A Homage To the Beloved and I: Hadith Qudsi 18: You Would Have Found Me There

The following is a homage, in which I have written to my “Beloved” hero, mentor, and dear friend, Dr. Thomas McElwain and his work the Beloved and I. It is a poetical rendition of a Hadtih Qudsi, or a hadith which either the meaning, wording, or both originate with God instead of the Prophet. Included is a commentary in verse form as well. The original can be found here: http://sunnah.com/qudsi40/18

Hadith Qudsi 18: You Would Have Found Me There

God will say

On Resurrection’s Day:

Oh Adam’s child, could you not see?

I was sick and you did not visit Me!

The person will then state:

O’ Lord how could your condition I abate?

O’ Lord how could I have visited You, when you are the Lord of all that is and is not in view.

God will say,

To such a person on that Day:

Did you not know,

My servant so and so

Had became ill,

Yet you did not visit him still.

Did you not realize if you had visited him, had you shown a care,

Then with him, you would have found Me there?

 

O Adam’s child, could you not see?

I asked you for food and you did not feed Me!

The person will then state:

O’ Lord how could your condition I abate?

O’ Lord how could I have fed You, when you are the Lord of all that is and is not in view.

God will say,

To such a person on that Day:

Did you not know,

My servant so and so

Had asked you for food,

Yet you were not in a giving mood.

Did you not realize if you had fed her, had you shown a care,

Then with her, you would have found Me there?

 

O Adam’s child, could you not see?

I asked you for drink and you gave none to Me!

The person will then state:

O’ Lord how could your condition I abate?

O’ Lord how could I have given drink to You, when you are the Lord of all that is and is not in view?

God will say,

To such a person on that Day:

Did you not know,

My servant so and so

Had asked you for something to drink,

Yet you did not quench their thirst, you did not think.

Did you not realize if you had given drink to them, had you shown a care,

Then with them you would have found Me there?

Commentary

This is given in Muslim, with a version in Al-Kafi too

And to the Christian, with something similar said in Matthew.

No matter where it appears, the meaning remains the same.

What you do to the least of man, to God, it is as if you have done the same.

It is not enough that we love God,

But you must also love your fellow man and all who live on the sod.

On the Day of Resurrection, when the Earth quakes,

God will ask, “Where are those who love each other for My sake?”

I once met an Indonesian boy, no older than seven or eight.

He looked like he had hardly ever ate.

He wanted to sell me a newspaper, but I declined,

Opting instead, to give him a few thousand rupiah, as I had not the knowledge of Indonesian in my mind.

As I did, I was in an elated mood,

But I was soon overcome with regret, as I should have asked if he wanted some food.

My Beloved, perhaps my greatest fear,

Is that on the Day of Judgment, “I was hungry and you fed me not” is what I will hear.

Quran 2:186-188 and its verse commentary from The Beloved and I

The following is a poetical translation of Quran 2:186-188 and its verse commentary from The Beloved and I, The New Jubilees Translation of Scripture by Dr. Thomas McElwain. This particular section deals with some of the issues surrounding Ramadan, particularly when to begin fasting and what one is allowed to do with their spouses at night.

186 When My servants ask you about
Me, tell them truly without doubt
I am near, and I answer prayer
Of supplicant beseeching there,
So let them hearken to My say,
Believing in me so that they
May be led into the right way.
187 You may in the nights of your fast
Go in into your wives at last,
They are an apparel for you
And you for them in what you do,
God knows you yourselves held it wrong
So He has turned toward you in song
With His forgiveness, therefore go
In unto them and seek to show
What God has prescribed for your living
And eat and drink what He is giving
Until the dawn’s white streak appears
To you from out the black night’s fears,
And after that complete the fast
And have no intercourse at last
While confined to the mosques. These
bounds
Were prescribed for you on God’s grounds,
So do not approach to your wives,
And so God makes clear in your lives
His signs to humankind so they
May guard themselves from evil way.
188 And do not swallow up your wealth
Among yourselves by wrong, in stealth
Seek to gain access thereby to
Authorities in order to
Swallow up a portion of wealth
Of other men, wrongly, in stealth,
While you indeed know what to do.

