THE SOUL
The Aryas believe that Permeshwar has created no soul and that all souls are eternal and uncreated. They also hold that man cannot attain eternal salvation, that after having been accommodated in the house of salvation for a period he is expelled therefrom and is returned once more to the earth. Both these doctrines are open to objection. The first one negatives the Unity of God Almighty, and indeed His very Godhood altogether. The second doctrine bears harshly upon a faithful servant of God.
If all souls and all the particles of matter are deemed to be eternal and uncreated such a notion would generate many evils. For instance, in such case the very existence of God would become doubtful. If all souls and all particles are self-existing there would be no need for a creator merely for the purpose of bringing them together. An atheist can object that if everything is self-existing and uncreated what need is there for a Permeshwar for the mere purpose of putting them together.
Another evil that would be generated by such a doctrine would be that it would deprive God of His very Godhood. Those who have knowledge of psychology and of the properties of the souls well understand that the wonderful properties with which the souls are invested are not created merely by bringing them together with the particles of matter. For instance, the souls possesses a faculty whereby they can, through proper striving, gain knowledge of hidden things; so also they possess a faculty of reasoning by the exercise of which they can gain knowledge of intellectual matters; and they also possess the faculty of love by virtue of which they incline towards God. If all these faculties were to be deemed to exist without any creator this would be a grave affront to Permeshwar, as it would mean that the great and the high is self-existing and that the lowly and the inferior was left to be created by Permeshwar. It would have to be acknowledged that the self-existing wonderful faculties and qualities of the soul are far superior to the works of Permeshwar, so much so that Permeshwar himself is astonished at them. Thus this doctrine would seriously damage the God- hood of the God of the Aryas so that His existence would make no difference, and no argument would be available for upholding His existence. Moreover, He would cease to be the Source of all grace. His function would only be a lowly one, and with regard to all the high wonderful performances of the souls it would have to be acknowledged that they are self-existent. Every sensible person would realize that if such is the reality, then even if the existence of Permeshwar is acknowledged He would be a weak and useless entity, the existence or non- existence of which would be equal, so much so that even if He were supposed to die it would not detract anything from the souls. Nor would any soul be bound to worship Him as every soul can retort: As you have not created me, nor is it you who have invested me with my faculties and powers and capacities, then by what right can you demand that I should worship you? Besides, as Permeshwar is not the creator of souls He cannot comprehend them and thus there would be a veil between Permeshwar and souls, and Permeshwar would not have full knowledge and full power over the unseen, and as He would not have full power His Godhood would be upset and He would cease to exist.
The Soul Is Created Out Of Nothing By The Command Of Allah
It is obvious that full and perfect knowledge of something imports the power of fashioning that thing. That is why the philosophers have said that perfect knowledge becomes perfect action. So the question naturally arises, has Permeshwar full knowledge of the qualities and properties of souls? If He has full and perfect knowledge of all this then how is it that despite such knowledge He is not able to create similar souls? This would mean not only that Permeshwar has not the power to create souls but also that He has not full knowledge about them (Surma Chashm Arya (Qadian, 1886); Now published in Ruhani Khazain, Volume 2 (London, 1984) (Qadian, 1886); Now published in Ruhani Khazain, Volume 2 (London, 1984), pp. 9I- 93).
The Vedas Present God As Imperfect
The Vedas of the Aryas put forward a concept of God which is bound to repel a seeker after truth. The Aryas do not hold their Permeshwar as the source of his own kingdom but conceive that he has been given his kingdom by chance or good luck; that is to say, that by good luck he found a number of souls and particles and he compounded a world out of them. It is possible that there may be another store of souls and particles hidden somewhere of which Permeshwar has yet no knowledge. Is this a doctrine which is consistent with the Majesty, Power and Greatness of Allah, the Glorious? God Almighty is the Perfect Being Who is the Source of all grace, and the Fountainhead of all lights, and the Sustainer of all things, and Who comprises all excellences, and is comprehensive of all good qualities, and is entirely free from all weaknesses and defects and dependence upon anything else. Reflection would show that by subscribing to the doctrine that souls and bodies are uncreated and self-existent all perfect Divine attributes would be abolished and nothing would survive of Godhood. A person of average intelligence can comprehend that the Unity of God Almighty means that His Being alone is the reality, and that everything else has proceeded from Him, and subsists only through Him, and arrives at its perfection only by His grace. But alas, the theology of the Aryas teaches the contrary. Their books are full of their false claims that they themselves are also eternal and uncreated like Permeshwar and have a resemblance to Him and are their own gods. They do not reflect that if they are eternal and self-existent and self-created, then resembling God in these respects, how did they agree to submit to Him and who intervened to bring about this relationship between them?
