The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 154
THE PROMISED MESSIAH AND MAHDI especially coming, as it did, after a period of lawless, religious bigotry, and intolerance; and since, as we all know, there is no. European power either, comparable with the British in this respect, not even the United States of America, where religious and colour prejudice is not unknown. In these specific conditions, it behoved the. Promised Messiah, as a religious leader that he should boldly give praise where praise was due in the circumstances. For him, not to have given this measure of praise, would have been unjust, unworthy of a great religious leader who is nothing if he is not just and truthful, even at the peril of personal discomfort and harm, or the discomfort of those associated with him in a religious and spiritual relationship. . Keeping these two essential aspects of the question before him, no fair-minded person would find it in his heart to raise any objection against the teaching and the attitude of the Promised Messiah in this behalf. He would not fail to perceive that the things which the. Promised Messiah wrote about British rule in India, nearly seventy years ago, were by no means in the manner of flattery, but a just appraisal of the peace and tranquillity, and the religious freedom and tolerance which British rule had brought in its wake. . Apart from that, the attitude and the struggle of the Promised. . Messiah against Christianity, the religion of British rulers, on the religious and intellectual level, is too patent a fact, well known even to the most casual observer of the affairs of this sub-continent. In one of his poems in Arabic, Hadhrat Ahmad writes, with remarkable force and vigour, and the greatest jealous regard for the honour of Islam: "Look at the Christians,. And the patiently false doctrines. They believe in! Also give. A moment's thought to the evils. Which they and their false. Doctrines breed! With their iniquities. And transgression, with aggressive. Policies and actions all over the globe,. From every height and vantage point,. They are overwhelming the weaker 154