Early Writings — Page 57
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD AS 57 the rules of addition or subtraction, also deserves the attention of our worthy readers. It is evidently clear that it is God who adds or subtracts, and He is aware of the total number of existing souls and He possesses knowledge of each and every one of them. So what doubt can there be in the fact that when a soul will leave the first group to join the ranks of those who have obtained sal- vation, God will surely know about the resulting decrease in the former number and the resulting increase in the number of the latter. How strange is it to suggest that despite the souls leaving one group or another group, their total number will remain the same and that there will neither be any addition to the souls that have obtained salvation nor any decrease in the total number from the others after some will have left their group. Apart from this, there is no logical argument that would prevent me from reach- ing a conclusion on the clear and established fact that such things about which we know are bound by the limits of time and space are subject to a decrease or increase in number depending upon their entry into or exit from a specified grouping. For example, if there is a large stock of grain piled in a room and people take a portion of the grain, even if we do not know the exact weight of the grain, one can easily say—as the grain is limited—that as people take it away, its amount will obviously decrease. Then you have written that since Goď's knowledge is infinite and souls are also infinite in number, this is why God is unable to determine the total number of the souls. This is an irrelevant state- ment. My good sir! Who is denying the infinite nature of God's knowledge? The contention and dispute rather pertains to the information He independently possesses regarding entities which may be specified and exist at any given time-confined within the