Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 384
384 BARĀHIN-E-AHMADIYYA - PART FIVE قُلْ سُبْحَانَ رَبِّي هَلْ كُنْتُ إِلَّا بَشَرًا رَسُولًا To this day the Jews taunt the Christians that if Jesus was indeed the Promised Messiah, why did Prophet Ilyas not descend before him? The Christians have never been able to answer this objection and cannot argue with them. Hence, our opponents should learn a lesson from the prophecy regarding the return of Prophet Ilyas lest their fate be like that of the Jews. However, to complete the similarity, it was also necessary that just as the earlier Jews had quarrelled much with Hadrat 'Isaas about the second coming of Ilyas and had declared him faithless, disbeliever, and apostate, so would these people quarrel with me regarding the return of Hadrat Īsā. Little do these ignorant people realize that the person they supplicate for, and on whose account they hurl abuse at me, has himself decreed against them, for what I say to them with regard to the return of Hadrat 'Isa is exactly what Hadrat 'Isā said to the Jews. And just as God has named me as 'Isā, so had He named Prophet Yahyā as Ilyās. This aforesaid precedent is reassuring to a person who has faith. And God also affirms: كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ فَسُلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا The Jews were excusable to some extent because in their time there was to be found no decisive pronouncement in God's books regarding the second coming of anyone, but now the verdict is already before us. Did the Prophet Ilyas return to this world in keeping with the prophecy of Prophet Malachi, so that these people too should entertain hope of the return of Hadrat 'Isā? 1. Say, 'Holy is my Lord! I am not but a man sent as a Messenger. (Sūrah Bani Isrā'īl, 17:94). [Publisher] 2. So ask the people of the Reminder, if you know not (Sūrah al-Anbiyā', 21:8). [Publisher]