Life of Ahmad — Page 823
as REMOVES A MISCONCEPTION 823 this leaflet he definitely declared that he was a Prophet of God. This was due to the simple fact that Ahmad’s as conception of prophethood had undergone a change. In the Al- H akam No. 29, Vol. 3, 1899, is published a letter written by Ahmad as in which he says that in the Islamic technicology Prophets and Messengers imply that 'they bring a perfect shariah or cancel some of the edicts of the previous shariah or they are not called the followers of the preceding Prophet and keep in touch with God directly without receiving any benefit from any other Prophet. 'But in this leaflet Eik Ghala ti K a Iz a la he emphatically declared that it was not necessary for a Prophet to bring any shariah; and ever afterwards he declared that, according to the Divine term, prophethood only implies the making of numerous prophecies about the future which are fulfilled. (See Chashma’-e-Ma‘rifat p. 325; Al-Wa si yyat p. 12; Lecture Sialkot , pp. 17, 18, etc). It is clear that the two views are not identical. Ahmad as himself indicates that this change in his conception of prophethood was caused by God. He says: 'In the beginning I believed that I had no comparison with Jesus as , son of Mary as ; he was a Prophet and one of the chosen ones of God. If there was disclosed anything indicating my superiority I considered it as a minor and partial phase. But after that when revelations from God poured upon me like rain I could not keep this belief. I was clearly given the title of a