Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 7
HAQIQATUL-WAḤI— THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION 7 them vain and arrogant. Therefore, I thought it proper to pen this trea- tise to distinguish truth from falsehood. For, I see that some of the less intelligent people are faced with a tribulation because of such people. For example, Person X, relying on his dream or revelation, declares Person Y—who also claims to be a recipient of revelation—to be a disbeliever; while Person Z, another recipient of revelation, issues an edict of disbe- lief upon them both. To make matters even more perplexing, all three claim that their own dreams and revelations are true, and even provide evidence of the fulfilment of some of their prophecies. Thus, the people face a serious trial by such contradictions, mutual accusations of false- hood, and rejection. They are left to ponder: If God is One, how could He send down revelation to Person X, say something opposite to Person Y, and then intimate something completely different to Person Z? In this way, those who are ignorant begin to doubt the very existence of God. In short, this state of affairs has become a source of anxiety for the ordinary people, and, because of it, the institution of Prophethood becomes sus- pect in their eyes. In this context, another matter which discomfits the general public is that at times true dreams are also experienced by those who are immoral, sinners, adulterers, oppressors, faithless, thieves, those who earn their living by unlawful means, and those who act contrary to the injunctions of God. For instance, I personally know that certain women belonging to the profession of sweepers, who eat carrion and live the life of criminals, personally related some dreams to me and they were fulfilled. More surprising is the fact that even prostitutes and pimps who are steeped in the filth of their profession have been known to describe some of their dreams that were fulfilled. Moreover, certain Hindus who are tainted with the filth of idolatry, and are bitter enemies of Islam, have also been known to experience dreams that came to pass accordingly. Even as I was writing this book, a Hindu from Qadian, who is a khatri by caste, came to visit me and told me of a dream in which he saw that orders had been issued for the transfer of a certain sub-postmaster, but later they were postponed. And, indeed, this is what came to pass. On various occasions, this Hindu related to me that several other dreams of his had