Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part III — Page 8
BarĀhĪn-e-a H madiyya — Part three 8 signed by many people and be presented to the Government. Because in any endeavour, religious or worldly, it is important to first utilize our own God-given strengths and abilities, and only then seek help from others for its completion. This is the teaching God has given us as part of our daily worship, directing us to pray: 1 ْن ي ِ اِیَّاك َ نَعْبُد ُ و َ اِیَّاك َ نَسْتَع [‘You alone do we worship and You alone do we implore for help’] and not ُ ْن ُ و َ اِیَّاك َ نَعْبُد ي ِ اِیَّاك َ نَسْتَع [‘You alone do we implore for help and You alone do we worship’]. The matters which are required of the Muslims for their own bet- terment—through their own effort and resolve—will become clear upon reflection and deliberation without need of further statements or explanations. However, of these there is one matter which needs to be mentioned, on which the favour and consideration of the British government depends, and that is to clearly impress upon the mind of the Government that the Muslims of India are its loyal subjects. This is because of some ignorant Englishmen, in particular Dr. Hunter, 2 who is currently the President of the Education Commission, and has strongly advocated in one of his well-known writings that Muslims, at heart, are not well-wishers of the Government, for they consider it an obligation to wage jihad against the British. Anyone who studies Islamic Shariah impartially will be convinced, on the basis of proofs, that this view of the doctor is absolutely baseless and contrary to the facts. Sadly, however, the deplorable actions of some uncivilized peo- ple, 3 and those who are uncouth and foolish [from among the Muslims] 1. S u rah al-F a ti h ah, 1:5 [Publisher] 2. An Education Commission was appointed in 1882 under the chairmanship of Dr. William Hunter to determine why the earlier recommendations of the Education Dispatch of 1854 had not been carried out. The principal objective of the Education Dispatch had been to spread government and mission edu- cation to the broader population in India. [Publisher] 3. The original text uses the term kohist a n i which literally means, ‘from the land of the mountains’; however, idiomatically it refers to stone-hearted and un- civilized people. [Publisher]