CONTENTS July 2006, Vol.101, No - Review of ReligionsAina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaz’ain, Vol.5, pp.590-594) Qualities of the Holy Prophet(saw) (Arabic Poem) O my Heart! remember

Special contributors:Amatul-Hadi AhmadFarina QureshiProofreaders:Abdul Ghany JahangeerKhan and Shaukia Mir

Design and layout:Tanveer KhokharPublisher:Al Shirkatul IslamiyyahDistribution:Muhammad Hanif

Edi

tori

alB

oard

Basit AhmadBockarie Tommy KallonFareed AhmadFazal Ahmad.Fauzia BajwaMansoor SaqiMahmood Hanif Mansoora Hyder-MuneebNavida ShahidSarah WaseemSaleem Ahmad MalikTanveer Khokhar

Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the beliefs of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

All correspondence shouldbe forwarded to the editor at:

The Review of ReligionsThe London Mosque16 Gressenhall RoadLondon, SW18 5QLUnited Kingdom

© Islamic Publications, 2006ISSN No: 0034-6721

CONTENTS July 2006, Vol.101, No.7

1

Chief Editor and Manager: Mansoor Ahmed Shah

Management Board:Mr Munir-ud-din Shams (Chairman)Mr Mansoor Shah (Secretary)Mr Naseer Ahmad QamarMr Mubarak Ahmad ZafarMr Mirza Fakhar AhmadMr. Abdul Baqi Arshad

Essence of Islam – Part 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Devotion to the Holy Prophet(sa) and some poems in his rememberance.

The Acropolis: Its significance in the development of religiousphilosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28History of the Acropolis and Athens and its significance in the development of spiritual thought.

Punishment for Apostasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14How the traditions of Islam have been misinterpreted to suggest that Islam prescribes death penalty for apostasy.

Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) – Promised Messiah and Mahdi

Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad(ru) – Khalifatul Masih IV

The Teacher of Righteousness of the Dead Sea Scrolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Study of the Teacher of Righteousness of the Dead Sea Scrolls and whether he could be Jesus(as). Khalid Saifullah Khan – Australia

Taoist Yin-Yang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60A short look at how the Taoist philosophy of Yin-Yang compares to Islam and its concept of the existence of God. Asim Rai – London, UK

Fazal Ahmad – London, UK

COVER PIC:Acropolis at Night – from BigStock Photo Library

Editorial: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Fazal Ahmad, London – UK

Even though the practice in manyso-called Muslim countries maylead to the oppositeconclusion,freedom of speech andconscience are fundamental tenetsof the faith of Islam.

Recent cases have led to theimpression that turning away fromIslam or any other faith (apostasy)is a sin punishable by death. In thisissue we break that mythcategorically. This dilemma is notlimited to Islam. In the context ofthe Teacher of Righteousness, wecan see how theological conflictwas exercised two thousand yearsago in the Jewish community.

We also see an example in Athensof where as soon as freedom ofthought and freedom ofconscience were established in the5th century BCE, great advanceswere made in theology andphilosophy. A healthy respect forand interest in other faiths raisedthe understanding of the ancientGreeks in a way that is stillappreciated today. In the same

way, when Islam reached itszenith in Spain, Jews, Christiansand Muslims lived in harmonytogether, researched all faiths andbeliefs, and inspired by the Greeksreached new heights in spiritualunderstanding.

Faith and religion are personal. Itis in man’s relationship with God,that only God can understand theintentions and motives of a man inhis actions. So if someone decidesto accept a faith or to change afaith, this is a matter purely for theindividual concerned. Seekingknowledge is always a good thing,and can only ever provide moreevidence for the truth. It is throughseeking knowledge that we canbreak down our own ignorancejust as the Greeks and the earlyMuslims inspired by Islam did. Intoday’s world, we must encouragedialogue and research to removeignorance, and banish false viewsabout apostasy and jihad.

2 The Review of Religions – July 2006

Fazal Ahmad– New Malden, UK

EDITORIAL

3The Review of Religions – July 2006

In our estimation, there is nogreater testimony than thetestimony of the HolyProphet(saw). My heart trembleswhen I hear that any person whois confronted with a decision ofthe Holy Prophet(saw) does notaccept it and turns away from it.(Itmam-ul-Hujjah, RuhaniKhazain, Vol. 8, p.293)

The Muslims are a people whoare ready to lay down their livesto uphold the honour of theirHoly Prophet(saw). They would

prefer to die rather than endurethe disgrace that they shouldmake peace and become friendswith such people who areoccupied day and night withabusing the Holy Prophet(saw) andmention his name with contemptin their books, journals, andannouncements and use vilelanguage with reference to him.Such persons are not the well-wishers even of their ownpeople, for they create num-berless difficulties for them. I tellyou truly that it is possible for us

This series sets out, in the words of the Promised Messiah(as), Hadhrat Mirza GhulamAhmad, a summary of his exposition of four outstanding topics: ISLAM; ALLAH,THE EXALTED; THE HOLY PROPHET(sa) and THE HOLY QUR’AN. The originalcompilation, in Urdu, from which these extracts have been translated into English, wascollated with great care and diligence by Syed Daud Ahmad Sahib, Allah have mercyon him and reward him graciously for his great labour of love. Amin. The Englishrendering is by the late Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, may Allah be pleased withhim, and is quoted from The Essence of Islam, Volume 1. All references throughout,unless otherwise specifically mentioned, are from the Holy Qur’an.

ESSENCE OF ISLAM: Devotion to the Holy Prophet(saw) and Poems inRememberance of the Holy Prophet(saw) – Part 9


to make peace with the serpentsof the jungle and the wild beastsof the forests, but we cannotmake peace with those who donot refrain from speaking ill ofGod’s Prophets and who considerthat abuse and vituperation meanvictory. True victory is thatwhich comes from heaven.(Chashma-e-Ma’rifat, RuhaniKhaza’in, Vol.23, pp. 385-386)

The insults that have beenoffered to Islam and the HolyProphet(saw), the attacks that havebeen made against Divine Lawand the apostasies and heresiesthat have become widespread,cannot be matched in any otherage. Is it not true that in a shortwhile in India alone a hundredthousand people have becomeChristians, and more than sixtymillion books have beenpublished in opposition to Islam,and people belonging to highfamilies have lost their religion,and those who used to describethemselves as the descendants ofthe Holy Prophet(saw) have put onthe garment of Christianity andhave become his enemies, andnumberless books full of vile

abuse of the Holy Prophet(saw)

have been published? My heartcries out with tears that if thesepeople had murdered mychildren before my eyes, and hadcut to pieces my sincere friends,

ESSENCE OF ISLAM – PART 9

The founder of the AhmadiyyaMuslim community was Hadhrat

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as).The founder of the AhmadiyyaMuslim community was HadhratMirza Ghulam Ahmad(as). In 1891,he claimed, on the basis of Divinerevelation, that he was the PromisedMessiah and Mahdi whose adventhad been foretold by Muhammad,the Holy Prophet of Islam (peaceand blessings of Allah be upon him)and by the scriptures of other faiths. His claim constitutes the basis of thebeliefs of the Ahmadiyya Muslimcommunity.


and had killed me with greathumiliation, and had possessedthemselves of all my property, Iwould not have been so painedand my heart would not havebeen so hurt as it has been painedand hurt by the insults offered tothe Holy Prophet(saw).(A’ ina-e-Kamalat -e - Is lam,Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 5, pp.51-52)

Poems in Remembrance of theHoly Prophet(saw)

Al-Qasidah – An Ode in Praiseof the Holy Prophet(saw)

(Arabic Poem)O fountainhead of Divine graceand knowledge! All creationflocks towards you like thethirsty.

O ocean of the grace of theGenerous Benefactor!Multitudes throng towards youholding empty cups.O sun of the kingdom of beautyand grace!You have illumined the face ofdeserts and dwellings alike.A nation had the honour tobehold you and another heard

Of this full moon that hasenchanted me.

They shed tears in remembranceof your beauty;And the pangs of separationfrom you make them cry.

I find hearts throbbing wildly;And tears streaming from theeyes.

O ye who in his light andradiance is like the sun andthe moon;And has illumined the day withhis light.

O full moon of ours, O the signof our Gracious Lord! O themost guided of all guides, andthe bravest of all the brave.

I perceive in your bright faceA quality far superior to humanqualities.

He is genial, gracious,bounteous, lover ofrighteousness;Generous, and one who hasexcelled all the youth.He surpasses all creation in his



perfection and beauty; In his glory, and his pleasantnature.

No doubt, Muhammad is thebest of creation;He is the elect of the elect andchief of chiefs.

All excellence attainedperfection in his person;The bounties of every agereached their climax in him.

I call Allah to witness thatMuhammad is His vicegerent;Through him alone access ispossible to the Divine court.

He is the pride of every piousand holy person;In him does the spiritual armytake pride.

He is superior to all those whoattained nearness to Allah inearlier times;For the criterion of excellence isvirtue, not time.

A light drizzle often precedesrain;But there is a world of difference

between the two.

He is the one and only archerwhose arrows never miss thetarget;He is the master archer whosearrows hit the target and kill theSatan.

He is like a heavenly garden: Isee his fruits;Whose bunches have beenlowered towards my heart.

I found him an ocean of veritiesand guidance:Full of lustre like a pearl.

Verily ‘Isa-Jesus-quietlybreathed his last, but ourProphet is alive;God is my witness, I have hadthe honour to meet him.

I swear by Allah! I havewitnessed his beautifulcountenance;With my own eyes while sittingin my house.

Our Holy Prophet is alive-of thisI am a witness; And I have beenblessed with the fruit of



converse with him.

I had the honour of witnessinghis blessed countenance in myearly youth;He graced me with his presencewhen I was wide awake.

Surely, I have been brought backto life by his life glvmg grace,Praise be to Allah, What amiracle! What a life he hasgranted me!

O my Lord, shower Yourblessings upon the HolyProphet, Ever and always, here and inthe hereafter.

O my master! I have come toyour door as the one wrongedand aggrieved;For my people have hurt me bycalling me a kafir.

Do look upon me with mercyand compassion!O my master, I am the humblestof your slaves.

O my beloved! My soul, mysenses, my heart;

Are all saturated with your love.

O garden of my delight, neverfor a moment,Am I without the remembranceof your countenance.

Overwhelmed with longing, mybody yearns to fly towards you;If only I had the power to fly!!!(Aina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam,Ruhani Khaz’ain, Vol.5, pp.590-594)

Qualities of the HolyProphet(saw) (Arabic Poem) O my Heart! remember Ahmad;Source of guidance andannihilator of enemies.

He is pious, kind andbenevolent;An ocean of bounties andbeneficence.

He is bright like the full moon;Praiseworthy in all his qualities.

His benevolence captureshearts; His beauty quenches thethirst.The oppressors rejected him,



So unjustly, and with sucharrogance!No one can deny the truthWhen it becomes manifest.

Go and find someone perfectlike him; You will be humbledand bewildered.

We have not seen anyone likehimWho so wakes up the sleepingones.

He is the light of God that hasresuscitated All branches of knowledgeafresh.

He is the elect, the chosen one;The guide, and the source ofgrace.

The rain of guidance is but apartOf the heavy rains of hisgenerosity.

The world forgot its lightdrizzle,When they saw the torrentialrain from this leader.Today the mean try to put out

And extinguish the light of hisguidance.

Sooner or later,Allah will manifest his light.

O rain that pours day and night,You have been safeguarded fromdestruction.

You have nourished the trees oflow landsAnd high lands with yourbounties.

We have found you to be thehaven of refuge; Hence afterfinding such a great haven,We are no longer afraid ofadverse circumstances, Nor arewe scared of the horrors of anysword.

We fear not the vicissitudes oftime;Nor are we frightened bythreats.

At the time of every crisis,We turn to our Lord.

In many a contest,Between me and the opposing



hordes, I emerged victorious, honoured,And a recipient of divinesuccour.

