The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 470
AT-TABLIGH―TO THE NOBLE AND PIOUS OF THE ARABS 469 from Allah to break the cross that has been glorified, and to slaughter the swine such that it may never be revived again. My Lord has chosen me for His appointed time. Verily Allah never breaks His promise or covenant. O men of reason! His promise was indeed to raise the Messiah [Jesus] during the very time of the attack from the mischief of the Cross and Christian vice. If you are in doubt about what we have said, then-O wise ones!—ponder over the saying of His Prophet; that is, Call [yaksiruş-şalīb—‘He will break the cross']. Open your eyes and cast a deep look into this era of yours, and note the people who have instigated the greatest turmoil; hence, bear witness on oath: 'Has the time not come for the advent of the Breaker of Cross?' By Allah, I have been sent by my Lord. The spirit of the Messiah has been breathed into my heart and I have been made a vessel for his inten- tions and inclinations until I was filled-body and soul—with it, and until my being was strung into his to the extent that his spiritual body can be seen in my being. His essence was absorbed into my heart and a light of his soul sparked which was perfectly accepted by my soul. I was so closely attached to him that I imagined that I was him. Accordingly, my being disappeared, and the Messiah was reflected within my mirror of being, manifesting himself. I imagined that my heart, liver, veins, and the fabric of my whole being was filled with his being and this par- ticular being of mine is nothing but a part of the essence of his being. This was all done by my Glorious and Exalted Lord. In the beginning of my mission he was as close to me as a sea is to a boat, then he drew nearer and came down. Then he became to me as water in a waterskin, so much so that his soul began to ripple in my body, then I became a non-existent entity. I found him as sugar dissolved in water, incapable of one being separated from the other. I have found through my spiritual sense that he has become one with my 1. Şahih al-Bukhārī, Kitābul-Mazālim, Bāb Kasruş-Şalīb wa Qatlul-Khinzir, Hadith 2476 [Publisher]