Hempher says:
Our Great Britain is very vast. The sun rises over
its seas, and sets, again, below its seas. Yet our state is relatively weak
concerning its colonies in India, China and Middle East. These countries are
not entirely under our domination. However, we have been carrying on a very
active and successful policy in these places. We shall be in full possession of
all of them very soon. Two things are of importance:
1- To try to retain the places we have already
obtained;
2- To try to take possession of those places we
have not obtained yet.
The Ministry of the Commonwealth assigned a
commission from each of the colonies for the execution of these two tasks. As
soon as I joined the Ministry of the Commonwealth, the Minister put his trust
in me and appointed me the administrator of our company in East India. Outwardly
it was a trade company. But its real task was to search for ways of taking
control of the very vast lands of India.
Our government was not at all nervous about India.
India was a country where people from various nationalities, speaking different
languages, and having contrasting interests lived together. Nor were we afraid
of China. For the religions dominant in China were Buddhism and Confucianism,
neither of which was much of a threat. Both of them were dead religions that
instituted no concern for life and which were no more than forms of addresses.
For this reason, the people living in these two countries were hardly likely to
have any feelings of patriotism. These two countries did not worry us, the
British government. Yet the events
that might occur later were not out of
consideration for us. Therefore, we were designing long term plans to wage
discord, ignorance, poverty, and even diseases in these countries. We were
imitating the customs and traditions of these two countries, thus easily concealing
our intentions.
What frazzled our nerves most was the Islamic
countries. We had already made some agreements, all of which were to our
advantage, with the Sick Man (the Ottoman Empire). Experienced members of the
Ministry of the Commonwealth predicted that this sick man would pass away in
less than a century. In addition, we had made some secret agreements with the
Iranian government and placed in these two countries statesmen whom we had made
masons. Such corruptions as bribery, incompetent administration and inadequate
religious education, which in its turn led to being occupied with pretty women
and consequently to neglect of duty, broke the backbones of these two
countries. In spite of all these, we were anxious that our activities should
not yield the results we expected, for reasons I am going to cite below:
1- Muslims are extremely devoted to Islam. Every
individual Muslim is as strongly attached to Islam as a priest or monk to
Christianity, if not more. As it is known, priests and monks would rather die
than give up Christianity. The most dangerous of such people are the Shiites in
Iran. For they put down people who are not Shiites as disbelievers and foul.
Christians are like noxious dirt according to Shiites. Naturally, one would do
one’s best to get rid of dirt. I once asked a Shiite this: Why do you look on
Christians as such? The answer I was given was this: “The Prophet of Islam was a very wise person. He put
Christians under a spiritual oppression in order to make them find the right
way by joining Allah’s religion, Islam. As a matter of fact, it is a State
policy to keep a person found dangerous under a spiritual oppression until he
pledges obedience. The dirt I am speaking about is not material; it is a
spiritual oppression which is not peculiar to Christians alone. It involves
Sunnites and all disbelievers. Even our ancient Magian Iranian ancestors are
foul according to Shiites.”
I said to him: “Well! Sunnites and Christians
believe in Allah, in Prophets,
and in the Judgement Day, too; why should they be foul, then?” He replied,
“They are foul for two reasons: They impute mendacity to our Prophet, Hadrat Muhammad – may
Allah protect us against such an act! – [1] And we, in response to this atrocious
imputation, follow the rule expressed in the saying, ‘If a person torments you,
you can torment him in return’, and say to them: ‘You are foul.’ Secondly;
Christians make offensive allegations about the Prophets
of Allah. For instance, they say: Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihis-salâm’ drank alcohol.
Because he was accursed, he was crucified.”
In consternation, I said to the man that
Christians did not say so. “Yes, they do,” was the answer, “and you don’t know.
It is written so in the Holy Bible.” I became quiet. For the man was right in
the first respect, if not in the second respect. I did not want to continue the
dispute any longer. Otherwise, they might be suspicious of me dressed in an
Islamic attire as I was. I therefore avoided such disputes.
2- Islam was once a religion of administration and
authority. And Muslims were respected. It would be difficult to tell these
respectable people that they are slaves now. Nor would it be possible to
falsify the Islamic history and say to Muslims: The honour and respect you
obtained at one time was the result of some (favourable) conditions. Those days
are gone now, and they will never come back.
