Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 252
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 252 1 اَّمَلَف ىّٰلَجَت ٗهُّبَر refers to the time when God Almighty had broken asunder Mount Sinai by subjecting it to an earthquake, as its detailed description is set out in the Torah. This being the case, what should we call your behav- iour—is it prejudice or ignorance when you say that there is no men- tion of the earthquake in these statements? Well, if there is no mention of the earthquake, then you should also deny that Mount Sinai was broken asunder by an earthquake. His Statement— The line عفت الدّیار [ ‘afatid-diy a r ] means that dwell- ings were laid to waste in the past. My Answer— Al h amdulill a h [All praise belongs to Allah]! At least you have admitted that: عفت الدیار محلھا ومقامھا indeed means the collapse and destruction of houses! As for the fact that you confine the meaning of the word عَفَت [ ‘afat —‘wiped out’] to the past, I have already cited the examples from the Holy Quran in ref- utation of this notion. Indeed, all Arabs can testify to this for me. Tell me now whether this prophecy is extraordinary or not? And if you say that no time has been specified in it, the answer is that if God wishes that their time be kept a secret, He never tells when the prophecy is going to be fulfilled. And when God says that the prophecy of the earthquake will be fulfilled at a time when no one would have known about it, and that calamity would occur all of a sud- den, it would be contrary to His own Word to announce the time of its occurrence. See the announcement An-Nid a , page 14. 1. And when his Lord manifested Himself ( S u rah al-A‘r a f, 7:144). [Publisher]