Six Reasons for “Why Islam is Our Only Choice”

By R. L. Mellema - Holland

1. The acknowledgment of One Supreme Being, uncomplicated and easy to accept by every reasonable thinking creater: Allah is He on Whom all depends. He begets not, nor is He begotten and none is like Him. He represents the highest wisdom, the highest strength and the highest beauty. His Charity and Mercy are unbounded.

2. The relation between the Creator of the Universe and His creatures is a direct one. The believer does not need any mediation; Islam does not have priesthood. Man has to prepare himself in this life for the next. He is responsible for his deeds, which cannot be compensated by a substituting sacrifice of an innocent person. No soul shall be burdened beyond its capacity.

3. The doctrine of tolerance of Islam is so clearly manifested in the well-known words: “There is no compulsion in religion”.

4. The doctrine of brotherhood of Islam extends to all human beings, no matter what color, race or creed. Islam is the only religion which has been able to realize this doctrine in practice. The equality of the whole of mankind before God is symbolized significantly in the ‘ihram’ dress worn by pilgrims.

5. The fact that Islam accepts matter and mind both as existing values. The mental growth of man is connected inseparably with the needs of the body, whereas man has to behave in such a way that mind prevails over matter and matter is controlled by mind.

6. The prohibition of alcoholic drinks and narcotic drugs. This highlights that Islam is far ahead of its time.

{About R.L.Mellema: He studied Eastern languages at University of Leiden in 1919. Learned Arabic, Sanskrit, Malay and Japanese; studied the history and institutions of Islam from europena handbooks. In 1921, visited Al-Azhar in Cairo. In 1945, spent as a Japanese prisonor of war, went back to Netherlands in 1946 and found a new task at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. Here he had the opportunity to take up again his study on Islam, started to study the new Islamic State of Pakistan in 1954-55. Having come to know Islam till now from European writers only, He was confronted with quite another aspect of Islam in Lahore and began to discover the great values of Islam. At last he realized the religion of Islam and he embraced it, now he is the head of the Islamic Section of the Tropical Museum, Amsterdam, Holland.}