Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), The Promised Messiah & Imam Mahdi
The Promised Messiah (as) wrote over 80 books in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. Excerpts of his collected works have been translated into English and organised by topic. The Review of Religions is pleased to present these excerpts as part of a monthly feature. Here, the Promised Messiah (as) expounds on several aspects of the Holy Qur’an, including how it has been safeguarded and the perfect system of guidance found in it. Extracts from The Essence of Islam, Vol. I, 476-490. This is the eleventh part of a multi-part series.
Safeguarding of the Holy Qur’an
There is a promise in the Holy Qur’an that God would safeguard Islam at the time of trials and dangers as is said:
[1]
According to this promise God Almighty safeguarded His word in four ways. First, by means of those who have committed the Holy Qur’an to memory, its text and sequence were safeguarded. In each century there have been hundreds of thousands of people who had committed this Holy Word to memory and thus safeguarded it in such a way that if they were asked about one word they could recite its context. In this way, the Holy Qur’an was safeguarded against verbal perversion in every age. Secondly, through great divines who were bestowed an understanding of the Qur’an in every century, who interpreted the Qur’an with the help of the Ahadith, and thus safeguarded the Holy Word of God and its holy teaching against the perversion of its meaning in every age. Thirdly, through scholars who set forth Qur’anic teachings in the light of reason and thus safeguarded the Holy Word of God against the attacks of short-sighted philosophers. Fourthly, through those upon whom spiritual bounties were bestowed who safeguarded the Holy Word of God in every age against the attacks of those who denied miracles and spiritual insights.
—Ayyam-us-Sulh, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 14, p. 288
Lest it should be imagined that the Muslims believe that revelation began with Adam and came to an end with the Holy Prophet (sa) and that, therefore, after the Holy Prophet (sa) revelation ceased altogether, it should be remembered that we do not believe like the Hindus that God’s Word was confined to that which He had already disclosed. According to the Islamic doctrine God’s Word and His knowledge and His wisdom, like His Being, are unlimited. God Almighty has said:
‘If the ocean were to be used as ink for transcribing the Words of the Lord, surely the ocean would be exhausted before the Words of my Lord come to an end, even though We augmented it with the like thereof.’ [2]
We understand the cessation of revelation with the Holy Prophet (sa) in the sense that though the Word of God is unlimited, yet as the corruption for the reform of which the Word of God descended, and the needs that were fulfilled through revelation were limited, only that much of the Divine Word was revealed as was needed by mankind. The Holy Qur’an was revealed at a time when all possible needs had become apparent and all moral and doctrinal and verbal matters and human conduct had been corrupted, and all kinds of excesses and vices had reached their limit. Therefore, the teaching of the Holy Qur’an was all comprehensive. It is in this sense that the law revealed in the Qur’an is perfect and final, and previous revealed laws are incomplete, as the evils for the reform of which previous revealed Books had come, had not arrived at their climax, but at the time of the revelation of the Holy Qur’an they had reached their maximum. Now the distinction between the Holy Qur’an and other revealed Books is that even if those Books had been safeguarded in every way, their teaching being incomplete, a perfect teaching, that is to say, the Holy Qur’an would have been needed to be revealed; but no other Book is needed after the Holy Qur’an as there can be nothing beyond perfection.
If it was to be supposed that the true principles of the Holy Qur’an would be perverted like the Vedas and the Bible and associates would be set up with God Almighty, and the teaching of the Unity of God would be altered and perverted, and that the millions of Muslims who are established on the Unity of God would fall into shirk and worship of creatures, then in such case another law would have to be revealed and another Messenger would arrive, but all this supposition is out of the question. The perversion of the teaching of the Holy Qur’an is not possible as God Almighty has said:
‘We Ourself have sent down this Admonition and We shall continue to be its Guardian.’ [3]
The truth of this prophecy has been demonstrated over 1,300 years. So far, no pagan teaching has found its way into the Holy Qur’an, as it had into previous revealed Books. Nor can reason imagine any such contingency. Millions of Muslims have learned the Holy Qur’an by heart, and thousands of commentaries safeguard its meaning. Its verses are recited in Prayer Services five times a day, and it is read every day. It is being published in all countries in millions of copies, and its teachi