Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 212
212 BARĀHIN-E-AHMADIYYA PART FOUR the Gracious Gods رحمن Rahmān] also pours forth His grace on all His creatures without discrimination of good and bad through the sun, the moon, the earth, and other innumerable bounties. In short, in these verses God Almighty has clearly expounded that the word رحمن Rahmān] is used for God in the sense that His wide- spread mercy is made available to all good and bad alike. The same gen- eral mercy has been referred to at another place: عَذَابِي أَصِيبُ بِهِ مَنْ أَشَاءُ وَ رَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ - 9 Part Number ] Meaning that, I inflict My chastisement on whomsoever I deem to be deserving it, and My mercy encompasses everything. Then at another place He says: قُلْ مَنْ يَكْلَؤُكُمْ بِأَلَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ مِنَ الرَّحْمَنِ - [17 Part Number] Meaning that, say to these disbelieving and disobedient people, 'If God did not have the attribute of رحمن Rahman, it would not have been possible for you to remain secure from His chastisement. That is to say, it is only because of His rahmāniyyat that He gives respite to the disbelievers and the faithless, and does not seize them very quickly. At another place the same rahmaniyyat is referred to as: اوَ لَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ فَوْقَهُمْ صَفْتٍ وَيَقْبِضْنَ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحْمنُ 29 Part Number Meaning that, have these people not seen the birds flying above them, that sometimes their wings are spread out and sometimes they fold them. It is رحمن ]Rahman who keeps them from falling down. This means that the grace of rahmāniyyat encompasses all animates in such 1. Surah al-A'raf, 7:157 [Publisher] 2. Surah al-Anbiyā, 21:43 [Publisher] 3. Surah al-Mulk, 67:20 [Publisher]