Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 276
276 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad salvation. I cannot understand why these people unjustly insist on something for which they have no conclusive proof. These people are completely uninformed of the sort of language that is used in the books of God Almighty, for if they were informed, they would know how prophecies often make use of metaphors. When the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, saw that he was wearing golden bangles, this was symbolic of false prophets. Then, when he was shown cows being slaughtered, this meant that certain companions would be martyred. This is nothing peculiar because generally this is how divine law operates in connection with dreams and prophecies. Take the dream of Joseph as which is recorded in the Holy Quran. Did this actually refer to the physical sun, moon and stars? Or let us take the dream of the King of Egypt in which he was shown cows. Did this imply actual cows or something else? These examples are not few and far between, rather such testimonies range in the thousands, but it is astonishing that when the matter relating to the descent of Jesus as is in question, the people forget these examples and begin to stress the apparent sense of the words. In matters such as these, disagreement is rooted in two things and that is to either disregard a symbol or metaphor and cling to an apparent meaning, or to adopt a metaphoric sense where an apparent meaning is evident. If one were to suggest that prophecies do not contain metaphors and symbols, then it would be difficult to establish the prophethood of any Prophet. The Use of Metaphors in the Old and New Testaments and the Trial of the Jews It was this very difficulty, this very calamity, that befell the Jews, because it was written in relation to the Messiah that before his advent, Elijah would appear. As such, this prophecy is clearly recorded in the book of Prophet Malachi as and the Jews were waiting in accordance with this prophecy for Elijah to descend from the sky; but when the Messiah appeared and Elijah did not come down from the sky, they became anxious. 1 As a result, the Jews were faced with the trial of believ- ing it necessary for Elijah to appear before the advent of the Messiah. Now, equity is a must. If this matter was presented before a judge, even the judge would issue a verdict in favour of the Jews, because it was explicitly written that Elijah would come; and before this occurrence, there was no prior precedent among these peo- ple for the appearance of spiritual manifestations so that the Messiah could be 1 Al-Hakam , vol. 7, no. 4, dated 31 January 1903, pp. 2-3 p. 252