Praise be to Allah! Praise be toHim! As we have recognised ourguide.

My friend! It is Allah indeed, Who has favoured us with thisgift.

He is the Night of Decree,Whose bounties are perennial.(Karamat-us-Sadiqin, RuhaniKhaz’ain, Vol.7, pp.70-71.)

The Faith of Muhammad(saw) –(Urdu Poem):I let my fancy fly in alldirections,But I did not find a faith like thefaith of Muhammad.

There is no religion whichshows the signs of truth; Thisfruit I tasted only in the gardenofMuhammad.

I tested Islam myself – It is lightupon light; Wake up, I have

infonned you in time.

No one came for a trial, eventhoughI challenged every opponent tocompete.

Come, O ye people! Herein youwill find the light of God;Lo! I have told you the way ofsatisfaction.

Today those lights are surging inthis humble one;I have coloured my heart withevery hue of those lights.

Ever since I received that lightfrom the light of the Prophet,I have joined myself with theTrue One.

Countless blessings and peacebe upon Mustafa(sa);Allah is my witness: from Him Ireceived this light.

My soul is forever wedded to thesoul of Muhammad(saw);I have filled my heart to thebrim with this elixir.

I swear by your countenance, O



my dear Ahmad(saw);For your sake alone, have Itaken up all this burden.

O my Beloved! I swear by YourUniqueness;I have forgotten all about myselfin Your love. (A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam,Ruhani Khaz’ain, Vol. 5,pp.224-225)

The Perfect Prophet(saw) – (UrduCouplets)The ignorant of Europe say:‘This Prophet is not perfect;What was the difficulty inspreading faith amongtheuncivilised?’

But to convert the uncivilisedinto civilised people is amiracle;Which manifests the meaning ofthe secret of Prophethood.

He brought the light fromheavens, he himself was light;What is the harm if he was bornamong an uncivilised people?What difference does it make tothe light of the shining moon;

Whether it rises from the borderof Rome or from Zanzibar?(Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, part v,Ruhani Khaz’ain, Vol.21, p.144)

Grandeur of Ahmad(saw) –(Urdu Couplet)Beyond all thoughts andimagination Is the status of Ahmad(sa);Whose servant, you can see,Is the Messiah of the age!(Haqiqatul Wahi, RuhaniKhaz’ain, Vol.22, pp.286,footnote)

Our Leader(saw) (Urdu Poem)He is our leader, who is thesource of all light;His name is Muhammad(saw); healone is my beloved.

All Prophets are holy, one betterthan the other;But from the Almighty, he is thebest ofthe creation.

He is far better than thosebefore him, he is a darling in hisqualities;Every eye is focused on him, he



is the full moon which dispelsall darkness.

Those who came earlier, werefatigued halfway; He it iswho brought us to the shore;May I be a sacrifice; he alone isthe guide.

He removed the screen, andshowed the secret path; Hejoined the hearts to the Beloved,such a friend he is!

That Friend, beyond all physicallimitations, that UnseenBeloved;We saw through him, so he is thetrue guide.

Today he is the King of faith; theCrown of the apostles; He ispure and holy, this is his eulogy.

All commandments ordained bythe True God were demonstratedin practice by him;He revealed all secrets, anexcellent gift is this.

His vision is far-reaching like atelescope, his heart is close tothe Friend;

In his hands is the light of faith;he is the fountain of light.

He revealed the weighty secretsof faith;He is the King who grantswealth.

I am a sacrifice at that light; Ibelong entirely to him; He is all, what worth do Ipossess? This is the finalverdict.

That Unique Beloved is thesource of all learning;All else is a mere tale, this is thetruth unblemished.

We found everything throughhim, O Allah You are a witness;He is that manifestor of Beauty,who showed us the Truth.

We were blind of the heart, withhundreds of knots upon thehearts;The one who opened the locks isthis very Mujtaba – acceptedone.(Qadian Ke Arya aur Hum,Ruhani Khaz’ain, vol.20, p.456).



Leader of the Lovers of God –(Persian Poem)That sovereign of all the world;Whose name is Mustafa – thechosen one;Who is the elite of the lovers ofthe True God;Who is bright like the middaysun.

Verily, all light is due to hislight;He who is accepted by him isaccepted by God.

He is the one that, for life, is theflowing water;And a limitless ocean ofspiritual insight.

He it is in support of whosetruthfulness and excellence,Hundreds of incontrovertibleproofs and arguments have beenmade manifest to the world.

His countenance radiates thelight of God;

His path manifests the works ofGod.

All Prophets and truthful ones

are his devotees;They are like dust at hisdoorstep.

Love for him elevates one to theheaven;And transforms one like thelambent moon in purity.

He demonstrates to thePharaohs of every age, Hundreds of signs like that ofthe white hand of Moses.(Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, RuhaniKhaz’ain, Vol.1, p.627, footnote)

Muhammad(saw) is our Leaderand Guide – (Persian Poem):That Prophet whose name isMuhammad;We are forever holding on to hislap.

His love that entered our bodieswith the milk of our mothers;Became our very life, and willlast till death.

He is the best of the Prophetsand best of the creation;Prophethood found perfection inhim.


We drink deep the water of hisfountain,Whoever has been satiated, hasbeen satiated by it.

Whatever revelation orinspiration is granted to us; Is because of him, not becauseof us.

Through him are we blessedwith guidance andperfection; Without him, meeting theEternal Lord is impossible.

To follow every one of hiscommandments is ingrainedin me;Whatever is proven to be fromhim is my faith.(Siraj-e-Munir, RuhaniKhaz’ain, Vol.12, p.85)

* Ahmad is composed of fourArabic letters – Alif, Ha, Mim,and Dal. When the Mim isdropped, the three remainingletters – Alif, Ha, and Dal makethe word Ahad, which is anattribute of Almighty Allah,

meaning Unique. The linepurports to say that by freeinghimself completely from hisown self, the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allahupon him) became a truemanifestation of Allah, theUnique.

13


The Review of Religions – July 2006


Continued from June 2006:

h) Reference needs to be made tothe appointments of Muadh b.Jabal and Abu Musa Ashari, eachas governor of a part of Yemen.As they were about to leave, theHoly Prophet(saw) instructed them:‘Make things easy for people anddo not put them into difficulty.Talk to them cheerfully and not ina manner that might repel them’.One day Muadh came to meetAbu Musa Ashari and noticed aperson sitting there who had beensecured with a rope. When Muadhenquired about this he was toldthat that person was a Jew whohad become a Muslim and thenbecame an apostate. The narratoradds that for the past two to threemonths the Muslims had reasonedwith him in order to persuade himto become a Muslim but to noavail. Muadh declared that he

would not dismount until theperson had been executed andobserved that this was thejudgement of God and HisMessenger. This last remarkindicates no more than hispersonal opinion of what heunderstood to be the Will of Godand His prophet. Such opinionscarry no weight in law unless theyare completely substantiated byreferences which verify the claim.(This principle is elaboratedsubsequently in this chapter.)

Now let us examine the reliabilityof this tradition (of capitalpunishment for apostasy). Muaz’sremark contradicts the instructionof the Holy Prophet(saw) to makethings easy for people and not in amanner which might repel them.To place reliance on one traditionwithout investigating Muaz’sunderstanding of Islam on a key

PUNISHMENT FORAPOSTASY– Part 7, section 2This is the second section of the seventh extract taken from the book Murder inthe Name of Allah by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad(ru), dealing with the lack ofevidence and contrary arguments from the Holy Qur’an on the subject ofcapital punishment related to someone changing one’s faith.


issue where human rights areinvolved is sheer absurdity.

Considerable doubt prevailsregarding this tradition, the chainof narrators and their authenticity.Wherever such disputes arise, thetradition is rejected outright. Itshould be remembered that thesetraditions were compiled somethree to four centuries after theadvent of Islam and that, over apassage of time, memories areprone to error. According to onetradition, the Jew was beheadedupon Muaz’s instructions.11 In thesecond tradition, Muaz himselfbeheaded the Jew. When suchfundamental differences occur ina key incident, how can anyoneaccept the authenticity of thesetraditions? People may forgetwhat someone said, but if theywere eye-witnesses they would atleast remember what ultimatelyhappened to the ‘apostate’ inquestion.

Next we turn to a tradition whichhas obtained much attentionbecause it is strongly emphasisedand relied upon by the schooladvocating capital punishment forapostacy. This has deliberately

been deferred to the end of thischapter so that justice may bedone to it without interfering withthe general flow of the subjectmatter.

Before a detailed examination ofthis tradition, a few wordsconcerning the application ofcertain principles accepted byIslamic scholars throughout theages would not be out of place.These principles help to resolvecontroversies concerning theapparent contradiction betweenthe Holy Qur’an and hadith(tradition) on the one hand andsome traditions vis-a-vis othertraditions.

1. The Word of God standssupreme.

2. This is followed by the actualpractice of the Holy Prophet ofIslam(saw). This is known assunnah.

3. This is followed by hadith, thewords reported to be those ofthe Holy Prophet(saw).

a) If the authenticity of the wordsof the Holy Prophet(saw) isestablished unquestionably, thewords concerned are words put

PUNISHMENT FOR APOSTASY


into the mouth of the HolyProphet(saw) by God Almighty.Where there is no apparentcontradiction between the word ofthe Holy Prophet(saw) and theQur’an, the tradition may beaccepted as authentic.

b) There are no two opinionsregarding the accepted fact thatwhenever any so-called traditionatttibuted to the Holy Prophet ofIslam(saw) contradicts any clearinjunction of the Holy Qur’an,such a tradition is rejected as falseand is not accepted as the word ofthe Holy Prophet(saw).

c) If such a tradition does notglaringly violate any injunction ofthe Holy Qur’an and there is roomfor compromise, then ideally anattempt should be made to searchfor a suitable compromise beforethe final rejection of the tradition.

d) In attempting to reconcile atradition attributed to the HolyProphet(saw) with the Holy Qur’an,it must always be borne in mindthat the clear teachings of theHoly Qur’an are not to becompromised for the sake of a so-

called tradition, but a genuineattempt is to be made to find anexplanation of the tradition.Therefore in all cases of doubt,the tradition is put to the anvil ofthe Holy Qur’an and judgedaccordingly.

e) If there is no contradictionbetween the Holy Qur’an andhadith, then their mutual merit ofcredibility would be determinedaccording to the reliability of thesources and the chain of narrators.

f) Such a tradition will also becompared with other authenticand widely accepted traditions tomake sure that the tradition doesnot conflict with other traditions.

g) Lastly, another reliable methodof investigating the credibility ofa tradition is to study its internalevidence critically. If the contentsof the tradition clash with theimage of the Holy Prophet ofIslam(saw) which has emerged froma study of his conduct and bearingthroughout his life, then such atradition would be rejected as afalse attribution to the HolyProphet(saw) or as being against the



principles of logic and commonsense.

In the light of the aboveprinciples, let us examine13 thetradition in question.

