Alhaj Ata Ullah Kaleem
Small Booklet (24 pages)

God the Exalted raised the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) and elevated his status to Khataman-Nabiyyeen–Seal of the Prophets. He was made Prophet, as has been pointed out in Hadith, even before the creation of Adam:

“I was a Prophet when Adam was yet in (the initial stage) between water and mud.”

Hence, all the prophets of the yore reflected partly the prophethood of the Holy Prophet in one form or another as he was the purpose for all creation.

“Had I not created thee I would have created neither heaven nor earth.”

Besides, his prophethood shall continue up to the Day of Judgement.

Through knowledge bestowed upon him by God, the All-Knowing, the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, foresaw the condition under which his Ummah had to pass during different ages and particularly in the Last Days. He is reported to have said:

1. “There will come a time upon the people when nothing will remain of Islam except its name only and nothing will remain of the Quran except its inscription. Their mosques will be splendidly furnished but destitute of guidance. Their divines will be the worst people under the heaven and strife will issue from and avert to them.”
   (Mishkatul Masabih, Kitabul Ilm)
2. “A time will come when my followers will become divided into seventy-three sects. All of them except one will deserve the fire.”

Nevertheless, as mercy for all peoples, he gave the glad tidings of the advent of Mujaddideen (regenerators) and that of the appearance of Mahdi and Messiah. A few of these prophecies mentioned in the books of Ahadith (traditions) are given below:

1. “Verily God will appoint for this Ummat in the beginning of every century, one who will restore for it its faith.”
   (Abu Dawood, Kitabul Fitan)
2. “And I swear by the Lord who holds my life in His hands that the son of Mary shall surely appear among you as just arbiter and shall break the cross, annihilate the swine and abolish Jazia.”
   ( Sahih Bukhari, Kitab Bad’ul Khalq, Bab Nazooli Isa Bin Maryam )
3. “What will be your condition when the son of Mary will descend among you and he will be your Imam from among yourselves.”
   (Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul Anbiya)
4. “There is no Mahdi except Isa.”
   (Ibn Maja, Bab Shiddatuz Zaman)
5. “Whosoever lives from among you shall meet Isa, son of Mary who is Imam, Mahdi, Arbiter and Judge.”
   (Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol. 2, p. 411)
6. “I give you the glad tidings of Mahdi who will be raised in my Ummah at a time of disgression and distress of people. He will fill the earth with equity and justice as it is filled with oppression and violence.”
   (Musnad Ahmad Bin Hanbal, Vol. 3, p. 37)
7. “When one thousand and two hundred and forty years will pass, God will raise Mahdi.”
   (An-Najmus Saqih, Vol. 2, p. 209)
8. “That Ummah can never die which has me at one end, and the Messiah, son of Mary, at the other.”
   (Ibn Maja, Bab Al-I’atisam Bis-Sunnat)
9. “How can those followers go to perdition whose beginning is marked with my appearance, and after me 12 radiant and wise (Khalifas) and the end with Messiah, son of Mary. Nevertheless, between it will occur thrust of commotion and its perpetrators have nothing with me nor I have any connection with them.”
   (Ikmalud Din, p. 157)
10. “The best century is the one in which I live, then the next century, then the century after that. Then there will spread falsehood at the hands of people who will take pride in their wealth and riches and will grow fat on the earnings of others.”
    (Tirmidhi & Bukhari, Kitab Al-Shahadat)

As foretold in this tradition of the Holy Prophet, Islam began to decline after the first three centuries of uninterrupted conquests and growing prosperity, till it suffered a very serious check in about 271 A.H. when its graded decline and decay continued till it reached its nadir in the next one thousand years that the reference has been made in the Quranic verse:

“Then shall it go up to Him in a day the duration of which is a thousand years.” (32:6)

In another of his sayings, the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, is reported to have said:

“Faith will ascend to the Pleiades and a man of Persian descent will bring it back to earth.”
(Sahih Bukhari, Kitab-al Tafseer)

With the appearance of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi in the 14th century A.H. the process of decay has been arrested and a renaissance of Islam has taken place.