Let the white thread of dawn prevent my
drink
And bread, let me in everything I think
And do and say feed on the bread of day
That comes from You. I wait the silver ray
To taste the blessings of the month once set
For fasting from both food and water met
In body now grown past the hunger time.
My body’s fasting at this age of mime
Is only memory of that sweet fruit
Once held on tongue when youth was in the
root.
My fast is now in You alone as I
Draw nearer to the throne of merging sky.
I wait the silver ray to meet You there
Where You and I shall breakfast on the air.

An Homage To the Beloved and I: The Prideful Trees

The following is a homage, in which I have written to my “Beloved” hero, mentor, and dear friend, Dr. Thomas McElwain and his work the Beloved and I. It is a poetical rendition of a story from the aggadah, or narrative material from Rabbinical literature, with an Islamic commentary written in a rhyme scheme. The story is taken from Louis Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews Volume One. You can read the original here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/loj/loj103.htm

The Prideful Trees
The main subject of day three of creation,
Was the realm of plants and their first generation.
The cedars of Lebanon were the first of these,
As well as the rest of the great trees.
In their pride at having being put first,
They shot up high in the air, in a mighty thrust.
They considered themselves the favored among plants.
Seeing this God then spoke, “I hate arrogance
And I also hate pride,
For I alone am exalted and none beside.”
God was surely not lying
As on the same day He created iron.
The element which causes trees to fall
At this the trees began to bawl.
When God asked the reason for their tears,
They said, to explain the reason of their fears,
“Because you have created iron to chop us down
This is surely the reason why we frown.
All of this time, we thought ourselves the highest
Of the Earth,
Now iron, our destroyer has experienced birth.”
God replied: “You yourself will furnish the axe with a handle,
Without your approval, the ax cannot act against you as a vandal.”

Commentary 
Oh my beloved, I am indeed a not too wise bloke,
But I do realize that pride alone is your cloak
And greatness Your robe,
And that none may imitate Your wardrobe.
Indeed you are the most compassionate of all,
Taking pity on the trees, even after their ego grew
Tall.
Though sometimes our hubris moves us out of our
Predetermined place,
As with the trees, we are never outside of your grace.
You are a God of wrath, but even more so of mercy
While I wrong myself, You look for reasons to save me.

Ecclesiastes chapter 1 With a Sufi Commentary From The Beloved and I

The following is a poetical translation of Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and its commentary, a Sufi meditation in poetry form, from The Beloved and I, The New Jubilees Translation of Scripture by Dr. Thomas McElwain. The book of Ecclesiastes is reckoned among the third canonical division of the Hebrew Bible, the Writings, in the Jewish tradition. In the Christian Bible it is found among the poetical and wisdom books. In his introduction to the book, Dr. McElwain writes:

A farmer now retired came to my gate
The other day and sat down to relate
That Solomon spoke in the Proverbs fair
The wisdom to delight and show the stair
To heaven to the steps in youthful start.
The book that follows is a different art.
Instead of wisdom a priori he
Looks back with learned chagrin wisely to
see.
Foresight and hindsight both are all around
And taught by Solomon in heavenly sound.
Beloved, let me go now beyond that way
Until I come to insight with the ray
That Solomon shines on me day to day.
I draw me to Your throne and there I stay.

1 The words of the Preacher, the son
Of David, in Jerusalem
Reigning as king, named Solomon.
2 “Vanity of vanities,” said
The Preacher in his stratagem,
“Vanity of vanities, all
Is vanity and to it wed.”
3 What profit has a man from all
His labour in which his toils call
Under the sun, under the sun?
4 One generation passes on,
Another generation’s dawn
Comes, but the earth abides forever.
5 The sun also rises to sever
Night, and the sun goes down, and hastens
To the place where it rises, chastens.
6 The wind goes toward the south, and
turns
Around to northward, whirls and spurns
About continually, and comes
Again on its circuit in sums.
7 All the rivers run to the sea,
Yet the sea does not come to be
Full. To the place from which they come,
There they return again in sum.

