INTRODUCTION
The Islamic religion is the final religion and is therefore at the zenith of perfection. This fact is acknowledged even by (George) Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)[1], the well-known Irish writer and critic, whose personal comments on Islam can be summarized as, “Were we to choose a common religion for the entire world, it would definitely be the Islamic religion.” This conclusion is quite natural. For the Islamic religion is the sole religion that has preserved its intact purity owing to the promised protection against the interpolations suffered by all the religious systems previous to it. Judaism, one of the greatest monotheistic cults, had foretold about the advent of a Messiah. Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ (Jesus) was hailed as the promised Messiah, yet the Injil (Bible), the heavenly book of the religion he spread, was lost. Later, various gospels were written in the name of Injil, and these new gospels, which were no more than interpolations themselves, were interpolated again and again. All these facts, along with various other portents, announced the coming of a final prophet, the real Messiah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. As a matter of fact, the name of this Messiah is literally written in the Gospel of Barnabas. Then, the Islamic religion is the last, the most true, the most perfect religion wherein all the true religions converge and which, therefore, reflects the full approval of Allâhu ta’âlâ. A friend of ours, [namely, Dr. Nûrî Refet Korur], who had spent his entire youth among Christians in Europe, said to us: “I am a Muslim born from Muslim parents. I spent my life in Europe, where I had the chance and time to study all religions and to compare them with each other. If I had seen that another religion was superior to Islam, I would have given up Islam and accepted that religion. For there was no one to force me to remain a Muslim. Yet, all the research and the comparative studies I carried on, reinforced by the debates that I, in the meantime, indulged in with Christians, revealed the fact that Islam is by far superior to all the world’s present religions and that it is the only intact true religion, so clearly that I became attached to Islam with all my heart.”
Sad to say, today’s western world still accommodates Christians who insist on the wrong and call Muslims “heretics”, “idle-minded”, “devil-worshippers”, “irreligious”. These misconceptions are inculcated in the minds of Christian children by priests, whose real purpose is to distract their young and inquisitive brains. These interceptive activities are fed with the slanderous propaganda that the Islamic religion embodies aspects disagreeable with modern civilization. The fact, on the other hand, is that Islam is the only religion suitable for today’s civilized world. Our book Islam and Christianity deals with and refutes these misconceptions. In addition to English, we translated that book into French and German and sent the translated versions to countries all over the world. Thereby we tried to countermand the falsifications spread by priests and thus to state the actual facts. It did not take us long to see how appropriate and useful our work had been. No sooner had we distributed the books to the world than they gave their fruits. We received a letter from India, in which wrote an Indian Christian: “When I read your book Islam and Christianity, I realized that Islam is the true religion and I decided to become a Muslim.” We have been receiving similar letters from young Africans. Anyone who has the opportunity to study the pure, clean, civilized and humane aspects of Islam will feel an irresistable attraction to this religion. The Islamic religion is spreading over the world without any such media as propagation and organization. On the other hand, the missionary organizations belonging to those countries whose primary objective is to spread Christianity are spending huge amounts of money and offering various types of social aid, and yet achieving very little success in comparison with their tremendous efforts.
Despite all this wrongfull and inimical volley of vituperations carried on against Islam and all the stupendous efforts put forth for the spreading of Christianity, there has been an ever growing increase in the number of Muslims on the earth. Later ahead you will find more extensive information on this subject. Some of these Muslims remained Muslims because they had been born in Muslim families. However, besides these people there are also people who accepted Islam although their parents had been in other religions and they therefore had been given their family education in other religions. Among these people are universally renowned diplomats, statesmen, scientists, scholars, men of letters, writers, and even men of religion. These people studied Islam well, admired its greatness, and became Muslims willingly. In addition to these people, many other universally known celebrities met the Islamic religion with deep respect and admiration although they did not officially become Muslims; they even believed in the fact that Islam is the true religion and did not hesitate to express this belief of theirs. Scientists, philosophers, and politicians, admired by the entire world, first of all believe in the fact that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists and is One and that He is the Creator of all beings. In this chapter you will find the statements and observations belonging to some of these celebrities.