Before pondering over these traditions of the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, regarding the advent of the Messiah and Mahdi, it must be kept in view that the Holy Quran as well as the traditions of the Holy Prophet are unanimous in their verdict that Jesus, son of Mary, has died his natural death. Further, the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Holy Prophet both are in unison that the dead never return to life in this transitory world of ours. Hence when it is narrated in the traditions that Jesus son of Mary will come, it should not be taken literally but rather to be understood in the metaphorical sense as has been interpreted by a scholar of great repute and regenerator of his century, Mohyyud Din Ibn Arabi, when he says:

“His descent in later ages will be with a different body.”
(Tafsir Araisul Bayan, Vol. 1, p. 262)

Another scholar has also thrown light on the subject when he says:

“Some believe that the soul of Jesus will manifest in Mahdi and the descent only means his Buruz.”
(Iqtibasul Anwar by Sheikh Muhammad Akram Sabri, p. 52)

In pondering over the above traditions one is bound to come to the veritable conclusion that: 1. The Mahdi is no other than the Messiah. To think that the Messiah and the Mahdi are two different persons is wrong as is clear from the above traditions No. 4 & 5.

For shedding the light of Islam in the Christian world he is called Messiah or son of Mary, and for illuminating the hearts of Muslims with the light of Islam he is called Mahdi. And this is the very interpretation given by the person who was raised in the fulfillment of these prophecies, when he says:

“As I have been given the light for the Christian people, the name of the son of Mary has been given to me for this reason.”

2. The advent of Messiah and Mahdi shall take place in the concluding years of the thirteenth century A.H. and in the beginning of the 14th century A.H. This is what the divines of the Ummah deduced from these traditions. Consequently, Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan of Bhopal stated in his book written at the close of 13th century:

“And at the head of the fourteenth century to which there are still ten more years to go, if the advent of Mahdi and the descent of Jesus takes place, they will be the Mujaddid and Mujtahid.”
(Hujajul Kiraman, pp. 135-139)

Nawab Nurul Hasan, the son of Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan, in his book Iqtarabus Sa’at, written in the beginning of the 14th century, stated on page 221:

“In accordance with this calculation the Mahdi should have appeared in the 13th century, but the century elapsed and the Mahdi has not come. Now we are almost in the 14th century and even six months have passed of it since this book was written. Probably God will favor us with His Grace, Equity, Mercy and Generosity; and the Mahdi may appear within four to six years.”

The late Khawaja Hasan Nizami, after his tour of the Islamic countries wrote:

“All the divines and saintly people with whom I met during my tour of the Islamic countries, I found them anxiously awaiting for the Imam Mahdi. A Khalifa of Sheikh Sanosi went up to the extent of saying that the Imam Mahdi shall appear in this very year–1331 A.H.”
(Ahl-Hadith, January 26, 1912)

3. Ummat-e-Muslema has been promised that God will appoint for it in the beginning of every century, one who will restore its faith for it. Consequently, this promise had been fulfilled in the past 13 centuries with the advent of Mujaddideen–regenerators, who were distinguished exemplars of Islam, and played a very important part in spreading and establishing Islam:

1st century Umar Bin Abdul Aziz
2nd century Imam Shafi’i; Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal
3rd century Abu Sharh & Abul Hasan al-Ash’ari
4th century Abu Ubaidullah of Neshapur & Qazi Abu Bakr Baqilani
5th century Imam Al-Ghazali
6th century Al-Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jeelani
7th century Imam Ibn Taimiyyah & Khwaja Mueen-ud Din Chishti
8th century Ibn Hajar Asqalani & Saleh Bin Umar
9th century Imam Suyuti
10th century Muhammad Tahir Gujrati
11th century Al-Sheikh Ahmad of Sirhand, Mujaddid Alf Thani
12th century Shah Wali Allah Muhaddath Dehlavi
13th century Syed Ahmad Barelvi

