Allah the Exalted (continued...)

In short there are two systems of law, one is that which relates to the angels, which is that they have been created for obedience and their obedience is a characteristic of their bright nature. They cannot commit sin, but also they cannot make progress in goodness. The second system of law relates to mankind, which is that by their nature they can be guilty of sin, but they can also make progress in goodness. Both these natural laws are unchangeable and as an angel cannot become man so man cannot become an angel. These systems of law are eternal and are not liable to change. The law that operates in heaven cannot operate on earth, nor can the law that operates on earth operate in respect of angels. If human defaults end in repentance, man can be much better than angels for angels cannot make progress in goodness. Human sins are forgiven through repentance. Divine wisdom leaves some individuals free to commit sins so that thereby they should become aware of their weakness and may be forgiven through repentance. This is the law that is appointed for man and it is suited to man's nature. Error and forgetfulness are characteristics of human nature and they are not characteristics of angels. Therefore the law that regulates angels cannot be put in force in respect of men. It is an error to attribute any weakness to God Almighty. It is the consequences of the operation of law that are manifested upon the earth. Is God so weak that His kingdom and power and glory are limited to heaven or is it that there is some other god who is in adverse possession of the earth? The Christians should not emphasize that God's kingdom operates only in heaven and is not yet in operation on the earth, for they hold that heaven is nothing If heaven is nothing, where God's kingdom should operate; and God's kingdom has not yet arrived upon earth, it means that God's kingdom does not operate anywhere. Besides, we observe with our own eyes God s kingdom is in operation on the earth. According to His law our lives come to an end and our conditions change continuously. We experience hundreds of types of comfort and pain. Thousands of people die by God's command and thousands are born, prayers are accepted, signs are displayed and the earth produces thousands of types of vegetables, fruits and flowers by His command. Then is all this happening without the kingdom of God? Heavenly bodies continue in one condition and no change is felt in respect of them, which should indicate the existence of a Being Who brings about change. But the earth is continuously undergoing change. Every day millions of people pass out of the earth and millions are born and in every way the control of a powerful Creator is felt. Then is there still no kingdom of God on earth? The Gospel puts forward no reason why the kingdom of God has not arrived on earth. It is true that Jesus prayed for deliverance all through the night in the garden and as it is recorded in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 7, that prayer was accepted, yet God did not have the power to deliver him. This according to the Christians, can be a reason for affirming that at that time there was no kingdom of God upon earth. But I have experienced greater trials and have been delivered from them. How can I deny the kingdom of God? Was that case in which I was, at the instance of Martyn Clarke charged with conspiracy to murder in the court of Capt. Douglas, less grave than the case which was brought by the Jews against Jesus in the court of Pilate, on account of religious differences and not because of any charge of murder? But as God is the king of the earth as He is king of heaven, He informed me in advance of that case that such a trial was coming and then He told me that I would be discharged This was announced to hundreds of people in advance and in the end I was discharged. It was the kingdom of God which delivered me from this case which had been brought against me at the joint instance of Muslims, Hindus and Christians. Thus not once, but scores of times, I witnessed the kingdom of God upon earth and I had to believe in the verse: To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth (3:190); and I had to believe in the verse; His Power s such that when He intends a thing He says concerning it: Be; and it is (2:118) . This means that heaven and earth obey Him and when He intends a thing and He says to it: Be; it happens. It is also said: Allah is Supreme over His command, but most people know not (12:22); that is to say, God is Supreme over His design, but most people are unaware of God's power and supremacy.

So much for the prayer taught in the Gospel which takes away man's hope of God's mercy and makes Christians forgetful of His Rububiyyat and Rahmaniyyat and Rahimiyyat and .Malikiyyat and they do not consider God capable of helping on earth till His kingdom should arrive upon the earth. As a contrast the prayer that God has taught to the Muslims in the Quran teaches that God is not helpless in the earth like one dethroned, but that His system of Rububiyyat, Rahmaniyyat, Rahimiyyat and Malikiyyat is in operation on the earth and that He has the power to help His worshippers and can destroy the offenders with His wrath. That prayer is as follows: All types of perfect praise belong to Allah alone, the Lord of the worlds, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee alone do we worship and Thee alone do we implore for help. Guide us along the straight path--the path of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy favours, those who have not incurred Thy displeasure, and those who have not gone astray (1:2-7). This means that God alone is worthy of all praise. There is no deficiency in His kingdom. Nothing is awaited out of His excellences which does not exist today, but would be achieved tomorrow. There is nothing vain in His kingdom. He provides for all the worlds. He bestows His mercy absolutely without any prior action on the part of man, and also in return for man's actions. He awards reward and punishment at their due time. We worship Him and seek His help and pray that He should show us the way of all bounties and should keep us away from the ways of His anger and of error.

