This Sign is comprised of a mubahalah of a certain individual. In other words, he unilaterally sought a verdict about me from God Almighty. After imputing a number of indescribable beliefs and actions to me, he sought the adjudication of Allah the Exalted. As a result, he died of plague only a few days after the prayer.
The details of this relate to a person named ‘Abdul-Qadir, a resident of the village Talibpur Pindori, District Gurdaspur, who was known as a Tabib [i.e. a physician using traditional remedies]. He harboured feelings of extreme hatred and hostility towards me. He was given to hurling the most filthy abuses upon me. After his abusive language had transgressed all bounds of decency, he wrote a scurrilous poem in the form of a mubahalah. This is reproduced below excluding the part in which he attributes to me the gravest of grave wickedness and immorality. Quite like Sa‘dullah of Ludhiana, he accused me of highly objectionable misconduct, using filthy language.
I have omitted the filthier couplets to keep this book pure from them. I now reproduce below his complete composition in prose and a part of his poem which is replete with inaccuracies. All is preceded by two couplets of my own:
As written by ‘Abdul-Qadir of Talibpur Pindori
From the writing of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian:1
God is my Witness that Ibn-e-Maryam [the son of Mary] had died, And that holy one entered Paradise.
Speak not of Ibn-e-Maryam [the son of Mary], For better than him is the slave of the [Holy Prophet] Ahmad(sa).
By way of answer to this, study closely the verse in Part 6 of the Holy Quran 
[‘Whereas they slew him not, nor crucified him’ (Surah an-Nisa’, 4:158)] of which Mirza Sahib is well aware but refuses to acknowledge for selfish reasons.
I swear by God that Ibn-e-Maryam [the son of Mary] is still alive, In the shape of an angel in the sky.
He is mentioned with pride in the Holy Quran; The statement of the followers of Ahmad is false.
People prove it for yourselves from the Holy Quran; Why do you damage your faith giving credence to falsehood?
These lies are only short-lived, They will be followed by regret and an inflamed heart.
O followers of Mirza! Do fear God even now! Hasten to recant while yet alive.
Follow the faith of Muhammad(sa), To earn laurels here and in the Hereafter.
When the wrath of God descends upon you, Then Mirza shall be neither Mahdi nor Messenger.
(The curse of Allah be upon the liars)
All such talk and discussion will be forgotten; All such arguments are rejected by the Shariah.
It is simply the heaped up product of his intellect Which he concocts to attain a life of pleasure and luxury.
Which Prophet or wali [i.e. friend of Allah] ever initiated The approaches introduced by him?
Accompanied by strange women, He took them to the garden and said.
‘Ladies! Leave your faces unveiled!’ And then proceeded laughing and strolling arm in arm.
He indulges in other misdeeds. Still these people call him the Mahdi [Guided One].
God, My Lord! Hasten to impart justice, And sweep the world clean of falsehood.
These are the couplets from which I have deleted many obscene ones because they were extremely filthy and indecent. However, just as the author of these verses had prayed to God to do justice and cleanse the world of falsehood, God has indeed delivered an early judgment. Just a few days after composing these verses, this man—namely, ‘Abdul- Qadir—died of the plague. Through a disciple of his, I was able to get hold of the signed copy of these couplets. He was not the sole victim of the plague. Some other relative of his, including his son-in-law, also died of plague and consistent with his own couplet, the world was swept clean of falsehood.
What a pity that these people are themselves guilty of lying yet brazenly slander others, and, under the Shariah of the Holy Prophet(sa), are liable for punishment, but they do not care at all. Such are the present-day divines and scholars. Their hearts are tainted with such brazen and shameless gall that if one of them dies after invoking divine justice, the other—paying no heed to it—takes on the role of his successor and resumes the task of being insolent and foul-mouthed. Rather, he tries to outdo the former.
As a result, scores of them have died in consequence of such mubahalahs. Were I to describe all cases of this kind, it would take several ajza’ 4 of this book. So many of my followers have written to me to inform me of persons who unilaterally invoked a mubahalah [against me] and died soon thereafter; or a particular person entered into a
mubahalah contest with some member of the Jama‘at and died on the morning of the next day. Others personally visited me and described such wondrous Signs. For instance, only yesterday, 28 February 1907, a number of guests also described some episodes concerning a mubahalah but since the size of this book has already become rather large and since their testimonies are oral, I did not think it necessary to incorporate them herein.
God alone knows why not a single one of them cares to think of the cause behind such Signs of divine support. Are these the hallmarks of liars, dajjals, and renegades that—instead of them—God continues to destroy the ‘believers’ and the ‘righteous’ in cases of mubahalah contests? Finally, let me point out that an impression of the foregoing couplets written in the author’s own handwriting has been included in this book with a view to silencing the opponents. If anyone has doubts whether the couplets are his, they can always compare the copy with the specimens of his original handwritings, and the original copy of these couplets is safe in my custody; anyone who wishes can see it. The person through whom I was able to obtain this original handwritten copy is a student of his named Sheikh Muhammad, son of Ali Muhammad, a resident of Dhariwal, District Gurdaspur.
How Mighty indeed is Allah the Exalted that most of those who sought a mubahalah [against me] died by the plague, and it was the plague itself that delivered the judgment against most of my bitter enemies! In Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya God was pleased to mention the plague and earthquakes at a time when these calamities were nowhere to be found in this country. For instance, in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya this prophecy is on record:
Meaning that: ‘Ignoble man will not testify to the truth of any Sign except the Sign of death. Tell them such a Sign is about to appear as well! Therefore do not deal with me in haste.’
