Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 242
242 in keeping with the prophecies of the Promised Messiah as , but for the moment I would like to say that the plague was shown to the Promised Messiah as in the manner of an elephant wreaking havoc in the world; 3 but after bringing about great death and destruc - tion, the elephant came and sat respectfully before the Promised Messiah as. This vision meant that the angels of the plague had been commanded to help the Promised Messiah as. There were also other revelations to this end, such as: ‘Do not threaten us with fire, for fire is our servant and, indeed, the servant of our servants. ’ 4 On receiving these revelations, the Promised Messiah as declared that he and his followers would remain comparatively immune from the deadly effects of the plague. It might affect some individuals, but their case would be like that of the handful of Muslims who were martyred fighting the infidels at the time of the Holy Prophet s as , while the enemy suffered far greater losses. The Promised Messiah as also declared that, compared to other towns and villages, Qadian would remain safe from the ravages of the plague and that his own household would remain immune from it. 5 After these announcements were made, the plague spread throughout India wreaking great havoc and killing hundreds of thousands every year. Even though the Promised Messiah as had forbidden his followers from getting inoculated against the plague—which was considered to be the only remedy against the deadly epidemic—his followers suffered far fewer fatalities as com - pared to others. This went on for several years and people could not help but wonder how the virus would spare Ahmadis while infecting others. Thousands accepted the Promised Messiah as as a result. In fact, the great majority of those who became Ahmadis