Islam - Peaceful Religion — Page 2
organisations, and these groups unfortunately had personal vested interests. In order to see a religion’s beauties or its defects, justice requires that you should make its teachings or its holy scripture the anvil by which to judge it, otherwise everyone would accuse every other faith willy-nilly. For instance, the teaching of Christianity, according to the Holy Bible, is: ‘But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ’ (Matthew: 5:39) But, in Bosnia or Iraq or other countries, America and the other Western powers, resorted or are resorting to aggression. If, however, we say that the Christian teaching is that if anyone raises his head against you, you should use all your might to trample it to death, this would be a grave injustice. In the same way, to find out the true teachings of Islam, we would have to study the Holy Qur’an and see what it says and not base it on the actions of some Muslims who have forgotten the teachings of the Holy Qur’an. The stand of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is that the teaching of the Holy Qur’an promotes peace. We have to take this message to every corner of the world. Therefore, I shall begin my message today by reference to the Holy Qur’an. After that we shall examine the practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) to whom the teachings of the Holy Qur’an were revealed. Did he ever support any kind of cruelty, violence or extremist terrorism? Then, based on the Holy Qur’an and the Traditions of the Holy Prophet (sa) , some important clarification has been provided to us by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (as) , who claimed that he was the Promised Messiah, and I shall refer to some of his writings. P AGE 2 The Founder of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (the Promised Messiah and Mahdi) had a keen interest in religion from a very early age. Over time his knowledge and understanding of religion and its application to society deepened. Being a Muslim it was his firm belief that all religions were true and he always sought to uphold the dignity of religion and to demonstrate its relevance to everyone. His mission was to revitalise the truth that all religions held within them and to revive the teachings of Islam. It was through this that he would bring mankind together and establish everlasting peace. Hadrat Ahmad (as) had established himself as a respected writer and had written over 80 books. One of his greatest scholarly works was The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam , prepared as a paper and read out at the Conference of Great Religions in 1896. He also wrote a fascinating treatise in 1899 entitled Jesus in India , a book that uncovered remarkable evidence of Jesus’ (as) journey to India. People joining his community reflected his success in conveying the truth of Islam. From 1889 until the time of his demise in 1908 tens of thousands of people accepted him. This blessing has continued and will continue through his Khalifas (successors).