Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 107
107 beliefs give birth to illegitimate children and find nothing wrong in doing so. Even among the people who do not wish to do away with the ancient custom of marriage, there is a morbid sympathy for ille - gitimate children. Some eminent philosophers consider illegiti - mate children to be a gift and a means of defending the realm. They make great efforts to make such children the legal heirs of their parents, or urge the government to take such children into its own care. Under such conditions, one can imagine what a large number of illegitimate children there must be. We do not find a parallel of this in world history and people of the past could never have imagined such a state of affairs. Another sign of the time of the Promised Messiah as foretold by the Holy Prophet s as was that the use of alcohol would become rampant. According to Anas ibn M a lik, one of the signs of the lat - ter days is the excessive drinking of alcohol. 25 Similarly, the Holy Prophet s as is reported to have said that one of the signs of the time would be the public consumption of alcohol. 26 The abundant use of alcohol in this age requires no elaboration. European countries consume more wine than water. Whereas in the past alcohol was used for pleasure or for medication, in major parts of the world today it is consumed in place of water. The sign described by the Holy Prophet s as that alcohol would be consumed in the streets distinguishes this age from all past ages. Before now it was con - sidered a pleasure-seeking activity and was sold at specific places and no efforts were made to make it widely available. Today, it has become a common drink that has to be provided in all places and made accessible to all and sundry. In European countries, wine shops are found at short distances from each other so that