Maulvi Sheikh Saadullah, of Ludhiana, was a convert to Islam who had become a religious cleric. He was a virulent opponent ofHazrat Mirza, and in his antagonism had outdone all other opponents in the use of foul and abusive language. His posters and announcements were nothing but a compendium of such filthy language as would put even the basest members of the society to shame. He was also desirous of the death of Hazrat Mirza, and had written a book titled Shahab Saqib Bar Masih Kazib (The Meteor That Strikes The False Messiah).
The following two verses are the English rendering of two Persian verses from his book that are addressedto Hazrat Mirza:
God has decreed that your life vein be cut
Your false movement will be destroyed after your death
Although you people say that tribulations do come
On the Day of Judgment and in this world you will be of the losers
These verses were followed in the book by the Quranic verses:
And if he had fabricated against Us certain sayings, We would surely have seized him by the right hand, then cut off his heart’s vein. (69:44,45,46)
After this verse, he wrote: “You will face disgrace everywhere, and there is no honor for you in this world or in the next.”
Whether writing in prose or poetry, Saadullah persisted in deriding Hazrat Mirza in his book and in his announcements using themost filthy and abusive language, and kept predicting Hazrat Mirza’s disgrace and death. On September 16, 1894, he published a vile article against Hazrat Mirza in which he referred to Hazrat Mirza as abtar.1
Hazrat Mirza then supplicated to Allah in the matter and published the revelation he received in response in a public announcement on October 5, 1894. The announcement was appended with his book Anwar-ul-Islam on page 12 and carried with it a prize of three thousand rupees. The announcement read:
Keep fighting the truth. O wretched man! You will finally see what your own fate will be. O Enemy of God! You are not fightingwith me; you are fighting with God. By God! It has been revealed to me right now on September 29, 1894 regarding you, “Surely thy enemy is cut off (from good)”(108:3). The meaning of this revelation is that: Saadullah calls you abtar and claims that the chain of your offspring and other blessings will be cut off; this will certainly not happen.
In fact, Saadullah himself shall remain abtar.
At the time of this revelation, Saadullah had only one son. Twelve more years passed, but Saadullah did not have another childalthough he was living with his wife during this time. Saadullah’s son showed no inclination to marry although he had reached the age of 30.
People reminded Saadullah that Hazrat Mirza had prophesied about him: “Surely thy enemy is cut off (from good).” That is, Saadullah’s lineage will become extinct. They advised Saadullah to get his son married so that he may have children, and therebydisprove Hazrat Mirza’s prophecy. But the son showed no inclination to get married. Eventually, Saadullah forcibly arranged a match forhis son with the daughter of a man by the name of Haji Abdul Rahim.
Preparations were started for the wedding but while these preparations were still afoot, Saadullah contracted pneumonic plague and passed away on January 3, 1907. Saadullah died and took the desire to see his son married to the grave. There are several signs in the death of this man:
- First, Saadullah’s death was in response to a prayer duel he had initiat- ed in his book Shahab Saqib Bar Masih Kazib. In this book, he had beseeched God to kill Hazrat Mirza during his lifetime in the event Hazrat Mirza was an imposter. Hazrat Mirza’s reply was given in an Arabic poem included in his book Anjam Atham. In this poem, Hazrat Mirza had pleaded with God to rendera judgment in this matter Himself and to kill the transgressing person in the lifetime of the truth- ful one. The prayer duel was thus completed, and Saadullah’s death was a vindication of the truthful one over the untruthful one.
- Second, Saadullah’s death validated the prophecy that he will die abtar i.e., his lineage will not continue.
- Third, Saadullah’s demise took place during the lifetime of the very person whose death Saadullah desired.
- Fourth, Saadullah witnessed the respect and glory of the person he had vehemently opposed increase day by day, and he finally departed from the world with his greatest desire unfulfilled. One marvels at the working of God. Saadullah had seen the time when Hazrat Mirza used to visit Ludhiana as a solitary traveler. Then in November 1905 he witnessed thousands of people who came to greet Hazrat Mirza. They crowded the Ludhiana railway station and lined the road all the way to the city. Yet this hapless man Saadullah did not profit from observ- ing this acceptance of Hazrat Mirza by the people, and contrasting it with his own failures and ill luck. Instead, even at that time, motivated by the seething hatred and burning in his heart, Saadullahpublished an announcement, replete with abusive language, deriding Hazrat Mirza. The result was that he left this world sorrowfully — a total failure.
