205. Sign Number Two Hundred and Five

Again, another person named Abul-Hasan,1 wrote a book titled Bijli Asmani Bar Sar-e-Dajjal-e-Qadiani [‘Heavenly Lightning on the Head of the Dajjal of Qadian’] in refutation of my claim. In numerous places the book contains a prayer against the one who lied. Imagining my death, he wrote in a dirge chorus as if I had died and he was writing the dirge after my supposed death. The end result was that this Maulawi himself died from the plague after the publication of the book. Again, another person, named Abul-Hasan ‘Abdul-Karim published the second edition of this book. He too died during the present epidemic of the plague. I wonder why, despite all these Signs, no one cares to reflect how someone who is accompanied by such succour of God can be a liar?

O reader of this book! Be fearful of God and read this book once from beginning to end and pray to the All Powerful One that He may open your heart to the truth, and never despair of the mercy of God.

Be brave and look how we have prospered! And note that the help of the Glorious God is with us.

It is cowardice to raise objections without making proper investigation; Test us and watch how we prosper in the end.

My dear one! It is inappropriate to hastily cast doubts against the servants of the Gracious God. What was the end of those who cast doubts upon the exalted ones in the past? Shed the belief from your hearts that it is not proper to accept unless and until the [literal] fulfilment of all these Signs about the coming of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi (which you entertain only on the basis of doubtful reports). This belief resembles the belief of those Jews who neither accepted Hadrat ‘Isa, nor the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, because, on the basis of some of their own reports, they had imagined that certain Signs had not been fulfilled. Hence, do you envision that your imaginary signs will be fulfilled? No, not at all. On the other hand, such prophecies contain a hidden trial. God tries you to see whether you view His Signs with honour or not. How can all reports be true; many false reports get commingled. Therefore, to place total reliance upon them is a dangerous matter.2

Pray tell, in the case of which Prophet were all the signs fulfilled that the earlier people had established? Therefore, fear God and do not reject the one sent by God, like the former disbelievers, with the plea that all the conditions that you had pre-determined had not been fulfilled. Remember with certainty that no one has been granted all their listed and ostensible signs for an ordained Prophet. This is why they stumbled and landed in Hell; otherwise, it is not part of human nature to refuse after witnessing all the ostensible Signs. Certain phenomena pose a potential obstacle on account of which an unlucky person falters. The Jews thought that the Messiah who was to come would appear in the form of a king and, preceding him, the Prophet Ilyas [Elijah] would once again descend from the heavens. This is why they have failed to accept Hadrat ‘Isa until now because neither did the Prophet Ilyas descend before him, nor did ‘Isa ever become a king. Of course an attempt was made, but it was unsuccessful. Again, about our own Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, Jewish scholars—and, indeed, all their Prophets—held this very belief that the Prophet of the Latter Days would come from among the Children of Israel, but it did not happen as they expected. This Prophet, on the contrary, was born from among the Children of Isma‘il [Ishmael]. As a consequence, hundreds of thousands of Jews were deprived of the honour of accepting him. Had God so desired, He could have described the Signs in such graphic detail as to obviate any chance of the Jews erring. Since there was no such clarification in the case of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, how could it then be done for anyone else? Therefore, remember, such prophecies also imply a kind of trial. Those who are gifted with rational thought are not destroyed during such a trial. They treat such reports or legends as a mere heap of conjectures and also believe that even if a report or story is authentic, it is vulnerable to misinterpretation. Hence, their sole criterion for the recognition of truth is the help and support of God and His Signs and testimonies. To them, whatever of the Signs reported in the traditions that have been manifested is sufficient, and they reject the rest of the stories and discard them as worthless things. This was the criterion adopted by the right-minded Jews who became Muslims. This alone has been the way of the truthful. If the righteous and the God-fearing had not followed this path, not a single Jew or Christian could have ever come to believe in the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, nor would any Jew have accepted Hadrat ‘Isa. Many Jews live in this country. Ask them why they have not believed in Hadrat ‘Isa and the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. After all, they are not mad, they must have an excuse upon which they rely. Remember, their invariable answer will be that the signs written in their traditions and records had not been fulfilled. Therefore, by holding fast to this impertinence, they landed themselves in Hell and go on being so condemned.

