May salât and selâm be addressed with love via the blessed grave, which is a Paradise garden, of the Messenger of Allâhu ta’âlâ, Muhammad Mustafâ ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’, who is the highly honoured Prophet of the latest time. For, that Sarwar ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’ was sent with Qur’ân al-kerîm for saving humanity from the darkness of ignorance and establishing tawhîd and îmân. The sixty-fourth âyat of sûra Âl-i-’Imrân purports the following declaration: “O My Habîb![3] Say unto the Jews and Christians, who are ahl al-kitâb: Concede to the word which is common between us and you without any difference among the heavenly books and Prophets: ‘We worship none but Allâhu ta’âlâ and we do not attribute any partner to Allâhu ta’âlâ.’ ” Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’ was commanded to adapt himself to the genuine meaning of this divine call.
May selâm and benedictions be addressed via the blessed graves of his ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’ Âl and As-hâb. Each of them is a star of hidâya guiding to the way of happiness and salvation approved by Allâhu ta’âlâ. They each sacrificed their lives and property for the spreading of the Islamic faith. They carried and taught the Kalima-i-tawhîd [the Arabic expression which reads ‘Esh-hadu anlâ-ilâha il-l-Allah wa esh-hadu anna Muhammadan ’abduhu wa rasûluh,’ and which purports, “I definitely believe and testify that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists and is one; and I definitely believe and testify that Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is His created slave and Messenger”] all over the world.
As anyone with reason will see, when the universe is observed with prudence, all the deeds and situations in this universe are in an order dependent upon unchangeable laws. A discreet person will conclude at once that a Khâliq (Creator), who is wâjib-ul-wujûd (necessary existence) and who establishes these laws and preserves them as they are, is necessary. Then, Jenâb-i Haqq (Allah) is the absolute Creator, Who is eternal in the past and eternal in the future, Who is the original beginning of everything, and how He is cannot be comprehended through mind. He has collected all sorts of perfection and superiority in Himself. He is Ahad, that is, He is One in His person, deeds and attributes. He does not have a likeness.
Allâhu ta’âlâ is one, He is azalî, abadî, and qadîm. He is far from any sort of change. Everything other than He in the world of beings becomes old, deteriorates, and changes in process of time. But Allâhu ta’âlâ is far, free from any kind of change. He never changes. As time will not change the expression “One plus one makes two”, so the oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ does not change with the elapse of centuries of time.
Man, who has been distinguished from other creatures with such a gift as mind, has been cognizant of this fact since his creation on the earth. This fact has been explained in different ways by different religions and sects. However, since men’s mental and intellectual capacities differ, each person searching for the Creator has imagined Him within his own nature, temperament, knowledge and cognitive capacity, and described Him according to his own understanding and temperament. For, man has likened what he cannot understand or know because of the incapability and shortcoming of his mind to the things he knows. Most of those who claim to have discovered the fact, have plunged into atrocities and aberrations such as magi, idolatry, and polytheism.
Since man, with his imperfect mind, cannot understand the absolute Creator; Allâhu ta’âlâ, the most merciful of the merciful, sent Prophets to every nation in every century. Thus He taught men the truth of the matter. The fortunate ones who believed were saved, and attained happiness in this world and in the Hereafter. The hapless, unlucky ones objected, denied, and remained in depression and frustration.
Each Prophet lived in a different country in a different period, and was sent to a nation with different customs and traditions. Every Prophet, while teaching the existence and oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ to people, stated some rules and worships that will bring about man’s happiness in this world and the next. According to historians, approximately sixteen hundred and fifty years before the accepted birth date of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Mûsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’ as the Prophet. Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ taught the Sons of Israel the belief in the existence and oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ and some other principles of îmân, as they had been taught by the other Prophets preceding him, such as Âdam, Nûh (Noah), Idris, Ibrâhîm, Is-hâq, and Ya’qûb ‘alaihimus-salâm’, to their own tribes in their own times. Spreading the information pertaining to compulsory worships and principles of social relations far and near, he tried to make the Sons of Israel refrain from polytheism. After Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ the Sons of Israel (Benî Isrâîl) were afflicted with various disasters and tumults, because they deviated from the essentials of îmân. Upon this, Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ as the Prophet to the Sons of Israel. Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ spread and taught the tawhîd, which means the existence and oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and other principles of îmân, thus trying to bring the aberrant people back to the right course and reinforcing the religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’.
After Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, his adherents deviated from the true faith taught by Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, as the Sons of Israel had strayed from the right way before. Later, they wrote books called Gospels and pamphlets about Christianity daily. Various councils held at different places made completely contradictory decisions. Thus, altogether different Christian sects appeared. They forsook the principle of tawhîd[4] and the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ thoroughly [and became polytheists and disbelievers]. Upon this Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, His most beloved, highest and last of the Prophets until the day of Judgement, unto the Earth.
Most of the religious commandments taught by Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ pertained to zâhirî [physical, perceptible] deeds, and most of the commandments of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ were on bâtinî matters of the heart (morals, ethics, etc.). Finally, bringing zâhirî and bâtinî together, Allâhu ta’âlâ revealed to Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ the most perfect, the most superior religion, Islam, and the divine book of this religion, Qur’ân al-kerîm. Allâhu ta’âlâ, sending the angel with wah’y to our exalted Prophet, declared to all mankind the most perfect religion, Islam, which is a comprehensive selection of the up-to-date zâhirî deeds commanded by the religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and the bâtinî matters commanded by the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, in addition to numerous zâhirî and bâtınî essentials.
Tawhîd, that is, the principle of belief that Allâhu ta’âlâ is one, is not different in any of the heavenly religions; they are all based on the principle of tawhîd. The only difference betwen them is on the knowledge of rules and worships. No disagreement or controversy took place as to the principle of the existence and oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ until two hundred years after the ascension of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. All the hawârîs (apostles of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’) and their followers and the successors of their followers lived and died up to the principle of the unity of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which was stated clearly in the Injil. None of the three firstly written Gospels [Matthew, Mark, Luke] contained even one letter denoting to trinity, which means the creed of father-son-holy spirit, in (today’s) Christianity. Then the fourth Gospel, which is ascribed to John, appeared in Greek. This Gospel exhibited some terms indicating trinity [three real beings], which was originally the Greek philosopher Plato’s theory. At that time discussions and controversies on the two Greek philosophies, Rawâqiyyûn and Ishrâqiyyûn, were going on in the schools of Alexandria. Rawâqiyyûn (Stoicism) is a school of philosophy founded at Athens in 308 B.C. by the Greek Philosopher Zeno. Ishrâqiyyûn (Pythagoreanism) is a school of philosophy founded by Pythagoras (in 6th. century B.C.). These philosophies will be dealt with later on. The fanatics of Plato wanted John’s Gospel to become popular. However, in the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, no statement implying three gods – may Allah protect us against believing such a creed! – had been heard of, so the believers of the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ rejected and protested it vehemently. Thus the believers of the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ parted into two groups, which meant number of debates and fights between them. In A.D. 325, during the reign of Constantine I, the Nicene council abandoned tawhîd [the unity of Allâhu ta’âlâ], which was the essential principle of the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. With the oppression of Constantine, who was a Platonist, they adopted the creed of trinity, i.e. father-son-holy spirit. From that time on, the creed of trinity began to spread far and near. Real believers who believed in the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ were scattered. So Plato’s philosophy reappeared and the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was given up. Real believers who believed in this religion hid themselves. Thus the dogma of trinity that took the place of the religion of tawhîd became more and more powerful, and the Nasârâ (Nazarenes) who believed in the unity of Allâhu ta’âlâ were dispersed here and there, excommunicated, killed, and finally annihilated by the trinitarian churches. Soon there was none of them left.
In 399 [A.D. 1054] the Patriarch of Istanbul, Michael Kirolarius, revolted against the unbearable oppression of the western church whose center was in Rome. He refused to accept the belief that the Pope in Rome was the caliph of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and the representative of St Peter, (an apostle accepted as the first Pope). He opposed the Roman church in some essential matters such as priests’ living in isolation from the people.
Each of the ecclesiastical assemblies, which they called councils, made totally different decisions. They separated themselves from those who would not agree with their decisions. Thus seventy-two sects appeared. Nevertheless the Roman church abode by its course. In those years the European rulers were entirely ignorant and oblivious to all these events. They were practising all sorts of robbery and cruelty on their subjects who were no different from flocks of sheep. Lest anyone would stand against these robberies and cruelties, the rulers were exploiting the authority which priests had over the ignorant people. It was as if they (the kings) were under priests’ authority. Priests, in their turn, well aware of the rulers’ ignorance, intensions and weaknesses, exploited their sovereignty to their own advantages. In appearance Europe was under the kings’ sovereignty, but the only, and independent, domination belonged to priests. In fact, in the earlier years of Christianity, execution of priests’ wishes and desires was dependent upon the Italian kings’ sanction. Afterwards papal authority was augmented, to the extent that enthronement and dethronement of kings became possible only when priests wished so. The time’s ignorant populace, being totally unaware, were crushed between their rulers’ oppression and cruelty and priests’ avarice and greed. They endured all sorts of torment and trouble. They kept silent patiently, (as if all those situations were Allah’s commandments). Thus the darkness of ignorance and bigotry turned the whole continent into ruins and disrepairs.
