Experiment in fasting

28 REVIEW OF RELIGIONS with the Pharaoh’s body by visiting the Royal Mummies Room of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo!” Second. God advised all the Prophets of the world to tell their respective people about the coming of the world Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) in the future and believe him when he appeared. God says in the Quran: “And when God took compact with the Prophets: ‘That I have given you of Book and Wisdom; then there shall come to you a Messenger confirming what is with you—you shall believe in him and you shall help him; do you agree?’ He said, ‘And do you take My load on you on that condition?’Theysaid, ‘We do agree.’ God said, ‘Bear witness so, and I shall be with you among the witnesses.’ Then whosoever turns his back after that—they are the ungodly.” (3:75). The Quran is the youngest of the revealed scriptures of the world. The New Testament is six hundred years older, and all other Scriptures are more than a thousand years older. And the peoples formerly lived isolated from one another, and hardly knew of each other’s scriptures. It is only during the last two hundred years or so they began to know one another. It is only in recent centuries that they have started to read one another’s scriptures. So it is found that the appearance of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) is mentioned in various religious scriptures. Ahmadi Muslims believe that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) of Qadian, Punjab, India, was the Promised Messiah and Mehdi of the Muslims, who came 14 hundred years after the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), just as Jesus, the Promised Messiah of the Jews came after 14 hundred years after Prophet Moses. There are numerous resemblances between the two Messiahs: The first lived in Judaea under Roman rule, the second lived in India under British rule; the first was tried by Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate, the second was tried by Captain M. W. Douglas, the British Magistrate of Gurdaspur District, India, on a false murder charge which boomeranged on the accuser; the first was not accepted by most of his people the Jews, the second at present, has not been accepted by the vast majority of Muslims and mankind at large for whom he appeared. Darqutni, an eminent and recognised authority on the Hadith had recorded that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) said: “For our Medhi there are appointed two signs which have never been manifested for any other claimant since the creation of the heavens and the earth. They are that at his advent there shall occur an eclipse of the moon on the first of its appointed nights, and an eclipse of the sun on the middle one of its appointed days and both will occur in the same month of Ramadhan.” The eclipse of the moon occurs on the 13th, 14th or the 15th night of a lunar month, and the eclipse of the sun takes place on the 27th, 28th or 29th of the lunar month. The sign mentioned by the Holy Prophet, therefore, was that ATHEISM VERSUS GOD 29 the moon would be eclipsed on the 13th night of the lunar month, and the eclipse of the sun would take place on the 28th of the same month, which will be the month of Ramadhan. This sign was to appear after and not before the advent of the Mehdi (Messiah). It so happened that the eclipse of the moon occurred on Thursday night, the 13th of Ramadhan, 1311 Hijra (21st March, 1894), and the eclipse of the sun occurred on the 28th of the same month of Ramadhan (6th April, 1894), in exact accord with the prophecy of the Holy Prophet. The same phenomenon was repeated in the United States of America in 1895. These events could be easily verified from the records of the Meteorological office in India and also in the U.S.A. Similar prophecies foretold the first and second world wars long before they happened. The Prophecies of the Promised Messiah are varied and incredible. About the third world war, he said: “it will be of frightening dimension, death and destruction will rain from the sky. The colossus of the western civilisation will tumble to the ground. Both the opposing camps will clash with such suddenness that everyone will be taken by surprise. The survivors will stand aghast and amazed at the tragedy. Russians will recover sooner from the calamity than the West.” ; God says in the Quran: How many a civilisation turned in disdain from the commandment of its lord and His Messengers; and then We made with it a terrible reckoning and chastised it with a horrible chastisement. So it tasted the mischief of its action, and the end of its affair was loss. God prepared for them a terrible chastisement. So fear God O men Possessed of minds. (65:5-10).