Ahmadiyya Movement — Page 69
69 means for the assurance and conviction of such people also. One of them, as explained by the Promised Messiah, is, that such a person should for forty consecutive days offer a prayer with an unbiased mind, the last thing at night beseeching God in the following words:- “Lord, if this man who claims that God has sent him to establish the Divine faith of Islam in the world, by presenting it in its true form and thus inducing men to believe in it, has in truth been sent by Thee, then I, who, owing to my ignorance of real facts, am unable to arrive at a correct decision concerning the Truth, pray Thee, O Truth, that art the Fountain Head of all Truths, and O Guide, that art the Source of all guidance, and O Merciful One, that loveth not to see Thy creatures troubled, make his Truth manifest unto me. ” If a man prays thus for forty days with a sincere heart, God will surely, within the space of those forty days, open his heart to the Truth and manifest some sign in support of the Promised Mes- siah, and, as this is a mode of satisfaction which is entirely in the hands of God and is the result of prayer, it is bound to lead to perfect certainty and faith in the mind of the seeker. I trust that the lovers of truth in the West shall welcome this just and fair mode of arriving at a decision concerning this most important matter, for, in such a case, there can be no suspicion of a man’s mind being influenced by the eloquence or cleverness of another person. It is an appeal preferred by a creature before his Creator, and is a decision pronounced by that most Merciful Judge than Whose decision there can be no truer or more just decision. The Promised Messiah has put forward another mode of decision for the satisfaction of those enemies of his who, after a full inves- tigation of his claims, persist in the view that he is a false clai- mant and that, God did not appoint him for the reform of man- kind, and that his claim is a device fashioned by him to deceive mankind. For the satisfaction of such people, the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) prescribes that they should care-