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      In   the   name  of   ALLAH,   the    Beneficent,   the    Merciful



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             I N F O R M A T I O N    &   N E W S    N E T W O R K

                        MUSLIMS @ ASUACAD.BITnet
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                             IINN ARCHIVE

 File Name: 11.say.islam
 Lasted Updated: Sept 11, 1994
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Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 14:00:28 -0600
From: mahmed@xnet.com (M. Ahmed)
Subject: 11. What They Say About Islam

III&E Brochure Series; No. 11
(published by The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E)
and reproduced with permission)
----------------------------

In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83=83
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ISLAM
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The Islam that was revealed to Muhammad (PBUH), is the continuation and
culmination of all the preceding revealed religions and hence it is for all
times and all peoples.  This status of Islam is sustained by glaring facts.
=46irstly, there is no other revealed book extant in the same form and
content as it was revealed.  Secondly, no other revealed religion has any
convincing claim to provide guidance in all walks of human life for all
times.  But Islam addresses humanity at large and offers basic guidance
regarding all human problems.  Moreover, it has withstood the test of
fourteen hundred years and has all the potentialities of establishing an
ideal society as it did under the leadership of the last Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH).

It was a miracle that Prophet Muhammad could bring even his toughest
enemies to the fold of Islam without adequate material resources.
Worshippers of idols, blind followers of the ways of forefathers, promoters
of tribal feuds, abusers of human dignity and blood, became the most
disciplined nation under the guidance of Islam and its Prophet.  Islam
opened before them vistas of spiritual heights and human dignity by
declaring righteousness as the sole criterion of merit and honor.  Islam
shaped their social, cultural, moral and commercial life with basic laws
and principles which are in conformity with human nature and hence
applicable in all times as human nature does not change.

It is so unfortunate that the Christian West, instead of sincerely trying
to understand the phenomenal success of Islam during its earlier time,
considered it as a rival religion.  During the centuries of the Crusades
this trend gained much force and impetus and a huge amount of literature
was produced to tarnish the image of Islam.  But Islam has begun to unfold
its genuineness to the modern scholars whose bold and objective
observations on Islam belie all the charges leveled against it by the
so-called unbiased orientalists.

Here we furnish some observations on Islam by great and acknowledged
non-Muslim scholars of modern time.  Truth needs no advocates to plead on
its behalf, but the prolonged malicious propaganda against Islam has
created great confusion even in the minds of free and objective thinkers.

We hope that the following observations would contribute to initiating an
objective evaluation of Islam:

"It (Islam) replaced monkishness by manliness.  It gives hope to the slave,
brotherhood to mankind, and recognition of the fundamental facts of human
nature."  --Canon Taylor, Paper read before the Church Congress at
Walverhamton, Oct. 7, 1887; Quoted by Arnoud in THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, pp.
71-72.

"Sense of justice is one of the most wonderful ideals of Islam, because as
I read in the Qur'an I find those dynamic principles of life, not mystic
but practical ethics for the daily conduct of life suited to the whole
world."  --Lectures on "The Ideals of Islam;" see SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF
SAROJINI NAIDU, Madras, 1918, p. 167.

"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims
sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon
conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that
historians have ever repeated."  --De Lacy O'Leary, ISLAM AT THE
CROSSROADS, London, 1923, p. 8.

"But Islam has a still further service to render to the cause of humanity.
It stands after all nearer to the real East than Europe does, and it
possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial understanding and
cooperation.  No other society has such a record of success uniting in an
equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavours so many and so
various races of mankind . . . Islam has still the power to reconcile
apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition.  If ever the
opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by
cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition.  In its
hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which Europe is
faced in its relation with East.  If they unite, the hope of a peaceful
issue is immeasurably enhanced.  But if Europe, by rejecting the
cooperation of Islam, throws it into the arms of its rivals, the issue can
only be disastrous for both."  --H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, London, 1932,
p. 379.

"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of
its wonderful vitality.  It is the only religion which appears to me to
possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which
can make itself appeal to every age.  I have studied him - the wonderful
man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the
Saviour of Humanity.  I believe that if a man like him were to assume the
dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems
in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have
prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the
Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of
today."  --G.B. Shaw, THE GENUINE ISLAM, Vol. 1, No. 81936.

"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the
outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is,
as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue."
--A.J. Toynbee, CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, New York, 1948, p. 205.

"The rise of Islam is perhaps the most amazing event in human history.
Springing from a land and a people like previously negligible, Islam spread
within a century over half the earth, shattering great empires,
overthrowing long established religions, remoulding the souls of races, and
building up a whole new world - world of Islam.

"The closer we examine this development the more extraordinary does it
appear.  The other great religions won their way slowly, by painful
struggle and finally  triumphed with the aid of powerful monarchs converted
to the new faith.  Christianity had its Constantine, Buddhism its Asoka,
and Zoroastrianism its Cyrus, each lending to his chosen cult the mighty
force of secular authority.  Not so Islam.  Arising in a desert land
sparsely inhabited by a nomad race previously undistinguished in human
annals, Islam sallied forth on its great adventure with the slenderest
human backing and against the heaviest material odds.  Yet Islam triumphed
with seemingly miraculous ease, and a couple of generations saw the Fiery
Crescent borne victorious from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas and from the
desert of Central Asia to the deserts of Central Africa."  --A.M.L.
Stoddard, quoted in ISLAM - THE RELIGION OF ALL PROPHETS, Begum Bawani
Waqf, Karachi, Pakistan, p. 56.

"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense
of this term considered etymologically and historically.  The definition of
rationalism as a system that bases religious beliefs on principles
furnished by the reason applies to it exactly . . . It cannot be denied
that many doctrines and systems of theology and also many superstitions,
from the worship of saints to the use of rosaries and amulets, have become
grafted on the main trunk of Muslim creed.  But in spite of the rich
developments, in every sense of the term, of the teachings of the Prophet,
the Quran has invariable kept its place as the fundamental starting point,
and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a
grandeur, a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure
conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam.
This fidelity to the fundamental dogma of the religion, the elemental
simplicity of the formula in which it is enunciated, the proof that it
gains from the fervid conviction of the missionaries who propagate it, are
so many causes to explain the success of Muhammadan missionary efforts.  A
creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and
consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected
to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way
into the consciences of men."  --Edward Montet, "La Propagande Chretienne
et ses Adversaries Musulmans," Paris, 1890; Quoted by T.W. Arnold in THE
PREACHING OF ISLAM, London, 1913, pp. 413-414.

"I am not a Muslim in the usual sense, though I hope I am a "Muslim" as
"one surrendered to God," but I believe that embedded in the Quran and
other expressions of the Islamic vision are vast stores of divine truth
from which I and other occidentals have still much to learn, and 'Islam is
certainly a strong contender for the supplying of the basic framework of
the one religion of the future.'"  --W. Montgomery Watt, ISLAM AND
CHRISTIANITY TODAY, London, 1983, p. ix.

---------------------

INTRODUCTION OF III&E

The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E) is dedicated to
the cause of Islam in North America through striving to elevate the image
of Islam and Muslims by providing the correct information about Islamic
beliefs, history and civilization from the authentic sources.  Enquiries
are welcome.

=46or more information please contact:

The Institute of Islamic Information and Education
P.O. Box 41129
Chicago, IL 60641-0129 U.S.A.

- Reprinted with the permission of World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY),
P.O. Box 10845, Riyadh 11443, Saudi Arabia