Page 280 - Demo

276and majesty at the head of the vast and innumerable hosts of the faithful composed of all races and languages! The vision expressly avows the entrance and admission of the apostates and unbelievers into the flock. Jews thousands of Jews- Christians, and Sabians, as well as millions of Arabs and other heathen nationalities, believed in the oneness ofAllah and embraced Islam. In this connection it is worthy of note that all the bloodshed in the wars of Badr, Uhud, and other campaigns led personally by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) , could not exceed one-hundredth ofthe blood shed by Joshua. Yet not a single instance of cruelty or injustice can be proved against theApostle of Allah. He was clement, noble, magnanimous, and forgiving. This is why he is alone among the entirehuman race represented in all prophetical visions “the Son of Man,” like the first man before his fall!(d) The Son of Man founds the Kingdom of Peace, the capital of which is no longer the old Jerusalem, but the New Jerusalem - the “Dāru‘s-Salām,” the “city or court of Peace.” The Sophee or Seer in this wonderful vision narrates how the terrestrial Jerusalem is lifted up and transplanted in a southern country; but a new Temple, larger and higher than the first one, is built upon the ruins of the old edifice! Gracious God! How wonderfully all this was accomplished by Thy most Illustrious and Holy Servant Muhammad (pbuh) ! The New Jerusalem is none other than Makkah; for it is in a southern country, its two hills, the “Marwa” and “Sapha,” bear the same names as those of Moriah and Zion, of the same root and signification but originally earlier. “Irushalem” or “Uishalem” of old becomes a city of “Light and Peace.” It is for this reason, too, that Makkah as the seat of the sacred Ka’ba became the “Qibla” - the direction towards which the Muslims turn their faces at prayer. Here every year tens of thousands of pilgrim from all Muslim