The following chapter is the translation of the booklet
Khulâsa-t-ul-kelâm:
This booklet is in Arabic. Its author, Yűsuf
Nebhânî, passed away in Beirut in 1305 H. [1932 A.D.] May hamd (praise, laud
and thanks) be to Allâhu ta’âlâ! He blesses anyone He likes with hidâyat
(guidance to the right way and consequently to salvation) and leaves anyone He
wishes in dalâlat (aberration, wrong way). [With His justice He accepts the
prayers of those who wish to be saved from dalâlat and attain eternal
felicity.] We pronounce benedictions over our master, Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’,
who is the highest of Prophets
and of all the selected people. May blessings and salutations be upon his Âl
(close relatives, household) and upon all his As-hâb, who shine on the earth
like stars in the sky!
This small booklet has few pages. Yet it is rich
with respect to the knowledge it contains. People of knowledge and wisdom will
accept it if they read it with common sense, and those who are blessed with the
hidâyat of Allâhu ta’âlâ, with
the right way, will believe it outright. This booklet distinguishes the Sirât-i-mustaqîm, which is a blessing Allâhu ta’âlâ has bestowed on Muslims, from
the way of Dalâlat, wherein
He has forsaken His enemies. I have named this boklet Khulâsa-t-ul-kelâm fî terjîh-i-dîn-il-Islâm, which
means ‘a summary of the statements which will help choose the Islamic
religion.’
O man, who wishes to save himself from eternal
torment and to attain infinite blessings! If you spent all your time pondering
over this very important, very great truth, if you applied all your energies to
find out the means for safeguarding yourself against endless torment, when you
were alone and in all situtations, if you cooperated with all other people and
struggled to the best of your abilities as a human being to attain this goal,
all these endeavors would be extremely insignificant when compared with
the importance of this means. In fact, it would be
similar to giving a grain of sand in return for all worldly treasures. The
importance of this truth could not be explained through this writing of ours.
This writing of ours is intended to give some clues to the wise. A single
implication will suffice for a wise person to realise the purport. I,
therefore, shall make a few clue-bearing statements to prime the pump for this
realisation: Man forms a liking to his settled tendencies. He does not want to
cease from doing them. When he is born, for instance, be gets used to sucking
milk, and hates to get weaned. As he grows, he becomes accustomed to his home,
to his quarter, to his hometown. It becomes very difficult for him to part with
them. Later on, he becomes wont to his shop, to his profession, to his
scientific branch, to his family, to his language and religion, and hates to
part with them. Thus various communities, tribes, nations come into being.
Then, a nation’s love of their religion is not the result of a realization that
their religion is the best of religions. A wise person should study his
religion, compare it with other religions, find out what religion is the true
one and hold fast to it. For adherence to a wrong religion will drift one to
eternal disasters and everlasting torments. O man, wake up from oblivion! If
you say, “How do I know what religion is the true one? I believe that the religion
I am accustomed to is the true one. I love this religion,” then you should know
that “Religion means to obey the commandments and prohibitions which Allah has
sent through Prophets.” These injunctions
are men’s duties to their Rabb (Allah) and to one another.
Of all the existing religions, which one gives the
most helpful explanation of the Rabb’s Attributes, of worships, and of the
relations between creatures? Wisdom is a sense which distinguishes between good
and bad. What is bad should be rejected and what is good should be studied.
Studying a religion means studying its beginning, its Prophet, his As-hâb (companions) and Ummat
(followers), especially the notable ones. If you like them, choose that
religion! Follow your mind, not your nafs! Your nafs will mislead you by
infusing feelings of shame and fear into you pertaining to your family, your
friends and wicked and miscreant men of religion. The harms such people may
give you is a mere nothing when compared with everlasting torment. A person who
realizes this fact fully will choose the Dîn-i-islâm.
He will believe in Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, who
is the last Prophet. Besides, Islam
enjoins a belief in all Prophets.
