The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 387
386 Α'ΙΝΑ-Ε-ΚΑMĀLĀT-E-ISLAM-DAFI UL-WASĀWIS Now, after pondering on this with some care, it should be understood what it is that is called faith and why upon attain- ing faith, one receives a spiritual reward. It is hoped that, with the grace of the Almighty, you will quickly come to understand with very little deliberation that attaining faith means accept- ing something while some aspects of it are still hidden and before it becomes apparent fully by thinking about it very care- fully and keeping in view the preponderance of circumstances in its favour this is faith upon which reward becomes mer- ited. And although the venerated Messengers, Prophets, and saintly people, peace be upon them all, do, without any doubt, show Signs but the fortunate people, who are the beloveds of God Almighty, come to accept them through their sound judgement before they have seen such Signs. Those who accept them after witnessing the Signs are despised and worthless in the sight of God Almighty. The Noble Quran emphatically proclaims that those who cannot accept the truth without seeing a Sign do not accept it even after seeing a Sign. Before a Sign is shown they openly declare their denial. They go about proclaiming publicly that this person [the claimant] is a great liar and an impostor because he has not shown any Sign. And what largely contributes to their misguidance is that God Almighty also deliberately delays and postpones the manifestation of a Sign to try His servants. And such people continue to advance in their rejection and denial to the extent that they become firmly entrenched in their opinions and start proclaiming that this person [the claimant] is in reality an arch-liar, impostor, deceiver, false in his claim, and not from Allah. Thus, when they have become firmly entrenched in their opinion and have spread this firm assessment of theirs widely in the world through their speeches, writings, social conversations, and pronouncements from the pulpits-saying that this man is