years, calling them ‘Crusades’, but in addition erected a curtain of prejudice and hatred against Islam, hiding and twisting historical facts. We have seen in the last Chapter that this curtain is now being gradually lifted and facts about the faith of Islam and its achievements in the field of knowledge, science and culture are being propagated by enlightened Christians themselves. Among others a very significant Quotation has been given in the last Chapter from the highest Christian authority, the Vatican:-


This attitude has made good the previous lapses and let us now begins Part III on an optimistic note.

Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman emperor State during the imperial period (starting at about 27 BC). The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor. If a man was "proclaimed Roman emperor" this normally meant he was proclaimed augustus, or (for generals) imperator (from which English Roman emperor ultimately derives). Several other titles and offices were regularly accumulated by emperors, such as caesar, princeps senatus, consul and Pontifex Maximus. The power of emperors was generally based on the accumulation of powers from republican offices and the support of the army.