Keeping the traditions of the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, and the statements of the Muslim divines in view, each and every sane Muslim is requested to think twice that the 14th century closed on November 7, 1980, with the appearance of the Hilal of Muharram, the first lunar month of the Muslim era, and the 15th century has ushered in on November 8, 1980; but:

A. Where is the Mujaddid of the 14th century and who is he?
B. Where is the Imam Mahdi and Messiah and who is he?
C. What happened to the promises made and the prophecies foretold?
D. Are the Muslims, after being despaired of the advent of the Promised one, going to console themselves by saying:

1. We admit that Mahdi will not appear. What harm is there if he does not appear?
   (Hadith-al-Ghashiyya, p. 343)
2. We admit that Mahdi may not come. This does not contradict any important belief of the people of Islam.
   (Iqtarabus Sa’ah, p. 147)
3. See the descent of God on the minaret of your heart; now even discard the awaiting for Mahdi and Isa.
   (Dr. Allama Iqbal)
4. As far as the belief for the Promised Mahdi is concerned, it is the invention of the helpless and indolent.
   (Shorash Kashmiri, Editor, Chitan, Lahore, May 28, 1962)

As a matter of fact there is no cause of despair, rather, we should rejoice that God fulfilled His promise made in the Holy Quran:

“We Ourselves have sent down this exhortation and most surely We will be its guardians.” (15:10)

The prophecies of the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, have seen the light of the day; and at the exact time–in the beginning of the 14th century, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, having received knowledge from God the Exalted, made the following announcements from Qadian, as was predicted by the Holy Prophet, that:

“Mahdi will appear in a village the name of which will be called Kadi’ah.”
(Jawahirul Asrar, p. 55)

1. “When the 13th century of the Hegira drew to a close and the beginning of the 14th century approached, I was informed by God Almighty, through revelation, that I was the Mujaddid (Reformer) for the 14th century.”
   (Kitabul Bariyya, p. 201)
2. “A few years thereafter, it was made clear to me through Divine revelation that the Messiah, whose advent among the Muslims had been promised from the beginning, and the Mahdi whose advent had been Divinely decreed at the time of decline of Islam and the spread of error, and who was to be guided directly by God, and who was to invite people to partake of the heavenly banquet, and whose coming had been foretold by the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, thirteen hundred years in advance, was myself.”
   (Tazkaratush Shahadatain, p. 1-2)
3. “The holy and pure revelation of God has informed me that I have been sent by Him as the Promised Messiah and the Promised Mahdi and as Arbiter for the internal and external differences.”
   (Arba’een)
4. “It was the time of Messiah and not of any other. Had I not come, another would have come.”
   (Durri Sameen)

So, as the 14th century has concluded and the 15th century has begun, we entreat all those who call themselves Muslims to reconsider seriously the claims of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, as there is none beside him who presented himself as the Mujaddid of 14th century, as the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.

The claim of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has been testified by the signs appearing in heaven and earth. For instance, Darqutni, a most eminent and recognized authority, records a saying of the Holy Prophet:

“For our Mahdi there shall be two signs which have never happened for any one else since the creation of the heavens and the earth: At his advent there shall occur an eclipse of the moon in the first of its appointed nights and an eclipse of the sun on the middle one of its appointed dates and both will occur in the month of Ramazan.”
(Darqutni, p. 188)

The prophecy does not mean that the occurrence of the eclipse would in itself be unique and unprecedented. But the prophecy predicted thirteen hundred years beforehand that two of the signs of the true Mahdi would be that the sun and the moon would be eclipsed in the manner indicated. Eclipses have no doubt occurred before but never as a sign of the advent of a heavenly reformer; because there has never been in the history of the world a claimant of any kind at the time of the phenomena described. It is also confirmed by the Quran (75:6-9) which refers to the same prophecy.

