Nishan-e-Asmani

The Heavenly Sign

Background

During these days, the attention of the world was drawn towards the Promised Messiah(as) by means of dreams, visions and revelations of diverse natural phenomena. People living in different parts of the world had dreams and visions. They knew nothing about the Promised Messiah(as), and long before he himself was divinely informed that he was the Promised Messiah, definite indications had appeared about his advent. In those days, a large number of people who went to bed with their hearts full of hate and bitterness against the Promised Messiah(as), woke up as his devotees. There were others who came to Qadian and without making enquiries, they saw and recognized his holy face which they had seen in their dreams as that of the the Promised Messiah(as) and became his followers. Does not all this furnish us with a confirmation of the truth of the Promised Messiah(as), expressed in the clearest terms from indisputable and unexpected quarters?

The Book

In May 1892, the Promised Messiah(as) wrote this book to draw attention to heavenly testimony in support of his claim. Karim Bakhsh of Jamalpur, District Ludhiana, most emphatically and repeatedly declared on oath that Gulab Shah, a local saint who died in about 1861, had told him that Jesus, son of Mary, was dead and that the prophecy regarding his second advent was to be fulfilled in the person of the Promised Messiah(as) of Qadian, who, he said, had attained maturity by the time he foretold this, and that the mullahs would disbelieve him. Another testimony was that of Ni‘matullah, a great saint of India, who lived in the suburb of Delhi about 500 A.H. His prophecy is found in a book which was printed in 1868 A.D. The title of the book is Arba‘in Fi Ahwalil Mahdiyyin.

The Promised Messiah(as) also answered in this book the questions raised by Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi in his tract Jawab Faislah Asmani and pointed out that the Messenger of God never had the power of dictating to God and heavenly signs were not like the tricks and deceptions played by jugglers for the amusement of the people.

He also suggested a convincing method of testing the truth of his mission. Any Muslim could try it without inconvenience and unpleasantness of any kind. It was indeed the simplest, shortest and surest way to arriving at truth. One could turn to God at night and offer two rak‘at prayers, in the first of which Surah Ya Sin should be recited, and in the second, Surah al-Ikhlas should be recited 21 times. After this, the seeker after truth should repeat the Darud 300 times and also Istighfar 300 times. Then he should pray that God might reveal to him the truth by means of a vision, dream or inspiration and guide him or her to the right path.

The Promised Messiah(as) also claimed that he was the Sultanul Mashriq the Mahdi whose appearance in this age was prophesied by the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sa).1

Specimen of Writing

On their side the Maulvi Sahibs are calling for my eradication by every means and on the other side, the revelation comes (Arabic): They are awaiting thy being afflicted with misfortune. On them will be the evil affliction.

They are trying to humiliate and disgrace me and God promises (Arabic): I shall humiliate him who designs to humiliate thee. God is thy reward. God will bestow upon thee thy glory.

On their side the Maulavis are issuing declaration upon declaration that anyone who agrees with my doctrine and follows me becomes a disbeliever and on His side God Almighty continuously emphasizes the revelation (Arabic): Announce: If you love Allah, then follow me. Allah will then love you. In short these Maulvi Sahibs are fighting God. We shall see who comes out victorious.2