Sub-Footnote Number Three

The Christians, too, should reflect very attentively upon this matter, as to what are the signs that must necessarily be present in the Word of the Matchless, Peerless, and Perfect God, because their Gospel—on account of its having become interpolated and altered—is totally devoid and bereft of these signs. But let alone divine Signs, the Gospel is not blessed with even ordinary guidance and verities that must form a part of the speech of any just and intelligent speaker. These wretched creature-worshippers have so commingled their own dark thoughts with the Divine Word, divine guidance, and divine light that, instead of being a means of guidance, that Book has now become a definite means of misguidance. What was it that led a whole people away from Tauhid [Oneness of God]? This same fabricated Gospel! What was it that destroyed a whole people? These same four compositions! In translating them, the words of the creature-worshippers were constantly biased toward the creeds toward which their nafs-e-ammarah [the self that incites to evil] was inclined because the words of man invariably follow his views.

In short, the Gospel, having been continually tampered with, is now something altogether different, and the god represented by their current teachings is not that True God, who was always free from nascent existence, birth, confinement within a physical body, and death. In fact, according to the teachings of the Gospel, the god of the Christians is a new god—or, as it were, He is the same God, who unfortunately underwent much suffering, and thus, His final state has totally changed from his earlier state of being Eternal and Everlasting. Having remained All-Sustaining and Immutable since eternity, ultimately, His All-Sustaining powers were completely reduced to dust.

Moreover, Christian authorities themselves admit that the entirety of the Gospel was not written down as revealed; rather, Matthew etc. wrote many of their accounts after hearing them from other people. Indeed, in the Gospel of Luke, Luke himself admits that he wrote what he had inquired from those who had seen the Messiah. By making this statement, Luke has admitted that his Gospel is not revealed; otherwise, what was the need for asking other people after the revelation? Similarly, it is not proven that Mark was ever a disciple of the Messiah; then, how could he be an apostle? In any case, all four Gospels are neither preserved in their original form, nor are they—by their own admission—revealed. This is why all kinds of errors have found their way into the accounts of the Gospels, and the original text was written altogether differently. This is why all learned Christian authorities agree that the Gospel is not the pure word of God; rather, like a village of divided ownership, a part of it belongs to God and another to man.

It is true that, in their extreme naivety, some ignorant Christians do sometimes claim that, on the basis of its teachings, the Gospel is also unique and matchless. That is to say, that man does not have the power to create its like; and this, they say, proves that its teaching is the word of God. They describe the uniqueness and matchlessness of the Gospel’s teaching by saying that great stress is laid in it on forgiveness, clemency, goodness, and benevolence; and that on every occasion it forbids all confrontation with evil. Instead, it enjoins goodness in response to evil to the extent that having been struck on one cheek, it commands to offer the other cheek as well. Thus, by this argument, it is established that it is unique, matchless, and beyond human powers.

2. Gentlemen! From where did you discover this new kind of logic, which makes you imagine that the admonitions that lay great stress on clemency and forgiveness must be incomparable, and that such admonitions are beyond human capabilities?

Due to your twisted reasoning, you are still unaware that the words ‘incomparable’ and ‘unparalleled’ are applicable to something only if it inherently occupies a station the like of which is beyond human capabilities to produce. In making your claims, you have repeatedly emphasized the point that the Gospel stresses forgiveness and clemency on all occasions and at all times, and such an emphasis is not to be found in any other book. Very well, let it be so! But does this prove that no man can stress it to the same degree, or that giving such injunctions are beyond human capabilities? Is the emphasis upon mercy and forgiveness in the Pustaks [books] of idolaters any less? To tell you the truth, the idolaters of the Aryah religion have stressed the injunction of mercy to its ultimate extreme. I have just recalled a verse in one of their Shastars [religious treatises], which is practised by almost all Hindus. It is: ‘Ahansa barmu dharma’; meaning that, there is no religious obligation greater than that of not harming any living being. On account of this verse, the Hindus are averse to hurting any living being. They do not even counter the evil of snakes. Rather, they feed them milk and worship them instead of hurting them. This act of worship is called Nag Puja [snake-worship] in their faith. Some Hindus are so tender-hearted that they do not take lice out of their hair, nor do they cut the hair of their body for their comfort; they undergo hardship themselves lest the [lice’s] resting places be disturbed. Some Hindus cover their mouth with a mask and drink filtered water so that no living organisms should enter their mouths, lest they be considered guilty of killing a life. Judge for yourselves: Where in the Gospel do we find such a degree of mercy and forgiveness? And yet no Christian expresses the view that this teaching of the Hindu Shastar is incomparable and beyond the capabilities of man! How, then, can the teaching of the Gospel be incomparable, when it is in no way greater than this [teaching] with regard to forbearance, forgiveness, and compassion?

Regrettably, the Christians do not realize that putting somewhat excessive stress upon moral teachings does not necessarily mean that no man can stress them to the same degree; if it does, then they should advance some logical argument on the strength of which the teaching of the Gospel or the Pustak of the Hindus may be established to be incomparable. But until such an argument is presented, how can we admit the incomparability of those teachings that we find human potential to be fully capable of bringing forth? Should we accept a mere claim without any proof, or accept a matter which is evidently false as the absolute truth? What should we do? Now it is obvious what pointless wrangling and what height of foolishness it is that they insist upon something so baseless and unproven and refuse to tread upon the path that appears to be clear and straight.

The interesting thing is that the teaching of the Gospel is by no means complete, let alone deserving to be called incomparable. All scholars are agreed that the perfect stage of morals cannot be confined to exercising forgiveness and clemency at all times and on every occasion. If man were commanded only to forgive and show clemency, then hundreds of endeavours that rest on wrath and retribution would come to naught. The natural form upon which one must be established to deserve being called a human being is that just as God has gifted his nature with capabilities of forgiveness and clemency, so has He endowed him with the sentiments of wrath and retribution; and He has placed intellect as the authority over all of these capabilities. Hence, man attains his true humanity when, in accordance with the natural form bestowed upon him, both kinds of these capabilities continue to be subordinated to intellect. That is to say, these capabilities should be like subjects, and intellect should—like a just ruler—be occupied in fostering them, enhancing their beneficence, settling their conflicts, and resolving their difficulties. For example, there are times when one gets angry even though the occasion calls for forbearance; at such times, intellect, through its admonishment, restrains wrath and activates forbearance. At other times, wrath is required but forbearance comes into play. At such times, intellect rouses wrath and removes the interference of forbearance.

In short, in-depth research has proven that man has been sent to this world with various capabilities, and the perfection of his nature lies in using all of these capabilities on their proper occasion—wrath where wrath is appropriate, and mercy where mercy is appropriate—and not to exercise forbearance on all occasions, leaving all other faculties suspended and unused. Of course, exercising forbearance, and indeed every other inherent capability, on its proper occasion, constitutes a virtue for man, but the tree of human nature, which God has divided into various branches—namely, its different capabilities—cannot be called perfect with the flourishing of just one branch. Rather, it would be called perfect only when all of its branches are lush and green and no branch exceeds or falls short of its appropriate size. Intellect clearly affirms the fact that it cannot be beneficial to apply this moral quality to forgive the mischief of the wicked at all times and on every occasion; the law of nature itself exposes the defect of such a notion. We observe that the True Planner has so ordained the order of the universe that sometimes tenderness is required and at other times severity is required; sometimes forgiveness is required and sometimes punishment is required. If there was only tenderness or only severity, the whole system of the universe would be upset. Thus, it is proven that forgiving at all times and on every occasion is not a true virtue. Rather, to consider such a teaching to be perfect is the error of those whose insight does not penetrate the full depth of human nature and whose eyes are closed to all of the capabilities that man has been granted to employ at their proper occasion. A person who, continuously makes use of just one capability on all occasions, and abandons all the other moral capabilities, seeks, as it were, to change the nature that God has granted; and due to his short-sightedness, he declares the act of the All-Wise God to be objectionable. Would it be commendable to forgive the offences of those who have always done us wrong, irrespective of the demands of time and occasion, and to never have such sympathy for the offender that, by remedying his mischief, we should reform him? Obviously, just as it is despised and unethical to punish or avenge every trifle, so is it also contrary to true goodwill to make it a principle to immediately forgive the crime of someone whenever he commits a criminal act. Whoever always allows an offender to go unpunished is as much an enemy of world order as he who is always bent on retribution and revenge. The ignorant like to forgive and forbear at all times. They do not realize that forgiveness at all times disrupts the world order. And such behaviour is detrimental to the culprit himself, for it causes the habit of evil-doing to become more firmly rooted and the tendency of mischief-making to become even more entrenched. Let a thief go unpunished and see what he will do the next time! In view of all this, God says in His Book, which is full of wisdom:

Meaning that, O men of understanding, there is life for you in taking the life of the murderer and punishing the culprit in equal measure. And:

Whoever killed a person unjustly, without a cause, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind.

Meaning that, God enjoins you to exercise justice, benevolence, and giving like kindred upon their respective occasions.

Therefore, it should be borne in mind that the teaching of the Gospel is inferior to, and falls far short of, the level of perfection which reinforces and strengthens world order. It is a grave error to even consider such a teaching to be perfect. Such a teaching can in no way be considered perfect. Rather, it was an expediency adopted at a time when the inner capacity for mercy had seriously declined among the Children of Israel; and cruelty, ruthlessness, brutality, hard-heartedness, and vengeance had exceeded all bounds. God, therefore, willed that just as those people were inclined towards extreme vengeance, so should they be drawn towards compassion and forgiveness with utmost emphasis. But this teaching of compassion and forgiveness was not such as could endure forever, as it was not based on the true core. Instead, it was like a law confined to a specific land. It was meant only as a special measure for the reformation of rebellious Jews and an arrangement for a very limited duration. Masih [the Messiah] knew well that God would very soon bring this temporary teaching to naught and would send the Perfect Book for the guidance of the world that would call all mankind towards true virtue, and open the doors of truth and wisdom for the servants of God. This is why he had to say that there are yet many things to be said concerning the teaching which you cannot bear now. However, there is one coming after me who will disclose all these things and carry the teaching of faith to its perfection.6 Hence, Hazrat Masih went to take his seat in the heavens, leaving the Gospel incomplete, and it was the same incomplete Book that remained available to people for a long time. But, finally, God revealed the Holy Quran, in keeping with the prophecy of that innocent Prophet, and bestowed upon mankind the comprehensive Law that did not enjoin—like the Torah—‘a tooth for a tooth’ irrespective of the situation and circumstances, nor did it ordain—like the Gospel—that one must always be ready to be struck by an aggressor. Rather, that Perfect Word draws mankind away from temporary commandments towards true virtue. It commands us to do what results in genuine benefit, whether it be harsh or gentle, as He has said:

Meaning that, the principle of justice in the punishment of evil is that the offender deserves to be punished to the extent of the guilt. However, someone who brings about reformation by forgiveness—provided forgiveness does not result in further mischief—he will have his reward with Allah. Likewise, the comprehensiveness and perfection of the Shariah is indicated in the verse:

Meaning that, this day I have carried religious knowledge to the stage of perfection and have completed My favours upon the ummah of Muhammad.

Now, it is evident from this research that the teaching of the Gospel is not even perfect, let alone to be considered matchless and peerless. Had the Gospel been the word of God, both in their words and meanings, and had they possessed such excellences as are impossible to be found in the word of man, they would no doubt be considered peerless. But, as it is, those excellences disappeared from the Gospel the moment the Christians started interpolating it due to their selfish motives. Consequently, it no longer possesses the original words or meaning—neither true wisdom nor insight. Therefore, O gentlemen! Come to your senses and answer this question: ‘On the one hand, perfection of faith depends upon the presence of a matchless Book, and on the other hand you neither believe in the Holy Quran nor can you produce any other book that is matchless. How, then, is it possible for you to attain the station of perfect faith and certainty?’ And why are you complacent about it? Are you waiting for some other book to be revealed, or do you perchance intend to become a Brahmu Samajist, having no concern at all for either faith or God? Look where your refusal to accept the peerlessness of the Holy Quran has landed you! And wait—the story does not end here. Your belief may well-nigh do away with belief in the very existence of God. For, as I have stated before, a major sign of the existence of God is the fact that whatever comes from Him is so manifestly matchless that it points towards the existence of the Incomparable Creator. Now, as such matchlessness is not proven for the Gospel, and you refuse to believe in the Holy Quran, you have no choice but to admit that what comes from God is not necessarily matchless. This admission would, in turn, lead you to concede that someone else also has the power to create that which has been created by God. And so, according to this statement, there can be no sign to lead to the recognition of the Creator of the universe. To sum up, the gist of your faith is that no rational argument can be advanced to prove the existence of God Almighty. Now be fair: Is your belief short of atheism in any way? Is there not a single soul among you who can understand the fine point that denying the Holy Quran amounts, in fact, to attacking the Gracious God? Is it not your misfortune that you turn away from the very book that proves the peerlessness of the attributes of God, points toward His existence, promotes the belief that He is Immaculate and Holy, propagates His Oneness, and re-establishes the long-lost doctrine of His Tauhid?

Gentlemen! The matchlessness and truthfulness of the Holy Quran has now been fully manifested; it cannot be concealed no matter how you try. As you know, no one can stop the fruit from growing and ripening when the season comes. Similarly, the time has come for the Quran’s truth to become manifest, and no one can stop it now. So do not throw dust at the moon lest it fall right back into your own eyes!

Some Christians, failing to cite the Gospel as a parallel, point to Faidi’s Mawaridul Qalam and assert that this book of Faidi is written entirely in undotted letters;9 therefore, it is also like the Holy Quran, or even better, in fluency and eloquence. Alas, these ignorant ones do not even understand that it is a frivolous work that falls outside the sphere of true fluency and eloquence; nor does adhering to such a practice render a work to be inimitable and matchless. Indeed, it is quite a simple and easy task to compose a written work without dots. It is not an enterprise that should be hard for a man to accomplish. Accordingly, many authors have written compositions in Arabic and Persian orthographies without dots, and still do so. Indeed, there also exist such compositions by some scribes that employ only letters with dots, and avoid the letters without dots altogether. But the essential features and peculiarities that are specific to the Holy Quran’s fluency and eloquence are such that a wise person will readily understand with full conviction that this Holy Word is beyond the sphere of human powers. For, as I have already written, the Holy Quran does not express its fluency and eloquence in frivolous ways—as scribes like Hariri and Faidi do—nor do any kind of absurdities, idle talk, or lies form any part of this Holy Word. Rather, the Holy Quran has demonstrated its fluency and eloquence in keeping with the norms of truth and wisdom and true need; and has, with the utmost conciseness, comprehended all religious verities, and thus, it is full of clear proofs for silencing every opponent and denier. And one sees flowing through it a deep and limpid river of thousands of subtle points [of wisdom] and verities for the perfection of the believers’ certainty. In whatever matter it has seen disorder, it has striven for the reformation of these very matters. With whatever intensity it has found the habit of going to extremes, it has countered it with equal strength. It has provided remedies for all kinds of maladies that were widespread, wiped out all the false doctrines of false religions, and answered every objection. There is no verity that it does not mention and no misguided sect that it does not counter. And what a wonder it is that it does not contain a single sentence that is unnecessary, any statement out of place, or a single word of frivolity. Notwithstanding due regard to all these matters, it has displayed such a degree of fluency—more than which cannot be imagined. It has raised eloquence to the highest level of perfection by encompassing all past and future knowledge within a small book, by virtue of an excellent arrangement, brevity, and a closely reasoned discourse, so that man—whose life is short and whose works are many—may be relieved of many a headache, and so that its eloquence may benefit Islam in the dissemination of its doctrines, and it may be easy to memorize and remember it.

Now, in comparison with this fluency and eloquence, look at the books written by humans—how filled they are with falsehood, idle talk, and absurdities; and how their compositions are replete with unnecessary and irrelevant material. They are certainly not able to employ words that convey the desired meaning; rather, their meanings wander aimlessly behind their words. They are completely lacking and devoid of conformity with the norms of truth, wisdom, necessity, and appropriateness. Since they abandoned adherence to the truth and addressing the real need [of the time], and resorted to telling lies in every word, indulging in absurdities, and uttering words needlessly and in vain, how can they have any standing in comparison to the eloquence of the Holy Quran? Here, one should also remember that the fluency and eloquence of the Holy Quran is entirely free from and unblemished with all kinds of frivolity; hence, it was beyond the divine majesty of the All-Wise God that He should have revealed His Word entirely with undotted or dotted letters, like nonsensical poets, for these are vain acts that serve no useful purpose, and it is beyond the glory of the All-Wise God to indulge in any vain exercise. He Himself says:

Meaning that, the believers are those who shun vain activities and do not waste their time in vain acts.

How could He be expected to undertake something absurd, especially when He has praised His Book by describing its glorious status:

Meaning that, falsehood cannot approach it either from before or from behind it.

In this scenario, how could He have filled it with falsehood? Such a task would require an ignorant and nonsensical man like Faidi. [The Holy Quran says:]

The Word of God should be taken as undotted in the sense that it is free from and beyond the ‘stains’ of vain talk, falsehood, and absurdities. Its fluency and eloquence is a priceless gem from which the world benefits, the spiritually ill are cured, and the realization of truths and verities is facilitated for seekers after truth. For, the fluent Word of God presents perfect cognizance in perfect brevity, perfect order, perfect clarity, and graceful diction. It adopts the style that moves the hearts most forcefully and encompasses in a few words the divine knowledge that no book or text has encompassed since the beginning of the world. This is the real fluency and eloquence that helps to perfect the human self, and leads the seekers after truth to their ultimate goal. And this is the divine work that cannot be accomplished other than through God’s power and His all-encompassing knowledge. God Almighty is responsible for the truth of each and every sentence of His Word. Everything it contains—be it in the form of news or annals of the past, or news and prophecies relating to the future, or intellectual and religious verities—is free from the stain of falsehood, idle talk, and absurd expressions. If it were to contain even an iota of lying, redundancy, or boasting, it would not be the Word of God. This is why He furnishes proof of every one of His statements.

No poet, on the other hand, can be held responsible, nor has ever been, for producing a work that is not only free from falsehood, idle talk, or irrelevancies, but also encompasses all that is necessary and essential. Thus, when the useless ramblings of poets do not enjoy the status that belongs to the Holy Word of God Almighty, nor do they make any such claim or take responsibility in this regard—and even admit their own helplessness—then what foolishness and ignorance is it to present their worthless work as equal to the Word of God? Even if they died trying, the poets would never be able to abide by the norms of truth, uprightness, and genuine necessity. In fact, they cannot utter anything without having recourse to frivolous speech, as their entire craft depends on redundance and falsehood. Take away falsehood and absurdities and no verse would be left. If you were to search their writings, sentence by sentence, to find how many truths and subtle verities they contain, or how far they conform to truth and veracity, or how firmly they are rooted in truth and wisdom, or what true need has led them to utter their words, and what unique and incomparable secrets lie within them, you would realize that their dead writings contain none of these virtues. They are more likely to follow the dictates of poetic rhyme and metre, and prattle on about whatever takes their fancy. They neither stick to truth and wisdom, nor shun absurd speech, nor consider whether there is a true need for their words or whether any detriment would occur by not saying them. They arbitrarily join sentence with sentence with no regard to truth or usefulness, placing, as it were, the head where the feet belong and vice versa. They have much glitter, like a mirage, but are in fact not even equal to dust in real value. It is all a show, like a juggler’s performance, with no real substance. These people are poor, powerless, weak, and unworthy. They are blind, but what coquetry! To put it very mildly, you may say that they are like a spider in terms of their infirmity and worthlessness, and the verses they compose are a spider’s web. How aptly has God the Benevolent described them:

Meaning that, Only those who have abandoned the path of truth and wisdom follow the poets. Do you not see that poets are the people who roam about in every wilderness in search of their poetic rhyme, metres, and themes. They do not stand firm upon words of truth, nor practise what they say. So, the transgressors—who liken the Divine Word to the words of poets—will soon know to what place of return they will end up returning.

Let sensible people reflect: Can there be anything more unfair and unjust than to compare pure truth with absolute absurdity, or to equate darkness with light? Can such books—which have become so tarnished with the stain of frivolous talk, the marks of falsehood, and preposterous babbling as to be hated and despised by every person with a pure heart—have any relationship with this Holy Book? Can such books, the subject matter of which is as contaminated as the blood of a leper, be considered similar to these Holy Scriptures? No, never! Prejudice is indeed a terrible affliction that spares neither intellect nor understanding, and neither the power of hearing nor seeing is safe from it. But one must at least consider that if someone unjustly equates two things that have nothing in common, the ultimate result is that the knowledgeable start considering him mad or insane. O Christian gentlemen! Do not follow in the footsteps of the Hindus. Even at the time of the Holy Quran’s revelation, there were many good-natured priests among you who could not restrain their tears upon hearing the recitation of the Holy Quran. Remember those revered savants whose testimonies are recorded in the Holy Quran and who, upon hearing the Glorious Quran, would weep, while prostrating with their chins on the ground. It was the magnificent glory of the Quran that made them recite the Kalimah and caused them to admit the superiority of the Holy Quran over all other revealed scriptures. Now, in your eyes, that same Quran does not equal the absurd writings of Hariri and Faidi! Such gross blasphemy is displeasing to God. Had you been able to prove the existence of anything comparable to the Holy Quran in respect of its external and internal excellences, there would have been no further dispute. But you have completely failed and have been reduced to silence in coming up with such a comparable composition. Hence, I do not know why you do not see despite having eyes, nor listen despite possessing ears, nor understand while you possess minds. Had Hariri and Faidi been as ‘wise’ as you, they themselves would have claimed to have produced the like of the Holy Quran. But, God forbid that any learned person should be so naive. Tell me, what work do you have in your possession that has claimed as the Holy Quran has claimed:

Meaning that, say to them, ‘If all the jinn and men were to unite together to produce any word like the Quran, it would be impossible for them, even though they should help one another.’

And if you are in doubt about the Quran being revealed by Allah, then you should also produce a chapter like it.

But if you do it not—and remember that never shall you do it—then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, which has been prepared for the disbelievers.

I reiterate that before you engage yourselves in searching for a book that is comparable to the Holy Quran, you must first ascertain whether or not the book in question even makes the claim that you have heard in the above verses. For, if a speaker does not even claim that his word is incomparable and all jinn and men are powerless to compete and contest against it, to hold up his work as incomparable without any rhyme or reason is, as the saying goes, the witness being more eager than the plaintiff. Moreover, in presenting some book as equal or comparable to the Holy Quran, you ought also to produce evidence that the book which is being presented as an equal contains excellences comparable to the external and internal excellences that the Holy Quran possesses. For, if the book that is presented as an equal does not possess any of the excellences of the Holy Quran, what purpose would be served by presenting it as an equal, other than exposing your own ignorance and foolishness? But, remember well that just as it is absolutely impossible to imitate and emulate all the things that have emanated from Allah, so is it outside the realm of possibility to present the like of the Holy Quran. This was why many prominent Arab poets, whose mother tongue was Arabic and who were, by nature and also through their efforts, well-versed in the art of composition, had to admit that the Holy Quran is above and beyond human capabilities. This does not stop with Arabs alone, as there have been many from among your own people who were blind but were made to see by its perfect light, who were deaf but began to hear through it. Even now, that light continues to dispel darkness all around. The veritable light of the Holy Quran goes on illuminating hearts. The fact of the matter is that the more that people’s eyes are being opened, the more they are convinced of the greatness of the Holy Quran. Accordingly, some extremely prejudiced Englishmen, who are hailed as sages and philosophers, have themselves admitted that the Holy Quran is peerless in its fluency and eloquence. So much so that a zealous Christian, Godfrey Higgins, was forced to admit in section 221 of his book that the Holy Quran is incomparable in its eloquence and probably the world cannot produce finer or more sublime passages than are to be found in the Quran. Likewise, [John] Davenport, in his book, had to perforce testify to the same effect.

