Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 150
150 The Teachings of Islam and their Contrast with other Religions. (This Lecture was delivered by the Promised Messiah at Lahore on the 3rd September 1904 in a Meeting attended by over 10,000 persons of all creeds. ) First of all I thank God who has placed us under the benign rule of a peaceful Government which allows us to preach and propagate our religious beliefs, and by its principles of justice, fair-mindedness and religious neutrality has removed every obstacle from our way. After this brief prefatory note, I wish to say something about the different religious beliefs entertained by the people of this country, and assure the gentlemen present that so far as it lies in my power, I will try to express myself in words least offensive to the feelings of those of whose creeds I Will speak. Let rne at the same time candidly say that truth has always a certain bitterness in it, and some men are from their very nature prone to be offended even when a just criticism is passed on their religious beliefs. The effect of thi,s natural inclination it is beyond my power to remove, and I beg to be excused if any word of mine happens to wound the religious susceptibilities of any hearer, for it is impossible for any man to deal with what he sincerely believes and knows to be false and injurious doctrines, and still be able to please those who own such doctrines. This is a difficulty the solution of which has not been found yet, nor, if human nature remains unchanged, is such a solution possible. After deep deliberation and successive revelations from Almighty God, I have come to know that the great religious excitement which is maddening the people in this country and the ever-increasing diversity of religious sects which is witnessed here, is really due to the cause that the hold of spiritual power