In the meantime, Islamic countries were under administrations quite antonymous to those of the Christian Europe. Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Turkistan had made material and spiritual progress in all areas under the Amawî (Umayyad) and Abbâsî (Abbasid) khalîfas. [At that time Muslims were in welfare both spiritually and materially.] Under the reign of Andalusian Amawî sultans, Muslims had improved Spain to greatness and to the peak of civilization. Great care was given to science, arts, trade, agriculture, and ethics. Spain, which had been a territory of savagery under the Gothic invasion, was now like a garden of Paradise with the Islamic administration. European businessmen and industrialists could never pay back the debt they owe to Islam. They ought to be thanking Muslims forever. For, the first spark of knowledge in Europe was thrown off from the Andalusian Muslims.
The brilliant civilization that had appeared in Andalusia overflowed Andalusia and spread over Europe. Some talented Europeans noticed the civilization in Andalusia and translated the books of Islamic scholars into European languages. Owing to the books they translated, compiled and published, European people began to rise from their sleep of ignorance. Eventually, one Martin Luther of Germany came forward with a view to being the renovator, the restorer of Christianity. Luther opposed the majority of unreasonable ecclesiastical principles. [Martin Luther, a German priest, founded the Protestantism, a sect of Christianity. Christians adherent to the Pope are called Catholics. Luther was born in 888 [A.D. 1483], and died in 953 [A.D. 1546]. He wrote numerous books. He was an adversary of the Pope and an unbridled enemy of Islam. Catholics and Protestants are still hostile to each other.] Then Calvin appeared. Joining Luther in his protestations, he disagreed with him in some matters. Luther and Calvin refused the ways of worship prescribed by the Roman church. They opposed the idea of the Pope’s being a deputy of Peter and a successor of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. The followers of Luther and Calvin were called Protestants.
The Roman church had already lost one-third of its adherents with the separation of the Eastern Church; and now the appearing of Protestantism took away another third. This event exasperated the popes. They resorted to an atrocious measure: victory, using the military powers of the time’s Catholic kings, by putting all the Protestants to the sword. Since belief and conscience can never be changed by force, this measure had the opposite effect. It caused Protestantism to spread in England and America. Upon this the Roman church took to the project of increasing their population by Christianizing believers of other religions and savage tribes. They established Catholic schools all over the world. In order to disseminate and propagate the name Catholic, they educated and trained extremely fanatical priests that they called missionaries. They sent them in groups to other countries such as America, Japan, China, Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and to Islamic countries. It was only some ignoramuses that missionaries were able to deceive by various promises and advantages in the countries they arrived. In ignorant communities they provoked daughters against mothers, sons against fathers, and made them hostile against one another. They aroused various tumults and coups in the countries they were stationed. Eventually, governments and peoples being fed up with missionaries’ mischief and instigation, they were deported from most of the countries they were located in. In some countries they were punished even more severely; they were executed. These missionaries, with the pretext of propagating Christianity, inflicted so much damage to humanity that they caused the whole world to hate Christianity. In fact, when a person reads the history books written about the unprecedented barbarous measures and persecutions practised by the Roman church with Catholic bigotry and materialistic desires, e.g. the inquisition massacres on St. Bartholomew’s eve, his hair will stand on end with horror.
