(The story of how
Maulvi Mehboob Ali, the Imam of the Badi Masjid in Baduat, Uttar Pradesh,
rejected Islam and became Pandit Mahendra Pal Arya!)
Maulvi Mehboob Ali used to be an imam who led believers in their
worship of Allah, the God of the Quran. He was much loved by his Hindu as well
as Muslim neighbours. Back then, he would chide them gently for sleeping late
when birds, who are beings lower in the divine scheme of things than humans,
were up and chirping. “Muslims should be in their mosques by now and the Hindus
in their temples thanking their Maker. It is not done for humans to waste their
time,” he would say. The residents of neighbourhoods surrounding the Barwala
Masjid in Badaut in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh respected the maulvi.
The years rolled on for the maulvi as he tended assiduously to his
duties a leader of the faithful armed with a graduate degree in Islamic
studies. Till then, he was assured, as most Muslims are wont to, that the Quran
contained instructions from God himself. All one had to do to navigate life and
the hereafter was to heed its instructions and one could not go wrong. In the
winter of 1983, the good maulvi met Master Shree Krishna Pal Singh, a teacher
of science at the Gurukul Indraprasth. Singh smiled when Ali delivered an
impromptu lecture on the Quran. “Will you be my guest at Gurukul Indraprasth
maulvi?” he asked. Pandit Arya says that he accepted the invitation because
being a Bengali, he was, like most Bengalis, free of sectarian biases that mar
communal relations in other parts of the country. It was evening when the
maulvi reached the Gurukul. His hosts took him to a simple but clean room where
he would live while he was at the Gurukul. It was time for the maghrib namaz.
The Maulvi purified himself with ritual wazoo and read his namaz before
leaving his room for a stroll of the Gurukul. He watched as the students,
teachers and visitors performed a Vedic yagnya. Some were attending to their
sandhya.
Later, there was a lecture on some Vedic subject and food was
served. The Maulvi had dinner with Krishna Pal Singh before repairing to his
room for his namaz. “Maulvi sahib, come,” said Krishna Pal Singh, “I would like
to introduce to our people here.” Ali was introduced to Dharamveer, the mantri
of the Gurukul and Swami Shaktivesh, a sanyasi. “What is your life’s mission?”
the swami asked the maulvi. “To warn people of the world against falling prey
to evil and to motivate them to do what is right,” answered the maulvi. “That
is what we do here as well. That is indeed the aim of all Aryas. Why do you
think we don’t work together?” asked the swami. “I don’t know,” the maulvi
admitted, “let me give it thought.” The next day the Maulvi rose early – at 4
am – to read his namaz. He stepped out of his room and saw the children
exercising. He met the teachers. They discussed spiritual matters, including
Islam with him. So far the maulvi had not been exposed to the spiritual thought
of any religion other than Islam and had concluded that no other tradition had
anything to add to what the Quran had to say. “I did not know that there was a
world outside my little well. Swami Vivekananda probably had people like me in
mind when he said that the vastness of the ocean was beyond the mind of a frog
whose life is limited to his small well,” laughs Arya.
As the maulvi left Gurukul Indraprasth, Shree Dharmaveer handed a
copy of Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s Satyartha Prakash in Urdu to him. As he sat
in the bus to Badaut, the maulvi began to sift through the pages till it opened
on the fourteenth chapter that had the Quran as its subject. The maulvi was
surprised to see ayats of his holy book written by a saffron-robed sanyasi. “I
suffered the shock of my life. The book had a picture of a kafir sanyasi and
inside there were verses of the Quran,” Arya reminisces. Swami Dayananda’s
book, which continues to be in print in nearly all the major languages of
India, processes the Quran and its claims in the light of the tenets of the
Sanatan Vedic tradition. To the Quran's “Whichever way ye turn, there is the
face of God. (2:109)” The Swami asks in Satyarth Prakash, "If this is
true, why do the Mohammedans turn their face towards Qibla (the sacred Mosque
in Mecca)? If it be argued that they have been commanded to do so, to answer
that they have also been permitted to turn their face in whatever direction
they choose. Now, which of these two (contradictory statements) should be held
to be true. Moreover, if God has a face, it can only be in one direction and
not in all directions at one and the same time." In around 30,000 words,
the fourteenth chapter of the Satyarth Prakash demolishes the claims of Quran
in the light of the Vedas and points out inconsistencies, exaggerations and
scientific inaccuracies in the holy book of the Muslims.
