Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 288
288 the debate in which the prophecy had been made, A tham had tried to prove that Jesus was God and possessed all the Divine attributes in his person. ) The grandeur of this prophecy boosts the faith of every honest person. In it, one can see the working of the Hand of God. A tham was a sworn enemy of Islam, a leader of an important community and its advocate in controversy with another, and he had spent all his life preaching and propagating his religion and disparaging the other. For such a person to start to entertain thoughts against his own religion, to have extraordinary hallucinations appear to him, and for him to be safe from death for fifteen months in consider - ation of his repentant demeanour, all this is beyond the power of man to bring about. (4) An American Impostor This prophecy relates to the downfall of Dowie, an American impostor. It constitutes a sign for Christians in general and the people of America in particular. Alexander Dowie was a well-known name in America. He was Australian by birth and had later moved to America. In 1892 he started giving religious lectures and soon claimed that he had the power of healing, which brought him a lot of popularity. In 1901 he claimed that he was like Elijah and a forerunner for the Second Coming of Christ. Since the signs of the Second Coming of the Messiah had already been fulfilled, religious people were already waiting for his return. Hence, this claim by Dowie found a lot of followers. He then bought some land and founded a town called