Mosque of Hazrat Omar
It is sometimes said that the Ark of Noah rested at the original site of Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, the early history of this ancient city is very obscure, but there is no doubting the fact that it owes its sanctity to its being connected with several of the ancient Prophets.
The Israelites turned towards Jerusalem at the time of prayer. It is said that Solomon erected the Temple of Jehovah with great magnificence at this most sacred place. This temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and rebuilt by Zedekiah.
When Hazrat Omar[ra] conquered Jerusalem, he erected a mosque at the site of the Holy of Holies. This was rebuilt by Abdul Malik in 688.
His Holiness, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II[ra], while coming to Europe, visited Jerusalem and prayed in this mosque in the place where Hazrat Omar[ra] is said to have prayed.
Conference report
The report of the Religious Conference held last autumn in London is published. It comprises 520 pages and can be had from Messrs. Duckworth, 3, Henrietta Street, London, WC. Price: 16/-.
His Holiness thanked
Sir E. Denison Ross, CIE, PhD, the Chairman of the Conference Committee, in his introduction to the report of the Religious Conference, is pleased to write as follows:
“As we had foreseen, it was not always possible to secure the attendance in London of all whom we had invited to read papers, but the response was from the outset most encouraging, and we were especially gratified that the Khalifatul Masih [IIra], the Head of the Ahmadiyya Movement, immediately signified his intention to come to London with a number of his followers for the express purpose of attending the Conference. This remarkable enterprise led to great publicity in the press and secured considerable interest for our Conference.”
A step towards Islam
There was a time when the Holy Prophet Mohammad, may peace and the blessings of God be upon him, was terribly abused all over the West. But since the advent of the Prophet Ahmad, peace be on him, a happy change is coming over the world. Sectarianism and fanaticism are giving way to freedom of thought and opinion. In the summing up of the Religious Conference, Rev. Tyssul Davis says:
“All the Christs, the Buddhas, the Muhammads, the Gurus, the Rishis, and the Avatars belong to the human family and are the common possession of humanity. They belong to us as men. No tribe has a monopoly on this or that teacher.”
Welcome
We have much pleasure in welcoming our brother Abdul Hamid Saka Tinubu, son of Brother Saka Tinubu, President of the Executive Committee of the Nigerian branch of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, who arrived in London on 27 May [1925] and proceeded to Glasgow on 1 June for the purpose of studying medicine. We wish him and our dearest brother Martin, the late General Secretary of Nigeria, who is here studying law, every kind of success.
Fires, floods and famines
There have recently been terrible fires and floods in Japan, China and America, and now we learn that “Further heavy floods in the valleys of the Clarence, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, Hawkesbury, and Nepean Rivers in Australia have caused considerable damage to property and lives. The Queensland coastal districts have suffered severely from violent storms and floods.”
About Russia, we read in The Times that “A Special Commission was sent to investigate conditions in the Morshansk, Borisoglebsk, Tambov, and other districts. It was found that in many villages, there had been no bread since the autumn. The food consisted either of remnants of potatoes or of boiled oats received as seed grain; many families are begging from door to door. Similar conditions obtain in other districts.”
Earthquakes
Dr Jagger, writing in Scribner’s Magazine for last October, pointed out that the interval between big shocks in North America during the past 300 years had been much less than an average of 50 years, and he added:
“Taking the whole of America and coming to the present century, we have had eight tremendous earthquakes since 1898, in Alaska, California, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, averaging four-and-a-half years apart for the 26 years.”
It is a remarkable fact that eight earthquakes have occurred after the above article was written. And thus are fulfilled the words of the Scriptures that there would be earthquakes, famines and pestilences. Is it not then the time of the appearance of the Son of Man?
The second advent
Mr JF Rutherford, in his book, The Harp of God, which has been printed 150,000 times, says:
“The most important thing to which all the prophecies point and for which the Apostles looked forward has been the Second Coming of the Lord. It is described by the Prophet as a blessed time. Daniel then says, ‘Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty (1335) days’ (Daniel 12:12). The watchers here, without question, are those who were instructed by the Lord to watch for his return. This date, therefore, when understood, would certainly fix the time when the Lord is due at his second appearing. Applying the same rule, then, of a day for a year, 1335 days after 539 AD, brings us to AD 1874, at which time, according to Biblical chronology, the Lord’s second presence is due. If this calculation is correct, from that time forward we ought to be able to find some evidences marking the Lord’s presence.”
This calculation has proved quite true. The Prophet Ahmad of Qadian, peace be on him, in whose person are fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the second advent of Jesus Christ, received his first revelations about the year 1875. Blessed is he that believes in him.
Nineteenth Century and Islam
In the Nineteenth Century [magazine] of 25 June [1925], some A. Rustem Bey, in his article on The Future of Islamism, has made, among others, a very serious and grievous mistake by misrepresenting the teachings of Islam. It is particularly painful and disgraceful because the writer calls himself by a Muslim name. The Christian missionaries could not injure the cause of Islam more than he has thus done. He says:
“The process of ‘denaturalisation’, as it may be called, which Islamism is undergoing, is completed by the renunciation throughout Islamism of the basic conception of the mission of the State formulated in the Koran. This mission is to extend the rule – not necessarily the doctrine – of Islam at the point of the sword, idolaters being given the choice between conversion and extermination, and the peoples of the Book (i.e., those provided with a written revelation) between conversion and political subjection. Humanity is divided by the Koran into two great divisions: the Mussulman world, called the Dar-ul-Islam (House of Islam), and the non-Mussulman world, called the Dar-ul-Harb (House of War). The hosts of Islam may not rest until they have achieved the conquest of the entire non-Mussulman world! War, war, war, perpetual war, in the cause of the Faith and apart from all practical interest – that is the primary policy to which Islamdom is committed by Mussulman doctrine.”
Nothing could be farther from the truth. We challenge the writer on this point and we declare that the Holy Quran is absolutely against what he has written. It clearly declares:
“There should be no compulsion in religion, for guidance has been made distinct from error, and every man can distinguish between the two.” (2: 256)
Western civilisation’s need for a Saviour
The Reverend Doctor Philip Yarrow, Superintendent of the Illinois Vigilance, America, is reported to have said:
“I sometimes think lately that this nation will decline and die as Rome declined and died. It seems to me that we have reached the peak of our democracy and that we shall soon be on the decline of the other side of the parabola.
“That is the history of nations. Always like a parabola, there is the rise and at the peak of this, there is the sorry story of great wealth and wild orgies, drink and debauchery and moral disintegration and then the downward slide.
“There is the modern dance – rubbing matches, I call them – and the diabolic combinations of dancing and gin drinking. The gin dulls the sensibilities, decreases the resistance and excites the sex instincts. The dance does the same thing. It is a devilish combination, too much for youth to withstand.
“Our present manners and customs are breaking down all sense of protective modesty in our young girls. By our manners and customs, I mean the motion picture and the shows, the salacious reviews we have one after another.
“Young girls go to the motion picture theatres and see things girls of other generations never witnessed. Bedchamber scenes are frequent, and the pictures almost laugh at lust.”
The Holy writ
A clergyman remarks that there have been, in the twentieth century alone, over 25 new translations and revisions of the Bible. He is apt to lament that “the inspired word” has come in for such “a prodigious amount of tampering, clipping, altering, and rewriting.” “The living word”, he moans, “is turned into a tower of Babel.” (The Hindu)
How true are the words of the Holy Quran: “They altered the words from their places.” (5:13)
(Transcribed and edited by Al Hakam from the original English, published in the July 1925 issue of The Review of Religions)
