The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 292
ARGUMENT FOR SAYYED AHMAD KHAN 291 the conclusions of physical sciences because man is gifted with reason and that which is not consistent with reason is not something which is worthy of acceptance, is a dangerous and fatal misconception under which you belabour. That is why you do not keep religion and science apart as two separate entities; rather, you want to give the collection of religious issues and doctrines the character of a science like math- ematics or like something even more. But, alas! You do not consider that if religious knowledge and doctrines had been the subject of such obvious proofs as the expression 'two and two makes four, then for what reason should we have been promised salvation for accepting and believing them? I fail to see any relationship between salvation and the fact of one's accepting and following an obvious phenomenon. If I were to say, I admit that up to this day, the 30th of November 1892, Sayyed Şahib is alive and hale and hearty'; or, if I were to accept the fact that Sunday is followed by Monday; that one-half of twenty is, in fact, ten; should I expect any reward for putting my faith in, and following, these matters of fact? Again, for example, had the existence of angels been like tangi- ble beings; had they been, for instance, believable such that Almighty God could have held them up physically to your view and you could have felt them with your hands and seen them with your eyes; and in similar fashion, the streams of Paradise, the fair maidens and young boys of Paradise had been seen by you while you were sitting in Aligarh; and you had also enjoyed a cup of the pure drink, and had seen Hell before your very eyes; then I cannot understand what merit it would have been to believe in all these things after witnessing such patent and obvious proofs of their existence? My dear Sayyed, time is fleeting. Quickly realize the important and delicate issue that reward depends upon faith, and faith means accept- ance of facts whose existence is possible on the basis of some evidence, but which nevertheless remain concealed and covered, because, by believing in such facts, a person becomes true in the eyes of Almighty God. The reason is that he has accepted the information of His Prophet