Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 277
277 left with enough choice to make him responsible for his actions to God and to enable him to embark upon a continuous course of self-improvement. On the other hand, the sphere of his activities is circumscribed and it is not possible for him to transgress its limits. Despite all effort, it is not possible for man to discard the limitations to which human life is subject. He cannot sink into a condition of static solidity nor climb to an ethereal existence. Within his own sphere, however, he possesses great faculties and large powers and is capable of continuous improvement and progress. The Quran explains the need of belief in God and draws attention to the proofs of His existence. It emphasises that God has always sent down His word by means of revelation in times of darkness and that He manifests His power through extraordinary Signs and thus gives irrefutable proof of His existence. The Prophets and their perfect followers are indispensable for the purpose of creating in men’s minds perfect faith in God. If God were to cease to manifest His attributes through the Prophets and their followers, mankind would become a prey to doubt and uncertainty and firm faith in the existence of God would disappear. It is imperative, therefore, that so long as mankind continue to exist, divine revelation should continue to descend upon some of them. Faith in the existence of God can be maintained only through this means. From the inception of the universe God has spoken to man through His Prophets down to Jesus and on to the Holy Prophet of Islam, just as He has throughout continued to manifest His attributes of creation, hearing and seeing. In the same manner He will continue to speak till the end of time to His chosen servants and will continue to manifest His existence by these means. Reason revolts against the suggestion that God exercised His attribute of speech up to the time of Jesus but became silent thereafter or that He exercised this attribute up to the time of the Holy Prophet and thereafter became dumb for ever. As we repudiate as blasphemous any suggestion that God possessed the attribute of seeing up to the time of Jesus or up to the time of the Holy Prophet but that thereafter He ceased to see or that He was capable of creating up to the time of Jesus or up to the time of the Holy Prophet but that thereafter He lost the attribute of creation or that He was All-Powerful up to the time of Jesus or the Holy Prophet but thereafter He ceased to have any power, so we must repudiate the suggestion that God spoke up to any particular period and thereafter ceased to speak. All His attributes are perfect and everlasting. This is a self-evident truth, yet Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and a very large majority of those who call themselves Muslims have come to believe that revelation came to an end with Zoroaster or with the Prophets of Israel or with Jesus or with the Holy Prophet. The Quran utterly rejects such a notion. The Quran teaches belief in a living God and puts forward as proof the fact that He will continue ever to speak to His chosen and righteous servants as He has always spoken to them. The truth of this doctrine taught by the Quran has been confirmed in this age by the appearance of the Promised Messiah, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement. Once more the revelation received by him and by his true followers stands out as a