TraditionIt is recorded in Bukhari that:

‘Ikramah relates that he heardthat some Zindeeqs werepresented before Hadhrat Aliwhereupon he directed theburning alive of these people.lbn Abbas stated that had itbeen him, he would not haveordered this because the HolyProphet(saw) had said that thetorment of the fire may onlybe decreed by God but theProphet had also said, 'Slaywhosoever changes hisreligion.’ 14

This tradition, with somevariation, may also be found inTirmidhi, Abu Daud, Al-Nisa’iand Ibn Majah’s compilations.Contradiction with the HolyQur’anIt is not possible for a fair-mindedperson to reconcile the followingverses of the Holy Qur’an withthis tradition: The following passage is typical:

Whoso seeks a religion otherthan Islam, it shall not beaccepted from him, and in the


Chapter Verses

2 57, 100, 109, 218, 257,273

3 21, 73, 86-92, 145

4 83, 138, 139, 146

5 55, 62, 91-93, 99-100

6 67, 105-108, 126

7 124-129

9 11-14

10 100-109

13 41

15 10

16 83, 105-107, 126

20 72-74

22 40

24 55

25 42-44

42 7, 8, 48, 49

17:55, 18:30, 19:47, 26:117, 28:57,29:19, 39:30-42, 40:26-27, 47:26,50:46, 51:57, 64:9-13, 66:7, 88:22-23


life to come he shall be amongthe losers. How shall Allahguide a people who havedisbelieved after havingbelieved and who had bornewitness that the Messenger istrue and to him clear proofshad come? Allah guides notthe wrongdoers. Of such thepunishment is that on themshall be the curse of Allah andof angels and of men, alltogether; thereunder shallthey abide. Their punishmentshall not be lightened norshall they be granted respite;except in the case of those whorepent thereafter and amend.Surely, Allah is MostForgiving, Ever Merciful.Those who disbelieve afterhaving believed, and thencontinue to advance indisbelief, their repentanceshall not be accepted. Thoseare they who have gone utterlyastray. From anyone of thosewho have disbelieved, and diewhile they are disbelievers,there shall not be acceptedeven an earthful of gold,though he offer it in ransom.For those there shall be agrievous punishment, and they

shall have no helper.(Ch.3: Vs.86-92)

It is obvious from these versesthat no punishment is to beinflicted by one man on anotherfor apostasy. The words‘thereunder shall they abide’clearly refer to the life hereafter.By no stretch of the imaginationcan any sane person interpret thewords ‘curse of Allah’ to be alicence to murder anyone whomhe considers to be an apostate. Nocapital punishment is mentioned.If it had, according to the strictrequirements of the law, thepunishment would have beenclearly defined, as in the case ofall other hudud (punishmentsspecifically prescribed in the HolyQur’an). On the contrary, theHoly Qur’an mentions thepossibility of repentance by suchpersons and subsequentforgiveness by God. How cananyone repent and atone for hissins in this world if he has beenkilled?

The advocates of capitalpunishment for apostasy need toconsider how, if their tradition ispresumed to be accurate, the clear



contradiction between it and theHoly Qur’an is to be resolved. Inparticular, they should reconsidertheir stance in view of the versesquoted above and re-examinethose with an impartial mind.How could anyone accreditgreater weight to such a dubioustradition than to these manifestlyclear dictates of the Holy Qur’an:

If thy Lord had enforced HisWill, surely all those on theearth would have believedwithout exception. Will thouthan take it upon thyself toforce people to becomebelievers? Except by Allah’sleave no one can believe andHe will afflict with His wraththose who will not use theirunderstanding.(Ch.10:Vs.100-1)

When God Himself does not forcepeople to believe, who are we toraise the sword to force belief or toset Maududian mouse-traps? Theproblem with the advocates ofcapital punishment for apostasy isthat they invariably accept literallytraditions compiled hundreds ofyears after the Holy Prophet(saw)

which obviously contradict the

teachings contained in the HolyQur’an.

Conflicts with the practice of theHoly Prophet(saw)

Our second source of law is theconduct and personal example ofthe Holy Prophet(saw). We havealready demonstrated thehollowness of the claim thatanyone has ever been executed forthe crime of apostasy.

After all, what was the stand of theHoly Prophet(saw) against theMakkans? It was that he should beallowed to profess and proclaimthe message of God in peace. TheMakkans did not grant him thisfreedom and punished those whobegan to believe in him. As far asthe Makkans were concerned,those who believed in themessage of Muhammad(saw) werethe apostates, having recantedtheir faith of idol worship.

The Holy Prophet(saw) spent hisentire life fighting in defence ofthe fundamental human rights thateverybody should be free tochoose his religion, no one shouldchange another person's religionby force, and everybody has a



right to change his own religion,whatever that religion is.

In fact, this has been the truemeaning of ‘Holy War’, waged byall messengers of God againsttheir opponents throughout thehistory of religion. The HolyQur’an has repeatedly mentionedthis with reference to earlierprophets of God (see 2.5; 6.113;21.42; 25.32; 36.8, 31; 43.8). Toname but a few, these areAbraham(as) (6.75-9; 19.47; 21.53,59, 61, 69-70; 37.89-91, 98);Elias(as) (37.126-7); Lot(as)

(26.166-8; 27.57;15.71); Noah(as)

(7.60; 10.72; 11.26-7; 26.117;71.2-21); Moses(as) (7.105-6,124¬7; 10.76-9; 17.102-3;20.44-5; 50-3; 26.19-34); andJesus(as) (3.52-6; 5.118; 19.37;43.65). What was their struggleabout? It was simply a response tothe claim of the opponents of theprophets(as) that they had no rightto change the faith of theircontemporaries. In fact every-body has a right to choose hisfaith and as long as the messageof peace and love is spread bypeaceful means, no one has theright to prevent this by force.

The obstinate response of theopponents to this most logical andhumane stance was that theypositively rejected the prophets’

position and stuck to their claimthat the prophets had no right tochange the faith of their people. Ifthey did not desist from thiscourse, the prophets were to beready to accept the penalty forapostasy which was (in theopponents' opinion) no other thandeath or exile.

The Holy Prophet’s(saw) strugglewith his opponents was consistentwith the practice of all prophets ofthe past. How can any sane persondeny the lifetime mission of theHoly Prophet(saw) and challenge hisfirm stance on this fundamentalprinciple? The Holy Qur’an, thepractice of the Holy Prophet(saw),and the other traditions provideample contradiction to thetradition in question. One cannotover-emphasise the utter unrelia-bility of this tradition.

Reliability of the sources andnarratorsPrima facie, the tradition refutedhere has been authenticated by the



reputable compilers Bukhari,Tirmidhi, Abu Daud, Al-Nisa’iand Ibn Majah; it is included infive out of the six generallyaccepted compilations of hadith.But there ends its claim toauthenticity.

For a tradition to be declaredauthentic, it is not enough for it tobe found in an authenticcompilation. There are otherestablished measures which areapplied to every tradition. Themost important among thesemeasures is the examination indepth and detail of the reputationand character of the narratorsforming the links in the chain ofnarrators.

There are scholars who havedevoted their whole lifetime tosuch studies and, thanks to theirmost painstaking and thoroughinvestigations, we are today in aposition to examine every link ofthe chain of narrators in anycompilation. Let us turn ourattention to the tradition underconsideration. This hadith fallsinto the category of ahad gharib(i.e., a tradition in which there is

only one chain of narratorsconnected to the same singlesource) because all the five booksof hadith derive their chain ofnarrators from Ikramah as theirultimate source.

The late Maulana Abdul Hayy ofLucknow specifically refers toIkramah, pointing out that merelybecause Bukhari had includedhim in his compilation, othersfollowed suit without carrying outindependent research.15

A tradition may be authentic andreliable even if it is quotedthrough a single chain ofnarrators. However, it cannot beregarded as being as reliable astraditions which have more thanone chain of reliable narrators.Such traditions are not permittedto influence edicts regarding therights, liabilities and penalties; inparticular, extra caution isrequired in relation to hodud.Hudud is a term strictly applicableto punishments specificallyprescribed in the Holy Qur’an.The exponents of death as thepenalty for apostasy consider theirview to be based on Qur’anic



injunctions falling within thecategory of hudud. In fact, wehave disproved this claim earlier.

It is important to bear in mind thatthe tradition under discussion is atradition quoted by a single chainof narrators and has nojurisprudence even if it isconsidered to be correct by some.In this context, it is essential tolearn more about Ikramah and hisreputation.

IkramahIkramah16 was a slave of IbnAbbas, and also his pupil – a veryindifferent pupil, for that matter,and a back-bencher of the firstorder. He confirms this himself bysaying that Ibn Abbas was soinfuriated with his lack of interestin his studies and by his truancythat he would bind his hand andfoot to compel him to remainpresent during his sermons.17

He was an opponent of HadhratAli(ra), the fourth caliph ofIslam,and was inclined towards theKhawarij in particular at the timewhen differences betweenHadhrat Ali(ra) and Ibn Abbasbegan to emerge. Later, during the

Abbasid period, (the Abbasids, itshould be borne in mind, wereextremely antagonistic because ofpolitical apprehensions) to allthose who were in any way alliedto Hadhrat Ali’s progeny, Ikramahacquired great renown and respectas a versatile scholar, obviouslybecause of his hostility towardsHazrat Ali(ra) and links with theKhawarij.18

Dhahbi states that becauseIkramah was a Kharijite, histraditions were unreliable anddubious. An expert on thepunishment for apostasy, ImamAli b. Al-Madani, is of the sameopinion. Yahya b. Bekir used tosay that the Kharijites of Egypt,Algiers and Morocco werestrongly allied to Ikramah.

It has generally been observedthat the traditions of capitalpunishment for apostasy emanatemainly from incidents in Basra,Kufa and Yemen. The people ofthe Hejaz (Makkah and Madinah)were totally unfamiliar with them.One cannot shut one’s eyes to thefact that the tradition fromIkramah under discussion isknown as an Iraqi tradition. Let us


recall the famous Makkan Imam,Taus b. Kaisan, who used to saythat Iraqi traditions weregenerally doubtful.19

That is not all. A great scholar,Yahya b. Saeed Al-Ansari, hasstrongly censured Ikramah for hisunreliability in general and hasgone to the extent of calling him akadhab,20 that is to say an extremeliar of the first order.

Abdullah b. Al-Harith quotes avery interesting incident which hewitnessed himself when he visitedAli b. Abdullah b. Abbas. He wasdeeply shocked and dismayed tofind Ikramah bound to a postoutside the door of Ali b.Abdullah b. Abbas. Heexpresseed his shock at thiscruelty by asking Ali b. Abdullahb. Abbas if he had no fear of Godin him. What he obviously meantwas that Ikramah, with all hisrenown of piety and so on, did notdeserve such a base and crueltreatment at the hands of his latemaster's own son. In response tothis, Ali b. Abdullah b. Abbasjustified his act by pointing outthat Ikramah had the audacity toattribute false things to his latefather, Ibn Abbas.21 What better

judge of the character of Ikramahcould there be than Ali b.Abdullah b. Abbas? No wonder,therefore, that Imam Malik b.Anas (95-179 AH), the pioneercompiler of hadith and an Imamof jurisprudence held in thehighest repute throughout theMuslim world, held that thetraditions narrated by Ikramahwere unreliable.22

The following scholars of greatrepute have declared that Ikramahhad a strong disposition towardsexaggeration: Imam Yayha b.Saeed Al Ansari, Ali b. Abdullahb. Abbas and Ata b. Abi Rabae.23

This, then, is the man who we aredealing with and on whose soleauthority the matter of the lives ofall those people who change theirfaith is left hanging till the end oftime.

Ibn AbbasWhenever the name of IbnAbbas24 appears at the head of achain of narrators, the vastmajority of Muslim scholars isoverawed. They forget the factthat because of his name andreputation, concocters of false

23



traditions tended to trace theirfabricated chain of narrators backto him. Therefore, all traditionsbeginning with the name of IbnAbbas must be properly judgedand examined.

Moreover, even if Ibn Abbas ishonestly reported by a narrator,the possiblity of human error onIkramah’s part regarding what IbnAbbas might have said cannot beruled out. The following would bea good illustration of the case inpoint:

‘Ibn Abbas says that Umarused to say that the HolyProphet(saw) said that cryingover the dead broughtchastisement to the dead. IbnAbbas further said that afterUmar died, he related thistradition to Ayesha who said,“God forgive Umar!” By God,the Holy Prophet(saw) saidnothing of the kind. He onlysaid that if the descendants ofa disbeliever cried over hisdead body, their action tendedto augment his punishment,and by way of argument,Ayesha also said: Sufficientfor us is the saying of the

Qur’an: “Verily no soul canbear the burden of another.”’25

If a man of Hadhrat Umar’sstature and integrity canmisunderstand the HolyProphet(saw), however rarely itmight have happened, how muchmore is there danger of ordinarynarrators misunderstanding thereports of Ibn Abbas?