This prayer which is set out in Surah Fatihah is the antithesis of the prayer taught in the Gospel, inasmuch as God's present kingdom of the earth is denied in the Gospel. Thus according to the Gospel neither God's Rububiyyat, nor His Rahmaniyyat, nor His Rahimiyyat nor His Malikiyyat is in operation on the earth because God's kingdom has not yet arrived upon the earth, but Surah Fatihah indicates that God's kingdom is in operation on the earth and thus all the essentials of the kingdom are set out in the Surah. It is obvious that a king should possess the following qualities: He should have power to provide for people and Surah Fatihah proclaims that God is the Sustainer of the worlds. The second quality of a king should be that whatever his subjects should need for settling down in the earth should be provided out of his kingly mercy and not in return for any service. Surah Fatihah affirms this quality in God by calling Him Rahman. The third quality which a king should possess is that he should help his subjects towards achievement of that which they cannot achieve by their own efforts. The Surah affirms this quality by the use of the word Rahim. The fourth quality that a king should possess is that he should have power to reward and punish so that social conditions should not be disturbed. The Surah affirms this quality in God by describing Him as Maliki Yaumid Deen. In short, the Surah presents all those essentials of kingship that prove that God's kingdom and kingly control are in operation on the earth.... Listen, the greatest understanding is that every particle of the earth is as much under the control of God as every particle of heaven is part of His kingdom, and that as there is a grand manifestation in heaven there is also a grand manifestation on earth. The manifestation in heaven is a matter of faith. An average person has not ascended to heaven nor witnessed that manifestation, but the manifestation of God's kingdom upon earth is clearly visible to everyone's eyes. Every human being, however wealthy he might be, tastes of death contrary to his desire. Observe, therefore, how the manifestation of the command of the true King is visible upon the earth that when His command comes no one can delay his death for a second. When a person is afflicted with mortal illness, no physician is able to cure it. Reflect, therefore, what a manifestation of God's kingdom upon earth it is that His command cannot be rejected. How can it then be said that the kingdom of God upon earth is not yet, but will arrive at some future time? In this age God's commandment from heaven has shaken the earth with the plague so that it should be a sign for His Messiah. Who is it who can remove it without His command? Then how can we say that God's kingdom has not yet arrived upon earth? The wicked one carries on like a prisoner on earth and does not wish to die, but God's true kingdom destroys him and the angel of death finally seizes hold of him. Then how can it be said that the kingdom of God has not arrived upon the earth? Every day by God's command millions of people die in an hour and millions are born by His Command and millions of the poor by His command become rich and millions of the wealthy become poor. Then how can it be said that God's kingdom upon earth is not yet? In heaven there are only angels but on the earth there are men and also angels, who are agents of God and are the servants of His kingdom. They guard the various enterprises of man, obey God all the time, and send up their reports to Him. Then how can it be said that there is not the kingdom of God upon earth?

God has been known mostly through His earthly kingdom for every one imagines that the mystery of heaven is a secret and cannot be witnessed. In recent times all Christians and their philosophers have denied the existence of heaven on which the Gospels base the whole kingdom of God, but the earth is in fact a globe under our feet and thousands of Divine decrees are manifested thereupon, which make us understand that all this change and birth and death is by the command of some Master. Then how can it be said that there is not yet the kingdom of God upon earth? God, the Lord of Honour and Glory, has named neither heaven nor earth in Surah Fatihah and yet He has disclosed the reality to us by saying that God is Rabbul Alameen. That is to say, all through creation, whether there are bodies or souls, God is the Creator and Sustainer of all, Who provides for them all the time and administers them. His Rububiyyat, Rahmaniyyat, Rahimiyyat and Malikiyyat are in operation all the time in all the worlds. It should be borne in mind that by the phrase Maliki Yaumid Deen in Surah Fatihah, it is not meant that reward and punishment would be awarded only on the Judgment Day. The Holy Quran has repeatedly made it clear that the Judgment Day will be the time of the grand recompense, but that one type of recompense begins in this very world, which is indicated in the verse: He creates discrimination between you (8:30) [Kashti Nuh, (Qadian, Ziaul Islam Press, 1902); Now printed in Ruhani Khazain, Vol.19, pp. 29-39].

