Page 174 - Portents and Features of the Mahdi's Comingl

PORTENTS AND FEATURES OF THE MAHDI'S COMING

Bediuzzaman gave two kinds of response to those
ask ing for his thoughts on the sub ject;
1) He made it clear that he was not the Mahdi and
wrote pages of state ments regard ing why he was not
the Mahdi aimed at those who claimed that he was.
2) He also respond ed to those who ascribed the rank
of Mahdi to him by say ing, "mis con cep tions have been
around for a long time, that can not be denied; there -
fore, I had no quar rel with those hold ing such mis con -
cep tions, and told these peo ple that "he reject ed claims
regard ing the rank of Mahdi"
1. Bediuzzaman said, "All my broth ers will bear
wit ness that I never accept ed the rank of
Mahdi" (Rays of Light, p. 365) and proved this
over hun dreds of pages in the trea tis es.
The answer pro vid ed by Bediuzzaman, when asked
about a sub ject is impor tant, and he clear ly stat ed that
he was not the Mahdi. In his works, Bediuzzaman stat -
ed that he was not the Mahdi (Emirdag Addendum, p.
266), that the Mahdi would appear a cen tu ry after him
(Kastamonu Addendum, p. 57), that he was a pri vate
sol dier and a mem ber of the van guard of the Mahdi
(Barla Addendum, p. 162), that he had pre pared the
way for the Mahdi with his work and books (The Seal
of Affirmation of Hidden Things, p. 189), and that it was
an error and a con fu sion to imag ine that he and the
Treatise of Light were the Mahdi (Emirdag Addendum,
p. 266).
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