Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 27
Chapter One 27 requirements of faith. The deeper subtleties are those subtleties which are above and beyond the basic beliefs, and are meant for those souls who have the ability and potential to achieve higher degrees of perfec- tion. Those who do not wish to remain content with these basic tenets— as do those who are ignorant and of a low level of intelligence—make progress in wisdom and divine cognizance through these subtleties, and ascend the lofty minaret of true certainty which is among the high- est stages of human abilities. It is evident that if all mysteries of knowledge were manifestly obvi- ous, what difference would there be between the wise and the unwise? All fields of knowledge, in that case, would be futile, and the fine meas- ure for evaluating human abilities, and the very means through which man’s faculty of observation increases and the soul attains perfection, would be lost. And if this very means were lost, then what would be left for man to observe and reflect? And if he were not to observe and reflect, he, too, like other animals, would be restricted to a certain known and finite limit and would not have the ability to make infinite progress. Consequently, he would be deprived of the bliss for which he had been created. How can one harbour the suspicion against God, who has endowed man with the faculties of observation and reflection, and who has bestowed upon him the ability to attain perfection, that He has sent down His Book to prevent man from attaining any sort of perfection, rather than enabling him to achieve perfection? Is it not true that God has sent down His Word to deliver mankind out of darkness into light? Hence, if the Book of God cannot bring man out of darkness, but the writings of Plato and Aristotle can, would it not be a mere claim of God to say that only His Book can deliver man from all darkness? No one can stand against a fact the truth of which has been thor- oughly established by experience and inference. All exceedingly subtle verities of the highest order that I have derived from the Holy Quran and written in this book furnish conclusive testimony and decisive proof of the truth of my above claim. Anyone who is acquainted with