Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 115
115 to the Eastern peoples. But God wishes now to extend His beneficence to the West. ' 57 The meaning of this passage is perfectly clear. Thirty-four years ago God informed the Promised Messiah as that Islam would be propagated in Europe through him, that the means of such propagation would be his writings, and that in the end the West will share the blessings of the faith, as it shares today the good things of the world. No doubt, what he saw in the vision was that he was delivering the speech himself, but as a Prophet is represented by his followers, particularly by his succes- sors ( Khalifas ) the vision means that he or one of his representatives or successors would proceed to England to call men to Islam, and indicates that Islam and Ahmadiyyat would be preached from a pulpit or a stage and that men will accept it and be blessed. The fulfilment of this vision is not a mere coinci- dence. The importance of an event can only be meas- ured when all the circumstances attending it are known. Consider the circumstances in which this vision was published and in which the man who published it was placed. When this Kashf was published the Christian re- ligion was so powerful that it overawed the Muslims. Not only did European and Christian writers prophesy the complete annihilation of Islam by Christianity in the course of a century, but Muslim writers also had begun 57 Iz a la’-e-Auh a m , p. 516.