The Descent of the Messiah — Page 219
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMADAS 42 [continued] for concealing his testimony and for his audacity within seven months of my last announcement, i. e. within fif- teen months, and his life ended in Ferozepur on July 27, 1896. In any case, Atham died within the fifteen months foretold in the prophecy. This prophecy was endowed by God with an element of grace in that it was clothed in mercy and compassion. Since Atham adopted gentleness in his behaviour and did not use the kind of foul lan- guage that Lekhram had used, God showed him leniency by granting him respite before his death, thus demon- strating a sign of His grace. Lekhram, however, was rude and used foul language, and God responded with a sign of His Majesty. Despite this, when the ignorant and blind did not value the sign of God's benevolence shown through Atham, God demonstrated His Majesty through the death of Lekhram. Living Witnesses: The proof of prophecy number 42, which I made regarding Abdullah Atham, is present in the treatise of the debate entitled Jang-e-Muqaddas. It outlines the reason behind the prophecy, which was that Atham had called the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, a deceiver but then on hearing of the prophecy, had repented in the presence of some seventy people, including Maulawi Hakeem Noor-ud-Deen; Maulawi Abdul Karim; Sheikh Rahmatullah, the owner of Bombay House, Lahore; Khalifah Noor-ud-Deen, a trader from Jammu; Munshi Zafar Ahmad of Kapurthala; Khawaja Kamal-ud-Deen, Pleader of Peshawar; Khalifah Rajab-ud-Deen of Lahore; Miyan Muhammad Chattu of Lahore; Munshi Taj-ud-Deen of Lahore; Maulawi Allah-Diya of Ludhiana; Munshi Muhammad Arora of Kapurthala; Miyan Muhammad Khan of Kapurthala; Sheikh Noor Ahmad, Editor Riyadh-e-Hind, Amritsar, and owner of the Riyadh-e-Hind Press, Amritsar; Miyan Nabi Bakhsh; wool cloth trader, Amritsar; Miyan Qutb-ud-Deen, maker of copper utensils, Amritsar; Mufti Muhammad Sadiq; Sahibzadah Sirajul Haqq; Qazi Zia-ud- Deen; Maulawi Abdullah Sanauri; Sheikh Chiragh Ali etc. All of these gentlemen are witnesses to this prophecy. 219