Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 543
EPILOGUE-SIGNS 543 despite the existence of the boy, God had designated him i. e. issueless, and had declared your slanderer who shall be issueless. [abtar], that it is not you but Since in his writings, Sa'dullah repeatedly alleged that this person [i. e. me] is an impostor and would quickly be destroyed and that noth- ing would remain of him; therefore, in response to his words, which were full of sheer insolence and mischief, Allah the Exalted said, that, in the end, he himself would be destroyed and that no trace of his would be left behind. The prophecy should, therefore, be interpreted keeping in mind the context of the prophecy itself, for it forecasts the termina- tion of lineal descent by declaring null and void the currently alive and existing boy and indicates that his existence or non-existence are equal. In this context, therefore, quoting the Qāmūs¹ etc. on the meaning of the word [abtar] is sheer nonsense and stupidity. The premise of this case is not that the boy was born after the prophecy. On the contrary, the boy who is present now was fifteen or fourteen years old at the time the prophecy was made, and he should be about thirty or twenty-nine at the present moment. Since he was very much alive when the proph- ecy was announced, an intelligent person can understand clearly that in the context of the prophecy, he is as good as non-existent and that after him succession comes to an end. This is what Allah the Exalted had made me to understand from it. No one can understand the meaning of a revelation better than its recipient, nor does anyone have the right to oppose his interpretation. Thus, since God Almighty has disclosed this to be the very meaning of the prophecy that this boy is as good as non-existent that Sa'dullāh's succession will not go beyond him— and upon him the progeny of Sa'dullah would end, then how utterly obstinate it is to go on insisting that Sa'dullāh was survived by a son subsequent to his own death! O foolish one! This boy was very much alive when the prophecy was made. A close study of the Arabic idiom would show that the term 1. An Arabic lexicon. [Publisher]