PART NINE

ANSWER TO A RELIGIOUSLY
IGNORANT PERSON

Our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ‘alaihi wa sallam) declared: “Everychild comes to the world with a pure soul suitable for becoming a Muslim. Later their parents make them irreligious.” This implies that it is necessary to teach Islam to children. Their pure souls are suitable for Islam. A child who has not learned Islam will misunderstand Islam by falling for the lies and slanders of the enemies of religion. He will think that it is retrogressive or vicious. If a person who is religiously unlearned and who has never received any religious instruction or notion of Islam falls into the traps of the enemies of Islam, he will learn quite a different, altogether contrary system instead of Islam. He will fall victim to the poisonous inoculations and shamelessly fabled writings directed to him. He will not find peace in this world. And he will be drifted into endless calamities and tortures in the next world.

Every Muslim, even every person, must know how low, how base the slanders which are fabled by the enemies of Islam in order to deceive the youth are. And in order not to drift into calamity by believing these lies, we should comprehend the sublimity of Islam, realize that it helps knowledge, science, morals and health, and that it commands working, advancement, cooperation and mutual love. A wise, vigilant and cultured person who has understood Islam correctly and well, will not believe in the lies of the enemies of Islam. Seeing that they are religiously ignorant, uneducated, deceived and wretched people, he will pity them. He will wish that they could get rid of that disastrous state and come round to the right course.

We have come across a pamphlet of several pages scribbled shamelessly by such a deceived ignoramus of the religion with a view to spreading the poisonous slanders he had been taught in order to inoculate healthy souls with the spiritual disease that drags him to endless calamity; he wants to corrupt and degenerate good people. Confusing the title of a writer with competence, those who see its content, which slanders truth, goodness and virtue, may think that it is based upon observation or knowledge and that it contains value. To eliminate the sorrow it causes, it has been deemed necessary to write the truth as an answer to the

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squalid slanders quoted in the following 12 paragraphs. The innocent youth, seeing these base, made-up lies and the truth of the matter, will see clearly the tactics and tricks of the enemies of Islam and will easily identify those block-headed, corrupt-souled disbelievers, who claim to be progressive:

1-“The religious thought and method that have interfered in social life are like shackles restricting progress in society,” he says.

Answer: Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) declared: “Work for your worldly advantages as if you would neverdie!” A hadîth quoted by al-Imâm al-Manâwî says, “Al-hikmatu dâllat al-mu’min.” (Scientific knowledge is the lost propertyof the Believer. He should get it wherever he finds it!). All men of science, enemies and friends alike, unanimously state that the Islamic religion supports social progress and sheds light on the way to civilization. For example, British Lord John Davenport stated, “No people have ever appeared who respect knowledge and culture more deeply than Muslims do,”[1] and explained with detailed examples and documents that Islam guided societies to progress and prosperity.

In a speech to an enormous audience in 1972 Dr. Kris Traglor, an American professor of history at the Technical University of Texas, stated that the source of inspiration and development for the European Renaissance was Islam; that Muslims, coming to Spain and Sicily, had laid the foundations for modern techniques and developments and had taught that scientific progress would be possible only through improvement in chemistry, medicine, astronomy, navigation, geography, cartography and mathematics; and that these branches of knowledge had been brought to Europe from North Africa and Spain by Muslims. He also stressed the contribution of written Islamic knowledge on valuable parchments and papyri as an important link in the development of the modern press.[2] The lies of an immoral, vicious enemy of Islam, who has no share in knowledge except a title, certainly cannot cover up this fact. The sun cannot be plastered with sticky mud.

2-“It is necessary,” he says, “to rescue the State from the fetter of religion. To catch up with contemporary Western civilization, establishment of a real secular system is required.”

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[1] Hadrat Muhammad and the QUR’ÂN, Part 2, Chapter 2; London.

[2] Weekly periodical, The Muslim World, Pakistan, August 26, 1972.

