A sincere member of the Jama’at related his story that a Shia Nawwab of a state asked him a few questions to which he replied as follows.
Question: What is the view of Mirza Sahib [the Promised Messiah (as)] about the progeny of the Holy Prophet (sas)? I hear that he does not respect them.
Answer: He recited a couplet written by the Promised Messiah (as), which says:
جان و دلم فدائے جمالِ محمدؐ است
خاکم نثار کوچہءِ آلِ محمدؐ است
My life and my heart are devoted to the beauty of Muhammad (sas).
This, my body made of dust, be sacrificed upon the alleyways of the progeny of Muhammad (sas).
Question: What is his opinion about Yazid [the adversary of Hazrat Imam Husain (ra)]?
Answer: He recited another couplet of the Promised Messiah (as):
ہر طرف کفر است جو شان ہمچو افواجِ یزید
دین حق بیمار و بیکس ہمچو زین العابدین
Everywhere disbelief rages like the army of Yazid,
While the true Faith lies sick and helpless like Zain-ul-Abidin.
When he found no way to raise objections in this manner, he asked what do you consider those who do not believe in him [the Promised Messiah (as)]?
He replied: We consider them what the opponents of the Promised Mahdi should be considered according to the Sunni and Shia faith.
He asked: is he a claimant of messengership?
He replied by quoting a couplet of the Promised Messiah (as):
من نیستم رسول و نیاوردہ اَم کتاب
ہان ملہم استم و ز خداوند منذرَم
I am not a Messenger and I have not brought a Book;
But yes, I receive revelation and am a Warner from God.
Upon this, the next day the Promised Messiah (as) said:
You should have explained that I deny being such a Messenger who has brought a Book.
Look, those matters that are heavenly, one should not be afraid of conveying them. It is not the custom of those who stand with the truth to have fear of any kind. Look at the example set by the Companions of the Holy Prophet (sas). They went to the courts of kings and conveyed their faith to them in a manifestly clear manner. They did not shy away from this to the slightest degree. This is why they became deserving of the description: لَا یَخَافُوْنَ لَوْمَۃَ لَآىِٕمٍ2.
I claim that I am a Messenger and a Prophet. In actual fact, this dispute relates to the interpretation of words. When God Almighty converses with a person and addresses him in such a way that in terms of quantity and quality it should be much greater than with others, and there should also be prophecies in abundance in such converse, then that person is said to be a Prophet. And this definition is true in my case. Thus, I am a Prophet. However, this prophethood is not of the law-bearing kind which would abrogate the Book of Allah and bring a new book in its stead. I consider such a claim to be disbelief. There have been many such Prophets among the Children of Israel upon whom no book descended. They only used to convey prophecies from God by which the grandeur and truth of the Mosaic faith was manifested. Thus, they were called Prophets. This is exactly the case with this Movement. If I would not be called a Prophet, then what other word would differentiate me from others who receive revelations?
Look, other people also sometimes experience true dreams. In fact, at times, some words also issue forth from their tongue which are later proven true. This is to establish the argument against them so they are not able to say that they had not been given these senses and so they could not understand what claims they [the Prophets, recipients of Divine revelation] were making. What you should have done is explain to him what type of prophethood I claim.
My belief is that the religion in which there is no prophethood is dead. When I say that the religion of the Jews, Christians, and Hindus is dead, I do so for this very reason that no Prophet comes among them now. If the condition of Islam were also to be the same, then we too would have been considered storytellers. Why would we have considered Islam to be superior to other religions? There should be some distinguishing feature. The coming of true dreams alone is not enough. These can be experienced by even the lowest ranks of people. There should be conversation, dialogue and that too such that it contains prophecies and occurs in abundance and is of the highest quality. Only a single couplet cannot make you a poet. Thus, if someone claims to be a Prophet based on only few dreams or revelations, he is a liar. I have been receiving revelation for years. And many Signs from Allah the Exalted have testified to the truthfulness of my revelations. This is precisely why I am a Prophet. There should not be any form of concealment in conveying the message of Allah.
The Promised Messiah (as) said:
The Aryas object that the life of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was not pure. This is a grave error of these people, because being pure or impure has much to do with the heart and the state of this is known to none other than Allah. Thus, he alone is pure about whom God testifies to his being pure.
Look, Abu Jahl entered into a mubahalah [prayer duel] and prayed that [O Allah] the one between him and the Holy Prophet (sas) who is أَفْسَدُ لِلْقَوْمِ [creating an innovation in the faith] and أَقْطَعُ لِلرَّحْمِ [severing the ties of kinship], cause him to perish. He died that very same day. The same happened to Khosrow Parviz [King of Persia].
That, of course, is the testimony of God, but in their own house [the Aryas] a family member of theirs [the reference is to Pundit Lekh Ram] had a mubahalah with a servant of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him [the Promised Messiah (as) is referring to himself here], and died within the established time; thus, providing his own testimony.
The Victory of Islam
Then this same Arya has written that a revealed book is that from which the good qualities of the highest order of Allah are manifested.
The Promised Messiah (as) said:
This is true and in this the victory indeed belongs to Islam as well. The Aryas do not acknowledge that Allah is Merciful and Forgiving, but if someone from among them is caught in a lawsuit, he desires with all his heart that the judge should forgive him even if he has committed the fault. From this one learns that the nature of man desires that its Judge be Forgiving and Merciful. Thus, despite this, denying this attribute of Allah is stubbornness.3
1 This incident occurred in 1901 and it was on this conversation’s topic that the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, wrote the book, Eik Ghalati ka Izalah [A Misconception Removed]. [Publisher]
2 Will not fear the reproach of a fault-finder (Surah al-Ma’idah, 5:55). [Publisher].
3 Badr, vol. 7, no. 9, p. 2, dated 5 March 1908; Al-Hakam, vol. 12, no. 17, p. 5, dated 6 March 1908