The Heavenly Sign — Page 69
69 essence of Dajj a liyyat , so has He destined that I should also have a share of the humiliations and afflictions that are part and parcel of the Messiah as. The only grief I have is that in preparing this edict Shaikh Bat alwi had to be more dishonest than the Jewish Scribes. This dishonesty and fraud is of three kinds. First, some people who were not qualified to give verdicts as religious scholars, were declared to be such in order to swell the number of Ulema charging me with disbelief. Second, seals of certain people, who have no learning and are openly involved in immoral and even nefarious activities, were affixed to the verdict, and they were deemed to be great scholars and abstemious followers of the Law. Third, Bat alwi Sahib, cleverly, fraudulently, and of his on accord, added to the list names of some learned and honest persons who had not actually put their seal on the verdict. I have documen- tary proof about these three kinds of people. Bat alwi Sahib or anyone who doubts it should arrange a public gathering in Lahore at which they should demand the proof from me. 55 Charging someone with disbelief is nothing new. It is a tradition these Maulaw i s have inherited from their ancestors. Whenever they hear something fine and subtle, they instantaneously get beside themselves, and since God, the Exalted, has not endowed them with wisdom to fathom the depth of the matter or understand the true nature of 55 So that the liar may be disgraced. [Translator]