Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 51
51 that the time is come. Of these the most important sign is the predominance of the Christian religion and the activity of the Christian nations in every department of life. Of this predomin- ance and activity there is not the least doubt. The Christian Missionaries have crept into the corners of the earth. There are at present upwards of 77,000 men engaged in missionary work and the enormous sum of Rs. 50,000,000 is annually spent on them. There are 250 missionary societies, with agents working at more than 20,000 stations. Men and women are both engaged in the task. If the Messiah is not needed now, will he be needed when the whole world is led to believe in the false doctrine of which the Holy Quran had said: "The heavens might almost be rent there at, and the earth cleave asunder, and the mountains fall down in pieces?" Another great sign of the advent of the Messiah to which a reference is contained in the, Quran, and of which the particulars are detailed in a tradition, is that relating to the eclipses of the moon and the sun occuring respectively on the 13th and 28th of the month of Ramzan. This came to pass in 1894 and it is a visible sign of the advent of the Messiah, foretold thirteen hund- red years before its occurrence and manifested in such a way that every individual could see it for himself. Among other signs related in the Holy Quran and authentic traditions are the appear- ance of the plague, which is at present devastating India and several other countries, the introduction of a new mode of con- veyance in place of camels, &c. , which has been fulfilled by the construction of railways throughout the world, the increase of t knowledge, the mixing together of people living in distant lands, the multiplicity of canals, the spreading of papers and a host of other signs which we cannot detail here. Our object is simply to show that the signs are all fulfilled arid that they denote not