With such wide possibilities forthe miscarriage of the message ofthe Holy Prophet of Islam(saw),how can a sane person relyentirely on the evidence of thishadith and draw conclusions offar-reaching import regardingmatters of life and death andfundamental human rights?

It is likely that Ikramah concoctedthis tradition, attributing it to IbnAbbas, as it was his wont to do,according to Ali b. Ibn Abbas.

Other internal criteriaWhen we examine the subjectmatter of the tradition underconsideration, we find thecontents to be erroneous inseveral ways.a) A person of Hadhrat Ali’s

24



stature is presumed to be unawareof the fact that Islam categoricallyprohibits a person to be punishedby fire.

b) The words ‘slay whosoeverchanges his faith’ are so generalthat they can be interpreted inmany ways. They can apply tomen, women and children,whereas according to Imam AbuHanifa and some other schools ofjurisprudence, an apostate womancan never be slain.

c) The Arabic word deen(religion) used in this tradition is ageneral word meaning anyreligion, not Islam specifically.Even the faith of idolaters isreferred to as deen. (Sura Al-Kafiroon).

In the light of the general nature ofthe language used, how can onerestrict the application of thistradition to a Muslim whorenounces his faith? In strict legalterms, according to this tradition,anyone who changes his religion,whatever that religion is, wouldhave to be put to death. It wouldmean slaying the Jew who becamea Christian, slaying the Christian

who became a Muslim, andslaying the pagan who adopted anynew faith. ‘Whosoever’ alsotranscends the geographicalboundaries of Muslim states,implying that anywhere in theworld, anyone who changes hisfaith – be he an aborigine ofAustralia, a pygmy of Africa or anindian of South America – must beslain forthwith the moment herenounces his previous faith andaccepts another one.

Islam lays a great deal of emphasison proselytizing, so that it isbinding upon every Muslim tobecome a preacher in the path ofAllah. How ironic it is thereforethat many renowned Muslimscholars today negate the veryspirit of Islamic jihad byaudaciously sticking to the narrow-minded view that Islam dictatesthat whosoever changes his faith,meaning in this context Islam,must be put to death forthwith.What about those of other faiths?Islam declares it to be anobligation upon Muslims to standcommitted to the noble goal ofconstantly endeavouring to changethe faith of all non-Muslimsaround them by peaceful means.

25



This task is so important anddemanding that every Muslim isinstructed to stick to the endeavourtill his last breath.

The Holy Qur’an states:

CalI unto the way of thy Lordwith wisdom and goodlyexhortation, and reason withthem on the basis of that whichis best. Thy Lord knows bestthose who have strayed awayfrom His way; and He knowsbest those who are rightlyguided.(Ch.16: V.126)

The advocates of the bigotedinhumane doctrine of death uponapostasy never visualise its effecton international and inter-religious human relationships.Why can they not see thataccording to their view of Islam,adherents of all religions have afundamental right to change theirfaith but not so the Muslims, andthat Islam has the prerogative ofconverting others but alladherents of different faiths aredeprived of any right to convertMuslims to their faith? What a

sorry picture of Islamic justicethis presents!

To conclude, apostasy is the clearrepudiation of a faith by a personwho formerly held it. Doctrinaldifferences, however grave,cannot be deemed to be apostasy.The punishment for apostasy liesin the hand of God Almighty,against Whom the offence hasbeen committed. Apostasy whichis not aggravated by some othercrime is not punishable in thisworld. This is the teaching ofGod. This was the teaching of theHoly Prophet(saw). This is the viewconfirmed by Hanafi jurists,26

Fateh al Kadeer,27 Chalpi,28 Hafizibn Qayyim, Ibrahim Nakhai,Sufyan Thauri and many others.The Maududian claim ofconsensus, concerning thetradition they hold to be true, is amere fiction.

References11. Bukhari, Kitab al-Mustadeen

wal Muanadeen waQitaalihim, Bab HukumulMurtad wal Murtadda.

12. Abu Daud.

26



13. The Holy Qur’an urges:‘When you hear of it, why didnot the believing men and thebelieving women think wellof their own people, and say:This is a manifest lie ...’(Ch.24: V.13). The HolyProphet(saw) said: ‘It isevidence enough of theuntruthfulness of a personthat he should relate, withoutexamination, whatever hehears.’ (Muslim, vol.1,chapter headed ‘Don’ts aboutTradition’)

14. Bukhari Mishkat (Egypt), 9-10; Bukhari and Fath Al-Bari, Hadith no. 6922, Egypt,Vol.12, 267.

15. Abdul Hayy, Al-Riaf a walTakmeel.

16. Not to be confused withIkramah b. Abu Jahl.

17. Ibn Saad, Al Tabqa al-Kabir,Vol.2, 386.

18. Mizan al-Aitadal, Vol.2, 208.19. Abu Daud, Vol.II, 35.20. Abu Jafar Muhammed b. Amr

b. Musa b. Hamad Al-AqbliAl-Mulki, Kitab al-Soafa Al-Kabir, Lebanon Darul KutbAl-Almiyya, Al Safr III,

1983, 373.21. Abu Jafar Muhammed b. Amr

b. Musa b. Hamad Al-AqbliAl-Mulki, op.cit.

22. Mizan Al-Aitadal, Vol.2, 209.23. Fateh Al-Bari.24. The son of Abbas, an uncle of

the Holy Prophet(saw). IbnAbbas was no more than achild during the HolyProphet’s(saw) time.

25. Bukhari, Kitab al-Janaiz,chapter headed ‘Wailing overthe Dead’.

26. Hedayah.27. Fateh al-Kadeer, Vol. IV,

389; Vol. II, 580.28. Chapri, Commentary on

Fateh al-Kadeer, 388;Inayah, 390.

27




IntroductionThe Acropolis in Athens has formillennia been the religious hubof the Greek world. Today it is atourist magnet, but the rock andthe adjacent parts of the city haveplayed a major role in thedevelopment of religious thought- both ancient and modern. Thisarticle examines the debates andreligious thought that havesurrounded the Acropolis over somany centuries.

Origins of the Greek cultureThere had been settlers on theAcropolis since around 4000BCE. The first Greek Hellenictribes arrived around 2000 BCE.Not long after, from around 1550BCE, the Mycenians settled onthe Acropolis. Around the sametime, the great Minoan culture ofCrete lost its regional power afterthe errupton of the volcano on

the island of Thera. It was in theperiod from 1000 BCE to thetime of Christianity that theGreek culture reached its zenithand produced so many worldfamous scientists and philo-sophers.

The Greeks were not a singlerace at that time. Many tribesfrom the Indo-European steppesmoved to Greece and broughtwith them their own local deities.Perhaps the need to keep thepeace resulted in the need toworship all gods rather than thesingle Creator and led to thepantheon of gods and goddessesof Olympus that emerged aboutas a sort of democratic religion.The Greeks were agreed thatZeus, the sky god, was the chiefdeity.

Many cults such as the Orphics

THE ACROPOLIS:Its significance in the development of religiousphilosophyBy Fazal Ahmad – London, UK


sprang up. They were morespiritual and abstained from meatand other foods. They believedthat ascetism would lead tosalvation just as Hindus believedon the other side of the world.Orphics were initiated by asacrament just as Christians didhundreds of years later.

By the 9th century BCE, many ofthe stories related to theindividual deities and historical

events around the early formationof Greece became intertwined inmythology as captured by Homer.

The Greeks became a sophis-ticated and cultured race. TheOlympic Games were anotherway of bringing together thevarious Greek tribes. The deitieshad temples built in their honourand many had mysteries attachedto them such as Demeter andOrpheus.

THE ACROPOLIS: ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY

The Acropolis


The Greeks became aware ofnature very early on. Philophersin Greece began to awe at theskies and the size of the universe.They wondered at the continentsaround them and the extent of theworld.

They developed a religion basedon the need for protection frombad fate. The Oracle at Delphi isa famous example of a placewhere people would go to learntheir fate, or to ask for help beforea major task such as a longjourney or battle. This form ofreligion commanded power and ahierarchy built up around it justas would happen in nearby Rome.Many of the rulers had becomecruel and tyrannical and usedtheir ‘knowledge’ to keep thepopulation under control.

The Battle of Marathon in 490BCE was a turning point. Thedemocrats of Athens overthrewthe invading Persian army andalso the tyrants of their ownpeople to usher in a new era ofintellectual freedom whichspawned many great thinkers.

Pythagoras began to think aboutspirituality in the 6th centuryBCE. He travelled widely andstudied different faiths from theregion including Zoroastrianism.He was intrigued by the soul andthe concept of reincarnation.Another scholar of the time,Xenophanes taught monotheism.Athenian youth were alsoencouraged to learn and absorbthe Homerian epics such as TheIliad (war against Troy) and theOdyssey. These epics capturedtheir beliefs and traits of morality,heroism and poetry.

Socrates(as)

It was in this climate thatSocrates(as) began to debate hisown world view at the Agora, themarketplace of Athens standingjust below the Acropolis in the5th century BCE. He woulddebate with people of all ages andfrom all walks of life. He did notrestrict himself to theologians orpoets, but wanted to reform thewider Athenian population.Having been born and brought upin Athens, he had the sameclassical education, and wasdeveloping skills as a sculptor



(some of his work had beendisplayed on the road leading tothe Acropolis). His life changedwhen a series of dreams and signs(he referred to his (‘Divinevoice’) pointed him to his missionto reform the people of Athens.He encouraged Athenians tochallenge their long-held beliefsand not to use Homer as a prop.He encouraged his friends to prayfor good rather than just formaterial gain. He shunned theplurality of Greek gods andmythology and debated a morepractical world view in theAgora.

His principled stance led him toconflict with the state and he wasarrested in 399 BCE with thecharge of having denounced theAthenian deities and corruptedthe youth. He was imprisoned ina cell on the Filopappou Hillfacing the Acropolis. Havingrefused to denounce his ownbeliefs in monotheism, he wassentenced to death and forced todrink hemlock poison.

He was followed by Plato whofounded the Academy in Athens

in 387 BCE. Academy wasactually a suburb of Athens(thought to derive from the heroAcademos), and the philo-sophical school that Platofounded remained in use until526, over 900 years later, whenthe Roman emperor Justinian hadit closed down. Plato expandedon the debate around the natureof the soul. He described the‘psyche’ as a form of existencebefore a man was born, and howit departed after death to accountfor a man’s behaviour and deeds.

One of the famous students ofPlato’s Academy was Aristotlewho later founded the Lyceumphilosophical school of Athensafter having studied for over 22years in Plato’s college. TheLyceum is thought to be aroundthe area between SyntagmaSquare and the National Gardensjust north-east of the Acropolis(there is current archaeologicalwork going on to try to confirmthe location of the Lyceum).Aristotle is thought to havereturned to his native Macedoniaafter Plato’s death to train theyoung Alexander the Great, and



then returned to Athens in 335BCE to establish hiw own schoolwhere he encouraged research,debate and dialogue based on hisown concept of logic. Aristotlewrote on many subjectsincluding morality, ethics and theobligations of citizens in Athens.He seemed to favour a view thatthe soul it was a part of the bodyand died with the physical body.There were many otherphilosophers and thinkers at thattime such as Democritus,Anaxagoras and Epicurus whoparticipated in this debate around

the same time. The debate wasnot just on the nature of the souland life after death, but also thepurpose of life. The Epicuriansare famous for their concept oflife that it is for the pursuit ofpleasure.

In the next few centuries, therewere many other schools ofthought that emerged in Athensand elsewhere in Greece such asthe Stoics and several Mysticsects influenced by Asia Minorand the East. Poets and theatrewriters such as Sophocles started


The Agora - Marketplace of Athens


to move away from reliance onthe deities for all actions and fate,and started to show how thecharacters in his plays suffereddue to their own actions.