3- We were very anxious that the Ottomans and
Iranians might notice our plots and foil them. Despite the fact that these two
States had already been debilitated considerably, we still did not feel certain
because they had a central government with property, weaponry, and authority.
4- We were extremely uneasy about Islamic scholars. For the scholars of Istanbul and Al-adh-har, and the Iraqi and Damascene
---------------------------------
[1] However, those who impute mendacity to our
Prophet are Shi’ites and Christians. The deviating beliefs, words and dirty
works of Shi’ites which do not conform
with those of our Prophet and Qur’ân al-kerîm
are written and refuted each in the books of Ahl-i sunnat such us As-Sawaiq
ul-muhrika, Tuhfa-i ithnâ ashariyya, Te’yîd-i Ahl-i Sunnat, Nâhiye, Ashab-i
kirâm, Hujaj-i qat’iyye, and Milal wa Nihal. The author of Sawaiq
Ahmed ibni Hajar Mekkî died in Mekka in 974 [1566 A.D.]; Tuhfa’s
author Abdul ’Azîz died in Delhi in 1239 [1824 A.D.]; Te’yîd’s author
Imam-i Rabbânî Ahmad Fârûqî died in Serhend in 1034 [1624 A.D.], Nâhiye’s
author Abdul ’Azîz Ferhârevî died in 1239 [1824 A.D.]; Ashab-i kirâm’s
author Abdulhakim Arwâsî died in Ankara in 1362 [1943 A.D.]; Hujaj’s
author Abdullah Suweydî died in Baghdâd in 1174 [1760 A.D.]; Milal’s
author Muhammad Shihristânî died in Baghdâd in 548 [1154 A.D.].
scholars were insurmountable obstacles against our
objectives. For they were the kind of people who would never compromise their
principles to the tiniest extent because they had turned against the transient
pleasures and adornments of the world and fixed their eyes on the Paradise
promised by Qur’ân al-kerîm.
The people followed them. Even the Sultan was afraid of them. Sunnites were not
so strongly adherent to scholars as were Shiites. For Shiites did not read
books; they only recognized scholars, and did not show due respect to the
Sultan. Sunnites, on the other hand, read books, and respected scholars and the
Sultan.
We therefore prepared a series of conferences. Yet
each time we tried we saw with disappointment that the road was closed for us.
The reports we received from our spies were always frustrating, and the
conferences came to naught. We did not give up hope, though. For we are the
sort of people who have developed the habit of taking a deep breath and being
patient.
The Minister himself, the highest priestly orders,
and a few specialists attended one of our conferences. There were twenty of us.
Our conference lasted three hours, and the final session was closed without
reaching a fruitful conclusion. Yet a priest said, “Do not worry! For the
Messiah and his companions obtained authority only after a persecution that
lasted three hundred years. It is hoped that, from the world of the unknown, he
will cast an eye on us and grant us the good luck of evicting the unbelievers,
(he means Muslims), from their centers, be it three hundred years later. With a
strong belief and long-term patience, we must arm ourselves! In order to obtain
authority, we must take possession of all sorts of media, try all possible
methods. We must try to spread Christianity among Muslims. It will be good for
us to realize our goal, even if it will be after centuries. For fathers work
for their children.”
A conference was held, and diplomats and religious
men from Russia and France as well as from England attended. I was very lucky.
I, too, attended because I and the Minister were in very good terms. In the
conference, plans of breaking Muslims into groups and making them abandon their
faith and bringing them round to belief (Christianizing them) like in Spain
were discussed. Yet the conclusions reached were not as had been expected. I
have written about all the talks held in that conference in my book “Ilâ
Melekût-il-Mesîh.”
It is difficult to suddenly uproot a tree that has
sent out its roots to the depths of the earth. But we must make hardships easy
and overcome them. Christianity came to spread.
Our Lord the Messiah promised us this. The bad conditions that the east and the
west were in helped Muhammad. Those conditions being gone, have taken away the
nuisances (he means Islam) that accompanied them. We observe with pleasure
today that the situation has changed completely. As a result of the great works
and endaveours of our ministry and other Christian governments, Muslims are on
the decline now. Christians, on the other hand, are gaining ascendancy. It is
time we retook the places we lost throughout the centuries. The powerful State
of Great Britain pioneers this blessed task [of annihilating Islam].