THE MESSIAH OF QADIAN. 



249 



before me. This mode of birth indicated that I was the last of 

 the Imams." 



(2) Correspondence between the Children of Israel and the 

 Children of Ishmael. These two tribes are of fundamental 

 importance in divine revelation. The great prophets of the 

 former were Moses and Christ. Christ was the final prophet of 

 the Jews, the last brick in their national and religious structure. 

 Their rejection of Christ involved their own rejection and the 

 loss of their nationality. Then came the turn of the Children 

 of Ishmael. According to Dent, xviii, 18, a prophet was raised 

 " like unto " Moses from among the " brethren " of the Israelites 

 in the person of the great law-giver, Muhammad {Review of 

 Religions, May, 1902, p. 206). Muhammad therefore was the 

 Ishmaelitish prophet, as it were the Moses of Islam. But Moses 

 and Christ were separated by an interval of twelve or fourteen 

 centuries. Hence, in order to preserve the parallelism, another 

 prophet must rise twelve or fourteen centuries after Muhammad, 

 who will be, as it were, the Christ of Islam. Who can this be 

 but Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian ? The relation between these 

 great prophets may be set forth in the form of a proportion. 

 Thus, as Moses is to Christ, so Muhammad is to Ghulam 

 Ahmad ; or again, as Muhammad is to Moses, so the Mirza 

 Sahib is to Jesus Christ. In a word, as Moses is a type of 

 Muhammad, so Jesus of Nazareth is a type of Ahmad of 

 Qadian. 



(3) Correspondence between Jesus of Nazareth and Ahmad 

 of Qadian. (a) As regards the times marked by the advent of 

 each. Both advents are followed by a millennium — the advent 

 of Jesus of Nazareth by the negative millennium of the devil's 

 imprisonment (cf. Rev. xx), and the advent of Ahmad of 

 Qadian by the positive millennium of the kingdom of God. 

 (b) As regards political circumstances. This is summed up in 

 the statement that just as the Jewish Messiah appeared in 

 Palestine when it was subject to the Eoman Government, so 

 the Moghul Messiah has appeared in India while it is subject 

 to the British Government, (c) As regards descent. " Jesus 

 was not fully of Israelite descent, but He was called an 

 Israelite only because His mother was of that race. Similar 

 is my case. Some of my grandmothers too were Sayyids, 

 though none of my ancestors was himself a Sayyicl. The 

 birth of a child who did not partake of the blood of an Israelite 

 father indicated that Israel had forfeited half its claim to 

 Divine favour, and would forfeit the other half on further 

 transgressions, and that the next prophet would be from a 



