Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 46
46 can no longer do so after his coming. It will also imply that while past scriptures were useful in helping people attain the station of prophethood (i. e. , through them man could reach the state where God could choose him as a Prophet), the same cannot be said of the Holy Quran. If this were true, the hearts of true believers would bleed and their spirits would be dampened. They would have thought that, with the coming into the world of ‘the Mercy unto all mankind’ and ‘the Chief of all Prophets’, new paths to spiritual progress would open up for them and they would draw even closer to the Lord of the Worlds, but, alas, he only came to close the doors that were already open—God forbid! No true believer can for a moment entertain such a thought about the Holy Prophet s as. No one who loves the Holy Prophet s as can believe such a thing. God is our witness that the Holy Prophet s as was a shoreless ocean of grace and a limitless sky of spiritual progress. He never did close the doors to grace, rather he opened them wide. The difference between him and the earlier Prophets is that while the follow - ers of earlier Prophets could only reach the rank of mu h addath and required additional guidance to reach the status of Prophet, under the Holy Prophet’s tutelage a person can attain the status of prophethood and yet remain his follower. No matter how far he progresses, he still remains the Holy Prophet’s disciple. The exal - tation of his spiritual status does not free him from the disciple - ship of the Holy Prophet s as. Instead, to the extent of exaltation, he becomes ever more indebted to the Holy Prophet s as , for it was through him that he was able to attain a status that others could not reach. In respect of nearness to God, the Holy Prophet s as has