Surmah Chashm-e-Aryah

Guidance for the Aryas

Background

The Aryah Samajists attacked a number of miracles mentioned in the Holy Quran, and made fun of these miracles and denied belief therein. They also projected their decadent theories of soul’s transmigration.

The Book

Hazrat Ahmad(as) undertook to defend the miracles of the moon split in two parts, by quoting that Moksha Parvan of the Maha Bhartah which mentioned the splitting of the moon into two. He discussed at length the meaning and nature of miracles. He stated that miracles are divided into four kinds: intellectual, scientific, spiritual blessings, and apparent interference with known laws of nature.

The book also carries the details of a debate Hazrat Ahmad(as) held with Lalah Murli Dhar, Drawing Master (an Aryah Samajit) Hoshiarpur, which took place between March 11 and March 14, 1886. At the end of the book, he invited the whole of the Aryah Samaj to a comparative study of the Vedas and the Quran and then suggested another way of settling the dispute by engaging in a Mubahalah (Prayer Duel).

At the end of the book, he extended an invitation to non-Muslims to come to Qadian in order that he might show them heavenly signs in favour of Islam and he offered to bear all the expenses for any one who was prepared to come and stay with him for a period of at least 40 days. This book carries a number of flyers and supplements.

Specimen of Writing

… God has Vested in him a hidden faculty of receiving revelation. When human reason arrives at the limit of its reach, at that stage God Almighty, for the purpose of leading His true and faithful servants to the perfection of understanding and certainty, guides them through revelation and visions. Thus the stages which reason could not traverse are traversed by means of revelation and visions, and seekers after truth thereby arrive at full certainty. This is the Way of Allah, to guide to which Prophets have appeared in the world and without treading along which no one can arrive at true and perfect understanding; but an unfortunate dry philosopher is so much in a hurry that he desires that whatever has to be disclosed should be disclosed at the stage of reason. He does not know that reason cannot carry a burden beyond its strength, nor can it step forward further than its capacity. He does not reflect that to carry a person to his desired excellence God Almighty has Bestowed upon him not only the faculty of reason but also the faculty of receiving revelation. It is the height of misfortune to make use of only the elementary means out of those that God has, out of His Perfect Wisdom, Bestowed upon man for the purpose of recognizing God.1

Review

A Christian paper, Nur Afshan, Amritsar, wrote a review in its issue of January 6, 1887: “To speak the truth, this book, Surmah Chashm-e-Aryah, has completely exposed the Aryah Samaj, and it has destroyed the Aryah Samaj. It is true and just to say that it is impossible to refute the conclusive arguments given by the author in the book.”

Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi devoted four pages of his journal2, to this book and instead of commenting on it, he gave extensive quotations which he said spoke for themselves.

The Aryah Samaj made futile attempts by publishing a tract entitled, Surmah Chashm-e-Aryah ki Haqiqat aur fan fraib Ghulam Ahmad ki Kaifiyyat, and they became so desperate that they threatened to murder Hazrat Ahmad(as) within three years.