Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 245
245 which religion thrives, then why did the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, not fight in the thirteen years that he stayed in Mecca? He continued to bear every pain and never once did he retaliate. Our religion has never waged wars to convert people to Islam by force. In fact, these battles were a punishment from God for those people who inflicted the gravest of torments upon the Holy Prophet sa , and who pursued the Muslims and oppressed them. Therefore, it is not at all true that Islam threatens people with the sword. Islam presents the Quran; it presents guidance, and has come with peace and security. There is no other religion in the world that spreads peace like Islam. Therefore, it is wrong to suggest that the Mahdi will wage war. I absolutely reject such a belief. For if the people are killed by the sword and their wealth is stolen from them, what benefit can be derived from this? The sort of Mahdi that I claim to be is proven from the Holy Quran. Just as the Mosaic dispensation came to its end with the Messiah, in the same manner, due to a distinct similarity, God Almighty brought this dispensation to its final point with the Messiah of Muhammad sa. This Messiah has been named the Mahdi (Guided One) because he shall receive guidance directly from God Almighty and he will appear in a time when divine light and guidance would have vanished from the world. Further, another exceedingly subtle point to note in the similarity between these two dis- pensations is that just as the Mosaic Messiah appeared in the fourteenth century after Moses, peace be upon him, in this community as well, it was in the four- teenth century in which the Messiah of Muhammad sa would appear. Moreover, just as the Mosaic Messiah was not born in a Jewish kingdom, but in the Roman Empire, so too the Messiah of Muhammad sa was not born in a Muslim State, but in an Empire ruled by the British government. In short, I strongly reject the notion that the Mahdi will come and go about sparking physical conflict, and that his task would be to spill blood. ” 1 15 August 1901 On winning the court case pertaining to the wall, the Promised Messiah as said: “Due to this wall, for almost a year and a half, our way of passage had been blocked and we were besieged. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, foretold of this as well, as recorded in the Hadith. ” There was mention of the fact that it is narrated in the Hadith that the Messiah 1 Al-Hakam , vol. 5, no. 29, dated 10 August 1901, pp. 7-8 p. 224