Even a boy can comprehend that if souls and bodies are eternal and self-existent, and are their own gods, Permeshwar cannot claim that He is their Lord and Creator. If they have not come into existence by the hand of Permeshwar how can He be their Lord and Master? For instance, if a child were to drop full-fledged from the sky, or should be born automatically from the earth, no woman would be entitled to claim it as her child. Her child can only be the one who is born of her womb. Thus he alone belongs to God who is brought into being by Him, and he who does not come into being in that manner can in no wise be His. No righteous and decent person takes possession of that which is not his, then how did the Permeshwar of the Aryas take possession of that to which He had no right? How hateful and inconsistent with truth is the doctrine which deprives the Lord and Master of the universe of His creation and bereaves Him of the true reality of Godhood (Surma Chashm Arya (Qadian, 1886); Now published in Ruhani Khazain, Volume 2 (London, 1984), pp. 96 98).
Allah Can Create Out Of Nothing
Some Arya Samajists seek to support the notion of the souls being uncreated and their own gods with the argument that if souls were not existent at one time and came into existence by being created by God Almighty, this would mean creation out of non-existence and creation out of nothing is so incomprehensible a phenomenon that no sensible person can accept it. I would point out that people afflicted with false and defective reason do not believe even in God Almighty Himself, but a person possessing sane reason who believes in God is bound to believe in all His attributes which are the basis of His Godhead. He who believes in the essential attributes of God Almighty, that He is All-Powerful Whose power is subject to no limitation, will not dare to seek to measure His Power with his own defective reason and will not impose any limitation upon the powers of the Infinite God. Moreover, when a wise person perceives that God Almighty is in His Being comprehensive of the greatest wonders and is exalted beyond imagination, Who sees without eyes, hears without ears, speaks without a tongue, and without the help of builders, labourers, carpenters, instruments of architecture, and stores of bricks and stones, etc., can create heaven and earth in one moment by His mere design and order, he would have no hesitation in believing that such an All-Powerful God can create out of nothing. That is Godhood and that is why He is called Almighty, All-Powerful and Master of unlimited capacities.
If His works were to be dependent, like the works of man, upon means and resources and time, then what would be His Godhood and how would it operate? Are not all His works beyond the reach of reason? Are not His wonders such that human reason falls short of them? Then what kind of stupidity is it to take exception to that which is the basis and reality of His Godhood.
What kind of Permeshwar would He be Who should command that which He designs; 'Be'; and nothing should happen. God is the name of that Possessor of wonderful powers whose design accomplishes everything. When He commands that which He designs; 'Be'; it comes into being at once by virtue of His perfect Power. It is a most subtle mystery that the entire creation is the Word of God. When the Christians out of their stupidity began to affirm that Jesus was a Word of God, that is to say his soul was a Divine Word which had taken the shape of his soul, God Almighty affirmed the truth that there is no soul that is not the Word of God and has not come into being by the mere command of God. This is indicated by: Tell them: The soul has been created by the command of my Lord ( 17: 86) . That the Word of God became manifest in the shape of souls and other creation is a subtle Divine mystery which no human reason can penetrate. It has been revealed by the Divine Light of God's Holy Word. If it is not believed that God Almighty manifests souls and bodies by His Word and command it would have to be acknowledged that unless souls and bodies become available from outside, Permeshwar can do nothing. But can Permeshwar be such a bankrupt and empty handed being, the whole of whose godhood is dependent upon a chance occurrence? If such is Permeshwar all hope is vain and it would be a source of danger to rely on him (Surma Chashm Arya (Qadian, 1886); Now published in Ruhani Khazain, Volume 2 (London, 1984), pp. 115--117) .
