Arba'in — Page 50
50 me for things while those very things were done by the Prophets as well. Some Prophets used to do manual work and some were in the employment of others. They made use of things of the disbe- lievers. They mounted on the mules that belonged to disbelievers whom they used to call dajj a l. Some people went through trials in regard to their prophecies [made by the earlier Prophets], because those prophecies were not fulfilled as they had expected. For example, even up to this day, the Jews question the prophecies about the Messiah being the king or the second coming of Elijah before the Messiah. The opponents of Hadrat Ibr a h i m [Abraham] accused him of telling lies. Up to this day, the A ryas accuse Hadrat M u s a [Moses] of obtaining jew- ellery from the Egyptians in a deceitful manner, telling lies, break- ing promises, and killing newborn babies. According to some foolish persons the prophecy about Hudaibiyyah was not fulfilled and in some commentaries it is written that a few ignorant people turned apostates. Moreover, sometimes a Prophet can make a mis- take in understanding the meaning of his own prophecy. Hence, the hadith: 1 ْ ى ِ ْل ھ َ َب َ و ھ ذَ is evidence of exactly this. The promise of Divine punishment given to Prophet Jonah was clear and its term was fixed at forty days. This being averted provides clear guidance for the righteous regarding prophecies warning of Divine punish- ment as is set forth in detail in [the book] Durr-e-Manth u r and in the Book of Jonah. 1. This reference is to a dream of the Holy Prophet Muhammad s as in which he saw migration to a verdant city and it occurred to him that it was Yamamah or Hajar, but it turned out to be Madinah. See S a hih al-Bukh a r i , Kit a b al-Man a qib, B a b al-‘Al a m a tin-Nubuwah fil-Isl a m, Hadith 3622. [Publisher]