Like Christians, the Aryah Samajists—who believe that divine revelation and discourse ended with the Vedas—also deny the incomparability of the Holy Quran and claim the eloquence and fluency of their own Vedas. However, I deem it my duty that I should continue to inform the heedless, time after time, that only that person has a right to deny the incomparability of the Holy Quran who can prove that he can deduce from another book the same arguments for the incomparability of the Holy Quran that I have given in this book as a sample. So, if the Aryah Samajists are confident that their Vedas will be able to compete with the Holy Quran, they are also at liberty to demonstrate the power of the Vedas. However, it behoves not men of good nature to make empty claims and use uncivil language. The nobility and wisdom of man lies entirely in that, if there is an argument in support of his claim, he should present it; otherwise, he should desist from making any such claim, the result of which is nothing but absurd talk and frivolities. It should be borne in mind that the Holy Quran’s eloquence is pure and holy, and its greatest objective is to express the light of wisdom and truth in articulate words, and to encapsulate all the truths and subtle verities of religious knowledge within a concise and reasoned statement. It should provide details where they are utterly indispensable, and should stick to brevity where brevity suffices. No religious truth should remain unmentioned, either in detail or in brief, and everything should be mentioned in keeping with true need, nothing being said unnecessarily. And, also, the text itself should be so eloquent, lucid, and solid that no one can ever write anything better than it. In addition, this word should be accompanied by spiritual blessings. This is the very claim of the Holy Quran, and which it has proven itself; and time and again, it has announced that it is not possible for any created being to produce its like. Now, whoever wants to argue the matter justly cannot be unaware of the fact that, in order to compete with the Holy Quran, it is necessary to produce a book that contains the same excellences which are found in the Holy Quran.

The Vedas, it is true, comprise poetic imagery and a myriad of metaphors in the manner of poets. For example, at one place in Rigveda, fire is assumed to be a wealthy man who has many jewels, and its light is likened to a brilliant jewel. At some other places it is likened to an army commander carrying a black flag, and the smoke that rises from the fire is taken to symbolize the black flag. At yet another place, the heat that causes water vapours to rise is likened to a thief, and has been called Vritra, owing to its power of retention. The water vapours are taken to be cows, and Indra, which in the Vedas symbolizes air, and particularly the cold atmosphere, is likened to a butcher in this allegory. It is written that just as a butcher cuts meat into pieces, so did Indra strike his thunderbolt upon the head of Vritra and shattered it to pieces, so that it melted away into drops of water. Needless to say, such imagery can in no way be compared with the Holy Quran. They are merely poetic ideas, and not so praiseworthy or elegant at that. In fact, they are liable for serious criticism at many places. For instance, the imagery mentioned above, in which Indra has been compared to a butcher, whose job is to sell beef, is a subject that can never be found in the work of gentle-natured poets, as a poet must be careful not to write anything that people, in general, would find disgusting. In this shurti, however, this consideration has been overlooked, even though it is obvious that the Hindus, who are the addressees of the Vedas, are averse to hearing the word ‘beef ’, and such talk bears heavily upon them. In the same way, likening Indra—who has been declared to be a great god in the Vedas—to a butcher and describing him with a sugar-coated satire after acknowledging his greatness, is contrary to linguistic decency and implies a kind of disrespect. In addition, the simile also has another defect in that a simile should relate to something that is commonly known and understood. Saying that Indra cut Vritra as a butcher cuts beef into pieces can be correct in terms of eloquence only if it is proven that, in Vedic times, beef was openly sold in markets and butchers cut it into pieces and gave them to the Aryas. But the contemporary Aryas certainly do not believe that to be the case.

Hence, it is obvious that to give a simile in a composition without there being corresponding external facts, and to liken [in it] one thing to such a thing that is detested by the people, is utterly beyond the pale of eloquence. Even if a boy were to use such a simile in his speech, he would be censured, and regarded as stupid, by the wise. For, a simile is appreciated only when the likeness is obvious to such a degree that the thing to which something is likened is well known to the listeners and is such that they [the listeners] hold it to be self-evident and of proven existence and is such that they are not disgusted by its being mentioned to them.

But who can prove that during the Vedic age the selling, buying, and eating of beef was a common practice to which Aryah people were not averse! Even if it were argued that the Veda’s mention of it is proof of this practice, it would not wholly meet the objection because the likeness between the beef and blood of cows on the one hand, and water on the other, is not a suitable likeness. Yes, cow’s milk can be likened to pure, limpid water. Hence, if the 12th shurti of mandala 1, sukta 61 of the Rigveda,19 wherein it is written, ‘O Indra, hurl your vajra [thunderbolt] against Vritra and cut it up into pieces as butchers cut up a cow into pieces’, would have been [written] as, ‘When Indra pressed Vritra with his vajra, then water emerged therefrom as milk emerges from a cow’s udder when they are pressed’, then the intended poetic idea would have been conveyed and the simile would have been relevant. Moreover, no Hindu’s nature would have then detested the simile because Hindus drink cow’s milk without hesitation.

Irrespective of all this, such poeticism is not the objective of my discussion. And to mention such useless matters, vis-à-vis the Holy Quran, is uncalled for and an unnecessary headache. True eloquence, which the Holy Quran presents, belongs to another world and has nothing to do with frivolous matters. On the contrary, it [the Holy Quran] has compressed the boundless ocean of wisdom and insight into the most succinct, most logical, and well-grounded assertions that are in full accord with the norms of eloquence and rhetoric. And it has, by virtue of the fact that it comprehends all subtle points pertaining to the Divine, attained such perfection as is impossible for human powers to attain. But what can I say, write, or pen about the Vedas! Instead of truth and insight, they comprise all types of matters pertaining to misguidance. What made hundreds of millions of God’s servants incline towards creature-worship? The Vedas did. What made the Aryah people worship hundreds of deities? The Vedas did. Is there any shurti in them which clearly and openly forbids creature-worship, the worship of the sun and the moon, etc., and regards as objectionable all those shurtis which contain [the teachings of] creature-worship? There is none. Then how can they possess the eloquence that depends on the light of truth and wisdom! Can we label as ‘eloquent’ such writings that—although their true objective, it is claimed, is to eradicate idolatry and to establish Tauhid—like the dumb, they have remained incapable of proving this claim. Every wise person knows that of all the qualities of eloquence the most necessary one is that the matter that needs to be clearly stated should be stated explicitly in such a way that should satisfy a seeker after truth. And everyone knows that only such an individual can be called ‘eloquent’ who can articulate what he intends to say in such an excellent manner as completely describes what is in his mind. Had the Aryah people claimed that the real objective of the Vedas is to teach creature-worship, then, perhaps, it could be supposed that they did not entirely fall short of such a level of eloquence. For, though the Vedas have not given any proof of creature-worship according to the standard of true eloquence, and have, thus, failed to prove it, they have openly expressed through clear and explicit statements—which are a component of eloquent speech—their views about the worship of [their] gods, and have composed hundreds of mantras in praise of Agni, Wayu, and Indra. And they had also begged these gods for cows, horses, and an abundance of wealth. However, if it is claimed that the Vedas had, through forceful words and perfect eloquence, striven to establish divine Unity, had eradicated the misgivings and delusions of polytheists through irrefutable proofs, had presented all of the necessary proof for establishing divine Unity and for the eradication of shirk, had proven divine Unity, and had forbidden the worship of fire etc., then this claim would, by all means, be universally and categorically rejected. Who out there does not know that the injunctions of the Vedas lean towards commanding one to worship fire, sing hymns of Indra, and clasp hands before the sun? According to them, the objective of the Vedas was to teach divine Unity, forbid the worship of the sun, moon, etc., carry polytheists to the stage of divine Unity, reform the corrupt, transform creature-worshippers into God-worshippers, and remove all doubts of polytheists; however, it is obvious that, instead of achieving their objectives, they instead enabled the teachings of creature-worship to be ever more entrenched through their assertions; and these teachings caused the ark of hundreds of millions of people to be dragged into, and millions of people to drown in, the whirlpool of idolatry and disbelief. Nowhere did they explicitly, and in so many words, command to renounce creature-worship, not to worship fire etc., and not to beg anything or anyone, except God, to be granted one’s wishes. Nor did they command to believe God to be Incomparable and Peerless. Now, after this, the wise should honestly answer whether the sign of an eloquent word is that its users should go on using it to mean something other than what is in their mind. Such irrelevant talk is not found even in the words of people who are insane or mentally deficient. Even they have the ability to express what is in their mind. When they crave for water, they do not ask for fire. And when they desire to be given bread, they do not ask for stones. I wonder what sort of eloquence is the ‘eloquence’ of the Vedas, the objective of which was Tauhid [Oneness of God], yet they started making a fuss about hundreds of deities. God forbid that the word which is incapable of expressing its own objective should be eloquent! How can an eloquent word suffer from such a defect that it cannot clearly and explicitly express the very point, the expression of which is its main objective? The foremost prerequisite of eloquence is that the speaker be fully competent to express what is in his mind and that it should be expressed with such clarity that no ambiguity remains in it and that, like [gestures of ] the dumb, they should not say things that are ambiguous and absurd. Yes, when it is expedient not to disclose a matter or to express it as a mystery, then to express it obliquely is eloquence. But it is not permissible that Tauhid, on which [one’s] entire salvation depends, should be kept hidden. Thus, it is incorrect to assert that the Vedas have intentionally set out Tauhid as an enigma or a riddle, and have deliberately made statements to deceive and mislead. For, in that case, one will have to concede that the Vedas have deliberately intended to drag many hundreds of millions of people into the whirlpool of death and have intentionally set out statements, the reading of which would spread the teachings of creature-worship. Rather, in that case, the opinion of average Hindus will be right that the true intention of the Vedas was nothing but to make the Aryah people the worshippers of [their] gods. And if the true intention of the Vedas is not to be taken as that of [spreading] creature-worship, then one will have to admit that they totally lack the knack of saying things properly, and that they are incapable of making their meanings clear for their readers. And, in that case, their falling short of the standard of eloquence would become so manifest that it would not need to be stated in so many words. In the opinion of a wise person, the composition of someone cannot be called eloquent if it does not convey its intended meanings. On the contrary, it pulls one towards that which is not its purport and towards corrupt views. Whichever shurti you look at, you will find it leading away from the right path, rather than leading to it. What ‘eloquence’, and what an ‘elegant’ manner of illustrating its meanings, do the Vedas have, that they have put an end to all eloquence and elegance! One may not be convinced of this; however, I will write [herein] as a sample some shurtis of the Rigveda, which is considered to be the greatest and the best of all the Vedas, which Aryah people believe to contain the teaching of Tauhid. And after that I will write, as a sample, some verses of the Holy Quran that deal with the teaching of Tauhid, so that everyone comes to realize which one—the Vedas or the Furqan [Holy Quran]—clearly and properly expounds the issue of Unity of God in a forceful and eloquent discourse; and, of the two, the account of which is absurd and groundless and creates doubts. For, as I have already stated, the easiest method to ascertain eloquence is to observe the impact of the expression of the two texts which one desires to compare, and see the discernment, perspicuity, and comprehension of abstruse points with which they have carried out, as it were, their duties; and to note the extent to which they, in order to lift the darkness of ignorance, demonstrate the light of knowledge through their well-grounded and concise statements; and the extent to which they dilate on the excellences of Divine Unity and the defects of polytheism. However, if anyone harbours the illusion that there may, perhaps, be shurtis found in the Vedas that could compete with the Holy Quran in respect of the assertion of Tauhid, then he is at liberty to produce such shurtis from the above-mentioned Veda, so that, of all the Vedas, the matter of this Veda, which is hailed by the Aryah people in their constant refrain, ‘Rigveda! Rigveda!’, is settled first. Here it should also be borne in mind that the incomparable eloquence of the Holy Quran, and thousands of its subtle points and verities—to compete against which human powers are helpless and powerless—will be mentioned on their proper occasion. Here—on account of the insistence of some Aryah people who, as against the Holy Quran, make claims about the eloquence of the Vedas—only a few verses of the Holy Quran are given with a view to stopping their impudence and abusive language in such an easy way as would reveal to the just the utter insignificance of the Vedas and would make them realize that the Vedas do not have even such power of expression as would enable them to clearly state their own objectives, let alone the ability to compete with the exalted eloquence of the Holy Quran. For, given the opportunity, every just person can appreciate that it is absolute folly to expect a book—which cannot even plainly and clearly explain its own meanings—to have any degree of eloquence. If the Vedas can compete with the Holy Quran in this easy way, then perhaps they could also compete with the Holy Quran over the subtle points that the Holy Quran claims no other book can compete with. However, if the Vedas of the Aryah people are rendered here senseless and motionless like the dead, then to take pride in such Vedas and claim that they can compete against the lofty verities and subtle points of the Holy Quran is tantamount to ignorance of the highest degree. Here, readers are also reminded that Hindu research scholars have neither included their Upanishads in the Vedas, nor do they regard them to be the word of God. They have clearly stated that they are the personal views of certain people. This is the opinion of Pundit Dayanand and all renowned and learned pundits agree with his opinion. Hence, I have deemed it unnecessary to do any research into their contents. For, if their contents are not found in the Vedas and, according to Pundit Dayanand and other research scholars, they are not even in accord with the teaching of the Vedas and are in fact useless and irrelevant footnotes that the ignorant Brahmus have added to the later, then to mention here whatever defects may exist in the Upanishads is tantamount to unnecessarily prolonging this discussion. Nevertheless, it is advisable to cite some shurtis from the Vedas which the followers of Aryah Samaj believe to be the word of Parmeshwar and the books of the Sat Vidyans [True Teachers]. Hence, I set out below several shurtis from Rigveda which the Aryas believe teach Unity of God:

I laud divine Agni, the valiant minister of the burnt offerings, who presents our holy offerings to the gods, and possesses an abundance of wealth. May it be so that Agni, who has been praised by Rishis, both ancient and modern, draw the attention of the gods hither. O Agni, who is produced by the friction of two pieces of wood, bring here the gods to the purified clipped grass. You call the gods on our behalf, and are worshipped.

O Agni, offer today our tasty sacrifice to the gods, so that they should eat it. O Agni, present our oblation to Vayu, sun, and other gods. O unblemished Agni, you are a clever god amongst the gods. You live with your parents, and grant us our children; you are the bestower of all riches.

Call him, invoking the blessed name of Agni, who is the first of the gods. O Agni, owner of red horses, propitiated by our praise, bring thirty-three gods to us. O Agni, in view of what you are, people kindle you constantly in the secure places of their homes. O you, who are the cause of everyone’s life, be a source of wealth for our benefit. O Wise Agni, you are Tanapaput, i.e. the consumer of your own substance. Present today our delicious sacrifice to the gods as their food.

Agni, the god, who remains ever young, is very wise, and is the protector of the house of the sacrificer and the bearer of offerings, whose mouth is the vehicle of conveying our sacrifices to the gods, and who is lit by the fire of the household. Everlasting Agni, combining his food with his flame, and eating it quickly, ascends the dry wood. The flame of the burning element spreads like a swift horse, and roars like a cloud in heavenly heights. O Agni, the unobstructed sacrifice, which you protect from all sides, is definitely conveyed to the gods.

O Agni, grant all the favours that you can to the one who makes offerings to you. All such favours will come back to you, O Angiras. Through Agni, the worshipper is granted affluence that increases day by day, and which is the fountainhead of renown and the multiplier of man’s progeny.

O Indra and Vayu, these offerings are made to you [liberally]. Come here, bringing food for us. O Indra, who is praised by all, may these juices of the ever-spreading Soma be absorbed by you, and may they be auspicious for you in acquiring better insight. Whatever types of excellent praise can be offered to other gods, Indra deserves them too. Those who turn to Indra—whether [seeking help] in war or for having children—as well as the seekers of wisdom who want to acquire understanding, they all find the fulfilment of their desires.

The belly of Indra, on account of drinking the juice of the Soma in abundance, swells like the sea, and is always wet, like the fluid of the palate. Indra surpasses all gods in power and is superior to all of them. Salutations to the great gods, salutations to the small gods, salutations to the young gods, and salutations to the old gods. We worship all gods. Come quickly, O Indra, son of the Rishi Kusika, grant me, who am a Rishi, an abundance of wealth.

(It is stated in all the genealogies of Purans that the son of Kusika is Vishwamtar. In order to explain how Indra could be the son of Kusika, Sayana, the commentator of the Vedas, quotes the legend given in the Index, Anukramanika, which states that Kusika, the son of Ishiratha, being desirous of a son, by the blessings of the attention of Indra, adopted a life of continence, in requital of which Indra himself chose to be born in his household and thereby became his son.)

Indra, who is praised by many men, attended by the moving winds, assaulted the Dasyus (cruel men) and the Samyus (poisonous ones), that is, the Rakshas (all those belonging to demons). He murdered them with his thunderbolt. He then divided the fields among his white companions, and freed the sun and the water. (Here, the white companions, according to the metaphorical language of the Vedas, means drops of water. What this shurti means is that, due to the effect of the cold layer of the atmosphere, drops of water, which seemed to be white, appeared from within the clouds and fell to the fields below. Some fell on one field, others on another. Thus, all of the water flowed away and the sun came out. European commentators take it to mean that, according to the Aryas, Indra distributed the land of the ancient people among the Aryas, who were more light-skinned than the former. But this meaning is not correct, as the context of the Veda clearly contradicts it.)

O Indra, it is because of you that there is abundant and easily available food everywhere. O wielder of the thunderbolt, make our pastures verdant and grant us abundant wealth. We turn to Indra in order to receive his affectionate kindness and to attain wealth and perfect power. Because that powerful Indra, giving us wealth, is fully capable of protecting us. O sun and moon, grant success to our sacrifice and increase us in our strength. You have been created for the benefit of many human beings and many people depend upon you. When the sun rises, then the stars, along with the night, flee away, as do the thieves.

We go to the Sun-god, who is great among the gods. O moon, safeguard us from false accusations, and keep us away from sin, be pleased with our trust in you, and be our friend. May you increase in strength. O moon, you are the bestower of riches and reliever of difficulties. Come to our household with brave warriors. O moon and Agni, you are equal in rank. Share our homage between you for you have always been the leaders of the gods. I call on the Jall-god [Water-god], from which our cattle drink. We should offer oblation to the flowing rivers. May the waters, which are close to the sun, and those with which the sun is associated, be gracious towards our rituals. O Earth-god, may you expand ever so wide and be free from thorns and may you be the place of our dwelling and grant us great happiness. May god Varuna be our special protector. May god Mitra protect us. May they both, working together, make us rich. O god Neshtri, you and your wife, recommend us to the gods of sacrifice.

O Agni, bring the gods here. Make them sit in three places and adorn them. May you drink with divine Ritu. O Agni, lord of red horses, bearer of red flames, being pleased with our adorations, bring thirty-three gods here. We worship Agni, who is kindled in religious ceremonies. O Agni, the wise, having made you the chief priest of their ceremonials and sacrifices, and having found you to be the bestower of riches, the quick hearing, the most well known, have placed you in their sacrifices. Agni, having been fanned and flared up by the wind, easily sweeps through the large pieces of timber with his flames. O Agni, when you charge like a bull into the forest’s trees, your path is darkened all around; that is, you turn the timber into ashes, and all things, whether stationary or in motion, are burnt. I worship Agni, who is the bestower of all kinds of riches. Agni, who possesses brightness that others cannot attain, adorns the house of sacrifice, as a house is adorned by a woman.

Agni, who was born in the woods and is a friend of man, takes care of his worshipper, as a Raja treats a capable man with kindness. May he be gracious towards us. O divine Agni, when you are born from the friction of the dry wood, all your worshippers then perform the sacred ceremony. May Agni, who possesses multi-coloured light, attend to the wishes of this worshipper of his. The fingers always love Agni, as wives love their husbands.

O Agni, when the worshipper kindles you in his house, and makes an offering to you, which he desires every day, you, having become augmented in two ways, increase his means of sustenance. May the digestive faculty of Agni, which relates to food, be granted, by way of vigour of virility, to those who attend upon the devotees and renowned ministrant priests and may Agni grant him a stout, unblemished, young, and bright son. O Agni, may your rich worshippers obtain abundant food. May the scholars, who praise you and make offerings to you, be granted long life. May we acquire spoils from our enemies in war.

Jall [water] contains medicinal herbs; therefore, O ascetic, be actively engaged in the praise of Jall. O Jall, ripen all disease-dispelling medicaments for the benefit of my body.

The weapon of Indra was wielded upon his enemies with his piercing arrows and [thus] he annihilated their cities. Then Indra turned towards Vritra with his thunderbolt, and became happy by slaying it. O two handsome lords of the forest, prepare the sweet Soma juice with attractive offerings for Indra. Bring the remainder of the Soma juice in the frying pan and splash it over the blades of sacrificial grass. Then, what is left, place it on the hide of a cow, that is, a bag made from the hide of a cow. O Indra, who drinks the Soma juice, you enrich us with thousands of excellent cows and horses, even if we do not deserve it. O Indra, handsome and powerful lord of food, your kindness is everlasting. Indra, grant us thousands of fine horses and cows. Annihilate everyone who abuses us; kill everyone who harms us; grant us thousands of horses and cows. Indra, who is ever pleased with our prosperity, may we have abundant food and healthy and abundant milk-yielding cows, on account of which we should rejoice in luxury and pleasure. O Indra and Agni, I, who am desirous of wealth, consider you both in my mind to be [my] relatives and kinsmen. The understanding that you have granted me has never been granted to anyone else. Being gifted thus, I have composed this mantra in your praise to express my desire for food. O Indra and Agni, bestowers of favour, whichever region you are in—whether the lowest, or the middle or the upper of the world—come here and partake of the crushed offerings. O Indra and Agni, wielders of the thunderbolt, destroyers of cities, grant us wealth; help us in our battles. May god Mitra, god Varuna, god Aditi, Ocean-god, Earth-god, and Heaven-god all come together to pay attention to this prayer of ours. O Indra, who is kind to men, you too are a creation. But ever since your birth, there has been no equal to you. You are the protector of the three spheres, the three luminaries, and of the whole of this world, which is abundant with all types of creation. O Indra, the foremost among the gods we call you. You have been victorious in battles. May Indra, who is efficient, swift, and the remover of all obstacles, keep our chariot ahead of all others in battles. O Indra, you are victorious, but you do not stop us from taking the booty. O fierce Maghavan, we sharpen you for our protection. May Indra be our friend, and may we be granted ample food without any complication. May god Mitra, god Varuna, god Aditi, god Ocean, god Earth, and god Heaven, preserve food for us.

We present the Soma offering to the valiant Indra, who is the performer of many brave deeds, the best of all gods, the bestower of favours, of true strength and brave, and the one who cares for wealth and takes it away from him who makes no offerings, as does the robber who steals from a traveller, and bestows it upon him who makes the offerings. O Indra, everyone praises you. Be so kind to us and do not let other people do us any harm. You are mighty; safeguard us from injustice and cruelty.

O mankind, it is that Indra—the cause of your daily lives—who, with the rays of the dawn, makes the unwise, wise, and the ugly, handsome. O Indra, you, having taken with you god Marut—that is air, which enables everything to fly and can reach the most inaccessible places—have searched out the cows which the thieves have hidden in caves. O god Maruts, may you, along with undaunted Indra, appear with all the pomp and glory of you two, while you both are glowing with happiness. May you make your appearance, along with the brave Indra, in joy and equal glory.

O Invincible Indra, safeguard us in battles in which we may obtain abundant booty. We call upon Indra, who is our helper and who, for our sake, wields thunderbolts against our enemies, for great affluence and for unlimited wealth. O one who makes the rain pour down on us and always fulfils all our desires, open up this cloud. You have always accepted our entreaties. The powerful lord Indra, makes the rain descend on us, always fulfils all our wishes and grants men strength, [such] as [with which] a bull defends a herd of cows. We call you Indra, who is everywhere among men. May you be ours, and ours alone. O Indra, we possess, as our own, the weapon of your support, by means of which we can overpower our enemies. The God Indra is very powerful and of exalted status. May glory and honour ever belong to the wielder of the thunderbolt. May his brave armies forever remain as great as the heavens. Indeed the praise of Indra, which is worthy of being sung and recited, should be offered repeatedly—so that he may partake of the Soma juice.

O god Indra, come here and, having satiated yourself with all sorts of food and being increased in strength, conquer your enemies. O Indra, the bestower of bounties, the protector of your worshippers, I have composed this hymn in your praise and it has reached you, and you have accepted it. O affluent Indra, encourage us in our zeal, in this rite, to amass abundant riches because we are hard working and well known. O Indra, give us unlimited and innumerable wealth which is the source of [acquiring] cattle, food, and all other necessities of life.

