Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 308
308 31 یَار ُ مَحَلُّھَا وَمُقَامُھَا ِّ عَفَت ِ الد That is, a terrible earthquake will strike which will wipe out temporary and residences and permanent ones. These revelations were immediately published in the Ahmadiyya journals. Their literal fulfilment was considered extremely improb - able and it was thought that perhaps it alluded to the severity of the plague, but God had willed something else. There was a volcano at Kangra that had long been dormant and only served the purpose of receiving offerings from superstitious Hindus. Geologists thought that it would not erupt again and was com - pletely harmless. It was surrounded by ancient temples that were visited by thousands of pilgrims. This seemingly harmless volcano was commanded by the Lord of Might and Power to become active again and testify to the truth of the who had sent by Him. As the words of the revelation show, the earthquake was to severely affect temporary habitations, such as hotels, motels, military camps, and barracks. The words mahalluh a (temporary accommodations) precedes maq a muh a (settled places) which means that temporary residences would be particularly affected by the earthquake. Such temporary dwellings exist only in can - tonments, holiday resorts and places of pilgrimage. Therefore, the earthquake mentioned in the prophecy would primarily affect such an area. On April 4, 1905, quite a while after the publication of these revelations, when the morning prayers were hardly over, the volcano came alive and shook the land for hundreds of miles. Kangra, its temples and its motels were destroyed. Eight miles away in the cantonment of Dharmsala, military barracks were