The Descent of the Messiah — Page 162
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH Now that it has been accepted that God Almighty has the power to send down His certain Word upon man and that this is necessitated by His promise contained in the verse أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ and that salvation itself depends upon the Divine discourse that is certain, and man's very nature thirsts for it, why then would God deprive this Ummah of this blessing? Is it not inherent in human nature to want to believe in the existence of God and to find the means through which one can reach the realisation that He is indeed present with all His pure attributes? And can these means be confined to the created things of the heavens and the earth? Certainly not! The best these creations can do is prove the need for a creator, not that the creator does in fact exist. Establish- ing the argument for the need for a creator does not necessarily prove the creator's existence. This is why Prophets and heavenly signs are necessary. Rational arguments provide knowledge of the Almighty God only to the extent that, by looking at creat- ed things and their wise and perfect design, they establish the need for a creator; but these arguments do not prove that such a creator in fact exists. The difference between ought to be and is clarifies this statement. Similarly, it cannot be said that the earlier scriptures and earlier miracles definitely prove the existence of God because those miracles cannot be evidently witnessed today, nor are those revelations being revealed now. Indeed, the Holy Quran is a miracle, but it demands that there be someone along- side it who can reveal its miraculous gems, and this can only be one who has been purified through the agency of the revealed Word. Since human nature, human conscience, and the human soul do not wish to die from doubts and hesitations and thirst for a clear and categorical faith in the way of God Almighty, it shows that the Omnipotent and Wise One, Who has given man the thirst for certainty, must also have made prior arrangements to lead him to such stage. The question now arises as to what can 162