Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 8
BarĀhĪn-e-a H madiyya — Part Four 8 leads to worldly gain, nor have they moulded themselves accordingly. Hence, now their current state has left them bereft of both the worlds. If the British call them semi-savages, it is generous of them to do so; otherwise, most Muslims seem to be in a state worse than savages. They possess neither wisdom, nor courage, nor a sense of honour, nor love. The plain truth is that they do not care for their community, their brothers, and the affairs of their truthful religion even to the extent that their A ryah neighbours do to revere and honour an insignificant animal—the cow. We see that, in their endeavour to preserve the sanc- tity of the cow, the resolute A ryah nation is able to collect hundreds of thousands of rupees, whereas the Muslims are unable to collect even a thousandth of that for upholding the honour of Allah and His Messenger. Rather, whenever an appeal is made for a religious dona- tion, they immediately hide their faces like women [behind veils]. This high resolve of the A ryas is all the more remarkable consid- ering that saving the life of a cow is, according to their faith, a matter of minimal significance and is not established by their scriptures. Indeed, the scholars among the pundits know very well that none of the Vedas teach the sanctity of beef. In fact, it is clear from the first part of the Rigveda that, during the Vedic period, beef was commonly sold in the markets and the A ryas ate it with relish. And recently, a renowned scholar, the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, former Governor of Bombay, has written a book entitled The History of India, in which he has recorded the history of the A ryas in light of authentic Hindu Pustaks. 1 He writes on page 89 that, according to the collec- tion of Man u , the Brahmans were particularly enjoined to eat the flesh of oxen on their solemn festivals, failing which they would be consid- ered guilty of sin. A pundit has also recently published a similar book from Calcutta in which he has written that, in the time of the Vedas, eating beef was considered a religious obligation for the Hindus, and the largest and best of it was served to the Brahmans. Similarly, in the 1. Ancient religious scriptures of Hinduism. [Publisher]