100. Hundredth Sign

Is the prophecy recorded on page 241 of Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, which reads as follows:

(Translation) ‘Despair not of the mercy of Allah. Hearken! indeed the mercy of Allah is near. Hearken, the help of Allah is near.’ Help will come to you by every track. People will come to you by every route so that the track will become deep due to excessive travel. Allah will help you from Himself. It is incumbent upon you not to be arrogant towards them and you must not get tired of receiving them in large numbers.’ See Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, p. 241, published 1881 and 1882, printed at the Safir-e-Hind press, Amritsar.1

Twenty-five years have now passed since this prophecy was published in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya. This prophecy dates back to the time when I was hidden in obscurity and none of these people, who are now with me, knew me. And I was not one of those who are renowned for any authority. In short, there was nothing and I was just one in a crowd, utterly unknown. With the exception of a few people who already knew my family, there was not a single person who had any bond with me. This is such an event that none of the inhabitants of Qadian can testify against. Thereafter, in order to fulfil this prophecy, God Almighty caused His servants to turn towards me and people came to Qadian in droves and continue to do so; they have given to me—and continue to give—cash and goods and gifts of every variety with such profusion that I simply cannot count.

The maulawis did create obstacles, and tried their utmost to stop people from turning to me, so much so that religious edicts were obtained even from Makkah, and nearly 200 maulawis issued edicts of apostasy against me. Even edicts that I deserved to be killed were published. But they were frustrated in all their efforts and the result was that my Jama‘at spread throughout all the towns and villages of the Punjab, and took root in many places throughout India. In fact, even some Europeans and Americans embraced Islam and joined this Jama‘at. So many people flocked to Qadian that the road to Qadian became rutted at several places by the sheer number of horse-driven carriages. One must reflect very carefully upon this prophecy, and deliberate over it with careful consideration: Had this prophecy not been from God, this storm of opposition that had arisen, causing the population throughout the entire Punjab and India to turn against me to the point they wanted to crush me under their feet, would certainly have succeeded in its arduous efforts and would have destroyed me. But they failed one and all.

And I know that all their uproar and all their efforts to destroy me, and the raging storm in my opposition, was not because God had intended to destroy me; rather, this occurred so that the Signs of God might appear and that the Lord of Power, who cannot be subdued by anyone, may demonstrate His might and power against those people, and manifest the Sign of His power. And thus He did. Who was aware and who had the knowledge that I—who had been sown as a tiny seed, and was trampled thereafter under the feet of thousands, while tempests blew and storms raged, and the clamour of rebellion swept like a flood over the insignificant seed that I was—would yet have survived all these calamities? This seed, by the grace of God, was not to be wasted. On the contrary, it sprouted and grew and flourished and stands today as a giant tree under whose shade rest as many as 300,000 people. Such are the Works of God that transcend human comprehension. God cannot be defeated by anyone.

O people! Will you not, for once, display a sense of shame before God? Can you produce any such precedent from the life of an impostor? Had this been a human enterprise, there was no need at all for you to oppose and take so much trouble to kill me; God alone was sufficient to destroy me. When the plague broke out in the country, many people claimed that this man [i.e. me] would be killed by the plague. But awe-striking is the providence of God that all those people—one and all—themselves died of the plague; whereas, addressing me, God said: ‘I shall protect you, and the plague shall not come close to you.’ Indeed, He also told me to tell people: ‘Do not threaten us with fire (i.e. the plague). Fire is our servant; nay rather, it is the servant of our servants.’ He also said to me: ‘I shall stand guard over this house of yours; and everyone who is within these four walls, shall remain immune from the plague.’

This is exactly what happened. In this vicinity everyone knows that entire villages were wiped out by the ravages of the plague and all around us it was like Doomsday, but God kept us safe.