The Moslem Sunrise, April & July 1923
Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra (1872-1957)
My Allah
Allah! My Allah, my Provider, my Sustainer, my Creator, my Protector and my Keeper. From Him I come, in Him I live, and to Him I return. Allah is One, Allah is Unique, and there is none like Allah. All praise is for Him. All forgiveness comes from Him. He is the only ideal; He is the only Savior. He is my love; He is the Source of all Love. […] All power, all strength, all knowledge comes from Him, He is the King of all kings, the Ruler of all rulers, the Master of all masters, the Chief of all chiefs. His rule extends over past, present and future. There was nothing before Him, and nothing comes after Him. He is above all; He is the greatest of all. My All-in-All.
My sins He forgives, my weaknesses He covers, My God! My Allah.
The Moslem America
America is going to accept Islam.
America is to accept Islam not because the Moslem missionaries are here to bring about this transformation, but rather because America is ready to accept Islam. The apparent cause is really the effect. It stands in need of greater religious strength than has heretofore been offered it. It had been decreed in the heavens that the western world should no more prostrate before a man-god, but should turn to Allah, the true God, the One God, God of Abraham[as], Ishmael[as], Isaac[as], Moses[as], Jesus[as], Muhammad[sa], and Ahmad[as]. Prophet Ahmad[as] foresaw this more than twenty years ago, and the Prophet Muhammad[sa] foresaw and foretold this thirteen hundred years ago. For the same prophecy in the Bible, see Isaiah (41:2).
מִ֤י הֵעִיר֙ מִמִּזְרָ֔ח […] צֶ֖דֶק
Mî hê·‘îr mim·miz·rāh […] se·deq
“Who raised Sadiq from the East? […]” God Himself. “Sadiq” means, the Righteous, the Truthful. Ahmad[as] was that “Sadiq, the Righteous,” whose servant, the writer of this [article], named Sadiq, testified to by the Prophet as Sadiq in name and spirit, has come from the East to America to convert it to Islam. People put obstacles in his way, but God helped him, and gave him more than seven hundred followers, the majority converts, in the last three years, a success unknown to the Christian world of missions. Glorified be Allah, the Mighty, the Powerful.
Another version of the Bible
There have been so many different versions of the Bible on record in the past and so many new ones are forthcoming every now and then, that the whole thing disastrously falls down as unreliable. They differ from each other in wording, arrangement, volume, interpretation and whatnot. Can any wise nation take up such a book as their text for guidance and salvation?
An ancient Spanish manuscript known as the Codex Huntingtonianus Palimpsestus to a few scholars, who saw it before it was locked up in the vaults of the Hispanic Society of America, is the subject of a controversy that threatens to break out afresh among biblical scholars. Some affirm that the manuscript is one of the earliest versions of the Bible and that it differs radically from the accepted versions of the scriptures. It was brought here (New York) in 1907, having been stolen from a monastery in Spain.
Access to the ancient parchment was afforded to Dr ES Buchanan, decipherer of many old Latin manuscripts. Dr Buchanan said he discovered the biblical text was written on parchment, from which more ancient writings have been erased. He advanced the claim that the volume was a genuine palimpsest.
“The manuscripts of the western text (of the Bible) that have come to light have all been corrected into an agreement with the Vulgate and Alexandrian texts,” said Dr Buchanan. “The Codex Huntingtonianus contains in its first copies a text altogether independent of the Vulgate. This constitutes its supreme value.”
According to Dr Buchanan, the obliterated text was inscribed probably in the sixth century. From certain peculiarities of the older text, he explained that he was able to trace the source of the text to a biblical version of the first or second century.
Such a version would antedate by two or three centuries the Vulgate, which was a translation made by St. Jerome in the fourth century from the Hebrew text. So, Dr Buchanan has concluded that the text furnishing the source of the old script was in close touch with the very source of the Bible.
The text, Dr Buchanan asserts, differs from the accepted versions of the Bible in that it furnishes no basis, among other things, for the belief in the day of judgment, the end of the world, baptism, and hell, and it does not assign to women such an inferior status.
The Holy Quran of the Moslems is the only sacred book which has come down to this age as pure and genuine as it was revealed to the Master-Prophet Muhammad[sa], therefore it is the only reliable existing word of Law from God for men.
