Reply to a Mockery — Page 81
Response to the booklet entitled Ilh a m i Girgit 81 Mirza Sahib’s claim in whose time the double eclipse took place in 1894. Although it is a separate issue, here we are arguing the point that the prophecy of the double eclipse was not concocted by Hadrat Mirza Sahib. Even if we do not accept that this prophecy was made by the Holy Prophet s as , it still can be traced back to Imam B a qir rta who passed away in 148 AH, 765 CE. Now, Imam B a qir rta was the grandson of Hadrat Imam H usain ra, and the son of Imam Zain-ul- Abid i n rta. Millions of Shiites accept him as their Im a m. Although his style of narration was not the unbroken chain common among other narrators (i. e. I heard it from Zaid, and Zaid heard it from Bakr, etc. ), but he was brought up in the household of the Holy Prophet s as and he would state what he heard exactly as he heard it. For this reason, there was an authenticity to his sayings. He was brought up by extremely pious people and they would not fabri- cate anything about the Holy Prophet s as. Whether or not Maulaw i Sahib accepts this Hadith, millions of Shia Muslims accept it and a great many Sunni scholars accept it and respect it. Even a person as absurd as Maulaw i Sahib has to admit that this prophecy was not made by Hadrat Mirza Sahib. If anyone did indeed invent it, it must have been Imam Baqir rta. And if that is so, did he do it to prove the Imam Mahdi superior to the Holy Prophet s as ? Here we would like to point out that this hadith is recorded in D a r Qu t n i which Sunni scholars regard as a book of high rank. Also, we would like you to bear in mind that here, once again, Maulaw i Abul Bash i r Irfani has showed his dishonesty. Two verses after the one quoted above, Hadrat Mirza Sahib says