Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 238
238 BARĀHIN-E-AHMADIYYA PART FOUR worship of God Almighty, the Christians occupy themselves with the worship of Masih [the Messiah], and instead of seeking the help of God in their affairs, they continuously seek it from Masīḥ. Their tongues are constantly uttering ربّنا المسيح ربّنا المسيح ]Rabbunal-Masih Rabbunal- Masih-'Our Lord is the Messiah, our Lord is the Messiah']. Therefore, these people are deprived of acting upon the teachings inherent in the prayer, إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ]Iyyaka naʻbudu wa iyyāka nastain] and are thus rejected from the threshold of the Divine. The seventh verity comprised in Sürah al-Fatihah is 2 اِهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ [Ihdinaş-şirātal-mustaqim], which means, 'Guide us to that path-and make us steadfast and upright in following that path-which is straight and which has no perversity of any kind. The elaboration of this verity is that the only true prayer of man is to seek the straight path leading to God. For, to attain any objective, it is the natural law that those means should be acquired through which the goal is achieved. This is the nat- ural rule that God has laid down in respect of achieving every objec- tive: The means that are necessary for securing it should be attained and the ways by which the goal can be achieved should be adopted. When man treads upon the straight path steadily and follows the paths that are necessary for achieving the objective, the objective is achieved automatically. But it can never happen that if the ways of leading to the objective are abandoned, it should be achieved. On the contrary, it is the eternal law that there is a fixed way for achiev- ing every goal and until one adopts that fixed way, he cannot achieve that objective. Therefore, the object that must be sought through dili- gence, effort, prayer, and humility is صراط مستقیم ]sirat-e-mustaqim-the straight path]. He who does not strive to attain صراط مستقیم ]sirat-e-mustaqim], and attaches no value to it, is a misguided person in the sight of God. If he were to beg God for Paradise and the comforts of the Hereafter, Divine 1. Surah al-Fatihah, 1:5 [Publisher] 2. Surah al-Fatihah, 1:6 [Publisher]