The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 306
ARGUMENT FOR SAYYED AHMAD KHAN 305 hidden, there would have been no faith, and had there been no faith, there would have been no means to salvation. It is faith which is the means of winning the pleasure of God, which is a ladder with which to scale positions of nearness to Him, and which is the spring with which to wash away the rust of the spirit. That we need God is proven through faith; for, we are dependent on God for our salvation and for getting relief from all pain and distress. This salvation can only be attained through faith. The punishment of this world or the chastisement of the Hereafter are both remedied by faith. When we find that through the power of faith it is not impossible to solve a difficulty, such difficulty is in fact solved for us. We attain impossible and inconceivable feats through the power of faith. It is the power of faith which brings about miracles, and makes possible extraordinary and impossible events. Therefore, it is faith which proves that there is a God. God remained hidden from the view of the philosophers and they could not discover Him. But faith takes a humble man in rags to the presence of God Almighty and enables him to hold converse with Him. The power of faith is the intermediation between a believer and the Truly Loved God. This conviction takes humble, degraded, downtrodden men to the Holy Palace which is the Seat of God, and removing one veil after another, discloses the Face of the Giver of Eternal Comfort. So arise, therefore, and search for the Faith, and burn the dry and useless tomes of philosophy, for, you will be blessed by faith. A particle of faith is better than a thousand volumes of philosophy. And faith is not just the means of salvation in the Hereafter only, rather it rids one of the punishment and curses of this world also. It is the blessing of faith which rescues us from the grief which melts our very spirit. That very thing is faith which keeps a true believer contented and happy amidst a storm of distress and sorrow, when all around failure looks him in the face and when the doors of the usual means of successes are closed against him. Perfect faith does away with the impossible. Nothing harms faith so much as the feeling that this