Ever since God Almighty has instituted the system of prophet-hood for the guidance of mankind, the opponents of these holy prophets, peace be on them, have always charged them with falsehood and untruth. They were called sorcerers and madmen and were described as disorderly and rebellious. Every prophet and God’s elect was treated in that manner. The same was the case with the Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, peace be on him. when he put forth his claim of being the Reformer of the age and the Promised Mehdi, not only Muslim divines, but the leaders of other religions also, rose up against him and assailed him with false charges and insupportable objections. Muslim divines proclaimed that his teaching was opposed to Islam and the practice of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and showered false charges upon him. These were the vicious divines concerning whom our Lord and master, Hazrat Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had prophesied thirteen hundred years in advance that is:

The Muslim divines of the latter days would be the worst of creation under heaven (Mishkat, Kitabul Ilm).

Many eminent Muslim saints had predicted that the Mehdi would be opposed bitterly by the Muslim divines.

(1) The Reformer of the second millennium, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote, concerning the Mehdi:

It is most likely that the superficial divines would reject him and would regard him as opposed to the Holy Book and the practice of the Holy Prophet. (Maktoobat Imam Rabbani, Vol.11, p. 55)

The same will be the case of the Mehdi, peace be on him. All the muqallids will become his bitter enemies and will conspire to assassinate him, alleging that he is corrupting their faith. (Iqtrabas Saat, p.244)

(2) Hazrat Shaikh Mohyuddin ibn Arabi recorded:

When Imam Mehdi appears the divines and the jurists will be his bitter enemies. (Futuhati Makkiyyah, Vol.11, p.242)

(3) Nawab Siddique Hasan khan wrote:

When the Mehdi, peace be on him, starts his campaign for the revival of the practice of the Holy Prophet, and to put down innovations, the contemporary divines, who are committed to following the jurists and are devoted to their leading men of the past and to their ancestors, will say that he seeks to ruin their faith and the Muslim community. They will rise up in opposition to him and according to their custom they will declare him a disbeliever. (Hujajul Karamah, p.363)

Thus it is clear that the treatment accorded to the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, by the superficial divines was in exact accord with the prophecies of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and of Muslim saints and with the practice of the opponents of previous prophets. Their opposition and their false statements proved them to be the vicious divines against whom the Holy Prophet had warned the Muslims and also confirmed the truth of the Promised Messiah.

It is a fact that the charges that were put forward against the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, by his opponents, were of the same type as had been put forward against previous prophets by their opponents. The Holy Quran states:

Nothing is urged against thee but that which was urged against the Messengers before thee. (41 :44)

Then why do not the opponents of Ahmadiyyat judge the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, by the same standard that they apply to the previous prophets, and why do they urge against him the very objections that were urged against them? The fundamental fact is that the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, claimed to be the Mehdi in accord with the prophecies of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. If his claim was true the objections raised against him must be false and untrue; but if his claim was not true then it would not be necessary to investigate the charges made against him. Therefore, it would be more appropriate for a seeker after truth, instead of becoming involved with the objections raised against him, to investigate whether Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, peace be on him, was or was not true in his claim. Once his truth is established all objections raised against him become irrelevant.

To investigate his claim we should keep in mind the principles that the Holy Quran has laid down with reference to the truth of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Accordingly, to start with, we would draw attention to the following verses of the Holy Quran:

Tell them: Had Allah so willed, I would not have recited the Holy Quran to you nor would Allah have made it known to you. I have spent a whole lifetime among you before this. Will you not, then, understand? (10:17)

This verse affirms that Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was righteous in his claim and that the proof thereof is that before claiming to be a prophet he had lived for a long time among those who were now his opponents and if before his claim to prophethood at forty years of age he had to their knowledge been righteous and truthful and had never been guilty of falsehood or imposture, then how was it possible that he would suddenly invent a great lie against God Almighty? Applying this standard to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, we discover that according to the testimony of friend and foe alike, his life, before he put forward his claim, was absolutely pure and stainless. After he put forward his claim of being the Mehdi his principal opponent was Maulvi Muhammad Husain of Batala who left no stone unturned in opposing him. He had known Hazrat Ahmad since his childhood and had been his class-fellow. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote his epoch-making book Braheen Ahmadiyya in 1879. At that time he had not put forward any claim. He announced his claim in January 1889. In the course of a review of Braheen Ahmadiyya, Maulvi Muhammad Husain wrote as follows:

The author of this book has proved his devotion to Islam by such help with money, life, pen, tongue, conduct and writings, the like of which has seldom been found among the Muslims… The author belongs to our neighborhood and in our early life when we were studying Qutbi and Sharah Mulla, he was our class-fellow. Ever since then we have been continuously in touch with each other through correspondence and meetings. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to affirm that we are intimately acquainted with his circumstances and ideas… The author of Braheen Amadiyya has upheld the honor of the Muslims. (Ishaatus Sunnah, Vol. VII)

Hazrat Sufi Ahmad Jan of Ludhiana, who was a spiritual preceptor having thousand of followers and who had died before the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, had put forward his claim, stated:

