Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part III — Page 41
Footnote Number Eleven 41 this transitory abode—and the critical time that is called the agony of death suddenly descends on him to sever his ties with this world and its known pleasures that he enjoyed therein, and when death separates him from his dear ones whom he saw every day, and when the time comes for him to leave behind all his riches and wealth which he regards as his possessions—at that moment it is impossible for his thoughts to remain focused on God the Exalted. However, he can do so only if he has the same—nay, greater—degree of conviction about the existence of God, of the pleasure of meeting Him, and of His promise of reward and punishment. If, in the last moments of his life, he does not have such certainty as can help him ward off his worldly thoughts, his end is likely to be an undesirable one. The point that the study of creation alone cannot lead to perfect certainty is proven by the fact that creation is not a book wherein one can read plainly that all these things have been created by God, that God in fact exists, that the joy of meeting Him is the ultimate bliss, and that He will reward those who are obedient and punish the transgres- sors. Rather, when one observes Allah’s creation and finds the design of this universe to be perfect and flawless, one can only conclude, by way of conjecture, that there ‘ought to be’ a Creator of this creation. However, there is a great difference between the import of ‘ought to be’ and ‘is’. There is an element of doubt in ‘ought to be’ and it does not bring about the degree of certainty that ‘is’ does. When a person says by way of conjecture that such and such a thing ‘ought to be’ he means to say only that it has to exist so far as his reasoning is concerned, but he is unable to say whether or not it actually exists. This is why all those who have restricted themselves to the study of nature have never agreed upon a conclusion—neither do they now, nor will it be possible in the future. Granted, if it were written somewhere in the heavens in bold, bright letters, ‘I am God, the Matchless and Peerless, who has created these things, and shall reward the good and punish the evil for their deeds,’ the study of cre- ation would then result in perfect certainty regarding God’s existence