The Need for the Imam — Page 66
66 evident truths. Scholars of Hadith have always upheld the principle that doubt cannot negate certainty. The fact that this prophecy has been fulfilled literally in the time of the one who claims to be the Mahdi, is a sure testimony that he who spoke these words spoke nothing but the truth. To say that one is not sure of the character [of the narrator] is only a conjecture, for sometimes even liars speak the truth. Since the proph- ecy has also been borne out in other ways and some leading Hanafite scholars have also testified to it, it will not only be unfair, but it will be sheer obstinacy to deny it. After this incontrovertible rejoinder, they were left with no choice but to admit that the Hadith was true, and that it was correctly understood to sig- nify the appearance of the Promised Imam in the near future; but, they said, this man is not the Promised Imam, he will be some other person. But this reply of theirs also proved to be flimsy and false, for had there been some other Imam, he should have appeared at the turn of the fourteenth century, 61 as mentioned in Hadith. But fifteen years of the century have already passed and no Imam of theirs has yet appeared. The final excuse they have now come up with is, 'These people are infidels, don’t read their books, and do not 61 According to Islamic calendar known as Hijri calendar. [Publishers]