The Book of Revelation Is the Only Open Book — Essence of Islam Vol. 2
Introduction
In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 2), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon The Book of Revelation Is the Only Open Book, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 2)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 2: Revelation, Inspiration, Vision and Dream
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: The Law of Nature Demands Revelation | Next: True Unity of God Cannot Be Realized Without Divine Revelation »
his capacity. His speech has great power to pull men’s thinking towards God and to make them discard the love of the world and to impress upon their hearts a concept of the hereafter. It is not confined to the narrow and dark concept to which the discourses of the followers of reason are confined. Its effect is widespread and its benefit is complete. Every vessel is filled with it according to its capacity. This is indicated by God Almighty in His Holy Word:
أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءٗ فَسَالَتۡ أَوۡدِيَةُۢ بِقَدَرِهَا فَٱحۡتَمَلَ ٱلسَّيۡلُ زَبَدٗا رَّابِيٗا ۖ وَمِمَّا يُوقِدُونَ عَلَيۡهِ فِي ٱلنَّارِ ٱبۡتِغَآءَ حِلۡيَةٍ أَوۡ مَتَٰعٖ زَبَدٞ مِّثۡلُهُۥ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يَضۡرِبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡحَقَّ وَٱلۡبَٰطِلَ ۚ فَأَمَّا ٱلزَّبَدُ فَيَذۡهَبُ جُفَآءٗ ۖ وَأَمَّا مَا يَنفَعُ ٱلنَّاسَ فَيَمۡكُثُ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يَضۡرِبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡأَمۡثَالَ
“He sends down water from the sky, so that valleys flow according to their measure, and the flood bears on its surface swelling foam. And from that which they heat in the fire, seeking to make ornaments or utensils, comes out a foam similar to it. Thus does Allah illustrate truth and falsehood. Now, as to the foam, it goes away as rubbish, but as to that which benefits men, it stays on the earth. Thus does Allah set forth parables.” (Surah Al-Ra‘d, 13:18)
(Part Number 13) This means that God sends down His Word from heaven and every valley begins to flow with the water of the Divine Word according to its capacity.
That is to say, every one benefits from it according to his temperament and ideas and ability. Exalted natures are benefited by the wise mysteries and those who are even higher find a wonderful light the description of which is beyond words. Those who are lower, observing the greatness and personal perfection of the righteous informer, believe sincerely in what he says and they also arrive at the coast of salvation by boarding the ark of certainty. Only those are left outside who have no business with God and are the insects of the earth. Observing its effectiveness, the way of following revelation is open and wide. It is well known that a speech is charged with blessings, eagerness, power, greatness and attraction according to the degree to which the step of theوَإِذَا تُتۡلَىٰ عَلَيۡهِمۡ ءَايَٰتُنَا بَيِّنَٰتٖ قَالُواْ مَا هَٰذَآ إِلَّا رَجُلٞ يُرِيدُ أَن يَصُدَّكُمۡ عَمَّا كَانَ يَعۡبُدُ ءَابَآؤُكُمۡ وَقَالُواْ مَا هَٰذَآ إِلَّآ إِفۡكٞ مُّفۡتَرٗى ۚ وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لِلۡحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمۡ إِنۡ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحۡرٞ مُّبِينٞ
“And when Our manifest Signs are recited to them, they say, ‘This is but a man who seeks to turn you away from that which your fathers worshipped.’ And they say, ‘This is but a forged lie.’ And those who disbelieve say about the truth when it comes to them, ‘This is nothing but clear magic.’” (Surah ‘. . . This is nothing but clear magic.’—Al-Saba’, 34:44)
(Part Number 23) It is the Holy Qur’an whose attraction overcame confirmed habits and so pulled the hearts to God that millions of God’s creatures set the seal of their blood on the Unity of God. In this manner from the beginning it is revelation that has proved the guide and which has fostered human reason. Otherwise, great philosophers and wise men have found it difficult, even impossible, to discover the details of metaphysics. Those who are not equipped with normal reason, and have not had available to them the means of making efforts in that direction, have remained without any knowledge of these matters. The facilities which God’s true and perfect revelation— that is to say, the Holy Qur’an—has furnished to reason, and the confusion from which it has delivered reflection and observation are facts for which every wise person
