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The True Path [Chapter 2]
"Why should I read the Bible?" said I. "Who would read such
an altered book which you people change every year?" At my reply
. . . he said . . . Do you consider that all we Christians are
dishonest? Do you think we fear God so little that we should
keep deceiving the world by making changes in the Holy Scriptures?
When Muslims say that Christians keep altering the text of the
Tawrat and the Injil . . . they suggest that all Christians are
dishonest and that they are deceivers of the people. Now this
is a serious and unwarranted indictment. Christians believe in
the Bible as the Word of God as Muslims do in the Quran. Thus,
if no Muslim can change the text of the Quran, how is it that
a Christian can change the text of the Book of the all-wise God,
the Holy Bible? . . . if some mischievous Christian were to
change the text of any verse of Scripture, would not all other
true Christians consider him outside the pale of their religion
and make public the facts about him? Of course they would! . . .
the contention . . . that the text of God's Word has been altered
is absolutely without foundation and futile . . ."
Sultan Muhammad P. Khan
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I Discovered True Salvation
Although I was raised as a Muslim, I found myself wrestling with the
question of God's existence.
I never thought I would come to the point where I seriously entertained
doubts about the reality of God. But in college I found myself absorbed
in one of the greatest mental struggles of my life. Did God exist or
not? That was the burning question that occupied the minds of many of
the students who fell under the amiable charm of a professor of the
Persian language. And because of his influence, I wavered for a long
time over the question of God's existence. He had been a believer in
Islam, but he made no point of concealing the abandonment of his
religious views in favor of atheism.
My Islamic roots were deep. I was born into a devout Shi'ite family
in Lucknow, India. My first form of instruction was received in a
Quranic school where I studied Arabic. From my family and from my
teachers I learned to be diligent in memorizing the Quran and in
saying my prayers. With faithful regularity, I was found in the
mosque for congregational prayer. The precepts and practices of Islam
permeated my life and my society. I had no occasion to question its
claims and commandments.
From time to time there were clashes between Sunnis and Shi'ites,
and it was natural for me to become embroiled in the emotional
tension they generated. I remember Sunnis becoming infuriated at
Shi'ities when the latter would pronounce a curse on Abu Bakr, Umar,
and Uthman. This was especially the case during the festivals that
were held in remembrance of Ali, who should have been Muhammad's
successor from the beginning, according to Shi'ite belief.
Our family belonged to a minority within a minority. Of the six
hundred million people in India, only about sixty-five million are
Muslims. And there are probably not many more than one million who
are Shi'ites. While Sunnis and Shi'ites generally live together in
friendliness, there are differences that make the relationship a
strained one. Virtually all Shi'ites reject the idea that the present
Quran is the complete book that came from heaven. They believe that
there are important deletions that Sunnis have made, especially in
reference to Ali as the rightful successor of Muhammad. It was from
this perspective that I viewed the world around me.
The time came for me to go to college, and I decided to go to Rampur
to study Persian and the Islamic religion in much greater depth than
I had done previously. During my first year I became very fond of one
of my professors who was an atheist. He had come to the persuasion
that matter was eternal and he saw no need to believe in God. In
fact, the idea of God was unscientific and outdated, in his view.
His influence on the students was subtle and powerful. I fell under
the sway of his opinions for a while, but atheism left me discontented.
There were too many questions it left unanswered.
Many students found his views attractive, however. Yet when they
would go home they would conform to their Muslim way of life because
of the overwhelming pressure of societal sanctions. I was determined
to overcome such vacillation and hypocrisy by thinking through to
an intelligent resolution of the problem. As I learned that there
was unmistakable evidence that the structured universe is not eternal,
I became convinced that there must be a powerful and intelligent
Being who made this world. I reasoned that if that creative power
was blind, there could be no order. But there is order, and this
implied that the Power who made all things must be intelligent.
A personal Being is ultimate and he has created order, and that
is why order is found everywhere. That same Being governs the world
and thereby sustains the order. My reflective contemplation of the
design of all levels of existence served to restore my conviction
of the reality of God.
