The Descent of the Messiah — Page 32
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH land, in accordance with the Quran, the earlier scriptures, and the Hadith of both Sunnis and Shiites. The Hajj was suspend- ed, and in place of camels, new modes of transport came into being. The urgent need to break the Cross became keenly felt, for 2. 9 million apostates emerged as Christians in Punjab and India. Six thousand years have elapsed since Adam, yet your Messiah has still not appeared! Did God withhold any of His signs? Did He not end the life of Atham according to the terms of the prophecy? Did he not cleanse the earth of the mischief of Lekhram within the specified time? When an objection was raised about the death of my brother Maulawi Noor-ud-Deen's son, did God not give the tidings that another son would be born to him and the sign would be that he would have horrible boils on his body? The son was born as a manifest sign and his name is Abdul Hayyi and his body still bears the marks of the boils he was born with. This prophecy had been published across the country in thousands of announce- ments. There was also the prophecy that four sons would be born to me and that Abdul Haqq Ghaznawi would still be alive when the fourth would be born. How extensively was this proph- ecy propagated through announcements, and how clear was its fulfilment, but did anyone believe it? These are not just a hand- ful of signs, for they number more than one hundred and fifty. If the witnesses to these signs who are still alive were to stand in rows, their numbers would be comparable to a large contingent of the Government's army. How unjust of them, after seeing so many signs, to keep saying that no sign has been shown! For the Maulawīs, the sign of their own ignorance should have been suf- ficient for them. Announcements were published promising rewards of thousands of rupees if they would only sit before me and compete with me in writing the commentary of any chapter of the Holy Quran in eloquent Arabic, but they could not compete. Was this not a sign that God had taken away their entire intel- lectual ability? Even though they were in their thousands, not a 32