Truth Prevails — Page 58
( 58 ) dead and hence cannot come back; and the prophecy made by the Prophet Mohammad, peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him, about the advent of ‘ibni Maryam’ figuratively speaking, would be a Mojaddid from amongst the Muslims: and that particular person is Hazrat Mirza Sahib himself. ” (Truth Triumphs, page 8 & 9) These quotations bear out that Mr. Faruqi believes that in his claim from being a Mojaddid , to being the Promised Messiah, the realisation of the two positions grew on Hazrat Ahmad very gradually. Then why does he baulk at the same kind of gradual realisation in the matter of Nabuwwat ? Why does he tend to call this gradual realisation a fraud, and a matter for shame and humiliation in fact an unpardonable insult? The idea that those who are called to Divine Missions, the sense that they have been so called, grows on them gradually, has a deep psychological background; and there is nothing in this gradual realisation to which any sensible man need make any objection. These are the kind of people who seldom think much of themselves. When they are called to their missions, they are overtaken by surprise. The realisation grew very gradually on the Holy Prophet himself. It did not dawn upon him from the very outset that he was Khataman Nabiyeen : the revealment took place only four or five years before his death. He carried out the preliminary stages of his work before the special sense of his mission dawned on him. Then, in the Wahyi which was coming down on him, he began to be called a Nabi , and a Rasul a Prophet and an Apostle. Later, when a body of men had accepted this claim, it was only a few years before his death that an awareness was given to him of his real place, his real position, and the ascendent elevation, and grandeur, as the highest and the best among the Prophets and Apostles who had gone before. There actually were times when he sternly forbade his followers to think he was greater than Moses (Bokhari). In those days if anyone said he was the best among men, he modestly corrected this view by saying that the honour belonged to Hazrat Ibrahim (Muslim). However, after the verse embracing ‘ Khataman - Nabiyeen ’ had come down on him, giving him a new perspective of his own place and role in human history, where he found all the qualities of the earlier prophets vested in himself, to the best and the highest point, and the teaching of all, concentrated, also amplified, where necessary, in the Holy Quran, he declared: “Had Moses lived in my time, he would have had no choice except that he should follow me in all respects, with the utmost loyalty and devotion. ” (Bokhari) He also claimed openly, on another occasion: “On the basis of six qualities, I have been given preference over all the other prophets. ” (Muslim, Bab ul faza’il ) He stated one of these qualities was that he was Khataman - Nabiyeen. As regards the remaining five qualities, he had been enlightened on the point long before, especially that his mission was universal, intended for the guidance of all mankind, and all climes.