The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 326
ANNOUNCEMENT OF A PROPHECY 325 inspirational powers, but when I accepted their offer on the condition that they would have to accept Islam, the pastors did not pursue the matter further. The Christian priests had long since put a seal on reve- lation. Now that the seal has been broken and the bounty of the Holy Spirit has been proven to be on the side of the Muslims, the fault of Christian preachers' belief has come to light. It was inevitable that the clergymen should have felt doubly pained due to my revelations-one being the pain due to the breaking of the seal, and the second being due to the shifting of revelation from one people to another. The harsh language of Nür Afshāń is really due to its chagrin at this affair, which, like a consuming atrophy, is incurable. Now, let it be realized that the letter which the opposing party had published in the Nür Afshān of 10 May 1888, was written [by me] solely upon Divine direction. For a long time, some of the more important and near relatives of the addressee, about whose real niece's hand this proposal had been made, had been seeking a Sign from me. They were violators of Islamic practices and were—and remain even now-enemies of the Islamic Sunnah. Their request for a Sign is con- tained even in the notice they published in the Chashma-e-Nūr of August 1885 printed in Amritsar. They are not only my enemies but also the enemies of God and His Messenger. The father of the girl, on account of the existence of a close relationship with them, is solic- itous of their approval. He is devoted to them with all his heart and soul, and is unable to assert his powers; nay, he is totally subservient to them. He regards his own daughters as theirs, and they, too, look upon his daughters as theirs; they are his chief advisers in everything and act as his mouthpiece. That is why they themselves drummed and proclaimed the affair about his daughter, so much so that they filled even the Christian papers with this story. Bravo for such a piece of wisdom; you have acted as maternal uncles indeed with a vengeance! Ideal maternal uncles! In short, as these people took me for an impostor and a liar, and as they found various faults with Islam and the Holy Quran, and asked