Malfuzat – Volume I — Page 252
252 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad which implies that it never misses the target, and widespread death occurs. It has also been alluded to in the Torah. This affliction fell upon the Jews in the time of Moses, on whom be peace. Where God has warned of the people being struck with boils, this actually refers to the plague. The Holy Quran also speaks of the Jews being destroyed by the plague due to their disobedience. The Reason for the Emergence of the Plague Upon reflecting over these instances in the Torah and the Holy Quran it becomes evident that the plague is related to man's transgression and wrongdoing. For the custom of Allah demonstrates that people were destroyed by this epidemic in times of prevalent sin. This is a sign of God's wrath. As I have mentioned earlier, this is a third sign in favour of the Day of Resurrection. This illness is a lesser man- ifestation of the grand reckoning. The fact that this epidemic took up an abode, as it were, in Europe, Greater Syria, Iraq and other foreign lands in the past, would perhaps be considered nothing more than a tale by those who are unaware. But it is a recent arrival in our land and so the people are yet to become acquainted with its characteristics and habits. On one hand, the people are fearless and ignorant of God, and do not seek His forgiveness. Yet, on the other hand, they do not act upon the government's advice either and view it with suspicion, and go on rais- ing a clamour of opposition. I say truthfully—and hypocritical praise is not in my nature—that the rule to quarantine people from villages where the disease has broken out, and to bar inward and outward movement to such places, and to move the infected to open areas, and to relocate people at times so that entire villages are emptied, is a most excellent and necessary undertaking. Our books tell us and the Torah also teaches us that the substance of this disease emerges from the ground. It is thought that this disease spreads from rats. Along with other reasons, this too is a cause. The fact of the matter is that a land, which due to evil and transgression becomes an accursed land, develops a poisonous na- ture and is gripped by chastisement in the most horrific of ways. However, some- one ought to tell us what wrong the government has done in instructing people to move out of infected homes? Sensible people do not think ill of schemes that are employed for their own well-being. As I have said, if the government were to order people to remain in their homes, people would find this instruction to be far worse. For when the plague begins to spread throughout a village and people begin to die, no one would choose to remain in their homes. You can observe that