Truth Prevails — Page 41
( 41 ) early days he received hints, in his own Ilhams and Revelations, that he stood superior to Hazrat Isa. But, since he did not take himself to be a full Nabi , he interpreted these hints as well to mean that he was perhaps superior to Hazrat Isa, in some restricted sense, this kind of superiority being possible for a non- Prophet, over another Prophet. Later on, however, when Ilhams and Revelations, in this respect, descended on him like torrential rain, it dawned on him that he was, in fact, being called a Nabi which forced him to ponder deeply over the concept of Nabuwwat and to discover that the prevailing concept concealed an error which had to be corrected for it touched the basic foundations of religious thought and its evolution. He therefore abandoned the earlier view that no Ummati can become a Nabi. By this time, he had also been told that the Messiah of the Dispensation of Mohammad was better and higher than the Messiah of the Dispensation of Moses. ( Kishti-Nuh , 1902 edition) These considerations led him to believe that in his full grandeur he was far better than Jesus Christ, in connection with which point the reader would be well advised to study Haqiqatul Wahyi , from page 148 to 155. Therefore, having grasped finally that in Ilhams and Revelations vouchsafed to him, he was plainly being called a Nabi greater in grandeur than Masih ibn Maryam , he gave up interpreting these titles as having been applied to him only figuratively, in the way stated above. He found that the concept and definition of Nabuwwat generally prevalent needed amendment; and that an Ummati also could be a Prophet, though he may not bring a new law, nor abrogate any portion of the Sharia : that for a Nabi it was not essential that he should not belong to the Ummat of an earlier Nabi. Accordingly we find that after 1901 he defined Nabuwwat as follows: “As far as I can see, Nabi is he alone on whom the word of God descends in a manner beyond all doubt, and descends in a considerable volume, embracing a knowledge of things beyond the ken of man. This is how the Lord God has named me a Nabi. ” ( Tajalliat-i-llahia page 26) From the words ‘a Nabi is he alone’, it is evident that this definition is being given as definite and conclusive. In other words there is no other definition as clear and conclusive: and under this complete and conclusive definition, the Promised Messiah described himself as a Nabi , a Prophet, since it was clearly and fully applicable to him. In this definition he has not held it was indispensible for a Nabi that he should not be an Ummati of any Prophet. In this same period the Promised Messiah wrote further: “When that communion, in its nature and volume, reaches a point of perfection, a point of fullness; and no impurity or defect is left in it: and it embraces knowledge of things unknown, beyond the ken of man that same, in other words, is denoted by the word Nabi , as