My question is on the observation and dealing on the tabligh side to the English community. There’s a great respect to the English people who are already Ahmadi, you see. There’s a great respect to the people who have already accepted Ahmadiyyat, you know. My feelings and what I’ve come across is that the people do understand and they accept the Ahmadiyyat and the Muslimah-ul-Islam message. But how can we actually make them to accept the Asian religion?
They always say, no, this is a good religion, but this is Asian religion. What is our answer to that? Christianity is an Asian religion. How could they accept that? What is Christianity? Yeah, but they have merged into the European Muslims. That’s what they say. Is it possible for Islam that they will come to some terms? As far as the religion is concerned, Christianity is an Oriental religion. That’s true. Isn’t it? That is true, sir. So what you, perhaps, what you are confused about is the fact, or they, the questioner maybe, the people whom you met, what they are confused about is this.
That they are pitching their culture against religion. This is wrong. This polarization is wrong and not proper. Cultures should be pitched against cultures. They should be compared with cultures. And religion against religion. So if they want to become Muslims, they should become Muslims comparing Islam with Christianity. That’s what they accepted. All right. So there is no direction in religion. There is no East and Western religion. Particularly in Islam. It is universal.
So to declare Islam to be an Eastern religion is much more wrong than to declare Christianity as an Eastern religion. Because in Christianity there is no mention, no positive declaration, I mean, that Christianity does not belong to any direction. But in the Holy Quran this declaration has been positively made. It has been categorically declared to the rest of the world, to the whole world, that the noor of Islam, the light of Islam, neither belongs to the East nor to the West. La sharqiyatam wala gharbiya. Ummatam wasatan. Again, the people of Islam are described as ummatam wasatan, those who are situated in the middle.
So a religion which claims to be neither belonging to the East nor to the West, and which takes pride in being middle-roader, you know, most well-poised between extremes, how can that be rejected on the plea that it is Eastern? There is nothing Eastern about Islam. Islam claims to be a universal religion, and no religion can afford to take sides with East or West or North or South, if it claims to be a universal religion.
So ask them, ask those friends to pinpoint those features of Islam which they think are Eastern. And then you can defend the cause of Islam. This is what they said, you see, whatever they’ve been preached by most of the mullahs who go to their houses, they go in their shalwa, they go in the Eastern religion, and they force them. I have given them a copy of the Masih-e-Maud teaching of Islam, you see, philosophy of Islam, and they appreciate that book very much. They say this is really a balanced type of the point of view, which we don’t know who sent it, as we tell them, he was a quite illiterate person actually, he never knew English, he never knew others.
This is the youngstall word I was referring to. And they do accept that point of view which Promised Messiah has actually explained, and this is beautiful. But how can we go to these Muslims when these people are, what they’re preaching is… How can you do what? How can they accept the Islam when they’re preaching something else and practicing something else? Who? Other Muslims. Other Muslims, yes. So ask this question to other Muslims, not to me. Put this question to those. You know, you are changing your position.
Actually, he did ask me. During the course of this question, you have changed your stance from one to the other. You went the correct way. Now it appears to me that you already know the answer to your own question. Sure. Thank you very much, sir. What you wanted to convey to me was simply this, that the practice of some other orthodox Muslims is hindering our preaching efforts. That is all what you wanted to say. Why didn’t you do it straightforwardly?
