The Message or A Cry of Anguish — Page 63
THE MESSAGE OR A CRY OF ANGUISH 63 truly lacks the ability of being a religious leader or one that can be relied upon, and contains within himself many shortcomings, yet despite all this, he is seen as a refuge by the multitudes then our religion does not allow that solely on account of his mass follow- ing he may be considered a representative of the nation and the one in charge of affairs. We find no such edict in the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran repeatedly teaches that only those are worthy to be made Imams, guides and wielders of authority who possess extensive religious knowledge, true insight, abundant knowledge and are blessed with good morals such as righteousness, piety and sincerity, and not the ones who, out of vested interests and in hopes of receiving donations, are ready to give membership of the Anjuman to anyone belonging to a misguided sect. In short, God Almighty enjoins that instead of following a mob mentality, true competence should be seen in the one that is given authority. Furthermore, it is also wrong to assume that Muslims have chosen the members of the Anjuman Himāyat as their imam, leader and guide out of sincere conviction. The truth is that all those associated with the Anjuman-e-Himāyat-e-Islām Lahore support it because they think that this Anjuman does not act on its own but adopts a course of action based on general consulta- tion and the majority opinion of Muslims. This is the error that most people are deceived by, not that they actually believe that this Anjuman alone possesses all-encompassing knowledge. This is the alleged credibility of the Anjuman that I have expressed. As for the accusation that the present writer has no more status than a mere mullah or a preacher in the eyes of all the Muslims, it is such a shameful lie that no righteous and noble man can ever resort to. This Anjuman knows that hundreds of honourable,