The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page xxxiii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION Consume, with lion aspect, all their hamlets, with tiger aspect, drive away thy foemen. Sole lord and leader and allied with Indra, seize, conqueror, thine enemies' possessions (Atharva-Veda IV, 22:7). Similarly Vedic prayers addressed to the sun, moon, fire, Indra, and even grass, seek the destruction of the non-Vedic dharmis. Thus we have: Bewildering the senses of our foemen, seize thou their bodies and depart, O Apva. Attack them, set their hearts on fire and burn them: so let our foes abide in utter darkness. Whetting thy bolt and thy sharp blade, O Indra, crush thou the foe and scatter Those who hate us (Sama-Veda Part II, ix, iii, 9). Blind, O my foemen, shall ye be even as headless serpents are: may Indra slay each best of you, when Agni's flame hath struck you down (Sama-Veda Part II, ix, iii, 8). Cleave through, O Darbha, amulet, my foes', my adversaries' heart; Rise thou and batter down their heads (Atharva-Veda XIX, 28:4). We also have: Do not hold discourses with non-Vedic dharmis (Gotama-dharm Sut. v). Should anyone criticize the Vedas, turn him out of the country, that is, condemn him to a life-sentence (Manu Dharm Shastra). Confucianism and Zoroastrianism also were national religions. They did not address their Messages to the whole world, nor did they try to teach on any large scale. Just as Hinduism regards India as God's favoured land, so does Confucianism regard China as God's own kingdom. There are only two ways to resolve this division and disagreement between religions: either we must hold that there are several gods, or, if God is one, we must prove Him so. Or we must have these conflicting religions replaced by one Teaching. God is One The world is far advanced now. We do not need to labour over the point that if the world has a Maker, He is and can only be One Maker. The God of Israel, the God of the Hindus, the God of China and the God of Iran are not different. Nor is the God of Arabia, of Afghanistan and of Europe different. Nor is the God of the Mongols and the God of the Semites different. God is One, even as the law to which the world is subject is one law, and the system which links one part of it to another is one system. Science builds itself on the belief that all natural and mechanical changes are expressions of one law. The world has one principle-motion, as the materialistic philosophers assert. Or, it has One Maker. If this is true, expressions like "the God of Israel", "the God vii