It
teaches that their religions and canonical laws
were true, that each new Messenger invalidated the Sharî’ats prior to him, and
that by the same token the advent of Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ Sharî’at
invalidated all the earlier Sharî’ats. A person’s realizing that the religion
he has been used to following is a wrong one, abandoning this religion and
having îmân in Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ will be very difficult for his nafs to
tolerate. For the nafs has been created in a nature inimical to Allâhu ta’âlâ, to Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’,
and to his Sharî’at. This inimical nature of the nafs is called Hamîyat-ul-jâhiliyya (mistaken zeal,
fanaticism, bigotry). Parents, teachers, vicious friends, [radio and television programs, statesmen] in
the wrong religion will support this bigoted feeling. Hence the saying,
“Teaching the child is like inscribing on stone.” For eliminating this bigotry
it is necessary to strive hard, to struggle against the nafs, and to convince
the nafs through reason. If you read my following writings with attention, it
will help you with this struggle of yours:
Adapting oneself to a certain religion is for
attaining eternal happiness and securing oneself against everlasting disasters.
It is not for boasting about a religion which one has inherited from one’s
parents. And each Prophet
is a human being who possesses the qualifications of prophethood and conveys the injunctions of Allâhu ta’âlâ to His born slaves. One has to
adapt oneself to a Prophet
who has these qualifications and enter his religion. People who worship icons
and idols called Wasanî (Vesenî) and godless people called Dehrî, [also
freemasons and communists] are like beasts. Also, the Nazarene (Christian) and
Judaic religions have become obsolete for the following reasons:
1- In the Islamic religion, Allâhu ta’âlâ has attributes of perfection.
He does not have attributes of deficiency. The worships are easy to perform.
Social relations are based on justice. Worships and social relations taught in
the other religions, however, have changed in the course of time, so that they
are no longer reasonable or practicable.
2- A comparative study of the lives of Muhammad,
Îsâ (Jesus) and Műsâ (Moses) ‘alaihimus-salâm’ will show that Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ is of the highest lineage, the noblest, the bravest, the most
beneficent, the most knowledgeable, the wisest, the most superior, and the most
sagacious in knowledge pertaining to this world and the next. On the other
hand, he was ummî (illiterate). In other words, he had never read books nor
learned anything from anybody.
3- The mu’jizas (miracles) worked through Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ were much more numerous than the total of those wrought through
the others. The mu’jizas of the others are past and over. A number of
Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ mu’jizas, on the other hand, especially the mu’jiza
of Qur’ân al-kerîm,
have been continuing and will last till the end of the world. And the kerâmats[1] of his Ummat (Muslims), especially those
wrought through the Awliyâ,[2] have been occurring continually and
everywhere.
4- Among the reports communicating these three
religions to us, those which are conveyed through Qur’ân al-kerîm and Hadîth-i-sherîfs are more numerous and more
dependable. All of them have been committed to books and spread throughout the
world. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ was forty years old when he was informed that
he was the Prophet. And he was
sixty-three years old when he passed away. His prophethood
lasted for twenty-three years. He passed away after the entire Arabic peninsula
had obeyed him, after his religion had spread and had been learned everywhere,
after his call had been heard in the east and in the west, and after the number
of his As-hâb had reached 150 thousand. He performed his Farewell Hajj together
with his 120 thousand Sahâbîs, and passed away eighty days after this. The third
âyat-i-kerîma of Mâida sűra, which
purports, “Today I have completed your religion
and consummated my blessing on you and called Islam as your religion,” was
revealed during this Hajj. All these Sahâbîs were faithful and true. Most of
them were profoundly learned in Islam and were Awliyâ. They spread Rasűlullah’s religion and mu’jizas over the earth.
For they travelled to other countries for Jihâd. Whereever they went they
conveyed the religious teachings and mu’jizas to men of knowledge living there.
And these people, in their turn, taught others. Thus, scholars living in each
century taught many other scholars belonging to the next generations. And these
scholars wrote these teachings in thousands of books, and also wrote the names
of those people who conveyed these teachings. They
---------------------------------
[1] An extraordinary event which Allâhu ta’âlâ
creates through a person whom He loves is called a wonder, or a miracle. When a
miracle occurs through a Prophet it is termed a mu’jiza. When it occurs
through a Walî, i.e. a person loved by Allâhu ta’âlâ, it is called a kerâmet.