Among the people who accepted Islam, there may be those who became Muslims of necessity, for the sake of some advantages, or for advertisement. For instance, a non-Muslim woman may have accepted Islam without studying and learning Islam well for the purpose of marrying a certain man who happened to be a Muslim, or an Indian pariah may have done so in order to regain his lost civic rights. However, the fact that well-known scholars, scientists and writers accept the Islamic religion only after a long observation bears a lofty import. Selections from the explanations given by these cultured people on why they abandoned their religions and embraced Islam have been compiled from various sources and books and listed in the following pages. As you read them you will hear from the very tongues of these respectable people why the Islamic religion is superior to other religions. Perhaps a person who was born a Muslim and has spent his life among Muslims is totally oblivious of these superiorities. Yet when a person belonging to another religion studies Islam, he will see the difference clearly and will admire Islam. In fact, reading these explanations will provide you with an opportunity to see and admire once again the high merits of our religion, and thus feel and offer gratitude to Allâhu ta’âlâ for having been Muslims.
A conclusion drawn from all these explanations, in other words, a summary of the reasons why Islam is superior to the other religions, has been added in an independentchapter.
We hold the belief that this work will give you fresh information about the Islamic religion and will confirm once again that Islam is a great and true religion.
Mîlâdî - Hijrî Shamsî - Hijrî Kamarî
2000 – 1378 - 1420
WAQF IHLÂS
Who creates the earth and heaven,
decorates trees,
And makes flowers bloom, is Allah, alone!
Allah is Omnipresent, and sees
whatever thou doest;
Hears whatever thou sayest; He exists, is one, and
great.
We love Allah, and obey whatever
He commandeth;
Five times do we pray daily, never do we disobey Him.
A Believer is mild-tempered,
pleaseth everyone;
Never doth he cruelty to any, and liveth peacefully.
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A
FEW WORDS
Allâhu ta’âlâ created mankind. All people are the born slaves of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the creator, the Rabb, not only of a certain nation or race or only of the world, but also of the entire humanity as well as of all the worlds of existence. In the view of Allâhu ta’âlâ, all people are the same, and no one is different from another. In addition to a body, He has given a soul to each one of them. He has sent them Prophets ‘alaihimus-salawâtu wattaslîmât’ to lead them to spiritual and physical perfection and to guide them on the right way. The greatest ones of these Prophets are Âdam, Nûh (Noah), Ibrâhîm (Abraham), Mûsâ (Moses), Îsâ (Jesus), and Muhammad Mustafâ ‘alaihim-us-salâm’. The tenets of belief that they taught are the same. The final and the most perfect system is Islam, taught by Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. No Prophet will come after Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. For the religion he brought is at the uppermost point of perfection and has no deficiency to be meliorated; and Allâhu ta’âlâ has declared that mankind will never be able to change or interpolate this religion. The well-known German Writer Lessing (1729-1781), in his book Nathan der Veise (Nathan the Wise), likens the three (heavenly) religions to three identical rings made of sapphire. Yet he feels uncertain as to “whether one of them is genuine and the other three false?” Yet the fact is that all three of them are genuine essentially. However, as a result of various personal interests, advantages, sordid and biased considerations, jealousies, superstitions, misinformations and misconstructions, men failed to understand this reality, inserted numerous wrong beliefs and ideas into the Musawî and Nasrânî religions, and thus changed, defiled these true religions, which were based on Tawhîd (unity, oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ). Only Islam remained in its original purity. Consequently, adherents of these three religions became hostile to one another. This hostile attitude they have assumed means to oppose to the Will of Allâhu ta’âlâ. For, as we have already stated, Allâhu ta’âlâ invites all people to the true religion. In the view of Allâhu ta’âlâ, all people, regardless of race, are equal. All people are Ummat-i-da’wat. And the true religion is Islam, which is the only continuation of the original forms of Judaism and Christianity.