The Holy Quran affirms that souls are not self-existent and uncreated. They are created through a special relationship between two sperm drops, and in the case of the smaller insects through only one type of matter. This is the truth which is confirmed by observation and which brooks no contradiction. It is folly to deny perceptible realities. When we say that the soul comes into being out of nothing it does not mean that before its coming into being it was nothing. It means that there was no pre-existing matter out of which man could extract the soul by his own power, and that Divine power and wisdom alone produce the soul out of some matter. This is why when the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, was asked: What is the soul? he was commanded by God: Tell them: The soul has been created by the command of my Lord; and you have been granted but little knowledge concerning it (17: 86); that is to say, the creation of the soul is a mystery of creation of which you have little knowledge, meaning that your knowledge is confined only to the birth of the soul; as we observe that insects, etc., come into being under our observation from some matter.
The birth of the human soul takes place under a Divine law whereby when a framework is prepared gradually from the relationship established between two sperm drops, then, as by the mixture of certain medicines a certain quality is generated in the compound which the elements thereof did not individually possess, in the same way a special quality is generated in the framework which is compounded of blood and sperm drops and it takes on the colour of a type of phosphorous. When the breeze of the Divine manifestation blows upon it under the command: Be; it suddenly flares up and spreads its effect into all parts of the framework. Thereby the embryo comes alive. This very thing which blazes up within the embryo by Divine manifestation is the soul and the same is the word of God. This process is described as the command of God because the faculty of the pregnant mother, which creates all the limbs of the embryo by the command of God and weaves its framework like the net of the spider, has no concern with the soul which is created by a special Divine manifestation. Though the phosphorous out of which the soul takes birth is produced by the framework, the spiritual spark which is called the soul cannot be born without the touch of the heavenly breeze. This is the true knowledge that the Holy Quran has furnished to us. It is beyond the reach of the reason of the philosophers (Chashma Maarfat, pp. I50-I52).
The Soul Is The Creation Of God
The whole basis of salvation is the personal love of God Almighty, which is the name of the love generated by God Almighty in the very nature of the human soul. If the soul is not the creation of Permeshwar how can it have natural love for Him? When and by what means did Permeshwar place His love with His own hand in the nature of the soul? But that is not possible, for natural love means the love which is inherent in the nature of the soul and is not added afterwards. This is indicated in the Holy Quran, where it is said that God enquired from the human souls: Am I not your Lord? and they responded: Indeed, yes (7:173). This means that the human soul bears inherent testimony that God is its Creator. Thus the soul naturally loves its Creator as it has been created by Him. This is also indicated in another verse where it is said: The nature of God according to which man was created (30: 31), that is to say, the seeking of God by the soul and its finding no complete satisfaction in anything else is part of human nature. In other words, God has invested the human soul with the yearning that it can find no comfort or serenity except in its meeting with God. Thus if the human soul is invested with this desire it must be acknowledged that the soul is the creation of God Who has invested it with this desire. It is a verity that the human soul is so invested, which proves it is truly the creation of God (Chashma Masihi, pp. 39-40)
The Holy Quran has set forth many conclusive reasons in support of the verity that souls are the creation of God. We set out briefly a few of them by way of illustration.
1. It is obvious that all souls are at all times subordinate to and subject to the command of God Almighty, and there is no other cause for such subordination except that they are the creation of God.
2. It is also obvious that all souls are limited in their capacities and powers, as is proved by the diversity of the spiritual conditions and capacities of sections of mankind. This limitation must be imposed by a Limitor, which proves that souls are created.
3. It needs no argument to establish that all souls are, for the purpose of their perfection and survival, dependent upon and in need of a Being who should be Perfect, All-Powerful, All-Knowing and an absolute Benefactor. This proves that they are created.
4. A moment's reflection would show that our souls comprise briefly all the wisdom and the creative skill that are demonstrated in the heavenly and the earthly bodies, that is why the universe on account of its diverse elements is known as the macrocosm and man is called a microcosm. Thus when the universe, on account of its wonderful qualities, is accounted the work of a Wise Creator, how would that not be the creation of God which on account of its personal wonders is a reflection of the whole universe and comprises within itself the wonderful qualities of all the units of the universe and illustrates the consummate wisdom of God Almighty? That which is a manifestation of all the wonders of Divine attributes cannot be outside God's creation. Indeed it bears the seal of creation more than anything else and is a greater proof of the existence of the Creator. This is not only a theoretical proof of the soul being created but is a bright verity. Moreover, other things have no consciousness of their being created but souls are by their very nature conscious of having been created. Even the soul of a savage cannot reconcile itself to being self-existent. This is indicated by the verse which says that God enquired from the souls: Am I not your Lord? that is to say, your Creator, and they responded: Indeed, yes (7: I73). This dialogue indicates the natural relationship between the Creator and His creation, the proof of which is inherent in the nature of souls.
