Ahmadiyya Priangan Timur

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Monday 2 March 2015

Doors to Divine Understanding Opened by the Holy Qur’an

The Holy Qur’an opens three doors for bestowing the understanding of truth. One is the door of reason. The  way of reasoning has been perfectly employed for the recognition of the existence of God and His attributes of Creation, Unity, Power, Compassion and Self-Subsistence. In the course of this reasoning logic and eloquence, physics and medicine, astronomy and mathematics, philosophy and the method of debate, have all been brought into play most appropriately whereby difficult problems have been resolved. This method is extraordinary and is a miracle of reasoning. Great philosophers who invented logic and laid down the rules of philosophy and occupied themselves much with physics and astronomy were not able, on account of the deficiency of their reason, to employ this learning in support of their faith. Nor were they able to correct their own mistakes or to confer any religious benefit upon others. Indeed most of them remained atheists or heretics or weak of faith, and those of them who believed in God Almighty to some degree mixed up error and truth and compounded the impure with the pure and thus went astray. It is thus miraculous that this Divine reasoning commits no mistake and has employed the learnings that we have mentioned for such a high purpose as no human being has attempted. It is enough proof that the statements of the Holy Qur’an with regard to the existence of the Divine and His attributes of Unity and Creation and other perfect attributes, are so comprehensive that they cannot be exceeded, nor is it possible for any man to put forth a new argument. If anyone doubts this, let him put forward some intellectual reasoning in support of the existence or the Unity or Creativeness or any other Divine attribute, so that we might point out from the Holy Qur’an the same arguments or even better ones for which we make ourselves responsible. This claim and this praise of the Qur’an are not mere words, but are true in fact, and no one can put forward an argument in support of the true doctrine which the Holy Qur’an has not put forward. The Holy Qur’an at many places loudly claims perfect comprehensiveness for itself ....

The second door of Divine understanding which the Holy Qur’an has opened wide, is intellectual fine points which on account of their extraordinary nature could be called intellectual miracles. They are of many types. First, the knowledge of the insights of the faith, that is to say, all high insights in the matter of faith and all its holy verities and all the fine points of the knowledge of the Divine which are needed in this world for the perfection of the soul are fully set out in the Holy Qur’an; so also, all the illnesses of the self that incite to sin and its passions and all the remedies and requirements that are needed and all the ways of the purification of the soul and all the signs and characteristics and essentials and high moral qualities are fully dealt with. No one can set forth a verity or Divine point or a way of reaching God or a rare or holy discipline or form of Divine worship which is not mentioned in the Qur’an. Secondly, there is knowledge of the qualities of the soul and of psychology which is found in such a comprehensive way in this miraculous Word that those who reflect can appreciate that this is not the work of any except the All-Powerful. Thirdly, there is the knowledge of the beginning, of the hereafter, and other hidden matters which are an essential part of the word of the Knower of the hidden, which comforts the hearts and proves the knowledge of the hidden possessed by the All- Powerful God. This knowledge is found in such detail and abundance in the Holy Qur’an that no other book can compare with it in this respect. Besides this, the Holy Qur’an has also pressed into the service of the faith knowledge of other subjects, in a miraculous manner. In this respect it has kept in mind logic, physics, philosophy, astronomy, psychology, medicine, mathematics, and the knowledge of composition, and has used them for expounding and explaining the knowledge of the faith, or facilitating its understanding, or for drawing any conclusion from it or repelling the objection of some ignorant person. In short, all these subjects are set out in the Holy Qur’an for the service of the faith in such an extraordinary manner that every type of intellect can derive benefit from them....

The third door of the understanding of the Divine which the Holy Qur’an has opened is the door of spiritual blessings which can be called its miracle of effect. Every intelligent person knows that the country of the birth of the Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] was a limited peninsula called Arabia, which was cut off from all other countries. Even a bigoted opponent, who has some knowledge, cannot deny that before the advent of the Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] the people of this country led a wild and animal existence and were entirely unaware of religion, or faith, or the rights of God, or the rights of man, and that through the centuries they had been steeped in idol worship and other impure notions, and had reached the extremes of debauchery, drinking, gambling and other vices, and did not regard theft, robbery, murder, infanticide, devouring the substance of orphans or trespassing against the rights of others as a sin. In short, every vicious condition and every type of darkness and heedlessness enveloped the hearts of the Arabs. Then, it is also known that the same ignorant and wild and impious people embraced Islam and accepted the Holy Qur’an and were completely changed. The effectiveness of the Divine Word and the companionship of the Immaculate Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] so changed their hearts suddenly within a short time, that after their period of ignorance they were enriched with the insights of faith, and abandoning the love of the world, they were so lost in the love of God that they abandoned their homes and dear ones, and their honour and comforts for the sake of winning the pleasure of Allah, the Glorious.

Both these pictures of their original condition and of the new life, which they acquired after their embracing Islam, are set out so clearly in the Holy Qur’an that a righteous and good-hearted person's eyes are filled with tears at reading the account. What was it then which pulled them away from one world into another so rapidly? There were two things; one was that that immaculate Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] was most effective in his holy power such as never was nor will be. Secondly, it was the mighty and wonderful effect of the Holy Word of the absolutely Powerful, Ever-Living and Self-Subsisting God, which pulled a large population out of thousands of darknesses into the light. Without doubt, this effect of the Holy Qur’an is miraculous for no one can cite another instance in the world that a book had proved so effective. Who can give proof that another book brought about such a change and such reform as was brought about by the Holy Qur’an?

Hundreds of thousands of the holy ones testify that by following the Holy Qur’an, Divine blessings descend upon the heart and a wonderful relationship is established with the Divine. Divine lights and revelation descend upon the hearts, and insights and fine points issue from mouths. They are bestowed a strong trust and a firm certainty and the delicious love of God, which is nurtured by the delight of meeting, is generated in their hearts. If their beings are ground down in the mortar of calamities and are squeezed in powerful presses, their essence would be found only to be the love of God. The world is unaware of them and they are far above and higher than the world. The treatment accorded to them by God is miraculous. It has been disclosed to them that God does exist; and that He is One. When they pray to Him, He hears them; and when they call on Him, He responds to them. When they seek refuge with Him, He runs to them. He loves them more than a father. He rains down blessings on their homes. They are recognized by His overt and covert and spiritual and material support. He helps them in every field for they are His and He is theirs. These things are not without proof.

[Surmah Chashm Arya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, pp. 72-79, footnote]

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