Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra (1872-1957)
Article in a daily newspaper
Last week [August 1923], I sent a report on our tabligh [preaching] activities in the city of Ashland, [Oregon, America]. The daily newspaper there [in Ashland] published a long article with my picture in their paper. A copy of this newspaper has been sent to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II[ra] and the editor of The Review of Religions English. A few words from this article are given below for the information of the readers of the [Al Fazl] newspaper:
“The person who is being talked about with great interest everywhere in the city of Ashland these days is Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, a respected scholar from the East. Wearing a green turban, he is inviting the Christians of our city to the religion of Muhammad, [peace and blessings of Allah be upon him], with his eloquent speech. Some people here are very surprised that just last week, they made a donation to the church at the request of their pastor for the purpose of sending Christian missionaries to Arab countries. And what we see today is that the missionaries of the Prophet[sa] of Arabia have reached here. However, we should understand that as we revere our religion, the people of the East also have great esteem for their faith, and so they have the right to send their preachers to our country. Dr Sadiq is the editor of The Moslem Sunrise magazine. In the last three years, he has converted seven hundred Christians to Islam. For them [i.e., the new converts and other Muslims], a mosque and a mission house have been established in Chicago. There is an Asian dome on top of this mosque. Their day of worship is Friday, and they [also use] the lunar [Hijri] calendar. They deny the Trinity and consider Jesus to be a human prophet. They follow the law of the Holy Quran and the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. The Ahmadiyya Jamaat, founded by Prophet Ahmad[as] of India, [is a sect in Islam] that is doing missionary work on behalf of Muslims.”
Preaching at Williamson [sic., Williams]
From Ashland, I [Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahib] went to Williamson [sic., Williams], a nearby town. The population of this city is 6,000. It is a mountainous area. The markets and streets are narrow here. Most of the people residing here work in coal mines. There are 50 coal mines in this area, and coal worth 40 million rupees is produced annually. All of these mines belong to the people, and the government does not interfere. A lot of people own the land. Whoever has a coal mine on his land is its owner. The company mines and extracts coal under a contract with the owner. Every day, trains loaded with coal travel all over the country. Big, strong, and powerful engines are made to pull these loads. A single engine pulls around ninety carriages loaded with coal. These carriages are larger and more spacious than the Indian ones. The entire train is around one mile long. Each worker in the mine earns a minimum of twenty rupees per day and a maximum of forty rupees.
In this country, manual labour is not considered lesser in any way. The boys and girls of highly affluent people take up a daily one- or two-hour job at a very young age. They clean the windows of a shop, sweep [the floor], wash the steps, or bring the goods from the market. Moreover, they are proud of their earnings.
On 10 July [1923], the daily newspaper of this city published the news of my arrival here [in Williams] and used words of great appreciation. This news spread across the city, and we had a good opportunity for tabligh [preaching]. Three ladies converted to Islam, and many people have come close to accepting it. May Allah the Almighty grant them the strength to accept Islam.
Muhammad Sadiq,
USA,
16 July 1923.
(Translated by Al Hakam from the original Urdu, published in the 4 September 1923 issue of Al Fazl)