A Present to His Royal Highness - The Prince of Wales — Page 40
40 Messiah would appear towards the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century of the Muslim Era, and this belief had been strengthened by certain dreams, visions and revelations which had been vouchsafed to divers holy men. Thus from the very moment of his birth the Promised Messiah acquired a resemblance to him under whose name he was destined to guide the world, for at the time of the first Messiah’s birth also some persons were informed of the event, the only difference being that on that occasion the attention of men was arrested by the appearance of a star, and in these days the attention of non-Muslims was drawn by means of dreams and inspirations, and that of Muslims by means of visions and revelations. During his youth his father’s financial position began to grow worse, for anarchy followed on the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and with the introduction of British rule into the Punjab practically the whole of the family estate was resumed. This left a deep impression on the father’s mind of the transitoriness of the world, and the son’s mind was also thus early imbued with the sense of the vanity of all earthly things. That age was not one of learning, but his father engaged a private tutor for him and he received such instruction as might have been considered adequate at a time when education was not looked upon with favour by the nobility, but which amounted to very little when compared with modern University education. In later days his opponents, finding themselves helpless to contend against him in matters spiritual, were wont to say that he could be no divine as he had not studied at any