Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 38
38 AHMADIYY AT Bani Israel. Thou art to Me as My Unity. Thou art of me and I am of thee. The time is approaching, indeed it is near, when God will put thy love in the hearts of Kings and nobles, so much so that they will seek blessings from thy garments. 0 you who deny and oppose the truth, if you are in doubt concerning My servant, if you deny the grace and bounty that I have bestowed upon him, then produce some true sign concerning yourselves like this Sign of mercy, if you are truthful. But if you are unable to produce it, and be sure you will never be able to produce it, then he mindful of the Fire which has been prepared for the disobedient, the liars and the transgressors. In his announcement of 22 March 1886, he stated: This is not only a prophecy, it is a grand heavenly Sign, which Almighty God has shown for demonstrating the truth and great- ness of the gentle and compassionate Prophet, Muhammad, the chosen one, peace and blessings of Allah be on him and his people. This Sign is a hundred times greater, better, more perfect, more exalted and more complete than bringing a dead one back to life. Such an event, the possibility of which is open to question, merely means to bring a spirit back to life by supplication to God. In this instance God, the Almighty, has through His great grace and benevolence and through the blessings of the Seal of the Prophets, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his people, by accepting the supplications of this humble one, promised to send a blessed spirit whose manifest and hidden blessings will spread throughout the earth. It might, on the surface, appear like bringing to life a dead person, but reflection would show that it is a far better , Sign than reviving a dead person. Reviving a dead person means to win back a soul through supplication, but what a tremendous difference is there between those souls and this soul. In the same announcement he specified that the promised son would surely be born within nine years. In another announcement, of 8 April 1886, he pointed out: The grandeur of the prophecy relating to the birth of a son whose various high qualities have been set out, is not reduced by any long period that might be specified for its fulfillment, even though it might be the double of nine years. The heart of every just person