Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya-Parts1-2

94 Barahin-e-ahmadiyya
fully realize—that all the teachings in which a seeker after bliss
must have complete faith, and on which our salvation and eternal
mere conjecture and has not provided any means to verify it, so as to
bring certainty to the heart and to confirm that the means for salvation
suggested by reason are indeed true and not merely hypothetical.
having established that in theological matters absolute certainty
is only to be attained through revelation, and that man requires perfect
certainty for salvation and the preservation of his faith, it becomes
obvious that he stands in dire need of divine revelation.
here it should also be borne in mind that all divine revelations
were meant to bestow certainty on man, but the certainty for which
the holy Quran has laid the foundations surpasses all past revelations.
To elaborate, all divine revelations prior to the holy Quran,
being mostly in the form of narratives, only served as testimony to
certain events. This is why they became corrupted in the end and selfish
and egotistical people interpreted them to suit their own purposes.
The holy Quran, however, took upon itself to substantiate its teachings
with rational proofs and thus saved man from countless hazards.
Firstly, it acted as a true messenger, imparting knowledge of the divine
realm; secondly, it substantiated its teachings with the aid of reason.
Anyone who studies the holy Quran will find that, from beginning
to end, it provides two kinds of testimonies—the testimony of reason
and the testimony of revelation. In the holy Quran these two are like
two great streams running in parallel and influencing each other continuously.
The stream of reason shows that something ‘should be’, and
the stream of divine testimony assures us, like a wise and righteous
informant, that ‘it is.’ The advantage of this Quranic approach is obvious,
for in reading the holy Quran a seeker finds rational evidence for
its teachings—evidence the like of which cannot be found in any work
of philosophy. This claim shall also be established in chapter 1 of this
book. What is more, he who reads the Quran reaches the highest level
of certainty through the testimony of divine revelation and finds in an
instant all that others could not find in a lifetime of effort and deliberation.
And so we can conclude that the holy Quran alone is the surest,
easiest and most perfect means for recognizing the true principles
and beliefs upon which our salvation depends.—Author