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Answer: In Islam, completely liberal, democratic States based upon knowledge, morals, righteousness and justice have been established. It protects the State against being a plaything in the hands of political swindlers. Capitalists, dictators and servants of communism deem such a free regime as a chain, a fetter, impeding their own acts of cruelty, torture and immorality. Murderers, thieves and dishonest people see justice and criminal codes as chains upon themselves. There is no need to describe the ignorance and idiocy of a disbeliever who uses secularism as a means for expressing his enmity against the religion and who tries to demolish Islam under the camouflage of secularism. What this man wants is not the separation of the religion from the State, but the destruction of the religion. It is obvious that a blockhead who expects the nations’ or the State’s progress not from konwledge, science, hard work and morals, but instead from the destruction of Islam, which represents all these virtues, and who longs for the West’s immorality, obscenity and egoism, is devoid not only of wisdom and knowledge but also of morals.

3-He says, “By anaesthetizing people with Islam’s philosophy of contentment, they expect to turn individuals into a passive state of not demanding their own rights. With the pretext that they will prevent communism, they defend the concepts of slavery and the next world believed in by the people. Contentment is a euphemism for exploitation. Followers of Islam propagate this exploitation.”

Answer: There could be few phrases as absurd as the phrase “Islam’s philosophy of contentment.” We have explained what philosophy means in Endless Bliss and clarified that there is no philosophy in Islam. Such an incorrect phrase shows that the person who uses it knows nothing of Islam or philosophy and that he, by memorizing a number of phrases without being aware of their meanings, makes up many words in order to spread his enmity towards Islam. For centuries the enemies of Islam have been disguising themselves as religious men and have been perpetrating their attacks behind such a mask. But today they attack under the guise of being the master of a profession or art after obtaining a title or position. Those liars who, in order to deceive Muslims, disguise themselves as scientists and present their non-scientific statements as facts, are called “impostors of science.” Not only Islam, but also the ethical books possessed by every nation praise contentment. Contrary to what this impostor of science fables, contentment does not mean giving up one’s

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rights and being idle. Contentment means being content with one’s rights, with what one earns, and not violating others’ rights. Moreover, this does not make people idle, but encourages them to work and make progress. Islam, contrary to this impostor’s falsification, does not defend slavery but commands the emancipation of slaves. Slavery exists not in Islam, but in the regime of a dictatorship and in communism. Heavenly books and Prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâm), whose miracles were seen, reported the existence of the next world and wisdom; knowledge and science cannot deny it. The words of this deviated ignoramus, however, are merely emotional and obstinate sophistry. He provides neither a reference nor a scientific basis. Belief in the next world causes order, justice, mutual love and unity in societies and countries. Disbelief in it leads to vagabondage, inactivity, loss of the feeling of responsibility, egoism, discord and hostility. It is certainly good to believe in something useful. It is reasonable and necessary to avoid something unsubstantiated, baseless and vain. Islam rejects exploitation and negligence of human rights. Just as exploitation is a sin, so it is not permissible to approve being harmed. In Islam, ignorance, laziness, neglecting one’s rights and being deceived are not excuses; they are crimes. There is a famous saying that goes, “He who is content with being harmed is not to be pitied.” How can exploitation ever exist in Islam? How can a person with konwledge and reason ever say so? Hasn’t the ignorant person who said so ever heard about the âyats and the various hadîths defending human rights? Not knowing or not having heard of them is not an excuse for him!

4-“The East, absorbed in and intoxicated with religion, has become ill. Having imân means slavery,” he says.

Answer: Any reader of history will clearly see the superiorities of the Sahâbat al-kirâm (’alaihimu ’r-ridwân) and the fact that Islam has formed active, studious, equitable and courageous nations. Thousands of examples and millions of books exposing this fact are available. It is a shame that a blind person does not see the sun. Is it the sun’s fault that he does not see it? What is the value of an ignorant, deceived person’s calumniation of this exalted religion, this source of happiness and civilization, which is admired by all wise and cultured men whether friends or enemies? What is said and written reflects its owner. Many people, when they get angry with their enemies, impute their own evil behavior to them. Every container leaks what it contains. So the words of a base person are like him. The object to which these

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abhorrent imputations are directed is like a diamond that has fallen into the dirt. An evil person’s attacking Islam is not surprising. What is surprising is that some people take these groundless, absurd vilifications as true, believe them and fall into calamity. These slanders are not worth answering. It is useless to try to tell a blind person about the sun’s existence or to tell a person with a sick bile or liver how sweet sugar is. Perfection and superior things cannot be described to sick, dirty souls. Answering them is intended to prevent others from believing them. Medicine is for protecting the patient against death, not for enlivening the dead.