Interactions with otherculturesThe Greeks were not an isolatedculture. The mainland of Greeceis largely coastal, so it is nosurprise that the Greeksdeveloped naval skills very earlyon and came into contact withmany other cultures around theMediterranean. They would havehad dealings with Crete, theRomans, the Carthaginians,Turks, Persians and Egyptians,and these neighbours representedtheir world. Alexander the Greatexpanded their horizons around300 BCE to cover the MiddleEast and the Indian sub-continent.

It is the interactions with thePersians that are perhaps themost interesting, as there wereregular battles, but they alsocame into contact with Cyrus theGreat (possibly Dhu’l Qarnain asmentioned in the Qur’an) and the

philosophy and religion ofZarathustra(as).

Acropolis or ParthenonMany people confuse theParthenon and the Acropolis ofAthens. The Acropolis is therocky outcrop towering overmost of the city (but not thehighest point in the city – that isMount Lykavettos). It is aplateau on which the locals builtmany temples such as theParthenon, especially after it wasdeclared a religious and holysanctuary by the Oracle ofDelphi in 510 BCE. It was afterthis pronouncement that theAcropolis was exclusively usedfor ancient worship. Thecommon people were bannedfrom living there.

The earliest temple was devotedto Aphrodite. By the 6th centuryBCE, a temple was erected toApollo and another to Athena(from which the city takes itsname). Much of these structureswere destroyed by the Persianswho had attacked Athens and theGreek mainland. This wasfollowed by the golden period of



Pericles during which theParthenon was erected to thepatron Athena and the nearbygateway to the Acropolis, thePropylaeum, were built.

In ancient times, only the Priestwas able to visit the temples, andhis family and those of a fewselect helpers lived on theAcropolis itself. The rest of thepopulation devoted themselves tothe deities of Athens for theirprotection. The Acropolis wasopened to the general populationof Athens only once every tenyears. This preserved themystique about their religion andkept the general population inawe. Their concept of religionwas not an accessible deity opento all as we have now in modernreligion. Their faith was basedupon fear and the need forprotection rather than gratitudeand love.

However, it was during thisperiod of security for Athens anddemocracy (fuelled by the effortsof Solon and Cleisthenes whoguaranteed rights for the poorest)that the period of philosophical

development was able to flourish.

Over time, as with all polytheisticcultures such as the Egyptiansand Romans, the focus shifted tograndeur and decoration, pompand rituals rather than theology.The noble theology of Socrates(as)

had been diluted over time, andby the turn of the Millennium andthe advent of Christianity,although there was a significantJewish minority in Athens, muchof the population was absorbed inwhat amounted to idol-worship.

Athens began to lose some of itsstatus from the 4th century BCEwhen the Greeks lost thePeloponnesian War to the nearbySpartans. Although it peakedagain after the death ofAlexander the Great, soon theRomans arrived and the city waseclipsed by Rome, Egypt andConstantinople (modernIstanbul).

During the Roman period, theybuilt their own Agora and aTower of the Winds commis-sioned by the Syrian astronomerKyrrestes who built a weather



vane and water clock. TheRomans also erected temples totheir own deities in the city, andbuilt a temple dedicated to theEmperor Augustus.

Paul and Christian ByzantiumWhen Paul began to preach to thenon-Jews in Europe, his focuswas on the Greek civilisation. Abrief glance at the cities wherePaul sent letters (the bulk of themodern Bible New Testament)shows that much of his effort wasspent in Greece. The Biblepreserves letters that he wrote tothe Corinthians, Ephesians,Philippians, Colossians and theThessalonians. All these sevenletters were to people in Greece.

In his travels to preach hisversion of Christianity, both hissecond and third journeys tookplace in Athens and nearbytowns such as Corinth,Thessaloniki and the area ofAttica.

In Athens, he is said to havestood on a rocky outcrop next tothe Acropolis (the Areopagus) tostart spreading his message. The

Bible describes how he preachedto the ancient Greeks of Athens:

‘While Paul was waiting forthem (Silas and Timothy) inAthens, he was deeplydistressed to see that the citywas full of idols. So heargued in the synagogue withthe Jews and the devoutpersons, and also in themarketplace every day withthose who happened to bethere.’(Acts 17:16-17)

The Agora, the marketplace ofAthens was more than just atraditional market on the foothillsof the Acropolis. It was also theadministrative heart of the city,the place where there were manytemples to ancient Greek deities,and there were open spaces herewere poets would read out theirworks, and philosophers woulddebate various issues, so it wouldhave been a natural place forPaul to preach just as Socrates(as)

had done a few hundred yearsearlier. Paul encountered bothStoic and Epicurian thinkerswhile in Athens.



Paul had been disturbed at thewealth of temples and idols in thecity and began to tell theAthenians about his concept of aliving God:

‘The God who made theworld and everything in it, hewho is Lord of heaven andearth does not live in shrinesmade by human hands, nor ishe served by human hands, asthough he needed anything,since he himself gives to allmortals life and breath and allthings. From one ancestor hemade all nations to inhabit thewhole earth, and he allottedthe times of their existenceand the boudaries of theplaces where they would live,so that they would search forGod and perhaps grope forhim and find him – thoughindeed he is not far from eachone of us.’(Acts 17:24-27)

Unfortunately, many of theoriginal Jewish teachings ofJesus(as) about a living God thatpeople could have a relationshipwith were distorted in his name

into the worship of Jesus(as)

himself. It is difficult to saywhether Paul preached amonotheistic message which waslater distorted, or whether Paulhimself had distorted themessage of Christianity to suitthe idol worshippers of Europe.It is perhaps more likely that Paulhimself had changed the messageto some extent as he had beensummoned to the Council ofJerusalem in 49 CE for taking themessage to non-Jews andrelaxing the conditions asso-ciated with being a Jew.

Either way, the debates that hehad in the Agora of Athens aboutnot worshipping lifeless formsand understanding the nature of aliving God are very interesting.

Gradually, Orthodox Christianitytook hold in Athens, but theGreeks still held their old schoolsof thought in great esteem. Whenthe Odeon of Athens was rebuiltin the 2nd century, it containedstatues of prominent members ofthe Stoic, Platonist, Aristoteleanand Epicurean schools ofthought.



In 390, Emperor Theodosius Imade Christianity the statereligion, and soon the OlympicGames were banned. A centurylater, in 529, the schools ofAristotle and Plato were closedand classical thought wasdiscarded, not to be revived untilthe Muslims started translatingthe classic works a few hundredyears later sparking the

Renaissance ofEurope.

Christianity con-tinued to take astronger hold, and in841, the Parthenon onthe Acropolis wasturned into acathedral.

The OttomansThe Ottoman Turkshad a long rivalrywith their Greekcousins, a rivalry thatis still strong today.The Ottomans beganto extend theirIslamic empire acrossEurope, North Africaand the Middle East,

but faced stiff resistance from theGreeks. However, it took themmany decades to get control ofnearby Constantinople in 1453,and Athens was not taken until1456.

Thereafter, Athens and Greecebecame part of the Islamic worldof the Ottomans, and newmosques sprang up around the


The Tower of the Winds


Agora of Athens such as theTzisdarakis Mosque inMonastiraki Square. Mehmet theConqueror visited Athens in thelate 15th Century, and theFethiye Mosque which stands ata corner of the Roman Agora wasbuilt to mark that visit. Thenearby Tower of the Windsbecame a sanctuary for Sufimystics and the famous whirlingdervishes (Muslim ascetics) whoused to do a weekly frenzieddance in the Tower.

Many Jews migrated to Athensunder tolerant Ottoman rulefleeing persecution followingthe cruel Inquisition in Spain.

By 1687, the Ottomans hadcrudely turned the Parthenonfrom a Mosque (at least it stillhad a religious use at that stage)into their Arsenal. Knowing this,when the Venetians of Italyattacked that year, they fired onthe Acropolis and managed todestroy much of the Parthenon.The city was captured by theVenetian admiral Morosini butwas later recovered by theOttomans in 1690.

During Ottoman rule, Christianswere given full rights to worship,and Islam was not imposed onthe Greeks. The EcumenicalPatriarch of the Greek OrthodoxChurch was made accountable tothe Ottoman Sultan for the nativeGreeks, and in return he wasgiven wide powers over courts,schools and the Church. So theOrthodox Church began to takemore political control in societythan had previously been thecase.

At this time, Athens remainedautonomous while neighbouringareas had Ottoman governors.The Orthodox Patriarchs hadmore freedom than when theCatholic Venetians hadcontrolled the city, and they wererelatively content.

Some Greeks hid their Christianfaith and pretended to beMuslims in order to pay a lowerrate of tax, but there was nomajor drive by the Ottomans toconvert them to Islam.As the Ottoman Empire fell intodecline, there was an increase incorruption and in-fighting and



gradually many parts of Greecefell beyond Ottoman control.This resulted in greater militancyby the Ottoman rulers. Thereaction from the Greeks wasincreased resistance.

It was in the 19th century thatGreece gained its independenceand returned to its OrthodoxChristian religion after fourcenturies under Muslim rule.

ConclusionThe Acropolis of Athens hasbeen the scene of the debate andcreation of philosophy forcenturies, and has had an impacton much of the religious thinkingof the Mediterranean region. Itsprominent position overlookingthe city meant that for centuries itheld a position as a place ofworship.

The many tribes that cametogether to form the Greekcivilisation brought their ownbeliefs with them, but it was afterthe battle of Marathon that aunified and free Athens was ableto take its theology and scienceto new levels, with great thinkers

such as Socrates, Plato andAristotle taking the concept ofthe soul and God to new levels.

References1. Athens - Between Legend and

History, Maria Mavromataki,Hatalis Publishing, Athens,Greece 1995.

2. The Holy Bible (New RevisedStandard Version), ThomasNelson Inc., Nashville, USA1989.

3. The Greek Achievement - TheFoundation of the WesternWorld, Charles Freeman,Penguin Books, London, UK1999.

4. Revelation, Rationality,Knowledge and Truth,Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad,Islam InternationalPublications Ltd, Surrey, UK1998.

5. The Early Greek Concept ofthe Soul, Jan Bremmer,Princeton University Press,New Jersey, USA 1983.



6. The Encyclopedia of Mythsand Legends, Stuart Gordon,Headline Book Publishing,London, UK 1993.

7. Cities of the Biblical World,Lamoine DeVries,Hendrickson Publishers,Massachusetts, USA 1997,p.351-358.

8. The Religions of the RomanEmpire, John Ferguson,Thames & Hudson, London,UK 1982, p.190 - 203.


References to the Holy Qur’an item count ‘Bismillah...’ (In the Name ofAllah...) as the first verse of each Chapter. In some non-standard texts, thisis not counted and should the reader refer to such texts, the verse quotedin The Review of Religions will be found one verse less than the numberquoted.

In this journal, for the ease of non-Muslim readers, ‘(saw)’ or ‘saw’ afterthe words, ‘Holy Prophet’, or the name ‘Muhammad’, are used. Theystand for ‘Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam’ meaning ‘Peace and blessings ofAllah be upon him’. Likewise, the letters ‘(as)’ or ‘as’ after the name ofall other prophets is an abbreviation meaning ‘Peace be upon him’ derivedfrom ‘Alaihis salatu wassalam’ which are words that a Muslim utters outof respect whenever he or she comes across that name. The abbreviation‘ra’ or (ra) stands for ‘Radhiallahu Ta’ala anhu and is used for Companionsof a Prophet, meaning Allah be pleased with him or her (when followed bythe relevant Arabic pronoun). Finally, ‘ru’ or (ru) for Rahemahullahu Ta’alameans the Mercy of Allah the Exalted be upon him.

In keeping with current universal practice, local transliterations arepreferred to their anglicised versions, e.g. Makkah instead of Mecca, etc.


IntroductionThe central figure of the DeadSea Scrolls, who is talked aboutor quoted therein time and again,is a person referred to as the‘Teacher of Righteousness’. Itappears that after a seriousattempt on his life, his identitywas concealed for his security.The secrecy maintained abouthim also suggests that he musthave been living at the time whenthe scrolls were written, asotherwise such a precautionwould not have been necessary.

