Life of Ahmad — Page 785
as A FALSE MOSES 785 his if he had lived in his time. The status of the Promised Messiah as was far too high as compared with that of any such Maulaw i. Ibn S i r i n was once asked as to whether the Promised Mahdi would be the equal of Abu Bakr ra and he replied that Abu Bakr ra could not compare with the Mahdi, who was better than some of the Prophets even. Therefore, Il a h i Bakhsh had no reason to feel offended by any remark that Ahmad as might have made with regard to Abdullah Ghaznavi. Munshi Il a h i Bakhsh, however, did not publish any of his revelations. 176 Early in August it was given 176 It appears when the period fixed for Il a h i Bakhsh to publish his revelations expired Ahmad as began to write a book which was entitled Tiry a qul Qul u b. It was a large sized book. By August 1st, 1899, 23 pages were written out and its preparation was announced in the Al- H akam dated July 31st, 1899. In these pages Ahmad as pointed out that a true Revelation from God must be supported and distinguished with heavenly signs. He invited the Sufis and mystics who opposed him to arrange a meeting in which a prayer should be addressed to God so that the true claimant to Divine revelation might be distinguished with potent heavenly signs within a period of 12 months. For this purpose the opposing candidate must publish an Ishtih a r which should reach Ahmad as ten days before the date of the proposed meeting. In his Persian poem given in the beginning of the book Ahmad as said: Five supplements were later added to this book in which about 76 signs and prophecies were explained as having been fulfilled. This book was written out by February 15th, 1900 (on December 5th, 1899, 137 pages were completed) except perhaps a few pages, which must have been soon completed by Ahmad as. P i r Man zu r Muhammad ra wrote almost all the 'copy' and it was all printed early in 1900. But this book could not be properly