Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 77
Footnote Number Eleven 77 in some other way as well, so that frail reason does not continue to drown in the whirlpool of mere ideas, but rather, it becomes truly aware of the existence of something which it had only hypothesized to exist. Moreover, the attainment of certainty depends on the knowledge of actual events, and it is obviously not the function and responsibil- ity of reason to report external events; rather, it is the responsibility of historians, reporters, and experts who have themselves observed these events or who have heard them from those who have observed them. Under these circumstances, man’s defective reason requires reporters, historians, and skilled persons. This is why one may go on endlessly scrutinizing something [theoretically], but mere conjectures can never demonstrate the true dignity and rank of something the way it is man- ifested [practically] with the aid of experience and history. Mere conjectural opinions cannot serve any purpose where an eyewitness testimony is needed, and one who simply shoots in the dark and fabricates stories cannot take the place of a historian who is acquainted with the facts or a person who has made a specific observa- tion or experiment. Had that been the case, there would not have been any need for historians, reporters, and experienced persons; and peo- ple would have come to know through their conjectures alone about various world events, the understanding of which depends on history, experience, and the factual knowledge. As such, they could have run all affairs of the world merely through conjectural speculations. The need for historians, reporters, and experienced people arose only when unassisted reason and mere conjectures were not able to work, and it was feared that by boarding the ark of mere conjectures all enterprises of the world would sink, and it was realized that by the spinning wheels of reason alone the entire operation of this world would be ruined. In fact, the matters pertaining to the world are not so complicated; rather, they are so evident and clear as if they are right in front of our eyes and within our view. The intricacies that are encountered in the phenomena of the unseen world—and the perplexities which are con- fronted while contemplating the world that is concealed and hidden