Scholars hold diverse opinionsabout his identity. J.L. Teicherthinks that he was Jesus(as), whileBarbara Theiring thinks he wasJohn the Baptist(as) and Eisenmanprefers James the Just (brother ofJesus(as)).

The Righteous TeacherThe Righteous Teacher depictedin the scrolls belonged to theHouse of Israel. He was born

fatherless at a time just precedingthe start of Christianity. Hismother dedicated him to God. Hebelieved in the absolute Unity ofGod. He claimed to have beensent by God as the Messiah forthe Jews and was helped by theHoly Spirit. He interpreted theTorah through God’s guidanceand was bitterly opposed byJewish priests, particularly bytheir chief referred to as the‘Wicked Priest’.

He was severely persecuted andan attempt was made to kill him,but God saved his life. He wasforced to migrate to some distantlands where his voice was heardand his claim accepted. Beforeleaving his country heprophesied that his opponents,the opponents of Truth, would bepunished by God for theiriniquities and that his followerswould always prevail over thosewho rejected him.

The Teacher of Righteousness of the Dead Sea ScrollsBy Khalid Saifullah Khan – Australia


Could the Teacher be Jesus(as)?James was a follower of Jesus(as).How could it be that he wasgiven such high status as to bewritten about and to have hiswritings included in thecollections of the community inpreference to the person hehimself followed as a Prophet ofGod? It is surprising that ascholar like Eisenman shouldhave missed such an importantpoint in developing his theorythat the Teacher was James theJust.

John the Baptist(as) could also notbe the Teacher because hismessage was different to that ofthe Qumran community asdiscussed by Dr Will Varner inhis Christian Answers Network.

My view that the RighteousTeacher was none other thanJesus(as) is based on the strikingresemblance between the two.The well-known French scholarDupont-Sommer, counts somesimilarities between the two inhis book, The Dead Sea Scrolls, aPreliminary Survey. Though hedraws a different conclusion, yet

there is no disagreement on thefacts quoted in the passage. Hewrites:

The Galilean Master, as he ispresented to us in the writingsof the New Testament,appears in many respects asan astonishing reincarnationof the Teacher ofRighteousness. Like thelatter, he preached penitence,poverty, humility and love ofone’s chastity. Like him, heprescribed the observance ofthe Law of Moses, the wholeLaw, but the Law finishedand perfected, thanks to Hisown revelations. Like him, hewas the Elect and the Messiahof God, the Messiah redeemerof the world. Like him, hewas the object of the hostilityof the priests, the party of theSadducees. Like him, he wascondemned and put to death.Like him, he pronouncedjudgement on Jerusalem,which was taken anddestroyed by the Romans forhaving put Him to death. Likehim, at the end of time, he[(The Teacher) Ed.] will be

THE TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS


the supreme judge. Like him,he founded a Church whoseadherents fervently awaitedhis glorious return. In theChristian Church, just as inthe Essene Church, theessential rite is the sacredmeal, which is presided overby the priests. Here and there,at the head of eachcommunity, there is theoverseer, the ‘bishop’. Andthe ideal of both Churches isessentially that of unity,communion in love evengoing so far as the sharing ofcommon property.(Dead Sea Scrolls, aPreliminary Survey, Dupont-Sommer, p.99-100)

It may be noted that according toDupont-Sommer, the Teacher ofRighteousness was condemnedand put to death by his enemies.But there are clear passages inthe scrolls which say that thoughan attempt was made on the lifeof the Teacher, he was saved byGod. Edmund Wilson mentionsin his book Dead Sea Scrolls1947-1969 that there is nodefinite evidence in the Scroll

literature that the Teacher ofRighteousness was killed.

Ahmadiyya Point of ViewHadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

of Qadian, the holy founder ofthe Ahmadiyya Movement inIslam, wrote in 1899:

‘Let it be noted that thoughChristians believe that Jesus(on whom be peace) after hisarrest through the betrayal byJudas Iscariot, and crucifixion– went to heaven, yet from theHoly Bible it appears that thisbelief of theirs is altogetherwrong. Matthew 12:40 saysthat just as Jonah was threedays and three nights in thebelly of the fish, so the Son ofMan shall be three days andthree nights in the bowels ofthe earth. Now it is clear thatJonah did not die in the bellyof the fish, the utmost thathappened was that he was inswoon or a fit of fainting. Theholy books of God bearwitness that Jonah, by thegrace of God, remained alivein the belly of the fish, andcame out alive, and his people



ultimately accepted him. Ifthen Jesus (on whom bepeace) had died in the belly ofthe earth, what resemblancecould there be between a deadman and the one who wasalive, and how could a livingone be compared with onedead? The truth rather is, thatas Jesus(as) was a true prophetand as he knew that God,Whose beloved he was, wouldsave him from an accurseddeath, he made a prophecy inthe form of a parable, revealedto him by God, in which hehinted that he would not die onthe Cross, nor would he giveup the ghost on the accursedwood; on the contrary, like theprophet Jonah(as), he wouldonly pass through a state ofswoon. In the parable he hadalso hinted that he would comeout of the bowels of the earthand would then join the peopleand, like Jonah, would behonoured by them. So thisprophecy was fulfilled; forJesus(as), coming out of thebowels of the earth, went to histribes who lived in the easterncountries, Kashmir and Tibet

etc. viz. the ten tribes of theIsraelites who 721 years beforeJesus, had been taken prisonerfrom Samaria by Shalmaneser,King of Assur, and had beentaken away by him. Ultimately,these tribes came to India andsettled in various parts of thatcountry. Jesus(as) at all eventsmust have made this journey;for the divine objectunderlying his advent was thathe should meet the lost Jewswho had settled in differentparts of India; the reason beingthat these in fact were the lostsheep of Israel who had givenup even their ancestral faith inthese countries, and most ofwhom had adopted Buddhism,relapsing gradually intoidolatry. Dr. Bernier, on theauthority of a number oflearned people, states in his‘Travels’ that the Kashmiris inreality are Jews who in thetime of the dispersal in thedays of the King of Assur hadmigrated to this country.’(Jesus in India, Hadhrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, Qadian, India1899, pp. 22-23)



The Promised Messiah(as) went onto make the followingobservation:

‘We have no alternative,therefore, than toacknowledge in thisconnection that God hadwilled – it had been destinedby Him – that this brightweapon and this truth-revealing proof whichdestroys the belief about theCross, should be explained tothe world by the PromisedMessiah; for the HolyProphet(saw) had prophesiedthat the faith of the Crossshall not decline nor shall itsprogress be arrested until thePromised Messiah appears inthe world. It was thePromised Messiah at whosehands was to be broughtabout the ‘Breaking of theCross’. The hint in theprophecy was that in the timeof the Promised Messiah,God would bring aboutcircumstances which wouldlay bare the truth about theCrucifixion.’ (Jesus in India, pp.60-61)

Before proceeding to quotepassages from the Scrolls whichsupport the above-mentioneddescription of the Teacher ofRighteousness, let us begin withsome background to the Scrolls.

Who wrote the Scrolls Dr Will Varner, Professor of theOld Testament at Master’sCollege, Israel says:

‘After six seasons ofintensive excavation, thescholars were sure beyondany reasonable doubt that thescrolls found their origin inthe community whichflourished between 125 BCand AD 68. The scrolls hadbeen stored in haste in thecaves as the community fledthe encroaching Roman army,which was in Judea to putdown the Jewish Revolt ofAD 66-70… The contents ofthe Dead Sea Scrolls indicatethat their authors were agroup of priests and laymenpursuing a communal life ofstrict dedication to God. Theirleader was called the‘Righteous Teacher’. They



viewed themselves as theonly true Elect of Israel; theyalone were faithful to theLaw. They opposed the‘Wicked Priest’, the JewishHigh Priest in Jerusalem whorepresented the establishmentand who had persecuted themin some way. ... Most scholarshave identified the Qumranbrotherhood with theEssenes, a Jewish sect ofJesus' day described byJosephus and Philo.’(Christian Answers Network)

The Dead Sea Scrolls werediscovered in caves near theexcavations at Qumran, and thereare strong links to the Essenesthere, so it is natural to assumethat they authored the Scrolls,especially when their viewscorrespond so closely.

Dr Barbara Thiering of SydneyUniversity writes in Jesus of theApocalypse that Jesus’ fatherJoseph was an Essene and livedby their marriage rules and thatthe Essenes were the immediatepredecessors of Christians. Sheclaims that just like the

mainstream Jews, the Esseneswere also divided into twoparties who despised each other.Dr. Thiering also believes thatJesus(as) did not die on the Cross,but survived it.

Similarities between theScrolls and the New TestamentHighlighting a few notablesimilarities between the DeadSea Scrolls and the NewTestament, Prof. Geza Vermessays:

‘…We note (a) fundamental similaritiesof language, (both in theScrolls and in the NewTestament the faithful arecalled ‘Sons of Light’’); (b) ideology (bothcommunities consideredthemselves as the true Israel,governed by twelve leaders,and expected the imminentarrival of the Kingdom ofGod); (c) attitude to the Bible (bothconsidered their own historyas a fulfilment of words of theProphets).’(Vermes, p.22)



The Teacher of Righteousnessfounded a new religiouscommunity and was persecuted.Prof. Vermes continues:

‘The Teacher and hisfollowers were compelled towithdraw into the desert,where they awaited theimpending manifestation ofGod's triumph over evil anddarkness in the end of days,which had already begun.’ (Vermes, p.3)

Some fundamental differencesexist between the Bible and theDead Sea Scrolls leading topotential modifications to theBible at the Vatican as reportedby Richard Owen of The Times:

‘The Vatican is to abandondecades of secrecy andobstruction to allow changesin the Bible based onrevelations in the Dead SeaScrolls more than half acentury after they werediscovered. The extent of thechanges is expected to berevealed this month but therevised version of the New

Jerusalem Bible will take fiveyears to complete ...

Father Gianluigi Boschi, aDominican theologian at thePontifical University of St.Thomas Aquinas in Romeand a leading expert on thescrolls, said the recent growthin scroll scholarship, and thepublication of previouslyinaccessible scrolls, meantthat some of the changeswould be radical…FatherBoschi said that the projectwould link “the whole pictureof the origins of Christianity”to the findings at Qumran. Hedeclined to say which of thepassages would be modifiedbut he predicted that thechanges would be “surprisingand innovative...”’

Minor adjustments alreadyhave been made to theJerusalem Bible in the light ofthe two scroll versions of theBook of Isaiah.’ (The Times reproduced by‘The Australian’, Sept 12,2001)

HADHRAT MUHAMMAD(SAW) AS ‘ABD SHAKUR’


The Teacher in the ScrollsThe Teacher of Righteousnessdescribed himself as fatherless,poor, dedicated (abandoned) toGod by his mother, God's elect(prophet), mortal, (creature ofclay) and metaphorically a son ofGod.

The Dead Sea Scrolls containpoems or hymns, which weremost likely written by theTeacher of Righteousnesshimself. Prof. Geza Vermesintroduces the poems :

‘Two fundamental themesrunning through the wholecollection are those ofsalvation and knowledge. Thesectary [a member of a sect –Ed] thanks God continuallyfor having been saved fromthe ‘lot’ of the wicked, andfor his gift of insight into thedivine mysteries. He, ‘acreature of clay’ has beensingled out by his Maker toreceive favours of which hefeels himself unworthy, andalludes again and again to hisfrailty and total dependenceon God. Whereas some of the

Hymns give expression tothoughts and sentimentscommon to all members ofthe sect, others particularlynos. 1,2,7-11, appear to referto the experiences of aTeacher abandoned by hisfriends and persecuted by hisenemies.’ (Vermes, pp.243-244)

In the following Hymn (takenfrom the Thanksgiving Hymnfound in Cave 1), the Teachercalls himself fatherless, poor anddevoted to the service of God byhis mother:

‘I thank Thee (corrected:Blessed art Thou) O lord, forThou hast not abandoned thefatherless or despised thepoor.’ (1QH 9, Vermes, p.268)

‘Until I am old Thou will carefor me; for my father knewme not and my motherabandoned me to Thee; forThou art the father to all thesons of Thy Truth; and as awoman who tenderly lovesher babe, so dost Thou rejoice



in them, and as a foster fatherbearing a child in his lap, socarest Thou for all Thycreatures.’ (1QH 14, Vermes, p.284)

The Holy Qur’an (Ch.3: Vs.46-64 and Ch.19: Vs.17-37) alsosays that Jesus(as) was bornwithout the agency of a fatherand that from his early childhoodhis Godliness was obvious.

