Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 140
140 bered in this connection that whenever a Prophet ap- pears in the world, his opponents accuse him of many evils and vices, for, enmity renders a man deaf and blind so that even virtues appear as vices to him. Hence in looking at a Prophet’s life from this point of view, his life previous to his claim should be considered. Before he lays claim to prophethood people bear him no special grudge and are not blinded by prejudice, and thus that period of his life can best furnish us with materials for a test of his purity and righteousness. The life of Jesus as , who was also one of the Prophets of God and thus belonged to the brotherhood to which the Promised Messiah as belonged, fulfilled a similar test of purity and righteousness and he chal- lenged his enemies saying, 'Which of you convinceth me of sin. ' 61 But it is obvious that this could only relate to the period of his life previous to his claim of prophethood, for concerning his life after he started preaching, his enemies who had been blinded by hatred and prejudice charged him with excess in eating and a disregard of Divine Commandments and called him a wine-bibber, etc. His life falsified these charges but his enemies had become blind. Similarly the life of the Promised Messiah as was a model of purity and righteousness, a fact testified to by his bitterest enemies, Maulaw i Muhammad Hussain of Batala, who proved to be his bitterest enemy after the publication of his claim to Messiahship, wrote concern- 60 John , 8:46.