Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 51
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 51 peace be on him. Indeed it upholds and uplifts the dignity of the Holy Prophet. This position is supported fully by the Holy Quran. For instance, we are taught the supplication in the Surah Fatiha: 'Guide us along the right path, the path of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy favours. ' This supplication is made by every pious Muslim in full earnestness more than thirty times in a day. It is thus surely to be hoped that the Divine bounties referred to in this supplication would from time to time be bestowed upon righteous Muslims. What are those bounties? They are set out in the following verse of the Holy Quran: 'Whoso obeys Allah and the Messenger shall be among those upon whom Allah has bestowed His favours- the Prophets, the Faithful ones, the Martyrs and the Righ- teous; and excellent companions these are. This is Allah's grace and Allah is All-Comprehending' (4:70-1). God Almighty having Himself urged the believers to supplicate Him repeatedly and continuously that they might become the recipients of His favours and having specified the categories of those favours, would not dose the doors of any of those favours upon His righteous servants. Reading these verses together it follows inevitably that the permissible category of prophethood is, throughout, open to the righ- teous among the Muslims. Sometimes it is suggested that the use of the expression 'among', in the verse last cited, means only that those who 0bey Allah and His Messenger would be in the company of those upon whom Allah has bestowed His favours, and not that they would themselves belong to those categories. . This is an utterly untenable interpretation and is inconsistent with the use of the expression 'among' in other verses of the Holy Quran. For instance, it is said: 'Lord, forgive us our sins, cover up our faults and cause us to die with the virtuous. ' Here the same expression has been used but obviously means that in our death we should be accounted virtuous. . The Holy Quran dearly contemplates the advent of pro- phets among the Muslims. For instance, it is said: