Deliverance from the Cross — Page 115
whatever. Thus, the question whether Jesus had died a natural death long after the event of the crucifixion or had ascended bodily to heaven, without having suffered any kind of death, and was awaiting his physical descent to earth, became the subject of fierce controversy between Hazrat Ahmad and the orthodox divines opposed to him. of The opposition to the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement was intensified by his claim that while he was a devoted follower of the Holy Prophet and believed that no one who was not a devoted follower of that Chief among the Prophets could be bestowed the status of a prophet, yet such status might, in the wisdom of God Almighty, be bestowed by way reflection upon a truly righteous Muslim, who was so devoted to the Holy Prophet as to lose his own spiritual identity in that of the Holy Prophet, and that he himself was such a person who, by the sheer grace of God and through the spiritual grace of the Holy Prophet, had been bestowed that status. This was anathema to the vast body of orthodox Muslims, who believed that there was no possibility of any kind of prophethood continuing after the Holy Prophet, and yet in the same breath held that Jesus on his descent to earth would have the status of a prophet. Hazrat Ahmad put forward conclusive arguments from the Quran and the pronouncements of the Holy Prophet in support of the validity of his claim and though the membership of his Movement continued 115