|
Nor has the Sunni world, despite determined efforts, succeeded in designating anyone in his stead who, though deprived of the sword of a commander, would still act as the custodian of the cloak and standard of the Apostle of God - the twin holy symbols of the Caliphate. Conferences were held, discussions ensued, a Congress of the Caliphate was convened in the Egyptian capital, the City of the Fatimites, only to result in the widely advertised and public confession of its failure: "They have agreed to disagree!" (100:1) Strange, incredibly strange, must appear the position of this most powerful branch of the Islamic Faith, with no outward and visible head to voice its sentiments and convictions, its unity irretrievably shattered, its radiance obscured, its law undermined, its institutions thrown into hopeless confusion. This institution that had challenged the inalienable, divinely appointed rights of the Imams of the Faith of Muhammad, had, after the revolution of thirteen centuries, vanished like a smoke, an institution which had dealt such merciless blows to a Faith Whose Herald was Himself a descendant of the Imams, the lawful successors of the Apostle of God. (100:2) To what else could this remarkable prophecy, enshrined in the Lawh-i-Burhan, allude if not to the downfall of this crowned overlord of Sunni Muslims? "O concourse of Muslim Divines! Because of you the people were abased, and the banner of Islam was hauled down, and its mighty throne subverted." What of the indubitably clear and amazing prophecy recorded in the Qayyum-i-Asma? "Erelong We will, in very truth, torment such as waged war against Husayn (Imam Husayn), in the Land of the Euphrates, with the most afflictive torment, and the direst and most exemplary punishment." What other interpretation can this Muhammadan tradition be given? "In the latter days a grievous calamity shall befall My people at the hands of their ruler, a calamity such as no man ever heard to surpass it."
(100:3)
|