Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part III — Page 177
Footnote Number Eleven — Ninth Objection 177 It is obvious that high moral qualities of someone are conclusively proved only when they are exercised on the proper occasion, and it is only then that they affect the hearts. For instance, forgiveness is worthy of credit and praise only when one has the power to take revenge, and chastity is commendable only when he has the power to fulfil his carnal passions. God Almighty’s design with regard to Prophets and auliy a ’ is that every type of their high moral quality should be manifested and should be clearly established. To fulfil this design God Almighty divides their glorious lives into two parts. One part is passed in hard- ship and under calamities, in which they are tormented and perse- cuted in every way, so that those of their high moral qualities can be manifested which cannot be manifested except during severe hardship. If they were not subjected to severe hardship, how can it be affirmed that they are a people who are not disloyal to their Lord in the face of calamities, but rather, they continue to march forward. They are grateful to the Benevolent God that He chose them for His favours and considered them worthy that they should be persecuted in His cause. Therefore, God Almighty afflicts them with calamities in order to demonstrate their patience, their steadfastness, their courage, their perseverance, their loyalty and their bravery to the world, thereby illustrating in them: ْإ ِسْتِقَامَة فَوْق َ الْكِرَامَة ال َ ا [‘Steadfastness has a higher status than a miracle’], because perfect steadfastness cannot be man- ifested in the absence of severe hardships, nor can the perfect degree of perseverance and steadfastness be shown except in the most trying circumstances. These calamities are in fact spiritual bounties for the Prophets and auliy a ’, through which their high morals, in which they are matchless and peerless, are manifested and their ranks are exalted in the Hereafter. If they were not subjected to these hardships, they would not have attained these bounties, nor would their sterling qual- ities be demonstrated to the common people, and thus they would be regarded like other people and equal to them. And even if they had lived their short lives in comfort and luxury, they would still have to