Let us quote two of the millions of passages praising how Islam illuminated the way of civilization. We will select them not from the East, which he slanders and dislikes, but from the West, which he admires. Mocheim[1] said, “It is an absolute fact that scientific knowledge, physics, chemistry, astronomy and mathematics that has spread over Europe since the tenth century was adopted from Islamic schools, especially from Muslims in Andalusia (Spain), who were Europe’s masters. The Romans and the Goths had struggled for two hundred years in order to capture Andalusia; on the other hand, the Muslims conquered the peninsula in twenty years. Going beyond the Pyrenees, they advanced up into France. Muslims’ superiority with respect to knowledge, wisdom and morals was no less effective than their arms.” Lord Davenport said, “Europe is indebted to Muslims today, too. Hadrat Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) said, ‘Dignity, honour and superiority are measurednot by property, but by knowledge and wisdom.’ Islamic States have been administered by the most powerful hands for centuries. Muslims’ spreading over three continents has become the most honourable victory in history.”

While an ignorant psychopathic person writes in his pamphlet that the East was absorbed in and intoxicated with religion, these non-Muslim but impartial writers, such as John Davenport, the British Lord, wrote with their reason: “As the Muslims in Andalusia were sowing seeds of knowledge and science in the West, Mahműd al-Ghaznawî was spreading knowledge and wisdom in the East, and his country had become a center for scientists. The Islamic Ruler increased production, and the wealth

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[1] Jean Mocheim, German theologian and historian, died in 1169 (1755).

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he had gathered from his resources was used for doing good deeds and for developing the country. As prosperity and civilization made progress in the East, Louis VII of France captured the town of Vitri, set it on fire and burned thirteen hundred people. In those days, civil wars sprinkled death in England, where the land was not cultivated, and everything was destroyed. In the fourteenth century, Anglo-French wars were so tragic, so destructive that history has not seen their like. But in the East, in Muslim countries, Firűz Shâh Tughluq III, who became the Emperor of Delhi in 752 (A.H. 1351), built fifty barrages and canals, forty mosques, thirty schools, a hundred public lodgings, a hundred hospitals, a hundred public baths, and a hundred and fifty bridges until his death in 790. In India, prosperity and happiness reigned in the country of Shâh Jihân. He had ’Alî Murâd Khan, an engineer, build the Delhi Canal. Marble fountains with water jets and public marble baths were built in every party of the city. Each house was supplied with water. The whole country enjoyed security.”

5-“Religion is an expression of fatalism and contentment. It is an idea pertaining to the next world, which benumbed the oppressed and the hungry. It teaches that, in order to attain the blessings of the next world, it is necessary not to be very desirous of things in this world. The joy and need to live have broken fatalism and contentment and engendered a struggle to earn a better living. Religions are afraid of those who are against the systems that are dependent upon frozen and moulded customs. The opium of religion renders a man insignificant, subordinate and without a means to earn a living,” he says.

Answer: Such lies and abominable slanders are not worth answering, for a wise person who knows the truth does not believe them. Yet, though the enemies of Islam are not wise, they are cunning. In order to deceive the youth, they busy them with vain and useless things, give them the drugs that are pleasant for the nafs and suitable for their lust. In this way, they prevent them from learning religious knowledge. To protect the innocent youth, who are preoccupied and benumbed, from believing these lies and from drifting into calamity, it has become necessary to briefly write the truth. A fortunate young person who reads our book Endless Bliss well, will learn Islam correctly and precisely; he will not believe falsifications. Our Prophet (sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam), by stating, “He who has knowledge becomes a Muslim. He who is ignorant will get deceived by the enemies of the

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religion,” advises us to become well-informed.

It is correct to say that religion is the belief in fate and contentment. But fate, contrary to what this poor ignoramus thinks, does not mean not to work or not to aspire. Qadar means that Allâhu ta’âlâ knows beforehand what people will do. Allâhu ta’âlâ commands men to work. He praises those who work. He declares in the ninety-fourth âyat of the Sűrat an-Nisâ: “Those who perform jihâd, work and struggle are higherand more valuable than those who sit and worship insteadof performing jihâd.” Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) said, “Allâhu ta’âlâ likes those who earn a living by working.” As it is understood well from historical studies and from the chapter titled Earning and Trade in the Turkish version of Endless Bliss, Islam is the religion of work and development. Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ‘alaihi wa sallam) commanded progress and improvement each day, by saying, “He who has remained in the same grade on two[successive] days or has not made progress has deceived himself.” He also declared, “Do not postpone your work until tomorrow, or else you will perish!” and “Learn foreignlanguages. Thus you will be safe against the malices of the enemy!”

