Fazle Umar
Holy Prophet’s [saw] Day and Religious Founders Day In the late 1920s to the horror of Muslims, a graceless and shameless member of the Arya Samaj named Rajpal published a most scurrilous and disgraceful book concerning the Holy Prophet of Islam [saw], which he called Rangila Rasul (The Flamboyant Messenger). The government prosecuted Rajpal for the offence of insulting the memory of the Founder of a religion and thus provoking feelings of hatred and contempt between the followers of Islam and Hinduism. Rajpal was convicted and sentenced but was later acquitted by a High Court judge, who took the view that the publication of the book, however offensive was its character, did not fall within the scope of the relevant section of the Indian Penal Code. The judgment outraged Muslims and within a short time a Muslim named Ilm Din assassinated him. Ilm Din proudly confessed his guilt and was sentenced to be hanged. He went to his execution cheerfully and the Muslims acclaimed him as a martyr. The public excitement over the whole tragic affair had scarcely had time to subside when an equally offensive article against the Holy Prophet [saw] was published in a Hindu journal called Vartman of Amritsar. This type of performance was evidence of the diseased mind of a section of the Hindu community, the appropriate remedy for which had to be prescribed with care, wisdom and foresight. Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] considered the whole situation thoughtfully and came to the conclusion that the entire responsibility for it did not lie upon the Hindus, and that the Muslims also had been guilty of a serious default which should be set right as early as possible. The immediate need was to obtain an authoritative clarification of the state of the law regarding such offensive publications and in case of a loophole to have it filled by legislative action. He drew up a public announcement calling upon the government to
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