Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 371
SuB-Footnote Number Three 371 heart and the same condition and intent—one, towards God who is Eternal, and the other towards God’s creatures who have been brought into being by Him. The Eternal and the created thus make a circle, the upper side of which is the Absolute and the lower half of which is the contingent. In the middle of that circle, the perfect man through his ascent and descent establishes a strong union with both sides, just as the diameter has with the two arcs of a circle. That is to say, he becomes an intermediary between the God the True and His creatures. First he is invested with the special mantle of ascent, and nearness to God and he ascends to the highest pinnacle of that nearness. Then he is brought towards God’s creatures. His ascent and descent are represented in the shape of two bows and the spirit of the perfect bearer of both relation- ships becomes the chord between the two bows. The word q a b is used in Arabic idiom for the string of a bow. Thus the literal meaning of the verse would be that he ascended—meaning, towards God—and then descended—meaning, towards creatures—and through this ascent and descent became a single chord between two bows. As his facing towards mankind results from [immersing himself in] the holy fountain of divine attributes, his attention towards mankind is exactly in accord with his facing towards God. In other words, as the Divine Master greatly inclines towards His creatures, it is as if He is lodging close to them; it follows that when a seeker after God arrives at the ultimate point of his sojourn towards Allah, he must necessarily revert to where God is. Therefore, perfection of his danuww —that is, perfect nearness to God—becomes the cause of his tadall a — that is, descent [towards man]. یحی الدین و یقیم الشریعۃ. He will revive the Faith and will establish the Shariah. یا اٰدم اسکن انت و زوجك الجنۃ. یا مریم اسکن انت و زوجك الجنۃ. یا احمد اسکن انت و زوجك الجنۃ. نفخت فیك من لدنی روح الصدق. O A dam! O Maryam [Mary]! O Ahmad! Dwell you and your