Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 606
606 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI—THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION even aware of my name. This fact is not hidden from any fair-minded person that some twenty years ago I circulated 16,000 printed copies of a leaflet in the English language throughout Europe and America in which I announced my claim and laid out the reasons in support of it. And after this, a number of different announcements continued to be issued every now and then. Then again, for the last so many years, the magazine—Review of Religions—is regularly dispatched to Europe and America. Also, the news of my claim has been published in European newspapers many times. The news of my prayer against Dowie¹ was also documented in European [and American] newspapers. Therefore, despite this ongoing dissemination [of the news of my claim] over the last twenty years or more, who can accept that those people [i. e. Europeans and Americans] are not aware even of my name? The fact is that some of them have even entered into my Movement. Apart from all this, everyone knows that Prophet Nūḥ's as [Noah's] deluge killed even those who had not yet heard his name. Hence, the essential truth of the matter is what Allah the Exalted says in the Holy Quran: وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا Allah the Exalted, does not send down punishment upon the world unless and until He first sends a Messenger. This alone is the practice of Allah. It is quite clear that [these days] no divine Messenger has appeared in Europe and America. Thus, the chastisement that befell them came upon them only after my claim [to be Warner of this age]. 1. This [Dr. John Alexander Dowie] is the name of an American impos- tor who claimed to be Ilyās [Elijah] and a Prophet who, these days-apart from suffering financial losses—is near death while suffering from paralysis. (Author) 2. Surah Bani Isra'il, 17:16 [Publisher]