Intro
Points to note from the letter:
- Less than two years after marrying Nusrat Jahan Sahiba (marriage November 1884), Allah has decreed that the promised Messiah should marry again to a perfect woman
2. It has been settled in the understanding of the promised Messiah that the blessed son who was prophecied a few months earlier, will be born to this third wife, who would be beautiful and pious at the same time.
3. Based on this, the promised Messiah has already started seeking matrimonial proposals and has already rejected two proposals based on God’s intervention through Istikhara. God has told him that the first one is not qualified to be his wife because she would bring disrespect and misery, whereas the second one is not pretty. As such she is not going to be able to bear a perfect, handsome son.
4. He is being bombarded by revelation in this regard which means to him that the time has likely come for the third marriage.
5. We know from relevant history that he continues the search for this ‘pious beauty’ until february 1888 when Muhammadi Begum’s poor father knocks on the promised Messiah’s door and requests him to sign a property off to them.
My questions on these points.
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Why would God send his only prophet in modern times, on a wild goose chase of a third marriage when the promised Messiah had just married according to God’s will? This is especially concerning because in the end, decades later, God was to tell him that the wife he already had was enough for him.
2. Was Nusrat Jahan Sahiba not pretty or not pious as she was not expected to be able to bear a son of perfect inward and outward qualities? But then, how did she become perfect by April of 1888, (21 months after the prophecy of third marriage and 9 months before the birth of Musleh Maud) that eventually she became the mother of that very, glorious son?
3. If Nusrat Jahan Sahiba had transformed by early 1888, why did the promised Messiah keep pursuing the hand of Muhammadi Begum for a third wife for another decade? Should the search not have been stopped right then and there as the promised son was already conceived? Why did God keep pushing the promised Messiah to keep pressurizing Muhammadi and her family?
4. In February 1888, he made the prophecy that he would marry Muhammadi Begum, no matter what may happen, as it had been decreed by God. We understand that Muhammadi was God’s choice instead of Nusrat Jahan Sahiba, as she was chosen after an istikhara, and she must have been prettier and holier than Nusrat Jahan Sahiba to presumably be the mother of the promised glorious son. But only three months later the glorious son was already conceived with Nusrat Jahan Sahiba. Yet God who decreed the son, who selected the genes to create perfection in that birth, and who delivered this baby unblemished, did not realize that he was supposed to deliver this son to the future mom who had already been decreed and ordered and whose Nikah had been solemnized in heavens because of her being prettier and holier than the existing wife?
5. God selects Muhammadi Begum for the promised Messiah specifically because A. she is prettier, and B. She is piouser than Nusrat Jahan Sahiba and more deserving of bearing the fruit of the other world. At the same time, the Promised Messiah also attests to the piety of Muhammadi’s father in the first letter of proposal of marriage. In a separate letter, he also attests to the piety of the husband of the auntie of Muhammadi Begum whose daughter is married with the promised Messiah’s son. This tells us that both God and the promised Messiah are totally convinced that the immediate family and extended family of Muhammadi Begum, as well as she herself are excellent people and pious muslims at the time when proposal of marriage is made in February 1888. Yet when years later the promised Messiah has failed to marry Muhammadi Begum, God tells him that this was a corrupt and anti-Islamic family and eventually they repented after the death of Muhammadi’s father and hence the decreed marriage of Muhammadi was averted. Why would God go back on his own assessment of the piety of the family?
6. Notice that as per the letter, two glad tidings have being given to the promised Messiah, one (the birth of the glorious son) which, he has already shared with his friends. The second which he has not yet shared with his friends and he is excited to do now with this letter is the third marriage with a pretty and pious lady. Also note that under direct intervention by God, one proposal was rejected because it would be the cause of sorrow and the other because she was not pretty. We know also that Muhammadi’s hand was also sought after the claim that God had approved her. My question is, why was God’s judgement so poor that he forced the promised Messiah to suffer for decades chasing a rainbow? Recall that in this process, the promised Messiah had to divorce his first wife, had his son divorce the cousin of Muhammadi and had to disown his other son. In addition he was a subject of public mockery for a decade. What kind of glad tidings end up in such bitterness?
7. Is there any way at all, to justify the fulfillment of the prophecy of this letter which is that he was to marry a perfect lady and a perfect son among other children was to be born to her? There are no conditions attached to this. There are no if this and if that. There is no repentance clause which can be invoked.
8. Is it possible that since the Musleh Maud was not born to the pious beauty, that he also was not all-powerful, perfect in outward appearance and inner qualities?
I am at a complete loss to make sense out of this prophecy and its details. Perhaps one of our trusted apologists can help make some sense out of it for all of us. While I invite my ahmadi apologist brothers to kindly answer these questions, I also appeal to their sensibilities, to avoid attacking this post with spam.
Continue reading “A Not Very Well Known Part of the Prophecy of Musleh Maud, i.e. the Case of the Pious Beauty” →