O Indra, make us famous and grant us such wealth as can be obtained in thousands of ways, and grant us all the eatables that are brought from the fields in carts. With our praise of him, we call Indra for the protection of our possessions—Indra, the owner of wealth, the one whom people praise and who frequents the places of sacrifice. O Satakruta, the reciters of the Sham Veda praise you, and the reciters of Rigveda praise you. You are worthy of being praised. And the Brahmans raise you high, like a bamboo stick. Indra, the bestower of blessings, is aware of the objectives of his worshipper, who has worshipped him extensively with the Soma plant collected from the mountain heights, and therefore [Indra] comes with the troops of Maruts. Indra, drinker of the Soma juice, come here, [in the chariot driven by] your strong and handsome horses with long manes that are harnessed to it [the chariot], to listen to our praise of you. O god Vasu [Indra], come to join [us] in our acts of worship. Accept our hymns, praise, and prayers. Be graciously inclined to our sacrifice, and bestow upon us abundant food. The hymn, which is the cause of our progress, is to be chanted again and again in praise of Indra, the repeller of many foes, so that this powerful god may address our children and our friends with kindness. We turn to Indra for receiving his kindness for his bestowing [on us] wealth and perfect power; for, he, having conferred wealth, can protect us. O Indra, heaven and earth are helpless against you when you are destroying your enemies. You command the waters that descend from heaven; send us cows with great generosity.

O Indra, worthy of praise, may we always remain singing your praise. May this praise increase you in power. O long-lived one! May you be pleased with our praise and thus bring us joy. We select Agni, the messenger of the gods, their invoker, the possessor of great wealth, the perfecter of this rite.

O bright Agni, we have sought your help for a long time with sacred offerings. Burn to death our enemies, who are under the protection of evil spirits. Praise Agni, the all-wise, truthful, bright, and remover of illness. Bright Agni, the messenger of gods, protect that worshipper of yours who offers sacrifices. O one who purifies, be kind to him who comes to the presence of Agni for the pleasure of the gods. O bright Agni, who purifies, bring god to our sacrifices and oblations. We have praised you with the mantra composed most recently. Bestow upon us food and wealth, that is the source of progeny. God Agni, present our offerings to the gods, and may true knowledge be the reward of the giver, i.e. Agni. O Agni, come to our worship, with all these gods, to drink the Soma juice and you too offer sacrifice. O wise Agni, the Kanwas—that is, Rishis—call you and sing your praise. O Agni, come with the gods. O Agni, make those who promote good deeds—that is, the gods that we worship—participants of the offering, together with their wives. O, bright-tongued, give them the Soma juice to drink. At the time of worship, offer to those gods, whom we worship and adore, the drink of the Soma juice. O god Agni, yoke your powerful mares, whom we call Rohits, to your chariot and bring the gods here by them. Bestower of rewards, O Agni, you, being the household fire, and partaker with Ritu of the sacrifice, worship the gods on behalf of those who pray to them. O Agni, we have invited you with great zeal to drink the Soma juice. Agni, come here with the Maruts. O mighty one, neither a god nor any man has power over a rite dedicated to you. Agni, come with the Maruts. Agni, bring the beautiful wives of the gods here, and bring Twashtri, to drink the Soma juice. Agni, bring our offering, and our newest hymn to the attention of the gods. You, Agni, were the first Angiras Rishi, a god; you were the helpful friend of gods. The wise and intelligent Maruts, possessing bright weapons, was born of your rite. O Agni, the first and chief Angiras, it is you on account of whom blessings are bestowed on the worship of gods. You are wise and multi-coloured. You are intelligent for the benefit of the whole world. You are the offspring of two mothers, who appear in different poses for the benefit of man.

O Agni, who overpowers the wind, manifest yourself to your worshipper so that he should know that his worship has been accepted. Heaven and earth tremble at your power. You have borne the burden of the rite for which the priest was appointed. You have worshipped the venerable gods. Agni, you fulfil desires and augment the wealth. O Agni, we worship you for the sake of wealth. Make renowned the performer of the rite. May we perform this rite again when we have children because of your favour. Preserve us, along with heaven and earth, and all the gods. O Agni, forgive us this lapse on our part and our treading this path which has led us astray. One should praise you for being the protector of those who make offerings which you deserve. Pure Agni, who goes everywhere to receive offerings, go to the hall of sacrifice that is located before you, as did Manus, and Angiras, and Yayati, and others of old. Bring the gods here, make them seated on the sacred grass and offer them sacrifice which they may be grateful to receive.

O Agni, may you prosper by this mantra of ours, which we recite according to our ability and understanding. Grant us an abundance of wealth and bestow upon us good understanding and abundant food. With these mantras, we call upon the mighty Agni, who is also adorned by the other Rishis, for the benefit of many people who worship the gods. Men turn to Agni, the augmenter of vigour. O Agni, we worship you by offering oblations. O you, who grants food in abundance, be benevolent to us this day. O Agni, you are the giver of delight, the invoker and messenger of the gods, the protector of mankind; the good and long-lasting acts which the gods perform are all combined in you.

O young and propitious Agni, whatever offerings we may present to you, do turn to us with kindness and convey our offering to the powerful gods, either now or sometime in the future. O Agni, your worshipper adores you in this manner, you shine because of light. Men, with seven ministrant priests, kindle Agni—who vanquishes its own enemies—with oblations. O Agni the destroyer, you have slain Vritra with the help of other gods. The gods have made the earth, the heaven, and the space, an expanse for the living of the creatures. May the affluent Agni be a benefactor to Kanwa, whenever needed, just as a horse neighs for the sake of cattle.

We adore Agni, whom Kanwa made brighter than the sun, and whose rays shine brightly; we praise him and extol him. O Agni, bestower of food, fill our stores, because, through you, we make friends with gods. You are the master of all kinds of food. Grant us joy, for you are exalted. O Agni, be like the Sun-god for our protection. Stand up erect. You are the bestower of food. We invoke you with ointments for the sake of food, and the priests make holy offerings. Young and bright Agni, safeguard us against evil spirits and vicious man, who do not forgive, and protect us from dangerous animals and from those who are bent upon killing us.

O Agni, Manu appointed you to give light to many generations of men. You were born for the sake of sacrifice, and you are satiated with holy offerings. You, whom men salute, have shone brightly. The flames of Agni are bright, strong, and awe-inspiring. They cannot be trusted. They definitely and completely burn the mighty evil spirits and our other enemies. O Agni, who are well endowed, and redresses the grievances of all creatures, bring to the donor of the offerings wealth of many kinds, starting from the early morning, along with good houses. Bring the gods here as soon as they wake up in the morning.

Today, we select Agni, the messenger, the bestower of homes, most popular, the bearer of the flag of smoke, the bestower of light, the protector of the worshipper who worships at dawn. I praise Agni, the best and youngest of the gods, the guest of man, whom everyone calls upon, who is the friend of those who make offerings, who knows all created beings, so that he may go to bring the other gods here.

O Agni, the sacrificer, the all-knowing, everyone kindles you and many people call upon you. Do, O Agni, bring the wise gods here soon. O Agni, you safeguard the offerings made by the people. You are the messenger of the gods. Bring the gods who wake up at dawn and honour the sun. Awaken the Aswins who are associated with the morning offerings. May both of the gods come here to drink of the Soma juice.

We call upon the two Aswins, who both are gods and excellent riders of the chariots, who ride in an excellent carriage and reach as high as heaven. You Aswin use your whip—which is wet with the foam of your horses and makes a loud noise when it is lashed—to stir up the oblations of Soma. O Aswin, you go in your carriage to the home of the maker of the oblations, which is not far from you. I invoke Savitri, the golden-handed sun, to safeguard me. He determines the ranks of the worshippers. Glorify the sun, who is not a helper of the water, for our protection; we ardently desire to worship him.

Sit down, friends. We will, indeed, worship the sun, for he is the bestower of wealth. The wise always give due honour to the exalted status of the sun, as their eyes look towards the sky. The wise are always alert and ever ready to pay homage. We glorify the exalted rank of the sun.

The all-wise sun, the god is carried by his horses to the heights, so that he may be visible to all the worlds. O sun, you travel more than anybody else; you are seen by all; you are the fountain of light; you are resplendent throughout the heavens. You, O sun, rise in the presence of the god Maruts. You rise in the presence of mankind. You rise in a manner that all celestial beings may see you. You make your appearance with the light with which you purify and safeguard from evil. You travel through the vast expanse of heavens, keeping count of the days and nights, and viewing all creatures.

O sun, rise high in the heavens with your soothing radiance and cure the sickness of my heart, and the paleness of my body. We approach the Sun-god, who is the chosen god from among all other gods, on witnessing the light beyond the darkness. O Moon-god, you do good to everyone by remaining busy all the time. You are powerful due to your strength and know all things. Due to your benevolence, you grant favours and enjoy a high status on your own account. O guide of men, you have received abundant nourishment from sacrificial offerings. Your actions are similar to those of Rajah Varuna. O moon, your word is great. You purify all, as does the god Mitra whom we love. You foster everyone, as does god Aryaman. You possess all the glories that are manifested by you in heaven, on earth, in the mountains, and in the waters. O moon rajah, be kind to us, and accept our offerings without any displeasure. O moon, you love to be adored and are the guru of the plants. You are our life. If you so desire, we shall not perish.

O moon, you bestow wealth on those who worship you, whether they are young or old, so that they may enjoy it and so that they may live. O moon, the rajah, safeguard us against everyone who seeks to do us harm. A friend of such a god as you cannot die. O Moon-god, help us with such support that brings joy to those who make offerings. Grace our offerings and our homage with acceptance. O Moon-god, come to us and make our rituals flourish. Since we know the mantras, we raise your status with our adornments. Come here, O benevolent moon. O Moon-god, who grants abundant wealth and is aware of our lost property, augmenter of food, be our worthy friend.

O Moon-god, live happily in our hearts, as the cattle are happy in green pastures, or as men are happy in their homes. O Moon-god, may your power increase from all around; in every way grant us food with great diligence. O felicitous happy moon, grow along with the climbing plants. Be our friend. Grant us abundant food, so that we may prosper. To him who makes the oblations, the Moon-god bestows a milch-cow, a swift horse, and a son who is clever in business, proficient in the domestic matters, diligent in religious rites, and who commands respect in any gathering and is a source of honour for his father.

O Moon-god, we become happy when we realize that you are victorious in battles fought against thousands of men, and are the one who never loses his strength, and that you are born amid the offerings, and that you live in a bright home, and are well known as well as brave. O Moon-god, you have created all these water plants and cows; you have made heavens widespread; you have lifted darkness through [your] light.

O mighty Moon-god, grant us a part of [your] wealth through your enlightened mind. May you remain secure from all opponents. You are more powerful than two equally strong opponents. Safeguard us against our opponents during the battle.

Sun comes in the wake of the bright morning as a man follows a young and beautiful woman. At that time, men who are cognizant of religious observance carry out the ordained acts of worship. They adore the blessed sun, hoping for good reward.

The horses of the sun, which are auspicious, fast, strong-bodied, traversing long distances, whom we adore, and who are worthy of our praise, have reached the heights of heaven and they have swiftly traversed the earth and heavens. The divine power and grandeur of the Sun-god is such that when he sets, he draws the light, which had covered the unfinished task, into himself. When he releases his horses from the yoke, the darkness of the night spreads all around.

The sun displays its countenance to divine Mitra and Varuna in the middle of the heavens. On the one hand, his rays spread his limitless and bright power and on the other hand, they bring forth the darkness of the night when they withdraw themselves. O gods, as soon as the sun rises, safeguard us against unworthy acts. May god Mitra, god Varuna, goddess Aditi, god Ocean, goddess Earth, and god Heaven, listen to this prayer of ours with attention.

Now, the readers of this book should themselves decide whether all these verses that I have quoted, taking so many pages, reveal anything about God and let the Aryah Samajists be fair and tell us what eloquence Rigveda has demonstrated in these verses in expressing its intent. Let them speak up; is this discourse forceful and reasoned—as an eloquent discourse should be—or is it simply absurd and worthless? It could not have escaped the fair-minded readers that, instead of communicating their true intent in a lucid manner so as to spread the truth, the subject-matter of these verses themselves is so absurd and meaningless that the reader is rendered all the more confused.

Sometimes the Veda regards something as the Creator and begs it to fulfil its desires, and at other times the same thing is portrayed as a creature which is dependent on others. At times it attributes divine qualities to an object, and at other times it ascribes to the same thing the qualities of mortals. It is obvious that there has been no meaningful result of its circumlocution; it claims to be the upholder of Divine Unity, yet it does not teach Unity. It claims to be the champion of creature-worship, yet it has failed to justify creature-worship too. Rather, like a confused and insane person, it has delivered such a baseless and self-contradictory discourse as has created a strange type of mess in the Hindu faith.

Someone worships one god, another sings praises of another. Can such absurd and meaningless discourse be called eloquent and lucid by any sensible person? Perhaps some Hindus, who have only heard the name of the Veda, but have never actually seen their so-called holy book, might harbour the delusion that these shurtis that are found written in the Rigveda, have not been correctly inscribed therein, or that in this Veda there would be found perhaps better shurtis than those given above, which would be such that the Veda would have eloquently expounded Divine Unity in them, or it would have given the teachings of creature-worship in an eloquent and well-grounded discourse which are the [two] necessary prerequisites of eloquence and fluency of speech. Let me say, in answer to such doubters, that I have selected these verses as a specimen from Rigveda Sanhita, First Ashtaka, sukta 1–115.

Anyone who claims that they have not been accurately quoted should present a translation which he deems authentic so that unbiased people may decide for themselves whether the verses quoted by me are accurate, or those quoted by him are. And if someone claims that though these verses may be absurd and meaningless, there are other verses in the same Veda that express God’s Oneness with greater coherence and lucidity, it is incumbent upon him to bring them forward in addition to these cited verses. If he can somehow or other prove the fluency of expression and eloquence of the Veda and its facility for diction, so be it.

I have no uncalled for enmity towards anyone. I do say, with all sincerity of my heart that, having deliberated upon the Vedas with the utmost attention, I have found them far away and devoid of refined language. And I find it pitiful that such muddled notions should have appealed to the Aryah Samajists and that they should feel so infatuated by such immature and lowly ideas. If the Vedas, despite their long-windedness, absurd assertions, and fatuous contents, can still be called eloquent, then I wonder what word in the world should be called ‘not-eloquent’! And if the Aryah Samajists do not know what is called an eloquent text, then it is incumbent on them to attentively look at just a few verses of the Holy Quran and compare them with the very lengthy composition of the Vedas given above to realize with what elegance and brevity the Holy Quran expresses very many subjects pertaining to the Unity in the most concise and logical statements, and that how hard it tries to establish Unity in the hearts, and how eloquently and with logical discourse does it engrave the Divine Unity on the pure hearts!! If there are any verses in the Vedas that can stand any comparison with it [the Holy Quran], they should be produced. Otherwise, to indulge in useless and idle talk and not to renounce wickedness and mischief after they have been dumbfounded suits only those who have no concern whatsoever with God, honesty, and uprightness, nor any care whether they feel ashamed of themselves or not. Talking nonsense and failing to desist from wickedness and mischief, despite being silenced, can only be the work of those who have nothing to do with God or faithfulness, and share no part in modesty and decency.

Now, in contrast to the Vedic verses, I will cite some Quranic verses that bear upon God’s Oneness, so that everyone can know which of the two is refined, concise, and emphatic, and whose text leads to all kinds of doubts and suspicions and is prolix and pointless. Here are the esteemed verses:

Translation: The existence of Allah, who combines in Himself all perfect attributes and is worthy of worship, is manifestly proven, because He in Himself is the Living and in Himself is Self-Sustaining. Nothing besides Him is living in itself or is self-sustaining in itself. In other words, nothing besides Him is characterized by life and sustenance on its own, without ‘illat-e-mujidah [a cause of existence], nor can anything else be regarded as the ‘illat-e-mujibah [causative factor] of the universe, which has been fashioned with utmost wisdom, and a firm and balanced order. This phenomenon proves the existence of the Creator of the universe, who combines in Himself all perfect attributes.

An elaboration of this beautiful argument is that it is well established that, of all objects that are visible in the universe, there is none whose existence and survival is indispensable in its present form. For instance, the earth is spherical in shape and according to the estimate of some, its diameter is approximately 4,000 kose,63 but no argument can be established as to why this shape and this bulk is essential for it, and why it is not permissible that it should be of greater or lesser mass, or a shape different from the present shape. Since no argument can be established for it, it follows that this shape and mass, the combination of which constitutes existence, are not essential for the earth.

In the same way, the existence and sustenance of everything in the universe would be considered dispensable. It is not just that the existence of every possible thing is dispensable in its present form; rather, in some cases, we observe that circumstances arise for many things to become extinct and yet they do not cease to exist. For instance, from the very beginning, in spite of severe famines and epidemics, the seed of everything has continued to survive. But reason permits—indeed, it demands—that on account of thousands of hardships and calamities which have afflicted the world since inception, it should have happened sometime that in consequence of severe famines, grain—which provides sustenance for man—should have totally disappeared, or, at least, some form of grain might have disappeared; or, through the severity of epidemics, the human species should have totally disappeared, or some forms of animal life should have become extinct; or, by some accident, the machinery of the sun or the moon might have gone out of order; or, out of countless other things which are necessary for the proper functioning of the universe, some might have experienced a disorder. For, it is contrary to logic that millions of things should escape disorder and disruption and never fall victim to calamity.

Therefore, the fact that the things whose existence and sustenance is not essential [in their own right], but rather, their going out of order at one time or another is more of a possibility than their survival, have suffered no decline and have come into being and continue to exist in an orderly manner with perfect structure, and the continued availability of billions of essential things in the universe, are clear proof that for all of them there is a Bestower of life, Protector, and Sustainer, who combines all the perfect attributes in Himself. That is, He is the Planner, the Wise, the Gracious, the Compassionate, Eternal and Ever-Living in His own being, and free from every defect. He is not subject to death or destruction and is free even from slumber and sleep, which, in substance, resemble death.

Thus, He is the Being who combines in Himself all perfect attributes, who brought into being the contingent universe with perfect wisdom and appropriateness and chose its existence in preference to its non-existence. He alone, on account of His perfection, His creative power, His rububiyyat [providence], and His self-existence, is worthy of worship.

Now, it should be observed, in all fairness, the eloquence, subtlety, vigour, and wisdom with which the proof of the existence of the universe’s Creator has been given in this verse, and vast meanings and subtle points of wisdom that have been encapsulated in a few words. The existence of a Creator—possessing perfect attributes—has been proven with such strong reasoning in the words,

[whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth] whose perfection and comprehensiveness have not been equalled by anything ever said by any philosopher.

On the contrary, philosophers of defective understanding do not even consider souls and bodies as created, and they remain unaware of the subtle mystery that true life, true existence, and true self-subsistence belong only to God. Man can learn this deep understanding only from this verse in which God states that, in reality, life and eternal existence belong only to Allah, who combines all perfect attributes in Himself. Except Him, nothing else enjoys true existence and true self-subsistence. This very fact has been presented as an argument for the need of a Creator of the universe and it is affirmed

65 meaning that, as the universe is neither really self-existing, nor self-subsisting, it necessarily requires an Originating Cause through which it obtained life and subsistence. It is necessary that such an Originating Cause should comprehend all perfect attributes and should be the Controller of the universe by His will; He should be Wise and the Knower of the unseen. And He it is who is Allah.

In the idiom of the Holy Quran, ‘Allah’ is the name of the Being who is comprehensive of all perfect excellences. That is why in the Holy Quran the name ‘Allah’ is described as the noun that refers to all perfect attributes. At various places it is stated that Allah is He who is Lord of the worlds, is Gracious and Merciful, is the Controller of the universe by His will, is Wise, Knower of the unseen, All-Powerful, Eternal and Everlasting, and so on. Thus, it has become a well-established idiom of the Holy Quran that ‘Allah’ is the name of the Being who combines in Himself all perfect attributes. That is why this verse begins with the name of Allah and proceeds:

Meaning that, the Sustainer of this transitory world is the Being who encompasses all excellences.

This indicates that it is incorrect to presume that certain things within this universe—which exhibits such orderly arrangement and perfect structure—can be the originating cause of others. On the contrary, for this wise enterprise, which is filled to the brim with wisdom, a Creator is needed who should exercise control by His will and should be Wise, All-Knowing, Ever-Merciful, Immortal, and should encompass all perfect attributes. So He is Allah, who possesses the utmost perfection in His Being.

After establishing the proof for the existence of the universe’s Creator, it was necessary to impress upon a seeker after truth that the Creator is free from every kind of association. So, this was indicated in:

Observe with what elegance and excellence in this brief statement, which is not even one line long, the Being of the Maker has been described as free from every kind of association. The explanation of this is that, according to the reckoning of reason, association can be of four types. Sometimes, association is in respect of number, and at other times in rank, sometimes in respect of descent, and sometimes in respect of action and effect. So, in this surah, it has been declared that God is free from association of all four of these types. It has been made clear that He is One in number and is not two or three. He is Samad; that is, He is Unique and Incomparable in His station of being the Necessary Existence and Needed by all, while everything besides Him has only a contingent and mortal existence and is ever dependent upon Him. And He is

, which means that He has no son so that he, by virtue of being His son, should be His partner; He is

, which means that He has no father so that, by virtue of being His father, he should be His partner; and He is

, which means that no one can be His equal in His works to claim partnership with Him on account of the working relationship. Thus, it has been made clear that God Almighty is free from associates of all four types, and is One, without associate.

After this, it [the Holy Quran] sets forth a rational argument in support of His being One, without associate, by stating:

Meaning that, had there been any other god in heaven or earth—besides the One who is the Possessor of all perfect attributes—both [heaven and earth] would have been corrupted; for, at times, this plurality of gods would inevitably have acted against one another, and their discord and conflicts would have resulted in plunging the universe into chaos. Moreover, in the case of separate creators, each one of them would have worked for the welfare of his own creation, for whose comfort he would have considered it permissible to destroy others. This, too, would have led to chaos in the universe.

Thus far, the proof of Allah’s being One, without a partner, has been furnished through dalil-e-limmi70. After this, dalil-e-inni71 is provided to establish His being One without a partner; it is stated:

Meaning: ‘Say to the polytheists and the deniers of the Exalted Maker’s existence that—now that they are being pressed hard by the arguments in support of Islam and its glory and power—if there are some other people who share in the working of the affairs of God’s universe, or if the available means suffice for everything then they should call those for help whom they claim to be the associates of God. And remember, they will never be able to resolve their problems, nor remove any affliction from them.’

O Messenger, say to these pagans: ‘Call those whom you associate in the worship of Allah to help you against me. Adopt whatever plan you can to defeat me and give me no respite at all. But bear in mind that my Supporter and Helper and the Accomplisher of my work is that God who has revealed the Quran. He alone accomplishes the works of His true and righteous Messengers. But those from whom you seek help are neither able to help you nor can they help themselves.’

Then after this, it [the Holy Quran] establishes through the law of nature that God is free from every shortcoming and deficiency, and says:

Meaning that, all seven heavens and the earth and everything that exists therein glorifies God; there is nothing that does not glorify Him, but you do not understand their glorifications.

This means that reflecting upon the heavens and the earth proves that God is Perfect and Holy and is without sons or associates, but only for those who possess understanding. Thereafter, those who are partially engrossed in creature-worship are confuted and their being in error is brought to light; it is said:

Meaning, some people say that God has a son, whereas to be dependent upon a son is a deficiency; however, God is free from every deficiency. He is Self-Sufficient and Independent, and in need of no one. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth. Do you falsely accuse Him of something in support of which you have no knowledge whatsoever? Why should God be dependent upon sons? He is Perfect and is alone Sufficient to carry out the obligations that Godhead requires. There is no need for any other plan.

Some people say God has daughters, whereas He is free from all these deficiencies; sons for yourselves and daughters for Him—this is not a fair division [Surah an-Najm, 53:22–23].

O People! Worship God, the One without associate, who created you and your forefathers. You should fear the Powerful and Mighty One who has spread out the earth for you as a bed and raised the heaven for you as a canopy and, by sending water from heaven, created all types of sustenance for you in the form of fruits. Therefore, do not deliberately appoint those things that have been created for your benefit as associates of God [Surah al-Baqarah, 2:22–23].