Now according to this the eclipse of the moon actually occurred on Wednesday evening the 13th of Ramazan, 1311 A.H. (March 21st, 1894); and that of the sun occurred on Friday morning the 28th of the same Ramazan (April 6th, 1894). The eclipse of the moon generally occurs on the 13th. 14th, or 15th day of a lunar month and according to the prophecy, it occurred on the first date. The eclipse of the sun can occur on the 27th, 28th, and 29th and it occurred on the 28th which was the middle date predicted. Hence, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad rightly claimed that the prophecy was fulfilled and that it was a strong evidence on the truth of his claim as no one except God has power over these heavenly bodies.

Dear brethren, please study carefully the valuable works of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam. The promised one came at his right time, and after establishing a dynamic Jamaat departed successfully from this transitory world towards his eternal abode.

This is the Jamaat that has been blessed to render wholehearted service to the religion by conveying the message of Islam all over the world, through translating the Holy Quran in different important languages, establishing Missions in various countries of the world, and constructing mosques in the dominant centers of Christiandom; thus bringing hundreds of thousands of people into the fold of Islam.

Hence, do not fall prey to despair and despondency, but rather rejoice and cheer up that you too could have the precious chance of serving the religion by embracing the community of Imam Mahdi and the Promised Messiah; and winning the pleasure and blessing of God through rendering obeisance to the injunctions of the Holy Prophet in respect of the Imam of the age:

1. “When you hear the advent of Mahdi it is then enjoined on you to enter into his Baiat (i.e. to enter into his fold) even if you have to walk on snow by crawling and creeping to reach him.”
   (Kanzul Ummal; also footnotes to Musnad Ahmad Bin Hanbal, Vol. 6, p. 29-30)
2. “He who dies in a condition that he has not recognized the Imam of his age dies a death of ignorance.”
   (Musnad Ahmad Bin Hanbal, Vol. 4, p. 96)

Who is the Imam of this Age?

In this age Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the Mahdi and the Messiah whose advent had been foretold by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him).

As the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, he did not claim to have brought any new religion. He was raised to remove the errors that have made their way into the views and beliefs of the Muslims. The Movement was founded in the year 1889 at Qadian, India, and thus it has had only a brief existence of not more than 90 years, and yet in this short span of time it has, inspite of desperate efforts to suppress it, spread to all the continents, so that local Ahmadiyya Communities have been formed not only in India and Pakistan but almost in all the countries of the free world. These communities do not consist of emigrants from India and Pakistan, but are comprised of the natives of these lands. At present the international Headquarters of the Movement are at Rabwah, Pakistan.

The Ahmadiyya Movement stands towards Islam in the same relationship which was occupied by Christianity in the early days towards Judaism. As it is already indicated, one of the claims of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was that he was the Promised Messiah. Keeping this in mind one can easily understand that Ahmadiyyat is Islam itself, and not a mere off-shoot of Islam, as Christianity was not an shoot-off of Judiasm, but was pure Judaism in plain and simple form.

The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) passed away in 1908 and was succeeded by his foremost votary and closest companion, Hazrat Maulvi Noor-ud-Din, as Khalifatul Masih I (First Successor to the Promised Messiah). After his death in 1914, the Promised son of the Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, was chosen as Khalifatul Masih II. During his 52 years long leadership, the Khalifatul Masih II organized a world-girdling chain of Mosques and Missions. On his death on November 8, 1965, the Electoral College named with one accord, Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad, Promised Messiah’s grandson, as Khalifatul Masih III (Third Successor to the Promised Messiah).

The Ahmadiyya Muslims number almost ten millions in the world. The majority of these are found in Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Africa.

Beside other vast literature on Islam, the Movement has published the translations of the Holy Quran in English, German, Dutch, Danish, Espranto, Swahili, Lugandi, Yoruba and Urdu languages.

The Movement has built Mosques in London, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Zurich, Den Haag, Copenhagan and Goteborg in Europe; in Dayton, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Tucson, Baltimore, Detroit and Washington in the United States of America, and in hundreds of cities, towns and villages of Asia, Africa and South America. Recently, the foundation stone was laid for a mosque in Spain–a revival of Islam after 500 years.