It is very unfair and base to say that thinking of the blessings of the next world prevents working. The hadîths, “He who earns by working will be shining like the full moon on theDay of Resurrection”; “Scholars’ sleep is worship”; “Earnwhat is halâl and spend it for useful purposes”; “The sins of the person who lends money to his brother-in-Islam will be forgiven”, and “There exists a way which leads toeverything. The way leading to Paradise is knowledge,” command us to earn by working and states that those who earn a living by legitimate methods and spend their earnings on useful things in the world will earn the next world. “Religion prevents people from revolting. Therefore, it is opium,” he says. This nonsense of the author very well explains his lack of understanding concerning religion and civilization. It is obvious that these words are not expressions of knowledge or research. They are nothing but a form of exploitation which is intended to flatter communist leaders in order to obtain a post by means of blind enmity against religion. Those who give their faith away in order to obtain what is worldly are called “impostors of religion.” They have always been wrong and drifted into calamity. Their chiefs, with whom they have tried to ingratiate themselves, have fallen from their

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positions. Like every mortal being, these chiefs, being judged in the just presence of Allâhu ta’âlâ, whom they disbelieved and resisted obstinately, have rolled down into endless torture. Their flatterers have forgotten about them and, transfering to other parties for their personal advantages, they have begun to worship other mortals.

6-“In Arab countries, where the laws of the desert have been dominant, they have been attacking materialism and materialistic philosophy,” he says.

Answer: Formerly, enemies of religion used to memorize a few valuable words from the great men of tasawwuf, write and say them recklessly without understanding their meanings, and pretend to be men of tarîqa to entrap the youth. But now, by memorizing a few of the words of Western men of science and ideas, by holding overcoats and filling the wine glasses of their masters, and by toadying, they get a diploma and seize a post. Playing the part of cultured and learned men of knowledge, they disgorge their enmity against Islam by means of the words which they have memorized, present them to the youth and attempt to deceive Muslim children by displaying them as the attractive offerings of masons and communists.

Those ignoble people who lack scientific knowledge but have obtained diplomas through unlawful means and who have attacked Islam under the mask of a “scientist” are called “impostors of science.” At one time, one such fake scientist became the authority of a district with the help of his dubious diploma. Seeing that the people did not regard him as a person of consequence, he held a meeting, gathered the villagers and the men of religion, and spewed out such terms as ‘materialistic philosophy,’ ‘modern,’ and ‘illuminated men.’ Seeing that everybody respected men of religion but took no notice of him, he fell into a fit. He uttered base terms exposing his dirty character and evil thoughts. Meanwhile, alluding to men of religion, he said. “He who has not been to Europe is an ass.” The Muftî Efendi, running out of patience, said, “Has your exalted father ever honoured Europe with his presence?” When the other deigned to give the reply “No” with a coarse voice, the Muftî Efendi concluded, “Then, your exalted person is an ass through your father,” thus making this authority figure fall into his own trap. The “progressive” and “illuminated” but block-headed and ignorant people, who do not know of the greatness of Islamic scholars or of the famous and honoured superiority of the Islamic

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civilization that fills libraries worldwide, have attacked Islam’s steel fortress with popguns, so to speak, and they have all disgraced and routed themselves.

7-“Those who caused the decline in the economy took advantage of the circumstances by suggesting that everyone be content with a fatalist morsel and only a coat. This demonstrates the intoxicating effect of the religion. Civilization means to aspire for more economic prosperity and to struggle for this. But religion broke and benumbed these movements for the development of society with such expressions as contentment with fate, the next world and spirituality,” he says.

