The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 199
THE PROMISED MESSIAH AND MAHDI. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD AND HISTORY. To better understand the history of mankind and gain a deep insight, one should reflect upon the attributes of God and His grace as given in the first chapter of the Holy Quran, Surah Fatiha. This Surah has been called "The mother of Books' and is considered a summary of the Holy Quran. It consists of 7 brief verses only, but has vast meanings. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, has written a marvelous commentary of this Surah in his books, which collected together forms a book of about 400 pages. A study of this commentary shows that Allah had blessed Hadhrat Ahmad with a deep knowledge of the Holy Quran. He explained the four principle. attributes of Allah, given in Surah Fatiha, as the following in one of his writings. He writes; "In Surah Fatiha, Allah, the Exalted, has set forth His four principal attributes, namely, The Lord of Universal Providence (Rabbil-Aalameen), Most Gracious (Rahman), Ever Merciful (Rahim), Master of the Day of Judgment (Malike Yaumiddeen), giving priority to the attribute Lord of Universal Providence (RabbilAalameen) and setting out Rahman, Rahim, Malike Yaumiddeen thereafter in that order. Now why did God, the Exalted, adopt that order? The answer is that is their natural order, because these four attributes come into operation in that order. An intelligent observer can discover for himself that God's grace manifests itself in the world. in four ways. The first is the most universal, that absolute benevolence which continually embraces and supports every animate and inanimate object from the highest heaven to the earth. The very coming into being of each thing from non-existence and its maturity into perfection is through the operation of this grace and no animate or inanimate object is outside its purview. All bodies and souls owe their existence to it, and everything receives its sustenance through it. . This grace is the very breath of life of the entire the universe. Were it cut off for one moment the entire universe would perish. But for it, 199