God is One, who has no partner. He alone is the God in the heavens and He alone is the God on the earth [Surah az-Zukhruf, 43:85].

He is the First and He is the Last, and He is the Manifest and He is the Hidden [Surah al-Hadid, 57:4].

Eyes cannot perceive His reality and He knows the reality of the eyes [Surah al-An‘am, 6:104].

He is the Creator of everything and nothing is like unto Him [Surah ash-Shura, 42:12].

It is a clear argument in support of His being the Creator that He has created everything according to a measure and has fixed its outer limits, which proves the existence of the Restrainer and Limiter [Surah al-Furqan, 25:3].

He is proven worthy of all praise and is the only true Benefactor in this world and the Hereafter. All command belongs to Him and everything originates from Him and returns to Him [Surah al-Qasas, 28:71].

God will forgive every sin for whomsoever He wills, but He will never forgive that a partner be associated with Him [Surah an-Nisa’, 4:49].

Therefore, it is incumbent upon every one who is desirous of meeting his Lord to adopt a course of action that has no disorder of any kind and to associate no one in the worship of God [Surah al-Kahf, 18:111].

Therefore, do not associate anything with God. It is a grievous wrong to associate anyone with God [Surah Luqman, 31:14].

Do not ask any favours from anyone except God. Everything will perish and only His Being will remain. His is the command and to Him is your return [Surah al-Qasas, 28:89].

Your God has ordained that you should worship Him alone and keep doing good to your parents [Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:24].

But if they misguide you to make you set up equals with Me, then do not obey them [Surah Luqman, 31:16].

If you suffer an affliction, then, except God, there is no friend of yours who can remove it; and if any good should come to you, then God alone has the power to bestow every good upon you, and no one else does. He alone has complete authority and power over all people, and He alone possesses perfect wisdom and awareness of the true reality of everything [Surah al-An‘am, 6:18–19].

He alone should be beseeched for all needs to be granted. And whomsoever—aside from Him, they pray to for their needs, do not answer their prayers at all. Such people are akin to a person who raises his hands towards water and prays to it, ‘O water, come into my mouth.’ Obviously, water does not have the ability to listen to someone and to reach one’s mouth by itself. In the same way, the idolaters beseech help in vain from their deities, which cannot yield any benefit [Surah ar-R‘ad, 13:15].

Even if someone has attained nearness to God, he cannot dare to intercede unduly on behalf of a culprit and have him acquitted. God’s knowledge encompasses them on all sides, and people attain only as much of God’s knowledge as He imparts to them, and no more [Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256].

All the perfect names of God belong exclusively to Him, and it is not permissible to associate anyone else with them. So call God by the names which belong to Him exclusively. That is, do not call Him by the names of His creation either on the earth or in heaven, nor apply the names of God to created things. And avoid those who deem it permissible for others to share divine attributes; they will soon be given requital for what they do [Surah al-A‘raf, 7:181].

O idolaters, you worship mere lifeless idols instead of God, and persist in utter falsehood [Surah al-‘Ankabut, 29:18].

So, keep away from this impurity—that is, the idols—and shun falsehood [Surah al-Hajj, 22:21].

Do they have feet with which they walk, or hands with which they hold, or eyes with which they see, or ears with which they hear? [Surah al-A‘raf, 7:196]

Do not prostrate before the sun and the moon either; rather, prostrate before the God who created them all. If you truly worship God, then worship that very Creator and not His creation [Surah Ha Mim as-Sajdah, 41:38].

The sun does not have the power to reach the location of the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day, nor can any star deviate from its ordained orbit [Surah Ya Sin, 36:41].

There is nothing on earth or in heaven that is not His creation or His servant [Surah Maryam, 19:94].

And if someone claims to be god other than God Almighty, We [i.e. Allah] shall cast him into Hell. Such is the punishment We inflict on the transgressors [Surah al-Anbiya’, 21:30].

So you should believe in God and His Messengers, and do not say, ‘There are three [gods].’ Desist! That is better for you [Surah an-Nisa’, 4:172].

O people, listen carefully to this exemplum: Those from whom you seek [the fulfilment of] your desires cannot even create a fly, and if the fly snatches something from them they cannot retrieve it. Weak indeed are the seekers and the sought; that is, those who supplicate before created things are weak-minded and the created things that are believed to be worthy of worship are weak in power. The idolaters have not recognized God as He ought to be recognized. Do they imagine that God’s universe cannot function without other associates, whereas the fact is that God, in His very Being, possesses perfect power and complete dominance [Surah al-Hajj, 22:74].

The idolaters are so ignorant that they consider the jinn to be God’s associates; without any knowledge or awareness of the facts of the matter, they have fashioned sons and daughters for Him [Surah al-An‘am, 6:101].

The Jews say that Uzair [Ezra] is the son of God, while the Christians hold Masih [the Messiah] to be His son. All these are but words of their mouths; they cannot put forward any firm argument for their truthfulness. Rather, they are merely imitating the idolaters of the past. How have the accursed ones left the path of truth and taken their sages and saints and the Son of Mary as gods, whereas they were commanded to worship only One God? [Surah at-Taubah, 9:30–31]

God is perfect in His Being; He has no need to adopt a son. What did He lack that was compensated for by a son? If He did not lack anything, why would He do such a superfluous thing as taking a son of whom He had no need? He is beyond doing every frivolous thing and is free from every state of imperfection. When He commands something to ‘Be’, it comes into being [Surah Maryam, 19:36].

On the Day of Judgment, God shall decide between the Muslims, who have believed and adopted pure Tauhid [Oneness of God]; and the Jews, who took their saints and Prophets to be the providers of all their needs and associated created things with divine work; the Sabians, who worship the stars; the Christians, who declare the Messiah to be the son of God; the Magians, who worship fire and the sun; and all other idolaters, who are engrossed in diverse forms of idol-worship. God is watching over everything, and it is no secret that the creature-worshippers are in the wrong.

It is a glaringly obvious fact, and everyone can himself understand by personal observation, that everything in heaven and on earth—heavenly bodies, earthly bodies, plants, minerals, animals, the elements, the moon, the sun, the stars, mountains and trees, all forms of living things, and human beings, who are worshipped by the idolaters—all of these things prostrate before God. In other words, they are dependent upon Him for their existence, sustenance, and survival, and bow down before Him in complete humility. Not for a moment are they independent of Him. Thus, seeking [the fulfilment of] one’s desires from the very same objects that are themselves dependent is utterly misguided. Some people, who become rebellious, are also not exempt from being humbled, for even in this world they are visited by all kinds of sufferings, illnesses, worries, sorrows, and other tribulations, and the torment of the Hereafter awaits them as well. So, what is there, besides God, that can be found to possess the qualities of independence and self-sufficiency, so that someone might take it as worthy of worship? Since there is nothing independent and self-sufficient other than God, this is enough to prove the falsity of all creature-worshippers [Surah al-Hajj, 22:18–19].

These are a few verses from the Holy Quran that I have quoted in contrast to the long-winded verses of the Rigveda. Now, consider the undue verbosity, absurd composition, baseless and misleading text, and irrational statements of the Vedic verses in contrast to the verses of the Holy Quran which encompass the great ocean of Tauhid with its consummate wisdom and philosophical arguments in the briefest possible words, demonstrating perfect brevity and beauty. Also observe how, in a well-reasoned and succinct discourse, it proves the essentials of Tauhid and opens the door to divine cognition for seekers after truth; how every verse makes a great impact upon the worthy hearts with its powerful statements; and how it grants sublime light for dispelling inner darkness. From this, a wise person can readily discern which scripture is fluent, eloquent, and forceful in expression, and which book is devoid of eloquent and fluent discourse.

When any pure-hearted and just person studies the text of the Vedas and the Holy Quran for comparison, he will see at once that the text of the Vedas is so immature and incomplete that it creates various kinds of doubts in the mind of the reader, and causes all manner of uncertainties regarding Almighty God. Nowhere does it forcefully articulate its claims nor substantiate them with evidence. In fact, it is hard to understand what its claim is. The most one can gather is that it wishes people to worship Agni and the sun and Indra, etc., but does not advance any argument or proof as to how and when these elements earned the status of Godhood. In addition to this vagueness, the four Vedas have been written in such a long-winded and verbose manner that only a very hard-working person, who also happens to live long, might be able to study them.

On the contrary, when a just person reads the Holy Quran, he will immediately find that the Holy Quran has accomplished such a marvel in brevity of expression—an essential requirement of eloquence—that, despite comprising all essentials of the Faith and completely satisfying all proofs and arguments, it is so small in size that a person can easily read it in a few hours from beginning to end.

Look! What a great miracle the Holy Quran’s eloquence is in that it encapsulates a raging ocean of knowledge within three or four juzw’ and encompasses an entire universe of wisdom within a few pages. Has anyone ever seen or heard of a book of such small size that contains eternal truths for all times? Can the intellect of any wise man assign to any man the grand status of capturing an ocean of wisdom in a few words wherein no truth pertaining to religious knowledge is left out? These are real and true facts that I am writing; whoever denies them should come forward for a contest against me.

Here it should also be borne in mind that Vedic discourses are devoid of another crucial characteristic that is essential and indispensable for the Divine Word—which is that there is no trace of prophecies found in the Vedas and they are altogether devoid of the news of the unseen, whereas it is essential for a book that is called a Divine Book to manifest divine light. That is to say that, as God Almighty is the Knower of the unseen, Omnipotent, Incomparable, and Peerless, so is it necessary that His Word, which is the mirror of His perfect attributes, should provide practical proof of the above-mentioned attributes. It is evident that the ‘illat-e-gha‘i [ultimate cause] of the descent of Word of God is that, by means of it, one should come to fully know the Being and the attributes of God, and so that man, progressing from reasoning based on conjecture, should attain to the stage of ‘ainul-yaqin [certainty by sight], and even the stage of haqqul-yaqin [true certainty]. It is evident that this stage of knowledge can be attained only if the Word of God does not leave the seeker after truth at the mercy of his reason alone, but, by its own manifestations, makes all doctrines plainly clear. For instance, by making many prophecies and revealing many matters of the unseen and then showing their fulfilment, it should prove to the seeker after truth that God Almighty possesses the attribute of Knower of the unseen. Likewise, it should give its followers the promise of total help and should also fulfil these promises and thus prove to them that God is Powerful and Truthful, and their Helper. But none of these characteristics are found in the Vedas. Provided one approaches the matter with a fair mind and reflects on it with due attention and care, it would be evident to him that none of these Signs are found in the Vedas and they are bereft of the perfection of knowledge for which the Word of God is revealed. Rather, the fact is that the Vedas do not achieve the level of divine cognizance that a wise man achieves on the basis of reason and through which, to the best of his ability and skill, he is able to avoid faltering into any mistake or error. And the teachings of the Vedas are so corrupt and self-evidently false that even a ten year old boy—provided he is not bigoted and stubborn—can testify that they are faulty and a source of misguidance.

It should also be borne in mind that the Vedas are altogether devoid and deprived of the spiritual effects which Furqan-e-Majid [the Holy Quran] is comprised of. To elaborate, in addition to all of the excellences of eloquence and fluency, and being the compendium of wisdom and divine insights, the Holy Quran possesses such a spiritual effectiveness in its blessed self that its earnest following makes a man steadfast in his affairs, filled with inner light, enlightened in his bosom, accepted of God, and worthy of being addressed by the Lord of Honour. It creates in him divine light, and provides him with such bounties from the unseen and indubitable support as are not found in others. Such a sweet and comforting Word is revealed to him from the One True God, in consequence of which he realizes more and more every moment that by earnestly following the Holy Quran and by truly obeying the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, he has been conveyed to the stages which are reserved exclusively for the beloveds of God, and that he has been granted such divine pleasures and kindness which were bestowed upon all those of perfect faith who passed on before him. He perceives a pure spring of all these loves—not as mere talk, but as actual fact—flowing through his sincere heart and, in his expanded bosom, he experiences a type of relationship with God that he cannot describe in words or by means of any illustration. He observes divine light pouring forth like rain upon his soul. That light casts its reflection upon him sometimes in the form of a disclosure of hidden matters, sometimes in the form of knowledge and insights, and at other times in the form of high moral qualities.

These effects of the Holy Quran have been demonstrated continuously. Ever since the Sun of Truth appeared in the world in the blessed person of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), thousands of people who possessed the capacity and ability have attained—and continue to attain—the lofty stages mentioned above by following the Word of God and the beloved Prophet. God Almighty bestows such favours and excellences on them repeatedly and continuously, and manifests such support and favours for them that those with clear insight are convinced that they are accepted in the eyes of the One True God, are under a grand shadow of divine kindness, and are embellished by a majestic divine grace. Observers can clearly see that they are honoured with extraordinary bounties, distinguished with wonderful and extraordinary miracles, scented with the perfume of [God’s] love, and invested with the honour of being the accepted ones of God. The light of the All-Powerful so fills their company, their attention, their resolve, their prayer, their insight, their moral qualities, their way of living, their pleasure and retribution, their liking and disliking, their movement and stillness, their speech and silence, and their exterior and interior just as a precious perfume fills a bottle of clear and transparent glass.

The grace of their companionship, attention, and love provides things which cannot be acquired through austere discipline. The condition of faith is entirely transformed through entertaining goodwill and faithfulness towards them, and the strength to display good moral qualities is attained, the confused thinking and evil inclination of the ego begins to decline, and a satisfaction and sweetness begin to appear. According to one’s capacity and as appropriate, a zest for faith surges up, affection and fondness are manifested, and delight in the remembrance of Allah increases. By keeping their company over an extended period, one is necessarily brought to confess that—in their strength of faith, moral state, renunciation of the world, inclination towards Allah, love for Allah and kindness towards His creatures, and their fidelity, contentment, and steadfastness—they occupy such an exalted place, the like of which has not been seen in the world. Sane reason immediately recognizes that the shackles and chains that bind other people have been removed from their feet, and their bosoms have been cleansed of the narrowness and constriction through which the bosoms of other people are constrained and fatigued. Moreover, such people are honoured by the abundance of converse and discourse with the One True God, and are considered worthy of being addressed repeatedly and continuously. They are considered an intermediary between God, the Glorious and High, and His eager servants for direction and guidance. Their light illumines other hearts. As at the advent of spring there is an upsurge in the flourishing of vegetation, in the same way, at their advent, natural light increases in sound natures, and the heart of every fortunate one naturally desires to exert his utmost effort to bring into manifestation its capacities for good fortune, to be freed from the veils of heedlessness, and to be rescued from the stains of sin, disobedience, vice, and the darkness of ignorance and unawareness. Their blessed era possesses such a characteristic and there is such spread of light that every believer and seeker after truth, in proportion to his degree of faith, discovers an expansion and fondness within his soul for constancy in religion without any apparent cause and perceives an increase and strengthening of resolve. In short, every sincere person partakes of the delight from the delicate perfume which he acquires through the blessing of perfect obedience, proportionate to the degree of his sincerity. It is true, however, that those who are eternally unfortunate, partake none of it, but advance further in rancour, envy, and ill fortune, and thus fall into the nethermost hell. This is what is referred to when Allah the Almighty says:

I reiterate this very discourse in other words to make it fully understood. Although the bounties that are received by the followers of the Holy Quran and the special gifts that are bestowed upon them are beyond the scope of any written or oral statement, some of these bounties are such magnificent blessings that, by way of illustration, it would be appropriate to mention them in detail for the guidance of seekers. Accordingly, they are given below.

Of these are the knowledge and divine insights which are bestowed upon the perfect followers by the banquet of the graciousness of the Furqan [Holy Quran]. When a person adopts true obedience to the Glorious Furqan, commits himself wholly to its commandments and prohibitions, and ponders upon its guidance with perfect love and sincerity, and no overt or covert aversion remains, then his observation and reflection are bestowed a light by the Perfectly Bounteous Lord, and he is granted an exquisite intellect whereby wonderful beauties and points of divine knowledge—which are hidden in the Divine Word—are disclosed to him, and subtle divine insights descend upon his heart like spring showers. These are the very subtle divine insights which are named hikmat [wisdom] in the Glorious Furqan, as He says:

Meaning that, God grants wisdom to whomsoever He pleases, and whoever is granted wisdom has been granted abundant good. That is, wisdom comprises abundant good, and he who is granted wisdom, attains abundant good. Such knowledge and divine insights, which, in other words, are called ‘wisdom’, being comprehensive of abundant good, are, like a circumambient ocean which is bestowed upon the followers of the Divine Word. Their reflection and observation are so blessed that true verities of sublime order are continuously reflected in their souls, which have the characteristics of a mirror, and perfect truths continue to be disclosed to them. And divine support furnishes them with such means at the time of every investigation and scrutiny that what they set forth does not remain incomplete or defective, nor does it contain any error. So the knowledge, divine insights, subtle verities, fine points, arguments, and proofs that occur to them are at such an extraordinary stage of perfection both quantitatively and qualitatively that it is impossible for other people to match them or compete with them. This is so because they are not alone; rather, they are guided by an understanding from the unseen and the support of the All-Sustaining God. It is through the strength of that very understanding that they discover the mysteries and light of the Quran, which cannot be acquired by the smoky light of reason alone. This knowledge and these divine insights which are bestowed upon them—through which they are made aware of the fine and subtle points and very deep insights relating to the Being and attributes of the Divine, and to the realm of the Hereafter—are spiritual wonders which, in the estimation of people with mature insight, are higher and finer than material wonders. Rather, a careful consideration will reveal that, in the estimation of the wise, the value and rank of those with divine cognition and men of God are determined by these same miracles. These very miracles are the ornaments and embellishments of their high rank and are the adornment and beauty of their virtuous countenance, since it is part of human nature that the awe of knowledge and true insights affects it most, and that truth and divine insight is dearer to it than everything else.

If it were supposed of an ascetic worshipper that he is granted visions, is also given knowledge of unseen matters, subjects himself to austere disciplines, and many other types of miracles are manifested by him, but he is utterly ignorant of divine knowledge so much so that he cannot even distinguish between truth and falsehood—rather, he is instead entrapped by perverted thoughts, steeped in false doctrines, and immature in everything he says and commits serious blunders in every affair—such a person would appear very lowly and despicable in the estimation of persons endowed with sane and sound faculties. The reason is that when a wise person smells the stench of ignorance and hears some foolish words from someone, he is immediately disgusted with such a person. Thereafter such a person cannot be respected by a wise one and appears lowly, regardless of how ascetic a worshipper he might be. This natural human inclination shows that spiritual wonders—that is, knowledge and divine insights—are deemed by it to be a necessary characteristic of the men of God and special and necessary conditions for the recognition of the men of high standing in faith. So these signs are bestowed in a perfect and complete manner upon those who wholeheartedly follow the Noble Furqan. And despite the fact that illiteracy is the dominant characteristic of the nature of many of them and they have not acquired full proficiency in customary sciences, yet they are so far advanced from their contemporaries in fine points and beauties of the knowledge of the Divine that very often their strong opponents are totally surprised by hearing their speeches or reading their writings, and spontaneously confess that their knowledge and divine insights, which bear the special colour of divine support, belong to another world.

Another proof of this is that if any denier, by way of opposition to them, seeks to compare their truthful and enlightened speeches on subjects relating to the Divine with anyone else’s speech, he will be forced to confess in the end—provided he is just and honest—that real truth resided in the speeches that proceeded from them. As the discussion gets deeper and deeper, many beautiful and subtle arguments emerge—like a bright day—and keep unfolding the fact of their being in the right. Accordingly, I myself take the responsibility to furnish proof of this to every seeker after truth.

Another [of these bounties] is ‘ismat [innocence], which is also termed as ‘divine protection’. Such innocence is also bestowed on the perfect followers of the Glorious Furqan in an extraordinary manner. By ‘innocence’, I mean here that they are safeguarded against unworthy and undesirable habits, thoughts, morals, and actions with which other people are seen to be defiled and polluted day and night. If they happen to make a slip, divine mercy soon makes reparation for them. It is obvious that the station of innocence is highly refined and lies far away from the demands of nafs-e-ammarah [the self that incites to evil], and its attainment is impossible without special divine attention. For instance, if someone is admonished to refrain simply from the habit of lying and misrepresentation in all of his affairs, statements, occupations, and professions, it becomes difficult, and even impossible for him. Even if he strives and struggles to achieve this objective, he encounters so many obstacles and impediments that ultimately he comes to believe that it is impossible to avoid lying in the affairs of the world. But for those fortunate ones who seek to follow the guidance of the Holy Quran with true love and eager determination, not only is it made easy to avoid the abominable habit of telling lies, but they are also granted by the Omnipotent God the strength to give up every undesirable action or speech. God Almighty, by His perfect mercy, safeguards them from all abominable occasions that would lead them to the whirlpool of ruin; for, they are the light of the world—in their security lies the security of the world, and in their ruin lies the ruin of the world. For this reason, they are safeguarded in respect of every thought, knowledge and understanding, wrath and passion, fear and greed, constriction and prosperity, joy and sorrow, and hardship and ease, from all unworthy actions, corrupt thoughts, erroneous knowledge, improper conduct, misguided comprehension and every omission and commission of their ego. They do not hold on to anything mean, for God Almighty makes Himself responsible for their training and whichever branch He observes to be dry in their pure tree, He immediately cuts it off with His patronizing hand, and divine support watches over them in every moment and every breath. This bounty of protection which is bestowed upon them is not without proof, and an intelligent person can satisfy himself in respect of it after keeping company with them for a short while.

Another [great bounty] is the station of tawakkul [trust in God] upon which they are established with utmost firmness. That pure spring can never be attained by anyone besides them, rather, it is made pleasant and agreeable solely for them. The light of cognition lends them such support that very often without there being any resources and finding themselves far away from normal means, they lead such jovial and cheerful lives and pass their days in such prosperity as if they possessed thousands of treasures. Their countenances display the freshness of wealth and the steadfastness of the rich. They have perfect trust in their Benevolent God in times of hardship, with a cheerful heart and complete certainty. Preferring others over themselves is their way of life and the service of people is their practice. Even if the whole world were to become members of their family, they would feel no constraint, and gratitude is indeed due to God Almighty’s attribute of Sattar, which covers up their shortcomings on every occasion and protects them with kindness before the calamity which is beyond their capacity descends upon them; for, God is the Guardian of all their affairs, as He has said Himself:

Others are left to the anxiety of worldly objects, and the extraordinary treatment that is especially accorded to these people is not accorded to anyone else. This characteristic of theirs can also be proven very soon by keeping [their] company.

Personal love for God is another station upon which the perfect followers of the Holy Quran are established. The love of God so saturates every particle of their existence that it becomes the essence of their being and the very breath of their life. A wonderful love of the True Beloved surges up in their hearts and an extraordinary affection and eagerness takes possession of their pure hearts, which cuts them off and separates them altogether from all others, and the fire of divine love is so radiant in them that, on special occasions, it becomes palpably perceptible to those who keep company with them. Even if true lovers of the Divine adopt any design or strategy to keep this fervour of love hidden, it becomes impossible for them to do so; just as it is impossible for worldly lovers to hide their love for their beloved—whom they yearn to see day and night—from their companions and associates; rather, the love that penetrates their talk, looks, eyes, manners, and their nature, is manifested in every particle of their being, and cannot be kept secret no matter how hard they try. Whatever they might do to conceal it, some sign of it is betrayed.

The greatest sign of their sincerity is that they give precedence to their Real Beloved over everything else, and if they experience any tribulations from Him, they view them as bounties because of their overpowering personal love, and consider the torment to be a sweet drink. The sharp edge of a sword cannot bring about separation between them and their Beloved and no great calamity can restrain them from the remembrance of the Beloved. They regard Him as their very life and find all of their delight in His love. They deem His Being as the only being and consider His remembrance as the purpose of their lives. Him alone they cherish and from Him alone they attain comfort. They have only Him in the world and become wholly His; for Him alone they live and for Him alone they die. They are in the world but are outside the world; while possessing self, they are selfless. They have no concern with honour, reputation, life, or comfort; rather, they lose everything for the sake of the One and give up everything to find the One. They are consumed by an imperceptible fire and cannot explain why they are consumed. They are deaf and dumb to every admonition and exaltation, and are ready to endure every hardship and disgrace, and find their delight therein.

Love is what makes one roll in the dust of disgrace;
Love is what makes one sit in the scorching fire.