Up to that point in my life I had not been brought into close contact
with any Christian. My mother, who was well-educated, was the first
person who spoke to me about Christ. Although she was a Muslim, she
had an unusual esteem for Jesus Christ. When I was just a child,
she recounted various stories about him to me. My admiration for
him began to grow. Of course I still believed that Muhammad was the
last of the prophets. Nevertheless, in my early years I found myself
thinking of Christ as the greatest prophet who had ever lived. And
I am confident that one of the reasons was his power to perform
miracles, which even Muhammad could not do, as we are told in the
Quran.
After I earned a degree in Oriental languages in Rampur, I went to
teach at a school in Allahabad. On my way there I spent some time
in Naini Tal where I attended a meeting of poets. I met a man there
who shared my intense interest in poetry and we became good friends.
He was the first Christian that I had come to know well. He gave me
a New Testament, and this stimulated my most serious reflections on
the Christian faith until that time. This interest was rekindled
in Allahabad, for on my way to teach each day, I passed by a Christian
library that I eventually entered. I not only found some excellent
books on morality and literature, but I also found a genuine friend
in the librarian. He was an earnest Indian Christian.
Through the librarian I met another Christian whose Christ-like life
affected me very much. He would give almost all of his income to the
poor and he would not sleep in a bed but on a mat on the floor. When
I went to see him, I would usually find him in prayer on his knees.
He was very kind to me and he even invited me to stay with him in
his house. I lived with him for about three years. As I continued
to carry on my teaching, he began to teach me the New Testament.
In fact, he took the time to teach me the New Teatament from
beginning to end.
I had previously come to believe that Christ was the highest and best
of all the prophets, but it was not until I finished studying the
entire New Testament that I came to believe in him as Savior and
Lord. Then I realized that he is the Savior of the world and the
only hope of acceptance with God.
In my study of the New Testament I was especially impressed with
the records of Christ's miracles. I was also greatly affected by
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
everlasting life." This showed me that God does not want anyone to
be punished, but rather he wants everyone to come to him through
Jesus Christ. Furthermore, I was deeply impressed by the account
of the crucifixion* of Christ - how he willingly and selflessly
laid down his life on the cross for the sake of others. I came to
see that it was only by his death and resurrection* that human
beings could be forgiven of their sin and come to know God.
During those days my mind was troubled with many questions.
I especially had great difficulty understanding how Christ could
be the Son of God. The Quran says that God has not begotten nor
does he beget. It seemed inconceivable to me that God could have
a son the way a man has a child. When I studied the New Testament,
however I realized that nowhere did it teach this view of Christ's
sonship.
As I studied Arabic literature I discovered that there were
enlightening analogies of that expression. For example, in the
Quran itself there is the term, ibn essabil, which is
literally "son of the path." One will also find the expression,
ibn esshaitan, i.e., "son of Satan." It is obvious that
these arc figurative forms of expression and do not involve
physical reproduction. But they are meaningful terms that
indicate relationship and character. The Kaaba is called "the
mother of the town (of Mecca)." In a similar way, the title
"Son of God" indicates a unique relationship between God and
Christ, not any act or process of procreation.
In my consideration of the Christian faith, the problem of the
meaning of the designation "Son of God" was inseparably connected
with the doctrine of the Trinity. In typical Muslim fashion I
believed that Christians were idolators. I thought that they
believed in three gods.
A careful examination of the Bible revealed that this was a
misunderstanding of the Christian faith. I found that over and
over again the Bible denounced idolatry and polytheism. It was
emphatic and clear in its affirmation of the unity of God. No
fair-minded person could fail to see that the Bible consistently
teaches that there is only one true God. The important question
related to the nature of God and the kind of unity that
characterized his being. That unity is complex, according to
the Bible. There is only one being who is God, but within that
one being there are personal distinctions. And the Bible refers
to these distinctions as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are
not three gods, for they are eternally and organically one in
the Being who is the only God. That means that Christ is not
a second god, for there is no second or third god.
