The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 302
302 Essence of Islam-III All these signs will testify to the truth of the Promised Messiah. See, how the grace of the Beneficent One has bestowed all these favours on this humble one, who is la- belled a disbeliever and Dajjal by his opponents! [Brāhīn-e-Ahmadiyyah part V, Rūķānī Khazā'in, vol. 21, pp 119-126] One Hakīm Mirzā Mahmūd Irānī, in his letter dated 2 September 1902, has asked me to explain the meanings of the verse: وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُبُ فِي عَيْنٍ حَمِئَةٍ 214 First of all, let it be clear that this verse holds many a hidden meaning which it is not possible to encompass, and under its apparent meanings lie hidden meanings. The meaning which God has disclosed to me is that this verse, taken together with the preceding and following verses, comprises a prophecy about the Promised Mes- siah and specifies the time of his appearance. The expla- nation is that the Promised Messiah is also Dhulqarnain, as the Arabic word qarn connotes a century and the Qur'anic verse indicates that the birth and advent of the Promised Messiah will cover two centuries. I have lived in two centuries according to every known calendar, be it Islamic, Christian or Bikramjiti. My birth and advent have not been confined to a single century, and in this sense I am Dhulqarnain. In some Aḥādīth too the Prom- ised Messiah has been called Dhulqarnain in the same sense as I have just mentioned. The interpretation of the rest of the verse in the context of prophecy is that there are two major peoples who have been given the glad tiding of the Coming of the Promised 214 'He found it setting in a pool of murky water. '-Al-Kahf, 18:87 [Publisher]