ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Search for Truth The Truth Found Joseph (Muhammad `Ali): I was born of staunch Catholic Christian parents. My father Mr. D'Souza was a preacher who knew the Bible almost by heart. My mother an orthodox Catholic would even give us the morning coffee only after her return from church. My father was stationed in the town of Trichinopoly in South India and I stayed with my mother and other elders in the village called Lalgudi.

Even from my youngest days I was made to memorize certain verses from the Bible. After passing the fifth standard from the Elementary School in the village, I stayed with my father for my higher education in the town of Trichinopoly. By the time I passed the second form I had completed the study of all the four Gospels in Tamil and knew many important verses, in those four books, by heart.

My father sometimes took me along with him when he went to preach, and from the special attention he paid to my knowing certain controversial points, and his teaching me the methods of explaining to the others those intricacies, it was quite obvious that he wanted me to succeed him in his profession. The strong desire of the paternal love to make me a priest was implemented by educating me with a detailed knowledge of the Bible and the science of ministering it to others.

By the time I reached form four in school I could preach the gospels in my own way, supervised by my father. Many senior missionaries admired my knowledge of the important doctrines of the faith. I passed form six and joined St. Joseph's College. There I came in contact with several classmates who were protestants and whom some of them were well versed in the study of the Protestant Bible.

I often met my protestant classmates and discussed matters of regard differences in our faith and the performance of rituals. There were some Muslim students also, but I met them only in the playground for I hated meeting Muslims whom I took to be dangerous fanatics. By the time I completed the first year in the college, I was sufficiently grounded in the knowledge of the Christian faith as held by the Catholic Church and had considerable knowledge of the Protestant view point also.