The Movement has established Missions in United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland in Europe; in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Republic of South Africa in the African continent; in Syria, Republic of South Yemen, Israel, Srilanka, Bangladesh, India, Burma, Singapore, Japan, Malasia, Indonesia and Philippines in Asia; in Surinam Trinidad and Guyana in South America; Fiji in the Pacific; and in Chicago, New York, Dayton, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Waukegan, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Baltimore, and Washington in the United States of America.

Besides different Schools and Colleges at Rabwah, and Qadian, the Movement runs scores of Elementary and Secondary Schools in Africa.

After the historic visit of Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad, the Khalifatul Masih III, to West Africa in 1970, the Movement has established a number of Hospitals in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Gambia.

Besides a number of Daily, Weekly and Monthly papers published from Rabwah and Qadian the Movement publishes a score of Weekly, Bi-Monthly, Monthly and Quarterly Journals in Africa, Asia, Europe and America.

In the U.S.A. the Mission was established in 1921. There are at present 30 organized Ahmadiyya Communities all over the United States. The Mission publishes a Bi-Monthly Annoor, a Monthly Ahmadiyya Gazette, and a Quarterly Journal, The Muslim Sunrise. The Ahmadiyya Muslims in number between five to six thousands. The Headquarters of the Movement in America are at 2141 Leroy Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, the Imam of the age and the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, was perfectly true when he prophesied:

“Harken, all ye people. This is a prophecy of Him Who had created heaven and earth. He will spread this Community of His in all countries and will make it supreme over all, through reason and arguments. The days are coming, indeed they are near, when this will be the only religion which will be held in honor. God will bestow extraordinary blessings on this religion and Movement. He will frustrate everyone who seeks to destroy it. This supremacy will last till the Judgement Day.Remember, that no one will descend from heaven. All our opponents who are alive today will die and no one will see Jesus son of Mary descending from heaven. Then their next generation will pass away and no one of them will see this spectacle. Then the generation next after that will pass away without seeing the son of Mary descending from heaven. Then God will make them anxious that though the time of the supremacy of the cross had passed away and the world had undergone great changes, yet the son of Mary had not descended from heaven. Then the wise people will suddenly discard this belief. The third century after today will not yet have come to a close when those who hold this belief, whether Muslims or Christians, will lose all hope and will give up this belief in disgust. There will then be only one religion that will prevail in the world and only one leader. I have come only to sow the seed, which has been sown by my hand. Now it will sprout and grow and flourish and no one can arrest its growth.”
(Tazkaratush Shahadatain, p. 64-65)

Dear brethren, for God’s sake, do not denounce the Imam of the age precipitately because as he himself has said:

“I announce it plainly that it is not easy to denounce me. He who calls me kafir would have himself to become a kafir first. He who describes me as faithless and astray would have to confess his own error and humiliation. He who charges me with departing from the Quran and the Hadith would have himself first departed from them. I am affirmant of the Quran and the Hadith and am in turn affirmed by them. I am not astray but am the foremost of the believers. God has assured me that whatever I say is the truth. He who believes in God and accepts the Quran and the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, as true, should find it enough proof to silence him that I say so, but I have no remedy for him who is daring and heedless in his denial. God Himself will admonish him. I, therefore, desire that you should reflect upon this for the sake of God alone and you should also advise your friends so that they should reflect upon these matters honestly and impartially.”
(Malfoozat Vol. 4, p. 16)

Finally, we pray:

O Allah, help him who helps the religion of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and count us among them. Ameen!

THE FUTURE OF ISLAM

“The time is approaching when God will grant worldwide popularity to this Movement and this dispensation will spread in the East and the West and the North and the South, and in the world. Islam and this Movement will become synonymous terms. This is a revelation from God on high for Whom nothing is impossible.”

(Tohfa Golarawia, by Hazrat Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, p. 56)