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Review of Aeenah Haq Numa in The Light, 8 February 1946

“Aeena-i-Haq Numa”, i.e., The Mirror of Truth, the publication in Urdu which the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore has just brought out, is an exhaustive, effective and conclusive reply to the criticism of Islam and its Holy Founder contained in that notorious book, Satyarath Parkash by Swami Dayanand, Founder of the Arya Samaj, which has been a perennial source of bad blood and bitterness between Arya Samajist Hindus and Muslims.

Satyarath Parkash is no serious criticism of other faiths nor prompted by a spirit of quest after Truth. As such, whether right or wrong, it would have merited some consideration at the hands of serious students of comparative religion. But it is a heap of cheap bizarre gibes betraying both ignorance and bad taste. It gives one the idea of a street urchin making mouths and throwing brickbats at any and every respectable passer-by. Jesus, Krishna, Muhammad, Guru Nanak — everyone of these Divine Light-houses comes in for his share of vituperation.

So far the only way adopted by the Muslims has been to pass resolutions calling upon the Government to proscribe the book. The Sindh Government placed a ban on the publication of Chapter XIV. This however led to undesirable reactions and “lionized” the book in Arya Samajist circles. The method adopted in the publication of Aeena-i-Haq Numa is the only method to give a quietus once for all to the unfair and indecent criticism of Islam contained in this so-called “scripture” of the Arya Samaj.

The book takes every one of the points raised by the writer of Satyarath Parkash, discusses it threadbare, exposing the ignorance or malice behind it and bringing out the wealth of beauty underlying that very point. Maulana Abdul Haq, the author, is a Sanscrit scholar, translator of the Vedas into Urdu and he makes good use of this additional equipment of his by giving a comparative view of the Quran and the Vedas on that particular point, thereby paying the critic of Islam in his own coin.

In bringing out this book, the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam and Maulana Abdul Haq have rendered a signal service towards a better understanding of the Quranic teachings and incidentally removing a source of constant communal friction. A perusal of it should convince a fair-minded reader, even an Arya Samajist, how distorted and undignified has been the approach adopted by the Founder of the Samaj towards a serious and sacred subject like religion.

The Anjuman is anxious that the book should receive the widest possible publicity and has therefore offered to supply a copy free to libraries and reading rooms. Those interested in the vindication of the good name of Islam and the Holy Prophet against the filthy and foul attacks of the Satyarath Parkash would also do well to send for as many copies as they can afford to and distribute the same free among their non-Muslim friends. The price for 440 pages which the book covers has been fixed at just Rs. 3 to enable faith-spirited friends to circulate copies of it at their expense. Those who cannot undertake the free circulation themselves can entrust this also to the Anjuman which will be pleased to send copies on their behalf to the right places on receipt of orders.