Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 71
Footnote Number Eleven [Continued from Part III] It should be borne in mind here that the ideas based solely on reason suffer not only from the defect that they fall short of the stages of cer- tainty and cannot comprehend the finer points of theological matters, but they also suffer from another defect; namely, that discourses based solely upon reason are largely ineffective and futile in persuading the heart. The explanation for their ineffectiveness is that for any discourse to impact the heart it is necessary that its truth should be so well estab- lished in the mind of the listener that he should not be left with any room for doubt, and he should believe from the depth of his heart that what he is being told is not susceptible to any possibility of error. I have just demonstrated that reason alone can never lead to perfect certainty. It is thus obvious that the effects that are produced by perfect certainty and the impact made by a decisive word upon the hearts can never be expected from reason alone. This is confirmed by daily experi- ence. For instance, when a person returns home from having sojourned in a distant land then all kith and kin and even strangers inquire from him about that foreign country and their hearts are deeply affected by what he relates out of his eyewitness accounts, provided that he is not suspected of telling lies. What he relates is fully accepted and considered to be the truth without any hesitation or doubt. This is especially the case when the informer commands the reputation of being a respect- able and righteous person. Why is his discourse so deeply effective?