A Present to Kings — Page 47
( 47 )\. Messiah. It therefore happens that apart from the consideration of the needs of the time, all those signs which have been related with reference to the advent of the Promised Messiah have met with their fulfilment in this age and corroborated the fact of this being the age of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi,. For instancs the Holy Prophet foretold of a remarkable sign of the Promised Mahdi in that in his time there would happen in the month of Ramzan a lunar eclipse on the first date and a solar eclipse on the middle date, and he even proceeded to remark that such a sign had never occured up to his time since the creation of the world. The tradition runs as follows:لمهد ينا أيتن لم تكونا منذ خلق السموات والارض ينخسف القمر الاول ليلة من رمضان و تنكسف الشمس في النصف منه. This was a most remarkable sign about which there was a concensus of opinion both among the Shiahs and among the. Sunnis, and it was fulfilled about 20 years ago. There are, however, people who would object to the sign on the ground that the occurrence, to which the prophecy has been applied, was one in which the lunar eclipse occurred on the 13th day of Ramzan, and the solar eclipse on the 28th of the month. whereas the prophecy mentioned the dates as the first and the middle respectively. With regard to this, I would point to. Your Highness that the objection is only due to lack of deliberation, because in this tradition the word 'Qamar' has been used and 43 in Arabic is used for the moon after three days of its first appearance. The name for the new moon in. Arabic is Ja and not. This special significance of the word, will be found not only in the larger Arabic lexicons such as the Lesan-ul-Arab, but even in the smaller dictionaries. . For example the work die the gives following meaning of the word:القمر كوكب ليستمد نور من الشمس فينعكس على الأرض فير فع ظلمة الليل وهو قمر بعد ثلاث ليال الى اخرا اشهروا ما قبل ذلك فهو هلال. THE