Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part III — Page 144
BarĀhĪn-e-a H madiyya — Part three 144 clever thoughts and ideas that flash into the human mind as a result of reflection, and how by thinking about a problem a solution sud- denly comes to mind, the answer is that such thoughts are khalqull a h [the creation of Allah] and not amrull a h [the command of Allah]. There is a subtle difference between khalq [creation] and amr [com- mand]. Khalq denotes that God Almighty produces something through [physical] means and attributes it to Himself because He is the Cause of causes, whereas amr is that which proceeds directly from God Almighty without any intervening cause and cannot be attributed to any cause. Thus, divine revelation descending from the Omnipotent God proceeds from the world of amr and not from the world of khalq. All other thoughts that arise in people’s minds in consequence of observation and reflection proceed entirely from the world of khalq, in which divine power operates behind the veil of means and [human] faculties. An elaboration of this point is as follows: God has created men in this world of means, equipped with diverse powers and faculties and has subjected their nature to such a law of nature—that is, has invested them with the characteristic—that when they employ their thoughts in good or bad matters their minds alight upon appropri- ate plans. Just as, with respect to man’s external faculties and senses, it is the law of nature that when a person opens his eyes he can see something, and when he directs his ears towards sound he can hear something. In the same way, when he concentrates his thoughts on achieving a way of success, regardless of whether it is for a good or evil purpose, some plan will arise in his mind. The pious man directs his thoughts to good things and finds good ways, whereas a burglar reflects upon his own craft and invents novel ways of carrying out burglary. So, just as people are inspired with extraordinary and ingen- ious ideas when carrying out evil designs, in the same way, when they employ their time on thinking of goodness, they come up with won- derful ideas of the same kind. And as bad thoughts—however deep, subtle, and enchanting they may be—cannot be called the word of