Commonsense About Ahmadiyyat — Page 31
not in the power of anyone to manufacture or improvise. . Darqutni, an eminent and recognised authority on hadees, had recorded that the Holy Prophet said:. For our Mahdi there are appointed two signs which have never been manifested for any other claimant since the creation of the heavens and the earth. They are that at his advent there shall occur an eclipse of the moon on the first of its appointed nights, and an eclipse of the sun on the middle one of its appointed days and both will occur in the same month of Ramadhan. . The eclipse of the moon occurs on the 13th, 14th or 15th night of a lunar month, and the eclipse of the sun takes place on the 27th, 28th or 29th of the lunar month. The sign mentioned by the Holy Prophet, therefore, was that the moon would be eclipsed on the 13th night of the lunar month, and the eclipse of the sun would take place on the 28th of the same month, which will be the month of Ramadhan. This sign was to appear after and not before the advent of the Mahdi. It so happened that an eclipse of the moon occurred on Thursday night, the 13th of Ramadhan, 1311 Hijra (21st March, 1894), and the eclipse of the sun occurred on the 28th of the same month of. Ramadhan (6th April, 1894), in exact accord with the prophecy of the Holy Prophet. The same phenomenon was repeated in the United States of America in 1895. . Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad began to receive revelation in 1876, and as time passed his experience of revelation multiplied progressively. Every one of his revelations was clearly fulfilled according to its tenor at its due time; some of them that related to future events have been fulfilled from time to time since his death and some await fulfilment. ,. In 1891, under Divine direction, he claimed to be the Mahdi whose advent had been foretold by the Holy Prophet. Thereafter it was revealed to him that he was also the Promised Messiah and was indeed the Prophet whose advent had been foretold in the principal religions of the world. One of the revelations vouchsafed 31