Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 494
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 494 die disappointed so far as they hope to see Hadrat ‘ I s a coming down from the heavens. They will not see him descend at all while they will get sick and reach the stage of death rattles and will leave the world in great bitter- ness. Is this not a prophecy? Can they say that it will not be fulfilled? It will surely be fulfilled! And then if they have children, they too should remember that they will also die similarly frustrated and no one will descend from heaven! And then if their children have children, they too will share in their frustration and none of them will see Hadrat ‘ I s a [ Jesus] descending from heaven! And some ignorant people say that the prophecy with regard to Ahmad Baig’s son-in-law was not fulfilled. They do not understand that this prophecy—like the one regarding ‘Abdull a h A tham—was conditional. In this prophecy, Almighty God’s revelation, addressing the maternal grandmother of his betrothed was: ء علـٰی عقبك ل توبی توبی فان ّ الب Meaning: ‘O woman, repent! Repent, for a calamity is to befall the daughter of your daughter!’ So when Ahmad Baig died within the appointed time frame—in keeping with the prophecy of which this prophecy is one limb—fear developed in the hearts of all concerned as is the wont of human nature, and being fearful they humbled them- selves. Therefore, God delayed the fulfilment of this prophecy. And this, indeed, was a conditional prophecy, just as the proph- ecy regarding the death of ‘Abdull a h A tham—who died nearly 11 years ago—was also a conditional prophecy. But the prophecy that Prophet Y u nus [ Jonah] had made with regard to the destruction of his peo- ple, had no conditions attached to it, and yet that nation was saved on account of their repentance and their asking for forgiveness. I have said it again and again that prophecies of warning can be delayed or even averted by repentance and asking for forgiveness, just as the promise of destruction concerning Y u nus’s people was averted simply due to