Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 406
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 406 And it is only through cognition that the love of God Almighty surges in one’s heart. Even in worldly affairs we see also that the fear or love of something is born out of knowledge. If, for instance, a lion was standing beside you in the dark, but you did not know that it was a lion and thought that it was only a goat, you would have no fear of it at all. But as soon as you realize that it is a lion, you would at once flee in panic from that place. Similarly, if in the wilderness you come across a diamond worth hundreds of thousands of rupees, but you take it for a stone, you will not care for it at all. If, however, you were to realise its magnificence and value, you will fall desperately in love with it and do everything in your power to possess it. This shows that all love and fear is based on knowledge. Man will not thrust his hand into a hole wherein he knows that a poisonous snake resides, nor will he abandon a house underneath which he believes with full certainty that a valuable treasure is buried. Therefore, since all fear and love depends on cognizance, man can bow fully before God Almighty only when he truly recognizes Him. First, one has to learn about His existence, and then realize His excellences and His perfect powers. But how can such cognition be achieved unless one is gifted with divine converse and discourse, and is convinced through divine Signs that He is the Knower of the unseen and has power to do what He wills. Hence the true bounty (on which depends the strength of faith and the performance of good deeds), is to be bestowed divine converse and discourse, through which one realizes His existence, learns about His powers, and then, in accordance with the knowledge, beholds His powers with his own eyes. This is indeed the bounty that was bestowed upon the Prophets, may peace be upon them, and it was promised to this Ummah that it, too, will be given this bounty if it asks God for it. Thus, he whose heart has been blessed with the thirst for this bounty will surely find it. But God Almighty does not care for people who are unmindful of Him. Divine converse and discourse is the very root of all cognizance and the fountainhead of all blessings. Had this door been closed upon