Lecture Ludhiana — Page 45
45 similar to the one that obtained on the occasion of Badr, and about which Allah says: 32 This verse actually implied a prophecy: When in the fourteenth century Hijrah Islam becomes frail and weak, God, according to His promise, shall come to its help. Why do you wonder if Allah has come to help Islam? I do not care about being called a liar and Antichrist or about aspersions cast on me. This had to happen, for such was the treatment meted out to God’s Messengers who came before me. I too had to share this age-old tradition. In fact, my share of these sufferings and hardships is not even a fraction of what our lord and master the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa had to face. His suffering has no parallel in the whole history of the prophets. He suffered such hardship for the sake of Islam as is beyond the pen to describe and the tongue to express. This shows how magnificent and determined a prophet he was. Without divine help and succour, it would not have been possible for him to face up to such mountains of trials and tribula- tions. Any prophet other than the Holy Prophet sa would have failed. The Islam he established in the face of such suffering and hardship is in such dire straits today as defy description! Islam means to love and to be lost in total submission to 32 ‘And Allah had already helped you at Badr when you were weak. ’ (3:124) [Translator]