By 1902, over two decades had elapsed since the Promised Messiah(as) started publishing and widely circulating the revelations he received from God. He presented them as proof of his claim, arguing that if he had been an impostor, falsely attributing hundreds of revelations to God, the Almighty would not have given him such a lengthy reprieve in keeping with the warning mentioned in the Holy Quran. Instead, God Almighty had blessed him with countless signs of His support and brought disgrace upon his opponents.
It was against this backdrop that Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf published a public announcement contending that there was nothing unique in this claim, for there had been many liars and impostors in the past who had lived many years after making their false claims and died a natural death.
In response to this announcement, the Promised Messiah(as) addressed the ulema of An-Nadwah through a short but incisive treatise entitled A Gift for An-Nadwah which was published on 6th October 1902. He forcefully rejected Muhammad Yusuf’s contention and argued that it contravened the clear purport of the Holy Quran. Not only that, but if Muhammad Yusuf’s thesis were to be accepted there would be no means by which to distinguish false claimants from true ones.
The book opens with an Arabic preface entitled At-Tabligh in which the Promised Messiah(as) invites the ulema of An-Nadwah to the judgment of the Holy Quran and presents before them his claim of being the Promised Messiah and Mahdi(as). In order to distinguish the preface from the main body of the text and to express the difference of style and language, the Arabic prose has been conveyed in a more archaic style of English and set in italic type.
The book closes with a short epilogue on the discovery of a new piece of evidence regarding the death of Jesus Christ.