For me, the question naturally arose as to the reliability of
the Bible. Was it the word of God? Had it been changed? Did the
present Bible represent a distorted version of what may have
been originally revealed by God? Careful study led me to see
that the Bible is accurate and trustworthy, and that no one
had either the opportunity or capacity to alter it. Attempts
had been made by heretics but they were always exposed by the
Christian community. Moreover, the thousands of manuscripts of
both the Old and New Testaments that we possess today demonstrate
that the Bible we now have is the same as the Bible that the
Christians had in the first century. This evidence is sufficient
and irrefutable, but unfortunately Muslims are not aware of it.
My father had died before I went to Allahabad. When my mother
heard that I was studying the New Testament with a Christian,
she did not object or try to interfere. She said that it was
a personal matter between me and God. She not only reverenced
Christ but she was a well-informed and open-minded woman. When
she died, however, my relatives agreed to disinherit me because
I had become a Christian. According to Muslim law, when a man
leaves Islam he should not receive anything. But I was prepared
for this, because I knew that it would happen before I decided
to become a Christian. My relatives were divided into two factions:
those who persecuted me (and they were in the majority) and those
who tolerated me (and they numbered only three or four). The
latter group based their tolerance on their conviction that
I was old enough and sufficiently educated to make my own
decisions and live my own life. Almost inevitably, the larger
faction prevailed, and opposition became so intense that I felt
compelled to go to another city for employment. God opened the
door for me to teach in a high schol in Hyderabad. Eventually
I became a lecturer in a college and the author of six books
in Urdu.
Of course I am often asked why I became a Christian. My answer is
a direct and simple one. I found salvation in Christ! There is
not one word about the assurance of salvation in the Quran. As
a Muslim I never had the confidence that my sins were forgiven,
for Allah may or may not forgive on the last day. I lived in
dread of that day of judgment. No matter how diligent and fervent
I was in my practice of Islam, there was no certainty that I would
be saved and accepted by God. Fear, doubt, and anxiety haunted
me in the undercurrent of every endeavor I made according to
Islamic requirements. I longed for one word of unqualified
assurance that my sins had been removed and my guilt pardoned.
I could not find it in Islam and I was left restless and
burdened.
The message of the Bible, in striking contrast to all of that,
is truly good news. It tells of true salvation in Christ. In other
words, it not only offers the assurance of forgiveness here and
now, it also tells about the historical basis of that assurance.
The basis of acceptance with God is the death of Christ on the
cross for my sins and his resurrection from the grave for my
justification.* By trusting in Christ I have full satisfaction
and complete peace.
From my own experience I know how difflcult it is for a Muslim
to rid himself of the shackles of prejudice and to open his mind
to an objective examnation of the Christian faith. There is an
advance fear that such serious consideration of it will result in
strained relations with one's family and society. And if a Muslim
receives Christ as Savior and Lord, becoming a Christian in the
true sense of that term, he is viewed as a religious apostate,
a moral leper, and in many countries, a political traitor.
I had to face all of this, but I was gripped by the words of
Christ in the New Testament: "What good is it for a man to gain
the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36).
For me it is worth giving up everything in order to have Christ
and the salvation that he alone can give. And the only way he
gives it is freely, not on the basis of man's efforts. That is
why my trust is in him. He is my Savior, for through his sacrifice
I have forever been forgiven of all of my sins. I neither want
nor need any other ground of hope. As long as I live, I intend
to spread the good news about Christ and his salvation to all
my people.
. . . it (the Injil) must contain at least parts of the
original revelation, as for its blasphemous contents surely
they can be easily detected and consequently discarded as
lies and interpolations introduced into it by wicked Christians.
The result of my first reading was startling. In the first place
I did not find a single sentence or a clause which in any sense
could be interpreted as blasphemous or Satanic, and I had read
it with a mind vigilant to detect any expression which implied
any such notion directly or indirectly. Secondly, my common sense
told me that if certain followers of a religion were to corrupt
their sacred books or introduce interpolations into it, they
must have an adequate reason or sufficient motive behind it.
An enterprise as such, which is not only highly impious but also
extremely presumptuous, would not and could not be undertaken
by any class of people unless they were to derive some great
advantage or benefit from it.
In the light of this principle I closely examined every passage
of the gospel, and found none which would supply an adequate
ground for such an act on the part of the Christians.
J. A. Subhan
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