Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 237
Footnote Number Eleven 237 capabilities are uncreated, seek salvation through their power. The Brahm u Sam a jists, turning their faces away from the light of [Divine] Revelation, consider their intellect as their goddess which, in their false presumption, has the absolute power to lead them to God and encompasses all divine mysteries, and has control over them. Therefore, instead of worshipping God and seeking help from Him, these people address it [i. e. their intellect] with, ُنْيِعَتْسَن َكاَّيِا [ Iyy a ka nasta‘ i n —‘You alone do we implore for help’], and they are steeped in a hidden form of shirk [idolatry]. When they are advised to the contrary, they retort that intellect is among the divine gifts which has been bestowed so that man may use it for his livelihood and other enterprises, and that making use of a divine gift cannot be considered shirk. So let it be known that this is their mistake. It has been repeat- edly explained that the intellect cannot be the means of attaining the lofty objectives of perfect certainty and true insights, upon which our salvation depends. It can, however, understand the truth and reality of those insights after they have been attained. Nevertheless, that clear and perfect realization is attainable only through the pure and clear light which is present in the Being of God Almighty; and the murky and feeble light, which pertains to the human intellect is helpless here. The element of shirk arises when the Brahm u Sam a jists, turning their backs on the bright Word of God, upon which the true and perfect realization depends, make their imperfect intellect their sole guide and the foundation of their affairs. So, their diseased minds suffer from the delusion that their own intellect will lead them to the lofty goal to which divine powers and divine manifestations can lead. Now obvi- ously, what would be greater shirk than considering their own intellec- tual capabilities to be equal to divine power or even better? So observe, is the fact not true that instead of imploring God with the prayer, ُنْيِعَتْسَن َكاَّيِا [ Iyy a ka nasta‘ i n —‘You alone do we implore for help’], they address it to their own intellect? There is no need to even mention the state of the Christians. It is well known that, instead of devoting themselves to the whole-hearted