Note 3.
I.—What is Religion?
have said that true Islam is the best religion in the world. I must prove my assertion. In order to do so I have to explain:—
| I. | What do I mean by religion? |
| II. | What is true Islam? |
| III. | Why is it the best religion? |
I.—Religion, God and Nature.
Religion.—No thinking man can help asking himself the questions: "Whence has this world come? Whither is it bound to go?" in other words, "What was the origin مبداٌ and what will be the end معاد of the world of men, animals, plants and things that I perceive?" The answers which each man gives to these questions constitute his religion. A few earnest persons (poets, philosophers and theologians) try to answer these questions for themselves by patient study and earnest thought[13]. But a large majority of men and women merely take the answers taught them by their parents, teachers or priests. There may possibly be a small number of men who do not trouble themselves about these questions. These are not "thinking men" and may therefore be left out of account.
Religion is a silent and subtle power that works in the heart of man and makes for righteousness. It is generated by his conviction as to the beginning and end of himself and the world in which he lives and moves[14].
God.—No intelligent and intelligible answers can be given to questions as to the origin and the end or the government of Nature[15] without assuming the existence of the One and only one God who is Infinite and Absolute, i.e., One who hath neither beginning nor end and who is not conditioned or limited by anything whatever[16]. The Infinite and Absolute One has been called by different names by different people at different times[17]. Yezdan, Ishwara, Jehovah, God, and Allah are the names, in different languages, of the same Infinite and Absolute God.