Prophecy of a Fresh Sign

God says:

I shall manifest a fresh Sign in which there shall be a great victory. It shall be a Sign for the whole world. (That is, its manifestation will not be confined to India alone.) This will be caused by the hands of God and will be from the heavens.

Let each eye eagerly await its manifestation, for God will soon manifest it. This will happen as a divine testimony that this humble one upon whom all nations are heaping abuse, is from Him. Fortunate indeed is the one who benefits from it.

Announced by

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah,
Dated 20 February 1907

Now, it is clear that a Sign (which has resulted in a great victory) that can serve as a manifestly bright Sign for the people of Asia, America, Europe, and India, is only this very Sign of Dowie’s death.1

The other Signs which have appeared as a result of my prophecies have been limited to the Punjab and India, and nobody in America or Europe knew about them. But this Sign, which emerged as a prophecy from the Punjab, reached all the way to America and found fulfilment in a person known by everyone in Europe and America. And no sooner had he died than the news of his death was con- veyed to India through telegrams.

The news was published by The Pioneer (published from Allahabad) on 11 March 1907, and by the Civil and Military Gazette (published from Lahore,) on 12 March 1907, and by the Indian Daily Telegraph (published from Lucknow) on 12 March 1907. Hence, the news was published virtually around the globe. Such was the worldly status of this man that he was honoured like lords and princes. For instance, Mr. [Alexander Russell] Webb, an American who has become a Muslim there, once wrote a letter to me testifying that this man [Dowie] lives a very prestigious, princely lifestyle in this country. However, despite the prestige and fame that he enjoyed in America and Europe, it so happened by the grace of Allah the Exalted that the text of my mubahalah against him was published by the major daily newspapers of America and became well known all over Europe and America.

Moreover, after it became so widely publicized, the death and destruction concerning him that was foretold in the prophecy was fulfilled with such clarity that it is impossible to conceive anything more comprehensive and perfect. Every aspect of his life was stricken with calamity. He was found to be an embezzler and although he had prohibited the use of liquor in his teachings, he was proven to be an imbiber of alcohol. In a state of great despair he was driven out of Zion—the city which he had himself established at a cost of hundreds of thousands of rupees. He was also deprived of seventy million rupees which he possessed in cash. His wife and son turned against him, and his father even announced that he was a illigitimate son, and it was exposed before the public that his birth was illegitimate.

As for his claim that he miraculously cured the sick, all such bragging and boasting were proven false, and he suffered every kind of humiliation. He was finally afflicted with paralysis and had to be carried about by men like a wooden plank. Soon afterwards, he went mad due to his intense grief and sorrow, losing total control of his senses. His claim that he had a long life ahead of him and that he was getting younger by the day, while others were getting old, turned out to be a mere deception. Finally, in the very first week of March 1907, he died in a state of great distress, pain, and sorrow.

Now, clearly, what greater miracle could there be than this—since my essential mission is to break the Cross and a great part of the Cross has been broken with his death? Since he was the world’s foremost defender of the Cross and claimed to be a Messenger, and used to say that all Muslims would be destroyed by his prayers, Islam would be annihilated, and the Ka‘bah would fall into ruins, God Almighty, therefore, caused him to perish at my hands. I also believe that the prophecy about the ‘killing of the Swine’ has been clearly fulfilled with his death, for who could be more dan- gerous than the one who makes a false claim of propheth- ood and eats the filth of falsehood like a swine?

He himself wrote that nearly 100,000 wealthy people had joined him. The fact is that Musailimah, the Impostor, and Aswad ‘Ansi were nothing in comparison to him. Neither of them enjoyed the popularity he did, nor did they possess tens of millions of rupees like him. So I can swear by God that he was the same ‘swine’ whose death at the hands of the Promised Messiah had been foretold by the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.2 Had I not invited him to a mubahalah, or invoked the curse of God upon him, or published the prophecy regarding his ruin, his death would not have served as a testimony to the truth of Islam.

However, since I had published beforehand3 in hundreds of newspapers that he would indeed die during my lifetime, and I wrote time and again that I am the Promised Messiah and Dowie is a liar, and that the proof of this would be that he would die in ignominy and despair within my lifetime, he accordingly met his death dur- ing my life. Can there be a more openly manifest miracle than this that testifies to the truth of the prophecy of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him? Now, only he who is the enemy of truth will deny it. [And peace be upon him who follows the guidance].

Announced by,

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah
Qadian, District Gurdaspur, Punjab 7 April 1907