A Present to Kings — Page 71
(( 71 ) remained undischarged, then of necessity we must wait for some other Messiah. In case it is established that through his instrumentality God has given Islam victory over other faiths, then it will be the duty of every fair minded enquirer to accept the truth and to attach himself to the standard of the. Promised Messih. . Before I enter upon an elaborate discussion on the point,. I deem it necessary to state that prophets and other accredited messengers of God merely plant a seed which sprouts and increases after their departure, gradually throwing out branches on all sides and gathering strength in its roots. For example, when Jesus of Nazareth lived on the earth, there were only a few of his people who believed in him; the rest wholly rejected his claims. But, nevertheless, it could not be said that his mission was a failure, because he left behind certain basic principles with the help of which his followers came out victorious against every o opponent. In the same way the Holy. Prophet (peace be on him) came with a mission for the whole world, but at the time of his departure the whole world was not even aware of the news of his coming What he did, however, was to plant the seed of Islam in such a rich soil that before a century had elapsed it multiplied so largely that it covered almost the whole of the then known world. Thus it is by no means necessary for a Divine messenger to see the whole work completed during his life-time. He merely shows the way and the work goes on developing after he has left. . W. The above point being cleared, I next proceed to mention. an example to show how Almighty God vouchsafed to the. Promised Messiah the power to establish the superiority of. . Islam over other creeds. There was some time ago a very important conference held at Lahore, the capital of the Punjab, in which the followers of different religions were invited to describe the excellences of their respective faiths. Accordingly, the representatives of the different creeds assembled at the conference and each endeavoured to establish the superiority