In this third year of Al Hakam, we will present a selection of incidents from the blessed life of the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, this time, with some more details
10 April 1904: The Promised Messiahas was drawn into numerous lawsuits by his opponents, but he bore all harsh adversities with patience, prayers and steadfastness. Karam Din of Jhelum filed a lawsuit and during the hearing, a Hindu judge, Lala Chandu Lal did his utmost to discomfort the Promised Messiahas. This man was stripped of his position by the government on this date. The following day, the new judge, Atma Ram commenced the proceedings. In his book Haqiqatul Wahi, the Promised Messiahas stated that the expelling of the previous judge was a divine sign in his favour and was a fulfilment of a prophecy which he had previously given about Lala Chandu Lal, Extra Assistant Magistrate Gurdaspur. Accordingly, he was transferred from Gurdaspur to Multan and posted as a deputy judge.
11 April 1900: The heavenly sign of Khutba Ilhamiyah (the Revealed Sermon) was displayed on this date in Masjid Aqsa, Qadian. On the eve of Eid-ul-Adha in 1900, the Promised Messiahas spent the whole night in prayer and supplication. In his book, Nuzul-ul-Masih the Promised Messiahas has described the events and stated:
“On the morning of Eid-ul-Adha, I received a revelation, ‘Say a few words in Arabic’. I, therefore, informed my friends about the revelation. I had never delivered a speech before in Arabic. But, on that day, when I stood up to deliver the Eid Sermon, God produced an articulate, eloquent and full of wisdom speech to flow from my tongue, which is set out in Khutba Ilhamiyah. It is a lengthy speech which was delivered impromptu. God called it a sign in His revelation, for it was made unplanned, under the influence of the power of the Almighty God.”
The Promised Messiahas further writes, “When the speech was made, there were around 200 people who listened to it. A stream of words flowed from the unseen. I cannot say whether it was I who spoke, or an angel spoke through my tongue. I knew only that I had no part in this address. Sentence after sentence issued from my mouth and each one was a sign for me. This is a miracle of a literary nature that God has shown, and no one can present anything like it.”
Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Nuruddinra and Hazrat Maulvi Abdul Karim Sialkotira were assigned to note it down simultaneously. The Promised Messiahas advised his companions to memorise the sermon, after which several companions committed the whole sermon to memory. The revealed sermon was published in August 1901. The Promised Messiahas took special care in having it written by a scribe and translated it into Persian and Urdu himself, adding diacritical marks as well. When the book was published, it astonished the greatest scholars of the Arabic language at the time and they declared it to be incomparable in terms of eloquence, beauty and knowledge.
11 April 1900: A photo of the Promised Messiahas and another one with his companions was taken in Masjid Aqsa, Qadian. Dr Nur Muhammad Sahib of Lahore took these photos. Huzooras was planning to write a book addressing the inhabitants of Europe to spread the message of Islam there, which would be later translated into English. On this occasion, a suggestion was made that the people of the West had an advance knowledge and expertise in physiognomy. Through looking at a picture, they could comprehend the highest moral and intellectual stature of a person. Upon this, Huzooras permitted to call a photographer. During the photograph, the Promised Messiah’sas habit of restraining his eyes became evident when the photographer had to request Huzooras to keep his eyes open and look towards the camera and to lift his face a little bit as well.
12 April 1891: On this date, the Promised Messiahas was in Ludhiana for a visit. After his claim of being the Messiah, he decided to tour the main cities of India. Ludhiana was the first one, where his personal attendants, Hafiz Hamid Ali Sahib and Peeran Ditta Sahib accompanied him. Huzooras was in ill health, so he sent word to Hazrat Munshi Abdullah Sanaurira to come over and assist him in the daily correspondence. Despite his health issues, the Promised Messiahas remained occupied in conveying the message to the masses. During his stay there, people were incited openly to assassinate him and multiple attempts were also made on his life. People approached him with the intention of murder, but Huzooras remained under God’s protection. The situation was difficult as there was no proper personal security in place for Huzooras at his residence. Despite this, others would still visit him regularly and enjoy his discourses.
13 April 1891: The Promised Messiahas wrote a letter to his companion, Hazrat Munshi Rustam Alira. This fortunate person was the deputy inspector at the railroad police, Lahore and had a close relationship and was in regular contact with the Promised Messiahas. In this postcard, Huzooras reminded this trusted companion to buy and dispatch a certain English remedy from merchants in the cantonment area of Jalandhar.
15 April 1886: A girl was born in the late hours of Friday at the house of the Promised Messiahas. She was named Ismat. The birth of this girl proved to be a trial for the weak in faith, as they were expecting the “Promised Son” – as prophesied by the Promised Messiahas – but a girl was born who later passed away. Meanwhile, Christian and Hindu opponents took this opportunity and published countless articles in newspapers. The subject of those articles was that the prophecy about the Promised Son proved to be false. However, Huzooras said that there was reason and logic in the birth of a girl for those who could contemplate. Abdur Rahim Dard Sahibra has recorded the situation accurately in his book, Life of Ahmad. A storm of ridicule and abuse was raised by the sworn enemies of Islam, who were bent at any cost upon throwing dirt at the Champion of Islam. The Christian paper Nur Afshan (on 3 June 1886), Pandit Lekhram of the Arya Samaj (in his Ishtihar dated 25 April 1886), Nabi Bakhsh, a Muslim of Lahore and others declared that the prophecy was falsified by the birth of the daughter.
15 April 1908: The Promised Messiahas invited a staunch opponent, Maulvi Sanaullah of Amritsar to settle issues through a mubahala (prayer duel), but Sanaullah turned down the opportunity and for many decades had to witness the progress of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya. He died at Sargodha, a city near Rabwah in 1948 after losing his young son and suffering from a stroke. While looking back into the historic background of this hostility, we find that primarily, the mubahala challenge was given by the Promised Messiahas in his book Anjam-e-Atham published in 1897. At that time, the Promised Messiahas was 62 years old and Maulvi Sanaullah was a young man of 29. The ulema of that period to whom Huzooras particularly extended his challenge were listed in a notification which is appended to the book Anjam-e-Atham. In that list, the name of Maulvi Sanaullah Sahib appears at number 11. In response to this challenge, Maulvi Sanaullah remained silent for years. We find that later, the Promised Messiahas, in the newspaper Badr of 4 April 1907, in reply to the call of mubahala by Maulvi Sanaullah Sahib, published a notice of acceptance of this challenge. Later, the Promised Messiahas published a notification captioned, “Final decision with Maulana Sanaullah Sahib Amratsari” on 15 April 1908.