Please see our book Proof of Prophethood.
[2] Plural form of Walî.
classified the hadîth-i-sherîfs
they learned in a number of categories and gave them such terms as Sahîh,
Hasan, etc. They did not let false statements fabricated by liars [and Jews] in
the name of hadîths enter their books. They were very stringent, extremely
sensitive in this respect. Owing to their stringent efforts the Islamic
religion was established on very solid foundations and spread without any
change. None of the other religions spread in such a healthy way. The mu’jizas of our beloved Prophet Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, substantially
proves that he is the true Prophet.
Islam’s fundamental and essential teachings, existence and unity of Allâhu ta’âlâ, His Attributes of perfection, prophethood of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, that he
was faithful and dependable and the highest of all Prophets, that people will rise again after death
and will be called to account, the bridge of Sirât, blessings of Paradise,
torments in Hell, that it is farz (a plain Islamic commandment) to perform the
prayer called namâz five times daily, the farz (obligatory) parts of early and
late afternoon and night prayers have four rak’ats each, that (the farz part
of) morning prayer contains two rak’ats and (that of) evening prayer contains
three rak’ats, that it is farz to begin fasting when the new moon for the month
of Ramadân is seen in the sky and to celebrate the Bayram (feast) called Fitr
when the new moon for the month of Shawwâl is seen, that it is farz (or fard)
to perform (the worship called) Hajj once in one’s lifetime, that it is harâm
(forbidden) [for women and girls to go out without covering their heads, their
hair, (for everyone, men and women alike) to practise pederasty] to commit
fornication, to drink wine [or even a drop of any hard drink which would
intoxicate in case it were taken in large amounts], for a person who is junub
(canonically unclean, needing a ritual washing) and for a menstruating woman to
perform namâz, to perform namâz without a ritual ablution, and all the other essential
religious teachings were conveyed correctly to all Muslims, educated and
ignorant ones alike, and eventually to us without any changes having been made
in them. This fact is known by reasonable Christians and Jews as well. These
people acknowledge that the means by which they learned their own religion do
not have equally dependable authenticity. Because Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’
time is closer to ours and because the number of scholars who conveyed the
Islamic religion to us is enormous, it has not been possible to insert
superstitions into Islam. Christianity and Judaism do not possess these two
blessings. There is a space of about six hundred years [according
to historians] between the bi’that [appearing] of
Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and that of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. For [they say] that
there are six hundred and twenty-one years between Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ birth
and Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ hijra (migration) from Mekka to Medîna. [On the
other hand, this space of time is one thousand years according to Islamic
scholars.] During this space of time ignorance was widespread all over the
earth. It was therefore very difficult to distinguish between true reports and
false ones.
Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ call did not last long. Allâhu ta’âlâ raised him up to heaven when
he was thirty-three years old. During this short time he was weak and
defenceless against unbelievers. The conditions were not convenient enough for
him to carry out successfully the duty which his Rabb had assigned to him. The
time’s Jewish community and their government were an additional impediment. Nor
did he have any supporters except those few people called Hawârîs (Apostles).
His only believers were these twelve Apostles, who were no more than poor,
ignorant hunters. After his ascension[1] to heaven, various reports and narrations were
compiled in [four] books called the Injîl, which, being transferred from one
incompetent hand to another and being translated from one language to another,
underwent various interpolations. Much of the information contained in these
gospels therefore is contradictory with one another and illogical. In fact,
reports given in one of them confute and belie those written in another. The
same case applies to different versions of the same gospel. To eliminate these
differences and contradictions, priests had to convene in every century and
correct the existing gospels, thus making additions and excisions and meanwhile
inserting absurdities that have nothing to do with religion. They forced people
to believe these books. Most of the statements in these books do not belong to
Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ or to his Apostles. As a result, they parted into various
groups. New sects appeared in every century. Most of them dissented from
earlier ones. And they all know that the gospels they have now are not the holy
book teaching the religion revealed to Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’.
---------------------------------
[1] Contrary to the Christian credo, which
theorizes that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was crucified and then ascended to heaven,
Islam teaches that this exalted Prophet was not crucified, and that Allâhu
ta’âlâ raised him, alive, up to heaven. Please see our book Could Not
Answer.
