The Descent of the Messiah — Page 33
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMADAS single one dared to sincerely compete with me and find out whom God would support in this contest. Another sign for them was that they tried their best to de- stroy me, and there was no deception or machination that they did not employ, and they used all their strength and resources in opposition to me. They resorted to all kinds of lawful and unlaw- ful means and made full use of abuse, insult, and vilification. They filed lawsuits against me, even to the extent of accusing me of mur- der. However, the result was that the Community, which in those early days comprised less than forty members, has now grown to nearly seventy thousand. Despite fierce opposition and resistance, the prophecy that was announced to the world in Barāhīn-e-Ah- madiyya, twenty years ago has come true. The gist of the prophecy was that people would oppose and try to destroy this Movement, but God would oppose their intentions and cause this Movement to become a large Community that would soon spread all over the world, and that the plans of the people who attempted to put an end to it would bear the stain of being accursed. Tell me, is God's miraculous help yet to be proven? If all this had been the work of a deceiver, would it have produced the same results? Arise and show me a single deceiver in the history of the world for whose annihilation all these methods were em- ployed and yet he was not destroyed. O callous ones! Who has advised you to spit at the moon? Will you fight Him Who cre- ated the earth and the heavens? Ponder in your hearts: has God ever befriended a liar in such a way that He destroyed the schemes and efforts of all those who stood up against him and vanquished them in every field? Desist! Fear His wrath, and understand that you have set a seal over your evil deeds. If God were with you, you would not need to resort to such deceptions. Indeed, the prayer of just a single one of you would have been enough to destroy me; but none of your prayers reached heaven. On the contrary, the effect of your prayers is that you are the ones being vanquished day by day. You called me Musaylima the 33