The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 256
MISCONCEPTION IN NUR AFSHĀN 255 [Even if faith had ascended to the Pleiades, a man of Persia- -or some men of Persia would bring it back. ] Thus, it is apparent from this hadith that in the Latter Days a man of Persian descent would be raised, who would be so strong of faith that even if faith were in the Pleiades, he would bring it back from there. In another hadith, this very man has been referred to by the word 'Mahdi, whose appearance is established to be in the Latter Days from the lands of the East. The appearance of the Dajjāl [Antichrist] is also estab- lished to be in the Latter Days from the lands of the East. Reconciling both of these hadith reports makes it evident that the individual who is to oppose the Antichrist is this very man. And the practice of Allah demands this very fact as well, that the country in which the Dajjal's calibre of evil arises, is the very country in which the Virtuous One should arise; for, when the healer appears, he directs himself to the sick. It would, therefore, be quite astonishing that while, according to authentic hadith, the Dajjāl were to appear in India, the Messiah were to descend upon the minarets of Damascus! There is no doubt that in relation to Madinah, the Illuminated City, India lies in an easterly direction. The authentic hadith undoubtedly shows that the Dajjāl would appear in the East, and it would be from the East that the black banners of the Mahdi of Allah would come into view- v—as if to say it had been determined on the day of creation that the East would be the site of spiritual strife and the East would also be the site for the reformation of that strife. And there is another point worthy of note here. Just as the words of Allah, glorified be His eminence, ['and others from among them'] point out that the people who would resemble the Companions in their spiritual eminence would appear in the Latter Days, the same is indicated by the numerical values of all the letters of the verse: وَاخَرِيْنَ مِنْهُمْ لَمَّا يَلْحَقُوا بِهِمْ ! 1 1. Surah al-Jumu'ah, 62:4 [Publisher]