Life of Ahmad — Page 615
as POLICE HARASS AHMAD as 615 of the 21st November, 1898, by way of Mub a hala which contained a prayer and a response thereto from the Almighty. That Ishtih a r itself was followed by no less than five successive notices of Mub a hala from my opponents. Again, in both the Ishtih a rs published by me on the 21st and 30th November, 1898, it was clearly stated that the disgrace prophesied in the publication of the 21st November, was meant to befall the party in error, whoever it might be. To clear all doubt it was further explained that such disgrace would be similar to that which the party in error had by some overt act tried to inflict on the other party. The revealed phrase which was thus explained runs as follows: Jaz a ’u Sayyi’atin Bimithlih a wa Tarhaquhum Dhillah. Its literal translation is that the reward of evil is disgrace similar to that received by the party injured. A little consideration of the revealed sentence would make it clear that it means nothing more than that God will bring disgrace on the unjust which shall be similar to that which the injured party has, as a matter of fact, received at his hands. This construction and interpretation proves beyond doubt that the matter under discussion has nothing whatever to do with any criminal intention or breach of the peace. That this is the true interpretation of the prophecy is corroborated by the fact that this very