Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Parts I & II — Page 108
108 BAr a h i n-e-a h madiyya Therefore, it should be fully borne in mind that if anyone, in lost faith due to apathy and gross materialism. Such are the people de- scribed in this verse of the h oly Quran: i. e. whoever is blind in this world shall be blind in the next world also, indeed they shall be worse off. ( S u rah Ban i Isr a’i l , Part 15) ‡ Any scripture that fails to establish its own divine origin or the divine origin of its principles cannot open for mankind the door to eternal bliss. Instead of leading them on the path of knowledge and wisdom, it stunts their spiritual growth and casts them into the bot- tomless pit of blind following wherein they dwell like corpses, neither hearing nor seeing nor understanding. The followers of such scriptures have little regard for reason, logic, contemplation or insight, and are perfectly content with myths and stories of the past, with no desire to find the truth. h aving abandoned the gifts of reflection and delib- eration and having stifled their innate capabilities, they have become worse than non-rational beasts. Bidding farewell to the path of thought and reason—which is the essence of humanity—they descend to a level that can hardly be called human, for they no longer have the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. h ow aptly does the h oly Quran describe such people in the verse: i. e. those who blindly follow their forefathers have minds but they do not use them, they have eyes but do not see with them, and have ears but do not hear with them. They are like cattle, indeed they are worse off. ( S u rah al-A‘r a f , Part 9) § In short, the most important task of a revealed book would be to teach man the most appropriate use of the faculties inherent in his nature, so that none of the powers that God has wisely invested in him ‡ S u rah Ban i Isr a’i l, 17:73 [Publishers] § S u rah al-A‘r a f, 7:180 [Publishers]