So are the Judaic books narrating the religion and
the mu’jizas of Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. The space of time here is longer. Műsâ
‘alaihis-salâm’ passed away two thousand three hundred and forty-eight (2348)
years before Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ hijrat. During the long time of
ignorance between them it was impossible to convey the Judaic religion
correctly. In addition, Jewish men of religion were killed by cruel tyrants
like Nebuchadnezzar, and others were taken as captives and transported from the
Bayt-ul-muqaddas to Babylon. In fact, there were times when Jerusalem did not
contain one single person educated well enough to read the Torah. Danyâl
(Daniel) ‘alaihis-salâm’ knew the Torah by heart, so that he would recite and
dictate it. This served to delay its being interpolated only till after this
blessed Prophet’s death. As a matter
of fact, the additions made after him were far too amoral to be attributed to Allâhu ta’âlâ or to Prophets.
That ignorance did not become widespread after the
time of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is known by all peoples. In fact, knowledge
became a widespread common attribute among all Muslims, great Islamic states
were established and they spread knowledge, science, justice and human rights
everywhere. Now, if a wise and reasonable person examines these three
religions, he will definitely adapt himself to Islam. For the purpose is to
find the true religion. Lying and slandering are harâm in Islam. Âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs vehemently prohibit these
two vices. When it is a grave sin to slander an ordinary person, it is much
worse, much more harâm to slander the Messenger of Allah. For this reason,
there cannot be any lies, any errors in books telling about Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ and his mu’jizas. A wise person should overcome his
pertinacity, abandon the religion that will lead to perdition, and adapt
himself to the true religion which will guide him to happiness. Life in this
world is very short. Its days are passing by and turning into mere visions one
by one. Every human being will end in death, whereafter there is either eternal
torment or an everlasting life of blessings. And their time is approaching everybody
with great speed.
O man! Have mercy on yourself! Remove the curtain
of oblivion from your mind! See what is wrong as wrong and try to get rid of
it! See what is right as right and adapt yourself to it, hold fast to it! The
decision you will make is very great, very important. And the time is very
short. You will certainly die! Think of the time when you will die! Prepare
yourself for what
you are going to experience! You will not escape
everlasting torment unless you adapt yourself to Haqq. Repenting when it is too
late will be useless. Confirming the truth at the last breath will not be
accepted. Making tawba after death will not be valid. That day, if Allâhu ta’âlâ says, “O My slave! I gave thee
the light of mind. I commanded thee to use it for knowing Me and for having
belief in Me, in My Prophet
Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, and in the Islamic religion revealed through him. I
informed in the Torah and the Bible about the advent of this Prophet. I spread his name and religion in every
country. You cannot say you did not hear about him. You worked day and night
for worldly earnings, worldly pleasures. You never thought of what you were
going to experience in the Hereafter. In a state of unawareness you fell into
the talons of death,” how will you answer?
O man! Think of what is going to happen to you!
Come to your senses before your lifetime is over. People you had been seeing
around you, you had been talking to, you had been sympathizing with, you had
been afraid of, died one by one. They do not exist now. They came and went by
like fancies. Think well! What a horrible thought it is to burn in eternal
fire! And how great a fortune it is to live in everlasting blessings. You have
the choice now. Everybody will end up in one of these two extremes. Another
alternative is impossible. It would be utter ignorance, insanity not to
consider this and take precautions accordingly. May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless us all with following
reason! Âmîn.
It is stated as follows in the book Qawl-us-sabt fî rad-d-i-’alâ deâw-il-protestanet: Allâma
Rahmatullah Hindî[1] states in his book (Izhâr-ul-haqq), “Before the beginning of Islam
there were no original copies of the Torah or the Bible left anywhere. The
existing ones today are history books made up of true and false reports. The
Torah and the Bible mentioned in Qur’ân al-kerîm
are not the existing books in the name of Torah and Bible. Of the teachings
written in these books, the ones affirmed by Qur’ân
al-kerîm are true and those which it rejects are false. We
would not say true or false about those which are not mentioned in Qur’ân al-kerîm. There is no documentary
evidence to prove that the four Gospels are the word of Allah. A British priest
with whom I spoke with in India admitted this fact and said that all the
documents in this respect had been lost through tumults that had happened in
the world until A.D.