The following passage, which we have paraphrased from Prof. Robinson, reflects the opinions formed in the minds of today’s people who are stuck fast in materialism:
“I joined a tour of Israel organized for the teaching staff and students of the University of Orel Roberts. Orel Roberts, the founder of the university and one of the notables of the Catholic Church, was with us. During our scheduled visit to Ben Gurion, a former premier of Israel, Orel Roberts presented a copy of the Holy Bible to Mr. Gurion. The first portion of the Holy Bible was the Old Testament, that is, the Torah. Roberts requested Ben Gurion to read the passage he liked best of that holy book. Ben Gurion met his request with a smile. We sat under a tree in the small yard in front of his house. We were all quiet and ready to listen intently. Ben Gurion opened the Holy Bible, turned one or two pages, and read the following passage: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” [Gen: 1-27] I thought to myself, ‘Good Gracious! Is this the statement he has found after all?’ I frowned because I had been expecting him to read a passage from one of the Pentateuchal parts with meanings of a higher level, such as a verse telling about creation or a passage from the Ten Commandments. I beckoned to the television cameraman shooting the event. This beckoning meant: ‘Don’t bother! These statements are not worth being televised the world over.’
“Sometime afterwards, however, Ben Gurion explained with enthusiasm verging on ecstacy why he had picked up this statement, as follows: ‘Quite a long time before we became Americans, Russians, Israelis, Egyptians, or Christians, Muslims, Magians, Jews, etc., that is, before the formation of differences separating today’s people from one another, such as nationality, state, religion, belief, and the like, we were all a man and a woman created by Allâhu ta’âlâ. This is the greatest fact which all religious systems are primarily trying to teach us. Why don’t we realize this and why are all these hostilities among us? Let us join hands and supplicate Allâhu ta’âlâ to help us realize this fact.’
“We all hung our heads. Roberts, being a religious man, said, ‘Amen,’ on behalf of us all. The statement that Ben Gurion picked up really was the wisest choice.
“Throughout my way back from Israel this statement completely occupied my mind. We human beings are all the same. We are the born slaves of Allâhu ta’âlâ. There is only one way leading to Him. This way is the way of belief guided by Abraham (Ibrâhîm), by Moses (Mûsâ), by Jesus (Îsâ), and finally by Muhammad ‘alaihim-us-salâm’. People who follow this way shall attain to salvation. By abandoning the way guided by Prophets, mankind has made the gravest error. It is for this reason that they have lost their way and their moral qualities and have even forgotten Allâhu ta’âlâ. The earth’s resuming its peace and salvation is dependent upon men’s realizing that they have been on the wrong way and returning to the right way.”
How right Prof. Robinson is in his statements paraphrased above! Today most people have left the way prescribed by the religions, and material values have become their only concern. These poor people do not know that material values are a mere nothing. They are doomed to destruction and extinction. What is immortal in man is his soul. And the soul, in its turn, will not feed on material nutritives. The soul’s primary diet is a correct belief in Allâhu ta’âlâ, who created all from nothing; next comes worshipping Him, observing the duties required from His born slaves. Today, all scholars, scientists and state presidents believe in the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Yet in matters pertaining to belief and worship they mostly get stuck in wrong and misguided thoughts and ideas and thus deviate from the right way. A beautiful description of this case is given by Prof. White, a brain surgeon who has won many scientific awards and has attained international fame for the various operational methods he has found, and who is presently a professor at the University of Cleveland and at the same time the director of the Clinic of Brain Surgery founded in the same city. See what he says, (as paraphrased):
“The child that was brought in for a surgical operation was a six-year-old lovely girl. She was very graceful, lively, intelligent, and cheerful. Yet after examination we spotted a big tumor in her brain. We took her in for operation. A cyst attached to the tumor had made it grow very big. I began to operate on the sac containing liquid. But, alas, the global cystic tumor suddenly contracted and the wide veins on its surface tore. Blood was gushing out unto the operation bench. My friends and I were doing our utmost to stop the blood flowing as if from a water pump. It was of no avail. We saw in despair that we were losing the battle. The child was dying in our hands. We were under the hopeless oppression of profound sadness. I was trying to stop the bleeding by putting pieces of cotton on the torn veins. The bleeding seemed to come to an end. Yet I could not lift my hand off. For I knew that if I did so the bleeding would begin again and in that case nothing could be done any more. My assistants began to inject blood into the child’s body. My fingers were still on the pieces of cotton. How incapable and powerless I felt! Poor me, how did I dare to cut off a tumor formed in a small girl’s brain? How on earth could I assume the responsibility of so tremendous a job? How could a pitiable human being even touch that stupendous work of art, which we call ‘brain’, which manages all the so many various functions, provides humankind with their personality and equips them with a variety of faculties such as intellect, memory, emotions, feelings, tastes, pains, thoughts and fancies, and which Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, could create? We term this tiny object ‘brain’. Yet, in actual fact, it was this very child that lay helpless before us.
