A Present to Kings — Page 51
(B1) and Mahdi save Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, that consequently a denial of his claim will necessarily lead to a denial of the truths of Islam, because such a denial will imply that at the time when the need was most acute the promise remained unfulfilled which was made thirteen hundred years ago and which was regarded as an important evidence of the living force of Islam. . TWO POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS. . At this point there will arise two more questions, which I consider necessary here to discuss. The first has reference to the current Muslim belief, that the first Messiah or Jesus is still alive waiting in the sky, who will come to the earth, a second time and will be charged with removing its corruptions. . Contrary to such a belief it is usually urged, how can it be possible for Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be the Promised Messiah?. The other question is, that since an important sign of the coming of the Messiah is the appearance of the Dajjal (antiChrist), how it is possible that the Messiah should have come until the Dajjal has made his appearance?. IS JESUS OF NAZARETH STILL ALIVE IN THE SKY?. In answer to the first question it may be stated that neither in the Holy Quran nor in the authentic traditions, it is anywhere stated that the first Messiah (peace be on him) who was a prophet for the tribes of Bani-Israel, is still living and will come to earth for a second time. This belief found its way among the Mussalmans from those Christian proselytes, who in the early days of Islam joined its ranks in large numbers. . Since they had previously regarded Jesus as the Son of God and could not all at once erradicate from their hearts the exaggerated notion of his dignity, they happened to bring with them traditions of a kind which served to magnify the glory of Jesus, and the Mussalmans in their simplicity, instead of winning over the Christians to the right views, themselves absorbed the belief of the Christians, and fell a prey to a most