No one offers his head or sacrifices his life for someone else;
Love alone makes one perform this task with utmost sincerity.

Another [bounty] is high moral qualities like generosity, bravery, preferring others to themselves, high resolve, abundant compassion, forbearance, modesty, and friendship. Only by them are these morals displayed in their most beautiful and befitting manner. Because of following of the Holy Quran, they faithfully manifest these morals with excellence and affability in every condition up to the end of their lives, and they suffer no mental constraint to prevent them from exhibiting these good morals as required.

The truth is that whatever good quality, whether intellectual or relating to conduct or morals, that can be manifested by man, cannot be manifested by human capabilities alone; rather, the real cause of its manifestation is Allah’s grace. As these people receive Allah’s grace more than anyone else, the Benevolent God bestows all good qualities upon them through His boundless beneficence. In other words, no one is truly good except God Almighty and all high moral qualities and all virtues are proven for Him alone. Then to the degree to which a person, discarding his self and his will, acquires nearness to the Being who is All Good, to that degree divine qualities are reflected in his soul. Thus, all of the good qualities and truly civilized behaviours that a person acquires proceed from his nearness to God alone. This is how it should have been, for creatures are nothing in themselves. Thus, the reflection of divine moral qualities is manifested only in the hearts of those who follow the Holy Quran perfectly; and it can be demonstrated with valid investigation that pure behaviour, spiritual eagerness, and the upsurge of love with which high moral qualities are manifested by them, are not equalled anywhere in the world. Even though anyone can make a verbal claim and can talk tall by way of boasting, these are the only people who can pass safely through the narrow door of valid investigation.

Some such good qualities as may be demonstrated by other people are demonstrated with dissimulation and artificiality. They make a display of their false civilized behaviours by hiding their impurities and concealing their diseases, and their reality is exposed on the occasion of every little test. They adopt dissimulation and artificiality in the exercise of high moral qualities mostly because they find it conducive to maintaining good order in their life and civilization; if they were to follow their inner impurities on all occasions, their way of life would be disrupted. Although they carry a seed of good qualities according to their natural capacity, it is suppressed under the thorns of their ego’s desires. It is not manifested purely for the sake of God without being mixed up with selfish desires, not to speak of attaining perfection. This seed develops into perfection purely for the sake of Allah only in those people who are completely devoted to God and whose souls are filled by God Almighty with His own pure qualities, as He finds their selves to be totally empty of the defilement of anything besides God. He makes those high qualities as dear to their hearts as they are dear to Him. Thus, because of their self-annihilation, they acquire such a high rank of adorning themselves with the divine attributes of Allah that they become like an instrument of God through which He manifests His own attributes. Finding them hungry and thirsty, He gives them to drink pure water from His special spring in which no creature, in its own right, is His partner.

And one great perfection among the bounties which are bestowed to the Holy Quran’s perfect followers is ‘ubudiyyat [the state of complete submission to God]. Meaning that, despite their own excellences, they always keep an eye on their personal deficiencies and, keeping in view the greatness of God the Exalted Maker, they pass their time in humility, self-negation, and meekness. They consider humility, poverty, indigence, and being full of faults and mistakes to be their true reality, and they deem the excellences that are bestowed on them like the temporary light which the sun casts upon a wall, and which does not have a real connection with the wall, and is subject to decline like a borrowed garment. Therefore, they confine all good and excellence in God alone, and deem only His Perfect Being as the fountain of all goodness. By observing the manifestation of divine attributes, their hearts are filled with the true certainty that they themselves are nothing, so much so that they are wholly lost to their own existence, desires, and designs. And the surging ocean of the majesty of the Divine so envelops their hearts that they experience thousands of types of nothingness, and they are wholly cleansed and purified of the least suspicion of associating anything with God.

And another one of these gifts is their ma‘rifat [cognition] and understanding of God which is carried to completion and perfection through true visions, divinely bestowed knowledge, clear revelations, converse and discourses with the One True God, and other miraculous Signs, so much so that between them and the next world is left only a thin and transparent veil across which their vision beholds the facts of the Hereafter in this very world. On the contrary, other people certainly cannot arrive at this perfect stage because their books are full of darkness; rather, their books being full of perverse teachings, pile up hundreds of other veils on top of their own veils, and cause their disease to grow until they reach the point of death. The philosophers, who in these days are being followed by the Brahmu Samajists and whose religion depends entirely upon ideas based on rational thinking alone, are deficient in their own way. Suffice it to say that their deficiency is disclosed by the fact that their cognition, in consequence of hundreds of errors, does not move beyond the apparent causes and does not advance beyond conjectures. It is obvious that the person whose divine cognizance is confined to the visible methods—and that, too, defiled by many mistakes—occupies a very low and inferior level of knowledge in contrast with one whose cognition has arrived at the stage of the badahat [self-evidence]. It is quite clear that beyond the stage of observation and reflection, there remains the stage of self-evidence and eyewitness. In other words, matters that are discovered through observation and reflection may become self-evident and be witnessed through some other means. Hence, reason affirms that the stage of self-evidence can be achieved.

Though Brahmu Samajists may deny the external manifestation of this [state of certainty], they cannot deny that if it is manifested externally it would doubtless be higher and more perfect, and that the resolution of the secrets that are left unsolved in observation and reflection, depends entirely upon this stage. And who cannot understand that a matter being established as self-evident is a higher and more perfect stage than the stage of reflection? For instance, though by observation of created things a wise and good-natured person can think that all these things must have a Maker, yet the most obvious and clear way of divine cognition, which is a very strong argument in support of His existence, is that His creatures receive revelation, they are made aware of the end result of the reality of things before they come to pass, they receive responses to their entreaties from the One True God, they are bestowed with converse and discourses, they are revealed the events of the other world in visions, they are informed of the reality of reward and punishment, and many other types of mysteries of the Hereafter are disclosed to them. There is no doubt that all of these matters carry certainty of knowledge to the perfect and complete stage and carry one from the low-lying areas of reflection to the towering minaret of self-evidence.

In particular, converse and discourse with the One True God is the highest experience of this type, for through them not only does a person discover hidden matters, but he is also informed of all the favours that the Benevolent God bestows upon that humble servant, and he is afforded such comfort and satisfaction through a pleasant and blessed converse and is informed of the pleasure of the Exalted Maker in consequence of which he is bestowed great strength for combating the abominations of the world, as if he is bestowed mountains of endurance and steadfastness. In the same manner, man is instructed by divine revelation about the high degrees of knowledge and understanding and hidden mysteries, and deep subtleties are communicated to him which cannot be discovered without special divine teaching.

Should someone ask how all these matters—concerning which it is said that they are acquired through perfect obedience to the Holy Quran—can be established as existing, in fact, in Islam, the answer to this objection is: by companionship. Though I have stated it several times, I repeat, without fear of prolonging this discussion, in order to disclose it to every opponent that this great wealth is indeed found in Islam and is certainly not found in any other religion. For a seeker after truth I make myself responsible for furnishing proof of it. These matters can become quite obvious to someone who keeps [my] company with goodwill, and carries out appropriate research with patience and steadfastness, according to his personal capacity and ability.

Out of these matters which constitute the knowledge of the unseen, no doubt should be harboured at all that fortune tellers and astrologers also have a share in such knowledge. Because these people [the men of God] do not disclose the matters of the unseen through any special skill or by any rules of forecasting, nor do they claim to be the knowers of the unseen, but the Benevolent God who is compassionate to them and attends to their circumstances with special favours and attention, informs them for some good reason about certain matters prior to their occurrence so that what He intends to do is successfully accomplished in the best possible manner. For instance, He wants to disclose to the creatures of Allah that such a person is the one who is helped by Allah and whatever bounties and favours he receives are not ordinary and casual; rather, they are manifested by the special divine determination and favours. Likewise, whatever victory, help, good fortune, and honour he is granted is not the result of any plan or stratagem of his; rather, it is God alone who has willed to make him victorious and support him with His help. Thus, before these bounties and victories come about, the Benevolent and Merciful God, in order to prove this objective [of His], gives them the glad tidings of granting these bounties by way of prophecy. The purpose of these prophecies is not to give the news of the unseen; rather, their real objective is that it should be established with certainty and categorically that the person in question is the recipient of the help of Allah and he is from among those select persons for the support of whom the favours of the Honoured One especially manifest themselves.

It is obvious from this discourse that such a recipient of divine support has nothing in common with astrologers and the like. His prophecies are not the real objective; rather, they serve as signs and indications for recognizing the real objective. Moreover, the people whom God Almighty chooses especially for Himself and purifies with His own hand and admits among His people are not only known by the fact that they speak of the unseen—in which case their circumstances would be suspected to resemble the astrologers, soothsayers, fortune tellers and diviners and it would be hard to tell them apart—but, they are also accompanied by a magnificent light through which a sincere seeker can readily recognize them. In fact, this is the light that surrounds all of their words and actions, activities and speech, reason and understanding, and their outer appearance and inner qualities and hundreds of its branches become visible and it manifests its grandeur in many a colourful form. In times of hardship and tribulation, the same light appears as patience, and manifests itself in the form of perseverance and submission, then those who have been blessed with this light appear like unshakeable mountains in the face of the greatest trials. The calamities whose slightest touch makes the ignorant cry and wail and takes them even to the very brink of death, are—even when such calamities attack them in their most vehement form—nothing to these people and the help of Allah immediately pulls them into the lap of its benevolence. No failing or impatience is shown by them; rather, they consider the suffering emanating from the True Beloved as a gift and accept them with an open heart and mind. Indeed, they find pleasure in it, for mountains of power and strength and patience are dispatched towards them and surging waves of the love of the Divine bar the thought of all else from their minds. Thus, they exhibit such perseverance that is extraordinary and which no man can show without divine help.

Similarly, that light manifests itself as contentment in times of need, so their hearts grow cold towards worldly desires in a wonderful manner and they view the world as something noxious. The same worldly pleasures—whose gratification is craved by worldly people and sought with greatest avidity, and whose loss makes them overly frightened—appear as absolutely nothing in the eyes of these men of God. They find all their joy in keeping their hearts filled with loyalty, love, and contentment towards the True God and in spending their times in zeal, eagerness, and affection for Him. They are averse to the wealth that is contrary to His will and consider every honour that is against the will of the Benevolent God to be of absolutely no importance. Similarly, that light sometimes manifests itself in the garb of wisdom, sometimes in the form of lofty flights of their faculty of observation, sometimes in the marvellous displays of their faculty of performance, sometimes in the garb of meekness and compassion, and sometimes in the garb of harshness and jealousy. Sometimes it appears as generosity and selflessness, sometimes in the garb of bravery and steadfastness—sometimes in the garb of one virtue, while sometimes another. At times it manifests itself in the form of converse from the One True God, at times in the form of true visions and evident Signs. Meaning that, as the occasion demands, that light is made to surge up by the the Bestower of good things. The light is but one, and all these are its branches. He who sees only one branch and fixes his gaze on only one bough, remains limited in his insight. This is why such a person is often deceived. But he who surveys all the branches of this blessed tree collectively and understands the nature of its diverse fruits and blossoms, beholds that light as clearly as a bright day, and the drawn swords of that glorious light smash all his conceits.

Here people of certain dispositions may be perplexed as to how these excellences can be attained even by people who are neither Prophets nor Messengers. As I have already stated, this perplexity is a baseless misconception which grips the hearts of those who are not aware of the real truth about Islam. If, by virtue of their obedience, the followers of Prophets were not granted a share in their perfections, knowledge, and insights, then the door of [spiritual] inheritance would be totally closed, or would remain very narrow and constricted. For, it is contrary to the objective of [spiritual] inheritance that their followers should remain totally deprived of the bounties which the Messengers and the Prophets receive from the Source of all graces, and should fail to partake of the sweet drought of enlightened faith and insight to which the holy ones have access, and be comforted merely with uninspiring and superficial talk. Such a suggestion would also entail a kind of miserliness on the part of the Bounteous Bestower of benefits as well as a denigration of the grandeur and greatness of the Word of Allah and the beloved Prophet, because the supreme effects of the Divine Word and the excellences of the spiritual power of the Innocent Prophet consist only in that the eternal light of the Divine Word should forever continue to enlighten the purified and eager hearts; not that their impact should ever cease, nor that it should show its effect for a limited time and then become ineffective forever. It should not be like a medicine which has lost its efficacy. Moreover, when a truth has been actually present in every age and epoch as an externally verifiable reality, and is verifiable even now, and can be manifestly proven with numerous testimonies, how can any just person deny such a luminous verity? How and where can such manifest truth remain concealed? Whereas reason itself demands that as long as a tree remains alive it should continue to bear fruit, but it would be mere foolishness to expect fruit from the tree that is withered or cut off at its root.

Given that the Glorious Furqan [Holy Quran] is that magnificent and verdant tree, whose roots penetrate deep into the earth and whose branches ascend up to heaven, how is it possible to deny the fruits of such a blessed tree? Its fruits are patently manifest, for people have always been eating them, as they eat them even now, and shall continue to eat them in the future as well. Moreover, the following notion held by some ignorant ones is completely absurd and false: ‘In this age no one has access to these fruits; rather, their eating was the portion of only those who have gone before. They were the fortunate ones who ate those fruits and benefited from them, and afterwards were born those unfortunate ones whom the Master stopped from entering the orchard.’ God does not let the capacity of those who are invested with it go waste; and the door of His bounties is not closed upon any true seeker. If any one entertains the false notion that there are times in certain ages when the door to divine bounties is closed and the efforts and endeavours of able persons are wasted, he has not yet recognized the dignity of the Almighty God. Such a one is among those regarding whom God Almighty Himself says,

However, if the objection is raised as to where can we find in the present age the knowledge, divine insight, true visions and converse with the One True God whose certainty of existence is being claimed, and how can they be substantiated, the answer is that all these facts have been proven in this very book. For a seeker after truth, the way to test this claim is very clear and straightforward, because he can find that knowledge and divine insights in this very book. Moreover, the true visions, news of the unseen, and other miracles can be proven to him through the testimony of the people of other faiths, or he can himself attain the level of perfect certainty by staying in [my] company for a time. All the other requisites and qualities of Islam may also become manifest to him if he stays in the company. However, here it should also be borne in mind that the wonders and marvels that are revealed to men of God and the blessings that they possess can only become apparent to a seeker if he turns to them in perfect truth and sincerity with an earnest desire to find guidance. If he approaches them in such a manner, these matters are disclosed to him as much as, and in whatever way, they are destined for him by the special will of God. But where there is some flaw in the truthfulness and intentions of the seeker, and his bosom is devoid of sincerity, then such a seeker is shown no Sign. This has been the very practice of God Almighty with respect to the noble Prophets as is evident from the study of the Gospel wherein it is written that many a time the Jews wished for Masih [the Messiah] to show them a miracle, but he refused outright to show them a miracle and did not even refer to any past miracle. This is made clear in chapter 8, verse 12 of the Gospel of Mark wherein it is written that the Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a Sign from heaven, to test him. He sighed deeply from the depth of his heart, and said, ‘Why do people of this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign shall be given to the people of this generation.’79 Although the apparent indication of these lines is that the Masih did not bring forth any miracle, their real import is that he had not manifested any miracles up to that time; hence, he did not refer to the past occurrence of any miracle. There were very few truthful and sincere people among the Jews, in view of whose good faith a miracle could have been shown; but, later on, when truthful and sincere people appeared and came to the Masih as seekers after truth, they were not deprived of observing miracles. For instance, the Masih’s foreknowledge of Judas Iscariot’s evil intentions was a miracle that he showed to his disciples and faithful believers. Although all the other miracles attributed to him were considered unacceptable and objectionable by his critics on account of the story of the pool and the above-mentioned verse—and cannot be used now as proof—the occurrence of this aforementioned miracle is not impossible in the eyes of an impartial critic.

In short, the manifestation of miracles and extraordinary Signs is conditional upon the truthfulness and sincerity of the seeker. And the indications and signs of truthfulness and sincerity are that there be no intervention of rancour and haughtiness and the Sign should be sought with patience, steadfastness, humility, and meekness with the intention of being [rightly] guided and then, until the manifestation of this Sign, one should wait for it with patience and reverence so that the Benevolent God should manifest that through which a true seeker should attain the stage of perfect certainty. In short, reverence, sincerity, and patience are the most important conditions for the manifestation of divine blessings. It would be appropriate for anyone who wishes to benefit from divine grace to become the embodiment of reverence, with utmost humility and steadfastness, and seek this gift from the door of the one who is worthy of it. Wherever he sees the fountain of divine cognizance, he should hasten towards that fountain even with great difficulty, and then stay for a few days with patience and reverence. However, it does not behove those who have been granted the ability by God Almighty to manifest extraordinary Signs, that they should go about markets and public places showing them off in the manner of tricksters, nor do such phenomena lie in their power. No doubt there is fire in their flint, but its expression and manifestation depends on the loving stroke of their truthful, steadfast, and sincere devotees.

Another point to remember is that it is a mistake to label the visions and revelations of men of God merely as ‘news of the unseen’. Rather, these visions and revelations are the sweet fragrance of the garden of divine succour that indicate the existence of that garden from afar. And the majesty and grandeur of such visions and revelations is truly revealed to the one who is in search of [the signs of] divine help. Meaning that, he should hold divine help as the fundamental sign, and the prophecies as essential requisites that have been used to serve as proofs of divine help. In other words, divine help is the pivot of the status of nearness to God, whereas the prophecies, being the evident proof of this, prove to all people, high and low, that these supports in fact exist. In short, divine support is the basis and prophecies are a branch thereof. Divine support is like the disk of the sun and prophecies are like the rays and sparks of that sun. Prophecies serve divine support inasmuch as they help everyone realize that the help is of an extraordinary nature and cannot be attributed to luck or coincidence. Likewise, divine help serves prophecies because their deep interrelation enhances the glory of the prophecies and imparts upon them a matchless quality that cannot be found in anyone other than those who enjoy divine help. This, then, is the quality that serves as the distinction between common prophecies and those glorious ones.

To sum up, in trying to understand the greatness and eminence of these people, one has to bear in mind the mutual link between prophecies and perfect help [from the Divine], as this link is impossible and unthinkable in the prophecies of other people. Indeed, such obvious flaws are at times witnessed in the latter prophecies as to reveal their utter baselessness. As for the men of God, their shining prophecies are always illumined with the light of truth. Moreover, such blessed prophecies have a reciprocal relationship with the marvelous divine help in a wonderful way. God becomes the Guardian of the works of His servants and helps them in an amazing manner. He remains helpful to them, at all times and at every moment, both openly and secretly. It is His practice that He gives them the news of His help before it comes to pass, and in their times of anxiety and worry, He comforts and satisfies them with His luminous word. Then He helps them in such a wonderful way that can neither be conceived, nor imagined. And whoever stays in their company and looks deeply into these affairs and reflects over their grandeur and greatness with an untainted and pure mind, has to admit spontaneously and with absolute certitude that these people are the recipients of God’s help, and that the One True God pays special attention to them. For, it is obvious that when a person hears, not once but scores of times, someone announcing before the event that he has been promised divine help and then actually witnesses the help materialize with his own eyes, he cannot be so mad or insane as not to believe in those true prophecies and mighty Signs of divine succour. It would of course be a different matter if he were to deliberately deny something he has personally witnessed out of extreme prejudice and dishonesty, but even then his heart will not be able to deny it and will always accuse him of pervesity and stubbornness.

I will now record some [of my] recent visions and revelations for the benefit of seekers after truth. And, likewise, if God so wills, I will continue to record in this book from time to time whatever divine gifts are revealed to this humblest servant of God, unless God wills otherwise. And the objective of doing so is that the true seekers of certainty and cognition may benefit from them and so that they might develop serenity in their situations, and so that the veils that are causing them to be so lowly in their resolve and so misguided in their thinking may be lifted from their hearts. And at this point I would like to repeat that these matters are not such as my humble self cannot give proof of, nor are they based on the testimony of only my own co-religionists. Rather, they are evident truths bearing the testimony of people of other faiths, and even our religious adversaries can bear witness to their truths. I have taken all this pain so that it may become perfectly clear to those who truly seek and strive for the right path that all blessings and lights are confined in and limited to Islam; and so that the penetrating argument of God Almighty may be conclusively established for the present day generation of heretics; and so that every just man may become aware of the satanic nature of those people who—loving darkness and hating light—deny the lofty status of the Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’ [the Seal of the Prophets], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, utter indecencies regarding that holy personage, and falsely slander the Best of Men, and who—owing to their extreme inner blindness and faithlessness—fail to realize that he was the only perfect man to have appeared in the world and that his light, like the sun, has always cast its rays upon the world and shall do so forever. And so that by virtue of these truthful writings the greatness and grandeur of Islam is manifested through the admission of the opponents themselves, and so that the way to discover the proof should be opened for the one who sincerely seeks, and the one who prides himself on his intelligence may be rid of his haughtiness.

Moreover, another reason for setting out these visions and revelations is that it may increase the believers in their faith and grant steadfastness and comfort to their hearts, and they should understand this true reality with perfect certainty that the faith of Islam is the only right path, and now under heaven there is only one Prophet and only one Book. Meaning that, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa [the Chosen One], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who is higher and more exalted than all Prophets, is the most perfect and complete of Messengers, is Khatamul-Anbiya’ [the Seal of the Prophets] and Khairul-Wara [the Best of Men], by following whom God Almighty is found, the veils of darkness are lifted, and the signs of true salvation are witnessed in this very life; and [the Book is] the Holy Quran, which comprises true and perfect guidance and effectiveness, through which divine knowledge and understanding are obtained and the heart is cleansed of human impurities; and, being delivered from ignorance, heedlessness and doubts, a person arrives at the stage of haqqul-yaqin [true certainty].

Still another reason of setting out these visions and revelations and proving them through the testimonies of people of other faiths is that Muslims should be provided with a strong argument forever and that it should forever be proven to the people that the foolish, ungodly, and dark-hearted people who unjustly contest against and oppose the Muslims are overpowered and silenced, and that the seekers after truth of the present age as well as the future generations should be protected against the poison of the toxic winds of misguidance that are blowing these days. For, in these revelations there are many things whose manifestation has been determined for some time in the future. Thus, when this period will pass, and a new age would reveal its face out of the veils that hide it and would itself witness the truth of the things which are set out in this book, then, if Allah the Almighty so wills, these prophecies would prove extremely beneficial for enhancing the strength of their faith. Thus, of the prophecies that have so far been revealed to me by Benevolent God, some are set out below.

One of them is that some time ago I was in dire need of money and the local Aryas who used to keep my company were well-aware of this need. They also knew very well that, apparently, there was nothing in the offing that I could place my hopes on. They were personally aware of this matter and can testify to it. Since they had full knowledge of my difficulty, as well as the lack of means to resolve it, the desire surged in my heart involuntarily that I should pray to God, the One and Only, so that through the acceptance of my prayer, I may not only overcome my own difficulty, but may also furnish a proof of divine support to my opponents—a Sign to the truth of which these people should bear witness. So, the same day I prayed and begged Allah the Exalted for a Sign from Him, that He may inform me of the coming of financial assistance. Thereafter I received the revelation [in the Urdu, Arabic, and English languages]:

Meaning that, the money will arrive after ten days; God’s succour is near, and just as the birth of the foal is close when a she-camel raises her tail to give birth, similarly the help from Allah is also close. And then He revealed in English that when the money arrives after ten days I will also go to Amritsar. All this was fulfilled in the presence of the Hindus—that is, the aforementioned Aryas—exactly as it had been foretold. Meaning that, I did not receive anything at all for ten days. And after ten days—that is, on the eleventh day—Muhammad Afzal Khan, Superintendent of Settlement, Rawalpindi, sent 110 rupees, and twenty rupees from some other source also arrived, and thereafter money began to pour in quite unexpectedly. On the same day, after ten days had elapsed and when the money had come from Muhammad Afzal Khan and others, I had to go to Amritsar because I received the same day a summon from the Small Causes Court to appear as a witness. This then, is the magnificent prophecy; the detailed fulfillment of which is very well known to some of the local Aryas. They are very well aware of the reality of all these events: My prayer in the midst of a dire need, the acceptance of that prayer, the receipt of glad tidings that the money would arrive after ten days, and after the arrival of the money, the information conveyed to me of having to go to Amritsar. They are also aware of the fact that this prophecy was fulfilled in their presence, though these people, on account of the darkness of disbelief, are not free from wickedness and rancour and are, like their brothers in faith, always prepared to give vent to their hatred of and malice towards Islam, and partake of the carcass of the world, and are utterly indifferent to truth and rightness; yet if they are asked to give their testimony under oath concerning this, then because of being under oath, they cannot avoid giving true testimony—if not for the fear of God, then out of the fear of being disgraced or incurring the punishment of [false] oath.