“Half an hour later. Utter silence reigned in the operation room. We were all extremely tense with anxiety. Everybody, and I myself, knew that were I to lift my hand the flood of blood would begin again, which meant the death of the child. At that moment I began to supplicate to Allâhu ta’âlâ and trusted myself to His help. I begged, ‘O my Allah, do give my fingers the strength I need so that I can prevent the bleeding!’ Presently a strong feeling of relief suffused me. For I had now committed my trust to Allâhu ta’âlâ. I had the belief that I could now lift my fingers off and there would be no bleeding any longer. I felt the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ with all my soul. Slowly, I lifted my fingers. The bleeding had stopped.
“It was now easy to perform the operation. The operation lasted for exactly four and a half hours. I did not leave the child for a whole week. I felt so happy as I observed that the child was gradually recovering. As of today, the child is ten years old, a perfectly healthful, cheerful and happy little dear.
“In 1974 I examined a child who had had a brain hemorrhage and I saw that there was a small tumor in the middle of its brain. Yet the tumor had begun to bleed and suppurate. The situation was dangerous and hopeless. We opened the skull, placed tubes on both sides of the brain, and began to wash the brain with antibiotics. This was quite a new method and I was the first to use it. Because the child was burning with fever, we placed it in a respirator and covered it with cold blankets. In the meantime we continued to wash the brain. This hopeless situation lasted for weeks. I kept praying and supplicating Allâhu ta’âlâ to help me. In my supplications, I was begging Allâhu ta’âlâ not only to have mercy on the child and its parents, but also to give energy and strength to those people who had undertaken this heavy responsibility and who had been working with me continuously for weeks.
“Eventually, the divine help reached us. This event, which had seemed to be a total hopelessness, ended in success. The child recovered. My friends were happy and they were saying that the new method we had used had ‘yielded a very good result.’ They thought that I did it and they prided on it. Yet I did not think so. I was of opinion that, no matter how hard we worked, no matter how new methods we found, no matter how new techniques we applied, success in operations of that sort depended only on the help of Allâhu ta’âlâ. I have always felt this in my heart in the numerous operations I have performed up to now. However improved our technology may be, the result of a brain operation, like all other things, is within the power of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and success is possible only with His help.
“During the brain operations I have performed for years, I have felt great excitement before the human brain. As I have dealt with the brain, and each time I have seen the brain, I have felt in my heart that it is impossible to solve the mystery of this tremendous work of art, that the power which created it is very great, and that it is necessary to believe in the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Even the most perfect computers made by people today can be only toys when compared to the tiniest brains.
“Now I believe that the brain is a case in which the human soul is preserved. As we perform an operation around this case we perform a religious rite. A brain operation, in my personal credo, is a religious rite, identical with performing an act of worship. The operator’s technical knowledge and skill are not the only requirements. He should, at the same time, believe in the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ and beg Him for help and mercy for a successful operation.
