The Criterion for Religions — Page 6
6 Mi'yiirul Madhahib dent that against it all other religions appear to be en- veloped in darkness. A wise person can clearly understand this argument only when he concentrates on the essence of a religion, leaving aside all the spe- cious arguments that are offered in its favour. That is to say, as he makes comparison between different faiths on the basis of their approach to recognizing God, and does away with all extraneous arguments in favour of any particular religious dogma, he comes to recognize the religion which possesses the intrinsic light of truth, and which has the ability to draw hearts towards itself purely because of its manner of Divine recognition. In this context I have already spoken of three religions, namely Arya, Christianity and Islam. If we wish to present the true picture of these three faiths, it would be as follows: The Arya religion has a 'God' whose godhood can- not function independently on the strength of His inherent power and might, for all His hopes are pinned on existents which are not His own creation. While it is impossible for man to comprehend the extent of the powers of the True God, the powers of the god of the Aryas can be counted on fingertips. He is a Parmesh- war [God] of such meagre resources that the limits of all His powers have already been defined, and the ut- most one could say in His favour would be that, like a mason, he can only put together things that are coeter-