An Introduction to the Hidden Treasures of Islam — Page 306
306 Background The Promised Messiah as wrote this book on April 1902, at a time when Punjab was in grip of severe plague. He mentioned many of his revelations that he had about plague. The Promised Messiah as writes: It is my sign that any opponent of mine, whether he lives in Amroh, or in Amrtitsar, Delhi or Calcutta, Lahore, Golra or Batala, if he swears that his own place will remain safe from plaque, then this very place would be hit by plague, as he had been rude to God. ( D a fi‘ul-Bal a ’ Wa Mi‘y a ro Ahlil-I st if a’ , p. 18, R uhani Khaz a’ in , v. 18, p. 238) The plague broke out in the Punjab in its full fury in 1902. How intensely the plague had entrenched itself in the Punjab , the Promised Messiah as gave a pen-picture of the calamity in his letter to Seth ‘Abdur Ra h m a n that he wrote on April 3, 1902. The plague was taking a heavy toll. About 20,000 people were dying of plague every week. All areas outside the radius of two miles around Qadian were contaminated with this calamitous disease. Qadian stood like a boat in the whole region. The Book It was against this background that the Promised Messiah as undertook to write this famous book, D a fi‘ul-Bal a ’ Wa Mi‘y a ro Ahlil-I st if a’. In the book, the Promised Messiah as recalled the revelations that he had received about its spread at a time when the disease first broke out in Bombay. The Promised Messiah as was frank and candid. He declared that it was a Divine punishment. The plague had broken out because the people condemned and abused the Messiah sent by God as a reformer. The Messiah’s opponents had left no stone unturned in harassing him and went to the extent of conspiring to murder him. It has been foretold in the old scriptures that at the time of advent of the Messiah, a plague would break out. The only effective defence against