Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 373
373 other> and one country was terra incognita for another, so much so that the learned men of India thought the Himalaya moun- tains to be the boundary wall of the world beyond which there was no land inhabited by mankind. With the growth of knowledge and the advancement of civilization in its early stages, different people came to know something about each other- But this time the false beliefs relating to Divine reve- lation and the appearance of Prophets and the revelation of sacred books had taken a deep root in the hearts of men and every people believed from the core of their heart that their country alone was the seat of. the manifestation of the glories of God. As in those days, barbarous passions ruled supreme in the heart among almost all the people, and the Reformer who thought of uprooting an established evil usage was met with the sword, therefore no one dared to bring about peace and union between contending religions by cooling down blood which was heated by the ideas of self-glorification. Gautama Buddha tried to bring about this union. He did not believe the Yedas to be the first and the last revelation of Divine will, nor did he subscribe to the doctrine that Divine revelation was limited to one country, one people and one language, and thus he dealt a death blow to the pretensions of the Brahmans who monopolised all connections with the Divine Being for themselves and their country. The departure this great Reformer made from the narrow views of his predecessors brought him face to face with many persecutions from his opponents He was called an agnostic and an Atheist, but he was no more an Atheist than are the broadminded and cultured persons who reject the Divinity of Christ because. they are unable to conceive a God who should suffer death on the cross. Thus was Buddha mis- represented and his opponents brought many false charges against