The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 277
276 Α'ΙΝΑ-Ε-ΚΑMĀLĀT-E-ISLAM-DAFI UL-WASĀWIS In short, it is the way of Allah that sometimes Prophets and saints of the past descend upon the earth in this manner. Elijah's manifestation in the person of John [the Baptist] was of this kind. It has been dis- closed to my humble self that the real truth about the second advent of the Messiah is of this same nature. If there should still be someone who persists in doubt, I am prepared for a mubāhalah [prayer duel]. I had earlier refrained from mubāhalah because, as I understood, cursing Muslims was impermissible. But now, I have been informed that he who calls another Muslim a kāfir [disbeliever] and-despite finding the other's adherence to the Qiblah [direction of Prayer], affir- mation of the Kalimah,¹ and belief in the doctrines of Islam-does not desist from calling him a kāfir, is himself outside the pale of Islam. I have, therefore, been commissioned to enter into a mubāhalah [prayer duel] with those individuals who are the leaders in the campaign of declaring me a disbeliever and are called mufti, maulawi and muhad- dith and who also have wives and children. It would be necessary that in a public gathering, I should first set forth my reasoning in a detailed speech, and refute all their charges and doubts that agitate their minds. If, after this, they do not desist from calling me a kāfir, I should enter into a mubāhalah with them. The basis for the mubāhalah will not be that they exclude me from their technical appellation of Ahl-e-Sunnah wal Jama'ah. I do not mind it in the least; for, I find that a ghair muqallid [not a follower of one of the four Imams] who calls himself the Ahl-e-Hadith, addresses the followers of the four Imams as bid'atī [innovators] or belonging to the Faij-e-A'waj and considers them as contradicting the practice of the holy Companions and as opponents of the earlier elders in the Faith. Similarly, a Hanafi [follower of Imām Abu Hanifah], for example, believes that all those who subscribe to the Oneness of God but do 1. The declaration of the Islamic faith: La ilaha illallah; Muhammadur- Rasûlullah, meaning: There is none worthy of worship except Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. [Publisher]