Question (7)

What is meant by ‘the message has been conveyed’?

Answer: There are two essential requirements in conveying the Message. Firstly, the one who has been sent by God should inform the people that he has been sent by God and should warn them of the error of their ways—that they are wrong in such and such of their beliefs or are deficient in such and such of their practices. Secondly, he should establish the truth of his claim with the help of heavenly Signs and arguments based upon logic and scriptural evidence.

This has been the way of Allah that He first grants His Prophets and Messengers the respite whereby their fame spreads to a large part of the world and people become aware of their claim. And thereafter, He conclusively proves [their truthfulness] to people with the help of heavenly Signs and rational and scriptural arguments. And it is not impossible for God to grant fame in an extraordinary way and to bring the argument to perfection with manifest Signs. Just as you see that lightning flashes at one corner of the sky and spreads to the other corner in a single moment, in the same way, the Messengers of God are vouchsafed fame by the will of God. His angels descend upon the earth and instil into the hearts of the auspicious people that the paths they have chosen are not right. It is then that such people begin to search for the right path. On the other hand, God Almighty creates such conditions that help the news about His Imam of the Age to reach such people.

In particular, the present age is such that, in a matter of days, even a notorious robber, with all his notoriety, can become well known throughout the world. How can it be, then, that the Elect of God, who are ever accompanied by God, should not be renowned in this world and remain obscure, and God should have no power to grant them fame?1 I find that the grace of God Almighty is with me such that God Almighty has already ordained such means for disseminating my arguments and the propagation of the Faith of His Noble Prophet that were inaccessible to any previous Prophet. Thus, in my time mutual contacts between different countries, on account of railways, telegraph, the postal system, and of transport by sea and land, have improved so much that all the nations of the world seem to have become one country—or even one town. If someone wants to travel, he can return from a worldwide trip in a short span of time. In addition, the writing of books has become so easy and simple, and such printing machines have been invented that, whereas earlier it was difficult to inscribe a few copies of a voluminous book even in a hundred years, we can now print hundreds of thousands of its copies in a year or two and publish them throughout the country. Moreover, there are so many facilities for propagation in every aspect as were totally non-existent in our country 100 years ago. If you cast a glance at the previous fifty years from today, you will find that most of the people were illiterate and ignorant. But, on account of the abundance of schools which have been established even in villages, people have now acquired an ability to easily understand books on religion.

On my part, I have endeavoured to communicate the message by personally visiting some cities of the Punjab and India like Amritsar, Lahore, Jalandhar, Sialkot, Delhi, Ludhiana, and others. I have communicated the message of God Almighty in large gatherings, and presented the beauties of Islam in the presence of thousands of people. And I have written some seventy books expounding the truth of Islam in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and English, about 100,000 copies of which have been published in Muslim countries. To the same end, I have published several hundred thousand pamphlets,2 and by the grace of God Almighty and His guidance, more than 300,000 persons, as of today, have repented of their sins at my hands, and this process continues at such a fast pace that each month hundreds of people continue to enter into the covenant of allegiance with me.

People of foreign lands are not unaware of my Jama‘at. In fact, my message has reached even the countries of America and remote countries of Europe to the extent that in America many people have joined my Jama‘at, and, on their own, had many leading American newspapers publish my prophecies regarding the extraordinary earthquakes as proof of my Signs. Some of the Europeans, too, have joined my Jama‘at. I need not mention the Muslim world; for, as I have just stated, more than 300,000 people have entered this Jama‘at and people have come to know of thousands of Signs. And most of them are pious and of good disposition.3

1 This revelation about me was recorded in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya twenty-five years ago. This revelation belongs to a time when I was leading a life of solitude, and, except for a few of my father’s acquaintances, no one even knew me. The revelation is as follows: meaning: ‘You are to Me as My Tauhid [Oneness] and Tafrid [Uniqueness]. Thus, the time has come when you shall be granted help of all kinds and you shall be renowned in the world with honour’. To mention the promise of granting fame, in conjunction with Tauhid and Tafrid constitutes an indication that to be famous with glory and majesty is truly the prerogative of God Almighty. Then, whoever is the recipient of the special grace of God, due to his extreme effacement [in God], becomes worthy of partaking of the Tauhid and all traces of separation are removed from him. It is then that God Almighty invests such a person with fame, honour, majesty, and glory just as He does it for His Own Self, because Tauhid and Tafrid confer upon him the right to attain such honour. (Author)

2 Once I had 16,000 leaflets concerning the truthfulness of Islam translated into English and published in European and American countries, which also got published in many English newspapers. Those leaflets were sent to places in Europe and America where people were unaware of the beauties of Islam. An Englishman, Mr. Webb, who lived in America and was not a Muslim yet, came across those leaflets. After that, he embraced Islam and remains a Muslim up to now. (Author)

3 Alas! That those who raise objections against the integrity and sincerity of my Jama‘at do not themselves exercise honesty and fairness. Some members of this Jama‘at have displayed such examples of their steadfastness the like of which is difficult to find in this age. For instance, a God-fearing and fair-minded person should look with fairness at the steadfastness of Maulawi ‘Abdul-Latif, the martyr, and ponder whether anyone in the world can show a better example of steadfastness than this? Maulawi [‘Abdul-Latif] was a magnificent scholar of Arabic disciplines of learning. He had spent his entire life in teaching hadith and commentaries of the Holy Quran. He was a recipient of divine revelation too. His followers and students numbered nearly 50,000. He also occupied an honourable status in the world to the extent that, in the sight of the Amirs of the state of Kabul, he was a recognised elder and scholar of the age. In the British domain, as well as in the state of Kabul, he owned a large estate. He gave up his life for acknowledging my truthfulness. He was remonstrated and urged to renounce me. But he said, ‘I am not a fool. I have come to believe on the basis of my insight. I cannot give him up, but I will give up my life.’ The Amir counselled him a number of times, saying ‘you are an esteemed elder. People are agitating. Consider it expediency of the time.’ He replied, ‘I give precedence to the Faith over the world; I would rather not lose my Faith; I know that the one, with whom I have pledged the covenant of allegiance, is in the right; he is better than the entire world; he indeed is the Masih who was to come; and ‘Isa is dead.’ At this, the clerics raised a clamour, saying, ‘He has become a disbeliever, why should he not be killed?’ But the Amir still held off killing him. In the end, this excuse was put forth that these people renounce jihad inasmuch as one should not fight with sword against other nations for the sake of faith. Of course, Maulawi [‘Abdul-Latif] did not deny this allegation and said, ‘This indeed has been promised that the Masih shall be helped by God from heaven, and that jihad is now prohibited.’ And then he was most mercilessly stoned to death and the members of his family were arrested and banished to some far flung corner of the state of Kabul. Some of his followers joined our Jama‘at. Now show some shame and remorse and reflect as to how can ‘Abdul-Hakim ever be compared to the eminent scholar who was so highly honoured both in worldly and religious matters and sacrificed his life for me? If he, who is totally unaware of the Arabic disciplines of learning, turned apostate, what loss did the Faith suffer? Similarly, ‘Imad-ud-Din, who styled himself as a maulawi, turned apostate and became a Christian. What harm did he [‘Imad-ud-Din] inflict on Islam that we would think that he [‘Abdul-Hakim], too, would cause some harm. Same is the case of Dharam Pal, who has renounced Islam in these very days. What damage did he do?

In the vast world of love, apostasy is indeed unavoidable— Whom could fire consume if there was no Abu Lahab?

(Author)