in symbolic language: ‘Beware of false prophets who come to
you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.’
(Matthew, 7:15).
It is a law of nature that in later generations, the inner spirit
of religion is replaced by external forms. According to the
prediction made by the Prophet on this subject, this law of
nature has come into effect among the Muslim community in
the full sense today. Now it is common for a certain identity to
be maintained in terms of form—and that has become the sole
criterion of religiosity. Moreover, fueling pride in religion and
community has begun to be considered the very stuff of Islam.
Without breaking the conditioning of the people, an impressive
display of Islam is being put up, and those who are responsible
for this are regarded as national heroes among the Muslims.
Community work has been given the status of
dawah
work and
those who are engaged in futile political activities are accorded
the status of
mujahid
of Islam. Today, such hypocrisy in the garb
of Islam has come full circle in the Muslim
ummah.
The role of
Masih today is to expose this hypocrisy and present Islam anew
to the people in its original form.
The role of
Masih
J
ESUS
C
HRIST CAME
as their last prophet to the Jews, who were at
that time practitioners of God’s religion. But, the religion they
practiced was not, in reality, the revealed faith brought by the
prophets. In practice, it had become a religion vitiated by human
interpolation. It was then for Jesus Christ to give to his people
once again the original message of God.
It would be desirable for the Muslim community to carry
out a similar task. According to a Hadith, during the last
stage of the Muslim community, almost the same state of affairs
will prevail among the Muslims as prevailed among the Jews
during the times of Jesus Christ. As such, the same course of
action taken by Christ needs to be repeated during that later
stage of the Muslim community.
48
The alarm of Doomsday