All things indeed turn in the cycle brought
From all eternity and at last sought
By time and place and matter in the light.
All things indeed return before Your sight.
The turning and returning of creation
At first marks human mind with an elation
Until the whirling falls in weight of dream
And takes the edge from taste of things that
seem.
Beloved, I too return before Your face,
To that one face to which all things must
race
In spirals and gyrations of the mind
And body too among the more refined.
Beloved, I too return to find that none
Exist in truth but You, the only One.

8 All things are full of weary toil,
A man can hardly tell the foil,
The eye is never satisfied
By all the sights with which it’s plied,
Nor ear filled with hearing the spoil.
9 The past repeats itself again,
What men have done, again shall men
Do, no new thing’s under sun’s ken.
10 Is there anything can be said
To be innovation when spread?
It’s already been of old time
Before us in the ancient rime.
11 No remembrance of what’s before,
No remembrance of what’s in store
Shall come after the thing’s in core.
12 Well, I the preacher was the king
Of Israel in Jerusalem.
13 I gave my heart to seek the thing
And search out by wisdom the gem
Of all done under heaven’s eye.
It’s a God-given task to vie.
14 I’ve seen all that’s done under sun,
All’s vanity, vexation won.
15 What’s crooked cannot be made
straight;
That which is wanting has no weight.
16 I pondered in my heart and said
”See, I have grown an adult head
With more wisdom than all before
Me in Jerusalem’s fair door,
Indeed my heart had much in store
Of wisdom and of knowledge lore.
17 ”I set myself to find out truth,
To know madness and folly’s youth,
And saw this too to be no more
Than spirit’s vexing at the door.
18 ”For in much wisdom is much grief,
To increase knowledge for relief
Is only to increase the grief.”

There are some in the dress of faith who
say
That innovation in faith’s the wrong way.
In fact there is no new thing under sun,
And innovation’s a misnomer won.
What seems to be a new thing and a fresh
Is just the old false way in a new mesh.
It’s only ignorance of the past rate
That makes anything seem new in the state.
Enthusiasm hits the ban because
It’s blind to former laws and present cause.
Beloved, I see the track of great and tall
Upon the cobblestones along the mall
And follow at a distance to remain
Apart from innovation’s new-found gain.

A Poetical Commentary on Surah Al-Ikhlas from The Beloved and I

The following is a poetical translation of Surah (chapter/section) 112 of the Quran, Al-Ikhlas, and its verse commentary from The Beloved and I, The New Jubilees Translation of Scripture by Dr. Thomas McElwain. This surah is one of the most important surahs of the Quran and is also one of the most utilized ones as well, being used by Muslims to protect against magic and jinn, as well as recited as a part of a prayer at the grave of a deceased loved one. The Prophet is reported to have said that this surah, despite the fact that it is only four verses, is equal to one third of the Quran. (Sahih Bukhari book 93, Hadith number 471, Majma’-al-Bayan vol. 10, p 561)

Surah 112 Al-Ikhlas, or Purity (of Faith)
In the name of God Most Gracious, Merciful.
1 Proclaim alone He God is one.
2 God without need of anyone.
3 He is not born, He sires no son,
4 There is none like him, no, not one.

Truly, my Beloved, there is none like You!
The One and Only, Allah Allah Huu!
Eternal, Absolute, in need of none,
Truly, my Beloved, You alone are One!
For You give birth to nothing I may know,
In You there is no change, no come and go,
You have no birth, You have no source at all,
Time, place, inside or out the earthly ball.
Creation is an idol if by it
I might attempt to give You space or fit.
No weight or colour, sequence, sour or sweet
Can touch Your essence, trace Your hands and feet.
Invisible to eye and mind above,
I cannot know You, I can only love.

