Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 168
168 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Perfect of all the Prophets; this is why the spiritual manifestation of the Holy Prophet sa was bound to be superior. These were the two spiritual manifestations that were destined to appear. How unjust are these scholars who have accepted that one of these manifestations— that is the Mahdi—would be a reflection of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in his morals and would come in his name, but suggest that Jesus son of Mary would physically descend from the heaven. It is truly astonishing that the minds of people have degenerated to such an extent that they make contradictory statements, yet fail to realise this fact. On the one hand, they believe in a spiritual manifestation of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and hold that his representative would be the vicegerent of Allah. Yet it is strange indeed for them to assert that he who is lower in rank would return himself, physically. These people believe that the Mahdi, who would come to spread virtue and was greater in rank, would appear in the form of a spiritual manifestation, but claim that the Messiah son of Mary would return himself in bodily form to swear allegiance to this Mahdi. افتوت راہ از اجکتس ات ہب اجک � ی �ب� ہب Observe the distance that exists between these paths. The Meaning of ‘Leaders from Among the Quraish’ When such people are asked why they believe that a Prophet would descend to take the oath of allegiance at the hand of the Mahdi, they respond by saying: ‘What can be done? It is narrated in the Hadith: ٍ َئِمَّۃ ُ مِن ْ قُر َیْش ْ اَل (The leaders are from among the Quraish). ’ I say in response that if the meaning of this Hadith is as these people suggest, then all the people of the Ottoman empire ought to have rebelled. If this Hadith was not in the form of a prophecy—as is my view—why do the same Muslims then refer to the Ottoman sultan as the Caliph of the Muslims? The fact of the matter is that the Prophet of God, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was shown in the form of a vision that Caliphs would be from among the Quraish, either in the apparent sense or in the metaphoric sense as manifestations. Earlier, I alluded to the manifestation of the Antichrist. In the same manner, the Mughal kings etc. are also manifestations of the Quraish. For