Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 159
POSTSCRIPT—RESPONSE TO SOME CRITICS' OBJECTIONS 159 and the Prophets who have been the recipients of Your favours and bounties. It is evident from this verse, which is recited in the prescribed Prayer five times a day, that the spiritual reward from God—namely, cognition and love of God—is received only through Messengers and Prophets and not through any other means. I do not know whether or not Miyāń ‘Abdul-Ḥakīm Khān offers his prescribed Prayer. Had he done so, it would have been impossible for him to remain unaware of the meaning of these verses. Nevertheless, since belief in Tauḥid alone is sufficient according to him, what is the need for prescribed Prayer! Prescribed Prayer is just a form of worship taught by the Messenger. One who is not concerned with following the Messenger would have no concern for the prescribed Prayer. According to such a person, even the muwaḥ ḥid [believers in the Oneness of God] Brahmus have attained salvation. Do they offer the prescribed Prayer? In his opinion, a person, after renouncing Islam, can still attain salvation because of his belief in barren Tauhid, 1" and so can anyone from among the Jews, Christians, and Āryas who is a muwaḥḥid even if he reject Islam and be antagonistic to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who must be of the view that the prescribed Prayer earns no reward and fasting is futile. However, for a believer, just the above verse is enough to show that Prophets and Messengers alone are the owners of spiritual wealth and it is through following them that everyone partakes of his share. Moreover, the following are the opening verses of Surah al-Baqarah: 1. As far as one can understand from his writing, according to 'Abdul-Hakim Khan, there is another justification for a person to renounce Islam; namely, that a person who has not found, in his opinion, adequate arguments in fa- vour of the truth of Islam, can attain salvation even after renouncing Islam because he is not satisfied with the veracity of Islam. But he should have de- fined what, according to him, constitutes the completion of the argument. (Author)