Defence Against the Plague and a Criterion for the Elect of God — Page 10
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 10 The Christian viewpoint is illustrated by a recent announce - ment published by Reverend [Herbert Udny] Weitbrecht and his organization. It is proposed that there is no means of eradicating the plague other than to believe in Hadrat Mas ih [i. e. Jesus] as god and to accept his atonement. Among the Hindus , members of the A ryah sect are vehe - mently proclaiming that the calamity of the plague is caused by the neglect of the Vedas. They call upon the believers of all other faiths to accept the ‘true teachings’ of the Vedas and—God forbid—denounce all the Prophets as impostors. They claim that this measure would avert the plague. Then, there is the San a tan Dharam sect of the Hindus. This sect has suggested an altogether different idea for eradicating the plague—which I would have missed, had I not read the newspaper Akhb a r-e-‘ Am. Their view is that the calamity of the plague has bro - ken out due to the [sacrilege of the] cow. If the government were to pass a law prohibiting the slaughter of cattle forever in this country, this would effectively eradicate the plague. In fact, at another place in the same newspaper it is reported that a person even heard a cow saying that the plague has come to this country because of it. O readers, now decide for yourselves which of these diverse assertions and claims can gain acceptance by the world as a clear and self-evident argument. All these matters pertain to doctrines. In this perilous time mankind would perish before it could decide which doctrine to adopt. For this reason, the statement that is worthy of acceptance is one which can be easily understood and possesses some evidence. Therefore, I now proceed to put forth such a proposal along with the evidence to support it. Four years ago, I published a prophecy stating that: ‘A terrible