That, why should not Judaism be held as sufficient for mankind, if it were to be followed in its entirety and in its original purity? That is the question. So first of all, what is its original purity and what is the guarantee? We don’t know. So the question falls. There is no authenticity as to its original purity because it has been interpolated so often, repeatedly at different ages by man that we don’t know which is right and which is wrong. So the only book which has authenticity is the book about which even its enemies admit this fact at least, that it is the same word as it was declared to be the word of Allah in its original form. That is the Holy Quran.
So there is no guarantee for the original teaching. Number two, the original teaching of Judaism might have just been meant for that age. This is a possibility. So unless we investigate that matter further, we cannot agree to this suggestion at all. And as we begin to investigate at the very first step, we find that this teaching falls much short of the requirement of modern age. Because it says eye for eye and tooth for tooth and you are not permitted to forgive. This is the general implication. And this is how the Jews of today, even today, are so revengeful. They don’t know how to forgive.
This teaching is not enough for the world. It’s not good for the world. No sane man with balanced personality can accept this as a teaching for the modern ages. But for an oppressed people maybe, yes. Those people who have been downtrodden for centuries and they have become extremely cowardly and they don’t want to take their revenge because they are afraid. No manly quality is left in them. So to turn them into manly people again, perhaps you may require for a time a teaching like this, where they are not permitted to forgive. For a while, of course.
So for that particular period, this is the correct teaching. But not for all times to come. So if you compare the teachings of the Bible as it is found today, I mean it is supposed to be the original teaching of the Bible and agreed upon as such by even the biblical scholars, and compare their teaching with the teachings of the Holy Quran, then immediately you’ll understand that their teaching has been left far behind in time. The same applies to the Christianity. But not to the Islamic teaching in this regard. Because as we understand, Islam says that you can take your revenge no harm. You have a right. But it is better to forgive. So it contains both the best parts of Christianity and Judaism. But under one condition.
You are permitted to forgive, and it is of course promoted. Only on the condition that forgiveness is a source of reformation, not a source of encouragement to crime. From man afaa wa aslaha faajruhu alallah. This is the relevant verse which I have in mind now. It says, if you take your revenge, okay, I mean this is not forbidden, you are within your rights, but with one condition, that you must not commit excesses while taking your revenge. Do not go beyond, exhort beyond, to that degree to which you were wronged. Now that is one condition. The second is wa man afaa.
But whoever forgives with the condition wa aslaha, and that forgiveness causes reformation in the criminal. Faajruhu alallah, his reward is with God. Now this is a modified teaching which is timeless. You can throw this challenge to any person in the world to improve this teaching. Bring it up to date. Can you do it? It’s up to date. It’s up to date for all time. This is why it is called a timeless teaching. And those teachings with which Judaism and Christianity differed earlier, and the Christians of the previous era rejected Islamic teaching and said that their own teaching in this regard was better, time has come when they themselves have been forced to accept Islamic teaching willy-nilly.
Not in so many words but in practice. For instance, divorce. They have to ultimately give way to it. They have now to reject alcoholism. Drinking, they know the bad points. Although they can’t get out of it, that is their helplessness. But they are making all efforts in this direction. They know the bad points and they, if, in some Christian countries, even in England, during the Puritan age, laws were passed to prohibit use of alcohol. In America too, there was a dry age when certain states went dry and people who wanted to drink, they had to go out to other states to do drinking or some smuggling started after all, later on. So that shows that their inner voice tells us that the Islamic teaching is the correct teaching for all times.
So if you make a comparison bit by bit, take one particular aspect of Christian teaching and compare it with Judaism and Islam, then you will be able to establish the fact that our teaching with the grace of Allah is timeless. This is why the book is timeless. It’s not an arbitrary decision.
