The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 329
Jihad with the Sword 329 should be repelled by the sword or the gun. Therefore, the commonly held doctrine of Jihad put forward by certain Muslim sects—and their teaching that the time is approaching when a fighting Mahdi will appear whose name will be Imām Muḥammad, and that Jesus will descend from heaven to join him and help him and that the two together will slaughter all the peoples who refuse to accept Islām-is totally opposed to morality. Is this not a doctrine which stultifies all the pure faculties of man and generates emotions like those of wild beasts?. People who hold such doctrines have to behave hypocritically towards everyone else. [Masīḥ Hindustān Mein, Rūḥānī Khazā'in, vol. 15, pp. 8-9]. The Promised Messiah was to Put an End To War. The doctrine of Jihad as understood and propagated by the Muslim divines of this age who are called Maulavis is utterly incorrect. It can lead to nothing except that by their forceful preaching they would convert common people into wild beasts and would deprive them of all the good qualities of human beings; and so it has happened. I know for certain that the burden of the sins of those people who commit murders through ignorance on account of such preaching, and who are unaware of the reason why Islām had to fight battles in its early stages, lies on the necks of these Maulavis who go on propagating secretly these dangerous doctrines which result in such grievous loss of life. When these Maulavis call on government officials they bow down before them at such an angle as if they are ready to go into prostration; but when they are among their own ilk they persist in declaring that this country is the House of War (Dār-ul-Harb) and that the employment of the sword for the purpose of