Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 511
Reply to the doubts raised by rashĪd a H mad gangohĪ 511 just one sentence from authentic a ha d i th of the Prophet, or from the works of ancient Arab poets—who are considered an authority and who are Arabic-speaking and who are established masters in their art— in which the word توفّی [ tawaff i ] is used where the subject is God and the object is a proper noun like Zaid or Bakr or Khalid, and yet the sen- tence clearly means something else and does not mean ‘causing to die’. In that case, I will award such a one with 200 rupees in cash. Such a person will only have to prove that the hadith he presents is indeed an authentic hadith of the Holy Prophet s as , or that it is the statement of a poet from the ancient Arab poets whose mastery over the science of Arabic idioms is established. It will be necessary to provide evidence that the hadith or the cou- plet does in fact conclusively bear meaning that is in conflict with my assertion; and that the meaning becomes perverted if the definition that I deduce is applied. In other words, that hadith or that couplet should irrefutably signify the other meaning. For, if that hadith or cou- plet allows the possibility of the meaning that I render, then such a hadith or couplet is not worth presenting at all, since for it to be pre- sented as precedence, it is essential that the contrary meaning should be irrefutable. The reason being that when it has been proven from hun- dreds of irrefutable examples that the word توفّی [ tawaff i ]—in the set- ting wherein God is its subject, and a proper noun, i. e. a human being specified by name, is its object—cannot have any meaning other than ‘causing that person to die a natural death’, the onus is upon the one who makes a claim contrary to such numerous and consistent examples to produce a clear example that is irrefutable. 1 ْنِاَف ْمَّل اْوُلَعْفَت َو ْنَل اْوُلَعْفَت اوُقَّتاَف َراَّنلا ْيِتَّلا َو اَهُدْوُق ُساَّنلا َو ُةَراَجِحْلا 1. But if you do it not—and never shall you do it —then guard against the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:25). [Publisher]