Jesus In India — Page 6
6 J e s u s i n I n d i a will continue to instigate and incite Hazrat Imam Muhammad, the Mahdi, to violence, as if he were trying to make up for the humane teaching he preached to the world before, i. e. , not to resist evil, and on being struck on one cheek, to turn the other cheek also. This, in sum, is the Muslim and Christian belief regarding Jesus. Although Christians are guilty of a grave error in calling a humble man God, some Muslims too, particularly the Ahl-e-Hadith, generally known as the Wahabis, believe in a bloodthirsty Mahdi and an equally bloodthirsty Messiah. This has corrupted their moral condition to the extent that neither can they live with other people in a climate of peace, trust, and good will, nor can they be truly and completely loyal to a non-Muslim government. Every reasonable man would understand that such a belief, namely, that non-Muslims should be subjected to coercion, and that they should either directly become Muslims or be put to death, is open to very serious objections. Human conscience spontaneously realizes that it is highly objectionable to convert a person to one’s faith by coercion, and by threatening to kill him, without ever giving him the opportunity to understand the truth of a faith and apprising him of its moral teaching and values. Far from contributing to the growth of a religion, this would give the opponents the opportunity to find fault with it. The ultimate result of this kind of thinking is that hearts become devoid of human sympathy. Justice and compassion, which are some of the cardinal human values, become extinct, and spite and ill will begin to flourish; only brutality remains, wiping out all high moral qualities. But it is only too obvious that such teachings cannot be from God, Who