Life of Ahmad — Page 424
PROPHECY ABOUT A THIM as 424 honorary worker for Christianity, was actually stricken with death in the prime of his life. His loss was deeply mourned by the Christian community and at his funeral service preachers referred to his untimely death as a chastisement of the Church by God. The Rev. Mr. Forman also died in Lahore. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Howell suffered from an illness for a long time, and had a narrow escape from death. The Rev. Mr. Abdullah also suffered. It was the hand of God that mysteriously caused all this suffering. There is no doubt if A thims had persisted in his usual denunciation of Islam he would have met the maximum punishment predicted by Ahmad as. But as he was frightened and changed his attitude and turned towards the truth, he was granted a respite from death. He would have been saved mental torture also if he had openly confessed his error and boldly recanted from Christianity. A thim’s colleagues were dealt with as they deserved. Some of them died, some suffered from disease and others were publicly disgraced. God alone is the Judge in each case. A Prophet is not omniscient or omnipotent. Ahmad as therefore issued a leaflet on September 5th, 1894, and another on the 9th, in which he explained the implications of the revelation of God. To convince the public that A thim had actually changed his attitude towards Islam Ahmad as asked him to deny it openly if he had not, in which case, Ahmad as prophesied, A thim would actually be stricken with death within one year. Otherwise