Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 490
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 490 Therefore, I reckon the same will happen in my case as well. I have been vouchsafed by God this Quranic revelation repeatedly: 1 َو اَّمِا َكَّنَيِرُن َضْعَب ْيِذَّلا ْمُهُدِعَن ْوَا َكَّنَيَّفَوَتَن۠ I expect, from this, that some part of the success will come about dur- ing my lifetime. His Question: In the a ha d i th there is stern warning concerning the drawing of a picture of any living thing, but the photographs of your eminence that have been published suggest that you deem it lawful. My Answer— I am vehemently opposed to anyone taking a photo- graph of me and keeping it with him like idolaters do, or publishing it. I have absolutely not given any such instruction that someone should do this. No one could be more opposed to idol-worship and image-wor- ship than me. However, I have noticed that when the people of Europe want to read someone’s book, they desire to see a picture of its author first. This is because knowledge of physiognomy is quite developed in Europe, and most of them can tell just from looking at a picture whether the claimant is truthful or a liar. Those people, on account of the distance of thousands of miles, cannot come to me nor can they look at my face. Therefore the saga- cious of that land reflect upon my inner condition by looking at my picture. There are many who have written letters to me from Europe and America and in their letters they have written that they had looked at my picture carefully and on the basis of the art of face reading they were forced to admit that it was not the picture of a liar. One American woman, upon seeing my picture, said that it was the picture of Yas u ‘ [ Jesus]; that is, ‘ I s a , may peace be upon him. It is for this purpose, and 1. And if We make you witness a part of what We promised them or cause you to die ( S u rah Y u nus, 10:47). [Publisher]