Hitler and God
It is very seldom that truth about the state of things in foreign countries leaks out. As a rule, foreign countries and their great men are painted as might suit the ends of propaganda. From certain utterances of Herr Hitler, it transpires that the Fuehrer is after all not the sort of ruthless man he is painted to be. It was in fact a pleasant surprise to us to find that the word God is ever on the lips of the German dictator. It is not for nothing that he has changed the whole face of his Fatherland overnight as it were. There is something in the man which make him the great force that he is. That something seems to be none other than what made Islam in its day the leading force in human civilization – viz., a living faith in God.
In his historic pronouncement on the occasion of the annexation of Austria, Herr Hitler described his dictatorship as “an instrument in Heaven’s hand”. After tracing the post-war developments in Germany, he goes on to say:
“What followed was an execution of the will of Providence. In three days, the Lord defeated them, and I was granted the grace to lead my country back. I myself lead you home. May every German bow tomorrow before the Almighty who performed the miracle.”
“The voluntary Nazification of Austria”, he went on to say, “was a miracle brought about by the will of God”.
These cannot but be the words of a man of faith and it does our heart good to find that Herr Hitler derives his inspiration from that perennial source of strength which religion puts at the disposal of man. True, the Dictator does not conceal his disgust with the Christian Church. Mark for instance the following from the various articles of creed of the new “German Faith Movement”:
“The National Church is determined to exterminate by all necessary means the Christian faith which was imposed upon Germany in the fatal year of 800, and pressed upon the German people, though it was of an entirely foreign nature and substance.”
The article further demands that the printing and publishing of the Bible and all other Christian literature should immediately be stopped. The only Scripture of the National Church is Hitler’s autobiography – “My Struggle “. In other articles of the document, it is declared that “the National Church will clean its altars of the crucifix, the Bible and all pictures of the Saint.” Then it goes on to ordain that “on the altars of the National Church, our most holy book My Struggle, shall be consecrated to God and at its left the sword shall be sanctified.” Finally, it is proclaimed in the last paragraph that “starting with the day of the establishment of the National Church of the German Reich, the Christian Cross is to be removed from all churches and cathedrals inside the frontiers of the Reich and its colonies and be replaced by the immortal symbol of Germany – the Swastika.”
This attitude towards organized Christianity may be interpreted as blasphemous in church circles but to one who does not confine God to creeds or systems, Herr Hitler’s utterances reveal a faith in God that is at once a living and a profound faith. Islam, as we all know, does not circumscribe religion in any way. According to the Quran “to Him submits whatever is in the heavens and on earth, willy-nilly.” With such a broad conception of faith who can mistake the distinct Islamic ring of the above pronouncements of the German Dictator.
One more point which strikes us as so distinctly Islamic is the combination of faith with force. Side by side with My Struggle, the new scripture of Nazi Germany is to be consecrated the sword. This is in such a striking consonance with the teachings of the Quran which puts high value on Jihad in a righteous cause. Iqbal, in his own forceful way, emphasizes this combination of the Quran with the sword in his famous lines on a Muslim princess of Lahore whom he holds up as an embodiment of Islam. “Her hands had nothing but the Quran and the sword” – says he:
دست او جز تیغ و قرآنے نہ داشت
The point of greatest similarity between modern Germany and early Islam consists in the emphasis on faith rather than intellect. Islam, no doubt, puts a very high value on intellect but the highest thing with it is faith, which is beyond the reach of the wings of intellect. The standard bearers of early Islam, men like Abu Bakr, Omar, Usman and Ali were conspicuous for their living throbbing faith rather than for any great intellectual feats. And it was their faith from which spouted the life-giving springs of water which converted the arid deserts of Arabia into a vast garden. It would be no exaggeration to say that what lies at the root of most of the ills of modern civilization is its cold, bleak, sterile intellectualism which, rather than give life, kills. It is faith that gives life. And that is what Herr Hitler’s Germany has made the anchor-sheet of her national reconstruction. And in order to produce men of faith, ten special schools, known as “Adolf Hitler’s Schools”, have been started. These schools, we are told, do not aim at furthering the so-called “research” or “scientific progress.” They are meant, in the words of the Youth Leader of Germany on the occasion of the opening ceremony of one of these schools, to produce men with the ability to lead the world which cannot come from learning. He says:
“I shall always deny that knowledge alone makes a man wise. The choice with which we are faced in this new sphere of education, is the choice between the soul and the pure intellect. However strange this may sound just now; it is this very choice which is a question of our existence or non-existence. The path followed by intellectual people of all ages led through the portal over which was written “Knowledge is Power,” into the land of negation. The removal of intellectual darkness was of greater importance to the mind, than the people, the flag or the fatherland. Our movement rose up against these cold calculators. It was and remains a revolution of the soul, existing by the beating of a living heart. It is that power, denied by the intellectuals who neither understand it nor the god who gave it, which is made manifest, namely, the power of the soul. The belief in the impossible is what will be learned in the Adolf Hitler Schools. But he who takes up the scalpel of intellectual analysis, and with it cuts open the sacred books of our people, and then picks out letter by letter, each point and explains the whole work and lowers it to the status of a mathematical equation, – such a man has no right to be a teacher.”
The Quran, 1400 years ago, had put exactly the same ideal before Muslims which Modern Germany has discovered for herself – viz., to produce the leaders of humanity. The Quran declared its express mission to be “that you (Muslims) may become a model unto humanity whereas the Apostle may be a model unto you.” And like Modern Germany, it created the force of leadership, not by training men in intellectual gymnastics but by inculcating that mysterious something known as faith.
We often come across people asking, what after all is the contribution of the Ahmadiyya Movement to the advancement of Islam? There are others who lightly dismiss the aspirations of this Movement to see the sun of Islam rise in the West in its full effulgence. For all such short-sighted friends there is enough of food for thought in the new ideology of Modern Germany and its maker. This movement stands for the revival of that lost something which made Islam great and glorious, and which Modern Germany has now discovered as the only force that can bring her world leadership – viz., Faith. No other word however is at a greater discount with the present-day Muslim than the word Faith.
This Movement stands for emphasizing just this vital aspect of Islam, the loss of which on the part of Muslims cost them their world leadership. Faith-force is a heritage of Islam. Muslims threw that heritage to the winds. This Movement is out to restore that heritage. And when once Faith has come back, the impossible becomes possible. Islamization of the West will no longer be dismissed as a wild goose chase. “The belief in the impossible is what will be learnt in the Adolf Hitler’s schools” – says the Nazi Youth Leader, already quoted. “The look of a man of faith changes the entire destiny of man” – says Iqbal:
نگاہ مرد مومن سے بدل جاتی ہیں تقدیریں
Islamization of the West undertaken by this Anjuman looks a daydream because of lack of faith. The moment faith comes the impossible will cease to look impossible and the Musalmans will as a nation take to the programme of Tabligh work in the West. Would that they may kindle some spark of faith in their bosoms and a belief in the impossible, on the authority of Herr Hitler, if not on that of the Quran.
(The Light – Friday, July 1, 1938) M. Y. K.