No sooner had the Catholic church started activity of training missionaries for spreading Catholicism than the Protestants took action. Establishing societies at various places, they collected a wealth of capital. They sent books and missionaries teaching Protestantism to all parts of the world, [under direction of the Ministry of Colonies, which was established in England to annihilate Islam]. As is recorded in the book of expenses, which was published afterwards, the British Protestant society named the Bible House, which was founded in 1219 [A.D. 1804], had the Bible translated into two hundred different languages. The number of books published by this society by the end of 1287 [A.D. 1872] reached almost 70 million. This same society spent two hundred five thousand three hundred and thirteen (205,313) English golds for the propagation of Protestantism. [This society is still carying on its activities; establishing infirmaries, hospitals, lecture halls, libraries, schools, places of entertainment such as cinemas, sports institutions. They are spending extraordinary efforts to coax those who attend such places to becoming Protestants. Catholics are using the same methods. In addition, they are procuring employment for youngsters and giving food to the people in poor countries, thus alluring them to Christianity.] For all these activities (of missionaries), Europeans are not so blind as they were; they have already opened their eyes and realized how pernicious and how incendiary these missionaries are, after numerous experiences. Therefore, missionaries are not popular among Europeans. Missionaries send the books which they issue [in enormous numbers] to other countries free of charge, instead of publicising them among their own European compatriots. They have never had the courage to approach another European country, let alone spreading their religion there, unless that country is under the legislature of their own country. [Catholic missionaries are not allowed to spread Catholicism in Protestant countries, and Protestant missionaries are not allowed to spread Protestantism in Catholic countries.] The moment such an act is noticed, they are deported by the police. These missionaries are despised in all the European countries they go to.
Missionaries have been very successful in exploiting the tolerance which the Ottoman state has always shown to non-Muslim religions. For the last forty or fifty years, they infiltrated into countries under the protection of the Ottoman state. Establishing schools at various places and using the pretence of serving humanity by educating the people’s children, they have deceived some illiterate people. Because ignorant people are not fully aware of their religious commandments and duties in every country alike, and the wealth of the Protestant organization being specially enormous, they have rationed those who have accepted Protestantism to monthy and yearly salaries. In addition, through their embassies and consulates, they have helped those who have obeyed them and become Protestants to acquire distinguished positions at various bureaucratic echelons. They have successfully coaxed the Anatolian and Thracian Christian Ottoman subjects to become attached to them. However, because such people have been persuaded to such an attachment by means of gold and money, they have not given the benefits expected. Al-hamd-u-li-llâh (gratitude be to Allah), they have not been successful in deceiving [coaxing to Christianity] even one well-known Muslim.
In 1282 [A.D. 1866] missionaries, in order to deceive Muslims, published a Bible in Turkish in Istanbul and appended to it a statement in Turkish which meant (in English): “This book is the revised version of the former edition, which was translated by Ali Beg and published with the help of Turâbî Efendi.” With this statement they divulged, so to speak, that they had managed to deceive some Muslims. We know the person who translated the Bible for a few hundred golds at that time. But it is not known whether he accepted Protestantism. Moreover, since no one is known by the name of Alî Beg and capable of doing this job, it is not unlikely at all that the name was a sham. For, if he had been a well-known person, his popular title would have been written. As for Turâbî Efendi; it is no surprise for this person living in Egypt and married to a Protestant girl to have done them a service such as this. But he was never seen to like or approve the Protestant rites. On the contrary, since he disclosed all their abominations, he cannot be believed to have changed his religion. Even if it had been so, Turâbî Efendi is not a person known by everybody; as a boy he was sent to England by the Egyptian government and learned English in a church school. And this in turn means that ‘Turâbî Efendi inclined towards Protestantism before having learnt Islam.’
It is not possible for any Christian to give the example of a wise Muslim who knows Islam, who has been brought up with Islamic education, who has fully learned the real essence of Islam, who has tasted the spiritual flavour and smelled the sweet scent of kalima-i-tawhîd, and who has, after all, converted to Protestantism. If so, then it should be inquired whether the reason has been one of such things as money, protection, and rank. It is very difficult, even impossible to persuade a person who expresses, “Allâhu ta’âlâ does not have a partner or likeness. I believe that He is free from such defects,” to believe in the dogma, “Allah is one but three” or “Allah is three but one.” If a Muslim who knows the principles of îmân busies himself too much in philosophy, it may be possible for him to tend towards philosophers’ course. But it is impossible for him to become a Christian. For this reason, the real protector of Islamic religion is Allâhu ta’âlâ, and the insidious and harmful activities of missionaries bear no threat to Muslims. In fact, such a thought is no more than a condescension on our part. However, priests stationed in our country, to carry out the task they were assigned by their