The Advent of the Fifteenth Century after Hijra — Page 11
His love for and devotion to the Holy Quran were matched only by his overpowering love for and utter devotion to the Holy. Prophet, peace be upon him. He warned that the pattern of human life was about to be profoundly affected in vital aspects, and that he had been raised to set forth, under divine guidance, from the Holy Quran, the guidance and the philosophy that mankind would need in the epoch that was approaching and thus to establish the supremacy of Islam over all other faiths which had been foretold in the Holy Quran (9:33). Some concept of the magnitude of the service that he performed in that behalf may be formed by a perusal of the English rendering of his paper entitled. The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, which was read at the. Conference of Great Religions held in Lahore in the last week of. December 1896. . In conclusion, attention may be drawn, by way of illustration, to the striking manner in which one of the early revelations vouchsafed to him has been and continues to be fulfilled. . He belonged to Qadian, a small town in the most backward province of India, eleven miles from the nearest telegraph office and railway station and thirty-five miles from the nearest city in which a printing press was available. In this situation, when he was little known and lacked all worldy resources, the divine call came to him that he must gird himself to the service of Islam, SO as to demonstrate its superiority to all other faiths, and he was comforted with the divine assurance: I shall carry thy message to the ends of the earth (Tadhkirah, p. 184). In the estimation of the worldly this sounded as a lunatic's boast. It is true that from the very first some of the righteous minded responded to his call and despite ridicule and all manner of persecution, set a high and enviable example of firmness of faith, loyalty, devotion and purity of life; but progress was slow, and by the time of his death in 1908, his community numbered not more than half a million and his message had scarcely been carried beyond India. Even so, having regard to the bitter opposition that it encountered and the severe persecution to which the small, but devoted, band of his followers was exposed, his enemies had been seriously perturbed at their daily growing numbers. They breathed a sigh of relief at his death, that what they had esteemed a grave heresy would now suffer its natural death and they need take no more account of it. But kindly observe what happened. The Ahmadiyya 11