“What happens to the soul kept in the case of the brain when a person dies? The soul is not in the body now, but definitely it is not dead. Where does it go, then? It is not for me as a doctor to speculate on where the soul goes or where it stays. For physical areas of knowledge cannot answer this question. The only guide that will help us in this respect is a religious book. I believe that inasmuch as their brains and souls possess the faculty for reasoning, the humankind should leave aside the material values, attach themselves to the religion with all their hearts and believe in the teachings written in religious books.”
This comes to mean that even the world’s famous and greatest surgeon sincerely expresses that he believes in the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ and that without His help nothing can be done.
Now let us lend an ear to a scientist:
You all know Edison,[2] the well-known American scientist. About this renowned inventor who, in addition to various discoveries, made the first electric bulb and thus illuminated the world, his closest colleague relates the following memory in a book published several years ago:
“One day, as I entered the room, I found Edison deeply plunged in thought, motionless, looking at some container which he was holding in his hand. An expression of utter astonishment tinted with deep signs of respect, admiration and adoration had suffused his face. He did not even notice me till I was quite near him. When he saw me he showed me the container in his hand. It was full of quicksilver. ‘Look at that,’ he said. ‘What a tremendous work of art! Do you believe that quicksilver is extraordinary?’ I replied, ‘Quicksilver is really wonderful substance.’ Edison’s voice quivered as he spoke. He murmured to me, ‘As I look at quicksilver, I admire the greatness of its Creator. So many varying properties He has given to it! As I think of these I almost lose my mind.’ Then he turned to me again, and said, ‘People worldover admire me. They presume that all these various inventions and discoveries I have managed are wonders and great accomplishments. They want to look on me as a superhuman. What a great error it is! I am a person who is not even worth a penny. My discoveries consist in uncovering only an infinitesimal part of the great wonders that actually exist in the universe but which people have not noticed so far. A person who says, “I made this,” is the most abject liar, the most driveling idiot. Man is an incapable creature who can do nothing by himself. Man is a creature who can talk a little and who can think a little. If he thinks well, he will, let alone being proud, see how void he is. So, as I think of these facts, I realise what a powerless, incompetent and weak creature I am. Me, an inventor? [He raised his hand and pointed to the sky.] The real inventor, the real genius, the real creator is He, Allah!’ ”
As is seen, scientists believe in the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ and hold fast to His religion with both hands. Materialists mostly cannot find solutions to their problems and give up hope. This is because their souls are empty. The human soul, like the body, needs food. And this, in its turn, is possible only when one has îmân, and the only way leading to Allâhu ta’âlâ is the religion. Even those who deny Allâhu ta’âlâ will some day feel this need.
The famous Russian writer (Alexander) Solzhenitsyn (1918 -—), when he settled his home in the U.S., thought he would now be free from great troubles, mental depressions, and from the state of being only a mechanical tool. One day he summoned a group of American youth around himself in a university and said to them, “When I came here, I thought I would be very happy. Unfortunately, here, too, I feel myself in a vacuum. For we have become the slaves of material values. Yes, there is freedom here, and one can do whatever one wishes. But material values are the only important things. The souls are empty. However, what makes a human being a real human is its matured, refined soul. My piece of advice to you is this: Try to improve and beautify your soul! In that case only will those monstrosities that have infested your country and which have been worrying you begin to disappear. Pay the religion its due importance! The human soul is fed on religion. People adherent to their religion will be your greatest helpers in whatever you do. For the fear of Allah will keep them on the right way. On the other hand, your police forces, no matter how powerful, cannot establish a twenty-four-hour control over everybody. What deters people from iniquities is not the concept of police, but the fear that they feel in the permanent presence of Allah.”
