Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 58
58 HAQIQATUL-WAḤI—THE PHILOSOPHY OF DIVINE REVELATION be upon him. The very same would also occur in the time of the last Promised One. Here, this practice of Allah should also be kept in mind that any prophecy from God Almighty about the advent of any great Messenger inherently bears a trial for some people. For example, it was prophe- sied in Jewish Scriptures about Ḥaḍrat ‘Īsā that he would come when Prophet Ilyass [Elijah] would return from Heaven. This prophecy is still found in the Book of Prophet Malachi. Thus, this prophecy proved to be a big stumbling block for the Jews and they still await the return of Prophet Ilyas from Heaven, and it is essential that he should descend first and then their true Messiah would come. However, neither has Ilyās yet returned to the earth, nor has such a Messiah come who could fulfil this stipulation. Similarly, there was this prophecy in the Torah about the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, that he would be born in the family of the Jews—meaning, the children of Ibrāhīmas [Abraham]—and that he would be raised from among them and from among their brethren. Further, all of the Prophets who appeared among the Israelites understood this prophecy to mean that the Prophet of the Latter Days would appear from among the Israelites, but ultimately that Prophet appeared from among the Ishmaelites, and this issue became a serious stumbling block for the Jews. Had these words been explicitly written in the Torah that the prophesied Prophet would appear from among the Ishmaelites, and his place of birth would be Makkah and his name would be Muḥammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and his father's name would be 'Abdullāh, the Jews would have never faced this trial. While these two examples are there to show that in such proph- ecies, God intends some trial for his servants, how strange is it that our opponents-despite the many contradictions about the Promised Messiah that are found in the aḥadīth of every sect, and while they also unanimously agree that he would be an ummati—are still content