Divine Manifestations — Page 10
Divine Manifestations 10 own peace shall disappear altogether. It would otherwise be irrational to think that pious and righteous people should be subjected to various punishments without any reason. This is the reason why, even in the past, ignorant people have considered Prophetsas to be bearers of misfortune and have blamed them for what were actually the consequences of their misdeeds. The fact, however, is that it is not the Prophet who brings punishment; rather it is the fact that people have become deserving of punishment that brings a Prophet as a final warning and produces the necessity for his advent. Severe punishment never takes place without the advent of a Prophet, as God says in the Holy Quran: 9 وَ مَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولاً * Why then is it that the epidemic of the plague is devouring the country on the one hand, and terrifying earthquakes are giving no respite on the other? O heedless ones, look around! May be a Prophet has been established by God and it is him you have rejected. 10 It is already the twenty-fourth year of the 9 'We do not punish a people until a Prophet has been sent to them. '- (Banī Isrā'īl, 17:16) [Publisher] 10 In the context of the present age, God only uses the world Nabī [Prophet] for a person who has been honoured with converse with Him and is entrusted with the revival of religion. Not that such a