Thus, by the ‘Sign of death’ was meant the Sign of the plague. Similarly, at another place Allah the Exalted says in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya:
Meaning that, He indeed is God who taught you the Holy Quran and apprised you of its true meanings so that you may warn those whose forefathers were not forewarned of the impending chastisement, and so that the way of the guilty ones might become manifest; in other words, so that the guilty and those seeking the truth may become distinct.
Similarly, at another place Allah the Exalted says, as is recorded in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya:
A Warner came unto the world, but the world accepted him not; yet God shall accept him and demonstrate his truthfulness with mighty assaults.
It is obvious that Allah the Exalted only uses the word 
[nadhir— warner] for such a Messenger in whose support it is destined that divine chastisement will overtake those who deny him. This is so because 
[nadhir] is said of the one who warns and that Prophet is called 
[nadhir] in whose time some chastisement is destined to descend. As such, when I was named 
[nadhir] twenty-six years ago in Barahin- e-Ahmadiyya, it contained the unmistakable indication that in my time divine chastisement would descend. Thus, in keeping with this prophecy, the chastisement of the plague and the earthquakes has indeed descended.
Some ignorant people object that since most of the people in Europe and America do not even know your name, why were they destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions? The answer to this is that these people had become deserving that a punishment should descend upon them in this very world on account of their excessive sinfulness and wickedness. Thus, consistent with His own practice, Allah the Exalted held back that punishment until the advent of a Prophet, but when that Prophet appeared and people had been duly invited and informed of his coming through thousands of announcements and pamphlets, the time came to punish them for their crimes. And it is absolutely wrong to say that people in Europe and America are not even aware of my name. This fact is not hidden from any fair-minded person that some twenty years ago I circulated 16,000 printed copies of a leaflet in the English language throughout Europe and America in which I announced my claim and laid out the reasons in support of it. And after this, a number of different announcements continued to be issued every now and then. Then again, for the last so many years, the magazine—Review of Religions—is regularly dispatched to Europe and America. Also, the news of my claim has been published in European newspapers many times. The news of my prayer against Dowie5 was also documented in European [and American] newspapers. Therefore, despite this ongoing dissemination [of the news of my claim] over the last twenty years or more, who can accept that those people [i.e. Europeans and Americans] are not aware even of my name? The fact is that some of them have even entered into my Movement.
Apart from all this, everyone knows that Prophet Nuh’sas [Noah’s] deluge killed even those who had not yet heard his name. Hence, the essential truth of the matter is what Allah the Exalted says in the Holy Quran:
Allah the Exalted, does not send down punishment upon the world unless and until He first sends a Messenger. This alone is the practice of Allah. It is quite clear that [these days] no divine Messenger has appeared in Europe and America. Thus, the chastisement that befell them came upon them only after my claim [to be Warner of this age].
1 This is a copy of text that ‘Abdul-Qadir of Talibpur Pindori wrote with his own hand. A photocopy of the original appears on 607. [Publisher]
2 Since this man is so ignorant, he has even misquoted my couplets. For instance, he made a mistake in the line marked [by an star (٭)] which is part of my couplet. It should read 
and not 
(Author)
3 Many ignorant persons, such as the present party to the mubahalah, take grave offense at this line of the couplet which simply means that the Messiah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s ummah is superior to the Messiah of the Mosaic dispensation because our Prophet is superior to Musa. The fact of the matter is that divine wisdom and providence demanded that just as Hadrat ‘Isa(as) [ Jesus] was Khatamul-Khulafa’ [the Seal of the Khulafa’] in the Mosaic dispensation, in the Muhammadan dispensation, too, a Khatamul-Khulafa’ would appear in the Latter Days (who this humble one is). This was done so that the two dispensations—the Israelite and the Ishmaelite—may come to mirror one another. Since our Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is superior to Prophet Musa, it necessarily follows that the Seal of the Khulafa’ of the Holy Prophet’s ummah also be superior to the Khatamul-Khulafa’ of Prophet Musa. This is the truth. Let them listen who have ears that can hear! Alas! Our opponents repeatedly say that in the Latter Days a very large number of Muslims will become quite like the unfortunate Jews who used to reject the Prophets sent by God and deny their prophecies and that Muslims will similarly follow suit; but they are hard put to admit that just as the two orders resembled each other in their early periods on account of the resemblance between the two Prophets, in the Latter Days too, they—the two dispensations—will come to mirror each other by the appearance of the Khatamul-Khulafa’. Jews also believe that the Messiah of the Latter Days will be superior to the first Messiah, but these people deny it. This shows the scant regard they pay to the exalted station and honour of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. It is indeed worth pondering that the man who, after reading this line of the verse, was so roused as to challenge me to a mubahalah, God caused him to die in my own lifetime. His death, therefore, is adequate testimony to the truth of this line of the couplet. (Author)
4 A juzw comprises sixteen pages. [Publisher]
5 This [Dr. John Alexander Dowie] is the name of an American impostor who claimed to be Ilyas [Elijah] and a Prophet who, these days—apart from suffering financial losses—is near death while suffering from paralysis. (Author)
6 Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:16 [Publisher]
