The substance of this book is based on the ideas published by Dr. Israr Ahmad in 1993 in the columns of the Urdu daily
Nawa-e-Waqt of Lahore. The series of write-ups continued for a few months and were widely read with interest. The entire material, after slight editing, was published in a book form in October 1993 under the
title Sabiqa aur Maujuda Musalman Ummatun ka Mazi, Haal, aur Mustaqbil, and has since gone through many re-prints. Dr. Ahmed Afzaal rendered these ideas into English and part of it was serialized in 1995-96 in the monthly
Hikmat-e-Qur'an published by the Markazi Anjuman Khuddam-ul-Qur'an Lahore.
For putting it into a compact book, he further revised the entire material, added his own sub-titles, and made it more authentic by giving quotations from the Old and New Testaments. Indeed, he took great pains to make the citations of quite a few historical events and landmarks, particularly of early Jewish history, more authentic by giving dates and references from reliable sources. Moreover, he suggested a much more telling title for the book -
Lessons from History - and the sub-title -
Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Two Muslim Communities - puts in a capsule form the whole spectrum of ideas covered in the book.
Content
- Foreword.
- Prologue
- Traveling Through Time
- The Humiliated Ummah.
- History is the Key.
- The Wrath of Almighty Allah (swt)
- Privileges & Obligations
- The Present and former Muslim Ummah.
- Common Denominators
- The difference between Us & Them..
- A backward Glance
- Early Jewish History.
- Israels Golden Age
- First Period of Decline
- Reform & Revival the Maccabees
- The second Era of Decline
- Two of a kind. 61
- The Muslim Golden Age
- First Period of Decline
- Life After Death.
- Second Period of Decline
- Back to the present
- Moving Upwards
- First stage of Revival
- Second Dimension.
- Islamic Ressurgence
- Jewish Revival
- Third of the Trinity - The christians
- ABC of Christianity.
- Five points of Convergence
- Innovations by Paul
- The Myth of Crucifixion.
- Allies of one another
- Before the Doomsday.
- The Ascendancy of Islam.
- The Ascent of Humanity.
- The way to Gods kingdom.
- Armageddon!
- Dajjalain system of Life
- The identity of Dajjal
- About Prophet Isa (as)
- From dishonor to Exhaltation.
- The state of our Affairs
- The impending Doom..
- Repentance: The only way to Salvation.