The Descent of the Messiah — Page 216
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH 42 [continued] wished that God should grant me some prophecy regarding his chastisement. It was with this in mind that I took a signed statement from Atham, so that when I announced the prophecy he should not rush to the Court like other Christians and try to harm me. I was occupied in the debate for fifteen days and continued to pray privately for [a sign of] reprimand for Atham. When the debate was over, I was informed by God Almighty that if Atham would not repent of his audacity and insolence, and would not retract the word Dajjal which he wrote in his book with reference to the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, he would be cast into Haviyah [hell] within a period of fifteen months. Having received this revelation, I addressed Abdullah Atham on the day that the debate was concluded. This was before a large gathering, which included Dr Martyn Clark and about thirty other Christians, as well as about thirty or forty members of my Community. Among these were Maulawi Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen, Maulawi Abdul Karim, Sheikh Rahmatullah, Munshi Taj-ud- Deen (Accountant, Railway Office, Lahore), brother Abdul Aziz Khan (Clerk, Office of the Examiner, Railway, Lahore), Khalifah Noor-ud-Deen, and others. I said to Deputy Abdullah Atham that although this debate has ended in the intellectual and rational sense, there is still another ongoing contest that remains to be decided, and it has been ordained by God. It is as follows: In your book, Andrūna-e-Bible, you have called our Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, Dajjal whereas I believe him to be a true Messenger, and I firmly believe Islam to be from God. Now, this is something that will be decided by heaven. The heavenly decree is that whichever of us is false in his statement and unjustly declares the true Messenger to be a liar and Dajjal, and whichever of us is an enemy of the truth, shall be cast into Haviyah [hell] within fifteen months from 216