19. Nineteenth Sign

Is that Khwajah Ghulam Farid, the pir [spiritual mentor] of the Nawab of Bahawalpur, saw a dream testifying to my truthfulness, on account of which God Almighty imbued his heart with love for me. And on this very account, Khwajah [Ghulam Farid], in the book Isharat-e-Faridi, which consists of his sayings, repeatedly testifies to my truthfulness. It is the practice of saintly people that they rarely get involved in theological controversies. They believe in what God Almighty communicates to them through dreams, visions, or revelations. Therefore, since Khwajah Ghulam Farid was pure of heart like Pir Sahibul-‘Alam, God disclosed to him the fact of my truthfulness. Many a cleric, like Maulawi Ghulam Dastagir, arrived at the village of Khwajah [Ghulam Farid] with the intent to make him reject me. The respected Khwajah himself has narrated these facts in the book Isharat-e-Faridi. Khwajah [Ghulam Farid] received a letter from some Ghaznavis as well, but he paid no heed to anyone and gave these unenlightened mullahs such crushing replies as silenced them completely. By the grace of God, he died a believer testifying to my truthfulness. The letters he wrote to me also show how great a love God had placed within his heart for me and how great a spiritual insight concerning me God had bestowed upon him out of His grace! The respected Khwajah has repeatedly responded to the criticism of my opponents in his book Isharat-e-Faridi. For instance, it is reported at one place in Isharat-e-Faridi that someone submitted to Khwajah [Ghulam Farid] that Atham died after the stipulated time frame. He replied mentioning my name: ‘What difference does it make! I know that Atham died merely on account of his breath’; in other words, it was his attention and resolve that finished Atham off.1

Someone asked him in reference to me: ‘How can we accept him as the Promised Mahdi (the Divinely Guided One) when he does not fulfil all the Signs detailed in the ahadith?’ The respected Khwajah was displeased at this remark and replied: ‘Tell me a Prophet or Messenger in whom all of the proposed Signs were fulfilled that people had previously conceived? Had that been the case, why would some believe and others disbelieve?’ This indeed is the divine practice that all the Signs recorded in the prophecies about a Prophet-to-come are never fulfilled literally. At places there are allegories, and at places a difference occurs resulting from one’s own understanding, while yet at other places old accounts suffer some distortion. Therefore, the way of righteousness is to derive benefit from what has been fulfilled, keeping in view the time and the need.

Had it been necessary to reconcile all the preconceived Signs according to one’s own understanding, we would have to give up all Prophets and the consequence would have been nothing but deprivation and faithlessness, because there has not been any Prophet concerning whom all the preconceived Signs have been literally fulfilled; somehow or other, there has been some shortfall. The Jews used to say about the first Messiah—namely, Hadrat ‘Isa—that he would appear only when Prophet Ilyas [Elijah] had returned to the earth before him. But did Ilyas come? Similarly, the Jews used to insist that the awaited Khatamul-Anbiya’ [the Seal of the Prophets] would be from among the Israelites. Did he appear from among the Israelites? When, defying the Jewish expectation to which all their Prophets agreed, the Khatamul-Anbiya’ did not come from among the Israelites, why is it any wonder then if the Promised Mahdi has not appeared from the House of the Fatimids or the Abbasids? God’s prophecy carries many a hidden secret; a trial is also intended.2

Therefore, Muslims should take a lesson that the Jews were deprived of faith as the consequence of insisting upon their own interpretation, for an authentic hadith foretells that in the Latter Days some from among the Muslims will become Jews; that is, they will adopt the attitude of the Jews and will follow in their footsteps as is written that if a Jew had committed incest with his mother, so will they [the Muslims] do. Indeed it is an occasion to tread warily; most of the Jews failed to accept Hadrat ‘Isa(as) and the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, only because they considered it unlawful to accept until they would see all the marks and signs being fulfilled in them in accordance with their own preconceived ideas. Consequently, they fell into the pit of disbelief. They continued to insist that Ilyas [Elijah] must come first and then the Messiah, and the Khatamul-Anbiya’ must be from among the Israelites.

In short, God Almighty had blessed Khwajah Ghulam Farid with the inner light that he could distinguish between the truthful and an impostor at a single glance. May God bless him with His mercy and grant him a place in His nearness. Amin.