Page 180 - Portents and Features of the Mahdi's Comingl

PORTENTS AND FEATURES OF THE MAHDI'S COMING

ed from the line of our Prophet (saas) is not a fea ture
requir ing to be con cealed. On the con tra ry, it is a great
honour for all Muslims. Therefore, had Bediuzzaman
been a say y id, then when he was asked, he would have
said, "Yes, I am a say y id, but I am not the Mahdi," and
he would have been honoured to say that he was
descend ed from the line of the Prophet (saas) because
admit ting that one is a say y id does not nec es sa ri ly
mean that one is the Mahdi. However, he nev er the less,
sev er al times reit er at ed that he was not a say y id.
Bediuzzaman also con firmed this sev er al times in the
trea tis es by say ing that he was "Kurdish" (Disputations,
p. 84, History of Life, p. 228, Bediuzzaman and His
Students' Trial Defence, p. 18). In the same way, had
he been of the opin ion that he was the Mahdi, he would
not have spent hun dreds of pages in works read by mil -
lions say ing the exact oppo site; he would not have said
that he did not match the attrib utes of the Mahdi nor,
with a great deal of evi dence, that this holy indi vid u al
would be com ing after him.
In addi tion, "there is no ques tion of every one who is
a say y id being the Mahdi." There are mil lions of say y -
ids in the world. Since the fact that some one is a say -
y id does not nec es sa ri ly mean that he is the Mahdi, and
every one who is a say y id can free ly and open ly admit
the fact. Moreover, Bediuzzaman did not say, "The only
thing I lack in this regard is being a say y id, had I been

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