Dr. John Alexander Dowie—the false prophet of America—died as a result of my prophecy.
Be it clear that the man whose name is mentioned in the title was a bitter enemy of Islam. He was also a false claimant to prophethood, and believed that Muhammad(saw)—the Chief of Prophets, the Most Truthful of the true, the Best of Messengers, the Leader of the Pure, the Chosen One of God—was a liar and impostor. Out of his evil nature, he would use extremely foul and obscene language with regard to the Holy Prophet(saw), and, because of his malice towards Islam, extremely evil traits were found in him. Just as swine see no value in pearls, so did he view the Islamic [concept of] Divine Unity with contempt and wanted to destroy it. He believed Jesus(as) to be God and had such a passion for spreading the doctrine of Trinity in the world, that though I have read hundreds of books by Christian clergymen, I have not seen such passion in anyone else…I subscribed to his newspaper Leaves of Healing, and was constantly aware of his foul and abusive language. When his insolence had reached the limit, I sent him a letter in English in which I invited him to a mubahala [prayer-duel] so that God may cause the liar among us to die during the lifetime of the one who is truthful. This invitation was sent to him twice, in 1902 and again in 1903, and was also published in some well-known newspapers in America…It is only by the grace of God that the editors of these American newspapers, despite being Christians and hostile to Islam, published my article about mubahala so widely and with such enthusiasm that it became widely known throughout America and Europe, and the news of it even reverberated back to India. The gist of my mubahala was that Islam is the true faith and the Christian doctrine is false; and I am the Messiah who is from God, and whose coming in the latter days was promised in the scriptures of the Prophets. I also wrote that Dr. Dowie was false in his claim of Prophethood, as well as in his doctrine of Trinity, and that if he accepted the challenge of mubahala he would die within my lifetime in great pain and misery. Even if he did not accept the challenge, he would still not be able to escape Divine punishment. In response to this, the ill-fated Dowie published the following lines sometime in December 1903, and also in the 26th September, 1903 issue of his newspaper:
“There is a foolish Mohammedan Messiah in India who keeps on writing to me that Jesus Christ lies buried in Kashmir. People ask me why do I not reply to him. Do you think that I should reply to these gnats and flies? If I were to put my foot on them, I would trample them to death.”
In his issue of 19th December, 1902, he wrote:
“My mission is to gather people from the East and West, North and South, and populate this town and other towns with Christians, until the day arrives when the Mohammedan faith is effaced from the earth. O Lord! show us that hour.”
In short, this man became more and more impudent after the publication of my mubahala in Europe, America, here in India, and effectively in the whole world. For my part I only waited, for I was sure that God would decide between us as I had beseeched Him to do, and His decision would distinguish between the liar and the truthful one. I kept praying to God asking for the death of the liar. Hence God Almighty informed me a number of times that I would be victorious and the enemy would be destroyed. Just fifteen days before Dowie’s death, God Almighty once again informed me of my victory through His revelation…
Thus the sign of Dowie’s death (which has resulted in a great victory) can serve as a luminous sign for the people of Asia, America, Europe and India. The other signs which have appeared as a result of my prophecies have been limited to the Punjab and India, and nobody in America or Europe knew about them. But this sign, which emerged as a prophecy from the Punjab, reached all the way to America, and found fulfilment in a person known by everyone in Europe and America. And no sooner had he died, than the news of his death was conveyed to India through telegrams. The news was published by The Pioneer (published from Allahabad), on 11th March, 1907, and by The Civil and Military Gazette (published from Lahore), on 12th March, 1907, and by The Indian Daily Telegraph (published from Lucknow), on 12th March, 1907. Hence the news was published round the world.
Such was the worldly status of this man that he was honoured like lords and princes…But despite the prestige and fame he enjoyed in America and Europe, it so happened, by the grace of God, that my mubahala against him was published in the major daily newspapers of America and became well-known all over Europe and America. And, after it became so widely publicized, the prophecy of his death and destruction was fulfilled with such clarity, that it is impossible to conceive anything more obvious and irrefutable. Every aspect of his life was stricken with calamity. He was found to be an embezzler and drinker, although he had prohibited the use of liquor in his teachings. In a state of great despair he was driven out of Zion—the city which he had himself established at a cost of millions of rupees. He was also deprived of seventy million rupees which he possessed in cash. His wife and son turned against him and his father even announced that he was a misbegotten son, and it was established before the people that his birth was illegitimate. As for his claim that he miraculously cured the sick, all such bragging and boasting turned out to be false, and he suffered all sorts of humiliation. He was finally afflicted with paralysis and had to be carried about by men like a wooden plank. Soon afterwards he went mad due to his intense grief and sorrow. His claim that he had a long life ahead of him and that he was getting younger by the day, while others were getting old, turned out to be another lie. Finally, in the first week of March 1907, he died in a state of great distress, pain and sorrow. Can there be a greater miracle? My true mission is to break the Cross, and a great part of the Cross has been broken with his death. Since he was the world’s foremost defender of the Cross, and claimed to be a Messenger, and claimed that all Muslims would be destroyed by his prayers, and Islam would be destroyed, and the Ka’aba would fall into ruins, God Almighty therefore caused him to perish at my hands. I also believe that the prophecy about the ‘slaying of the swine’ has been clearly fulfilled with his death, for who could be more dangerous than the one who makes a false claim of Prophethood and eats the filth of falsehood like a pig? He himself wrote that nearly a hundred thousand wealthy people had joined him.
The fact is that Musailma, the Impostor, and Aswad ‘Ansi were nothing as compared to him. Neither of them enjoyed the popularity he did, nor did they possess millions of rupees like him. So I can swear by God that he was the same ‘swine’ whose death at the hands of the Promised Messiah(as) had been foretold by the Holy Prophet(saw). Had I not invited him to mubahala, or invoked curse on him, or published the prophecy regarding his ruin, his death would not have served as a testimony to the truth of Islam. But since I had published beforehand in hundreds of newspapers that he would die during my lifetime, and I wrote time and again that I am the Promised Messiah(as) and Dowie is a liar, and that the proof of this would be that he would die in ignominy and despair within my lifetime, that is why he met his death during my life. Can there be a greater miracle that testifies to the truth of the prophecy of the Holy Prophet(saw)? Only he who is the enemy of truth will deny it.
Peace be on him who follows the guidance.
Announced by:
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
The Promised Messiah(as)
Qadian, District Gurdaspur, Punjab
7th April, 1907
[Haqiqat-ul-Wahi, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 22, pp. 504-516]
The above extract was taken from The Essence of Islam – Volume V
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