The Descent of the Messiah — Page 21
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMADAS ised Mahdi. It has now been consistently proven that one of the signs of the Promised Messiah is that during his time and on account of his prayer and attention, the plague shall break out on earth. For his sake, while the heavens shall darken the moon and the sun during Ramadan, the earth shall spread the gloom and destruc- tion of the plague. Since he will not be accepted at the beginning, signs of warning shall be shown for him and the disbelievers shall die through his breath, i. e. his attention, prayer, and comple- tion of the argument. ¹ This death shall occur in two ways: (1) Spiritually: At the time all religions except Islam will be dead. (2) Physically: Since he will be persecuted and tormented, God's anger will flare up against creation. Then He will initiate a series of deaths that will resemble the pattern of Doomsday. Finally, people will ask themselves why they have been visited by all these afflictions and the way of the righteous shall be made manifest. In short, the prevalence of death will be one of the special signs of the Promised Messiah, and this has been testified to by all the Prophets. You may ask: If you are indeed the Messiah and this plague has appeared as a Sign for you, should God not have informed you of its coming before it broke out? The answer is that God did truly inform me of the plague be- forehand and that it was conveyed to people in such categorical terms that no one among the Muslims, Christians, or Hindus can deny it. Indeed, God gave me these tidings, not once but many 1 It is a strange coincidence that, in the time of Jesus, a dust storm suddenly blocked the light of the sun and moon on a day of fasting, while a deadly plague ravaged the land. Similarly, in our age, darkness descended during the month of Ramadan owing to the lunar and solar eclipses echoing the darkness that had fallen on the Jewish day of fasting. And once again, the world was beset by plague and destruction. (Author) 21