Truth Prevails — Page 84
( 84 ) to be conceded that the prophecy of the Promised Messiah, in this behalf, has been falsified – not that the ijtihad of the Promised Messiah in regard to this matter has turned out to be wrong. There are evident contradictions in Mr. Faruqi’s “Truth Triumphs”. On page 31, he states that the Promised Messiah’s ijtihad turned out to be wrong. Then, further on, in open contradiction of what he has written on page 31, according to his conception of the ilhami identification, he takes Mubarak Ahmad, the fourth son, to be the Muslih Mau’ud , full in the teeth on the fact that Mubarak Ahmad died in early childhood, proving for all time to come that he was not the Muslih Mau’ud. Even before February 20, 1886, there had been an Ilham in 1883, that Mubarak Ahmad would be the fourth son. The Promised Messiah wrote on page 196 of Nozulul Masih : In 1883, I received an Ilham ‘Turner of three into four, Mubarak’. So Mubarak Ahmad was indeed the fourth son. In this sense he was, indeed, the boy who made three into four. But he was not the Muslih Mau’ud , neither in the light of the identification done by an Ilham , nor was he held by the Promised Messiah to be the son destined to become the Muslih Mau’ud , on the basis of his own ijtihad. Mubarak Ahmad’s death in childhood proved beyond doubt of any kind, that in one respect he was the son who made three into four; and that the Muslih Mau’ud would be the maker of three into four, in some other sense. Mr. Faruqi writes, however: “Then again at page 40 of the same book, Tiryaqul Qulub , in the 25th Sign, Hazrat Mirza Sahib considers the birth of Mubarak Ahmad as a fulfilment of this promise. But the death of Mubarak Ahmad in September 1907, disillusioned Hazrat Mirza Sahib, for he wrote in his Notice Tabsira dated 15th November, 1907. ‘When Mubarak Ahmad died, then Allah sent another Ilham to me: We give you good news of another gracious son who will take the place of Mubarak Ahmad (both physically and spiritually). ’” (Truth Triumphs, page 31) Further, on page 32 of ‘Truth Triumphs’ Mr. Faruqi gives the following note: “Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad made an error of interpretation in the understanding of these Ilham and prophecies. ” Had the Promised Messiah said Mubarak Ahmad was to become the Muslih Mau’ud , Mr. Faruqi would have been right, after the death of this son, in saying that the Promised Messiah had made an ijtihadi error, and he would have been free to hold that the Ilham : ‘ Inna nobasshiroka bighulamin halimin yanzilo manzilal mubrake ’ ‘I give you the glad tiding of a kind and gentle son,