A Poetical Commentary on Quran 2:152 from The Beloved and I

The following is a poetical translation of Quran 2:152 and its verse commentary from The Beloved and I, The New Jubilees Translation of Scripture by Dr. Thomas McElwain. The Beloved and I is an anthology consisting of the Catholic cannon of the Hebrew Bible, the books of Jubilees and Enoch, the New Testament, the Gospels of Thomas, Barnabas, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Infancy Gospel of James, and the Quran, with commentary in verse form. “It is a contemplation of the “I” from a Sufi perspective.”

 

Therefore remember Me and I

Shall remember You on the sly,

And be thankful to Me and so

Not any ingratitude show.

I have my words of remembering Your

name,

Beloved, and celebrating Your great fame.

I come reciting all Your names to whirl

Before the sapphire sky with gates of pearl.

I enter in the dance of universe,

Pronouncing every blessing, every curse,

And rising in a spark of love on high

Until the self and human will shall die.

You too, Belovèd, have names to recite,

Remembrance that lifts You too in the

light,

Invisibly in joy You too speak out

In words that sing creation all about.

Your name is my remembrance and my

song,

My name is Your reciting my lifelong.

My breath, Beloved, recites Your lovely

name

And repeats Huu no matter what the claim

Of veils and visions that conceal from sight

The glories of Your being and Your might.

So I can choose no other thing but You

No matter what my wayward will would do

That is without substance and without

shame.

But You, Beloved, at any moment can

Obliterate the memory of a man.

If You remember me, it is because

You choose to love, and not for any laws.

And yet perhaps in that We are yet one

Since there’s no I but You when all is done.

The wind blew on the sand and the tide ran.

An Interview With Dr. Thomas McElwain

Recently I had the pleasure to interview the renowned international religious scholar and author, Dr. Thomas McElwain. He discusses his background, his work, and so much more!

Perspectives Of A Fellow Traveler: Can you tell our readers about your Educational and religious background?

Dr. Thomas McElwain: I was educated in Seventh-day Adventist schools from the first grade to the end of college, except for the sixth grade. Monterey Bay Academy in California, Antillian College in Puerto Rico, and Séminaire Adventiste in Collonges, France. Then summer school in Andrews University. I then studied Ethnography in Uppsala University in Sweden through the doctoral level, but did not present a dissertation. Instead, I went to Stockholm and studied Comparative Religion under Åke Hultkrantz and finished a Ph.D. with a dissertation on Iroquois mythology. I completed the grade of docent in Stockholm in 1981. That’s it for education. My parents were Seventh-day Adventists, but I left that as soon as I got old enough to think for myself. My grandmothers were very influential. My mother’s mother had a Quaker background that influenced me highly, especially through the Hicksite tradition and finally back to Edward Elwall, who was a Sufi from a Turkish order. My father’s mother was a Baptist, but whose father was a Sufi as well. She was a vigorous admirer of Imam Khomeini. These two women were the most influential people in my religious world. That’s it in a nutshell. I’m sort of a Quaker hard-shell Baptist Sufi who has practiced Islam for several decades. Just like Edward Elwall, except I don’t wear a turban or 18th-century Turkish dress.

POAFT: What exactly is the Beloved and I?

Dr. McElwain: The Beloved and I is a rhymed verse translation (to the extent I’ve been able to translate from the Hebrew, Greek and Arabic) of the wider canon of the Bible, books of Enoch and Jubilees, apocryphal gospels and Qur’an, all armed with about 8000 commentaries in a verse form combining features of the sonnet and the ghazel. It is a contemplation of the “I” from a Sufi perspective, which may be claiming too much. It takes something approaching a fool or an idiot to need two and a third million words to fail to explain what the English word “I” means. I have written other books, both academic and apologetic, prose as well as verse.