Another of these prophecies is that Maulavi Abu Abdullah Ghulam Ali of Qasur, whom I have mentioned in Sub-Footnote Number Two, entertained some doubts about the great status of the revelations received by auliya’ullah [friends of Allah]—and this was not evident in his face to face conversation, but was revealed through some passages of his booklet. Some time ago, a gentleman from among his students named Nur Ahmad—who is both a hafiz and a haji and perhaps also knows some Arabic and preaches the Quran as well, and lives in Amritsar city—happened to come here in the course of his mendicant sojourns. His denial of revelation seemed even stronger than that of Maulavi [Abu Abdullah]. Like the Brahmu Samajists, he applied the word ‘revelation’ to human thoughts alone. Since he was staying with me and had expressed to me, in very strong words, the opinion about revelation which he entertained, I felt much aggrieved by it. Although I tried to convince him by rational arguments, they had no effect upon him. Then at last I turned to Allah and informed him before the revelation of the prophecy that I would supplicate to the Benevolent God, and would not be surprised if the supplication is graced with acceptance and the Benevolent God might reveal some prophecy and he might be an eyewitness of its fulfilment. Accordingly, I made my supplication in the presence of the All-Powerful God that night and towards the morning I saw in my vision a letter which someone had sent by post on which there was a inscription in English:

And I also received these words by way of revelation as if they had been addressed to me by the writer of the letter. Then that state [of vision] ended. Since my humble self does not have any knowledge of the English language, I informed Mian Nur Ahmad of this vision and revelation and of the incoming letter. Thereafter, when I enquired the meaning of the English inscription from someone who was conversant with English, I learned that it meant: ‘I am quarreller.’ From this brief sentence I understood clearly that I was about to receive a letter relating to some dispute. I conceived that the Arabic inscription which was the next sentence written by the scribe meant that the writer of the letter had written it in connection with the witness testimony relating to a court case.

Hafiz Nur Ahmad was held back from leaving for Amritsar that day due to heavy rain. His inability to leave because of a heavenly cause was, in fact, an intimation of the acceptance of my prayer so that he himself might become an eyewitness to the fulfilllment of the prophecy, as I had supplicated to God Almighty. In short, the subject matter of the entire prophecy was narrated to him. In the evening, in his presence, I received a registered letter from Amritsar from Padre Rajab Ali, owner and manager of the Safir Hind Press, and I came to know that he had instituted a suit against his scribe—who is also the scribe of this very book—in the Small Causes Court and had given the name of this humble self as a witness to an incident. Along with it, I received a summons from the Court. The interpretation of the Arabic inscription—which means, ‘This witness is shattering’—then became patent inasmuch as the proprietor of the Safir Hind Press was absolutely certain that the testimony of this humble one, which would be in accord with the facts, would prove destructive for the defendant on account of its weight, truth, reliability, and credibility. That is why the proprietor of the Press put me to the trouble of coming as a witness and had summoned me as a witness. It so happened that the day on which this prophecy was fulfilled, and the travel to Amritsar was experienced, was also the day on which the first prophecy mentioned above was also fulfilled. Thus, Mian Nur Ahmad witnessed the fulfilment of that first prophecy as well. Meaning that, money was received on that day after the expiry of the period of ten days and I was summoned and had to go to Amritsar.

[So Allah be praised for all this].

Another one of them is that one day I received a revelation at the time of Fajr that:

Today some money will arrive from a relative of Haji Arbab Muhammad Lashkar Khan.

As usual, this prophecy was communicated immediately to some Aryas and it was agreed that one of them should go to the post office at the time of the delivery of the mail. Accordingly, one Aryah named Malawamal went at that time to the post office and brought the news that ten rupees had arrived from Hoti Mardan. He brought a letter which stated that these ten rupees had been sent by Arbab Sarwar Khan. As the word Arbab was a common courtesy title [in both names], I pointed out to the Aryas that the occurrence of the word Arbab in both names was sufficient to establish the truth of the prophecy. However, some of them did not agree with that and said that a common courtesy title is not the same as being related and they persisted in their denial. Because of their persistence, I was compelled to write a letter to inquire about it. After several days, the response came from Hoti Mardan from a friend, Munshi Ilahi Bakhsh, who was an accountant at Hoti Mardan in those days, saying that Arbab Sarwar Khan was the son of Arbab Muhammad Lashkar Khan. This letter silenced and confounded all of my opponents.

[So Allah be praised for all this].

Another of these is that one morning in April 1883, I was informed in a state of wakefulness that some money had been dispatched from Jhelum. The local Aryas, who used to go to the post office, were well aware that I had received no letter from Jhelum about the dispatch of any money, because my humble self had made a prior arrangement that whatever letters came for me through the post office were collected by the Aryas themselves and they were thus fully informed of all events on a daily basis. Moreover, even to this day, the postal clerk of the post office has been a Hindu. During those days when I received the revelation, a Pundit’s son by the name Sham Lal, who could write in both Devanagari and Persian, had been in my employment as a scribe of the daily diary. I used to make him write my revelations concerning the unseen matters in Devanagari and Persian before their fulfilment and then Sham Lal used to sign them. Accordingly, I made him write, as usual, this prophecy as well, and at that time it was also communicated to many Aryas. Not even five days had passed, when I received forty-five rupees by money order from Jhelum. On verification, it was confirmed that the money order had been dispatched on the day on which God, the Knower of the unseen, had informed me about its dispatch. This prophecy was also fulfilled in a manner that the opponents were made aware of its truthfulness in a very clear way and they had no choice but to accept it, because they knew on the basis of their personal knowledge that the dispatch of this money from Jhelum in that month occurred without any communication and no letter had been received prior to it.

[So Allah be praised for all this].

Another of these is that some time ago I saw in a dream that I had received a letter from Hyderabad written by Nawwab Iqbal-ud-Daulah, which contained a promise to send some money. As usual, the same Hindu was asked to write down this dream in the above-mentioned daily diary and several Aryas were informed. After a few days a let ter arrived from Hyderabad and the said Nawwab sent 100 rupees.

[So Allah be praised for all this].

One of these is that a friend wrote [to me] at the time of great difficulty, that one of his relatives was involved in a very serious lawsuit and there was no visible sign that he would be acquitted and there seemed to be no way of his being exonerated. After writing about this painful situation he beseeched me to pray. Because it was destined that God should be kind to him and because this [divine] decree was changeable, that very night I was granted the time that was conducive to supplication which had not been granted to me for some time. So I prayed [for him] and as the time was conducive to supplication, it gave me the hope of its being accepted. Hence an Aryah was informed about the signs of acceptance. After a few days I received the news that the plaintiff had died all of a sudden and in this way the defendant was spared.

[So Allah be praised for all this].

Moreover occassional revelation in a foreign language of which my humble self has absolutely no knowledge and then the fact that the revelation comprises a prophecy is one of the rare wonders which proves the vast powers of the Omnipotent God. All of the words of the foreign language are not retained in my memory and, at times, some variation in their pronunciation occurs on account of the speed with which the revelation comes down and unfamiliarity with the accent and language; nevertheless, little difference occurs in respect of the clear and uncomplicated sentences. Occasionally, some words are not retained in my memory because of the revelation’s speed. However, when the sentence is revealed two or three times, the words are remembered very well. At the time of revelation the Omnipotent God exercises His control over the conversation in which there is no mixture of any internal or external means. At that time the tongue is an instrument in the hand of God and He uses this instrument—that is, the tongue—as He pleases. It often happens that the words continue flowing with force and speed. Sometimes it occurs as if someone is walking gracefully and elegantly, takes a step, and then pauses before taking the next, thus displaying the beauty of his gait. And the wisdom behind adopting these two styles is that the divine revelation should remain totally distinguished from selfish and Satanic thoughts and that the revelation of the Absolute God should be recognized at once through its majestic and beautiful blessings. I recall one such situation. I first received a revelation in English:

At the time, the tone and pronunciation made me feel as if an Englishman was standing over me and uttering these phrases. Despite the awe-striking tone, there was a pleasure in it, giving comfort and satisfaction to the soul even before the meanings had been ascertained. Such revelations in English have often been repeated. On one occasion an English speaking student came to see me and in his very presence the following was revealed:

Though I perceived that this revelation pertained to him, I asked him its meaning. Later on, he proved to be such a person and it was confirmed that he was a prey to many kinds of ills.

On one occasion in the morning, I saw in my vision a few printed pages, which had come through the post office, at the end of which were the words:

After ascertaining the meaning of the phrase from someone who knew English, I informed two Hindu Aryas of it and told them that my understanding was that some Christian, or someone who thought like a Christian, would send me printed matter containing some criticisms against the religion of Islam. So at the time of the mail delivery an Aryah was sent to the post office. He brought some printed pages in which some unintelligent person had raised some objections in the manner of Christians. On one occasion, when I was seeking guidance in connection with a certain matter, I saw in a dream that I was given a silver coin of almond colour which had two lines embossed on it. The first line had this sentence in English:

The second phrase, which was written below a line that had been drawn, was the translation of the same first phrase:

On one occasion, when some sorrow and grief was in the offing, a paper on which the following English phrase was written was shown to me in a vision:

On one occasion the following two sentences were revealed in English concerning some opponents who had, out of bitter enmity, desecrated the Holy Quran without any reason, and out of irremediable personal enmity, had made some irrelevant and stupid criticisms against the firm faith of Islam.

That is, God Almighty is coming with a host of reasoning and arguments. He is with you to overpower and destroy the opponents. Likewise, there were many phrases, some of which I remember, while others I have forgotten. But most of the revelations that are vouchsafed to me are in Arabic. In particular, revelations consisting of the Quranic verses are vouchsafed to me abundantly and repeatedly. I am writing below some of the Arabic revelations which comprise great prophecies and divine favours, along with their translation, so that, God-willing, the true seeker might benefit from them and so that the opponents should realize how the Benevolent God bestows His favours upon the people whom He loves and those who are on the right path, how He treats them with compassion in the converse and discourse, and how He inform them of the favours that He has prepared for them [for manifestation] at their appropriate times, before they come into existence. These revelations are as follows:

You have been blessed, O Ahmad, and the blessing that God has bestowed upon you, has been bestowed with truth.

I am pleased with you. I shall raise you towards Me. The heaven and the earth is with you as it is with Me.

In this revelation

[it is] has been used in singular form because it denotes

[‘whatever is in the heavens and the earth’]. The purport of these phrases is the expression of divine bounties and blessings which are bestowed upon every perfect believer by virtue of his obedience to Hazrat Khairur-Rusul [the Best of Messengers]. The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is the true object of these favours; all the others are mere beneficiaries. It should always be borne in mind that whatever praise and commendation is made in the revelation of any believer, it is, in fact, the praise of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be on him, and that believer attains a portion of this praise to the degree of his obedience; and that, too, through the kindness and favour of Almighty God, and not on account of any ability and merit of his own. After this God said:

You are to Me like My Unity and Uniqueness. The time has come that you should be helped and be made well known among people.

Has not man—meaning, you—passed through a period of time when nobody in the world knew you or talked about you? That is, nobody knew you as to who you are, nor your status. You were not in anyone’s reckoning; meaning, you amounted to nothing.

This is a reference to the kindnesses and favours already bestowed, so that it should serve as a specimen for the future favours of the True Benefactor.

All kinds of Holiness belong to Allah, who possesses all blessings, and is the Highest Being. He has raised your status. The name and remembrance of your forefathers will be cut off—that is, they will not be remembered in their independent capacities—and God will initiate respect and honour with you.

You have been helped with prestige and have been brought to life with truth, O truthful one. You have been helped; and your opponents said, ‘No way of escape is left.’

This indicates that divine help will reach such a stage that the opponents will be broken-hearted and they will be filled with despair, and truth will be made manifest.

Allah is not such as to leave you until He clearly distinguishes between the foul and the pure.

When the help and the victory of Allah will come and the word of your Lord is fulfilled, the disbelievers deserve to be addressed with, ‘This is what you hastened for.’

Meaning that, I decided to appoint a khalifah [vicegerent] from Myself so I created Adam [Adam]. I will establish in the earth.

The last sentence is abbreviated; it means, ‘I am going to establish him.’ The word khalifah in this context means a person who would be the means of conveying the message and guidance between Allah and His creatures. Here it does not signify secular khilafat which applies to kingdom or government, which, according to the Islamic shariah, cannot be proven to be granted by God to people other than the Quraish. Instead, it connotes only spiritual ranks and spiritual vicegerency. Also, ‘Adam’ does not refer to Adam, the father of mankind; rather, it means a person through whom a movement of conveying the message and guidance would be established to lay the foundation of spiritual birth, as if he is in the position of a father for the seekers after truth from the point of view of spiritual life. This is a grand prophecy predicting the establishment of a spiritual movement at a time when no sign of this movement exists. After this, God Almighty defined the spiritual status of this spiritual Adam:

When this noble verse, which is a verse of the Holy Quran, was revealed, there was hesitation in interpreting and understanding its meaning. During this reflection, I was overcome by a light slumber and the meaning was made clear during that slumber, the details of which follow.

Danuww [ascent] means nearness to Allah and nearness does not refer to physical movement in space. On the contrary, man is said to be muqarrab-e-ilahi [the one who is near to Allah] when he totally separates himself from his own will, ego, obstinacies, and other people and then loses himself in divine love and submission from head to toe and keeps himself completely aloof from everything other than God and plunges himself into the ocean of divine love so that no trace of ego and self-conceit remains in him. And as long as he does not cleanse himself of the stain of his being and as long as he does not adorn himself with the ornament of baqa billah [being sustained by God] he cannot have the ability to attain nearness [to God]. And the rank of baqa billah is achieved only when the love of God becomes the sole food of man and his condition becomes such that he cannot survive at all without His remembrance, and when he realizes that if his heart is occupied by something other than God, it is tantamount to his death and it becomes vividly manifest to him that he lives with Him. And, he is so drawn towards God that his heart remains occupied in divine remembrance at all times and he experiences the pangs of His love at every moment. And such aversion wells up in his heart towards everyone [and everything] except God, as if he has personal enmity towards them and he instinctively feels painful to even think of inclining towards them. When this condition is established, then his heart, on which descends the divine light, will be fully cleansed and the divine names and attributes will be reflected in it and, consequently, another excellence which is tadalla [descent] will be realized in the person of the ‘arif [one cognizant of divine matters]. Tadalla means that, having adorned oneself with the likeness of divine attributes, one descends towards God’s creatures with mercy and compassion, as does the Most Gracious, Most Merciful One. Since the excellences of danuww are the necessary precondition for the excellences of tadalla, the degree of tadalla directly corresponds to the degree of danuww. The excellence of danuww is that there should be a manifestation of the reflection of divine names and attributes within the seeker’s heart and a manifestation of the True Beloved within him with all His perfect attributes, without any semblance of being a shadow and without any suspicion of ascent or descent. This is the essence of vicegerency and the nature of breathing the Spirit of God into a person, and this alone is the real foundation of adorning oneself with divine attributes. As descent is dependent upon the adornment of divine attributes, the perfection of this adornment demands that such an individual strive in compassion for God’s creatures and be ever-prepared to render advice and seek their welfare from the depth of the heart to the extent, the exceeding of which cannot be imagined. Such a perfect intermediary must, of necessity, combine two opposites within himself. He must be turned completely towards God and also be completely turned towards God’s creatures. In this way, he appears as a chord between two bows—that of Divinity and that of humanity—having a perfect relationship with both.

In short, both danuww and tadalla are indispensable for perfect nearness to God. Danuww is the name of that perfect nearness to God when man, through perfect purification of his self, goes beyond the stage of sair ilallah [journey towards Allah] and is established in the condition of sair fillah [journey in Allah] and, having totally obliterated his worthless being and having immersed himself in the ocean of the Incomparable and the Matchless [Being], takes on a new being which is free from alienation, duality, ignorance, and foolishness and fully absorbs the holy colour [of the attributes] of Allah. And tadalla is the name of that condition of man when he, having been adorned with the divine attributes and having taken the colour of the divine kindnesses and mercies, returns to the servants of God for their reform and benefit.

Keep in mind that anyone who attains this station is turned towards two directions—while remaining in one place, possessing one heart and the same condition and intent—one, towards God who is Eternal, and the other towards God’s creatures who have been brought into being by Him. The Eternal and the created thus make a circle, the upper side of which is the Absolute and the lower half of which is the contingent. In the middle of that circle, the perfect man through his ascent and descent establishes a strong union with both sides, just as the diameter has with the two arcs of a circle. That is to say, he becomes an intermediary between the God the True and His creatures. First he is invested with the special mantle of ascent, and nearness to God and he ascends to the highest pinnacle of that nearness. Then he is brought towards God’s creatures. His ascent and descent are represented in the shape of two bows and the spirit of the perfect bearer of both relationships becomes the chord between the two bows. The word qab is used in Arabic idiom for the string of a bow. Thus the literal meaning of the verse would be that he ascended—meaning, towards God—and then descended—meaning, towards creatures—and through this ascent and descent became a single chord between two bows. As his facing towards mankind results from [immersing himself in] the holy fountain of divine attributes, his attention towards mankind is exactly in accord with his facing towards God. In other words, as the Divine Master greatly inclines towards His creatures, it is as if He is lodging close to them; it follows that when a seeker after God arrives at the ultimate point of his sojourn towards Allah, he must necessarily revert to where God is. Therefore, perfection of his danuww—that is, perfect nearness to God—becomes the cause of his tadalla—that is, descent [towards man].

O Adam! O Maryam [Mary]! O Ahmad! Dwell you and your follower and companion in Paradise—that is, in the means of true salvation. I have breathed into you the Spirit of righteousness from Myself.

In this revelation the naming of the spiritual Adam has been explained. That is to say, as the birth of Hazrat Adam, may peace be on him, was without the intervention of means, in the same way, the Spirit is breathed into a spiritual Adam without the intervention of any visible means. This breathing of the Spirit in its true reality is unique to the Prophets, may peace be upon them, and then this bounty is bestowed upon some special individuals from among ummat-e-Muhammadiyyah, on account of their submission [to the Holy Prophet sas] and by way of inheritance [from him]. And all prophecies which are mentioned in these [revealed] phrases are evident. Thereafter He said:

A man of Persian descent has written the refutation of those who have disbelieved and have obstructed [people] from the path of Allah. Allah appreciates his effort.

The book of the wali [friend of Allah] is like Dhulfaqari ‘Ali [the sword of Ali].

This means that it annihilates the opponent. As the sword of Ali performed wonderful feats in grave dangerous expeditions, so will this book. This is also a prophecy which indicates the great effectiveness and the widespread blessings of the book. Then He says:

Had faith been hanging in the Pleiades—that is, had departed from the earth altogether—even then the above-mentioned man would have found it.

Its oil might well-nigh glow forth on its own even though fire does not even touch it.

Do they say, ‘We are a strongly supported host that is fully competent of giving a response’? This entire host will soon be routed and they will turn their backs. When these people see a Sign they say, ‘This is an ordinary and time-worn magic’, even though their hearts are convinced of those Signs. In their hearts, they are convinced that there is now no way of escape. It is by the mercy of Allah that you are gentle with them. If you had been hard-hearted they would not have come near you and would have separated themselves from you, even if they were to witness such Quranic miracles by which mountains would have moved.

These verses were vouchsafed to me as revelation in reference to some of those people who thought and behaved in that manner and it may be that there might emerge others who talk in the same way and, even after being fully convinced, continue to remain in denial. Thereafter, He said:

Meaning: ‘We have caused these Signs and wonders and this revelation filled with points of wisdom and verity, to descend near Qadian. We have sent it down to satisfy a real need and it has descended to satisfy the real need. The prophecy of Allah and His Messenger has been fulfilled at its duly appointed time and whatever God had willed was bound to happen.’

These last phrases indicate that the Noble Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has indicated the appearance of this person in his hadith mentioned above, and God Almighty has indicated it in His Holy Word, as this indication has been mentioned among the revelations set out in Part III and the Quranic indication is in the verse:

This verse contains the prophecy about Hazrat Masih in respect of the secular and governmental affairs and the promise which has been made about the complete supremacy of the faith of Islam. That supremacy would be manifested through the Messiah. And when Hazrat Masih [Messiah], may peace be upon him, would come for the second time into this world, then the religion of Islam would spread over the entire expanse of the world at his hands. But it has been revealed to my humble self that on account of my meekness, humility, trust in God, sincerity and the Signs and [heavenly] light, I resembles the Masih in his previous life; and that the nature of this humble one and the nature of the Masih greatly resemble each other, as if they are two pieces of the same jewel or two fruits of the same tree. The harmony between us is of such a great extent that there is very little that the spiritual eye can distinguish between us.

There also exists an overt resemblance which is that the Masih [Messiah] was the follower and servant of the faith of a perfect and high-standing Prophet, i.e. Musa [Moses] and his Gospel is a branch of the Torah, and this humble one too, is one of the lowliest servants of that majestic Prophet who is Sayyidur-Rusul [the Chief of all Messengers sas] and the Crown of all Messengers. If they are Hamid [One who praises Allah], he is Ahmad [One who praises Allah to the utmost] and if they are Mahmud [One who is praised], he is Muhammad [One who is praised to the utmost]—may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Since my humble self has a complete resemblance with Hazrat Masih, the Benevolent God has from the beginning included this humble one in His prophecy about the Messiah. That is, Hazrat Masih is the overt and physical manifestation of the above-mentioned prophecy, and this humble one is the spiritual and rational application; meaning that, the spiritual supremacy of the religion of Islam which depends upon irrefutable proofs and manifestly valid arguments would be, as is destined by God, brought about by this humble one either in my lifetime or after my death. Since its inception, the religion of Islam has enjoyed supremacy due to its truthful arguments and its opponents have continued to suffer disgrace and ignominy, yet the clear manifestation of this supremacy over different groups and nations was contingent upon a time which, on account of the availability of means of travel, would make the whole world as united countries comprising, as it were, one nation, and would provide all the means for imparting the teaching and spreading the Faith with the utmost facility and ease, and would be suitable for imparting the true teachings, both externally and internally. So, this is that age, for due to the opening up of the paths of travel and communication between one nation and the other, and between one country and the other, facilities for propagation have been provided in an excellent manner; and because of the arrangements for postage, railways, telegraph, ships, and miscellaneous other means, many facilities have been provided for the dissemination of religious publications. In short, the time has indeed come when the entire world is becoming like one country. And, because many languages are being spread and are in vogue, many means have become available to understand and to make others understand; and the problems caused by estrangement and unfamiliarity have been resolved to a great extent; and on account of the recurrent mingling and daily social interaction, the xenophobia that had naturally affected all people has been attenuated to a great extent. For instance, the Hindus whose world was confined within the limits of the Himalayan Range and who were excommunicated by their religion for travelling by sea, now go for sightseeing as far as England and America. In short, in this age every means for the propagation of faith has become widely accessible. Even though the world is still enveloped in much darkness, the time of misguidance appears to be approaching its end and the peak of misguidance seems to be declining. By some design of God, sane natures have started looking for the straight path and good and pious natures are more amenable to follow the path of truth. This natural surge of Tauhid has inclined worthy and ready hearts to the pure spring of the Oneness of God and has also demonstrated to the wise that the edifice of creature-worship is unstable. In the eyes of the wise, false gods have once again begun to appear as human beings. Besides, the heavenly help in support of the True Faith has so surged up that those Signs and miracles on account of which the humble and defective servants were made gods, are being manifested and made perceptible by the humble devotees and servants of the Chief of Messengers. And the humble followers of the Chief of Messengers are now openly manifesting the same Signs—which some earlier Prophets used to show to their disciples in secret—to the enemies and Islam’s Sun of Truth continues to rise on account of the testimonies of these very enemies. Moreover, the present age is so conducive to the propagation of the Faith that issues which in the previous times could not be propagated throughout the world in an entire century, can—in this present age—be spread all over the world in just a single year. Therefore, the present age has so much potential and power—the like of which cannot be found in any [prior] age—to openly propagate Islamic guidance and Divine Signs. Hundreds of means such as railways, telegrams, newspapers, etc., are always readily available to serve this purpose so that [the news of ] one country’s incidents are known to others. Thus, spreading the true proofs of the religion of Islam throughout the world undoubtedly depended on such an age, and this very resourceful age possesses the means of extending the hospitality to this dear guest [Islam] in all aspects.