---------------------------------
[1] Rahmatullah Hindî passed away in Mekka in 1306
[A.D. 1889].
volume of the interpretation of the Bible by
Heron, in the sixty-fifth page of the first volume of the historian Moshem’s
history, printed in 1332 [A.D. 1913], and in the hundred and twenty-fourth page
of the fifth volume of the explanation of the Bible by Lardis that the Gospels
underwent various interpolations. Jerome says, “As I translated the Bible, I
saw that different copies contradicted one another.” Adam Clark says in the
first volume of his interpretation, “The Bible underwent various interpolations
during its translation into Latin. Contradictory additions were made.” Ward
Catholic says on the eighteenth page of his interpretation, printed in 1841,
“Oriental heretics changed many parts of the Bible. Protestant priests
submitted a report to King James I and said: The Psalms in our book of prayers
are unlike the ones that are in Hebrew. There are almost two hundred changes. On
the other hand, Protestant priests made even more changes.” Numerous examples
of these changes are given in the book Izhâr-ul-haqq.
Interpolations in various editions of the Gospels
are exemplified also in the book Al-fâsilu-bayn-al-haqq
wa’l-bâtil, by Izz-ad-dîn Muhammadî, and Tuhfat-ul-erîb, by Abdullah Terjumân.
All priests know that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ did not
write anything. Neither did he leave behind any written documents nor have
anyone write anything. He did not teach his Sharî’at in written form. After his
ascension to heaven, disagreements began among the Nazarenes. They could not
come together to consolidate their religious knowledge. As a result, more than
fifty Gospels were written. Four of them were chosen. Eight years after Îsâ
‘alaihis-salâm’ the Gospel of Matthew was
written in the Syrian language in Palestine. The orignial copy of this Gospel
does not exist today. There is a book said to be its Greek version. The Gospel
of Mark was written in Rome
thirty years after him. The Gospel of Luke was
written in Greek in Alexandria twenty-eight years after him. And thirty-eight
years after him, the Gospel of John was
written in Ephesus. All these Gospels contain narrations, stories, and events
that happened after Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Luke and Mark are not among the
Apostles. They wrote what they had heard from others. Authors of these Gospels
did not call their books Injîl (Bible). They said that theirs were history
books. Those who called them the Bible were those who translated them afterwards.
This book, Qawl-us-sebt,
was written in 1341 [A.D. 1923] by Sayyid
Abd-ul-qâdir Iskenderânî as a response to the book Aqâwîl-ul-Qur’âniyya, written in Arabic and
printed by a
Protestant priest in Egypt; in 1990, (Hakîkat
Kitâbevî) reproduced this book together with the books As-sirât-ul-musteqîm and Khulâsa-t-ul-kelâm.
The original Injîl was in the Hebrew language and
was destroyed by the Jews when they arrested Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ for the
purpose of crucifying him. Not even a single copy of the original Holy Book was
written during the three years, the period of Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ call.
Christians deny the original Injîl. The four Gospels which they call the Bible
do not contain any system of worship. All they contain are the discussions
between Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and the Jews. However, a religious book must teach
forms of worship. If they should claim to have been doing their worship in
accordance with the Torah, then why do they ignore its very important
commandments such as observing the Sabbath [on Saturday], circumcision, and
abstention from eating pork? Their Gospels do not contain any information
telling that these commandments should be disregarded. On the other hand, Qur’ân al-kerîm covers detailed knowledge
pertaining to all sorts of worships, ethics, law, trade, agriculture, and
science, and encourages these branches. It prescribes solutions for all sorts
of physical and spiritual problems.
For fourteen hundred years no poet, no man of
literature, no obdurate unbeliever has been able to express a statement similar
to any one âyat of Qur’ân al-kerîm,
try as they would. That not a single one of its âyats could be said in its
exactitude, despite the fact that the vocabulary used in it consists of
commonly used ordinary words, shows clearly that it is a mu’jiza (miracle
wrought through a Prophet).
