Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 81
27 December 1906 81 suffered the full trauma of autumn. It is incumbent now that it receive its share of spring, and the fruits and flowers of the holy tree of Islam emerge. The calamity inflicted upon Islam during the reign of the Sikhs was absolutely intolerable. Mosques were razed. The atmosphere was so brutal to the point that even the Call for Prayer and S al a t were forbidden, and there was perhaps hardly any Muslim who knew how to recite the Quran; they had made their own condition like that of the Sikhs by wearing the kachera [an undergarment], letting their moustaches grow uncropped, and in place of Assal a mu ‘ala i kum [the Islamic greeting of peace] they would say, W a higur u J i [the Sikh greeting]. This was the predicament that came about during the reign of the Sikhs. Now, in times of peace, the Muslims have increased in sin and iniquity; moreover, the Christians tried to convert them to their faith by offering them all kinds of temptations, and this attack did not fail [to yield results]. In every church, you will find the daughters and sons of every noble family who became apostates to join them. How painful an episode it is when they entice and take possession of a girl from a respectable family, and then she goes walking about unveiled, committing all kinds of sin. Observing these conditions, even a person of ordinary understanding will cry out that this age inherently demands that help arrive from God Almighty. I cannot silence those who say that no harm has come to Islam and Muslims. In view of such people, even if everyone becomes an atheist, no harm would have been done, but the truth is that Islam is in dire need of God’s help.