The Descent of the Messiah — Page 16
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH moured that the plague had broken out in Delhi, but it was proven after an investigation that it was not the plague but a kind of tuberculosis. The plague itself is of two types: epidemic and non-epidemic. The epidemic type spreads very quickly and is infectious and the mortality rate is very high. The non-epidemic plague does not spread in such a lethal manner and is marked by poisonous lumps that sometimes appear in the ear, in the palm, on the chest, on the nose, behind the ears, on the lips, on a finger, or on other parts of the body. These are all types of plagues. If they do not spread rapidly in humans and do not cause many deaths, they are not called epidemic plagues. In short, the di- agnosis of this illness is very difficult and it can baffle many a skilled physician, let alone ignorant people of the street who are completely incognisant of this field and partake little of human morality. Another peculiarity of this illness is that it has an active pe- riod during which it attacks viciously and has a high mortality rate, but then, with the change in weather or due to some inner workings of the human body that are not too well understood, it becomes less potent and its effect on some people is so mild that its abscess is a minor abscess and its fever is a mild fever. In fact, this condition is not called the plague at all, and the toxic disease is transmuted into a minor ailment. I now say as a word of advice that Paisa Akhbār ought hence- forth to desist from such deceptions and shameful lies, otherwise, I do not think that such falsehood will always agree with it. Re- grettably, some mischievous people of Amritsar have followed in the footsteps of the Paisa Akhbar in their announcements. Some have lied so far as to imply that the plague has spread only among our Community and that Qadian is experiencing the kind of plague that would be termed devastating. The only thing I can say in answer to this is لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَذِبِينَ ]May the curse of Allah 16