Answer: Here is another living picture of toadying, which we have portrayed in the preceding paragraph! What a great lie it is to say that Islamic fighters, who immigrated over three continents in thirty years, defeated the armies of Persia and Rome (the two greatest empires of that time and especially brought the whole Persian Empire to an end), and who won the love of every nation owing to their justice and beautiful morals, were benumbed, drowsy people who were given opium! One who knows even a little history will only sneer and become disgusted at this ignoble, base slander. Islam commands people to work and make progress and promises Paradise to those who become rich and help the poor. If this writer had seen the works of Islamic art, which Europeans and Americans marvel at, and their articles praising Muslim accomplishments in knowledge and science, he would have perhaps been ashamed to scribble these lines. We say ‘perhaps’ for it is a virtue to bear the feeling of shame, and it is out of place to expect shamefulness from a non-virtuous person.

Islam commands Muslims to work and to develop. Contentment does not mean to be content with “only a coat” and sit idly. Muslims are not this way at all. Contentment means to be content with one’s own earnings and not to cast covetous eyes on others’ earnings. It was Islam which brought civilization to Europe, for Islam shows the way to economic prosperity and commands people to work to attain it. The following hadîths, as well as many others, show that the above-quoted words are gross fabrications: “The benevolent, the highest of peopleare those who are more useful to others”; “The best of favours is to give alms”; “The most benevolent of you isthe one who supplies people with much nourishment,” and “The most benevolent among you is the one who does not expect anything from others

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but works and earns his living.”

8-“What has handicapped efforts to reach a common civilization in the course of history is the imperative power of religion. The imperative authority of religion, which hinders the purposes of revolutions, should be annihilated,” he says.

Answer: This fake scientist repeats “civilization” and strives to hypnotize young brains with this magical word. He thinks it is civilization to establish enormous, heavy industries and to make electronic machines and nuclear-powered factories as a means to facilitate fornication and using women as diversions. He also wants to become a boss by smuggling foreign exchange, lying, deceit and speculation, or to satisfy bestial desires by living at the expense of the working class. The civilization that the scholars of Islam described and commanded Muslims to attain is “Ta’mîr-i bilâd wa tarfîh-i ’ibâd”, that is, it is to develop countries by constructing buildings, machines and factories and to utilize technology and all kinds of revenues for the people’s freedom, welfare and peace. In the twentieth century, only the first of these two aspects of civilization exists. Though the improvements in technology are dazzling, economic and technical discoveries are being used to enslave people, to perpetrate cruelty and torture. Communist states and dictatorial regimes exemplify this. The twentieth century is a century of technology. It is far from being a century of civilization.

This socialist writer is very serious about his desire to annihilate the religion, for Islam prohibits immorality, dishonesty, exploitation, hypocrisy, dictatorship, condemnation and, in short, every kind of bad behavior that gnaws at humanity. A malicious person with a corrupt character centainly does not wish that goodness be done. Low-life defeatists certainly fear the constructiveness of Islam. This dishonest disbeliever calls on history to perjure itself in order to make it believable that Islam has handicapped civilization. If he had a little knowledge of history, perhaps he would refrain himself a little. Even non-Muslim historians admit the fact that Islam has served civilization and has shed light upon modern development in Europe and America.

It is clear that this ignorant impostor of science is not so intelligent or literate as to fable these lies by himself. He strives to belittle Islam by quoting the attacks that have been righfully directed against Christianity in Europe. But, because he is wrong and because his seeing and understanding as well as his

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knowledge are inadequate, he makes a mess of it.

It will be pertinent here to write about those who are hostile towards Christianity and why they attack it and to explain that these attacks cannot be directed towards Islam.

Christianity, which lost its divine value altogether during the time of Constantine the Great, became a means for political advantages. The clergy opened bloody wars against non-Christians. They forced everybody to become a Christian blindly. Luther went to extremes in these crazy attacks. He was furiously angry with any religion, any nation that was not Protestant. Missionary organizations, on the other hand, tried to confuse everyone, mislead everyone’s conscience and then propagandized Christianity through new articles each day. Christian attacks, which were compatible neither with knowledge nor with science and which were perpetrated sometimes with bloodshed and sometimes through deceit, incurred great hatred towards Christianity in Europe in the eighteenth century. It was written that priests were deceiving the people, forcing them to believe in superstitions and striving to enslave everybody to their ideas. But this enmity did not remain directed against the Christian religion only. There appeared those who attacked every religion. Instead of seeing that the priests’ evil deeds originated from the defilement and alteration in the religion, they thought it originated from religion. Without studying religions, they attributed the evils inherent in Christianity to religion and attacked religions. One of those who went the furthest in their enmity towards religion was Voltaire. Like Luther, he, too, slandered Islam and, thinking that our Master Rasűlulah (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) was as Luther described him, he spoke ill of him. Without studying Islam, these people, too, like Christians in general, attacked all religions.