Thus, by raising this humblest of men in this age and bestowing upon me hundreds of heavenly Signs and vouchsafing to me miraculous secrets, and divine insights and verities, and furnishing me with hundreds of conclusive intellectual arguments, God Almighty has desired that He should publish and introduce the true teachings of the Holy Quran among every people and in every country, and that He may perfect His conclusive argument upon them. In order to fulfil this design, the Benevolent God enabled this humble one to include an announcement in this book for an award of ten thousand rupees to complete the argument, to set forth a heavenly Sign with the testimony of enemies and opponents, and to invite all of the opponents for a contest, so that not even the minutest aspect of completing the argument be left unattended. Every one of my opponents will himself become a witness to his own helplessness and defeat. In short, the resources for the propagation of the Faith and the arguments and conclusive proofs which the Benevolent God has bestowed upon me by His grace and beneficence have not been bestowed upon anyone of the followers of earlier faiths, nor were the abilities, which have been vouchsafed upon thّٰ is humbٰ le one from the unseen, granted to any of them

[And that is Allah’s grace; He bestows it upon whomsoever He pleases].

Since Allah the Benevolent has particularly endowed my humble self with special resources and has raised this humble one in an age which is most conducive and helpful in carrying out the service of propagation to its completion, He has also given me the glad tidings—through His grace and beneficence—that from eternity it had been destined that the spiritual fulfilment of the above-mentioned noble verse and the verse,

83 applies to this humble one. God Almighty will Himself convey to opponents the reasons, arguments, and everything that this humble one has written for them, and will thus fulfil the meaning of the above-mentioned verse by exposing my opponents’ frustration, confusion, and defeat in this very world.

[So Allah be praised for all this].

Call down blessings on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, who is the Chief of the children of Adam and is Khatamul-Anbiya’ [the Seal of the Prophets], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

This indicates that all these ranks, munificence, and favours are on account of him [the Holy Prophet sas], and a reward for loving him. Subhanallah [Holy is Allah]! What high ranks Sarwar-e-ka’inat [the Chief of all creation] has in the presence of the One True God and what kind of nearness does he have to Him that his lover becomes the beloved of God, and his servant is appointed the master of a whole world!

No beloved can reach the level of my beloved;
The sun and the moon have no value in the city of my beloved.

Where is the face possessing the brilliance of his face!
Where is the garden possessing the fragrance of my beloved’s garden!

At this time, I recall that one night this humble one recited Durud Sharif [calling down blessings on the Holy Prophet] so abundantly that my heart and soul became fragrant therewith. The same night I saw in a dream that people were carrying into the house of this humble one waterskins filled with divine light in the form of pure water and one of them said, ‘These are the very blessings which you had sent to Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.’

I recall a similar wonderful experience. Once I received a revelation which indicated that there was a vigorous discussion in the High Assembly in Heaven. That is, God’s will for the revival of the Faith was surging, but the appointment of the man to revive the Faith was not yet disclosed to the High Assembly, and this is why they were in disagreement. It was at this time in the dream that I saw people searching for a revivor. A man appeared before my humble self and, pointing towards me, he said:

The meaning of this statement was that the principal qualification for this mission is the love of the Holy Prophet sas and that this quality was definitely found in me. Similarly, the secret behind the direction to call down blessings on the Holy Prophet’s progeny in the revelation mentioned above is that the love for Ahle-Bait [the members of the household of the Holy Prophet sas] plays a great part in acquiring divine light. Anyone who is included among those who have attained nearness to the One True God attains the spiritual inheritance of those righteous and holy ones, and becomes their heir in respect of knowledge and divine insights.

At this point I recall a very clear vision which was as follows: Once, after Maghrib prayer, while I was fully awake, I was overtaken by a slight numbing of my faculties resembling a mild intoxication and had a wonderful experience. First, there was a sound of some people walking briskly, as the sound made by shoes when one walks fast; and then five very dignified, pleasing, and handsome personages came into my vision—namely, the Messenger of God, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, Hazrat Ali ra, Hasnain ra [Hasan ra and Husain ra], and Fatimah az-Zahra’, may Allah be pleased with all of them. One of them, and as I recall it was Hazrat Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, out of great affection and kindness like a loving mother, placed this humble one’s head upon her thigh. Then, I was given a book concerning which I was told, ‘It is a commentary on the Quran, which has been compiled by Ali and now Ali bestows this commentary upon you.’

[So Allah be praised for all this]. Thereafter, this revelation was received:

You are on the right path. So, proclaim widely that which you are commanded and stay away from the ignorant ones.

They will say, ‘Why has it not descended upon some great learned scholar from the other [two] cities?’ They will also ask, ‘From where have you obtained this status? This is a stratagem that you have devised together in the town.’ They look towards you but do not see; meaning, they are unable to recognize you.

We call Ourself to witness that We have raised many perfect auliya’ [friends of Allah] among the followers of [the Holy Prophet] Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, but Satan corrupted the path of their followers; that is, many innovations were commingled and the straight path of the Quran was not preserved amongst them.

Say, ‘If you love Allah, then follow me’; meaning, be sincere followers of the chosen Prophet so that Allah may also love you. And know that Allah revives the earth anew. And Allah becomes his, who devotes himself to Allah. Say, ‘If I have invented a slander, the heavy sin thereof is on me.’

Today you are a man of established position, and trustworthy, and My mercy is upon you in [matters of] the world and the faith and you have been helped.

Holy is He who took His servant on a journey during the night. That is, in the age of darkness and misguidance, which resembles the night, God has, of His own, guided [me] to the stages of divine insight and certainty.

This revealed sentence means that the status of admonition and guidance and of being the recipient of divine revelation is, in fact, a mantle of the Prophets, and is bestowed upon others as a loan. This mantle of the Prophets is bestowed upon some individuals from among the Muslims to lead the defective to perfection.

These words indicate the same as the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be on him, has said,

[The divines among my followers will be like the Prophets of Bani Isra’il]. Though such people are not Prophets, they are entrusted with the functions of the Prophets.

You were on the brink of a pit and He rescued you therefrom. That is, He granted the means for rescue.

The will of God Almighty is turning towards bestowing mercy upon you. But if you revert to sin and disobedience, We shall also revert to punishment and chastisement. We have made Hell a place of confinement for disbelievers.

This verse here indicates the glorious coming of Hazrat Masih. That is to say that if [people] would not accept [the divine message] through mildness, gentleness, kindness, and graciousness and would rebel against the truth that has been made manifest through conclusive arguments and manifest Signs, then a time is about to come when God Almighty would treat the sinners with severity, sternness, wrath, and harshness. And Hazrat Masih, may peace be on him, would descend in the world with great glory and would cleanse all paths and roads of rubbish, and no trace of the perverted and the crooked would remain [in the world], and divine glory would obliterate the seed of misguidance through its severe manifestation. This age is the precursor of that age. Meaning that, whereas God Almighty would at that time complete the argument through His glory, He is now completing the argument through His grace; that is, [through His] benevolence and kindness.

Repent and stay away from wickedness, transgression, disbelief, and sin. Reform yourselves and turn towards God and trust in Him and beseech His help through steadfastness and prayer, because sins are averted through good deeds.

Good news for you, O My Ahmad! You are My purpose and are with Me. I have planted your honour with My own hand.

Say to the believers to restrain their looks from na mahrams [those outside the prohibited category] and to guard their private parts and ears from unworthy acts. This is required and essential for their attainment of purification.

This is an indication that it is incumbent upon every believer to refrain from all that is prohibited and to safeguard all his limbs from committing any illegitimate act. His purification depends on this very method.

O believer in God! Restrain your eyes and ears
And recall the commandment: ‘Say to the believers.’

Do not let your heart be attached to things that do not matter
So that Truth should be manifested to your heart.

Tread underfoot the beloveds of this world,
So that the Beloved of your heart may show His countenance to you.

The perfect remain alive, even when they lay buried in the earth
And you are in the grave, despite being alive.

You have to endure heartfelt anguish for several years
To find the path to the Beloved of the heart.

How can this path [to God] be opened easily?
You need a hundred-fold madnesses to come to your senses.

And when My servants ask you concerning Me, say I am near. I accept the prayer of the supplicant. And I have sent you so that I may provide the means of attaining mercy for all people.

Those who have disbelieved from among the People of the Book and the idolaters—that is, have firmly persisted in disbelief—would not desist from their disbelief until clear proof was shown to them. Their stratagem was mighty.

This indicates that the heavenly Signs and rational arguments that God Almighty has set forth at the hand of this humble one were utterly needed to complete the argument. The dark-minded people of this age, who are being consumed from within by the worm of ignorance and vice, were not likely to give up their disbelief without clear Signs and conclusive reasoning. They were instead occupied with devising plans to somehow bring about the utter obliteration of the garden of Islam from the face of the earth.

This indicates the fact that the world was in great need of these clear Signs and that worldly people—whom the ailments of their disbelief and viciousness had reduced into spiritual lepers—could not have regained health without this heavenly medicine which, in reality, is the water of life for seekers after truth.

When it is said to them, ‘Create not disorder in the land and do not spread disbelief, idolatry, and evil doctrines’, they retort, ‘Ours is indeed the right way; we are not trouble-makers. Rather, we are peace-makers and reformers.’ Hearken! They are the disorderly ones who are creating disorder in the land. Say, ‘I seek the protection of the Lord of creation from the mischief of wicked creation and I seek God’s protection against the dark night.’

This means that this age, on account of its great corruption, is like a dark night and therefore divine powers and forces are needed for its illumination. This task is beyond human capabilities.

I will help you. I shall protect you. I shall make you a leader of men. Do the people wonder that Allah is the Possessor of wonders? He always does wonderful things. He chooses among His servants whom He pleases. He is not questioned about that which He does as to why He did so, but people are questioned. And such days We cause to alternate among men. Meaning that, sometimes it is the turn of one, while at other times, it is the turn of someone else, and that divine favours are continually bestowed upon individuals from among the Muslims turn by turn.

They will ask, ‘Wherefrom have you obtained this? This is an imposture!’ When Allah the Almighty helps a believer He makes many in the earth jealous of him. Fire is the ultimate resort for those who persist in jealousy and do not desist. Say, ‘All these works belong to God’, and then leave them beguiled by their useless sport.

Deal with people with kindness and tenderness and be compassionate towards them. You are among them like Musa [Moses] and be patient against what they say.

Hazrat Musa excelled in forbearance and gentleness over all the Prophets of Bani Isra’il [Children of Israel]. Neither Masih [the Messiah] nor any other Prophet among the Children of Israel approached the high status of Hazrat Musa. It is proven from the Torah that Hazrat Musa as was the best and highest among all Israelite Prophets in kindness, gentleness, and high moral qualities. For instance, Numbers, chapter 12, verse 3 of the Torah states that Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth. Thus, God has praised the meekness of Musa in the Torah using words which He has not employed with reference to any other Prophet among the Children of Israel. It is true, however, that the high moral qualities of Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’ [the Seal of the Prophets], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, which are mentioned in the Holy Quran, are thousands of times higher than those of Hazrat Musa because Allah the Almighty has said that Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, comprehends all high moral qualities that are found individually among all the Prophets. Moreover, He has said with regard to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:

If something is described in terms of the word ‘azim, it signifies in Arabic idiom the highest perfection of that thing. For instance, when it is said that a tree is ‘azim, it means that it possesses all the length, breadth and strength which is possible for a tree to possess. Likewise, the meaning of this verse is that whatever high moral qualities and excellent virtues can be found in man, the person of Muhammad fully comprehends all those perfect moral qualities. Hence, this praise is of such high standard beyond which is impossible. And the same has been mentioned in another place concerning the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be on him. He has said:

Meaning that, you are the recipient of the greatest grace of God and no other Prophet can approach your status. In respect of the status of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, the same description is found as a prophecy in Psalms, chapter 45, where it is stated ‘ … therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.’ Because the ulema of ummat-e-Muhammadiyyah are like the Israelite Prophets, this humble one is metaphorically likened to Hazrat Musa in the above-mentioned revelation. All of these blessings belong to Hazrat Sayyidur-Rusul [the Chief of the Messengers], that God the Benevolent honours his humble followers with such noble discourses out of His great favours and benevolence.

[O our Allah, send down Your blessings upon Muhammad and upon the progeny of Muhammad]. After this are the following revealed sentences:

When it is said to them, ‘Believe as other people have believed’, they say, ‘Shall we believe as the foolish have believed?’ Beware! It is surely they that are foolish, but they do not know. They wish you to compromise with them. Say, ‘O ye disbelievers! I worship not that which you worship. You were told to revert to Allah, but you do not come back. You were admonished to overpower your sinful inclinations, but you do not overpower them.’ Do you ask for any recompense for which they feel encumbered and imagine that acceptance of truth is a heavy burden? Nay! They have been given the truth at no cost, and they still hate the truth. Holy is Allah and far above the faults that they attribute to Him! Do these people think that by merely making a verbal profession of faith they would be left alone without being put to test? They long for praise for what they have not done. There is nothing that is hidden from God Almighty. As long as Allah does not reform something, no reform can take place. Whosoever is repelled by Allah, none can draw him back.

Will you grieve yourself to death because they do not believe? Follow not that of which you have no knowledge. Do not supplicate to Me in the matter of the wrongdoers; they will be drowned. O Ibrahim [Abraham]! Stay away from him; he is not a good person. You are only an admonisher and are not a keeper over them.

These few verses, which have been conveyed to me in revelation, pertain to some specific people. This is followed by the revelation:

Beseech help with steadfastness and Prayer, and take the station of Ibrahim [Abraham] as a place for prayer.

In this revelation, the ‘place of Ibrahim’ means high moral qualities and a strong relationship with Allah; that is, love of Allah, devotion to Him, seeking His pleasure, and complete faithfulness. This is the real station of Ibrahim which is awarded to ummat-e-Muhammadiyyah through following and by way of inheritance. He who is created in the spiritual essence of Ibrahim must tread along the same path.

God Almighty will spread the shade of His mercy over you and will redress your grievances and will have mercy on you; and if all people refrain from safeguarding you, God will safeguard you. And God will certainly safeguard you with His help even if all the people refrain from it.

Meaning that, God will Himself help you, and will safeguard your efforts from going to waste and His support will remain with you.

Remember when the disbeliever, out of an evil design, said to his colleague, ‘Prepare a fire of some mischief or tribulation, so that I might find out about the God of Musa [Moses]—that is, the God of this man—how He helps him, and whether He is with him or not, because I consider him to be a liar.’

This, though in terms of the past, gives intimation of something that will happen in the future.

Both hands of Abu Lahab [the Father of Flames] perished and so did he perish himself. It did not behove him to enter into this affair with such daring without fear and humility. And as for that which afflicts you, it is from God alone.

In this there is an indication of evil from some individual that will proceed from him whether in writing or in some other manner.

[And Allah knows best].

This is where the mischief is. Then be steadfast as those of high resolve were steadfast. Hearken! This tribulation is from God so that He might love you with perfect love—the love of God, the Lord of Honour, and the Exalted, bounty without end.

Two goats will be slaughtered and there is no one on earth who will avoid death.

That is, everyone has to submit to divine decrees and no one can escape death. Someone leaves this world a few days earlier, while others join him later.

Death it is that hides the face of friends from friends,
And suddenly transforms spring into autumn.

And slacken not, and be not grieved. Is not God sufficient for His servant? Do you not know that God has power over all things? God shall call you as a witness against these people.

God will bestow your reward in full and will be pleased with you and will perfect your name. And it is possible that you hold something dear, yet in reality it is harmful for you; and it is possible that you dislike something, yet in reality it is beneficial for you. God Almighty knows the end results of things and you do not know.

I was a hidden treasure and I willed to be recognized. The heavens and the earth were both a closed mass and We cleft them both. They will ridicule you and will say mockingly, ‘Is this the one whom Allah has raised for the reformation of mankind?’ That is, do not expect the reformation of those whose nature is steeped in evil.

And then He said: Say, ‘I am but a human being like you. It has been revealed to me that you have none worthy of worship except Allah the Almighty. He alone is worthy of worship, with whom nothing should be associated. All goodness and welfare is comprehended in the Quran; good cannot be found anywhere else. The verities of the Quran are only disclosed to those whom Allah has cleansed and purified with His own hand, and I have been living among you for a long time, then do you not understand?

The blessed Furqan [The Holy Quran] is a holy tree from God
That is young, fragrant, shady, and laden with fruits.

If you desire fruit, come under the fruit-laden tree
If you have any sense, do not shake the willow tree to procure fruit.

If you do not believe in the excellences of the Glorious Furqan,
Ask someone who has witnessed the beauty of this Beloved or look into it yourself.

He who does not come forward for the research, and is bent upon enmity,
Is by no means human, but is worse than a donkey.

Say, ‘The [real] guidance is only the guidance from Allah. My Lord is with me, He will soon open the way for me. O my Lord! Grant mercy and forgiveness from heaven; I am overcome so You combat [the enemy] on my behalf. O my God! O my God! Why have You forsaken me?

The last portion of this revelation is

[‘Eli aus’]; it has remained unclear on account of the speed of the revelation, and none of its meanings were disclosed.

[And Allah knows best].

O Creator of the heaven and earth! Open the door of mercy upon me.
You know the anguish I hide from others.

O my Beloved, You are most Subtle and Refined; Come and permeate every vein and fiber of my being,
So that when I find You within me, I rejoice with heart more resplendent than an orchard.

And if You decline this prayer, O Pure One, I will die from the pangs of separation;
I will weep to the extent that, I will cause the whole world to weep with me.

Whether You part from me in anger, or show Your countenance to me in kindness;
Whether You kill me or free me, I can never stop loving You!

All the indications in the following revelation have reference to specific situations, the explanations to which are not necessary here.

O ‘Abdul-Qadir I am with you; I hear and I see. For you, I have planted mercy and omnipotence with My own hand and have delivered you from sorrow and have purified you. And you will receive My help. Hearken! It is the army of Allah which always prevails. And Allah is not such as to chastise them while you are among them or while they seek forgiveness.

I am your inevitable support. I am the One who brings you to life. I have breathed into you the Spirit of truth and have poured love upon you from Myself so that you might be treated well in My presence. So you are like a seed that sends forth its sprout then it grows stronger until it stands firmly on its stem.

In these revelations, reference is made to those supports and favours of God Almighty and news has been conveyed of such exaltation, dignity, honour, and greatness as would gradually reach its perfection.

We have granted you—that is, will grant you—a clear victory. Some disagreeable events and hardships that will intervene are ordained so that God Almighty may forgive your shortcomings, past and future.

Meaning that, had God Almighty wished, He had the power to accomplish the work in view without any kind of difficulty and to cause the great victory to be achieved quite easily. But the difficulties are for the purpose of raising rank and forgiving defaults.

Today while my humble self was correcting proofs I was handed a few sheets of paper in a vision. They bore the inscription:

Then a person showed me, with a smile, a picture on the other side of the sheets and said:

When my humble self looked, it was indeed the picture of my very humble self in green attire. The picture was very majestic like that of a victorious commander laced with armaments. On the right and left of the picture were inscribed the words:

The instrument of Allah the All-Powerful and Vicegerent—with royal authority—of Ahmad the Chosen [Prophet of God].

This is Monday, 19 Dhul-Hajj 1300 ah, 22 October [18]83 ce, 6 Katak 1940 [Bikrami].

Is God not sufficient for His servant? So God cleared him of the charges that were made against him and he has a high standing in the estimation of God. Is God not sufficient for His servant? So, when God manifested Himself on the mountain, He shattered it into pieces—that is, the mountains of difficulties were made easy to surmount—and God Almighty will frustrate the design of the disbelievers and will manifest their defeat and humiliation. There is ease after hardship. Allah’s is the supreme authority before and after. Is God not sufficient for His servant? And We will make him a Sign of mercy for the people and this matter had already been determined. This is that word of truth which you doubt.

Muhammad is the Messenger of God and those who are with him are firm against the disbelievers; that is, the disbelievers are speechless and powerless before them and the awe of their truthfulness overwhelms the hearts of the disbelievers. They are compassionate among themselves. They are men whom commerce cannot stop nor does trade hinder them from the remembrance of Allah. That is, their love for Allah has attained such perfection that worldly engagements, no matter how unrelenting, cannot interfere in their condition [of devotion]. God Almighty will make the Muslims benefit from their blessings. So their appearance indicates Signs of the mercy of Allah. Then observe those Signs. If you possess anyone like them—that is, if there are people among your companions and coreligionists who possess such support from Allah—then produce such people if you are truthful. He who wishes for and seeks a religion other than the faith of Islam, such religion will never be accepted of him and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.

O Ahmad! Mercy flows from your lips. We have bestowed upon you abundant points of wisdom Therefore, observe prayer and offer sacrifice in gratitude to Him and establish prayer for My remembrance. You are with Me and I am with you. Your secret is My secret. We have relieved you of the burden which had well-nigh broken your back, and have exalted your praise. You are on the straight path, [and] of high standing in this world and the Hereafter, and among those who are close [to Allah].

God will support you. God will help you. God will raise the argument of Islam. It is the beauty of Allah that has purified you in every situation. The mysteries that God Almighty has granted to His auliya’ [friends of Allah] cannot be encompassed.

One is drawn towards Him in one way, while another is by another way, Ya‘qub [Jacob]86 earned the status by imprisonment that the others attain by asceticism. This is an indication that there are two divine attributes which are engaged for the instruction of God’s servants. The first attribute is of tenderness, kindness, and benevolence; it is called jamal [grace]. The other attribute is of force and harshness; it is called jalal [grandeur]. It is thus the way of Allah that those who are summoned to His exalted threshold are nurtured sometimes through His attribute of jamal and sometimes through His attribute of jalal. Whenever the greatest favours of the One True God are decreed, the manifestation of the attribute of jamal remain dominant; but on a few occasions the divine will disciplines or nurtures His special servants through the attribute of jalal. Even with regard to the noble Prophets it has been the way of the One True God that they are nurtured continually through the operation of the attribute of jamal, but sometimes the attributes of jalal also come into operation to demonstrate their steadfastness and their high moral qualities. They were afflicted with all types of tribulation at the hands of evil people so that their high moral qualities, which cannot be demonstrated without the pressure of great suffering, may be demonstrated and people of the world may know that they are not weak but are truly faithful.

They will ask, ‘Wherefrom have you obtained this? This is merely deception that has been employed. We shall not believe until we see God with our own eyes.’ A foolish one does not confirm anything except the stroke of destruction. [He] is My enemy and your enemy. Say, ‘The decree of Allah is imminent; do not try to hasten it.’ When the help of Allah arrives it will be asked, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They will answer, ‘Of course.’

I shall give you full reward and shall raise you towards Me. I shall place those who follow you—that is, truly enter into the fold of the followers of Allah and the Messenger—above those who deny you until the Day of Judgment.

That is, they will prevail over their opponents in reasoning and arguments and the radiant light of truthfulness and sincerity will always accompany them.

Do not slacken and be not grieved; God is exceedingly Compassionate towards you. Hearken! Truly there is no fear on the intimate friends of Allah, nor do they grieve. You will die when Allah will be pleased with you. Then enter into Paradise—God willing—in peace. Peace be upon you! You have been cleansed of idolatry, so enter Paradise in peace. Peace be upon you! You have been blessed. Allah has heard the supplication; He hears the supplications. You are blessed in the world and in the Hereafter.

[In this revelation] He has referred to the following prayer which God Almighty had caused to flow forth from the tongue of this humble self a few times before by way of revelation:

Meaning that, O my Lord, make me so blessed that wherever I may live, blessing may abide with me.

