False stories create false reliance, with the consequence that truth is eventually lost. Just as trust in the imaginary tales of alchemy causes man to squander away even the wealth he already possesses, false notions and fictional tales also affect faith. Those who leave the Holy Qur’an – the word of Allah the Exalted – end up suffering from this same disease and lose their faith. There is nothing in the Holy Qur’an that deceives a person.
In fact, the renewal of man’s faith begins when he comes to believe in Allah the Exalted alone, and his sins start to be removed onwards from that instant. Man cannot be saved from the poison of sin until true faith comes into being. In my view, this is the main criterion for identifying faith, and everyone can test their faith accordingly. The argument for this is clear: Those who understand that arsenic is a poison do not eat it because they know they will die by eating it.
In the same way, sin is also a poisonous fruit that, if consumed, causes the person to die instantly. However, if a person has belief in Allah the Exalted, he is afraid to go near this fruit, and its destructive effects are made clear to him. I know with full certainty that the disease of shamelessness and open depravity that is spreading throughout the world began with the sickness of atheism and is rooted in the false fables of atonement.
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Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Malfuzat Vol. VII (Tilford, Surrey: Islam International Publications Ltd., 2024) 265-266.