The other mu’jizas of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ are past events; they exist only
in name today. As for Qur’ân al-kerîm;
it shines as brightly as the sun, always and everywhere. It is a medicine for
every illness, a remedy for every disease. Allâhu
ta’âlâ, the Most Kind, has bestowed it on His
Habîb-i-akram (Blessed beloved one) and revealed it to him so that all His
slaves would be happy. With His infinite Kindness and Compassion, He has
protected it against changes and interpolations. He did not make this promise
concerning other heavenly books.
The sharî’ats of all Prophets, having been suited (by Allâhu ta’âlâ)
to the requirements of the times they lived in, were naturally different from
one another. Tenets of belief, however, were identical in all of them. They all
taught that Allâhu ta’âlâ is
One, and that there will be a resurrection after death. It is stated
in the thirty-ninth verse of the Deuteronomy: “...
the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none
else.” (Deut: 4-19), and in the sixth chapter: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our
God is one LORD:” (Ibid: 6-4). In II Chronicles Suleymân (Solomon)
‘alaihis-salâm’ is quoted as having said, “... O LORD God of Israel, there is
no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; ...” (2 Chr: 6-14) “...
behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less
this house which I have built!” (Ibid: 6-18) after building the
Bayt-ul-muqqaddas (the Masjîd al-Aqsâ in Jerusalem). It is written in the
fifteenth chapter of I Samuel that Prophet
Samuel said,
“... the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that
he should repent.” (Sam: 15-29) It is stated as follows in the forty-fifth chapter
of the book attributed to Prophet
Isaiah:
“I am the LORD, and there is none else, ...” (Is: 45-5) “I form the light, and
create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: ...” (Ibid: 45-7) It is written
in the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, “And, behold, one came and
said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal
life?” “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but
one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
(Matt: 19-16, 17) It is stated as follows in the twelfth chapter of Mark: “And
one of the scribes came, and ... asked him, Which is the first commandment of
all?” “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O
Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:” “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength: ...” (Mark: 12-28, 29, 30) Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ stated so,
too.
A person who contradicts [disbelieves] Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ will have disbelieved all the Prophets.
Belief in Trinity [existence
of three Gods] means to deny all the Prophets.
The doctrine of the Trinty appeared long after Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ ascension
to heaven. Formerly, all the Nazarites held
the belief of Tawhîd (Unity
of Allah) and observed most of the principles in the Torah. When a number of
idolaters and Greek philosophers joined the Nazarites they mixed their former
belief, the Trinity, with the Nazarene religion. It is written in a French
book, which was translated into Arabic and given the title Qurrat-un-nufűs, that the person who
interpolated the doctrine of the Trinity into the Nazarene religion first was a
priest named Seblius, in the year 200 of the Christian Era, and that this first
interpolation caused
much bloodshed. At that time many scholars
defended the belief of Unity and said that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was a human
being and a Prophet. It was sometime
around the year 300 when Arius of Alexandria proclaimed the belief of Unity and
announced that the doctrine of the Trinity was wrong and void. In the (first)
Nicene council convened by Constantine the Great in 325, belief in the Unity
was rejected and Arius was excommunicated. They themselves do not know what
they mean by the name Holy Ghost (or
Spirit), which they suppose to be the third god of the Trinity. They say that
it was the Holy Ghost through which Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ came into being in the
womb of his mother, Mary. Islam teaches that the Rűh-ul-Quds (the Holy Spirit)
is the Archangel named Jebrâîl (Gabriel).[1]
Shams-ad-dîn Sâmî Bey wrote in the 1316 [A.D.
1898] edition of Kâműs-ul-a’lâm: The
Islamic Prophet is Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’. His father is Abdullah and his grandfather is Abd-ul-muttalib
bin Hishâm bin ’Abd-i-Menâf bin Qusey bin Kilâb. According to historians, he
was born in Mekka towards a Monday morning, which coincided with the twelfth
day of Rabî’ul-awwal month, the twentieth of April, in
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[1] The Turkish book Izâh-ul-merâm was
written by Abdullah Abdî bin Destân Mustafâ Bey of Manastir ‘rahmatullâhi
aleyh’. He passed away in 1303 [A.D. 1885]. The book was printed in the
printhouse that belonged to Yahyâ Efendi, the shaikh of Mustafâ Pâsha convent
immediately outside Edirnekapý, Istanbul.
