The Descent of the Messiah — Page 18
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH tire villages were rendered desolate and homes were left with no survivors other than some infants, then this Community that lives in Qadian, along with its leader, would also be destroyed and all of them would die of the plague. But this is not acceptable to God, for these are His people whom He has prepared. The one He has sent is a tree planted by His own hand; why would He cut down the orchard He has Himself planted? It is for this reason that the entire village has been spared the great chastisement. This is akin to a ship carrying a chosen servant of God to some other country to spread His message. Suddenly the ship is caught up in a storm. Now, there may be many aboard the ship who deserve to be drowned, but, in keeping with Divine prac- tice, they will be spared for the sake of the chosen one, for their drowning would cause harm to him, which is not acceptable to God. Here it should be noted that deaths do occasionally occur even on ships that are not in any peril, but these incidents do not cause the passengers to become so perturbed as to start jumping off the ship or to all start crying and lamenting together. On the other hand, the kind of dreadful fatalities that are caused by the ship colliding with something and breaking to pieces and its pas- sengers being inundated by the waves, would constitute a great calamity, but this would not occur when a Prophet or Messen- ger or an elect of God is present on the ship. Rather, the other passengers, too, will reach the shore safely for the sake of, and through the intercession of, such a person. This will occur so that the perfect servant of God, who is travelling for the glory of God, remains safe from apprehension and destruction and the task for which he has undertaken the journey does not remain incom- plete. It was in keeping with this Divine practice that the revela- 18