As we have stated above, religion is the only source of nutriment for the human soul. Of all the existent religions, Islam is the truest, the newest, and the most comprehensive so that it provides its adherents with an everduring adaptability to the world’s changing conditions. In this booklet you will read selections from the autobiographical documents in which some cultured people, who, while formerly belonging to some other religion during their childhood, studied various religions and their books and finally embraced Islam on their own volition and without even any marginal outside influence, give their personal accounts on why they decided to change their religion and become a Muslim.
In addition to these highly cultured people, there are quite a number of celebrities who believe in the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ and who admire Islam for its greatness. There is mention of these people in the next chapter. In the so-called chapter, we shall paraphrase paragraphs from the reflections on the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ and the superiority of Islam selected from the statements of Emperor Napoléon (Bonaparte, 1769-1821), (Thomas) Carlyle (1796-1881), Prof. (Ernest) Renan (1823-1892), and the Indian hero (Mahatma) Ghandi (1869-1948), and the statements made by (Alphonso Marie de) Lamartine (1790-1869) about our darling Prophet Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’.
As all these indicate, the religion is the most vital necessity for mankind. Those unfortunate people who do not believe in their own religion, and who have not had the chance to study Islam, either, will remain hollow-souled and will get hold of false credos fabricated by liars. For a person definitely needs to believe in the existence of a being superior to him and to attach himself to that being. Even those people living in the most improved and developed countries have seeked ways to satisfy this need and finally attached themselves to aberrant ideas and fabricated beliefs. On November 17, 1978, nine hundred votaries of a heretical sect were taken to Guyana in North Africa by a miscreant priest named Jim Jones, the founder of the sect, which he called People’s Religion, and thence to a camp which this eccentric priest, again, called Jonestown,[3] where he induced them to poison themselves (by drinking poison together). In Italy, a pair of parents who believed another similar priest killed their own child with their own hands because the heretic priest had told them to kill their child and the child would come back to life and would become even healthier than before upon his sending his prayers; it goes without saying how ruined the parents felt when they saw that the child would never return to this life. If these people, who had left their religion, had studied the Islamic religion like those people who embraced Islam, and whom you will get to know more closely further ahead, they would have found in it what they had been looking for, and the Islamic religion, whose lexical meaning also is ‘peace and tranquility, salvation, trusting oneself to Allah’, would have given them the spiritual serenity they had been yearning for.
Very sad to say, we Muslims cannot propagate our brilliant religion to the world as efficiently as we wish to do. One of the deciding factors contributing to this failure is our own slackness in paying our religion due attachment and our contagious remission in carrying out its commandments. The Islamic religion enjoins, first of all, physical and spiritual cleanliness. Spiritual cleanliness is obtainable by believing first in the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ and then in the totality of His commandments and prohibitions which He sent to humankind through Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, His final Messenger. That the soul has been likewise cleansed is identifiable from the presence of certain characteristic signs, such as never lying, never deceiving anybody, habitual rectitude, not holding heretical dogmas, readiness to help others without discriminating among them, and full submission to the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ. This is the sole behavior expected from a Muslim. Then, if a person means to propagate the Islamic religion, first of all he himself has to be a model Muslim. If we exhibit this model and modest behavior, people belonging to other religions will observe us with admiration, which in turn automatically prompt them to study the Islamic religion. Our newly converted Muslim brothers explained in their answers to the question, “Why did you become a Muslim?” that they decided to become a Muslim upon seeing true Muslims and their life-styles. These Muslims request us to try to spread and publicise the Islamic religion and to set an example, a model Muslim for others by holding fast with both hands to the commandments of our religion. For all our faults and our insufficient capacity of propaganda, the Islamic religion is growing piecemeal and spreading over the world. In 1954 the population of the world was 2.4 billion. By 1978 it reached 3.8 billion. Between 1954 and 1978 the number of Christians reached 150 million, while that of Muslims became 220 million. According to the statistics of the year 1978 written in the World Almanac, published by an international statistics center, there are 1.7 billion buddhists and magians, 950 million Christians (Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians), 10 million Jews, 538 million Muslims on the earth. On the ot