Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part III — Page 249
Sub-Footnote Number Two 249 financially constrained and in dire need of money, what would be a better way to fulfil your worldly needs than to leave everything aside and immediately take up the task of showing from your own scriptures all of the divine sciences, rational insights and spiritual effects of the Holy Quran, and receive your reward. Thus, you would earn yourself great renown, for you would have succeeded where Hadrat Mas ih had failed and was forced to leave this world, admitting the deficiency of his teachings. The battle which he turned his back on would be won by you. In a sense, Christians would regard you as superior to the Messiah, for you would have revealed the perfection of a book which the Messiah had always considered imperfect. Being in desperate financial straits, how can you turn away from the chance of receiving such a large sum. If, perchance, you are unable to undertake the task by yourself, you are welcome to seek the cooperation of two, four, ten or even twenty of the missionaries who go about in towns and villages—serving no good purpose—and then see what comes of fighting God. Otherwise, the honesty and righteousness of the Christians—whatever it is—will become apparent to anyone who reads my valiant challenge and hears your sorry excuses. In the May 25, 1882 issue of N u r Afsh an , another Christian gentleman enquires as to the signs or conditions that distinguish between a true saviour and a false one. The answer is that the true saviour, who comes from God, can only be the one through whose obedience one is led to true salvation. In other words, God so blesses his discourse that his per- fect follower is delivered from the darkness of the self and impurities of human nature, and his heart is filled with the light that necessarily accompanies pure hearts. But as long as a follower falls short of full obedience, the darkness of his soul will not disappear, nor will inner light make itself manifest. This, however, will not be the fault of the Prophet who is being followed, but of the one who claims to be the follower, who, owing to doctrinal or practical errors, is deprived and veiled. This is the true mark of distinction that does not leave one at the mercy of old fables and tales; rather, it enables him to become a seeker