Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 67
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 67 mance of the most extraordinary character. He appointed his two foremost disciples, Hazrat Maulvi Nurud Din Sahib and Hazrat Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib, to take down the text of the sermon as it issued from his lips. He stood with his eyes half closed as if he was in a trance, and the sermon rolled out from his lips in a sustained succession of grand periods as ifhe was reading out a text that was spread out before his half- closed eyes. The delivery of the sermon occupied more than an hour. After he had finished speaking, Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib conveyed the substance of the address to the congregation in Urdu. While this was being done Ahmad, overtaken suddenly by a rush of gratitude towards God for the great bounty He had bestowed on him, went into pros- tration and the whole congregation followed his example. After the prostration Ahmad mentioned that he had just seen the word MOBARAK (Felicitations) spelt out in scarlet letters in front of him. The sermon was an extraordinary sign of Divine bounty which deeply impressed all those who were present. Later, Ahmad added four chapters to it in Arabic and the full text, together with its translation into Persian and Urdu, was published in book form in October 1902 under the title Khutbah Ilhamiyyah. The main topic of the sermon, as delivered, was the philosophy of sacrifice. It stands as a unique example of his mastery of the Arabic language and the deep insight of spiritual values that had been bestowed upon him by Divine grace. He was also bestowed a deep and comprehensive under- standing of the Holy Quran from which he set forth all that was needed in the way of moral and spiritual guidance in the era that was opening out before him. He had pointed out that his age was related to the future of mankind as the age of Adam was related to the centuries that had passed before his own advent. He repeatedly challenged all Muslim divines, scholars and spiritual preceptors to compete with him in writing a commentary in Arabic on any group of Quranic verses that might be selected for the purpose. But no one took up the challenge seriously. Pir Mehr Ali Shah of Golara, near