Then of His grace and munificence God accepted the supplication which He had Himself taught. This is one of the wonderful ways of His providence that He Himself teaches a supplication by way of revelation and then responds: ‘Your supplication has been granted.’ About this blessing, a wonderful revelation was vouchsafed to me in Urdu in 1868 or 1869, which seems appropriate to be written here. This is how the circumstances developed for this revelation. Maulavi Abu Sa‘id Muhammad Husain of Batala, who had at one time been my fellow student, came back to Batala after completing his religious studies. The people of Batala looked askance at him on account of some of his notions and ideas. One person was very insistent that my humble self should debate a controversial point with Maulavi Muhammad Husain. Yielding to his insistence, I accompanied this man in the evening to the home of Maulavi Muhammad Husain and found him in the company of his father in the mosque. To summarize, upon hearing the explanation of the respected Maulavi [Muhammad Husain], this humblest one concluded that there was nothing unfair and objectionable in his statement; consequently, the debate with him was abandoned for the sake of Allah. At night the Benevolent God addressed me in His revelation and discourse in reference to the same abandonment of the debate, and said:

Your God is well-pleased with what you have done, and He will bless you greatly, so much so that kings will seek blessings from your garments.

Thereafter, those kings, riding upon horses, were shown in a state of vision. Since the attitude of humility and lowliness was adopted purely for the sake of God and His Messenger, Allّah, the Perfect Benefactor, did not desire to leave it unrewarded.

[So reflect and ponder].

‘The maladies of people and the blessings of God.’ This means that the benefit of being blessed will be that through this the spiritual illnesses of people will be cured and that those individuals who are fortunate will be directed and guided by my teachings, and will be healed and cured of physical ills and difficulties except those for which an unchangeable decree of Allah has been determined. Then the revelation continued, ‘Your Lord is All-Powerful and does whatever He determines.’ Then He said, ‘Keep in mind the bounty of God. I have exalted you above all of the scholars of your time.’

It should be remembered that this exaltation is derived and partial. That is to say, whoever perfectly follows Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’, [the Seal of the Prophets] may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, ranks above his contemporaries in the estimation of God. All true and perfect exaltation has been bestowed upon Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’, by the One True God. All other people are rewarded ranks according to their degree of obedience to, and love for, him.

[Observe then how high is the degree of his perfection. O Allah, send down Your blessings on him and his progeny]. The meaning of the remaining part of the revelation quoted above is as follows:

O soul at rest upon truthfulness, return to your Lord; He well-pleased with you and you well-pleased with Him. So enter among My chosen servants and enter My Paradise. God has been Benevolent towards you and has been Bountiful towards your friends and has taught you knowledge that you could not know on your own. If you try to count the favours of God, it will not be possible for you to do so.

After these revelations, a few revelations in Persian, Urdu, and one in English were revealed. They are written below for the benefit of seekers. They are:

Now come forward and go forth, as your time is near. The time is now coming that the people of Muhammad will be lifted from the pit and their steps will be planted firmly on a strong tower.

The holy Muhammad, the Chosen one, Chief of the Prophets. God will set all your affairs aright and will bestow upon you all that you desire. The Lord of hosts will turn His attention towards this. The purpose of this Sign is that the Holy Quran is the Book of God and is the words of My mouth.87 The gate of the Exalted God’s bounties is open and His holy mercies are directed towards this.

[English] The days shall come when God shall help you. Glory be to this Lord God, Maker of earth and heaven.

After these revelations, a prophecy was fulfilled in the presence of some Aryas who are the followers of Pundit Dayanand, a detailed account of which will not be without benefit for the readers. Even though its description here might be somewhat long, it is being recorded for the benefit of people who are unaware of the grandeur of Islam.

Before this prophecy was fulfilled, unusual difficulties and undesirable events were experienced. Finally, the Benevolent God removed all difficulties and fulfilled this prophecy on Monday, 10 September 1883. The detail of this is that, on Thursday, 6 September 1883, the Benevolent God gave glad tiding to this humble one through His blessed word to give solace to me at the exact time of need:

This glad tiding had the special aspect that the exact amount to be received was mentioned, and to give intimation of a specific amount is special to the Knower of the unseen; no one else can do so. The other, even more wonderful aspect is that this amount was of an unusual nature, because it had no relationship to the price that had been fixed for the book. Because of these special aspects this revelation was communicated to some Aryas ahead of time. Then a revelation was received emphatically for the third time on 10 September 1883:

It was understood from this revelation that the prophecy would be fulfilled that same day. Perhaps not even three minutes had elapsed from receipt of this revelation when a man by the name of Wazir Singh, tending to a sick man, arrived and presented a gift of one rupee upon his arrival. Even though this humble one does not practise as a physician, if perchance some sick person comes and I am able to think of a medicine, I give it away for the sake of Allah and solely to earn [His] blessings. However, I accepted this rupee from him for it suddenly passed through my mind that it was a part of that prophecy. Thereafter, I sent a trusted person to the post office thinking that the other part may be fulfilled through the post office. The postal clerk, a Hindu, replied that he had only one money order valued at five rupees to which a card was attached—which had arrived from Dera Ghazi Khan—but that he did not have any money with him and would remit this money as soon as he would receive it. I was so surprised and perturbed upon receiving this information as cannot be described in words. During this perturbation, while I had bowed down my head, thinking that five and one would make only six, how will they turn into twenty-one, I begged Allah about the matter. During this very contemplation, I suddenly received this revelation:

Not even six hours had elapsed from [the time of] this revelation on that very day, when an Aryah, who heard the postal clerk’s message, happened to go to the post office and in the course of conversation, the postal clerk informed him that, in fact, twenty rupees had arrived, but by a slip of the tongue he mentioned the amount of five rupees. Thus, the same Aryah brought twenty rupees with a post card from Munshi Ilahi Bakhsh, Accountant, and it was discovered that the post card had not been attached to the money order and it was further discovered that the money had arrived. Moreover, it was known from the writing of Munshi Ilahi Bakhsh, as a receipt in care of the post office, that the money order had arrived in Qadian on 6 September 1883; that is, the same day of the revelation. Thus, the whole statement of the postal clerk was proven wrong and the entire disclosure of the Knower of the unseen was proven correct. Thus, in memory of this blessed day, one rupee’s worth of sweets were distributed to some Aryas as well.

[So Allah be praised for all His favours and His bounties, manifest and hidden].

O You who apply the soothing balm on our lacerated souls!
O You who console our distressed hearts!

You have graciously borne all our burdens;
All the fruit and flowers of our trees are by Your grace.

With Your grace and mercy You protect us and hide our weaknesses;
With Your infinite compassion, You help the destitute.

When a servant of Yours becomes aggrieved and destitute,
You suddenly produce a remedy for him.

When a poor mortal is surrounded by darkness on the way,
You instantly cause hundreds of suns and moons to rise for him.

All beauty, goodness, and charm culminate in You;
Having met You, it is forbidden to have company with anyone else.

Wise is he who is madly in love with You;
He is the beacon of light who is enraptured by You.

Anyone whose heart and soul is penetrated by Your love,
His faith at once becomes alive.

Your love is visible on his face;
Your fragrance emanates from the very doors and walls of his house.

You grant him hundreds of thousands of bounties through Your grace,
And cause the sun and moon to prostrate before him.

You are ready to support him Yourself;
Seeing his face, one is reminded of Your countenance.

You do everything and get everything done;
You are the One who brings splendour to this bazaar.

In an instant, You turn dust into something precious,
So that through its manifestation mankind might find light.

When You turn to someone with your grace,
You transform him from an earthly to a heavenly being.

You grant him countless rays like the sun,
So that no seeker of faith may languish in the dark,

So that a whole world may come out of darkness,
So that people may find the way to Your path.

But the mischievous are blind and deaf to these Signs;
They witness hundreds of them but pass them by in heedlessness.

They love darkness and oppose the sun;
They are the eternal bats and their souls are in veils of darkness.

The sovereign of the world whose name is Mustafa sas
He is the chief of the lovers of God and the sun at its growing brightness.

Verily, all light is due to his light;
Whoever is accepted by him is accepted by God.

He is the flowing water of life;
He is the boundless ocean of knowledge and wisdom.

He is the one in the support of whose truth and perfection,
Hundreds of proofs and luminous Signs have been shown to the world.

He is the one whose face is illumined by divine light;
His path is the very manifestation of divine Signs.

He is the one before whom all Prophets and righteous ones
Are mere servants, like dust at his doorstep.

Love for him raises a man to the heavens
And makes him purer than the radiant moon.

He demonstrates to the Pharaohs of every age,
Hundreds of miracles like the white hand of Musa.

This is the Prophet who, according to these blind wretches,
Is a sensual and rancorous person!

Have some shame, O wretched and lowly dog!
Do you call the champions sensualists!

O cursed one! Is it the mark of a sensualist
That his face shines with eternal light,

Who appears at night, converting it to day,
Who arrives in autumn and changes it into spring,

Who is a reflection of the light of the Incomparable God,
Who excels all men in wisdom,

By following whom one finds such tranquillity
That cannot be found after a hundred years of jihad,

Following whom enlightens one’s heart,
And demonstrates the manifestations of divine might,

Following whom illumines one’s heart,
And one becomes aware of the Hidden Friend,

Whose every word is full of truth and wisdom,
Whose every statement is a pure pearl,

Who, in respect of great wisdom and perfection of law,
Is the leader of all those before and after,

88
On account of whose perfect grace and beauty,
All darlings are humbled in his presence,

Whose follower is enlightened like Prophets,
Whose light falls on everyone far and near,

Who is like a ferocious lion of truth from the Glorious God,
Before whom, his enemies are like wretched foxes,

Can such a lion be a sensualist?
Come to your senses, you wretched and vile fox!

O ill-natured and blind one! What is your worth?
Do you dare, with your unsightly face, to criticize the beautiful!

The zeal of these lovers of God is due to their emancipation;
They are not the slaves of passion like the uninformed people of your ilk.

Though the two live in the same place,
The difference between them is all too obvious.

To impute the vices of evil-doers to the righteous
Can only be the work of the unclean, O befuddled one!

The perfect ones keep moving forward in eagerness for the Beloved,
Though they carry a hundred burdens, they travel so light.

The marvel is that despite having children and wives,
They are independent of all their children and wives.

To be in the world and yet remain aloof from it,
This alone is the sign of the perfect ones.

Of what use would such a horse be?
It is worthless and must not be kept among horses.

A perfect one may have a hundred thousand wives,
Hundreds of slave-women and countless enterprises,

But if all these affect his service to God,
He is not perfect; nay, he is far from God’s nearness.

He is neither perfect, nor alive;
If you are wise, do not consider him a man at all.

Perfect is he who, despite having wives and children
And family and many worldly endeavours;

And despite engaging in businesses and transactions,
Is not unmindful of God at any time.

This is the sign of the power of a truly masculine person;
This alone is the criterion for the perfect.

How can one whose heart is consumed in the love of the Beloved
Forget Him and think of anything else?

He may apparently be looking at something, but his heart is with the Friend.
His hands may be occupied, but his thoughts are with the Beloved.

His heart is restless in separation from the Beloved,
And his soul is distressed in the absence of the Friend.

He may be far from the Beloved’s countenance,
But his heart is always rushing towards the Beloved’s abode.

Like the eyebrow of someone, he has become stooped on account of grief,
And like someone’s entangled locks, he is ever twisting and turning in anguish.

The Beloved is in his heart, and soul, and body;
All his pleasure lies in contemplating His countenance.

He has become his life; how could one forget one’s life?
He comes to him all the time and takes him in His arms.

Someone else, even when in the lap, is far away.
The Beloved, even when far away, is ever so near.

The affairs of the lovers are of another realm altogether,
They are far beyond your logic and reason.

They are a very wise people indeed—while their hearts are with the Friend,
Their eyes are busy surveying their surroundings.

While their hearts are pining for the charming Beloved,
Their tongues are busy talking about others.

Nothing hinders those lost in love from the Friend,
Nor are their wives and children a burden to them.

Despite a hundred obligations, they are ever present in the Beloved’s court;
When in His company, thorns are to them flowers; in His absence flowers are thorns.

You wail and shout a hundred times when a single thorn pierces you,
But those lovers remain cheerful even when sacrificing their lives.

The lovers are lost in the glory of their Lord;
They are immersed in the ocean of Tauhid [Oneness of God] on account of their fidelity.

Their enmity, their friendship, is all for the sake of God;
Even their fury, when it is shown, is, in fact, God’s fury.

When one is lost and absorbed in the love of the One God,
Whatever one does is the doing of the Greatest Being.

He is mortal, but his arrow is God’s arrow;
His quarry is, in truth, God’s quarry.

All the holy attributes that belong to the Divine,
God Himself breathes them into the people who are lost in Him.

They then begin to manifest divine attributes,
Be they attributes of grace or attributes of glory.

Their favour is the favour of God, their wrath becomes God’s wrath;
Their affairs are not like the affairs of others.

These who have died to themselves are far removed from their egos;
Like the angels, they are in the service of the Just God.

All such severity or tenderness is, in fact, from God alone;
For, an angel is totally devoid of his own selfish desires.

The same is the status of the Prophets;
They are with God and distant from all else.

They are lost in God; they are the weapon of God.
They are divine light personified in mortal form.

They remain concealed in the abode of the Divine,
Detached from themselves, they live in the colours of the Divine.

They are the stars of the heaven of beauty and grandeur;
They have moved far from people’s eyes.

No one is aware of the grandeur of their light;
For, the low, surely, do not have access to the high.

The blind can only express a perverted view because of their blindness;
For, their unseeing eyes are unaware of that light.

It is the nature of dogs to bark at the moon,
But beastly manners cannot diminish the moonlight.

Mustafa sas is a reflection of the countenance of God,
All attributes of the Divine are reflected in his person.

If you have not seen God, then look at him;
True are his words: ‘Whoever has seen me has seen Haqq [God].’

God’s hand comes to the aid of these lovers
When someone tries to deceive them.

Their status is higher than a hundred heavens;
They are hidden beyond hidden, and further still.

In their fidelity to their Beloved they are steadfast;
In their love for Him their heads remain prostrate in His presence.

For the sake of that Beloved they have consumed their selves;
After dying a hundred thousand deaths they are restored to life.

Even the one with eyes cannot discern such phenomena;
The blind amount to absolutely nothing there!

His face is a sun so brilliant
That the eyes of men are dazzled like those of bats, by his light.

You are cowardly and your viewpoint is like that of cowards.
You, your father, and your forefathers are all far from perfect.

If the handsome one is, in your eyes, unsightly and miserable,
Then what am I to call you, O ugly faced one!

Your blindness has put hundreds of veils on you;
Your prejudices have ruined you utterly.

Many who are loved by the Glorious Lord
Seem wretched and worthless to you owing to your blindness.

Many who have partaken of hundreds of cups of self-annihilation
Appear greedy and avaricious to your eyes.

Had your whole being been annihilated,
It would have been better than this beastly life you lead.

Had your mother given birth to a raven instead of you,
It would have been better than the evil nature you possess.

Even though falsehood, disobedience, and unbelief has infiltrated your mind,
It is nothing compared to the filth you eat.

O eternally vicious one! You are damned,
For you have rebelled against the very life of the world.

You who are in denial and doubt regarding the King of Faith,
Take a mere glance at his servants and followers.

No one has ever witnessed a Sign from your elders;
You have nothing in your hand but stories of old.

But if you wish you can come to me
And see hundreds of Signs for the truth of the grandeur of Mustafa sas.

O you who close your eyes in envy!
Come so that his light might tear asunder the veils that cover your eyes.

The light of truth shines ever bright for the truthful;
The liars are dead and gone and so is all their pride.

Mustafa sas is God’s shining Sun
The curse of heaven and earth is upon his enemy.

It is the sign of being accursed
That the wretched languish in darkness like bats.

Their hearts are not pure, nor is their reason able to see the way;
They have been rejected from the court of the Lord of all the worlds.

Even if you exert yourself to death a hundred times in enmity to Mustafa sas,
You will not find a straight path other than the religion of Mustafa sas.

Until the light of Ahmad sas comes to one’s aid,
No one can come out of darkness.

All Prophets owe their light to him;
The name of every Prophet is illumined because of his name.

God gave him the Book that is like the sun:
Its luminous countenance has illuminated a world filled with darkness.

The Furqan [Holy Quran] is a pure and holy tree
That flourishes the fruit of Signs in every age.

It has demonstrated hundreds of Signs of truth;
It is not based on hearsay as your faith is.

That sublime Book is full of miracles,
And divine light shines through it in all its splendour.

It is the Sun and makes others like the sun;
Come quickly and see if you are not blind.

You would witness a world of divine Signs
That draws mankind towards the Gracious One.

And if what I am saying is contrary to the truth,
I am willing that my head be severed from my body.

I am willing to be hanged on the gallows,
Or be killed after suffering hundreds of torments at people’s hands.

I am willing to accept the punishment
That my bleeding head should roll in the dust.

I am willing to give up my life, property, and my body
And to suffer all kinds of calamities.

If my tongue has uttered falsehood,
I am willing to accept every punishment that a liar deserves.

But if you refuse to accept the same for yourself,
Then may God’s curse afflict you.

They have neither hearts, nor eyes, nor ears,
Yet they dare stand against the Full Moon.

Their faith is based solely on fables;
They have much on their tongues, but their hearts are restless.

There is a great difference between hearsay and seeing;
Woe upon the helpless one who does not understand this truth.

O imperfect man! Seek knowledge of God,
Or you will remain helpless and disappointed in your objective.

Something that depends solely on hearsay
Will never foster faith and purity to the slightest degree.

A hundred thousand tales based on hearsay
Cannot equal a grain of what one has witnessed.

The true faith is one whose light is enduring
And which serves the drink of divine cognition at all times.

Give your heart to the Charming One and to none else,
For He is the One who shows you magnificent Signs through His beauty.

Cast off your blindness and look at the Moon!
Get up, O beggar, and behold the King!

Look at the face, the stature, the figure;
Look at the countless charms He possesses.

For the sake of God, turn completely away from your ego
So that you may drink from the cups of divine union.

The true faith [Islam] is the city of the Glorious God,
Whoever enters it comes under divine protection.

It can make you righteous and good in an instant,
And can make you a darling and beloved like itself.

Take a step towards the blissful ones
So that, my dear one, you too might one day become blissful.

O you who foolishly reject and oppose!
Why waste your time? Go and knock at God’s door,

And supplicate to the One Peerless God
To remove the heavy chains that fetter your feet.

It may well be that your cries and supplications
Cause a hidden hand to pick you up from the dust.

All is incomplete without God’s mercy;
Only the wise realize this truth. So peace be on you!

1 Sub-Footnote Number Three is referenced from Footnote Number Eleven. [Publisher]

2 ‘There is no power [to do any good] nor ability [to resist any evil] except with the grace of God.’ These words have been taught by the Holy Prophet Muhammad sas to the Muslims when confronted with something wicked and satanic. [Publisher]

3 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:180 [Publisher]

4 Surah al-Ma’idah, 5:33 [Publisher]

5 Surah an-Nahl, 16:91 [Publisher]

6 The explanation given by the Promised Messiah as refers to John 16:12–14 which states: ‘I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.’ [Publisher]

7 Surah ash-Shura, 42:41 [Publisher]

8 Surah al-Ma’idah, 5:4 [Publisher]

9 In the Arabic alphabet, there are some letters like (ba) and (ta) which have dots in them, and there are others like (lam) and (‘ain) which do not have any dots. [Publisher]

10 Surah al-Mu’minun, 23:4 [Publisher]

11 Surah Ya Sin, 36:3 [Publisher]

12 Surah Ha Mim as-Sajdah, 41:43 [Publisher]

13 Bad things are for bad men … (Surah an-Nur, 24:27) [Publisher]

14 … and good things are for good men (Surah an-Nur, 24:27). [Publisher]

15 Surah ash-Shu‘ara’, 26:225–228 [Publisher]

16 Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:89 [Publisher]

17 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:24 [Publisher]

18 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:25 [Publisher]

19 Various mantras of Rigveda are classified into shurtis, mandalas, and suktas. [Publisher]

20 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]

21 Surah al-Ikhlas, 112:2–5 [Publisher]

22 Surah al-Anbiya’, 21:23 [Publisher]

23 Surah al-Mu’minun, 23:92 [Publisher]

24 Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:57 [Publisher]

25 Surah al-A‘raf, 7:196–198 [Publisher]

26 Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:45 [Publisher]

27 Surah Yunus, 10:69 [Publisher]

28 Surah an-Nisa’, 4:172 [Publisher]

29 Surah an-Nahl, 16:58 [Publisher]

30 Surah an-Najm, 53:22–23 [Publisher]

31 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:22–23 [Publisher]

32 Surah az-Zukhruf, 43:85 [Publisher]

33 Surah al-Hadid, 57:4 [Publisher]

34 Surah al-An‘am, 6:104 [Publisher]

35 Surah ash-Shura, 42:12 [Publisher]

36 Surah al-Furqan, 25:3 [Publisher]

37 Surah al-Qasas, 28:71 [Publisher]

38 Surah an-Nisa’, 4:49 [Publisher]

39 Surah al-Kahf, 18:111 [Publisher]

40 Surah Luqman, 31:14 [Publisher]

41 Surah al-Qasas, 28:89 [Publisher]

42 Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:24 [Publisher]

43 Surah Luqman, 31:16 [Publisher]

44 Surah al-An‘am, 6:18–19 [Publisher]

45 Surah ar-Ra‘d, 13:15 [Publisher]

46 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]

47 Surah al-Anbiya’, 21:29 [Publisher]

48 Surah al-A‘raf, 7:181 [Publisher]

49 Surah al-‘Ankabut, 29:18 [Publisher]

50 Surah al-Hajj, 22:31 [Publisher]

51 Surah al-A‘raf, 7:196 [Publisher]

52 Surah Ha Mim as-Sajdah, 41:38 [Publisher]

53 Surah Ya Sin, 36:41 [Publisher]

54 Surah Maryam, 19:94 [Publisher]

55 Surah al-Anbiya’, 21:30 [Publisher]

56 Surah an-Nisa’, 4:172 [Publisher]

57 Surah al-Hajj, 22:74–75 [Publisher]

58 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:166 [Publisher]

59 Surah al-An‘am, 6:101 [Publisher]

60 Surah at-Taubah, 9:30–31 [Publisher]

61 Surah Maryam, 19:36 [Publisher]

62 Surah al-Hajj, 22:18–19 [Publisher]

63 A kose is a measure of distance, the length of which is approximately two English miles. [Publisher]

64 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]

65 To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256). [Publisher]

66 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]

67 Say, ‘He is Allah, the One; Allah, the Independent and Besought of all’ (Surah al-Ikhlas, 112:2–3). [Publisher]

68 Surah al-Anbiya’, 21:23 [Publisher]

69 Surah al-Mu’minun, 23:92 [Publisher]

70 The mode of reasoning which proceeds from a cause to its effect. [Publisher]

71 The proof from effect to cause. [Publisher]

72 Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:57 [Publisher]

73 Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:45 [Publisher]

74 Surah Yunus, 10:69 [Publisher]

75 Allah has set a seal on their hearts (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:8). [Publisher]

76 Surah al-Baqarah, 2:270 [Publisher]

77 And He protects the righteous (Surah al-A‘raf, 7:197). [Publisher]

78 And they do not make a just estimate of Allah (Surah al-An‘am, 6:92). [Publisher]

79 In the King James Version, these verses are Mark 8:11–12. [Publisher]

80 This witness is shattering. [Publisher]

81 He drew nearer to God; then he came down to mankind, So that he became, as it were, one chord to two bows or closer still. [Publisher]

82 Surah as-Saff, 61:10 [Publisher]

83 But Allah will perfect His light (Surah as-Saff, 61:9). [Publisher]

84 You do surely possess high moral excellences (Surah al-Qalam, 68:5). [Publisher]

85 Surah an-Nisa’, 4:114 [Publisher]

86 Seems to be a scribe’s error in Urdu. The reference seems to be to Prophet Yusuf [Joseph], the son of Ya‘qub [Jacob]. Allah knows best. [Publisher]

87 The Promised Messiah as was asked who is the subject indicated by the word [My] in the revelation: [The Holy Quran is the Book of God and is the word of My mouth] i.e. whose mouth is referred to. He said It means the words of Allah’s mouth. Allah the Almighty has said: ‘The words of My mouth.’ There are instances in the Holy Quran where different pronouns are used for the same subjects. (Badr, vol. 6, no. 28, 11 July 1907, p. 6)

88 There seems to be a scribe’s error. This line should read: [Publisher]

Sub-Footnote Number Three1