The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 97
T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH 97 I have still not discovered to this day whether these Rishis of the Vedas even existed—where they lived, in which city they dwelt, what their life history was, and what kind of events their lives consisted of. How could I criticize them? I still doubt their very existence. It is my belief that Agnu, Vayu, Adat, etc. , who are considered Rishis of the Vedas, are mere fictitious and imaginary names. I have no knowledge as to who these people were. Had they any physical existence, their life story would have, of course, been written. It appears that the writers of the Vedas were the same people whose names are present at the heading of the parts of the Vedas. How then could I abuse the Rishis whose circumstances are concealed and whose whereabouts are unknown? It is not the way of Islam to use invectives. On the other hand, our opponents have unfairly and unjustifiably written so many books full of invectives that if these were placed in a pile, its height would be no less than 1,000 feet. And it has not yet stopped. Thousands of magazines, books, and newspapers, full of contempt, abuse, and invectives, are published every month. So, my lament at the plight of these maulaw i s —who say that whatever is happening should be allowed to continue and that there is no harm in it—is that had any such obscenity been directed at their mothers as is directed at our beloved Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or had the same false allegation been levelled at their fathers as is levelled against the Sayyidur-Rusul [the Chief of the Messengers], Muhammad the Chosen One, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him —would they have remained silent like this? Not at all! Rather, they would have immediately approached the courts and