Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 159
159 conclude that the founder of that community was true in his claims and had attained to union with God. A spirit of sacrifice is an indication only of the fact that the members of the community have been able to discover nothing in the life of their leader which would stamp him as an impostor. If people believe a man to be pos- sessed of good morals, or truthful, it only shows that either they are not fully acquainted with the details of his life, or, if they have had sufficient opportunity to study every phase of his life, that he is not a deceiver and that he believes himself to be true in his claims. But it is not necessary that every person who believes himself to be true should really be true. It is quite possi- ble that he may suffer from some defect in his mind or it may be that in conformity with the views of the group to which he belongs he may believe that whatever he says is from God. Such a delusion is quite possible in the case of persons belonging to communities or groups who do not believe in verbal revelation. When a person belonging to such a group or community thinks of the advent of a promised one and sees in himself some of the general signs which may be found in hundreds of men, and is persuaded that he himself is the promised one, it is quite possible, nay, probable, that if he is a man of some influence, no matter however small it may be, he may honestly begin to think that the idea which had occurred to his mind was really from God; and thereafter he may seriously look upon himself as the promised one. As he does not feel the need of verbal revelation, it will be open to him to look upon every idea of his as a revelation from God.