For the first time in the nineteenth century,Von Herder, a German, said that bearing enmity against religions blindly was as wrong as Christianization by force. He put forward the necessity to study religions, particularly Islam. Thus, people in Europe began to understand Muhammad’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) life and the astonishing superiorities of the lightsome way shown by Islam for the administration of individuals, families and societies. Carlyle, a British thinker, praised Muhammad’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) life, moral qualities and accomplishments under the heading A Hero Who is the Prophet in his book The Heroes, which he wrote in

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1841. In this book he wrote, “An exalted person who administered hundreds of millions of people for twelve centuries and who caused the establishment of civilized States in the East and in the West could never be a counterfeiter as Luther and Voltaire wrote. A low person cannot realize Hadrat Muhammad’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) accomplishments. Only a perfect person who possesses faith and morals can give faith to others. Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was born to exalt mankind. If it had not been so, no one would have followed him. Muhammad’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) words are true, for a liar cannot establish even a home, let alone a religion.” During the time of Carlyle, there were no reliable Islamic books in Europe. But, with the help of his keen insight and studying, which took many years, he did not believe the lies of Christians or of enemies of religion and was able to see the historical truth. Today, many Islamic books are being translated into European languages, and the misunderstanding and uncertainties in Carlyle’s historical writtings are being clarified.

If Luther’s abominable articles against Qur’ân al-kerîm and the horrible story fabled by Voltaire about Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) are compared with the article A Hero Who is the Prophet by Carlyle, one will understand well how differently Islam is viewed by fanatical Christians or ignorant enemies of religion and men of knowledge and observation. After Carlyle, the British scholar Lord Davenport detailedly explained the beauty of Muhammad’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) life and moral character and the fact that Qur’ân al-kerîm is a source of knowledge that guides people to happiness. He gave responses that silenced those who slandered Qur’ân al-kerîm and Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm).

As it is seen, today, enemies of Islam, for inciting the fire of slander, receive poison from three sources: Christian missionaries; those who attack religions blindly like Voltaire; and communists who use people like animals and machines by eliminating every kind of truth and goodness.

9-“Religion means to put up with what one has, to accept contentment, sufferings and inequalities. It is to fix the existing limits on a society. It prevents the attainment of a better life that decreases differences between [social] classes and hinders exploitation. This oppression is accomplished with the fear of Hell. Those who suffer are consoled with Paradise. It has killed the personalities of individuals,” he says.

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Answer: He wants to inoculate Muslim children with the poisons he has received from the above-mentioned three sources, but he cannot manage it. Today, young people read Islamic books and learn their faith correctly. Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) declared: “A person with equal earnings on two [successive] days has suffered a loss. AMuslim must make progress every day.” A wise youth who has heard of this command and carefully reads the command “Forward!” by Hadrat ’Umar, the Caliph of Rasűlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm), will certainly not believe the lies of this ignorant person, who passes himself off for a “progressive” man. Islam does not command the approval of inequalities, but justice and their eradication. The hadîth-i-sherîf, “I came during the time of a just ruler,” praises even the justice of disbelievers without holy books. A hadîth-i-sherîf written in Al-Manâwî and Ad-Dailamî declares: “Those who will be the first to enter Paradise are the just judges and the just statesmen.” Does this hadîth sherîf command and promote suffering and inequalities or avoiding suffering and inequalities? Our readers’ conscience will certainly answer this correctly, and it will be understood very well how deviated the disbelieving author is and whom he is striving to serve.