The Beloved and I

POAFT: Not everybody makes a translation of The Bible nor of the Qur’an, to the best of my knowledge no one has ever done both. More so they have never, in their entirety, been included in the same anthology. In addition, you have included a few of the most important works of the Apocrypha and Psuedipigraphia of The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and of the New Testament Apocrypha, What was your inspiration?

Dr. McElwain: To my knowledge, no one has every set either one to rhymed verse either. So my inspiration was probably a lame attempt to get into the Guiness book of records. That must be it, because I surely did not have the temerity to imagine that anyone would ever read all of that. I must admit with humility, however, that a few people actually have. Actually, it was inspired by the practical need of producing a weekly reading for the dhikr in which I participate each week.

POAFT: Of The Texts not included in the Bible, why did you chose these to include as opposed to the countless others?

Dr. McElwain: chose all of the texts in function of one criterion: the text must state or imply adherence to the Decalogue [Ten commandments]. I see the Decalogue as a brief and comprehensive expression of Abrahamic faith. It is the only such text in all of the classical scriptures of the world that claims to have been spoken by God directly to a large, representative segment of humanity, without the medium of an angel, prophet, or vision. That gives it an objective distinction. So I have used it as a criterion or rule of thumb. Obviously, I have not been able to include all texts that might fit the criterion. But I think all that I have included do so. The first “commandment” I find to be fundamental, from which all else is derived: Thou shalt have no other gods but Me. I think that the principles of the Decalogue are foundational to all religious traditions, though all of them might not affirm everything in the Decalogue of Exodus 20. All religions prohibit murder, thievery, false testimony, etc.

POAFT: Is there any benefit to studying these texts together?

Dr. McElwain: Both believers and scholars have tended to focus on their differences. This is a skewing of reality. There has to be a fundamental consistency at some level, or they would never have been compiled together in the one book of the Bible, nor would the Qur’an have referred to the earlier Scriptures in confirmation of its own validity. It seems strange to me that this obvious fact is rather often ignored. Study of these texts in view of finding such fundamental consistency and focusing on it ought to contribute to both understanding other people and their faiths and fostering peaceful existence among them.

POAFT: Have you received any criticism for grouping these texts together?

Dr. McElwain: Yes. I’ve lost all my friends!

POAFT: Is there any text not currently in The Beloved and I that you would like to add to it?

Dr. McElwain: Yes. The Gospel of Barnabas. The battle of the books, which I earlier saw as serving at least some good purpose in keeping controversy focused on texts rather than killing each other, has not succeeded in keeping peace. Physical violence between so-called Muslims and so-called Christians has increased. Given the recent events in the world, I think the recognition that The Beloved and I gives to the common foundations of humanity is more acutely important than ever. The defense of one segment of the Abrahamic Scriptures, coupled with an attack on another segment of them, is misguided and contributes to an atmosphere of suspicion and eventually physical violence. It is unacceptable. My refusal to engage in anti-Bible or anti-Qur’an activity has aroused some opposition and hatred. I do not for a moment see myself as a victim or a failure. It is a simple fact that I lost my Christian or Baptist audience when I wrote Islam in the Bible. I lost my Muslim audience when I wrote The Beloved and I, even though it consistently supports Islamic views. My work does not support the general trend towards polarization and violence, and for that reason is not popular or even acceptable today. That may or may not change in future. I have done my duty and am satisfied.

POAFT: Why do you think people are attracted to polarization and violence?

Dr. McElwain: The surface reason is because of business interests determining government policy and the need to manipulate the population to accept that. The fundamental reason of course lies in a spiritual issue. The spiritual issue is the fact that God has given the divine gift of self-consciousness to each individual. That results in either experiencing oneself as god and feeling threatened by other people or in seeing the divine in every other individual. The former experience is the root of all violence.

A young Dr. McElwain

POAFT: From my experiences with languages I know that between two languages there are rarely word for word equivalents. Translating is no easy task, and translating is largely interpretation. Would you agree with this?

