The next allegation is one we are answering in great upset. It is sad that Ahmadas was defending Islam against a Christian and had a clear victory, and yet the anti Ahmadi Muslims raise an allegation against him. It is truly upsetting that the anti Ahmadis defended the trinity rather than the tauheed of Allah. However, we will focus on the fulfillment of this prophecy.
The anti Ahmadi Muslims claim that Ahmadas said that Atham would die within fifteen months after the debate of theirs, but did not die. The sad part is that they do not even dare to look or read the prophecy in context with its condition. This prophecy was based upon repentance and it is indeed a clear fact that Atham repented.
This prophecy was from the year of 1893. In these days Muslims were terrified by the Christians and had no one in their entire area to help defend Islam. Because they knew Ahmadas was the only one suitable who would be able to defend Islam, they all came to him to speak for the Muslims. Once the debate was coming to an end, Allah revealed to the Promised Messiahas in reply to the mockery of Atham against Muhammadsaw. Allah Told Ahmadas that if Atham would not return to the truth, he would end up dying within a period of 15 months. This would be a sign for all of the Christians who were harsh against Islam and this would be a victory for Islam.
Ahmadas published this prophecy as a warning from Allah to Atham. This was in regards to the mockery of Atham to Muhammadsaw. The only way Atham would be saved from thsi death would be him turning to the truth and stopping his horrible language against the Prophet Muhammadsaw.
The prophecy is as follows:
“Last night, it was made apparent to me, when I supplicated before God with great humility and emotion saying, ‘Decide in this matter; and we are but your humble servants, we cannot do a thing without your verdict,’ He granted me a Sign by way of glad-tiding that among the two parties, the one who is lying intentionally, and is abandoning the true God, and makes a humble man to be God, would be thrown into a Hawiyyah [i.e., punishment of fire] and be utterly disgraced, within a period which coincides with the number of days in this debate, i.e., for every day a period of one month, that is to say, within a period of 15 months from today, on the condition that he does not return to the truth. Through this, the honour of that person would be manifested who is truthful and believes in the True God. And when this prophecy is manifested, some of the blind would regain their sight; and some of the crippled would begin to walk; and some of the deaf would begin to hear.( Jang-e-Muqaddas, Ruhani Khaza’in, Volume 6, p. 291-292)
Once this prophecy was published, Atham changed completely. He became terrified and full of fear. He started to fear things that were not even there and started to tremble. He behaved in a manner which was scaring the people in regards to his condition as well. He would think a serpent was set loose to kill him and would also fear the dogs. He would see random things like armed men and evil spirts which he thought were coming to attack him. Since he was full of fear because of what his mind was going through, he stopped his mockery against the Holy Prophetsaw and Islam.He had become like one who was dead. The reason he did not die in the fifteen months was because of him stopping his mockery and him repenting. When the last day of the fifteen months had arrived, Atham did not die. A lot of people tried to claim that the prophecy was not fulfilled. It was already shown that this prophecy was conditional based upon the repentence of Atham. The silence of Atham showed that he repented and developed a fear of Allah. In reply to all of the allegations of the Mullahs and the Christians, Ahmadas made a announcement where he offered 4000 rupes to Atham if he can claim that he has not repented.
Ahmadas stated:
“Now, if Atham swears on oath (that he has not repented) the promise of one year is conclusive and categorical, with which there are no conditions. And the decree is unchangeable. And if Atham does not take the oath, even then God would not let a culprit go unpunished who tried to deceive the world by hiding the truth. The days are near, not distant.”( Announcement, ‘4000 Rs. Reward’, p. 11, 27 October 1894)
Seven months after this announcement and challenge was made, Atham passed away without mocking the Prophetsaw for the rest of his life. He was not able to step up to this challenge because he clearly repented. Why else would he not accept free money, if he truly denied the truthfulness of Muhammadsaw?
Here is an interesting passage from the debate itself which shows that even in the debate, Atham was shattered:
Statement of Mr. Abdullah Athmam:
In response to your Mubahala of yesterday, we Christians see no need of fresh miracles for old teachings; nor do we find ourselves up to the task. We have only been promised that whatever supplications we make, consistent with divine will, shall be granted, but we have not been promised any signs, whereas you, sir, seem to take pride in showing signs. We have no objection to witnessing a sign, and if it is indeed in the interest of mankind that a decision should be reached through the showing of a sign, we, for our part, have already expressed our inability to do so; it is now up to you to show a sign if you so please.
This is what you said in yesterday’s closing statement, and this is what you have hinted at today; so there is no need to discuss the matter any further. We are both well-advanced in age, and the grave is our destination. Let us be merciful to mankind and settle the matter on the basis of some heavenly sign. You have also said that you have received special revelation to the effect that victory shall be yours in this contest, and that the Just God is surely with those who are true, therefore, this is bound to happen. We have already pointed out in reply to the summary of your statement that we are not debating with you because we consider you to be a prophet or messenger or the recipient of revelation. Nor are we concerned with your personal beliefs, your arguments and your revelations. We assume that you are a Mohammedan, and are therefore having a dialogue with you on the subject of Christianity and Mohammedanism on the basis of the Principles that are generally accepted by both. But as you are willing to show a sign of divine power and are inviting us for the contest in this regard, we have no objection in witnessing a sign. So here are three people, one is blind, one has an amputated leg, and one is dumb. You are welcome to cure any of them if you can. Ad whatever penalty falls upon us as a result of this miracle, we shall be willing to pay. By your own admission, you believe in a God who is not only all powerful in name but is truly all powerful; he should, therefore, have no difficulty in curing them. Why wait then, as, in your own words, God shall most surely be with the truthful. Please do have mercy on God’s creatures, and be quick about it. Moreover, you must have been informed [by God] that today you will face this situation and you must have known that this is going to happen, for the same God who told you that victory shall be yours in this contest, must have also informed you that a blind man and other afflicted persons are going to be presented before you. So please go ahead and do as you have claimed here in the presence of Both Christians and the Mohammedans….
