Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 105
105 and is not revealed, or that it is revealed and not his, or that a particular writing is his and not revealed, or that it is revealed and not his? If it be urged that his reason will point out the distinction to him, the answer is that if we begin to call ideas revelation, it will not take our reason long to succumb to the fancy that all our ideas are revealed and are not our own. In fact such ideas do not merely destroy our faith in true religion, but also produce so many doubts and misgivings, and encourage such loose thinking, that people who entertain such ideas begin at every step to fashion new religions and thus to deceive not only themselves but also large parts of mankind. There is no doubt that in some cases of mental derangement a man may be deceived into imagining that he hears certain voices or sees certain sights. But the security against such cases is that they are confined to maniacs and madmen, and no one is put in danger of being deceived by them. If, however, revelation is defined as ideas flashing across the mind, a perfectly sensible man may begin to believe that his ideas are revealed and there would be no means of correcting the misconception. Such a supposition results from ignorance of the nature of true revelation. If people holding this view had themselves experienced revelation they could never have been deceived as to its real nature and would have realized that God speaks to His servants in a majestic and at the same time an inexpressibly sweet voice, which is heard by them as surely as they hear other voices and that there is left no possibility of delusion or doubt about it.