Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 143
15 February 1907 143 everything, and unless it is so, His Tau hi d [Oneness of God] is not established. Is Every Death from the Plague the Death of a Martyr? It was mentioned that some adversaries say that the plague is not any chastisement from Allah, rather it is a martyrdom. The Promised Messiah as said: Martyrdom is for a believer who has already sacrificed his self in the way of God Almighty. His death is martyrdom in every condition. But to make this general rule that every person who dies from the plague is a martyr then are all the base, the mean, the Hindus, the Aryas, the Christians, the atheists, the idola- ters who are dying of the plague in their thousands, are they all attaining the status of martyrdom? Sayyid ‘Abdul-Muhyi the Arab had said to Maulaw i Sanaullah that Rus u l B a b a of Amritsar died of the chastisement of the plague; to it Sanaullah replied that he died the death of a martyr. The Arab gentleman said, ‘Very well then, I pray that God grant you this type of death of martyrdom. ’ Thus death by plague does not mean martyrdom in itself. The status of martyrdom is for those believers who have ded- icated their lives for God Almighty during their lifetime. The punishment of the plague afflicted the opponents of Hadrat M u s a [Moses] also in his time, and then after Hadrat ‘ I s a [ Jesus], this punishment befell his opponents, too, and even now God Almighty has sent down this punishment as a Sign.