The Holy Qur’an and Other Divine Scriptures

The Promised Messiah^as & Imam Mahdi (Guided One)
Founder of
THE REVIEW OF RELIGIONS
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as

The opponents of Islam might object that admitting the superiority of the Holy Qur’an over all divine scriptures would perforce mean that other scriptures are inferior; but how can they be inferior when they are the word of the same God? How can there be any question of superiority and inferiority between them? The answer is that, as far as their divine origin is concerned, all the scriptures are equal; however, some are superior to others in terms of the degree and perfection to which they elaborate the principles of faith. Thus it is that the Holy Qur’an enjoys superiority over all other scriptures. No book contains religious truths – such as those regarding the Oneness of God, prohibition of all forms of idolatry, cures for spiritual maladies, arguments against false doctrines and proofs in support of true beliefs – to such perfection as does the Holy Qur’an…Doubts and misgivings, as to why God did not equally invest all His Books with truths and verities and why the Holy Qur’an was given superiority in this regard, will only arise in the minds of those who are ignorant of the true nature of revelation, of its causes and of the manner in which it is vouchsafed. Let it be clear that God never sends revelation unless there are reasons calling for it. He only sends down His revelations when there is a genuine need for them and this has been His eternal practice. It also goes without saying that sending revelations regardless of whether they are needed or not is something that we would not expect from the All-Wise One, Who does everything in keeping with the requirements of wisdom, appropriateness and timeliness. It should be understood, therefore, that if the Qur’an contains the truths and principles of faith that other scriptures do not, it is because the need for these teachings arose only at the time of the Holy Qur’an and they could not have been revealed earlier.¹

Endnotes

1. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part II, (Tilford, Surrey: Islam International Publications, 2012), 89, Footnote No. 2.