Glory be to God! The person that Saadullah called abtar, i.e., Hazrat Mirza, was showered by God with honor and blessings.Hazrat Mirza’s physical progeny was blessed with continuity and his spiritual progeny increased day by day. Thousands of peopleconsidered his discipleship a great honor for them and his blessings and rewards continue to this day. However, in contrast, the person who was called abtar in Hazrat Mirza’s revelation departed this life as a frustrated and unsuccessful man. And the way in which his lineage came to an end is a sign in itself. Details of this follow:
A sign regarding the publication of the word abtar
In 1906, Hazrat Mirza’s book Haqiqat-ul-Wahy was under publication. Earlier, when Hazrat Mirza’s book Mawahib-ur-Rahman had been pub- lished, it became the subject of a lengthy lawsuit merely because Maulvi Karam-ud-Din had taken exception to the use of a few words in it. Erring on the side of caution, Hazrat Mirza asked Khwaja Kamal ud Din: “You are an attorney. Please examine every section of Haqiqat-ul-Wahy that is scripted from a legal point of view.” From time to time, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din would come toQadian and read the scripted parts of Haqiqat-ul-Wahy prior to pub- lication. When he reached the part of the book in which Hazrat Mirza had described in great detail the prophecy regarding Saadullah: “Surely thy enemy is cut off (from good),” Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din drew Hazrat Mirza’s attention to it and remarked:
Sir! You have used the word abtar for Saadullah while both he and his son are alive, and you have also stated that Saadullah’s sonis incapable of procreating. If Saadullah wishes, he can lodge a complaint against you in court. In view of this, it would be appropriate not to publish this prophecy in such great detail.
But Saadullah’s behavior had wounded Hazrat Mirza so much that he refused to delete the details. When Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din tried toadd some- thing to his initial statement, Hazrat Mirza spoke up with great emotion: “By God! I will certainly publish this, and I am certain that God will protect me from his evil.” Hazrat Mirza’s emotion had a telling impact on all those pres- ent, and Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din fell silent. Maulana Nur-ud-Din recited aloud the following hadith:
It sometimes happens that when a disheveled and dust-covered man swears by God about a certain matter, then God fulfills his oath.
That same night, Hazrat Mirza received a revelation in which this hadith was repeated. The revelation was published in the newspaperBadar dated December 6, 1906. And so it came to pass that God resolved the matter in accordance with the oath of the disheveled man. Saadullah died within a month of this incident and this allayed any apprehension of a lawsuit. The prophecy regarding Saadullah was published in full detail.
Another prophecy regarding the son of Saadullah
In his book Haqiqat-ul-Wahy, Hazrat Mirza explained the meaning of abtar as follows:
When God, the Most High, has disclosed this meaning of the prophecy that this boy will be no more and Saadullah’s lineage will not extend into future generations and will become extinct with this boy, then it is the height of obstinacy to say that Saadullah did leave a boy behind at the time of his death.
O ignorant one! This boy was present at the time of the prophecy, and if one delves intothe Arabic saying in some depth, one finds that the meaning of abtar is not a man whose children pre- decease him but the essential ingredient in the meaning is the severance of the lineage. The Arabic lexicon gives the meaning of abtar as cutting off atthe roots. It is abundantly clear from this that this prophecy was for future generations and means that the existing boy will notbecome the progenitor of future generations. I will explain this in more detail further on.Future events proved the accuracy of these words. After Saadullah’s death, his son Mahmud did marry but remained issueless till his death in 1926. Thus Saadullah’s lineage became extinct and the abtar revelation was precisely fulfilled.
Footnotes
- This Arabic word, when applied to a man, conveys several significances, for instance: impoverished, suffering loss, one from whom all good or prosperity is cut off, having no offspring or progeny.
The Great Reformer 