The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 276
MISCONCEPTION IN NUR AFSHAN 275 as are appropriate. Do not ignore the circumstances of the present so that you might clearly realize that all the prevalent misguidance is that same Dajjaliyyat-corruption of the Antichrist—against which every Prophet had warned and the foundation of which Christianity and the Christian nations have laid in this world. It was necessary, therefore, that the Mujaddid [Reformer] of the age to come as the Messiah because the followers of the [first] Messiah are the ones who have laid the foundation of this spiritual strife. And it has been disclosed to me through a vision that Hadrat ‘Īsāas [Jesus] was apprised of the poisonous doctrines which have spread throughout the world through the Christians. Thereby, his soul was moved to beg for a spiritual descent upon the earth, and-deeply affected by finding his people ruined by this corruption—he desired a substitute who should resemble him and should be possessed of the same nature as himself as if he was the same. Hence, God Almighty, according to His promise, bestowed upon him one who resembled him and bestowed upon this one the resolve, the character, and the spirituality of the Messiahas. He and the Messiah [Jesus] were firmly bonded together as if the two were fashioned out of the same essence and the concerns of the Messiah [Jesus] made the heart of the other [Messiah] their resting place so that he might fulfil his urge through him. In this manner, he took on the identity of the Messiah, and the fervent designs of the Messiah descended upon him by virtue of which his coming was metaphorically described in the revelations as the coming of the Messiah. Let it be borne in mind that it is one of the mysteries of the spiritual world that some perfectly holy men of the past acquire such a rela- tionship with some such who are living on the earth by casting their spiritual influence upon them, and effecting a spiritual union with them, that they regard the advent of the latter as their own advent. As the same wishes arise in the heart of the heavens, they arise in the mind of the one upon the earth by the will of Almighty Allah. Their spirit- the essence of which is united with that of the man on earth-possesses such power that its will is placed into the other heart by God Almighty.