Editorial

Prophets of God demonstrate through their messages and personal example how God wants us to live our lives. The most excellent of these models was the Holy Prophet(saw) of Islam. His qualities of truthfulness and beneficence to his fellow men were known and appreciated by those around him even before his claim to prophethood. In his Jalsa address in Fiji this year, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V said: ‘He [the Holy Prophet(saw)] established high examples in honouring the rights and obligations that man owes to Allah and the rights that are due to other human beings.’ The standard of his worship are an example for those who wish to attain nearness to Allah and want that their end should be good.’ When we ignore the commandments of God, and guidance given to us, society opens itself up to dangers. Bilal Atkinsons discusses some of these in his article ‘Dangers of the age and safeguarding of Islamic values’. He explains how Islam provides clear directions as to how to avoid those evils which ultimately destroy a society. However, it is the way of man that whenever prophets are sent to him with guidance, his initial stance is to disbelieve and ridicule. This has hap- pened to all prophets. Those of the established faiths believe that their way of life is the truth and do all they can to discredit new ideas. ‘After the Hijrah, the Quraish of Makkah joined forces with these Jews to stop the progress of Islam. The hypocrites were already there, starting work as fifth columnists’ (Murder in the Name of Allah). Such individuals tried to create dissention among the believers. Sadly this continues today albeit in a different form. Muslims themselves are guilty of misunderstanding the message of the Holy Prophet(saw) and create disunity by fighting one another in the name of Islam and try to demonstrate that they are the true believers. They fail to appreciate that the real message of Islam is to worship God and then declare that ‘Muhammad(saw) is the prophet of God’. Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih IV(ru) warns us that ‘….people who reject prophets of God and men of peace ….. stand disunited and bereft of the blessings of the peace they sought to disturb. They breed violence and terrorism’ (Murder in the Name of Islam) The truth of these words is evident in the world today. 2 The Review of Religions – August 2006 Sarah Waseem– UK EDITORIAL