Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 38
Khilafat Centenary of Islam was fulfilled. An additional prophecy made by the Prophet Isaiah as also predicted the time of the solar eclipse. And when the solar eclipse took place on April 6, 1894, it occurred at exactly the very time predicted by Isaiah as : The sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13: 10 In accordance with Isaiah's as words, the solar eclipse started in the morning. The sun remained completely dark between 7 and 9am - it was, as Isaiah as had said, dark at its rising. The Promised Messiah as said "The heavens appeared as witness for me and the moon and sun were darkened for my sake. " ' Days of Noah ' as witness to the appearance of Christ According to the Bible, it is further very clear that all sorts of disasters and tribulations would appear after the appearance of Messiah, the Chr ist, as a punishment to disbelievers. In support of this belief, we see a very nice example and prediction made by J esus as about his second appearance: But as the days of Noah were, so shall also be th e coming of the son of man. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the Ark. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the son of man be. Ma tt hew 24 :37-39 Hence, this is a very clear guideline for us to recognize J esus as at the time of his second advent. The people of Noah as were not destroy ed until Noah as had preached the word of God to them and they h ad rejected the divine call. The prophet had then warned them about God's wrath, and when they still did not espouse a positive response, they were finally destroyed. Noah's people were obliterated from the face of the earth with the greatest flood in the history of mankind. Similar conditions were to prevail at the time that J esus as would appear and preach the word of God. He would be rejected, and due to their disobedience to God's messenger, the people would face terrible days, similar those of Noah's time. It would not make much sense to punish and destroy the innocent, without first sending them an appropriate warning, as the Holy Qur'an says: And We shall nev er punish until We have sent a Messenger. Ho ly Q ur 'a n 17:16 The Promised Messiah as said, "Ask me, 0, ignorant, why the anger of God is kindled? The reason of it is u. t FROM ALLAH \. J But as the days of Noah were, so shall also be the coming of the son of man. < For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, Cl) marrying and giving in marriage, until Cl) the day that Noah entered into the Ark. And knew not until the flood came, and I. I. I took them all away, so shall also the ~ coming of the son of man be. ~ Matthew 24:37-39 mine denial and refusal. " The Age ofJesus' Second Advent: Why did He not Appear? If Appeared , Where ? When? And Who did Appear ? In order to answer all these questions, and to have a better understanding regarding the answers, it is necessary to have a look at history: we can glean much knowledge from the divine reformers, especially Adam as, Abraham as, Moses as, Jesus as and the propher •w of Islam. The y all made their claims, and they all were treated in a certain way by their people: from their historical experience, we learn that there was not a single prophet on this earth who was initially welcome by his people. Whenever prophets did not fulfill the conditions and criteria that the people themselves imposed, they found rejection. More often than not, too, they were persecuted, often severely, by their own people. People rejected them because they had developed expectations of a certain time, of a certain land, of imaginary signs that the prophets