Now, we did not say that the advent of Lord Jesus Christ took place in America.
That’s not what we said. What we need to understand is…
The Meeting with Jesus Christ and His Advent
We have spoken about HDE Gohar Shahi’s meeting with Jesus Christ.
We did not say that [Jesus’] advent took place in America.
For instance, I met Shakeel in London.
Now, someone comes and says,
‘How can you say you met Shakeel in London?
His birth certificate says he was born in Hyderabad’.
You’d listen to this and say, ‘Have you lost your mind?
When did I say that he was born in London?
I said that I met him in London.
It doesn’t matter where he was born.
He came here and that’s where I met him’.
So we did not say that the advent of Lord Jesus Christ took place in America.
That’s not what we said.
Whatever the narrations state, that is where his advent would have taken place.
What we need to understand is that the ahadith that we read,
Brother Shan Ali Shah is saying that [the narrations] contradict each other.
No, it’s not that they contradict each other.
The manner in which you explain the ahadith should be correct,
and you must endeavour to comprehend the ahadith, too.
Now, Jesus Christ - there is a mosque in Syria called the Great Mosque of Damascus,
and the ahadith state that the advent of Jesus Christ shall take place on the minaret of that mosque.
The ahadith that you have read - we speak about the religion on ALRA TV,
so obviously, we must’ve read the same ahadith, right?
It’s not like we haven’t studied any ahadith.
Obviously, we’ve also studied the Qur’an.
What we need to understand is that when we narrate this hadith,
those who are listening understand that the descent ]of Jesus] shall occur on the minaret of that mosque.
And the following statement [in the hadith] is that Imam Mehdi (a) shall lead [Jesus] in salah.
Now, these are two separate incidents [that are to happen].
Do you think that the second Jesus descends on the minaret, Imam Mehdi (a) and His people shall be standing there,
and as soon as Jesus descends, he will be rushed to offer prayers?
No, that’s not the case.
These are two separate incidents.
There is no hadith that states Imam Mehdi (a) shall lead Jesus in salah in Syria.
Where does it say this? Nowhere.
Now, the third question that has been asked is that since Imam Mehdi (a) has adopted occultation,
does that mean Jesus Christ’s advent took place before the occultation and if so,
does it mean that when Jesus returns [after the return of Imam Mehdi], it shall be his 'third' coming?
No, why would he be returning for the third time?
Just as before HDE Gohar Shahi adopted occultation,
HDE Gohar Shahi laid the foundations of His mission for 20-25 years,
and constituted an organisation for the widespread of the knowledge of spirituality,
an organisation through which the knowledge of spirituality could become common,
the divine signs could be propagated and the introduction to Imam Mehdi (a) could be presented to the world.
And this took time, didn’t it?
The state of the Muslims for the past century or so is such that they’ve forgotten
that in Islam, the outer knowledge must be practised alongside the inner (spiritual) knowledge.
Spirituality must also be practised.
And all these so-called Sufis that we’ve always heard about,
who can be found in every nook and cranny of our cities,
who know nothing about spirituality and the ethereal knowledge,
who are involved in irreligious activities;
we’ve considered them saints.
And this is precisely why we’ve been deprived of the basic spiritual knowledge for the past hundreds of years.
Spiritual knowledge became extinct.
Neither did people have access to the spiritual knowledge,
nor was any divinely ordained spiritual personality sent who would incline people towards spiritual knowledge
and enlighten their hearts.
Due to these circumstances, Imam Mehdi (a) prioritised their task.
[They intended] 'We shall reveal who we are at a later time, let's start with the task that we came for'.