Arba'in — Page 22
22 the Pharaoh, and the teacher of Jesus, peace be upon him, was a Jew from whom he learnt the entire Bible and learnt how to write as well. Thus, similarly, if a person should be a Mahdi and receive his learning from God but he is not a recipient of the Holy Spirit to remove spiritual illnesses, even then he would not be able complete the argument against the people. And [ Jesus] the Messiah is an earlier example in time of one helped by the Holy Spirit. So, from the perspective of reason, there is a need for assis- tance from the Holy Spirit in this age as well, because man is inherently convinced by arguments through reason- ing and reading scriptures to such an extent that even if a miracle is shown against those arguments, it does not have any effect on him. Thus, for an ideal Reformer, it has always been essential to embody both of these qualities: namely, he should be an exceptional servant of God, and then, he should also be the recipient of assistance from the Holy Spirit in every conflict. 1 ٭ For the Mahdi of the Latter 1. ٭ Remember that although the attribute of being Mahdi [the Guided One] is found in all Prophets, because all Prophets are pupils of the Gracious God, and moreover, although the quality of receiving the sup- port of the Holy Spirit is also found in every Prophet as all Prophets are helped by the Holy Spirit; yet still these two names have some special connection with two Prophets. That is to say, the name ‘Mahdi’ is used specifically for our Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him; and the name ‘Messiah’, meaning helped by the Holy Spirit’, has a special connection with Hadrat ‘ I s a , peace be upon him. However, our Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is superior even in this attributive quality because he has been given the eternal favour of