According to the Holy Quran, God is on earth as He is in heaven, as He has said: He it is Who is God in heaven and is God on earth (43:85). He has also said that no three are gathered together for secret consultation, but that God is the fourth among them (58:8). He is Limitless as is said in the verse: Eyes cannot reach His limit, but He reaches their limit (6:104). It is also said: We are closer to him than his jugular vein (50:17). At one place it is said that God comprehends every thing and it is also said: Allah surely supervenes between man and his mind (8:25). It is also said: Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth (24:36); that is to say, the heavens and the earth are lit up by the light of His countenance and that without it there is all darkness. It is also said: All that is on the earth will perish and only the countenance of Thy Lord, Master of Glory and Honour, will survive (55:27-28) . That is to say, everything is subject to change and destruction, but human nature is forced to confess that in this universe there is a Being Who is not subject to change and destruction and Who continues to survive all conditions, and He is God. But as sin and disobedience and all manner of unholy things are manifested in the earth, those who confine God to the earth in the end become worshippers of idols and created beings as has happened to the Hindus. The Holy Quran has made it clear that on the one side God has a close relationship with His creatures and that He is the life of every soul and the support of every being; and on the other side, it is stated that He is above everything and is beyond everything and that His station is Arsh (Throne) to safeguard against the error lest any one should conclude from the relationship that God has with man, that God is very man himself as do the Vedantists. The Arsh is not a thing created. It is the name of the Divine rank which is beyond of beyond. It is not a throne on which God is to be imagined as being seated. It is the station which is beyond of beyond from creation and is a station of transcendence and holiness. As the Holy Quran says after establishing the relationship of Creator and created with everything, God settled Himself on the Arsh. That is to say, despite all relationships He remained apart and did not mix with His creation.

God's being with everyone and comprehending everything is His attribute of resemblance. He has mentioned this attribute in the Holy Quran to demonstrate His nearness to man. His being beyond of beyond from all creation and being above all and higher than all and farthest of all and being at the station of transcendence and holiness, which is far from creation and is called Arsh, is the attribute of transcendence. God has mentioned this attribute in the Holy Quran so that He should establish His Unity and His being without associate and having withdrawn from the qualities of creation. Other people have either adopted God's attribute of transcendence and have called Him Nargan, or they have accepted Him as Sargan and have attributed such resemblance to Him as if He was very creation itself. They have not combined these two attributes, but God Almighty in the Holy Quran has shown His countenance in the mirror of both these attributes and this is His perfect Unity [Chashma Marifat, (Qadian, Anwar Ahmadiyyah Press, 1908); Now published in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984), Vol. 23., pp. 89-91].

It is not the belief of the Muslims that the Arsh is a physical or created thing on which God is seated. You may go through the Quran from the beginning to the end and you will not find it stated that the Arsh is a limited created thing. God has repeatedly said in the Holy Quran that He is the Creator of all things that have any existence. He is the Creator of heaven and earth, and souls and all their faculties. He is Self-Existing and everything exists because of Him. Every particle that exists is His creation. He has nowhere stated that the Arsh is something physical of which He is the Creator.... Wherever the word Arsh has been used in the Holy Quran its meaning is the Greatness and Majesty and Supremacy of God. That is why it is not included among created things. There are four manifestations of the Greatness and Majesty of God Almighty. The Vedas call them four gods, but according to the idiom of the Holy Quran they are angels [Naseem-e-Dawat, (Qadian, Ziaul Islam Press, 1903); Now printed in Ruhani Khazain, Vol.19, pp. 86-89].

In the Holy Quran by Arsh is meant the station which is higher than the rank of resemblance and is superior to every world and is beyond of beyond and is the station of Holiness and transcendence. It is not anything which is made of stone or brick or any other thing on which God is seated. That is why it is described as uncreated. As God Almighty says He manifests Himself to the heart of a believer, in the same way He says that He manifests Himself upon the Arsh. He affirms clearly that He supports everything and has not said anywhere that anything supports Him. The Arsh which is a higher station than the whole universe, is a manifestation of His attribute of transcendence. We have explained it several times that from eternity God has two attributes, one the attribute of resemblance and the other the attribute of transcendence. As it was necessary to set out both attributes in His Word, for the declaration of His attribute of resemblance, He mentioned His hand and eye and love and anger in the Holy Quran, and then to remove the suspicion of resemblance He stated at one place: There is nothing like unto Him (42:12); and at another place: Then He settled Himself on the Arsh; as, for instance, in the verse: Allah is He Who raised up the heavens without any pillars that you can see. Then He settled Himself on the Throne (13:3). From the literal meaning of this verse it would seem to follow that God was not settled on the Arsh before. The explanation of this is that the Arsh is nothing material, but is a state of being beyond of beyond which is God's attribute. Then God created heaven and earth and all other things and bestowed upon the sun and moon and stars light from His own light as reflection and created man metaphorically in His Own image and breathed into him His Own qualities. He thus created a resemblance unto Himself. But as He is free from any resemblance He described His transcendence by the expression settling on the Throne. Despite having created everything He is not His very creation itself, but is apart from everything and is at a station which is beyond of beyond [Chashma Marifat, (Qadian, Anwar Ahmadiyyah Press, 1908); Now published in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984), Vol. 23., pp. 264-266].

