With Love to the Muslims of the World — Page 36
36 spiritual sense. This gives their beliefs a rational quality compatible with logic and science and realities of nature. Ahmad i s insist that religious terminology must be inter- preted in a figurative and spiritual sense and should not be taken at its face value alone. The non-Ahmad i scholars on the other hand insist that only the surface meanings of words are acceptable and that to delve deeper into their underlying sense is a futile exercise. Yet, they themselves at some places abandon this hard and fast rule and are compelled to look beyond mere words. For instance, according to the terminology of the Holy Qur’an, wives are fields for fertilization; also husbands are the wives’ clothes and vice versa. Similarly, the Holy Qur’an tells every human being: ‘And everyman’s works have We fastened to his neck’ (17 : 14) Of course, these statements have to be interpreted. On this there are no two opinions. A H MADIYYAT AND S HIITE B ELIEFS Herein are the salient features of the Ahmadiyya view of the Shia sect of Islam: The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jam a‘ at loved the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa intensely and profoundly. So intense and profound was this love that by virtue of it he also loved and held in high esteem not only all the spiri- tual relations of the Holy Prophet sa —i. e. all true