The Green Announcement — Page 24
24 have accepted a set of beliefs about the blessings of saint- hood and nearness to God that is similar to positivism and naturalism. They should at least have considered whether my opponents had forwarded any proof against me, and if there was no such proof and it was all mere empty talk, then was it in keeping with the norms of reason and faith that they allowed themselves to be influenced by such baseless slander? Even if we suppose, for the sake of ar- gument, that I did make an error in interpreting a Divine revelation and published it in a formal announcement, no reasonable person should consider this objectionable, for even Prophets are not free from making such errors. Let me add that, so far, I have been blessed by God with more than young, because a guest is one who comes only to leave after a few days and not one who comes to stay permanently and bids farewell to others. The same announcement also contained the words, "He is completely free from rijz (sin)", and these also testify to his early demise. No one should be misled into thinking that this part of the prophecy is about the Promised Reformer, for Divine revelation has made it amply clear that it relates to the deceased child. The proph- ecy about the Promised Reformer begins with the words, "He has with him the Grace of God, and it will be manifested with his com- ing. " The Promised Reformer has been named Fa d l, and Mahmood, and Bashir, the Second, and also Fa d l-e-‘Umar. The coming of the Promised Reformer had to be deferred until this Bashir was born and was taken back from us, because all future events had been placed under his feet. Bashir, the First, who has passed away, was in fact a forerunner for Bashir, the Second, and this is why they were both mentioned together in the same prophecy. Contd…