Chapter III: Appendix

MUSLIM REFORMATION 87

OUR PRAYER 97

Worship Truth Love Humanity.--_Islamic Maxim_

+THE MUSLIM PRAYER.+[1]

_Surai Fatiha_

Praise be to Thee my God, Lord of the Worlds!
O Merciful, Compassionate art Thou!
The King of all on Day of Reckoning,
Thee only do we worship and adore,
To Thee, most merciful, we cry for help;
O guide us ever more on the straight path,
The path of those to whom Thou gracious art
On whom Thine anger falls not then nor now,
The path of them that from Thee go not stray.

Amen.

Grant that the knowledge I get may be the
knowledge worth having.--_Thomas a Kempis._

NOTES ON ISLAM

+Note 1.+

_Introduction._

Two of you--Lateef and Altaf--will recollect that more than a year ago you wrote to me saying that you were puzzled by certain questions which a Missionary had put to you. I remember that Amjud or Mahmood even went so far as to ask what was the good of Islam, when countries and people professing that faith had weak governments and were crumbling to pieces under the influence of Christian Powers.[2] I answered your queries only in a general way as your University education had not then advanced far enough. But I think the time has now come when I should try to explain to you what I conceive to be the true spirit of the religion of our fore-fathers.

I firmly believe that Islam is the best[3] religion in the world--I mean, Islam rightly understood and interpreted and _not_ the Muhammadanism[4] of some of our formularist Maulavies,[5] who say that a man goes to Hell or Heaven according as he wears his trousers lower or higher than his ankles! They have degraded our religion by paying undue attention to formulas and forms to the exclusion and neglect of its living spirit and reality[6]. The poet Hafiz rightly stigmatised their vain controversies when he said that [Persian: Chon nadiden haghighat afsaneh zadend] "since they did not see the fact, they ran after fiction."

I am more than ever convinced of two characteristics of Islam:--

_1st._--It is not inconsistent with _true_ Christianity, or with any other _true_ religion[7] of which the fundamental principle is [Arabic: Tawhid] One God [Arabic: waḥdahū la šarīka lahū] "the Peerless One."[8]

_2nd._--It conforms to modern scientific ideas better than any other religion.

I have already explained, in some of my letters[9] to you, why I believe that Islam is but a continuation and consummation of Christianity as taught by Jesus himself in _his own speeches_ which are reported in the Synoptic Gospels of the New Testament. We have nothing to do with the interpretation of his words by his Apostles and others after them. If we take the plain words and the plain meaning of those words reported to have proceeded from his own blessed mouth,[10] we clearly see that they teach the same sublime truths as our Prophet himself inculcated. Jesus did not live long to complete his mission, Muhammad completed it. Both were God's holy messengers [Arabic: Rusul-u-llah]. Says the Qur'an: "This day I have completed your religion for you." [Arabic: l-yawma ʾakmaltu lakum dīnakum]

I need not now go into details, or refer to other religions, to shew that the spirit of Islam is not inconsistent with their true spirit, if rightly conceived and interpreted in the light of modern science. I hope I shall be able some day to write down the result of my own thought and investigation in the matter. I content myself at present with drawing your attention to the first characteristic of Islam, and I propose to write a few Notes to draw your special attention to its second characteristic which is the more remarkable--the characteristic that it is quite consistent with modern ideas of science.

No scientific idea influenced the thought of the last century more profoundly than the idea of progress or development embodied in what is called the Law of Evolution. It is now widely accepted. You will be surprised to know that many an Islamic tenet is entirely in accord with it. Indeed Maulana Rumi outlined it poetically in his famous _Masnavi_ in the thirteenth century, in the same manner as Lord Tennyson did in his _Princess_ in the nineteenth. I desire that you should try to understand it in its modern form. I strongly recommend that you should read an admirable book by Edward Clodd called _The Story of Creation_[11]. When I first read it, some years ago, I felt it was as pleasant and interesting as a novel. Its introduction and Part II are quite easy to read. They will give you a very good idea of the great revolution which Darwin and Wallace, Huxley and Spencer have wrought in the thought of our own times.

+Note 2.+

_The First Chapter of the Qur'an._

The following is a translation of the "Opening Chapter" of our Holy Qur'an. I have analysed it by placing Roman and Arabic numerals, the first indicating verses [Arabic: ayyat] and the second indicating sub-divisions of verses.

_Opening Chapter._ +[Arabic: Sura al-fātiḥa]+

In the Name of God the [Arabic: bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm]
Compassionate, the
Merciful.

I. Praise be to God, [Arabic: al-ḥamdu li-llāhi] .I

(1) Lord (Nourisher) [Arabic: rabbi l-ʿālamīn (1)]
of the Worlds,

(2) the Compassionate, [Arabic: ar-raḥmāni r-raḥīm (2)]
the Merciful

(3) King of the Day [Arabic: māliki yawmi d-dīn (3)]
of Reckoning (= day
of judgment.)

II. .II

(1) Thee only do we [Arabic: ʾiyyāka naʿbudu (1)]
worship,

(2) and Thee only do [Arabic: wa-ʾiyyāka nastaʿīn (2)]
we ask for aid.

(3) Guide us in the [Arabic: ihdinā ṣ-ṣirāṭa l-mustaqīm (3)]
right Path (that is)

III. the Path of those [Arabic: ṣirāṭa llaḏīna] .III

(1) to whom Thou [Arabic: ʾanʿamta ʿalayhim (1)]
art gracious,

(2) who are not objects [Arabic: ġayri l-maġḍūbi ʿalayhim (2)]
of wrath,

(3) and who go not [Arabic: wa-lā ḍ-ḍāllīn (3)]
astray.

_Amen_[12] [Arabic: āmīn]

The whole Sura divides itself into three parts and each part into three divisions thus:--