Truth Prevails — Page 16
( 16 ) that they were ripe for punishment, on account of excesses and misdeeds. So, in accordance with his normal, usual manner, He held His hand till a Prophet had been raised, to warn them. But when that Prophet came, and those people had been given a call, by means of thousands upon thousands of pamphlets, handbills, and leaflets, the moment had come when they were to get in this world, what they had come to deserve. It is totally a wrong view to say that people in Europe and America had not even heard my name. No, fair-minded person would deny that a period of twenty years has passed since the day I published 16,000 copies of a handbill in English, setting forth my claim, and my case in this behalf, in Europe and America. Subsequently, as well, leaflets and handbills, and pamphlets, have been broadcast from time to time. In addition, a monthly journal, The Review of Religions, is being sent to Europe and America for the last so many years; and my claim has repeatedly been mentioned in the European Press. So the truth is what has been stated in the Holy Quran: “We could not, properly, have punished these people, until we had raised an Apostle among them. This is the manner and method of the Lord God; and, evidently, no Prophet, no Apostle from the Lord has appeared at the time, anywhere in Europe or America. Therefore the punishment that has fallen on them, it has fallen only after my claim had gone out. ” ( Tatimma Haqiqatul Wahyi , pages 52-53) Similarly, he says: “Whosoever shall study the Holy Quran, with care, and honesty of mind, he would realise that at the time of the later tribulations, when most portions of the globe would be turned upside down; a virulent plague would spread; and death on every side would gather up a great harvest, the advent of an Apostle would be necessary at that time, as Allah Himself has said: “It is not Our way that We send a chastisement, until We have sent an Apostle. “ Again, when the advent of Apostles has preceded even comparatively smaller punishments, as borne out by past events, how is it possible that on the occasion of the great chastisement of the later days which was to overwhelm the whole world, a chastisement foretold by all the Prophets of old, that chastisement should descend on the people, without the advent of the Prophet destined and ordained to appear at the juncture? Any idea that such a thing is possible, involves an evident falsification of the Word of God. Now this same Apostle is the Promised Messiah. ” ( Tatimma Haqiqatul Wahyi , page 64) Then, this verse came down in Ilham , on the Promised Messiah, as well. ( Badar , October 17, 1907, page 4)