Islam commands zakât, lending and mutual help. It informs us that those who do these commands, which eliminate differences between social classes, will go to Paradise. Not those who suffer pain, but those who resign themselves to the Giver of pain, the Creator, will enter Paradise. Islam is a progressive, dynamic religion that guides everyone to the best life. Islam does not “fix existing limits” but gives freedom to statesmen to keep in step with contemporary conditions of trade, industry, agriculture and war technology, and in applying every kind of scientific discovery for making progress. Allâhu ta’âlâ ordered even His Beloved Prophet (’alaihi ’s-salâm), the highest and wisest human being in every respect, to “Consult with the Sahâbat al-kirâm! Hold counsel with them!” Each caliph of Islam had counsellors, councils and men of knowledge. It was not permissible for them to do anything without consulting. There should be no changes or reforms in ’ibâdât; but advancement and progress in technology and worldly affairs are commanded. It was for this reason that Islamic States, established anywhere in the East or West, became advanced in every respect. Islam is a religion that facilitates individuality and freedom of idea. Each Muslim is more valuable than the entire world.

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10-“The religion resulted in internal and external exploitation. Contentment and putting up with fate caused indolence and exploitation. The resources of production were accumulated in certain hands. The great masses were not considered to deserve worldly happiness. The philosophy of ‘a morsel and only a coat’ did away with the strength to live and struggle. Hope for the next world caused suffering and inconvenience,” he says.

Answer: Talking about religion requires at least having a smattering of religious knowledge. By likening Islam to today’s capitalists and communist exploiters, his attacks upon the religion indicate his enmity against Islam, an enmity which is so excessive that it blinds his eyes and covers his intellect with anger. While saying nothing against Western capitalists and cruel communists, who accumulate the means of production in certain hands and exploit the people, his attacking Islam, which commands social equality, is sheer hatred towards Islam and open servility to Russia. Because he does not have any Islamic knowledge, time and again he attacks contentment and belief in qadar. In the name of civilization, he talks only about economics and earning money. He does not understand that contentment is a factor that prevents psychiatric diseases, removes incompatibility and hostility, and maintains order in societies. Contentment has expedited Islam’s spreading all over the world and the erecting of monuments of knowledge and science. Do the âyats, “He who works will earn,” and, “Everybody will find [the recompense for] what he does,” and also many hadîths, such as, “Allâhu ta’âlâ likes those who earn by working,” and “Allâhu ta’âlâ absolutely dislikes those young people who do not work,” which are written in Al-Munâwî, command Muslims to work and make progress or to be lazy? Are the Umayyad, Abbâsid, Ghaznawî, Indian Tamerlaines, Andalusian and Ottoman civilizations, which were established by Muslims, indicators of studiousness or indolence? Can a dervish’s uttering the words “a morsel and only a coat” change the commands of Qur’ân al-kerîm and the hadîths? The utterance of a dervish in an ecstatic state is suitable and appropriate for his own state, but it is not the whole of Islam. Belief in the next world engenders not suffering but order and ease for individuals, families and society. History shows clearly that this is so. Islam commands not self-infliction, but the ending of material and spiritiual sufferings and avoiding inconveniences and sorrows.

11-“These countries are still being administered with the laws

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of the desert,” he says.

Answer: The commands and teachings that are stated in Qur’ân al-kerîm, which was revealed by Allâhu ta’âlâ, and in hundreds of thousands of hadîths arouse admiration within men of knowledge and wisdom from all over the world. In order to explain the superiority and value of these teachings and commands, scholars of Islam have written thousands of books, some of which are cited in this book. Even non-Muslim men of knowledge readily express this truth. Goethe said, “He who reads Qur’ân al-kerîm for the first time does not derive pleasure, but it attracts the reader to itself afterwards. Later on, it conquers him with its beauty.” Gibbon said, “Qur’ân al-kerîm reveals not only a belief in Allâhu ta’âlâ and in the next world but also civil laws and criminal codes. It has brought the unchangeable commands of Allâhu ta’âlâ and the laws that govern all the affairs and states of human beings.”

Davenport said, “Qur’ân al-kerîm regulates religious duties, daily affairs, the soul’s purity, the body’s health, men’s duties and rights towards one another and towards the society, things that are useful to people and to societies, and the knowledge of morals and punishment. Qur’ân al-kerîm is a political system. Every state of the living and of the lifeless is regulated. On morals, it is very tidy and very strong. Qur’ân al-kerîm commands to always be helpful. It strengthens social equality. It exerts a favorable effect on civilization. There can be no behavior as unfair and as ridiculous as to confront, out of stubbornness and hostilitiy, the Qur’ân al-kerîm with ignorant criticism; it is the most valuable book sent by Allâhu ta’âlâ for the benefit and happiness of mankind.”

