Ahmadiyya Movement — Page 32
32 their faith may be rewarded. What is the paradise of a true lover but the manifestation of the beloved ? And, what is the reward of one distracted but nearness to his love ? That religion can alone, therefore, claim to be the true religion through which God ma- nifests Himself today as He did in ages past, and Islam is the only religion which makes that claim. The Conception of Revelation. A very serious misconception which prevailed at the time of the advent of the Promised Messiah, and which had undermined the foundations of all religions, so that the very essence of religion was being completely revoluti6nised as a result of which in place of the divine light of revelation were being substituted the ideas and conceptions of the human mind, was the entirely erroneous definition of revelation which had found general acceptance. Independence of thought and the length of time which had elapsed since the appearance of the last prophet had led the greater portion of the world to believe that revelation was mere inspiration of the mind. This was due, to one hand, to a total cessation of revelation, and, on the other, that God could not speak in words as He was not a material Being and was not de- pendent upon material means like men. The Promised Messiah explained on the basis of his personal experience that revelation is conveyed in words and the mode of conveying is as certain and free from doubt as the talking of one man to another. He pointed out that unless revelation was conveyed in words it could not be entirely free from doubt and could not lead to per- fect certainty. For, if inspiration is revelation, every man can fancy himself inspired and thus deceive himself and mislead mankind, as has actually happened in several instances since this erroneous conception of revelation has found currency. Revela- tion is intended to remove doubts and misconceptions, and if it is not conveyed in words, it opens, still wider the doors of doubt and uncertainty, for there is then no means of distinguishing