Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 239
. ,. . ^ the Mighty God, unable to create earth and heavens in the twinkling of an eye if He so wills it ? Those among the Hindus in whom learning went hand in hand with spirituality, and for whom a false logic had no charms, never entertained the erroneous belief whioh the Arya Samaj holds. Such a belief gains currency only on account of an estrangement from the Divine Being, which is, in other words> the absence of spirituality. (Vol. Ill R. E. 1904. ) When Almighty God saw that the world was steeped in iniquities, transgressions and error?, He raised me to draw it ^ from this state of degradation and commanded me to preach the truth and reclaim the world from the evils into which it had fallen. So, exactly at the time when the thirteenth century of Hejira had come to a close and the world had entered upon the fourteenth century, I announced my mission in obedience to the v Divine commandment and made it known to the people through rny words and writings that I was the Reformer promised to \ f - appear at the commencement of the fourteenth century for the reformation of the faith, so that I should re-establish upon the earth the faith which had vanished from its face, and that being strength- ened by God, I might draw the world by the powerful attraction of His hand to true virtue, piety and righteousness and remove the prevailing errors in doctrine and practice. A few years after this I was informed in clear and plain revelations from the j Divine Being that I was the very Messiah who had been pro- ^ mised from the beginning for the last days, and that I was also the last Mahdi who was ordained to appear at a time when Islam would be in decline and errors would prevail, and who being guided in ohe right path by Almighty God Himself, was destined to offer heavenly truth anew to the world, and the glad tidings of whose advent had been given by the Holy Prophet, may peace