Page 195 - Demo

each baptism is distinctly stated and defined. The one is191performed by immersing or washing the body with water as a sign or mark of repentance; and the otheris performed no longer by water but by the Holy Spirit and the fire, the effect of which is a thorough change of heart, faith, and feeling. One purifies the body; the other enlightens the mind, confirms the faith, and regenerates the heart. One is outward, it is Judaism; the other is inward, it is Islam. The baptism of John and Jesus (pbuh) washes the shell, but the baptism of the Apostle of Allah washes the kernel. In short, the Judeo-Christian baptism is substituted by the Islamic “Ghusl” and “Wodhu” -orthe ablutions, which are performed, not by a prophet or priest, but by the believing individual himself. The Judeo-Christian baptism was necessary and obligatory so long as the baptism ofAllah-the Quránic “Sibghatu’llah”- was anticipated; and when Muhammad (pbuh) thundered the divine revelations of the Quran, then it was that the former baptism vanished as a shadow.The extreme importance of the two baptisms deserves a very serious consideration, and I believe the observations made in this article must considerably interest both the Muslims and other readers. For the point under discussion, from a religious standpoint, is vital to salvation. The Christians, I honestly maintain, are not justified in perpetuating their baptism with water ad infinitum, since their own Gospels foretell that it will be abrogated by another one which will exclude the use of water altogether. I submit the following observations to the thoughtful and impartial judgment of myreaders.What is Baptism? And what is not?(a) It is within our rights to agree of to disagree with a doctrine or a theory, but nothing can justify our conduct if we deliberately distort and misrepresent a doctrine in order to prove our own theory about it. To distort the