Liberal pastors
Dr Grant of the Episcopal Church of New York declared, among other things, in his sermon that Jesus was nothing but a man, and that belief in Biblical miracles is a relic of “superstition, witchcraft and taboo.” He was asked by Bishop Manning to retract or to resign his post, to which he issued a spirited but courteous reply, holding fast to what he had already declared, and claiming for himself the right of thinking and interpreting independently.
The controversy between the prelates brought in Dr Holmes of New York, who, in his spirited defense of Dr Grant, writes that, “Dr Grant merely said what every liberal pastor and scientific thinker has known for years. The virgin birth is […] untrue […], Orthodox Christianity is dead in Europe and is dead in everything. […] The churches are dying. I am glad to see them die.”
We are given to understand that Bishop Manning did not take any further steps and let the matter drop. This shows that a silent death is creeping over the whole Christian Constitution and the world is finally drawing towards the Moslem belief about Jesus Christ, that he was a man-prophet like all others and no more.
The Review of Religions
It is the only magazine of its kind published every month in India, dealing with important religious questions, offering a fair and impartial review of the prominent religions of the world, and removing misunderstandings about Islam. Subscription, $2 per annum; for sample copy, write to: The Manager, The Review of Religions, Qadian, Punjab, India.
A brief report of work in America
Since the publication of the last report in the Moslem Sunrise for the month of January, 1923, the work has greatly increased. In addition to the Sunday morning meetings at the Mosque, a series of lectures on Oriental subjects have been delivered in the afternoon. I also made a tour to New York City, visiting Pittsburgh and Buffalo on my way. Many new converts to Islam and initiations into the Ahmadia Movement were the rewards of these visits.
In New York City, two banquets were offered to me, arranged by Mrs A Emerson and other members at a Women’s Club of that city. Lectures on Islam were appreciated by all present.
In Buffalo, a welcome, befitting Moslem Brethren, was given to me by those of ours drawn into the American marts of commerce. Tears flowed and hearts were lighter after evenings spent reading the Holy Quran, and responsive chanting in praise of the Holy Prophet Muhammad[sa].
Brother M Yusuf Khan delivered three lectures on Islam in Rockford, Michigan.
Sheikh Ahmad Din of St. Louis, Missouri, and Sheikh Abdus Salaam of Detroit, have been busy bringing others to the fold of Islam. Sheikh Ahmad Din writes of a new Moslem: “Brother Hakim is a very interesting person. He was born in the Kongo Free State, in the city of Ladysmith, Africa. He came to America at the age of seventeen, and entered Tuskeegee Institute where he remained for five years, fitting himself for the Christian Ministry. Upon being ordained a minister, he took up missionary work with zeal and enthusiasm, believing, as he did then, that Christianity as it is now taught was the unique way of serving God. After hearing me deliver a lecture on Islam, he was completely disillusioned and now has become a zealous worker for Islam, and is convincing all with whom he comes in contact, of the truth of the mission of the Holy Prophet (Sallallaho alaihe wa sallam).
Dr J H Humphries (Brother Hakim) possesses great spiritual powers and is a magnetic healer of extraordinary ability. He has been successful in converting many to Islam in Ahmadia Movement, and let us pray that he may long continue in the good work, and more fully develop the powers with which Allah has blessed him. He says that he has now been elevated to that plane of spiritual knowledge to which Christianity was intended to lift him but failed.
There are many who say that they have benefited from him, both spiritually and physically.
Brother Ahmadallah (Mr MJ Moaning) of Sioux City, is approaching others in that city with the teachings of Islam.
Thanks
Thanks are due to the Secretary of the Sunday Study Club; Mr Wilcox of the Mission of Love; Mrs J McClung; Secretary Educational Club; Chairman Mission of Love; Temple, Secretary Hindustan Club and other managers of different meetings for inviting me and Maulvi Muhammad Din to speak on Islam and kindred subjects on their platforms.
Missionary epistles were written on behalf of the Ahmadia order in America, and some literature was sent to many celebrities in and out of America.
Maulvi Muhammad Din BA
The advent of our new missionary, Maulvi Muhammad Din BA from India, has put a new force into the work here. He has delivered several lectures on different subjects, and is doing correspondence with some inquirers and seekers after truth.
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance rendered by M Muhammad Din BA, and Sadiqah Sadiq RN, in the preparation of this issue of the magazine [The Moslem Sunrise, April and July 1923].
(Transcribed and edited by Al Hakam from the original, published in The Moslem Sunrise, April and July 1923)