5. As a child partakes somewhat of the features and character of his parents, in the same way souls, which have proceeded from the hand of God Almighty, partake somewhat of the character and qualities of their Creator. Though in cases in which the darkness and heedlessness of being created prevails over some souls the Divine colour appears somewhat faded, yet it cannot be denied that every soul possesses that colour to some degree. In some cases that colour appears unattractive on account of misuse, but that is not the fault of the colour, it is the fault of the use to which it is put. None of man's faculties or powers is evil. It is misuse that makes them appear evil. Every faculty employed on its proper occasion is wholly good and beneficent, and in truth all the faculties that are bestowed on man are a reflection of Divine powers. As a son exhibits some features of his father, in the same way our souls reflect the features and qualities of Divinity which are easily recognized by those who possess comprehension. As a son has natural love for his father we, who are from God, have natural love for Him. If our souls had not a natural relationship with God those who seek Him would have had no means of reaching Him (Surma Chashm Arya (Qadian, 1886); Now published in Ruhani Khazain, Volume 2 (London, 1984), pp. 119- 121).
The Holy Quran states that God enquired from souls: Am I not your Creator? and they responded: Indeed, yes (7: 173). This means that souls naturally affirm the existence of a Creator, though some people falling in the darkness of heedlessness and being influenced by wrong teachings become atheists or Aryas and deny their Creator contrary to their nature. It is obvious that everyone loves his parents, so much so that some children suffer death in consequence of the death of their mother. Then if souls are not God's creation who has invested them with natural love for God, how is it that when a person achieves full consciousness his heart is drawn to God and his bosom is flooded with the love of God? There must be some relationship between God and souls which makes them fall madly in love with God. They become so devoted to God that they are ready to sacrifice everything for His sake. It is truly a wonderful relationship which is far above one's relationship with father and mother. If souls are self-existent, as is alleged by the Aryas, then how has this relationship been established and who has invested souls with the faculty of love for and devotion to God? This is worthy of reflection and is the key to true comprehension (Chashma Maarifat, pp. 158--159).
As God has called man to Himself, He has invested him in advance with faculties suited to worship and love. These faculties that are bestowed by God hear His voice. As God desired that man should develop comprehension of God, He invested the human soul with the faculty of comprehension in advance, for if it had not been so man would have lacked comprehension of God. Whatever the human soul possesses is from God and is a reflection of Divine qualities. No one of those qualities is evil, their misuse makes them evil. Someone may object that man suffers from evil qualities like envy or rancour, etc., which cannot be bestowed by God. The truth is, as we have already stated, that all human qualities are a reflection of Divine qualities, as the human soul is from God, but excess or misuse gives them a repulsive appearance in men. For instance, envy is a repulsive quality whereby a person desires that another may be deprived of a bounty and it might be bestowed upon him, but at bottom envy means only that a man does not desire that another one should be his partner in any excellence that he has acquired. In its essence this is a Divine quality by virtue of which God is One without associate. The misuse of this quality makes it repulsive; for it is not evil for a person to wish to outstrip all others in virtue and to desire to achieve spiritual uniqueness (Naseeme Dawaat, pp. 27-28).
A Soul Bereaved Of Its Qualities Is Dead
It may be said that if the soul is created it would follow that it is
mortal in the sense that a condition in which something is bereft of its
qualities may be described as death. When a medicine loses all its effect
it may be described as dead. In certain circumstances the soul is bereft
of its qualities and undergoes even greater changes than the body. At such
times it can be said that it has died, inasmuch as when anything gives
up all its essential qualities it is described as dead. That is why in
the Holy Quran only those human souls have been described as being alive
after their departure from this life which retain those essential qualities
which are the purpose of their creation, that is to say, perfect love of
and perfect obedience to God Almighty which is the life of the soul.
