Early Writings — Page 51
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD AS 51 written a response without due care. In fact, fair-mindedness would demand that you ought to have taken care in your reply each one of my arguments and then put forth your own arguments alongside them. But, how could you have done this while you had nothing to say in your defence? to quote What is even more surprising is that in your rebuttal you accept that undoubtedly in the beginning of the universe all souls are born on earth, and the world has a lifespan of only four and a quarter billion years—no more than that. Now, my friends and dear ones, reflect for yourself and ponder upon your statement, and explain to me how can something that is born at a specific time and in a finite place, and the reproduction of which comes to an end after a particular period of time be infinite? You must have read that one of the established rules of philosophy is that even if certain entities of finite nature multiply for a limited time, ulti- mately, even after their increase in quantity, they will still remain finite all the same. This establishes that if a few animals continue to reproduce for a period of time, their number, as per the afore- said principle, will not exceed a specific number. Moreover, even in light of mathematics, every wise person can understand that whatever rate of birth is assumed to occur within a timespan of four and a quarter billion years would clearly be double in number if it was hypothetically assumed that this period was increased to eight and a half billion years. However, it is an obvious reality that an infinite number cannot be doubled in quantity. If souls were infinite, how could they be confined within a finite timespan with a number that can logically be multiplied twofold? No intelligent person would term an entity that is