Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 581
EPILOGUE-SIGNS 581 4. FOURTH SIGN [191]-Among the Signs of Allah the Exalted which appeared in my support is the Sign pertaining to Nawab Șiddiq Ḥasan Khān, a Minister in the State of Bhopal, and it is as follows: Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khān had written in some of his books that when the Promised Mahdi would appear, monarchs belonging to other faiths would be arrested and brought before him. In this context, he also said that since this country was under the British rule, it was quite possible that when the Mahdi appeared, the Christian monarch of this country would also be brought before him. These were the words that he used in his book and are still to be found therein, and these words were taken as evoking rebellion. It was an error on his part that he wrote such a thing because no authentic hadith is proven about such a blood-shed- ding Mahdi. On the contrary, the scholars of hadith are unanimous that not a single one from among the aḥadīth about a warrior Mahdi is beyond critique. All of them are spurious and fall below the standard of authenticity. On the other hand, there are a large number of aḥā- dith about the coming of the Promised Messiah; they are accompanied with the words that he would not engage in jihad and would not wage war against the disbelievers and that his victory would be exclusively based on heavenly Signs. Thus, the hadith [Yada'ul-ḥarb— 'He will stop warfare'] is present in Ṣaḥiḥ Bukhārī with reference to the Promised Messiah. It indicates that when the Promised Messiah's advent takes place, he will abolish the practice of war and jihad. He will not engage in any battle and will spread Islam with the help of heavenly Signs and the manifestation of divine powers. ¹ As a result, these Signs are making their presence felt throughout the world in my time. This, in sum, is the truth of the matter. And I-whom Allah the 1. It also makes sense that as the consequence of the Promised Messiah's breath-i. e. his attention-disbelievers will continue to die on their own, it would be quite irrational to resort to the sword in the presence of such a mir- acle. Obviously, when Allah the Exalted Himself goes forth destroying the enemies, what need is there to raise the sword? (Author)