Lecture Lahore — Page 30
30 ship, on what basis He should be taken as Omnipotent— Surb Shakt i m a n, and how man can ever recognize Him. How I wish my sympathy would touch their hearts, and they would go into seclusion to ponder over these matters. Almighty God! Have mercy on them, for they have lived alongside us for a long time; and draw their hearts to the truth, for all things are possible for You. Amin. This is the first aspect of their doctrine in which they have done grave injustice to the Peerless Creator. Transmigra- tion—the returning of the souls to this world in different forms—is the other aspect of their doctrine which relates to the creation. Despite all their claims to reason and ra- tionality, the A ryas believe that Parmeshwar is a hard- hearted being who punishes the souls for millions of years as a penalty for a single sin and keeps throwing them back into the cycle of transmigration even though they are not His creation and He has no right over them. Would it not be more appropriate to punish them for a specific number of years, as earthly governments do? Greater punishment can only be justified if one has equally greater right over the guilty, but when all particles and souls are self-existent and the Parmeshwar has no right over them—except, per- haps to cast them into repeated rebirths—He is surely not entitled to put them through such a long punishment. In Islam, although God says that He is the Creator of every particle and every soul, and the Source of all their powers, their life and their existence, He still says: