Tadhkirah — Page 456
456 April 11, 1900 (A) On the morning of the day of ‘ I dul-A dha 507 [the Festival of Sacrifices] I received the revelation: [Urdu] Say something in Arabic. This was communicated to several friends. I had never made a speech in Arabic before. When on that day I stood up to deliver the ‘ I d sermon in Arabic, God Almighty made a clear and eloquent Arabic address flow from my tongue which was pregnant with meaning and which is set out in the book entitled Khutbah Ilhamiyyah [Revealed Sermon]. The address extends over several juzw 508 and was made spontaneously in one continuous delivery. God has called it a Sign in His revelation, for the address was delivered entirely under the influence of divine power. I do not believe that any Arabic orator, scholar or literary figure, can deliver such a speech extempore. [Naz u lul-Mas ih , p. 210, R u h a n i Khaz a ’in, vol. 18, p. 588] (B) On the morning of April 11, 1900, the day of ‘ I dul- A dha [the Festival of Sacrifices], I received a revelation: [Urdu] Deliver an address in Arabic today, you have been bestowed the capacity. 507 Note by Hadrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad ra : al- H akam , volume 4, number 14, April 17, 1900 writes: Today, the morning of ‘ I d , Maul a n a [‘Abdul-Kar i m Si a lkoat i ra ] went inside and said [to the Promised Messiah as ]: ‘I have come today especially to request you to speak, even if it be a few sentences. ’ The Promised Messiah [as] said: ‘That is what Allah the Almighty has commanded. ’ He also added: ‘I received a revelation last night: [Urdu] Say a few sentences to the gathering in Arabic. I had thought that it would be a different gathering, but perhaps this is the one. ’ 508 A juzw consists of 16 pages of a bound book. [Publishers]