Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 200
200 Islam needs the soothing hand of a Reformer who should bring about union and agreement among the contending sects and the strong hand of one who should defend it against hostile attacks, ^ while the world generally needs a spiritual guide who should restore to it the spirituality which it has lost, and re-establish the certainty which has vanished away from its face, and thus strengthening faith release people from the bondage of sin and turn them to paths of virtue and righteousness. These are facts which no one can deny unless he is blinded by prejudice, and therefore I clearly fulfil the first of the conditions enumerated above, viz. , the condition of corning in time of need. In the second place, it requires to be seen whether I have come at the prophesied hour. In point of time the clearest prophecy is that relating to the appearance of the Promised Messiah at the end of , the sixth and the commencement of the seventh thousand from ' Adarn. Computing by the lunar year, the seventh thousand has begun and by the solar year the sixth is corning to a close. Be- sides this the Holy Prophet had said, as reported in an authentic tradition, that among the Muslims a Reformer would appear at the commencement of every century to give fresh life to the holy V religion of Islam. But more than a fifth of the fourteenth century has passed away, and no other Reformer can be pointed out who has claimed an authority under the tradition referred to above. Thirdly, it is to be seen whether God has assisted the claimant or not. This condition is eminently fulfilled in me, for opponents stood up against me from among every community and left no stone unturned to bring me to naught and made all sorts of plots / against me, but all their designs and plans were hopelessly shat- w tered by Almighty God. There is no community which can say that it did not exert itself to destroy me. But against their wishes Almighty God gave me honor and made thousands of men