Another objection which is sometimes raised is that it appears from the Holy Quran that on the Day of Judgment eight angels will bear aloft the Arsh, from which it is concluded that in this world four angels bear the Arsh aloft. Here a question arises that God Almighty is above having His Throne borne up by anyone. The answer is as you have just heard that the Arsh is nothing material which can be borne up or is capable of being borne up. The station of transcendence and Holiness is Arsh and that is why it is described as uncreated. A material object cannot be outside the creation of God. Whatever has been stated with regard to the Arsh is by way of metaphor. A reasonable person can understand that this objection is baseless. The truth is that when God Almighty withdraws to the station where His attribute of transcendence covers all His other attributes and makes Him beyond of beyond and hidden of hidden, which station, in the idiom of the Holy Quran, is called Arsh, then God rises above human reason and reason cannot reach Him. Then four of His attributes which have been named four angels which have been manifested in the world, disclose His hidden Being.

The first of these is His Rububiyyat through which He perfects man physically and spiritually. The manifestation of the body and soul is in consequence of the demand of Rububiyyat. In the same way Divine revelation and the manifestation of extraordinary signs are in consequence of the demand of Rububiyyat.

The second attribute which has been manifested is His Rahmaniyyat whereby He has provided numberless bounties for man without any action having preceded from man. This attribute also discloses His hidden Being.

The third attribute is His Rahimiyyat. That means, that at first He bestows upon righteous people by virtue of His Rahmaniyyat the capacity for righteous action and then, as demanded by His Rahimiyyat, He enables them to perform righteous actions and thus safeguards them against calamities. This attribute also discloses His hidden Being.

The fourth attribute is Maliki Yaumid Deen. This also discloses His hidden Being as by virtue of it He rewards the righteous and chastises the wicked. These four attributes bear aloft His Arsh. That is to say, His hidden Being is recognized in this world through these attributes. This recognition will be doubled in the hereafter, that is to say, eight angels, instead of four, will bear aloft the Arsh [Chashma Marifat, (Qadian, Anwar Ahmadiyyah Press, 1908); Now published in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984), Vol. 23., pp. 266-267].

The Unity of God is a light which illumines the heart after the outer and inner deities are totally negatived, and it courses through every particle of man's being. It cannot be acquired by anyone on his own, but only through God and His Messenger. Man's function is that he should impose a death upon his ego and should discard the Satanic vanity that he is a learned person. He should deem himself ignorant and should be occupied with supplication. Then the light of Unity would descend upon him from God and would bestow new life upon him [Haqiqatul Wahi, (Qadian, Magazine Press 1907); Now published in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984), Vol. 22, p. 144].

As ever since the creation of the world the recognition of God is tied up with the recognition of a Prophet, it is impossible that the knowledge of Unity could be obtained except through a Prophet. A Prophet is a mirror for the beholding of God. It is only through this mirror that the countenance of God may be seen. When God Almighty desires to manifest Himself to the world, He sends a Prophet into the world who is the manifestation of His Powers and to whom He displays His Rububiyyat. Then the world realizes that God is. It is a part of the Unity of God to believe in those who have been under the eternal law of God appointed as a means of the recognition of God. Without this belief, faith in the Unity of God cannot be perfected. It is not possible to achieve faith in the pure Unity of God, which is created from the fountain of perfect certainty, in the absence of heavenly signs and wonders which are displayed by the Prophets whereby they lead people to full understanding. They are a group that points to God and through whom God, Whose Being is imperceptible upon imperceptible and hidden upon hidden, manifests Himself. That hidden Treasure, Whose name is God, has ever been recognized through the Prophets. The acquisition of faith in the Unity of God, which is estimated as true Unity by God Himself, except through a Prophet, is as much opposed to reason as it is contrary to the experience of all seekers after God [Haqiqatul Wahi, (Qadian, Magazine Press 1907); Now published in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984), Vol. 22, pp.112-113].