Dr. McElwain: Definitely. That is why I think Jews and Muslims are wise to maintain the original-language recitation of Scripture, and Christians unwise to relinquish it.

POAFT: Can you describe how much more difficult it is to translate something into poetry than prose?

Dr. McElwain: I think it depends on the person. The craft of versification can be acquired by anyone, but it must be acquired. I actually expected versification to be a greater challenge than it was. My translation of the Bible into verse is often actually more literal and word-for-word faithful to the original than most modern prose translations.

POAFT: How long did it take to complete The Beloved and I?

Dr.. Mc. Elwain: Nine and a half years.

POAFT: What are some of your favorite verses from the Beloved and I?

Dr. McElwain: Surah 1 Al-Fatihah or the Opening

1 In the name of God most gracious, merciful,

2 All praise is God’s, Lord of the Universe,

3 Most gracious Lord and Lord most merciful,

4 King of the Day of judgement, 5 we rehearse

To You alone our worship and petition.

6 Guide us, O Lord, in Your right admonition,

7 In ways of peace in Your bounties’ fruition,

Not in their path who know Your wrath

Nor in their way whose steps go to perdition.

Surah 112 Al-Ikhlas, or Purity (of Faith)

In the name of God Most Gracious, Merciful.

1 Proclaim alone He God is one.

2 God without need of anyone.

3 He is not born, He sires no son,

4 There is none like him, no, not one.

[Commentary To Surah 112]

Truly, my Beloved, there is none like You!

The One and Only, Allah Allah Huu!

Eternal, Absolute, in need of none,

Truly, my Beloved, You alone are One!

For You give birth to nothing I may know,

In You there is no change, no come and go,

You have no birth, You have no source at all,

Time, place, inside or out the earthly ball.

Creation is an idol if by it

I might attempt to give You space or fit.

No weight or colour, sequence, sour or sweet

Can touch Your essence, trace Your hands and feet.

Invisible to eye and mind above,

I cannot know You, I can only love.

POAFT: Other than The Beloved and I, what are some of your favorite English translations of the Bible, The Quran, and the Other texts? And what is it about these that you like?

Dr. McElwain: I like the elevated language of the King James Version of the Bible. For the same reason I like Pickthall’s translation of the Qur’an.

POAFT: You have also authored several more books have you not? what are they?

Dr. McElwain: Islam in the Bible, London Lectures, Secret Treasures of Salaat, Invitation to Islam are some apologetic works that come to mind. I recently did Psalms in Brief. Academic books are Mythological Tales and the Allegany Seneca; Our Kind of People; and Adventism and Ellen White. I have pretty much turned away from public dialogue in recent years, as any discourse at all seems to feed violence in the present atmosphere. I do dhikr and wait for change. May Allah have mercy on the world, since humankind does not.

POAFT: Unfortunately I have not read all of your work, but I have read your Islam in the Bible. I knew Judaism, Christianity, and Islam was linked and as a Muslim I believe that God sent prophets to teach his message long before the advent of the prophet Muhammad. I was also aware of the practices of ancient Israel. However, it did not dawn on me that there was overlap between their practices and the pillars of Islam, other than the belief in strict monotheism. Is it common for people not to see this? If So why do you think it is?

Dr. McElwain: Jews are generally aware of this, while Christians are not. I suspect it has something to do with the Christian habit of reading the Hebrew Scriptures allegorically and not taking the literal meaning seriously. They would be likely to skip over the literal similarities, then, as most of them are in the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Old Testament, as it is called.

Islam In The Bible

POAFT: What inspired you to write Islam In The Bible?

Dr. McElwain: I was asked to lecture about the Bible in various Islamic venues in several countries. I used the material from those lectures then to produce the book.

POAFT: Do you think it is possible to be a practicing Muslim and to read and study the Bible?

