Life of Ahmad — Page 194
BIRTH OF FA D L-E-UMAR ra as 194 goodness and perfect righteousness, 43 Ahmad as was inclined to think that it might be the same boy. But as there was no clear revelation on the point, he did not definitely commit himself to anything of the kind. For the same reason, he did not make any announcement in public. Yet when Bashir I died on November 4th, 1888, at the age of 16 months, the enemies of Islam tried to raise a commotion in order to throw discredit upon Ahmad as by saying that the boy who died was the one who should have lived to become the Promised Reformer. Ahmad as waited for a while in the hope that his enemies would cool down; but when he saw that they were deceiving the public, he issued a detailed reply in the form of a leaflet dated December 1st, 1888. This is known as Sabz Ishtih a r (the green leaflet) because it was printed on green paper at the Riy ad -e-Hind Press, Amritsar. In this leaflet, Ahmad as pointed out that he had never declared that Bashir I was the son for whose birth the period of nine years was fixed. Bashir I was born in fulfilment of a separate prophecy contained in the leaflet which was published on April 8th, 1886. There was certainly no revelation which declared that Bashir I was the Promised Reformer. Even if Ahmad as had looked upon him as such, it could detract nothing from the value of the prophecy. His own conjecture 43 The boy was also called Mubashshar, N u rullah, Sayyib and Char a gh D i n.