The Descent of the Messiah — Page 69
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMADAS And when, by coincidence, the same verse was revealed [to the Holy Prophetsas] this person turned apostate, thinking that his own sentence had been incorporated into the Holy Quran. ¹ Looking at the doings of Pir Mehr Ali Shah, you will find that he could not even write a single chapter as opposed to the twelve and a half chapters that I have written. Instead, he merely highlighted a few sentences from such a large book and claimed that they could be found in other books as well. Just look at the meanness of it! Would a literary person approve of such behav- iour? Men of letters are aware that the power of eloquence is not diminished if a few sentences-out of thousands are inserted as excerpts; in fact, such textual adaptation is, in and of itself, a skill. For instance, the verses of two poets from Saba Al-Mu'al- laqah share the same line. While one poet says: The other says: يَقُولُونَ لَا تَهْلِكُ أَسَى وَتَجَمَّل يَقُولُونَ لَا تَهْلِكُ أَسَى وَتَجِلُّد Tell me, which of the two is to be called a thief? Even if an ig- norant person were allowed to write by simply plagiarising, they still would not be capable of writing because they do not possess the inherent ability. However, for someone who is constantly 1 Refers to Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi As-Sarh who was a scribe of the Holy Prophetsas. [Publisher] 2 "They say do not perish with grief and be brave. " [Publisher] 3 "They say do not perish with grief and be steadfast. " [Publisher] 69