superiors in their missionary organizations, began to write books misrepresenting Islam as being wrong and Christianity as a superior religion (the fact is quite the other way round) and distribute them free of charge. Always avoiding the truth, they have been trying to misrepresent aberration as the true way. It is fard-i-kifâya (Islamic command) for learned Muslims to refute missionaries’ lies and slanders. Their real purpose is to arouse turmoil in the Islamic religion and to sow discord among kinsfolk such as wife and husband, parents and children, etc., as they have always done in every country. [For, these people think that today’s Gospels are the words of Allah and say that they have been obeying the commandments given in them.] It is written in the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth verses of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew that Îsâ alaihis-salâm said: (which is never true) “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matt: 10-34, Authorized (King James) Version, 1978) “For I am come to set a mat at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (ibid: 10-35) Following these words, missionary priests deceived ignorant people and incited them against the state. Their real purpose was, by means of these stratagems, to endanger the Islamic religion and its protector, the Ottoman Empire. Thus they threw the seeds of instigation and animosity among the Christian minority who had been leading a peaceful life under the mercy and protection of the Ottoman Empire. Since the time of the Ashâb-i-kirâm till now, no Islamic state interfered in the religious affairs of their non-Muslim subjects, nor did they ever hurt their religious sentiments. The Ottomans, especially, provided all sorts of help and facility regarding the religious practices of non-Muslims living under their rule for six hundred years; let alone interfering in their religious services, Islam commands this help and justice. Our Prophet’s commands in this respect are recorded in Islamic books, [See our other English publications.] It was under the guarantee of the Ottoman state, therefore, that no one, whatever his religion, would be abused or maltreated on account of his or her creed. Being a person’s guest and at the same time slandering and stamping on his sacred beliefs, is an event unprecedented in the world annals. The important fact here is the false charges directed to Islam by Islam’s enemies through destructive words, writings, books, [television broadcasts, video cassettes]. (So the thing to be done) is to call public attention to these lies and slanders, [to answer them], and to exhibit to the whole world the sophisms on which they based their publications under the cloak of truth. The Turkish book which I published with the title Şems-ül-Hakîka (the Sun of Truth) gives very beautiful answers to missionary aggressions directed to Islam. In that book of mine, a number of facts about Christianity are explained in detail, and a lot of questions are propounded. Nevertheless, Christian priests are still publishing new lying, fallacious books, as if they saw neither these questions nor the splendid book titled Iz-hâr-ul-haqq, which was written in Arabic by Rahmatullah Efendi, one of the great ’Ulamâ of India, and was later translated into Turkish. In these new books they are repeating the same old calumnies of theirs. They have not been able to answer even one of the questions we have directed to them in Şems-ül-hakîka and Iz-hâr-ul-haq.
It is stated as follows on the three hundred and ninetieth page of the Persian book Maqâmât-i-akh-yâr: “Fander, a Protestant priest, was very famous among Christians. The Protestant missionary organization sent Fander and some other selected priests to India. They were supposed to work for the propagation of Christianity. In 1270 [A.D. 1854], sometime in the (lunar) month of Rebî’ul-âkhir and on the eleventh of Rajab (another lunar month), debates umpired by some ’Ulamâ and other distinguished personage were held between this missionary group and Rahmatullah Efendi, the great ’âlim of Delhi. After long discussions, Fander and his colleagues were defeated and silenced completely. Four years later, when British forces invaded India [and subjected Muslims and men of religion and especially the Sultan to terrifying torments], Rahmatullah Efendi migrated to Mekka-i-mukarrama (the blessed city of Mecca). In 1295 [A.D.1878] this missionary body came to Istanbul and began propagating Christianity. The Grand Vizier Khayr-ud-dîn Pasha[5] invited Rahmatullah Efendi to Istanbul. When confronted with Rahmatullah Efendi, the missionaries were frightened. Being unable to answer the questions, they decided vanishing would be best. The Pasha generously awarded this great Islamic ’âlim. He requested him to write about how he had refuted and routed the Christians. So he began writing his Arabic book Iz-hâr-ul-haqq on the sixteenth of Rajab and finished it by the end of Zi’lhijja, and went to Mekka. Khayr-ud-dîn Pasha had it translated into Turkish and had both of the books printed. They were translated into European languages, and printed and published in every country. British newspapers wrote, “If this book spreads, Christianity will be impaired badly.” Sultan Abdulhamîd Khân ‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’, who was the Khalîfa (caliph) of all Muslims, invited him (Rahmatullah Efendi) again in 1304 [A.D. 1890], and treated him with veneration and hospitality. Rahmatullah Efendi passed away in Mekka-i-mukarrama in the month of Ramadhân in 1308 [1890].
With the help of Allâhu ta’âlâ we have now begun to write this Turkish book, which we name Diyâ-ul-qulûb. Yet, it should be known well that our purpose in writing this book is only to refute the books and brochures published against Islam by Protestant missionaries, thus performing our duty of resisting them. Our Christian citizens who want to preserve their religion and peace are also weary of these missionaries and agree with us in repelling their mischief.
Is-haq Efendi of HARPUT