Signed Statement of Munshi Mahtab ‘Ali

[In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. We praise Him and invoke His blessings (upon His Noble Messenger.)]

I believe that His Holiness, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, is the true Messiah, and I believe, without any doubt or misgiving, that all his claims concerning religion are true. On the contrary, in opposition to me, Qadi Faidullah, the son of the late Qadi Zafar-ud-Din, declares with conviction that Mirza Sahib is an impostor and his claim is entirely self-manufactured and self-fabricated. Therefore, I challenge Qadi Sahib to a mubahalah, and I have full and perfect conviction that whichever one of us is a liar will suffer an agonizing torment from God.

The heavens and the earth might change their course, but this chastisement will certainly not be averted and will certainly manifest its flash. For, this is the eternal law of God Almighty, and it is the final and the best method to distinguish truth from falsehood. Therefore, I pray to God that He may show an early conclusion to this mubahalah. O God! O God! Nothing is impossible for You. If You so will, You can send down chastisement in an instant. But, in keeping with the tradition of the Holy Prophet (sa) I propose a time frame of one year. The punishment should come down either upon me or Qadi Sahib. For instance, death or plague or incarceration in some lawsuit. This is the sole condition. The coming down of punishment upon some next of kin or a relative shall not form a part of the condition. The chastisement shall target no one other than us.

As has already been pointed out, after these statements were signed, the result was that Qadi Faidullah Khan, in keeping with the prayer that had been done for the liar, died of the plague in Jammu within a year and in accordance with the prescribed conditions. God saved Mahtab from the plague, for he was true in his claim, in accordance with the verse:

1 And no soul can die except by Allah’s leave (Surah Al-e-‘Imran, 3:146). [Publisher]

2 A point worthy of being remembered: God Almighty states in The Holy Quran [‘He reveals not His secret to anyone, except to him whom He chooses, namely, a Messenger of His’ (Surah al-Jinn, 72:27–28)].

This verse is categorically and certainly understood to mean that clearcut prophecies that happen to be large in number and most unambiguous are communicated only to God’s chosen people and not to others. But, revelations as are not of this level can also be shared by others. They are mostly ambiguous and unclear. This is how God’s chosen people are recognized. Remember that in light of this verse it is possible that such revealed prophecies and revelations as are not explicit nor are they so high in number that they overwhelm the normal capacity of man and are mostly susceptible to different interpretations, can also be received by those who are not the Elect of God and are commoners. Hence, the Quranic criterion for the identification of the chosen ones too is that their revealed prophecies have little element of doubt and are incomparable to anyone in the world in terms of vastness of their numbers and clarity. Otherwise, even a sinful person can be a recipient of revelation as is not qualitatively equal with the former. For instance, I may mention that the prophecy [‘Help will come to you upon every track. People will come to you upon every route so that the track will become deep due to excessive travel.’] has been so clearly fulfilled as to establish its truth. In fact, it has been fulfilled not once but hundreds of thousands of times with such clarity as establishes it to be fully supported by God’s help and succour. Hence, such a prophecy cannot be made by anyone except by an Elect of God. If it can be made, let someone come forward with a precedent. (Author)