Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 20
BarĀhĪn-e-a H madiyya — Part Four 20 is not a phenomenon that can occur gratuitously, without taking into account the potential required of the recipient. Requisite potential is, in fact, an absolutely necessary condition for divine inspiration and revelation. The second condition is that there must exist a real need for the revelation. In the beginning, when God created man, teaching languages through revelation was a matter that fulfilled both of these conditions. Firstly, the first man possessed the requisite ability to receive revela- tion—as should have been the case. Secondly, there existed a genu- ine need that demanded revelation. For, at that time, Hadrat A dam [Adam] had no kind friend, except God Almighty, who could have taught him to speak and could have, through His teaching, made him attain the level of decency and civility. In fact, it was God Almighty alone who fulfilled all the essential needs of Hadrat A dam and, by edu- cating him in good morals and by cultivating in him good manners, exalted him to the rank of a true human being. It is true, of course, that afterwards when the descendants of Hadrat A dam spread throughout the world and the branches of knowledge that God had taught A dam became widely known to them, some of them became teachers of others; and parents, too, began to play the role of kind companions of their children to teach them language. However, there was no one for A dam other than the One God who could teach him language and educate him in the manners worthy of humanity. In place of a teacher, instructor, or mother and father, it was God alone who, after He had created him, taught him everything. In short, it was a true and necessary need of A dam that God Himself should have trained him and should have fulfilled all of his needs. But there was no such need for his progeny, because millions of people now speak various languages and teach them to their children. Moreover, as I have written above, the inherent potential, which is a necessary condition for receiving revelation, is not possessed by each and every human being. And if anyone has this inherent potential, he can even now be informed by God Almighty through revelation