The true Unity of God, the confession of which is demanded by God and upon which heaven depends, is to believe that God in His Being is free from every associate, whether it is an idol or a human being, or the sun or moon or one's ego, or one's cunning or deceit; and to conceive of no one as possessing power in opposition to Him, nor to accept anyone as sustainer, nor to hold anyone as bestowing honour or disgrace, nor to consider anyone as helper or assistant; and to confine one's love to Him and one's worship to Him and one's humility to Him and one's hopes to Him and one's fear to Him. No Unity can be complete without the following three types of particularization. First, there is the Unity of Being, that is to say, to conceive the whole universe as nonexistent in contrast with Him and to consider it mortal and lacking reality. Secondly, the Unity of attributes, that is to say, that Rububiyyat and Godhead are confined to His Being and that all others who appear as sustainers or benefactors are only a part of the system set up by His hand. Thirdly, the Unity of love and sincerity and devotion; that is to say, not to consider anyone as an associate of God in the matter of love and worship and to be entirely lost in Him (Answer to four questions of Sirajuddin, Christian, pp. 23-24).

In these days the Unity and existence of God are subject to powerful attacks. The Christians have written a good deal on the subject, but whatever they have said or written, is about the God of Islam and not about a dead, crucified and helpless god. We affirm it confidently that whoever begins to write on the Existence and Being of God Almighty, would in the end have to revert to the God that is presented by Islam, because every leaf of the book of nature points to Him and naturally every man carries His impress within himself (Malfoozat, Vol. I, p. 83).

The Christians should remember that it is not at all established that Jesus was the resurrection, nor have the Christians been resurrected. They are dead more than the other dead, and lie in narrow and dark graves and are fallen into the pit of paganism. They neither possess the spirit of faith nor the blessings of such spirit. They have not achieved even the lowest grade of faith in the Unity of God, which is to abstain from the worship of creatures. They worship as creator one weak and helpless like themselves. The Unity of God has three grades. The lowest grade is to abstain from the worship of any created thing like oneself, neither stone nor fire nor man nor any star. The second grade is that one should not be devoted to material means as if they were a sort of partner in the operation of Rububiyyat. One must concentrate on the Provider of means rather than on the means. The third grade is that having witnessed perfectly Divine manifestations, one should consider every other being as nonexistent including one's own self. Everything beside God Almighty, Who possesses perfect attributes, should appear as mortal to one's eyes. Spiritual life means that these three grades of faith in Unity should be achieved. Now consider carefully that all eternal fountains of spiritual life have come into the world through Muhammad, the chosen one, peace be on him. It is only the Muslims, though they are not Prophets, who experience converse with God Almighty like the Prophets, and though they are not Messengers God's bright signs appear at their hands, and the rivers of spiritual life flow through them and no one else can compete with them. Is there any one who would take up this challenge and standing in opposition would exhibit blessings and signs as an answer [Ayenae Kamalat-e-Islam, (Qadian, Riyadh Hind Press 1893); Now printed in Ruhani Khazain (London, 1984), Vol.5, pp. 223-224]?

I regret that I have not found words in which I should set out the evils of leaning towards any one except God. They go to others and flatter them and supplicate them which excites the jealousy of God Almighty. This is the Prayer of these people from which God withdraws and which He casts aside. I set out the matter in a crude way, though it is not its true reality and yet it is easy to follow. A self-respecting man's jealousy would not tolerate another person establishing a relationship with his wife, as in such a case, he would consider his wretched wife worthy of being killed and very often that is what happens in fact. Similar is the jealousy of the Divine. Servitude and prayer are reserved for His Being. He does not approve that anyone else should be worshipped or should be called on in supplication. So remember well that to lean towards any beside Allah is to cut asunder from Him. Prayer and Unity, for Prayer is the name of the proclamation of Unity in practice, are without blessing and vain when they are empty of humility and nothingness and are not pursued with a single-minded heart (Malfoozat, Vol. I, pp. 167-168).

Association of others with God takes many forms and is called shirk. There is the obvious shirk in which Hindus, Christians, Jews and other idol worshippers indulge, in which a man or stone or lifeless things or faculties or fictitious deities are worshipped as God. Though this form of shirk is still current in the world, yet this is the age of light and education, and reason is beginning to abhor this form of shirk. It is true that some people subscribe to these stupidities as part of their national religion, yet at heart they are beginning to be repelled by them. But there is another type of shirk, which is spreading secretly like poison and it is greatly on the increase in this age and that is that there is no trust in and dependence upon God Almighty.