Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 269
269 Now in view of the natural sequence of events, all good-natured people will have to accept in the least—for there is no other option—that a heavenly man must appear and his task at this time must be to break the cross. The True Meaning of Breaking the Cross However, there is a point which calls for contemplation. It has been narrated that the Promised Messiah would be tasked with the responsibility of breaking the cross. What does this mean exactly? Would he break wooden crosses? What benefit would this serve? It is obvious that if he went about breaking crosses made of wood, this is no magnificent task, nor would this result in any substantial ben- efit. If the Promised Messiah broke crosses made of wood, the Christians would just make crosses of gold, silver and other metals, so what would be achieved? Then, Hazrat Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, and Yazid and Salah- ud-Din broke many crosses as well, so would this one factor alone make them the Promised Messiah? No, of course not. We learn, therefore, that this cannot mean that the Promised Messiah would go about breaking wooden crosses which are hung by Christians. This has a deep- er meaning to it, and in support of this underlying reality, another phrase has appeared in the Hadith as well which is as follows: َ یَضَع ُ الْحَرْب Meaning, the Promised Messiah would put an end to warfare. Now someone ought to explain this to me. On the one hand, it is the task of the Promised Messiah to altogether put an end to war, and it would be deemed unlawful to engage in religious wars during his time. On the other hand, it is also clear that the era under discussion would be one of peace and the ruling power at the time would be a just one; which further reinforces the point that in the era that is being referred to, war would be unlawful. Now, wars will be forbidden, yet appar- ently, one of the tasks of the Promised Messiah is to break the cross. Now reflect and do tell me, does this not support my view that the ‘breaking of the cross’ does not imply the breaking of crosses made of wood, brass, etc. (which Christians put around their necks as a blessing). Does this not prove that the specific phrase in question alludes to some other deeper meaning? It is this very point that I pre- sent. I have clearly announced that in the present age, war is unlawful. Just as the Messiah was tasked with the duty just mentioned, another one of his tasks was p. 246