The Essence of Islam – Volume IV — Page 183
Propagation, Establishment of a Holy Jama'at, and Instructions 183 long to them. Then, pointing out the resemblance between the successors of the Mosaic dispensation and the successors of the Islamic dispensation, God clearly indicated that at the end of the Islamic dispensation there would be a Messiah and twelve successors in between so that figure of 'fourteen' should also correspond. Similarly, the Promised Messiah of the Islamic dispensation appeared at the beginning of the fourteenth century, just as the Promised Messiah of the Mosaic dispensation had appeared in the fourteenth century of the Mosaic dispensation. . Thus, the distance of the two Messiahs from the. Founders of their respective religions is the same. . . . . If the second Messiah who was to come was to be the same Jesusas, this would contradict the Holy Qur'ān, inasmuch as the Qur'an declares the Successors of the two dispensations to be distinct personalities, as is evident from the word kamā [just as]. This distinction provides a clear authority which cannot be rejected even if the whole world were to combine against it. If the same person who was the last Successor of the first dispensation was to come back, the distinction between the two dispensations would disappear and the import of the word kamā would be falsified. Such a thing would be contradictory to the Holy Qur'ān and is, therefore, false. 99 و هذا باطل و كل ما يستلزم الباطل فهو باطل " 99. This is false, and everything that leads to a false conclusion is false. [Translator]