Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 145
145 sincere faith in the Divine Being, for unless manifest and clear signs of His existence and power are witnessed, a man cannot understand that there is a God. Almost all men are helievers in God by the word of the mouth, but their deeds show that their hearts are quite strangers to the true belief in Divine existence. True faith requires a certain knowledge as the knowledge of a thing after repeated experience. Experience for instance tells us that a very small quantity of strychnia is fatal. This experience giving rise to a certain faith in its power of killing will keep a man back from its use in a quantity which is likely to cause death. The person, therefore, who is in any way involved in the bondage of sin has no faith in God, for he has not recognized Him yet. This world is the scene of many vanities, and most people are satisfied with false principles of logic. The true religion is that which reveals the face of the living God and brings a man to have such near access to him that he sees Him. When thus filled with certainty he is brought into a close and deep connection with God. He is then freed from every sin and impurity and Almighty God is thenceforward his sole trust. He reveals Himself to him by His peculiar signs and His special manifestation and the revelation of His word. From that day he knows that God is, and from that hour he is purified and cleansed of all his internal impurities. This is the true knowledge of God which is the key to heaven, but this way is not open to any one except through Islam. This is the Divine promise from the beginning that He will reveal Himself to those who follow His Holy Word. Experi- ence is our greatest witness and experience tells us that except through Islam God never reveals Himself to any one or honors any one with His Word or assists anyone with His mighty signs. How can we in opposition to our clear experience admit that