The Descent of the Messiah — Page 218
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH 42 [continued] quillity vanished. He changed himself so much that he completely ceased to engage in debates with Muslims and stopped writing books against Islam, as had previ- ously been his practice. He stopped uttering sacrilegious and insulting remarks, as though his mouth had been sealed. He became very quiet and depressed. Such was the state of his depression that he despaired of his very life and, in a state of frenzy, began travelling from town to town to pay a last visit to his relatives. It was in the course of these travels that he finally met his death in Ferozepur. The question is, why was he overtaken by Divine pun- ishment and why did he die shortly thereafter while he had repented publicly of his sacrilegious remark, and had more than once expressed aversion to using the word Dajjal? The answer is that since he had become the target of the mubahalah [prayer duel], therefore, in keeping with the prophecies that were made fifteen months later, while Atham was still alive, and are re- corded on the first page of the book Anjām-e-Atham, it was inevitable that he should die. It was clearly stated in these prophecies that Atham would die soon after his refusal to swear an oath and after concealing the testi- mony and after reverting to his impertinence. Since he was guilty of these offences, he died seven months after my last announcement was published. His death was also inevitable because it was implicit in the prophecy that the liar would die before the truthful one. Therefore, the only benefit he received from his penitence was that he did not die within fifteen months. However, later, when he stopped being remorseful, and his heart was no longer in fear as it had been during the fifteen-month period, and he lied and said that he had never been afraid of the prophecy, and when he was called upon to swear an oath and offered a reward of four thousand rupees in cash, he refused to do so, God caused his death for his denial and 218