A Letter to Pope Pius XII by Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui

Written more than 70 years ago, this letter, by Maulana Abdul Aleem to Pope Pius XII for religious tolerance and collaboration is probably still relevant today as it was when it was sent to the pope at a time the world was under the grip of Marxist socialist revolutions and growing materialism.

I discovered this letter which was buried in my archive for over 20 years. It was sent to the head of the Roman Catholic church circa 1951 by the famous Muslim theologian, missionary and sufi master - His Eminence Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui al-Qadri. As one reads this letter, we are struck by the writer's call for religious tolerance and his care for humanity in general. I decided to share this letter to illustrate how though the challenges facing religion 70 years ago might have been different, the onslaught on the spiritual and moral heritage of humanity remains unabated despite advancements in so many spheres of our existence.

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TO: His Lordship Pope Pius XII

The Vatican

ROME

FROM: His Eminence Maulana

MUHAMMAD ABDUL ALEEM SIDDIQUI AL-QADRI

Your Lordship,

It has been my privilege, for the past forty years, to serve and guide humanity spiritually and

morally on behalf of Islam in various parts of the world. During this period of humble service in the Path of God I had the occasion to feel the pulse of humanity and to watch at close quarter the mighty wheel of revolution which is dragging mankind away from God and His Moral Law, on the one hand, and from international peace, on the other.

The extent to which the progeny of of Adam has entered the abyss of spiritual and moral inertia is so evident as to be well-known to every worker in the religious field. The cult of modern materialism, which has raised its head simultaneously with the European advancement in natural science, has now become a universal menace. It has not only swept off the Occident but has also engulfed the Orient and reinforced by some other external forces, has succeeded to some extent in disturbing the spiritual calm and moral equilibrium of the world of Islam, which has stood all these centuries as the meeting point and the balancing force between the East and the West.

Ever more perilous than the quantitative aspect is the qualitative phase of the menace. A hundred years ago, it was mostly of a negative character, expressing itself usually in metaphysical dialectics and attacking religion from the platforms of skepticism and pseudo—rationalism. It was then a force of minor importance which could not succeed in destroying the spiritual fragrance of human existence altogether. But, towards the middle of the l9th century, it assumed a more virulent form in the hands of Karl Marx, whose doctrines of Philosophical Materialism and Ethical Hedonism penetrated human thought and action through the gates of social reform and, because the unfortunate existence of social evils and neglect of the part of religious leadership, have ultimately succeeded in ravaging some of the fairest portions of humanity.

As your Lordship must be well aware, the avalanche of Marxist philosophy is descending upon the world with its full weight and with great speed. It has already crushed religious activity out of existence from nearly half the earth and is ready to swallow the next half.

The general wave of moral laxity which originated in the West after the Industrial Revolution and followed by a western influences across Asia and Africa, has affected nearly the whole of humanity. The intelligentsia as well as the masses in every country seems to be in revolt - active or passive - against the accepted moral values.

Verily, humanity is in grips of a mighty crisis and religious leadership is on trial. The process of disintegration in the domains of spiritual Faith and moral action is developing in a manner which no religious worker can afford to look upon with equanimity and watch as a passive spectator.

In the beginning, the struggle between religion and modern materialism was confined to the West alone. But the subsequent imperialist expansion of Western powers brought it to the East. The world of Islam, which, in spite of material weakness caused by its reversion of policy as regards scientific education, had been maintaining till then its moral and spiritual stability, was subjected to the heaviest attacks for ultimately wiping out the Islamic religion. These attacks still continue in multifarious forms and with greater intensity. But it is an irony of facts that the ultimate result has been only the creation of such forces of irreligion and immorality which, if they succeed, are bound to threaten the very existence of human society, not to speak of those higher values for which the great Teachers and Holy Personages of the world, including Moses and Jesus, (God bless them all), worked.

I do not mean to apportion blame. In fact, I believe that we Muslims are more blamable in as much as we have permitted the Western influences to succeed. What I mean actually to say is that the present spiritual and moral ailments of humanity had their origin in the West and that, consequently, it is primarily the responsibility of the religious leaders of the West, including your Lordship, to strive for co-operation with the rest of the world for the creation of such world conditions under which religion and religious values can flourish.

The other aspect of the problem is the attainment of International Peace which has been receding all these years in the same ratio as irreligiousness has progressed, until we have reached today a critical stage where humanity stands in positive danger of losing all her noble heritage. The world-situation, controlled as it is unfortunately by materialistic consideration and mostly by personalities whose outlook is virtually bereft of higher spiritual and moral values, is highly explosive.

The forces of materialism, anti-religion and immorality have combined to frustrate human Peace and to exterminate religious influences. While themselves the greatest sponsors of discord, leaders of anti-religion are crying from house tops, that humanity can never unite so long as religion exists in the world, thus throwing out a powerful challenge to religious leadership and trying to gain acceptance by diplomatic subterfuge.

This complex situation necessitates a struggle by the religious world on three fronts: (l) Spiritual regeneration; (2) Moral re-armament; (3) Creation of International Goodwill for the attainment of World-Peace.

But should this struggle be carried on by the religions of the world separately or unitedly? That is a vital question.

I, for my part, believe that our method should be co-operative and our struggle united. For, after all, with all their differentiation, there are so many things which all the great religions of the World hold in common, viz., the belief in a Supreme Moral Power, the belief in an absolute moral values and the belief in the oneness of mankind. And it is these three things alone with which we are concerned here.

For one thing, international good-will and the concomitant world-peace are inconceivable without religious toleration. Unfortunately, however, the role of formal religion is not very encouraging in this respect. Positively speaking, hatred and blackmail cannot form part of the true mission of religion which actually consists in spreading light and virtue and love.

Thus keeping before ourselves the three-fold mission and concentrating first upon the moral aspect of religious effort, we the followers of world's great religions, can, or rather, should, unite against the onslaught of irreligion and immorality, while remaining loyal to our individual faiths. This will ensure peace and progress through religion, will guarantee the universal moral growth of humanity and will safeguard the religious values in general.

For the practical realization of this view, I have convened a conference of the various recognized religions in Singapore in January 1949, and we together established a society named as the INTER-RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION. All the active religious groups --- Muslims, Buddhists, the Roman Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Sikhs, etc --- were included in the constitution Soon after I also established a similar society in Indonesia and my efforts in this direction continue...

Before concluding, I wish to clarify an important fact. From the point of view of religious stability, the world of Islam is still perhaps the strongest unit, in the spite of the initiative and the remedy. It is therefore, not with any sense of weakness on the part of Islam but in the interests of large-hearted toleration and co-operation in the noble task of being united for the common aim of the spiritual and moral regeneration of humanity at large --- of all men and women irrespective of their creeds and colors --- that I have desired to forge a united religious world-front. This, in fact, has been the attitude of Islam since the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (God Bless him) and this is what the Holy Quran has taught Muslims.

Hoping this letter will find your Lordship in the beat of Health ----

I am,

Yours very truly,

Abdul Aleem Siddiqui