Now that it has been established that insisting on the total fulfilment of all the reported signs as a condition precedent to faith is a path to Hell, the result of which hundreds of thousands of Jews landed themselves into Hell, then why do you wish to take this path? A believer should learn a lesson from the plight of others. Does it surprise you that you too might be facing the same trial as God caused the Jews to face? Allah the Almighty says:

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Know for certain that this whole enterprise is from God and not of man. Therefore, be the first to accept. Do not quarrel with God as to why He did this in this way. If you examine righteously you will realize that the way you are holding fast to the contradictory reports is not incumbent upon you on the basis of reason and justice; it is all a collection of conjectures, which is susceptible of being untrue and also stands in need of interpretation. Therefore, have mercy on your souls. Why do you discard what is certainly true? Can a conjecture ever be equal to certainty? Is it not possible that the traditions you believe to be authentic are untrue or perhaps have a different interpretation? Can you not be confronted by the same predicament as was faced by the Jews by their insistence upon the fulfilment of all the signs (as they understood them)? Therefore, try to benefit from their mistakes.

Remember, no unequivocal verse of the Holy Quran proves that Hadrat ‘Isa is sitting in the heavens alive. On the contrary, it is his death which is so positively established. Therefore, why do you claim he is alive whom the Holy Quran declares to be dead? Of course, the Prophets are alive in Heaven but they are all alive in the same way. ‘Isa is not invested with any unique life of his own. And most of all, our Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is invested with a heavenly life more blessed than anyone else. Read Surah Nur diligently. You will find that all future successors [of the Holy Prophet (sa)] will be raised from among this very ummah. Does tradition not testify that even Jews will be born in this very ummah? Why do you wonder then if the Promised Messiah too is raised from among the same ummah?

When did I ever desire to be the Promised Messiah? If I had any aspiration to this effect, why would I have recorded in Barahin-e- Ahmadiyya on the basis of my earlier belief that the Messiah would descend from the heavens despite the fact that in that very same book God had named me ‘Isa? So you can very well understand that I had not given up my earlier belief until God made me give it up on account of shining Signs and unequivocal revelations. Therefore, how can I give up certainty and accept your doubtful notions instead, and how can I abandon that which is clearly visible and adopt doubtful constructs, the falsehood of which has been disclosed to me by God just as the falsehood of Jewish traditions was disclosed to Hadrat ‘Isa and to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him? Hence, how can I discard that clear insight which has been bestowed upon me and is accompanied by mighty Signs?

God has made it clear to me that not all the existent traditions are authentic. Some, which are consistent with the Holy Quran, are authentic, while others are little more than fabrications and their lack of authenticity became apparent. Other traditions though authentic, were misunderstood. Had this not been the case, the Promised Messiah could not have legitimately been called the Hakam [Arbiter]. If it had been binding upon the Promised Messiah to accept all traditions as authentic, in what sense could he legitimately be called the Hakam? Every tree is recognized by its fruit and the status of a slave is indicated by the favours he receives from his master and every fragrance testifies on its own behalf. Therefore, in my case, why do you show haste? Why do you exceed all limits in soiling your tongue with filth? Be patient and exercise piety. If I am not true and am instead like unto a thief and a highwayman, how long will such thievery and highway robbery manage to go on!

He who comes from God, succour from God comes rushing to him; Like humble servants, the sun and the moon are at his service.

The truthful are bestowed with a light from God; Their love for the Eternal Friend radiates from their countenance.

Because of their sympathy and concern for the people of this world, they court hardships! They are the voluntary servants who earnestly try to cover the weaknesses of this world.

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They care not the least for those who are arrogant and pompous; They are the monarchs of both worlds and are worried not the least by their jealous rivals.

It is part of their character and conduct to surrender their heart to the Beloved; When the time comes for test and trials they surrender their lives for the sake of the Beloved.

Here I close the list of Signs and pray that God Almighty may create a large number of such souls as might benefit from them, and adopt the path of truth and discard ill-will and vengefulness.

O my All Powerful God! Hear my humble prayers and open the ears and hearts of these people. Show us the time when the worship of false deities should disappear from the world and You should be worshipped sincerely throughout the earth. May the earth be filled with Your righteous servants who believe in Your Oneness as the ocean is filled with water and may the greatness and truth of Your Messenger, Muhammad Mustafa [the Chosen One], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, be established in the hearts of people. Amin.

O my All Powerful God! Show me this change in this world and accept my prayers for You have all power and strength. O Powerful God! Make it so. Amin, again Amin!

[Our last prayer is that all praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.]

THE END

After finishing this book, one more Sign by way of a mubahalah and another Sign in the form of prophecy appeared. This brings the number of Signs [recorded here] to 208. As a result, a couple of pages had to be added to the book. [And this is the grace of my Lord, certainly my Lord is the Master of immense grace. To Him belongs all praise in the beginning and the Hereafter and He is the Master, the Benevolent.]