A Critical Review of the Pamphlet, 'Fateh-e-Qadian' — Page 39
Matchlessness of I‘J A ZUL-MAS IH 39 • Two poets of Sab‘ah Mu‘allaqah (the collection of high ranking odes which, during the pre-Islamic period, was hung in the Ka‘bah) have similar lines of poetry. One poet said: The other said: • The Jews prove that some passages of the New Testament have been taken word for word from Talmud. • Some evil-minded critics have alleged that the topics in the Holy Quran have been adopted from the Old and New Testaments and its parables are those of the ancient Arabs. Only a man ignorant of the rules of literature could believe that because of similarity of theme or because of excerpts, the above books and writings were filled with stolen passages and poems. In great eloquent books, you find examples of repetition and use of appropriate excerpts. Anyone who declares such examples as plagiarism, either does not know the ABC of elegant writing and rhetoric, or he is being dishonest. To adorn the writing with excerpts and to repeat the theme is an accepted way in rhetoric. If this is called plagiarism, then this allegation would also apply to the best authors, poets and masters of prose, who are considered the masters of eloquence and command of language.