must be grateful. Considering that the recognition of God began through revelation, and that the revival of the understanding of the Divine has always taken place through revelation, and that relief from the difficulties of the way can only be procured with the help of revelation, every wise person is compelled to confess that the way which is clear and straight and is always open and has always led to the goal is Divine revelation. To hold that is not an open book is clear folly. We have explained in detail that the recognition of God by the Brahmu Samajists, which is based upon reason, is limited to ‘should be’ and that they fall short of the perfect stage of ‘is’. This also shows that the clear and open way of the recognition of the Divine is discovered only through the Word of God and cannot be reached by any other means. If a newly born child is deprived of education and left only to the book of nature, which according to the Brahmu Samajists is an open book, he would achieve little understanding and would possess no recognition of God. Experience has shown that if a person is not guided through his sense of hearing by revelation to the existence of God, he is not able to determine whether there is any Creator of this universe and, if he does pay any attention to searching for the Creator, he ends up by deifying some part of creation like water, fire, the moon or the sun as is witnessed among the wild tribes. It is only the grace of revelation through the blessings of which man has recognized the Peerless and Matchless God as befitted His Perfect and Faultless Being. Those who were uninformed of revelation and had no revealed book to turn to, and had available no means of knowing about revelation, achieved no understanding of the Divine, despite the fact that they possessed eyes and hearts. They gradually forsook humanness and approximated to senseless animals and derived no advantage from the book of nature. It is obvious that if that book had been an open one, the wild tribes would have taken advantage of it and would have achieved equality with those who had recognized God through Divine revelation. Then what greater proof is needed of the fact that the book of nature is a closed one than that whoever relied solely upon it, and never heard of Divine revelation, was altogether deprived of the recognition of God and even remained ignorant of human manners?
[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 207-216 footnote 11]
If by the book of nature being open is meant that it is physically visible, this is irrelevant to the point under consideration. When it is seen that no one by contemplating the book of nature can derive any spiritual benefit from it and cannot find God unless he is guided by revelation, it matters not that nature is visible all the time.
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 2, p. 117]
All historians know well that in past ages whenever anyone acquired full knowledge of God and His perfect attributes, he did so through revelation and that the Unity of God was never propagated through reason. That is why those people who had no acquaintance with revelation remained unaware of the name of God and remained uncultured and uncivilised like animals. Who can present to us a book written in the past about knowledge of the Divine and comprised of real verities, the author of which might have claimed that he did not discover the straight path of the recognition of God through revelation, nor was he informed through his sense of hearing of the existence of the One God, and that in discovering God and learning about Divine attributes he derived help only from his reason and reflection and diligence and that, without having recourse to any other resource, he discovered the Unity of God and that his mind of itself arrived at the true recognition and understanding of God Almighty? Who can prove to us that there was an age when Divine revelation was unknown and there was no Holy Book and the people of that age believed in the Unity of God and recognized Him merely through contemplation of the book of nature? Who can inform us of the country whose people, being unaware of revelation, were guided to God by their reason alone and believed in the Unity of the Divine by the exercise of their reflection and observation?
[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 219-220, footnote 11]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 2, p. 121]
True Unity of God Cannot be Realized Without Divine Revelation Why the pure Unity of God cannot be learnt without Divine revelation, and why one who denies revelation is not cleansed of paganism? This matter becomes apparent when one reflects upon the reality of Divine Unity. Unity means that one should believe that the Being and attributes of God are free of any association and that we should believe that the tasks which can be accomplished by God’s Power cannot be accomplished by the power of anyone else. It is because of letting go of this Unity that fire-worshippers, sun-worshippers and idol-worshippers, etc., are called pagans inasmuch as they supplicate their idols and divinities concerning matters the bestowal of which is in the hands of God alone. It is obvious that those who deny revelation also believe, like the idol worshippers, that creatures are invested with the attributes of the Divine. They believe that the powers of the
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 2]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 2, p. 122]
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 2)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 2: Revelation, Inspiration, Vision and Dream
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: The Law of Nature Demands Revelation | Next: True Unity of God Cannot Be Realized Without Divine Revelation »