The book had a profound affect on Maulvi Mehbbob Ali. “I had no
answers to the questions. I could not fault their reasoning. The razor sharp
logic had my certainties in tatters. Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s Satyarth
Prakash held my hand in the darkness that surrounded me and led me to light,”
says Pandit Arya. The maulvi made a list of questions and doubts that had
surfaced in his mind during his reading of the Satyarth Prakash and mailed them
to 25 leading muftis (Islamic scholars) of his time. If the Quran was perfect
guidance, the answers would surely come. “I requested them to not to question
my motivations but to answer what I had asked to my satisfaction,” explains
Arya. “Just seven scholars wrote in. They said that I did not deserve the
answers because by the very the act of questioning the veracity and holiness of
the Quran, I had turned into an apostate in the eyes of Allah and his prophet.”
Not one scholar answered the doubts raised in the maulvi’s letter and after
much soul searching and study of Vedas and Vedic scriptures, Maulvi Mehboob Ali
decided to become an apostate from Islam and embrace the Vedic dharma. “On
November 30, 1983, I underwent shuddhi and reclaimed my rightful heritage as a
Vedic Arya. After the ceremony, I addressed thousands of Hindus and Muslims
assembled at the venue and told them that I was not changing my dharma because
dharma cannot be changed. I was mere ly changing my community. Illiterate,
emotional, illogical and unscientific, the Muslim ummah had no use for the
truth, I explained. From the darkness of Islam, I was moving to the light of
the Vedic tradition where reason is honoured and debates are encouraged. I
intended to spend the rest of my life among enlightened people,” says Pandit
Arya.
After Pandit Mahendra Pal Arya entered the Vedic tradition, he
happened to meet Swami Agnivesh who advised him against taking a new
name. “Agnivesh told me that I should retain my Muslim name and preach among
Muslims. Amar Swami warned me to keep away from Aginvesh because he was a shady
character. He had illegally taken possession of a part of the Janata Dal office
near Jantar Mantar,” Pandit Arya explains, “Swami Shaktivesh has chosen a good
name for you, he said. You are an Indian, why should you have an Arab name?” “Since
then Agnivesh has distinguished himself by insulting the saffron robes that
camouflage his shady intents. He always aligns with anti-Hindu forces of all
shades and persuasions,” says Arya, “He wants the Satyarth Prakash edited, he
stands with forces that malign Maharishi Manu and is always seen siding with
the mullahs and maulanas on every issue that affects Hindus.”
For the last 29 years, Pandit Mahendra Pal Arya has facilitated
the return of several perverts to Islam. “I focus mainly on scholars of Islam
and have been successful in welcoming around 15,000 Muslims back into the Vedic
faith. I am armed with the teachings of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati and the
Vedas that are logical, humane and free from all contradictions and scientific
error.” Pandit Arya challenged fundamentalist Wahabi preacher Zakir Naik to
debate with him on an Islamic issue of his choice in 2004. “Naik fancies
himself a student of comparative religions and always runs down the Vedas and
Vedic literature. He maintains a well-equipped and well-staffed office in
Dongri, Mumbai that operates with the sole aim of misleading and converting
uninformed Hindus to Islam.”
Pandit Arya says Hindus are disorganised, mired in superstitions
and always caught sleeping while missionaries execute their nefarious designs.
“It is time we wake up to the threat and revive shuddhi to welcome our brothers
and sisters back into the Vedic fold. Narendra Modi is being criticised because
he refused to wear an Islamic cap. Would the maulana who felt insulted because
Modi refused to the skull cap wear a string of rudraksha beads in public if a
Hindu offered it to him?” demands Pandit Arya.
Note: This article is a first in a series on contemporary Muslims who have rejected Islam and embraced Sanatan Dharma.
Readers may contact Pandit Mahendra Pal Arya on mparya2010@gmail.com
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