Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 363
363 Argument 12—Life-Giving Powers As the twelfth argument for the truth of the Promised Messiah as , I wish to cite his powers of resurrection. This argument, like the previous ones, is made up of thousands of sub-arguments. Today, Muslims, like Christians, believe that Jesus possessed the power to restore the dead to life. This belief, as I have shown already, is con - trary to the teachings of the Holy Quran. It amounts to Shirk , or setting up equals with God. It is subversive of faith in the One and Only God. Jesus did, in a sense, restore the dead to life, and this is a miracle that all Prophets perform. The word of God testifies to this and to deny it is to deny the Divine Word. It is the spiritual and not the physical dead who are restored to life by Prophets. In fact, to replace spiritual death (and disease) with spiritual life (and health) is the raison d’etre of the coming of Prophets. No Prophet has ever appeared in the world who did not restore the dead to life in this sense. From Adam to the Holy Prophet of Islam as , all Prophets have been raised for this purpose. One criterion by which the claims of great Prophets may be judged is whether or not they bring life to the spiritually dead. If a claimant to a spiritual office is unable to show this miracle, his claim must be held in great doubt. On the other hand, if he can demonstrate his life-giving powers, he must be a man of God. No mortal can have life-giving powers except with the sanction and support of God, and one who earns Divine sanction and support must be true in his claim. In the case of the Promised Messiah as , this sign was demon - strated so extensively that no parallel is to be found in the history of any other Prophet, except the Holy Prophet s as of Islam (God