An Introduction to the Hidden Treasures of Islam — Page 240
240 Background The Promised Messiah as was divinely forewarned and therefore in his leaflet issued on February 6, 1898, he indicated that he had seen a vision in which he saw an ugly and dreadful disease being planted throughout the Punjab which would also threaten other vast areas of India. Therefore, the Promised Messiah as decided to hold a meeting of his followers on May 2, 1898, in Qadian. About a thousand people attended the meeting at which the Promised Messiah as threw light on the dreadful nature of the disease. The Promised Messiah as also gave the reason why he named the book Ayy a mu s - S ula h. He said in the time of the Promised Messiah, all religious wars will end and the Promised Messiah will be the harbinger of Peace. Promised Messiah further stated that the message contained in this book is divine and should be taken seriously. The Civil and Military Gazette , Lahore (June 10, 1898), published a note about the meeting in the course of which it said: “The gist of the address was to the effect that the Government was moved solely by dictates of humanity in its measures for the suppression of the disease that those measures are necessary, and that the stories that the Government desires to poison the people, are both lies and foolish, and should not be believed for a moment by anybody with pretensions of being sensible, and to come out of the house into the open for segregation with the face properly veiled is no violation of the principles of Islam, specially in time of imminent danger, such as a visitation at the hand of God. ” ( Life of Ahmad by A. R. Dard ra , edition of 2008, pp. 591-592) A detailed report of the meeting was published by the editor of al- H akam , Qadian, in September, 1898. It was entitled al-Indh a r. The attitude of the Promised Messiah as towards the plague was so reasonable that no sane person could possibly find fault with it, but corruption and wickedness vitiate human reason and cause moral and spiritual blindness. The objection which the Daily Paisa Akhb a r raised