The speech of a foreign missionary, Qazi Muhammad Abdullah Sahib BA, BT, which he read out at Jalsa Salana Qadian 1919 before members of the Jamaat.
Al Fazl, 12 and 19 January 1920
Qazi Muhammad Abdullah
A great problem which is an impediment in explaining the characteristics of Islam is the bad example of the present Islamic empire. They consider the Turks and Islam one and the same. The flaws and weaknesses of Turkey are considered to be the weakness of Islam. The only reason behind it is that certain self-centred persons have misinformed the general public that the cruelties of the Turks, which are presented in a very hurtful way, are due to the religion of Islam.
Right now, there is only one remedy for this. That our nation, which has already embraced the true Islam, becomes an excellent role model [of Islam] and our missionaries become practical role models in the UK. There is a great need for it. Not only for persuading other people to accept Islam by exhibiting good examples, but in order to reform ourselves as well and to achieve great heights. It is a divine saying:
کُنْتُمْ خَیْرَ اُمَّۃٍ اُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ
[You are the best people raised for the good of mankind].
Then, what is the reason that we, in “khair”, i.e. in every aspect of perfection and advancement – whether it is worldly business, monetary dealings with others, acquiring of higher education, household relations, treatment of our wives with kindness, providing our necessities with hard work and attention, showing compassion towards our brothers, aiding the poor and destitute, establishing generous relationships with other countries and religions – do not prove ourselves before every nation to be special and good in every matter which is necessary for our religious and worldly progress?
Prove yourselves to be distinctive in every manner if you want to give this pure water from the fountain of knowledge to the thirsty and those who have been stagnant in muddy streams for centuries.
I do not want to deviate from the topic but I still consider it necessary to draw your attention towards two things:
1. By the grace of God Almighty, we are the Jamaat that has been planted by the hands of the Promised Messiahas. We have been granted that spirit which has been absent in other nations. We are that seed, regarding which God has promised that it will grow, become great, spread and advance. We will surely progress by the blessing of God Almighty, but it is required that our own time, abilities and wealth is not spent individually. Wasting time is such a destructive impediment in the way of advancement that God Almighty has specially promised to the Promised Messiahas:
لَا یُضَاعُ وَقْتُہٗ
[His time shall not be wasted.]
Organisation and then combined organisation bring such accomplishments that cannot be achieved independently, even by a hundredfold increase in individual strength. For instance, the recent war taught that individually, no general was able to prevail over the enemy until the Italians, French, Americans, Belgians and English carried out a combined attack against the enemy under the command of one person.
All the things that I have mentioned above can easily be achieved under a combined organisation. We are thankful to God Almighty that this work has already been started by the appeal of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih. As soon as your contribution is given, it would be of value to prove the ummah of Islam as “the best”.
2. The second matter which is of great significance for us at the moment is the education and edification of our generation. I draw your attention towards this very important question. I assure you that you will bring an extraordinary revolution across the globe in a time of 25 years, i.e. you will find people drawn towards Islam in large numbers. The achievement of high ranked posts is not the only purpose of education but in fact, the tarbiyat [upbringing] of children should be carried out in such a way that they become exceptional human beings and Muslims.
Recognise your responsibilities, who we are and what we have to do! Do not lag behind anyone in providing for your necessities. Those benefits which are achieved by sending children to the madaris [sing. madrasa: religious institutions] of Qadian are not hidden from anyone. Experience shows that those children who acquire education from here, even though they initially lag behind in religious studies, when they complete their schooling, souls of eminent Christian scholars even tremble before them.
Presently, the question of education is under consideration in all the countries of Europe. The progress of any nation is significantly dependent on the generations to come. As the performance of the future generations is determined by their primary education, we should give special attention towards it. Another great difficulty in performing our tasks is that certain dajjal [antichrist] natured, self-centred individuals have painted a very bad picture of Islam and its doctrines before the people of Europe.
They want to achieve two goals from it. Firstly, portraying an ugly image of Islam would inhibit the populace to pay heed towards Islam. They are aware of the fact that it is only Islam which is present to compete with them and they are fearful about it. Secondly, they can collect significant amounts of money in the name of spreading Christianity and by telling people about the great need of the time.
For instance, they have rumoured that (God forbid) we worship Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Moreover, they go as far as associating us with Hindus in their worshiping the Sun. The attributes of our God have been described as extremely bad. For example, [they express that (God forbid) He is] very severe, furious, merciless and a tyrant who cannot let go without punishing, whereas the Holy Quran states:
رَحْمَتِی وَسِعَتْ کُلَّ شَیْءٍ
[My (God’s) mercy encompasses all things]
Further, God Almighty’s attributes of compassion and mercy are frequently mentioned throughout the Holy Quran.
It is quite surprising that despite God being perfect and faultless, they present the God of Islam in a negative light and at the same time, they forget the god of the Bible, who crucified his only son by the hands of his enemies, neglectful of his hues and cries. Another great objection is that Islam has acted harshly in wars.
God save us from what the “civilised” Europe did in the recent war! Thousands of people were killed on slight suspicion. Women and children were brutally murdered. Hundreds of individuals who were praying in the churches were killed when Paris was bombarded by the long cannon. In the same way, enemy planes would bomb the city of London time and again, mercilessly annihilating innocent children and women on a regular basis. A bomb dropped near a museum when the first airstrike happened in London and caused a lot of damage.
On the contrary, Islam did everything to defend itself and only attacked when there was no other way. Another objection is that according to the teachings of Islam, women are soulless etc.
However, [we challenge the accusers] to show where those rights, which the Holy Quran has given to women in domestic affairs, monetary dealings and moral and spiritual matters, have been given in the Bible.
If these rights were present, then why did the suffrage movement, a women’s rights society, have to take such harsh steps and break the office windows of ministers, many times over? After many years of effort and struggle, they were given the right to sit in the Parliament last year, but not a single lady was elected in the general election. However, yesterday’s news had it that a lady has been elected.
In order to answer these objections, it is necessary to distribute our leaflets and pamphlets among these people in large numbers, thereby revealing the truth upon them.
