A Message of Peace — Page 24
M ESSAGE OF P EACE 24 with the powerful argument that there is clear mention of such worship and nowhere is there any prohibition. To say that these are the names of God, is a claim which has not as yet been clearly settled. Had it been settled, what reason could there have been for the scholarly pundits in Banares and other cities to have rejected the beliefs of the A ry a s? Despite efforts over the past thirty to thirty-five years, very few Hindus have accepted the A ry a faith and in comparison with the Sanatan faith and other Hindu sects, the followers of the A ry a faith number so few that they are insignificant, nor do they have any influence on the remaining Hindu sects. Similarly, the teachings of nyog , which is attributed to the Vedas, is abhor- rent to human dignity and the human sense of honour. As I have already stated, we cannot accept that it is a genuine Vedic teaching. In fact, our well-meaning intentions make us strongly inclined to believe that such teachings must have been introduced later from sensual motives. Since thousands of years have passed since the original compilation of Vedas it is possible that in different times some scribes added to or subtracted from it. For us it is proof enough that the A ry a faith has had millions upon millions of followers for thousands of years who have held it to be the word of God. It is not possible that the work of an imposter could enjoy such honour. So when we, despite all these obstacles, purely out of fear of God, accept the Vedas to be divine revelation in its origin and assume all the false teachings to be the work of scribes, what justification can there be for the Holy Qur’an to be made the target of such brutal attacks? It is full of injunc- tions from cover to cover speaking only of the worship of