Truth Prevails — Page 80
( 80 ) Mau’ud will not turn the third century into the fourth, just as in the case of the first and second centuries there was no human-being to turn the first century into the second and second into the third. What turns one century into the second and the third or fourth century, is the passage of the required measure of time, nothing else. In the same way, what turns the third century into the fourth is the rolling of the days and nights, nothing else. ” ( Khilafat-i-Mahmud , page 40) Since, for Mr. Faruqi, the weakness of Maulvi Mohammad Ali’s position in this discussion had become evident, that the Muslih Mau’ud would come in the fourth century after the Promised Messiah he has altogether abandoned that argument; and in Truth Triumphs, page 30, he writes: “In 1886 A. D. , Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib was given the glad tidings by Allah about a boy in his progeny, who would possess both worldly and outward rank and power as well as spiritual greatness and holiness. So in a ‘Notice’ published on 20th February, 1886, Hazrat Mirza Sahib proclaimed this prophecy to the world, and gave one most important and mysterious sign of his identification that he would ‘increase three into four’. The exact time of birth of this great promised boy is known only to God, as without His Divine Communication, nobody can say for certain. It may be that this boy would be born in this very generation ; or the fact of his ‘increasing three into four’ may mean that he would appear in the fourth generation. It can also be that he may not be a physical son but a ‘spiritual son’, however Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib, like other such appointees from Allah naturally longed for this promise of Allah to be fullfilled in all its glory as soon as possible. So in the interpretation of this promise of Allah, he used his own personal judgement, and applied it to some of his own boys, which later on proved to be incorrect. ” Allah’s Promise that the Promised Son would be born within Nine Years. In this passage Mr. Faruqi advances the view that the promised son may be born in the fourth generation after the Promised Messiah. But the Divine promise given to the Promised Messiah was that he would be born within nine years, in any case. We find that in the Leaflet published under title ishtihar wajibul-izhar , dated March 22, 1886, he wrote: “To this time, March 22, 1886, no son has taken birth in my home, apart from two sons born earlier, now more than 20 or 22 years. But we know that such a son will, most certainly, be born within nine years, in fulfilment of Allah’s promise. Sooner, or later, in any case, he will be born within this period. ”