When a soul departs this life full of the love of God and having devoted
itself to Him, it is alive and all other souls are dead. A soul bereaved
of its qualities is dead. During sleep both the body and the soul die,
that is to say, they are bereft of the qualities that they possess during
wakefulness and suffer a sort of death, inasmuch as anything that is bereft
of its qualities cannot be described as being alive. Death does not only
mean non-existence; being bereft of essential qualities is also a sort
of death. For instance, when a body dies its material still survives. In
the same way the death of the soul means that it has been bereft of its
qualities, as happens during sleep, when both the body and the soul are
bereft of the qualities that they possess during waking hours. For instance,
the soul of a living person meets a dead person in a dream and does not
know that that person had died. It forgets this life altogether as it sinks
into sleep, and discarding its garment of life puts on a new garment forgetting
all its knowledge and all its memories of the world except that much as
God may keep alive. It suspends all its activities and truly arrives before
God. All its movements and words and emotions pass under the control of
God Almighty. It loses all choice and it cannot be said that anything that
it does or says or hears in a dream is by its own choice. It exhibits all
the signs of death. During sleep the soul suffers an even greater death
than does the body. If people were to reflect upon their condition during
sleep they would realize that if the soul had been exempt from death it
would have continued to enjoy that exemption in sleep also. Our condition
during sleep is a mirror for the purpose of our comprehension of our condition
in death. He who seeks true comprehension of the soul should reflect deeply
on his condition during sleep. Every mystery of death can be resolved through
one's experiences during sleep. If you will reflect deeply on the mysteries
of sleep and dreams and will contemplate how the soul suffers a sort of
death during sleep when it is bereft of its knowledge and qualities, you
will realize that death has a great resemblance to sleep. Thus it is not
true that after its separation from the body the soul continues in the
condition which it enjoyed in this life. Under God's command it suffers
the same kind of death which it had experienced in sleep, only that condition
is intenser than its condition in sleep and every one of its qualities
is reduced to nothing. That is the death of the soul. Thereafter those
alone are revived who used to work for life. No soul possesses the capacity
to continue alive on its own. Have you the capacity to control your qualities
and circumstances and knowledge during sleep as you are capable of doing
in your waking hours? As soon as you sink into sleep your soul undergoes
a change and suffers a type of non-existence whereby God Almighty has said
about the soul in the Holy Quran: Allah takes charge of souls at the time
of death, and of those not yet dead, during their sleep. Then He retains
those in respect of which He has decreed death, and sends back the others
for an appointed term. In that surely are signs for a people who reflect
(39:43). This means that at the time of death the souls pass wholly under
the control of God and lose all choice and self- consciousness. That is
to say, they are deprived of the qualities of life and become as if they
were non-existent. Such of them as do not die in fact, but pass into a
condition resembling death in a state of sleep, also pass under the control
of God Almighty and undergo a change in which they lose all worldly consciousness
and feeling. Thus, both in death and during sleep, God takes possession
of the soul in such manner that it loses all choice and consciousness which
are the signs of life. Then such souls upon whom death has in fact been
imposed are retained by God, so that they cannot return to the world, and
He restores to the world those souls upon whom death is not imposed. In
this phenomenon there are signs for those who reflect. This verse shows
that the soul undergoes death as well as the body. But the Holy Quran indicates
that the souls of the righteous are revived within a short period after
death and are bestowed a second life of comfort and ease and delight. That
is the life for the achievement of which the righteous servants of God
approach Him with the utmost sincerity and put forth all their effort in
order to emerge from the darkness of their egos and adopt a hard mode of
life in the search of God's pleasure, so much so that this condition resembles
death. As the verse cited above indicates, there is a death for the soul
as there is for the body, though the hidden circumstances of that state
do not become manifest in this dark world. Yet the state of dreams is an
illustration of that state which resembles the state of death of the soul
in this world. It is our experience that as soon as we sink into sleep
all the qualities of our soul are upset and we forget our waking hours
and our spiritual qualities, and all the knowledge that our soul possesses
becomes non-existent. We experience such scenes in our dreams as show that
our soul has lost all the qualities that it possessed in wakefulness and
has become something very different. This condition resembles death and
is indeed a sort of death. This shows conclusively that the death which
is imposed upon the soul with the death of the body resembles the death
which the soul experiences in sleep but is very much heavier (Chashma
Maarifat, pp. 152--156).