Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 154
154 of His Commandments, it would not have been thus destroyed with the plague. But a deficient knowledge cannot avail in the least, for vain is the love which is not perfect, and vain is the fear which is not perfect, and vain is the faith which is not perfect, and vain is the knowledge which is not perfect. If you do not take food in a sufficient! quantity, it would not sustain you, and if the full dose of medicine is not administered, it would not do any good. One grain cannot satisfy your' hunger, nor one drop of water quench your thirst. How can you then, ye of little courage and slow in the search of truth, how can you hope to be the recipients of the vast blessings and unmeasured grace of God by a little knowledge and a little love and a little fear ? It is His to purify you from sins and to fill your hearts with His love and awe, and He has established the law that all this is granted after a man has attained to certainty in His knowledge, for knowledge is the root from which love and fear spring. He who is given a perfect knowledge is also granted perfect love and perfect fear, and he who is granted these, has got salvation, because he is purified from sin. For this salvation, therefore, we do not stand in need of the shedding of blood, or of crucifixion or of atonement. What we require for its attainment is only a sacrifice, and that a sacrifice of our ownself. This is a requirement of our very nature and this is the true significance of Islam. Islam means the laying down of head for being slaughtered and to bow down with entire submission at the Divine threshold. The beloved name of Islam is the soul of the whole of Law and the essence of all the commandments. To lay down one's self willingly and with a joyful heart for being slaughtered which is the true significance of Islam, means a perfect love, while perfect love indicates per- fect knowledge. The word Islam therefore, clearly signifies that true sacrifice, which is necessary for the salvation of man,