Chashma-e-Marifat

Summary

A paper by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the last part of this book, was read out at a conference held in the first week of December 1907. The Arya Samaj presented their own view to which Mirza took offence and thus the first part of this book is the response to the Arya paper. The book was published a few days before Mirza's death.

Sections and Pages

• 1 Title Page
• 2-372 Section 1
  • 2-4 Announcement of a new way of prayer duel through the healing of 10 sick people.
  • 5-8 Why this book was written.
  • 9-15 Polemical comparison of the two papers read out at the conference
  • 16-132 Part 1 - in refutation of the 'lies' in support of the Vedas
  • 133-310 Part 2 - in refutation of the attacks of the Arya paper on the Quran and the Prophet.
    • (p. 171), the author repeats the assertion that dead squirrels and flies can be brought back to life, almost exactly as in Braheen-e-Ahmadiyya which was written in the early 1880s. He also mentions that metals can be re-instated with honey, ghee and 'sohaga'. He also terms the 'hibernation' of insects as their 'death'. He then confuses the production of a chemical compound as the 'creation' of a new material.
    • (p. 217), he avers his contention in Braheen-e-Ahmadiyya that all languages and dialects and their evolution are by direct divine action, and their relation to 'ilhaam'. He continues: 'And when we see that a change occurs in a language after 200-300 years, and similarly when over a distance of 100 miles, one can clearly see the difference in language; this clearly proves that the differentiation of languages is an ancient issue, and the current situation is evidence for it. Therefore, we have to admit that He Who created Man also created their languages and periodically he puts changes in them. And it is illogical and silly that a person's language be one, and he should receive ilhaam in another which he cannot even understand, because there is disproportional overburdening (taklif ma la yutaq - an Ash'ari concept) in it. And what use is such ilhaam which is beyond a person's comprehension? So, according to the Arya Samaj principle, as the language of the Vedic writers was not Vedic Sanskrit nor were they empowered to speak or understand it, God sending them ilhaam in such a foreign language is like deliberately depriving them of His teaching. And if one says that God explained to them in their own language the meaning of the statements, then the promise of God that it is not forbidden for Him to speak in human language is not maintained. I am perplexed as to what benefit is it to the Aryas by presenting such raw and unpolished ideas. Is not God's whatever is Man's? Then what is the loss of respect for God to explain to Man in Man's language? Does God not hear our prayers in our own language? So, when His Majesty is not diminished by hearing our prayer in our own language, then why would His Majesty be diminished by explaining the true path to us in our own language?
    • (p.218, orig p.210) So, remember that pursuant to the primordial Way of God, it is the habit of God that he guides a nation in its own language. However, if there is a certain language that is well-known to the recipient of ilhaam and is within the domain of his own language then sometimes the recipient can receive ilhaam in that language. We find proof of this in some words of the Quran: it started to be sent down in the language of the Quraish as its first audience were the Quraish, but later on words from other Arabian languages were included (trans – tha author means Arabic dialects). I, as a follower of the Quran and my law-giving book is the Quran from God, frequently receive ilhaam from God in Arabic so that it is proof that whatever we get is by way of Muhammad(saw) and it is by the same way that I am blessed in every thing. As it is the will of God that he make all humans into one nation in this age, I sometimes receive ilhaam in other languages as well but often God's conversations are in Arabic. In fact, most of these conversations are with Quranic verses: by which He intends to show that the Quran is the word of God and in this way, the recipient gets assurance by another means that the Prophet he believes in is a true Prophet and the Book that he accepts, the Quran, is the book of God. In short, even now that ilhaams are received in different languages and hundreds of prophecies are fulfilled by these ilhaams, then is it not proven that God can send ilhaam in any language? Are true dreams not from God, and is Vedic Sanskrit obligatory in them also?
  • 311-344 Additional Properties of Islam
  • 345-349 Advice for Seekers of the Truth
  • 350-368 Islam and Bawa Nanak Sahib.
  • 369-372 Ending
• 373-436 Section 2
  • Original paper read at the conference.