As it is seen, every wise and reasonable person gets attached to Qur’ân al-kerîm and respects it as much as he understands it. No immorality, baseness or idiocy can be worse than saying “the laws of the desert” about this holy book.

12-“Other Eastern countries have been directing themselves towards a national, Western ideology by throwing away the laws of the desert, and they are becoming conscientious by abandoning the opium of religion,” he says.

Answer: Even non-Muslims express their admiration for Islam, which this ignorant, eccentric writer calls opium. Mocheim said, “No time can be thought to be worse than those black days which obscured Europe during the tenth century. Even the Latin nations, the most advanced of the age, had nothing other than

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logic in the name of knowledge and science. Logic was thought to be superior to all other branches of knowledge. At that time, Muslims built schools in Spain and Italy. Young European men assembled at these places to learn knowledge. After learning the teaching methods of Islamic scholars, they opened Christian schools.”

The dazzling Islamic civilization, which is written and praised unanimously by the world’s history books, was established by those who followed Qur’ân al-kerîm. Today, science has progressed and gigantic industries have been established in Europe, America and Russia. Space travel has begun, but in none of these countries has peace of mind been provided. Employers’ prodigality and dissipation and workers’ poverty have not been removed. In communism, the State exploits the people; millions of people work for their food only, hungry and naked as they are; and a cruel, blood-shedding minority live at their expense. They lead a pleasurable life in palaces and commit every atrocity. Since they do not obey Qur’ân al-kerîm, they cannot attain comfort and peace. To be civilized, it is necessary to imitate them in science and technology, to work and accomplish things as they do, since Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîths command us to make progress in science and arts. For example, a hadîth reported by Ibn Adî and al-Munâwî (rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihimâ) declares: “Allâhu ta’âlâ certainly likes His slave who makes progress and has acraft,” and a hadîth written in Hakîm at-Tirmidî and al-Munâwî declares: “Allâhu ta’âlâ certainly likes to see that His slavehas a craft.” Accomplishing solely this, however, does not suffice for being civilized. The blessings that are earned should be shared equitably, and the worker should get the equivalent of his labour. And this justice can be obtained only by following Qur’ân al-kerîm. Today, Europe, America and Russia are successful in those areas wherein they work in conformity with Islam. However, since the advantages are not distributed in accordance with the principles of justice in Qur’ân al-kerîm, the people cannot attain comfort and peace and class conflicts cannot be avoided. Those who do not obey Qur’ân al-kerîm can never become happy. Those who obey it with or without belief in it, that is, whether they are Muslims or not, get as much benefit from it in this world as the extent of their obedience to it. Those who believe in and obey it get benefit from it both in this world and in the next; they live in comfort and prosperity in this world and will attain endless felicity, infinite blessings in the next. Both history and daily events

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show clearly that this word is true. As for those who do not follow the way shown by Qur’ân al-kerîm, no matter whether they are Muslims or not; the farther away they get from the way it prescribes the worse harm will they suffer and the more disastrous will their future be.

Belief in Allah, fearing Him, and the religion of Islam are the essentials that will give hope and determination to work for those who have remained helpless concerning material problems.

It has been understood that spiritual development is needed in order for economic development to be useful.

Religion and science are two very necessary, very useful aids for men. Scientific knowledge prepares the means and causes that are necessary for peace, prosperity and civilization. Religion facilitates the usage of these means for peace, prosperity and civilization. Communists have founded giant industries, enormous factories, dazzling rockets, and satellites with the help of the scientific knowledge they stole from Germany and America. Yet, only science exists in them; there is no religious component. That is why they use scientific products to torture their people, to attack others, and to raise rebellions and revolutions in other parts of the world. They are turning every place into a dungeon. Their advancement in science results not in civilization but in savagery. Peace, prosperity and human rights are violated. Millions of people are put into destitution for the sake of a minority’s pleasure. For this reason, we must endeavour to learn the real religion and to be true Muslims.

See what Qur’ân al-kerîm says about true Muslims:

“Know well! There is no fear for the friends of Allâhu ta’âlâ. They will not be troubled!’ (Sűra Yűnus, 62nd âyat)

Let us believe in the rules of Islam, that is, the commandments and prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ. By obeying these rules, our dear readers, we shall be able to help one another, help our country attain peace, prosperity and happiness.”

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