"Islam" and "not-Islam".
must devote this Note also to my observations on "Islam" and "not-Islam" in order to prepare you for a just appreciation of my contention that there are many good religions in the world but Islam is the best of them[36].
1. The Prophet Muhammad lived and died more than thirteen hundred years ago. There are now on the face of the earth no less than 250 millions (= 25 crores) of human beings who profess his religion, and who love and respect him just as his own immediate followers loved and respected him. These two simple facts are enough to prove—
(1) that there must be something real and true in the religion professed by so many people, and
(2) that the man who preached and established it must have been both great and good to an extraordinary degree;
for common experience leads us to conclude (a) that nothing which is false or unreal can survive centuries of change and (b) that none who is not good and great can be loved and respected by millions of men. No Muslim or Momin need therefore believe in any thing more than:—
(i) that Islam is a real and true religion, and
(ii) that Muhammad was a very great and good man.[37]
Thus, your belief in one God لا اله الالله makes you a Muslim[38] (= peaceful), no matter by what other name you call yourself; and your belief in the goodness and greatness[39] of Muhammad محمد رسول الله makes you a Momin (= faithful), no matter by what name others may call you. Let me quote here a passage from Sir Edwin Arnold's Preface to his beautiful poem "The Pearls of Faith: the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah:" اسماء حسنى