Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 132
Malf uza t - English translation of Urdu Volume 8 132 be placed in obedience before God Almighty. Its objective was to consider God Almighty alone to be One without any partner. This belief in Tau hi d [the Oneness of Allah] had been lost when the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was commissioned. The Indian subcontinent was also full of idols at that time, as has been acknowledged by Pandit Dayanand Saraswati. Under such circumstances and at such a time, it was indeed necessary that he should have been commissioned. This age is also similar to that period, and— together with idol worship—atheism and the deification of man have also spread in it, and the original purpose and spirit of Islam are no longer present. The essence of Islam was to lose oneself in the love of God alone and holding none worthy of worship except Him, and its purpose is that man become devoted to God and not to the world. Towards this end, Islam divides its teachings into two parts: our obligation to Allah and our obligation to His crea- tures. Our obligation to Allah demands obedience to Him, and our obligation to His creatures requires sympathising with them and helping them. Tormenting others simply because of religious differences is wrong. Sympathy and kindness are one thing, and opposi- tion because of religion is quite another. The group of Muslims, which has wrong notions about Jihad, and is grossly mistaken about it, has gone to the extent of justifying the unlawful sei- zure of property belonging to non-Muslims. Even against my followers and me, these people issued a fatwa to loot our wealth and even take away our wives, whereas Islam never contained such types of foul teachings. Islam is a clean and pure religion. The situation of Islam can be set forth as follows. Just as a father expects his children to perform the duties they owe to him, similarly, he desires that