by A. Abdul Aziz, Chairman, Press Desk, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at – Sri Lanka.

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

“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)

“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 )

“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)

“There is no Mahdi except Isa.” (Ibn Maja, Bab Shiddatuz Zaman)

“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)

“I give you the glad tidings of Mahdi who will be raised in my Ummah (Community) at a time of digression 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)

“When one thousand and two hundred and forty years will pass, God will raise Mahdi.” (An-Najmus Saqih, Vol. 2, p. 209)

“That Ummah (Community) 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)

“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 (PBUH), 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)

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 “There is no Mahdi except Isa.” (Ibn Maja, Bab Shiddatuz Zaman)

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 (Muslim Community) deduced from these traditions.

“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.”

3. The Muslim Community 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?

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 Muslim Community in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, having received knowledge from God the Exalted, made the following announcements from Qadian, in Punjab, India, 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)

Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, said:

“When the 13th century of the Hegira (Islamic calendar) 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)

“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)

“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)

“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 already has begun, we entreat all those who call themselves Muslims to reconsider seriously the claims of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at 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 various signs appearing in heaven and earth.

The promised one came at his right time, and after establishing a dynamic Jama’at departed successfully from this transitory world towards his eternal abode.

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:

Prophet of Islam Muhammad (PBUH) admonished:

“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)

Prophet of Islam (PBUH) further said:

“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)

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community  in Islam, 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 Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) passed away in 1908 and the Community has been led by virtue of the Institution of Khalifat – ‘Spiritual Succession’. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is currently led by the Fifth Khalifa of its Founder, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad who resides in South West London.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, the Imam of the age and the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Community 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……….”  Tazkaratush Shahadatain, p. 64-65)

Dear all, 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 (non-believer) 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 (traditions of Prophet of Islam) would have himself first departed from them. I am affirman 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)

Source: www.alislam.org