ISLAM: GOD’S FINAL MESSAGE TO MANKIND
Abdul Hameed Dogar
Islamic Foundation, Villa Park, Illinois, USA
1st Edition – June 2010, Jamad-uth-thani 1431
Pages: 304
Reviewed By KAMRAN SHAHID ANSARI
Colonialism and Orientalism are coterminous and the latter played a significant role in bolstering the former. Ever since the colonial powers took control of the world in order to fulfil their insatiable hunger for the resources all across the globe, Islam became the centre of their attention as they saw it as the only rival to their ideology. Since then the war has been waged against Islam and most of the western scholars came up with the utterly biased and one-sided picture of Islam in order to upscale the western ideology and downscale Islam at the same time. Their biased analysis and study of Islam was not only because of their alienation towards Islam but also because of the extreme pride and unfair belief in their ‘way of life’ and civilization.
Their overzealous and boastful attitude led them to come up with utterly preposterous theories like ‘White man’s burden,’ etc. and they took on the journey to civilize the rest of the world, completely oblivious of the other ways of life, systems of governance and cultures and traditions. This attitude of theirs caused them to ridicule anything and everything of the different culture which their limited minds could not comprehend and hence Islamic civilization and culture became their prime target.
At the same time there rose grave misunderstandings between the Semitic religions i.e. Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Since then there have been many efforts in order to quell the misunderstandings and misconceptions about Islam. Many books have been written, some concentrated on the historical aspect of the religion while others tried to prove the point using the sacred scriptures and yet others concentrated on scientific and technological advancements.
The recent book “ISLAM: God’s Final Message to Mankind,” written by Mr. Abdul Hameed Dogar, Director, Islamic Foundation, Illinois, USA, is another effort to remove the veil of misconceptions regarding Islam. The book runs through 304 pages and is divided in 20 chapters. The best part of the book is that it encompasses everything, be it historical aspect, scientific explanations or cross references from various other religious scriptures.
The book is full of references from the Holy Qur’ān (with proper Chapter and Verse number) and wherever the writer has mentioned anything he has backed it with reference from the Holy Qur’ān. Another feature of the book is that it mentions everything in points instead of mentioning in a paragraph form, hence makes it easier for the reader to efficiently understand the arguments and retain them. The book aims at bringing in unity and humanitarian aspect among the people of the world by guiding them to the True Divine Guidance. Excerpt from Preface;
“There is a great confusion and misunderstanding about Islam despite the fact that Islam is basically the same religion preached by Adam (PBUH), Moses (PBUH), Jesus (PBUH) and all other Prophets sent by God….When our God is one, and we all are the children of the same couple Adam and Eve, and our religion is one, then why is this bloodshed?…It (bloodshed) will stop if we succeed in guiding the people towards True Divine Guidance sent by God through his Messengers.”
The first chapter of the book emphasises the need to return to the divine guidance by shunning what the mind and intellect dictate. Only following the vain desires have led to the utter destruction of the whole of the family setup and in turn is now rupturing the whole nation and world. The book cuts through the notion that says, “Religion is a thing of the past,” and presents a new argument by stating, “TRUE RELIGION is not a thing of the past, but a PERVERTED religion is.”
The book takes a dig into the large number of fabrications and concoctions in the previous books, particularly the Old and the New Testament, which Allah sent. The book points out to the offensive and obscene language used in the Bible, which can never be, in any case, the word of Allah and hence questions the authenticity of the book.
The book presents Islam as a way of life and asserts that only Muslims, by following the real Islam, can deliver the people of the world from all its problems. Excerpt:
“If there is anyone who can stand up to the challenges of paganism, secularism, and materialism and offer to the world an alternative plan of life, it is Muslims and Muslims alone. Islam is an eternal plan. It will remain valid for all time.”
The book rejects the present notion of the world which considers Islam as backward and brings into light the importance which Islam gives to education. The book quotes a renowned British historian who said, “No other people made as important contribution to human progress as did Arabs – for centuries Arabic was the language of learning, culture and intellectual progress for the whole of the civilized world, with the exception of the Far East….From the ninth to the twelfth century there were more philosophical, medical, historical, religious, astronomical and geographical works written in Arabic than in any other human tongue.”
The book has separate chapters on the concept of justice and cooperation which present an Islamic viewpoint and clear the misconceptions. The chapters lay emphasis on friendship, humanity and peaceful co-existence which Islam promulgates. A separate chapter with the name ‘Islam and War’ portrays an Islamic methodology of war. Unlike the present world where there is no difference between the civilians and the mercenaries and the bombs and missiles damage and destroy more of civilians than of the actual combatants, Islam gives clear-cut guidelines to its adherents. Excerpt:
“Islam….strictly prohibits the killing or harming of non-combatants, such as children, women, old people, people in places of worship and wounded soldiers who are not fit to fight or are not actively fighting….Islam commands Muslims not to pillage, plunder or destroy residential areas; harm the property of anyone not fighting; spoil cultivated fields, crops or gardens; or slaughter cattle….Muslims have been prohibited from taking anything from the general public or from a conquered country without paying for it.”
The book would prove to be beneficial and is a good read for the beginners as one can find a variety of arguments and aspects about religion (not just Islam but other Semitic religions as well) in one single book. The very negation of the “Theory of evolution” unveils the fact of life and the purpose of man’s creation and the importance of belief in life after death.