The Teacher believed in theabsolute Unity of God as heshows in one of his poems whilebeseeching God:

‘For Thou art an eternal God;all Thy ways are determinedfor ever and ever and there isnone other beside Thee.’ (1QH 12, Vermes, p.277)

‘Announce and say: Blessedbe God, Creator of theheavens by His power,Designer of all their devicesby His strength, of the earthby His might.’(Vermes, p.300)

The Qur’an tells about Jesus(as)

and describes his advice to hisfollowers,

...Surely, Allah is my Lord andyour Lord, so worship Himalone, this is the right path.(Ch.19: V.37)

So in all of these passages, it isclear that Jesus(as) worshipped theOne True God and was gratefulto Him for his salvation andmission.

The coming of the ‘Messiah’The Israelites were expecting aMessiah when Jesus(as) came.Prof. Vermes says:

‘The third figure, “theProphet”, is mentioneddirectly, though briefly onlyonce; we are told that hisarrival was expected togetherwith that of the Messiahs ofAaron and Israel (1QS ix,11).The whole messianic phraseis absent, however, from allthe extant 4Q manuscripts ofthe Community Rule. Viewedin the context of inter-Testamental Jewish ideas,“the Prophet” was to be either




an Elijah returned as aprecursor of the Messiah(Mal. iv, 5; 1 Enoch xc,31,37; Matth., xi, 13; xvii,12), or as a divine guide sentto Israel in the final days (1Mac., iv, 46; xiv, 41; Jn. i,21), no doubt identical with“the Prophet” promised byGod to Moses (“I will raiseup for them a Prophet likeyou… He shall convey all mycommands to them”, Deut.xviii,15-18, cf. Acts iii, 22-3;vii, 37).’ (Vermes, pp.86-87)

The title given to one of thescrolls is, ‘A MessianicApocalypse’ i.e. the Messiah’sRevelation, because it contains aprophecy concerning 'TheMessiah' identified with thearrival of the ‘Kingdom of God’.Introducing the Scroll ‘AMessianic Apocalypse’ (4Q521),Prof. Vermes says:

‘As in the Gospels, healingand resurrection are linked tothe idea of the Kingdom ofGod. Line 12 furnishes themost explicit evidence con-

cerning the rising of the dead.Fragment 7, line 6, repeatsthe same idea, referring toGod as 'He who revives thedead of His people.’ (Vermes, p.391)

Prophesying the advent of ‘TheMessiah’ (the ‘’New Moses’’ orthe ‘Like of Moses’ who waslinked with the ‘Kingdom ofGod’’), the Teacher said:

‘The Heavens will listen toHis Messiah and none thereinwill stray away fromcommandments of the holyones…. Over the poor Hisspirit will hover and willrenew the faithful with Hispower. And He will glorifythe pious on the throne of theeternal Kingdom. He wholiberates the captives, restoressight to the blind, straightensthe bent (Ps. cxlvi, 7-8). Andforever I will cleave to thehopeful and in His mercy…And the fruit will not bedelayed for anyone. And theLord will accomplishglorious things which havenever been as He. For He will



heal the wounded, and revivethe dead and bring good newsto the poor (Isa. lxi, 1)'…Hewill lead the uprooted andknowledge… and smoke (?)’ (Vermes, pp.391-392)

This prophecy of Jesus(as) ismentioned in the Qur’an asfollows:

And (call to mind) whenJesus, son of Mary, said, ‘OChildren of Israel, surely, Iam Allah’s Messenger untoyou, fulfilling that which isbefore me (of the prophecies)of the Torah, and giving gladtidings of a Messenger whowill come after me, his namewill be Ahmad.’ And when hecame to them with clearproofs, they said, ‘This is amanifest sorcery’.(Ch.61: V.7)

Reference to the fulfilment ofProphet Moses(as) prophecy isfound in the following verse ofthe Holy Qur’an;

Verily, We have sent to you aMessenger, who is a witness

over you, even as We sent aMessenger to Pharoah.(Ch.73: V.16)

Therefore, the prophecy ofMoses (Deut..18:18-19) as wellas of Jesus(as) (quoted above),concerning the advent of a‘Prophet like Moses’ werefulfilled in the person of ProphetMuhammad(sa).

Helped by the Holy SpiritIn Hymn 15 (formerly 11), theTeacher thanked God forstrengthening him with the HolySpirit. He said:

‘I thank Thee, O Lord, forThou hast upheld me by Thystrength. Thou hast shed ThyHoly Spirit upon me that Imay not stumble.’ (Vermes, p.275).

Similarly in Hymn 18 (formerly14), the Teacher addressing Godsays:

‘Thou hast upheld me withcertain truth, Thou hastdelighted me with Thy HolySpirit and hast opened my



heart till this day.’ (Vermes p.284)

The Qur’an also says aboutJesus(as):

…And to Jesus, son of Mary,We gave manifest Signs, andstrengthened him with theSpirit of holiness.' (Ch.2: V.88)

Interpretation of the Lawaroused severe oppositionThe Teacher faced oppositionfrom his people, because heinterpreted the Torah throughGod's guidance, opposing theviews of the common priesthood.He said:

‘These things I know by thewisdom which comes fromThee, for Thou hastunstopped my ears tomarvellous mysteries.’ (Vermes, p.254)

‘But to the elect ofrighteousness Thou hastmade me a banner, and adiscerning interpreter ofwonderful mysteries to try

those who practice truth andto test those who lovecorrection. To the interpretersof error I have been anopponent, {but a man ofpeace} to all those who seetrue things.’ (Vermes, p.257)

God saved him from anattempt on his lifeIn Hymn 13, the Teacher thanksGod in the following words:

‘I thank Thee, O Lord, forThou hast not abandoned mewhilst I sojourned among apeople burdened with sin’ …‘For Thou O God, hastsheltered me from thechildren of men, and hasthidden Thy Law within meagainst the time when Thoushouldst reveal Thy salvationto me. For Thou hast notforsaken me in my soul'sdistress, and Thou hast heardmy cry in the bitterness of mysoul; and when I groaned,Thou didst consider mysorrowful complaint. Thouhast preserved the soul of thepoor one in the den of lions



which sharpened their tonguelike a sword. Thou hastclosed up their teeth, O God,lest they rend the soul of thepoor and needy…. Thewicked and fierce havestormed against me with theirafflictions; they havepounded my soul all day. ButThou O my God, hastchanged the tempest to abreeze; Thou hast deliveredthe soul of the poor one like[a bird from the net and like]prey from the mouth of lions.’(Vermes, p.267-268)

In Hymn 6, the Teacher thanksGod saying:

‘They have cast towards thePit the life of the man whosemouth Thou hast confirmed,and into whose heart Thouhast put teaching andunderstanding, that he mightopen a fountain of knowledgeto all men of understanding.’ (Vermes, p.257)

In his Hymn 7, the Teacher says:

‘I thank Thee O Lord, for

Thou hast placed my soul inthe bundle of the living, andhast hedged me about againstall the snares of the Pit.Violent men have sought aftermy life because I have clungto Thy Covenant. For they, anassembly of deceit, and ahorde of Belial, know not thatmy stand is maintained byThee, and that in Thy mercyThou wilt save my soul sincemy steps proceed fromThee…They have themselvesfallen in the snares whichthey laid for my life. But myfoot remains upon levelground; apart from theirassembly I will bless ThyName.’ (Vermes, pp.257-258)

In Hymn 8, the Teacher thanksGod for keeping him under Hiscare and saving his life, byfoiling their plan:

‘I thank Thee, O Lord, forThou hast fastened Thine eyeupon me. Thou hast saved mefrom the zeal of lyinginterpreters, and from thecongregation of those who

seek smooth things. Thou hastredeemed the soul of the poorone whom they planned todestroy by spilling his bloodbecause he served Thee.’ (Vermes, pp.258-259)

God had made a New Covenantwith the Teacher, in the land ofDamascus to which he clung:

‘For they have spokenwrongly against the preceptsof righteousness, and havedespised the Covenant and thePact - the New Covenant -which they made in the land ofDamascus’ (The Damasus Document,Vermes, p.135)

The Qur’an also mentions aCovenant made with Jesus(as) aswith other prophets (Ch.33:V.8).The Teacher's enemies plannedthat he should die an accurseddeath on the Cross, but God’s planwas that he (Jesus(as)) should besaved from that death(Ch.3:V.55). The hell of Abadon(eternal hell), from which theTeacher was saved, is the lot ofthose who die an accursed death,

but the Teacher was saved from itand was rather raised toeverlasting (spiritual) height byGod. The Qur’an attests this bysaying:

And their saying, “We did killthe Messiah, Jesus, son ofMary, the Messenger ofAllah”, whereas they slew himnot, nor did they crucify him,but he was made to appear tothem like one crucified; andthose who differ therein arecertainly in a state of doubtabout it; they have nodefinitive knowledge thereof,but only follow a conjecture;and they did not convert thisconjecture into a certainty. Onthe contrary, Allah exaltedhim to Himself. And Allah isMighty, Wise.(Ch.4: Vs.158-159)

The Teacher was banished fromhis land to a far off land, close toa spring of waters. In Hymn 12 inthe Dead Sea Scrolls, the Teacherseeks God’s help to accomplishHis design, as his enemies havedespised and banished him fromhis land, causing all his friends

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and brethren to be driven far fromhim:

‘I thank Thee O Lord, forThou hast illumined my faceby Thy Covenant… I seekThee and sure as the dawnThou appearest as perfectLight to me. Teachers of lieshave smoothed Thy peoplewith words, and false prophetshave led them astray; theyperish without understandingfor their works are in folly. ForI am despised by them andthey have no esteem for me,that Thou mayest manifestThy might through me. Theyhave banished me from myland like a bird from its nest;all my friends and brethren aredriven far from me and holdme for a broken vessel….ButThou O God, dost despise allBelial's designs; it is Thypurpose that shall be done andthe design of Thy heart thatshall be established for ever.’(Vermes, p.263)

In another poem (Hymn 18), theTeacher thanks God for providinghim shelter in a land of fountains:

‘I thank Thee, O Lord, forThou hast placed me beside afountain of streams in an aridland, and close to a spring ofwaters in a dry land, andbesides a watered garden [in awilderness.]’ (Vermes, p.278)

It appears from this poem that theTeacher was forced by his enemyto migrate to some far off arid anddry wilderness, and took shelternear a place of running waters,fountains and gardens. Manyhistoric records suggest thatJesus(as) travelled far and wide,presumably to convey hismessage to the Lost tribes ofIsrael. People of Israeli stock haddispersed in various lands and tofind them he probably travelledfrom Jerusalem to Mosul, Tehran,Herat, Kabul, Peshawar,Rawalpindi and Maree beforefinally settling in Kashmir. (Jesusin India, p.65)

Taken in this larger context,Kashmir is a place of fountains,running springs and gardenssurrounded by a mostly arid, dryand rocky part of the world.