The Mirza Sahib is about forty or fifty-five years of age. The original home of his ancestors appears to have been Iran. He is extremely courteous, is beneficent and modest, is handsome and his countenance displays his love of the Divine. I state it most honestly and with complete truthfulness that without the least doubt the Mirza Sahib is the Reformer of the Age, and is a sun for the seekers of the way, and is a Khizar for the misguided, and is a sharp sword for the opponents of Islam and is a conclusive proof for the envious. Be sure that such a time will not recur. Be warned that the time of trial has arrived and divine proof has been established and a perfect guide has been sent with conclusive arguments, bright as the sun, so that he might bestow light upon the truthful ones and lead them out of darkness and error and confound the false ones. (Tassurate Qadian, p.69)

Maulvi Sirajuddin, father of Maulvi Zaffar Ali Khan, editor of the Zamindar, stated:

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib was a clerk in Sialkot about 1860 or 1861. At that time he would have been twenty-two or twenty-three years of age. I testify as an eye-witness that in his youth he was most righteous, pious and exalted. (Zamindar, 8 June 1908)

The Promised Messiah, peace be on him, challenged his opponents in respect of the purity of his life in the following words:

You cannot point to any defect or imposture or falsehood or deceit in my early life on the basis of which you might hold that a person who had been given to falsehood and imposture has put forward his claim falsely. Is there anyone from among you who can point to any fault in my life? It is the pure grace of God that from the beginning He kept me firm in righteousness and this is a proof for those who reflect. (Tazkaratus Shahadatain, p. 62)

Before his claim also he led a pure life and was truthful and enjoyed communion with God. Every fibre of his being was devoted to God. Then how was it to be expected that in putting forward his claim he would invent such a great lie against God Almighty that He speaks to him and disclosed to him part of the unseen?

Another criterion of the righteousness of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is put forward in the Holy Quran in the following words:

If he had fabricated any saying and attributed it to Us, We would surely have seized him by the right hand, then surely We would have severed his large artery, and not one of you could have kept Us from it. (69:45-48)

This means that if the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had (God save us) been guilty of inventing a falsehood against God, he would have been destroyed by God. In other words, an impostor is frustrated in his purposes and is soon destroyed and suffers torment. On the same basis of these verses there has been a consensus in Islam that an impostor cannot survive for twenty-three years after putting forward his claim of being a recipient of revelation. When we apply this criterion to the life of the Promised Messiah we find that he was a prophet of high resolve and was highly successful and that the Movement founded by him has flourished continuously in the world. He enjoyed Divine help throughout. He was alone and was given a devoted Community. He was poor and helpless and God Almighty enriched him. He was unknown and God Almighty made him known to the ends of the earth. Every day of his life augmented his blessings and carried him forward. Has not his truth then been established according to the Quiranic criterion that we have just set out? Had he been an impostor, God Almighty, in accordance with that criterion, would have destroyed him utterly. But what happened was the reverse of it and is a clear proof of his truth.

We would draw attention to an earnest Supplication of his which he expressed in Persian verse as follows:

O Almighty God,

Creator of heaven and earth,

Merciful, Compassionate and Guide,

Who looks into the hearts and from Whom nothing is hidden,

If Thou seest me full of disobedience and mischief;

If in Thy estimation I am an ill-fated creature,

Then do Thou break into pieces this vile one and give pleasure to my enemies.

Shower Thy blessings upon them and fulfil all their designs by Thy grace.

Cast a flame of fire on my household,

Be my enemy and ruin my enterprise.

But if Thou knowest that I am of Thy sincere servants And Thy threshold is my qibla

And Thou findest that my heart is flooded with such love for Thee as is hidden from the rest of the world, Then deal with me out of love and disclose somewhat of these mysteries. (Haqeeqatul Mahdi, p. I)

Could an impostor stand before God and supplicate Him in these moving terms? Keep them in the forefront of your minds and then observe the limitless support and help that God Almighty bestowed upon him, which is overwhelming proof of his truth. Thus while he flourished and went ever forward, anyone who put himself in opposition to him and challenged his claim was destroyed and ruined. This alone is sufficient proof of his truth.

The Promised Messiah, peace be on him, states:

Seldom does a night pass in which God does not comfort me with the assurance that He is with me and that His heavenly hosts stand in my support. Those who are pure in heart will see God after death, but I call His countenance to witness that I see Him even now. The world does not recognize me but He Who has sent me knows me. It is a mistake of my opponents and it is their misfortune that they desire my ruin. I am a tree that the True Master has planted with His own hand. He who seeks to cut me down merely makes himself an heir to Korah, Judas Iscariot, and Abu Jahl. I daily desire it with tears that someone should come into the field and should seek a decision with regard to me on the criteria of prophethood and thus find out which of us enjoys divine support. But to come into the field is not the business of anyone who lacks manhood. One Ghulam Dastagir who was a combatant of the disbelieving host in the Punjab came forward and suffered ruin. It is now impossible for even one like him to come forth from among them. 0 ye people! Be sure that I am supported by the Hand that will keep faith with me till the end. If your men and your women, and your youths and your old ones, and your little ones and your elders, all combine and occupy themselves with supplications begging my ruin, so much so that through long and frequent prostration’s their noses should be rubbed away and their hands should be palsied, even then God will not hear your supplications and will not withdraw His hand till He fulfills His design. If no one from among men should be with me, God’s angels will stand with me. If you conceal your testimony, stones would well-nigh bear witness for me. Then do not wrong your souls. Those who are false exhibit one type of countenance and those who are true exhibit another. God does not leave any matter undetermined. I call a curse on a life that is given to falsehood and imposture. (Zameenah Tohfa Golarviak, p. 49)

Dare an impostor express himself in such emphatic and powerful words?

