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A gentleman, Ata Muhammad by name, asks in his letter of August 1893 as to what evidence there is that I am the Promised Messiah, or indeed that it is necessary for us to wait for the appearance of any Messiah at all. The first point to be remembered here is that the objector holds the belief that Jesus has died, as is plainly stated in the Holy Quran, but he denies that anyone is to arise in the Muslim nation bearing the name of Jesus. He admits that this prophecy is to be found in Hadith reports, but he considers these statements to be unreliable, arguing that Hadith reports were collected together after a long time, and consist largely of isolated reports which cannot be accepted with certainty. Consequently, he does not believe in the news about the Promised Messiah, established from the Hadith, to be positively factual, and considers all such reports to be worthless and insignificant, having no acceptable proof in his view. It is necessary, therefore, to reply to him in the light of his beliefs. Let it be made plain that as regards this issue there are three points to be settled: Firstly, are the reports of the coming of the Promised Messiah, which are found in Hadith, to be considered unreliable because the contents of Hadith are far from the standard of absolute authenticity? Secondly, does the Holy Quran mention anything about this prophecy or not? Thirdly, if this prophecy is a proven fact, what is the proof that it is fulfilled in my person? |
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