Lecture Ludhiana — Page 46
46 God. It requires a Muslim to surrender to Him as meekly and faithfully, as a goat before the knife of a butcher, believing that God is One and without a peer. This belief in the Unity of God had been lost when the Holy Prophet sa was commissioned. The Indian subcontinent at the time was also full of false gods, as has been admitted by Diyanand Saraswati. Such a state of affairs underscored the need for the Coming of the Holy Prophet sa. The present age is a living image of those times, except that, in addition to idol worship, atheism and the worship of humans are also rife. The result is that Islam has lost its soul and purpose. The essence of Islam lay in losing oneself in love of God and in holding none worthy of worship except Him. Its purpose is to be lost in God and not in the world. Towards this end, Islam divides its teachings into two parts—our obligation to Allah, and our obligation to His creatures. Our obligation to Allah demands implicit submission and our obligation to His creatures requires sympathizing with them and helping them. Tormenting others simply because of religious difference is wrong. Sympathy and kindness are one thing, and opposition because of religion quite another. The group of Muslims which has wrong notions about Jihad, and is grossly mistaken about it, has gone to the extent of justifying the unlawful seizure of property belonging to non-Muslims. About me and my followers too they have issued an edict to usurp our goods and even to abduct our women, whereas the teachings of Islam never