The Descent of the Messiah — Page 318
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH book? If his accusation had been true, why would God have dis- graced him? When it became known among people that, having stolen an article from a dead person, Mehr Ali had committed theft akin to that of those who would steal a shroud, and some of his friends wrote letters to him that it had not been proper to do so, he responded that he had received prior permission from the deceased Muhammad Hassan. It is obvious that if the late Mu- hammad Hassan had given such permission, he would have done it in his own lifetime and sent the manuscript to him, rather than having his widow send it after his death. In any case, he should have mentioned that he was himself bereft of any knowledge of Arabic and literature and that he had found these manuscripts that belonged to the late Muhammad Hassan, but nowhere does he mention this. On the contrary, he arrogantly claims that he has written the book himself. Look at the result of attacking the truthful ones: he accused me of stealing a few sentences but was himself exposed as the thief of an entire book; and not just this, but a blatant liar as well, for he published in his book a filthy lie and claimed that it was his own writing, when it was not. What do you say, Pir Ji, am I now permitted to say لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَذِبِينَ [May the curse of Allah be upon the liars]? As for Muhammad Hassan, since he is deceased, there is no need for a lengthy discussion about him, for he has found his punishment. He devoured the filth of falsehood and placed the same in the Pir's mouth. I wrote on top of the book Ijā- zul-Masih the prophecy that anyone who dares to respond to this book will remain frustrated. What greater frustration can there be than that he died before he could have his book pub- lished, and then Pir Mehr Ali ate his carrion by putting it in his own book, and he, too, remained frustrated. In writing this book, Mehr Ali had intended to show off his mastery as a scholar 318