Zubeyr took him to Yemen. When he was twenty-five
years old he went to Damascus as the leader of Hadîja’s ‘radiy-Allâhu anhâ’
caravan on a commercial expedition. He became famous for his excellent manners,
beautiful moral character, and industrious habits. Two months later he married
Hadîja. When he was forty years old the angel named Jebrâ'îl (Gabriel) visited
him and he was informed of his prophethood.
Hadîja was his first Believer, and she was followed by Abű Bekr, then Alî, who
was a child yet, and then Zeyd bin Hârisa. When he was forty-three years old he
was ordered to invite everybody to Islam. Heathens persecuted him severely. He
was fifty-three years old when he migrated to Medîna-i-munawwara. He arrived in
the Kubâ village of Medîna on Monday the eighth of Rabî’ul-awwal, which
coincided with the twentieth day of September, in the 622nd year of
the Christian era. It was during the cliphate of hadrat ’Umar when this year,
(i.e. A.D. 622), was accepted as the beginning of the Muslim era and the first
day of the month of Muharram as the first day (new year’s day) of the Hijrî Lunar year. It was the sixteenth
day, a Friday, in the month of July. And the twentieth day of September was
accepted as the first day of the Hijrî Solar year. The 623rd new
year’s day of the Christian era took place during the first hijrî solar and
lunar years. When the first commandment to perform Ghazâ and Jihâd against the
unbelievers was given (by Allâhu ta’âlâ), the Ghazâ (Holy
War) of Bedr was made in the second
year of the Hijrat. Of the nine-hundred-and-fifty-strong army of unbelievers,
fifty were killed and forty-four were taken as captives. In the third year, the
Ghazâ of
Uhud was made. The number of
unbelievers was three thousand, whereas Muslims numbered seven hundred.
Seventy-five Sahâbîs were martyred. In the fourth year the Ghazâ of Hendek (Trench)
and in the fifth year the Ghazâ of
Benî Mustalaq were
made. It was during this same year when women were commanded to cover
themselves. The Ghazâ of
Hayber and
the peace agreement called Bî’at-ur-ridwân, at
Hudaybiya, were made in the sixth year. In the seventh year the Kaiser and the
Chosroes were sent letters of invitation to Islam. In the eighth year the Ghazâ of Műta was
conducted against the Byzantine army under Heraclius’ command, Mekka was
conquered and the Ghazâ of
Huneyn was
accomplished. In the ninth year an expedition for the Ghazâ of Tabuk was
made. In the tenth year the Hajj of
Wedâ’ (Farewell)
was made. In the eleventh year, after suffering fever for thirteen days, the
blessed Prophet passed away in the
room adjacent to his masjîd on
Monday the twelfth of Rabî’ul awwal, when he was
sixty-three years old.
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa
sallam’ was always affable and softspoken. There was a nűr shining on his
blessed face. Those who saw him would fall in love with him. His mildness,
patience, beautiful moral habits are written in thousands of books. He had four
sons and four daughters from Hadîja ‘radiy-Allâhu anhâ’. And he had one son
from Mâriya of Egypt. All his children except Fâtima passed away while he was
alive. This is the end of our citation from Kâműs-ul-a’lâm.
Imâm-i-Ghazâlî wrote in his book Kimyâ-i Sa’âdat, “Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Prophets to His slaves. Through these great
people He informed His slaves about ways guiding to happiness and those leading
to disasters. The highest, the most superior and the last of the Prophets is Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’.
He is the Prophet for all people, for
all nations. All people all over the world have to believe in that exalted Prophet.” A person who believes in him and adapts
himself to him will attain blessings in the world and in the Hereafter. He who
does not believe in him, on the other hand, will be subjected to everlasting
torment in the Hereafter.