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The Qur’an corroborates thedescription of the final home ofJesus(as):

And We made the son of Maryand his mother a Sign, and Werescued them and helpedreach an elevated land, arestful place with springs ofgushing waters. (Ch.23: V.51)

Hadhrat Ahmad, peace be uponhim says:

‘I, however, do not approve ofthe way European investi-gators wish to prove that theprinciples of Buddhismreached Palestine in the daysof Jesus(as). It is, indeed,unfortunate that when thename and mention of Jesus(as)

are contained in the ancientbooks of Buddhism, theseinvestigators should adopt theawkward course of trying tofind traces of Buddha's faith inPalestine. Why should theynot search for the blessedfootprints of Jesus on therocky soil of Nepal, Tibet andKashmir?’ (Jesus in India, p.78)

Is there any wonder, therefore, ifthe Teacher referred to the placeof his refuge as an area offountains, running waters andgardens amidst vast tracts of arid,dry and rocky lands, where hemight have travelled and stayeden-route? When the Teacher wasliving at this place, all his friendsand brethren were far from him –as expressed by him in his poem.

The Teacher prophesied that thewicked will continue to bepunished till eternity. The Teacherprophesied in his poem (Hymn 5),that the wicked people whoplanned to kill him would remainunder the wrath of God, tillDoom’s Day (Day of Judgement).He said:

‘But the wicked Thou didstcreate for the time of Thywrath, Thou didst vow fromthe womb to the Day ofMassacre, for they walk in theway which is not good. Theyhave despised Thy Covenantand their souls have loathedThy truth; they have taken nodelight in all Thycommandments and have

56



chosen that which Thouhatest. For according to themysteries of Thy wisdomThou hast ordained them forgreat chastisements before theeyes of all Thy creatures, thatfor all eternity they may serveas a Sign and a wonder, andthat all men may know Thyglory and Thy tremendouspower.’(Vermes, p.250-251)

The Qur’an also mentions thatJesus(as) cursed the Jews and theyincurred the wrath of God:

Those amongst the childrenof Israel who disbelieved,were cursed by the tongue ofDavid and of Jesus, son ofMary. That was because theydisobeyed and used totransgress.(Ch.5: V.79)

The Teacher made certainexhortations to his followers,which included a prophecy thatthey would always prevail overthe worldly people (sons of theearth) who rejected him. Amongother admonitions he said:

‘And God observed theirdeeds, that they sought Himwith a whole heart, and heraised for them a Teacher ofRighteousness to guide themin the way of His heart.’’ (Vermes, p.127)

The Teacher made the followingprophecy in "The Exhortation":

‘But all those who hold fast tothese precepts, going andcoming in accordance withthe Law, who heed the voiceof the Teacher and confessbefore God, saying, Truly wehave sinned, we and ourfathers, by walking counter tothe precepts of the Covenant.Thy judgements upon us arejustice and truth; who do notlift their hand against Hisholy precepts of His righteousstatutes or His truetestimonies; who havelearned from the formerjudgements by which themembers of the Communitywere judged; who havelistened to the voice of theTeacher of Righteousness andhave not despised the pre-

57



cepts of righteousness whenthey heard them; they shallrejoice and their hearts shallbe strong, and they shallprevail over all the sons of theearth. God will forgive themand they shall see Hissalvation because they tookrefuge in His holy Name’. (Vermes, p.135-136)

The Qur’an also mentions thisprophecy of Jesus(as):

When Allah said, 'O Jesus, Iwill cause thee to die anatural death and will exaltthee to Myself, and will clearthee of the charges of thosewho disbelieve, and will placethose who follow thee abovethose who disbelieve, until theDay of Resurrection; then toMe shall be your return, and Iwill judge between youconcerning that wherein youdiffer.(Ch.3: V.56)

Message of the Dead SeaScrolls Who was the Teacher ofRighteousness and what is the

spiritual significance andmessage of the Scrolls to theworld of religion? The Jews,Christians and mainstreamMuslims might feel it difficult torecognise Jesus(as) in the guise ofthe Teacher, because none ofthem believe that he survived theCrucifixion and travelled to thelost Israelite tribes. It mayinterest them to know that in1891, the holy founder of theAhmadiyya Muslim Communityreceived the following Arabicrevelation:

‘Jesus, son of Mary,Messenger of Allah, has diedand you have come, aspromised, in his spirit.(Arabic): Allah’s promise isalways fulfilled’. (Izala Auham, p.561)

And subsequently in 1899, hewrote a book: Jesus in India, inwhich he proved from the HolyQur’an, the Bible, ancientBuddhist and Hindu records andold medical and historical booksthat Jesus(as) was taken downfrom the Cross, in a state ofcoma, his wounds were treated

58



and when sufficiently healed, hesecretly travelled to the East insearch of the Lost Tribes ofIsrael. He conveyed God’smessage to them and died at anold age in Kashmir – land ofsprings, water and gardens –after completing his mission as aMessenger of God.

It is surprising how the story ofthe Teacher of the Scrolls,discovered 40 years after thedeath of the Promised Messiah(as),coincides so closely with whatwas told about Jesus(as) by himunder Divine inspiration andguidance.

References1. The Complete Dead Sea

Scrolls in English, GezaVermes, Penguin Books,London, 1998.

2. Dead Sea Scrolls, aPreliminary Survey, A.Dupont-Sommer, BasilBlackwell Publishers, 1952,p.99-100.

3. Dead Sea Scrolls 1947-1969,

Edmund Wilson, FontanaBooks, 1971.

4. Jesus in India, Hadhrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, IslamInternational Publications,Tilford, UK, 1989 (firstpublished 1899).

5. Jesus of the Apocalypse: TheLife of Jesus after theCrucifixion, Barbara Thiering,Corgi Books, Australia, 1997.

6. James the brother of Jesus,Robert Eisenman, PenguinBooks, Victoria, Australia,1998.

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Taoism does not uphold any beliefin God. The main aspect of Taoismis derived from the first threeletters of this philosophical beliefnamely, ‘Tao’. Tao means 'path' or‘way’ and its core ideas weremanifested by a Chinese teachercalled Lao-Tzu in 604 BCE.According to Lao-Tzu, the Tao isthe origin and nature of theuniverse. It is the way of life for allspecies on our planet, includinghuman beings living in tribalsocieties.

This explanation of the Tao givesrise to the possibility that the Taoin actual fact describes God as thecreator of the universe and thatGod's 'way' namely Islam, is theexact way of life which Lao-Tzuenvisaged for all civilisation inthis world. In his celebrated book,Revelation Rationality Knowledgeand Truth, Hadhrat Mirza TahirAhmad(ru) best describes thesimilarities in meaning betweenthe Tao and the Qur’anic and

Islamic description and expla-nation of God.

Having briefly introduced Taoism,I set the scene in answering howTaoism ultimately complimentsIslam in explaining the existenceof God. In Taoism, the path (Tao)is sustained in the universe by anolder doctrine which has beenincorporated into Taoism called,‘The Old Dualism’ or in short the‘Yin-Yang’. This belief indualism, yin and yang, describes astate in which the universe isseemingly divided into twoopposing but equal forces. Thedualistic world of yin and yanghowever, is not seen as goodversus bad. It is divided alongother lines. Yang, represented bythe white in the yin-yang symbol,stands for the creative principlewhile yin, represented by black, isdissolution and return (tocreation). Yang came to representhot, dry, male, light, hardness,movement and initiative. Yin


Taoist Yin-YangA short study of how the Taoist philosophy of Yin-Yang compares toIslam and explains the existence of God

By Asim Rai – UK

symbolises coolness, moistness,female, darkness, softness, still-ness and receptivity. The yin andyang forces are believed to becyclical, moving and evolving intoeach other, represented by thewhite dot on the black yin side ofthe symbol, and by a black dot onthe white yang side. In this view,the universe depends on theinteraction between these twoforces which arise from the Tao.

The book of Taoism, The Tao TeChing, describes the implicationsof the yin and the yang. I havechosen two verses:

The Tao is like stringing abow,

Pulling down the high,Lifting up the low-

Shortening the long,Lengthening the short,

To take from the excessiveAnd give insufficiency

support.(Verse 77: the Opposite

Processes)

We know beauty because thereis ugly,

We know good because there

is evil,Being and not being,

Having and not having,Create each other.

Difficult and easy,Long and short,High and low,

Define each other,Just as before and after follow

each other.(Verse 2: Relativity)

From the two verses weunderstand that much of whatexists, only exists through therealisation of its opposite. Wecannot define things as being easyif we never experience somethingmore difficult. If we cannotbecome ill, the term ‘good’ healthwould cease to exist as therewould be no general purpose topursue health, as we cannotbecome ill. It seems thateverything in this world has comein ‘pairs’ to define and create eachother and to create balance. Such anotion is clearly upheld in theHoly Qur’an:

Holy is He Who created allthings in pairs, of what theearth grows and of themselves,

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TAOIST YIN-YANG


and of what they know not.(Ch.36: V.37)

He is the Prime Creator of theheavens and the earth. Hemade pairs from among youand also pairs from among thecattle for your benefit. Hemultiplies you therein.(Ch.42: V.12)

And of everything have Wecreated pairs, that you mayreflect.(Ch.51: V.50)

The Qur’an prompts man to reflecton how God made everything inpairs (Ch.51:V.50), and it is thisexact prompt which allows one toview the doctrine of yin and yangas one which ultimately explainsthe existence of God.

Having established that theuniverse is in its totality bound bythe doctrine of the yin and yang asfurther established by the Qur’an,we now know that for one thing toexist, it must be put into balanceby another thing which exists as itsopposite (i.e. good and bad). Ifthere was no death, life on Earthwould be severely unbalanced as

the Malhiusian theory is that theEarth could not possibly sustain aninfinite amount of creation. Thusdeath is the vital balancing factoras being opposite to life. However,death itself implies the physicalnature of man (body), which cannever be infinite. When we die,our body perishes. Yet Islamteaches us that our souls continueto exist for a very long time. Howcan this belief be reconciled withthe idea of yin-yang? The answeris quite simple. Humans aremortals – The Holy Qur’anexplained that God madeeverything in pairs. Throughreflection we can realise that theonly ‘opposite’ to balancemortality is immortality itself.Therefore, there exists a realm ofimmortality alongside mortality tobalance the universe. God cannotdie and will never cease to exist,and He Himself balancesmortality, by His attribute, whichis found in this world.

One may argue that even if God isImmortal, that it does notnecessarily mean God is AllKnowing and All-Powerful.Therefore, how can we be sure.The answer to this lies in the

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reflection of our surroundings.Life can never on its own createitself from nothing. Atheists find ithard to explain how the firstorganisms ever came intoexistence. Physical matter cannotoriginally create life. Life is notphysical in its entirety. Thuscreation of all sorts needs aCreator, and we know this Creatorto be God. By looking at thisworld, it would require perfectknowledge to have created all thatwe could through our senses.Moreover, God is All-Powerful.He is Immortal, and the All-Knowledge.

The study of Taoism is quiteparadoxical. Taoism overtlyexpresses that God is not the factorthat created all, nor is He themaintainer of the universe. Whatis He then? Taoists are veryconclusive about this idea and yetdwell in the teaching of Lao-Tzuwho says in one of his verses inthe Tao Te Ching, that ‘the spirit oflife never dies, it is the infinitegateway to mysteries withinmysteries.’ One must surelyalways be cautious when trying tomake conclusive statementsinvolving mysteries. One aspect

that has intrigued many mindsabout Taoism, is its fondness forthe much older idea of the yin andthe yang. Having noticed that thedoctrine of ‘pairs’ as read in theQur’an was similar to the yin-yang, the truth of God’s existenceis no mystery. By understandingthat opposites need each other todefine and sustain each other,universal mortality needsuniversal immortality in the formof God, Who has the knowledge tosustain the entire 'tao' or universe.Therefore Taoism and its doctrineof yin and yang, complimentsQur’anic teachings in provingGod’s existence.

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CONTENTS July 2006, Vol.101, No - Review of ReligionsAina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaz’ain, Vol.5, pp.590-594) Qualities of the Holy Prophet(saw) (Arabic Poem) O my Heart! remember