Another criterion that the Holy Quran has put forth for judging the truth of a prophet is:

He is the Knower of the unseen; and He reveals not the unseen to anyone, except to him whom He chooses from among His Messengers. (72:27-28)

This means that a prophet is bestowed knowledge of the unseen through revelation to the degree determined by God, and he prophesies accordingly. His prophecies are not open to doubt; they are certain and conclusive and they are all fulfilled without exception. They reveal a good deal of the unseen and are evidence of the support and help of God.

This criterion also establishes the truth of the Promised Messiah. He disclosed a good deal of the unseen, hundreds of his prophecies were fulfilled during his lifetime, many have been fulfilled since and many await fulfillment. It is not possible within the space of this booklet to set them out in detail. For that it is necessary to study his books. By way of illustration we mention some of them here.

At a time when there was intense opposition to him and he was the subject of attack from all directions, not only Muslim divines, but also Christians and Arya Samajists were all active in opposition to him, and it appeared that his mission was likely to be frustrated, he wrote:

Hearken, all of you! This is a prophecy of Him Who has created the heavens and the earth that He will spread this Community in all regions and will make it supreme over all through arguments and proofs… The days are coming, indeed that are near, when there will be only one religion that is honored in the world. He will bless this Movement abundantly and will frustrate everyone who seeks to destroy it. This supremacy will endure forever till the Judgment is held. (Tazkaratus Shahadatain, p. 64)

In 1891 he received the revelation:

I shall make thee known with honor to the ends of the earth and shall exalt thy name.

At the time when he received this revelation he had sent no missionaries outside India, nor were his books generally known beyond the confines of India. Today the message of Ahmadiyyat has reached the farthest regions of the earth. Ahmadiyya missions have been established in most countries of the world and Ahmadi missionaries are scattered around the globe. Islam which appeared in his time as fighting a rearguard action against Christianity is, through his tremendous efforts, now looked upon again with honor and respect in contrast with other religions, and Christianity is on the retreat. It is a matter for reflection what was the power which, many years ago at a time of great weakness and utter helplessness, caused him to make these predictions of Islamic victories and has fulfilled them? Is there any instance of a false one making such prophecies which were fulfilled so splendidly? God Almighty never lends His support to one who is false. As the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, has said:

An impure person never receives help from the Divine Master and He never lets His pure servants be frustrated.

The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had announced a definite sign about the advent of the Mehdi. He had said:

The truth of our Mehdi will be attested by two signs which have never appeared in support of any other claimant since the beginning of the world. These are that in the month of Ramadhan the moon will be eclipsed during the first of the nights during which it is subjected to an eclipse and the sun will be eclipsed on the middle one of the days during which it is subject to an eclipse. (Dar Qutni, Vol. I, p. 188)

This prophecy was fulfilled very clearly in 1894. In the month of Ramadhan of that year the moon was eclipsed on the night of 13th, which is the first of the nights on which it suffers an eclipse, and in the same month the sun was eclipsed on the 28th of the month, which is the middle one of the days on which the sun is liable to an eclipse. This Sign was exhibited in India and other Asiatic countries and it was exhibited in America in exactly the same way in the following year on the dates specified in the hadees. This sign was fulfilled so clearly that no one has raised any objection or doubt concerning it. The Promised Messiah, peace be on him, has drawn attention to it most emphatically.

The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had proclaimed that God Almighty would at the beginning of every century raise a Reformer from among the Muslims who would revive the faith (Abu Daud, Vol.11, p.241; Mishkat, Kitabul Ilm).

This has been acknowledged unanimously by Muslim divines throughout. The Promised Messiah, peace be on him, appeared at the beginning of the 14th century of Islam and announced his claim that he was a Reformer and the Promised Mahdi. The 14th century is now drawing to a close and no other reformer has made his appearance among the Muslims in the course of the century. If he is not accepted as a Divinely appointed Reformer, the prediction of the Holy Prophet, peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him, would (God save us) be falsified. As the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, has said:

The time demanded the Messiah and no one else. Had I not come, someone else would have come in my place.

We would urge the Muslims not to be guilty of denying the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, by denying the Promised Messiah, peace be on him.

There are hundreds of proofs that can be cited in support of the truth of the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, but we have, out of considerations of space, restricted ourselves to only a few by way of illustration.

We pray that God Almighty might bestow upon our non Ahmadi brethren the insight to recognise the truth and might enable them to become true Muslims and believers by accepting the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, in whose advent were fulfilled the prophecies of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Amen.