Dr. McElwain: It is possible to be a practicing Muslim and study and read all of the classical religious books of the world. Al-Biruni is certainly one of the major founders of the science of comparative religion, which is thus to be considered an Islamic science. The fact that comparative religion is no longer seen as an Islamic science merely shows that current Islam is deficient and no long represents the original flowering of the faith. This is precisely one of the central flaws of contemporary Islam.

But the Bible is the most important pre-Islamic source for Muslims. The Bible was read and studied by Islamic scholars in all of the medieval Islamic empires as well as in the Ottoman Empire, where a knowledge of the Bible was required of high level clerics. Probably one of the best translations of the Bible into any language is that of Ali Bey, who was a revert and functionary in the Ottoman Empire. His translation, with some adjustment, was used by Christians until recently. The Evangelical translation into Turkish that is now replacing it is noticeably inferior. One of the major changes is the replacement of the Ottoman Turkish word Allah with Tanri. This feeds the abusive and divisive trend in current discourse which maintains that Allah has nothing to do with the God of the Bible and is merely a pagan moon god. Using Bible translation to affirm such nonsense is immoral.

POAFT: Does studying the Bible benefit Muslims in any way?

Dr. McElwain: It provides them with a realization of the continuity of revealed faith. It also provides the foundation upon which the Qur’an stands. Much of the Qur’an is a commentary or an extension of the Bible. Without a knowledge of the Bible, much of the Qur’an is subject to misapprehension.

POAFT: Do you think Jews and Christians should read the Qur’an? If so do you believe it is beneficial for them in any way?

Dr. McElwain: It is certainly beneficial for them, if they read it with the intention of discovering what Islam teaches. If they read it with the intention of finding excuses to incite genocide against the Muslim population, then they had better not read it. Reading the Qur’an without malice can only be beneficial.

POAFT: Does studying the Apocryphal Books and Psuedepigraphia have any benefits for Jews, Christians, and Muslims?

Dr. McElwain: There are two major benefits. The Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphical writings illuminate history and the faith configurations of the times in which they were written. Secondly, they are often very spiritual in content and provide real devotional material. For example, the Gospel of Barnabas, is a case in point. It is generally read either to disprove it and show it to be a fraud, or to prove that Muhammad was predicted before hand or to prove that Jesus did not die on the cross. I have never seen anyone quoting it for any other purpose. And yet, it contains a great deal of material of the highest spiritual quality. I would say that hardly any other single writing has impressed me so much in a practical way as this book.

POAFT: I have started reading your translation of The Writings of Edward Elwall. He seems like a very interesting fellow. Can you describe who he was for our readers and tell us what inspired you to translate his work?

Dr. McElwain: Actually, it is not a translation, but simply a copy. I visited the Dr Williams’s Library in London where most of his writings are found. I copied them into a computer file and finally posted them on the internet, where people could access them. Edward Elwall has been rather much my mentor for a long time. He is listed as a Unitarian Quaker who lived at the beginning of the 1700s, but he was also a member, apparently of the Mill Yard Sabbatarian Baptist Society in London and the Presbyterian church in Wolverhampton. But he belonged to a Turkish dervish order and commonly wore a turban and Turkish dress.

POAFT: Is there any subject you would like to write about one day that you have not yet written?

Dr. McElwain: Rather many! I’d like to write an acrostic on the Vulgata, every letter forming the first letter of each line of rhymed verse! I wonder how long it would take… (laughs)!

POAFT: (laughs) All of your works are available online, one can purchase a printed edition or get a pdf copy for free right?

Dr. McElwain: That’s right, although I’ve had complaints about not being able to download. In that case, I just send people a pdf file.

POAFT: Thank you very much Dr. McElwain for taking the time to talk with me, it is always a pleasure to talk with you. I hope we can do it again soon.

Dr. McElwain: My pleasure!

Once again I would like to thank Dr. McElwain for his time. Be sure to check out Dr. McElwain’s work and get your copy of The Beloved and I at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/thomasmcelwain