Statement of the Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as):
Let it be clear that I wrote to Deputy Abdullah Atham and told him that just as he considers the Christian faith to be the only means of salvation, so does the Holy Quran regard Islam as the sole way to salvation. You have made your claim on your own, while I have quoted the actual verses from the Holy Quran. But a claim without proof is of little value. This is why I said to him that the Holy Quran has described the hallmarks of those who have attained salvation, and , in keep with these hallmarks, we find that the followers of this Holy Book attain salvation in this very life. But do you find, in your religion, believers who possess the signs of salvation as Jesus himself as described them?
For example it is written in Mark 16:17:
“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any dead thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”
So now I respectfully submit the following and beg to be forgiven if there is any harshness or bitterness in my words: with regard to the three sick persons you have presented before me, let me say that they symbolize a sign which Jesus has particulary attributed to the Christians. He says “If you are a true believer then your sign will be that you will lay hands on sick and they will recover.’ Pardon me, but if you indeed claim to be a true believer, we have here three sick persons, whom you yourselves have presented; just lay your hand on them and if they recover we will believe that you are indeed true believers and have attained salvation. Otherwise, there is no ground for accepting your claim, because Jesus also says “if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove (Matthew, 17:20) I do not want you to remove a mountain right now, because there are no mountains around here, but we do have a very good opportunity for you, since you yourselves have presented the sick, go ahead, therefore, and lay your hand on them and just heal them! Otherwise you will not be left with any faith, not even as little as a mustard seed!
But the same cannot be said of us, Because, in the Holy Quran, Allah has never given us the special distinction that whenever we lay our hands on the sick, they will be cured. True he has said that he shall accept our prayers as and when he pleaces. And if a prayer is not worthy of acceptance, or runs counter to divine wisdom then, at the very least, one would be apprised of it. Nowhere has he said that you have been given the power to do whatever you please. On the other hand, it seems to be the decree of Jesus(as) that he grants his followers powers such as to cure the sick as it is written in Mattew 10:1:
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”
It is has now become incumbent upon you, and indeed a test of your faith, that you should cure these sick persons, or else you have to confess that you do not have faith even as little as a mustard seed. Remember everyone is called to account according to his own book. (Jange Muqaddas, Ruhani Khazain Vol 6 page 149-157)
Another interesting statement by Ahmadas is:
“In your book Adruna-e-Bible, you have called our Holy Prophetsaw Dajjal, whereas I belive him to be a true messenger, and I firmly believe Islam to be from God. Now this is something that will be decided by heaven. The heavenly decree is that whichever of us is false in his statement and unjustly declares the true messenger to be a liar and dajjal, and whichever of us is an enemy of the truth, shall be cast in hawia [hell] within fitfteen months from today, in the lifetime of the truthful one; unless he turns to the true i.e desists from calling the righteous and true Prophet saw Dajjal and refrains from impertinence and abuse. I said this because the mere denial of a religion does not merit punishment in this world, it is audacious, impertinent and insolent vilification that makes one deserve punishment. Thus when Atham was apprised of this prophecy in this gathering of more than seventy people, he blanched visibly, his face turned pale, and his hands started to tremble. He immediately took his tongue out of his mouth, touched his ears with both hands, and began to shake his head and hands just like frightened culprit who vehemently denies any wrongdoing, repents and shows great humility. With a quivering tongue, he kept saying, I repent! I repent! I am not guilty of any disrespect or blasphemy; and I have never called the Holy Prophet saw Dajjal. All the while he was trembling and this spectacle was not only be held by Muslims but his humble attitude was also witnessed by a large number of Christians. His denial seemed to signify that his statement in his book Andruna-e-Bible was not meant as an insult. In any case, he ended up retracting the word Dajjal before this gathering of about seventy people, and it was this one word that had occasioned this prophecy. He escaped death within a period of fifteen months, because he had recanted that blasphemous word on which the prophecy depended and God would surely never forget the condition that he himself had attached….”(Nazulul Masih, Ruhani Khazain Vol 18. Pp 541-545)
Another strong statement of Ahmadas is:
“Atham will not make the statement on oath even if the Christians would cut him to pieces or slaughter him.”(Anjam-e-Atham, p. 3, Reference Announcement of December 30, 1895, Majmu‘ah Ishtiharat, vol. 2, p. 204)
Anti-Ahmadi scholars are forced to accept that Atham was fearful for his life. We have testimonies of the greatest opponents of the Messiah. Even external sources prove this. We begin with Sanaullah Amritsari who accepts Atham was fearful:
Famous scholars were also aware of the fulfillment of this prophecy. For example, Khawaja Ghulam Farid sahib (ra). He mentioned that this prophecy is fulfilled and that he see’s the corpse of Atham:
Hadrat Musleh Maud (ra) mentions this incident:
In Isharat-e-Faridi, Khawaja Ghulam Farid sahib explains that Atham died through Hadrat Ahmad (as).
Allama Iqbal also accepted this that the prophecy was conditional according to the Messiah:
This statement explains that Allama Iqbal explained that some prophecies are conditional and he gave this one as an example.
Some anti-Ahmadis lie and misquote the Promised Messiah (as) saying that two or four Muslims had left Islam during this debate. This is completely out of context and Hadrat Masih Maud (as) actually explains that these people were already removed from the Jamaat and were munafiqeen and only did this for worldly pleasure. He (as) then says countless of Christians became Muslims.
