Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part IV — Page 368
368 BARĀHIN-E-AHMADIYYA PART FOUR اذا جاء نصر الله والفتح و تمت كلمة ربك هذا الذي كنتم به تستعجلون When the help and the victory of Allah will come and the word of your Lord is fulfilled, the disbelievers deserve to be addressed with, 'This is what you hastened for. اردت ان استخلف فخلقت آدم اني جاعل في الارض Meaning that, I decided to appoint a khalifah [vicegerent] from Myself so I created Ādam [Adam]. I will establish in the earth. The last sentence is abbreviated; it means, 'I am going to establish him. The word khalifah in this context means a person who would be the means of conveying the message and guidance between Allah and His creatures. Here it does not signify secular khilafat which applies to kingdom or government, which, according to the Islamic shariah, can- not be proven to be granted by God to people other than the Quraish. Instead, it connotes only spiritual ranks and spiritual vicegerency. Also, 'Adam' does not refer to Ādam, the father of mankind; rather, it means a person through whom a movement of conveying the message and guidance would be established to lay the foundation of spiritual birth, as if he is in the position of a father for the seekers after truth from the point of view of spiritual life. This is a grand prophecy predicting the establishment of a spiritual movement at a time when no sign of this movement exists. After this, God Almighty defined the spiritual status of this spiritual Adam: دَنَا فَتَدَلَّى فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَى 1 When this noble verse, which is a verse of the Holy Quran, was revealed, there was hesitation in interpreting and understanding its 1. He drew nearer to God; then he came down to mankind, So that he became, as it were, one chord to two bows or closer still. [Publisher]