Why Did They Become Muslims

would ‘attain the right path.’ They rushed to make a circle around
me. I gave them a copy of the Holy Bible each and asked them to
open the page whereon the thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah began.
I said to them, ‘Now I shall read you this chapter of the Holy Bible.
Please follow me and see if I am reading correctly.’ They all began
to listen to me with attention, checking my reading the chapter
from the Holy Bibles in their hands. The chapter I chose read as
follows:
‘And it came to pass, when king Hez-e-ki’ah heard it, that he
rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into
the house of the LORD.’ (Is: 37-1)
‘And he sent E-li’a-kim, who was over the household, and
Sheb’na the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with
sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.’ (ibid: 2)
‘And they said unto him, Thus saith Hez-e-ki’ah, This day is a
day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children
are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.’
(ibid: 3) I read on for a short while.
“As I read, I stopped from time to time, to ask them whether
my reading was exactly correct. They answered, ‘Yes. Each word
you’ve read is exactly correct.’ Then, all of a sudden, I stopped,
and said to them, ‘Now I will tell you something: The passage that
you read with me in the books in your hands is the thirty-seventh
chapter of Isaiah of the Old Testament [Torah]. On the other
hand, the passage I read in this book is the nineteenth chapter of
II Kings of the Old Testament. In other words, the two different
chapters from the two different books are exactly the same, which
means to say that one of them has been plagiarized from the other.
I do not know which has been plagiarized from which one. Yet
these books, which you look on as holy books, have been stolen
from one another. Here is the proof!’ My words raised a
commotion. Loud shouts rose: ‘It’s impossible!’ They presently
took the Holy Book off my hand, and examined it with attention.
When they saw that the nineteenth chapter of the II Kings, which
I had read, really was the same as the thirty-seventh chapter of
Isaiah, they were agape with astonishment. I said to them, ‘Please
do not take exception to what I am going to tell you now: Is
plagiarism possible in a book of God? How could I be expected to
believe in such books?’ Their heads fell down. Willy-nilly, they had
to admit, though tacitly.”
– 157 –