THE GREAT REFORMER THE GREAT REFORMER Biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian Mujaddid (Reformer) of the Fourteenth Century Hijri, Promised Messiah and Mahdi Volume 1 Based on Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s Mujaddid Azam Rendered in English by Hamid Rahman It was the time for the Messiah to come, and of none else If I had not come (as the Messiah), it would have been someone else – Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, Mujaddid (Reformer) of Fourteenth Century Hijri, The Promised Messiah and Mahdi (The Rightly Guided) © 2007 by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam (Lahore) USA Inc. P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, OH 43016-0176, U.S.A. All Rights Reserved The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore (Ahmadiyya Association for the Propogation of Islam) was founded at Lahore, Pakistan, in 1914 by the prominent followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It exists to pro- mote a liberal, tolerant and peaceful picture of Islam, as found in the Holy Quran and the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. It has published a vast quantity of highly acclaimed literature on Islam in various languages, and has branches and members in several countries. Information, books and free literature on Islam may be obtained by con- tacting: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam (Lahore) USA Inc. Email: [email protected] Phone: (614) 873-1030 Fax: (614) 873-1022 Website: www.muslim.org Printed in Turkey ISBN: 0-913321-98-2 This translation is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Begum Hamida Rahman bint Basharat Ahmad. Hamid Rahman PUBLISHER’S FOREWORD It is with a sense of profound gratitude to Almighty Allah that the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, (Lahore) USA is publishing the English translation of the first volume of Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s three volume Urdu biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. This monumen- tal work has been translated by Dr. Hamid Rahman, Professor of Finance at Alliant University and grandson of Dr. Basharat Ahmad. Dr. Rahman has performed this work ever so diligently and has produced a final product worthy of bearing the title of the original. May Almighty Allah, the most Merciful and most Gracious, bless Dr. Rahman and his family for their sacrifices in this cause. This book will, insha Allah, go a long way in removing the many mis- conceptions Muslims harbor about Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It should provide a source from which persons will be able to judge the claims, work and teachings of this great figure in a fair and objective light. Today, we see the general Muslim populations adopting positions on jihad, apostasy, freedom of religion, etc. exactly in accordance with what Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad advocated. This work before you provides detailed insight into the extraordinary personality that started this refor- mation of thought over a century ago. We end with the heartfelt supplication: “O Allah, help those who help the religion of Muhammad and make us of them…” The Publishers, Ahamdiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, (Lahore) USA P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, Ohio 43016 Tel: 614-873-1030 Fax: 614 873-1022 Email: [email protected] Web: www.muslim.org viii TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is perhaps one of the most controver- sial religious personalities of recent times. To his followers, he is the Mujaddid (Spiritual Reformer) of the fourteenth century hijri, the Promised Messiah and the Mahdi (The Rightly Guided One), whose advent had been predicted by the Holy Prophet Muhammad. To his detractors, he is an imposter who fraudulently claimed to be a prophet, and the recipient of revelations. His followers are convinced that he removed the dross from the preaching and practice of Islam that had accu- mulated through the centuries, and restored the religion of Allah to its pristine purity. His detractors are equally adamant that he introduced dan- gerous innovations in Islam - innovations so unorthodox that he and his followers deserve to be excommunicated from Islam. A million or more Muslims who revere him as a spiritual guide are to be found in every cor- ner of the world, actively proselytizing and winning new adherents to their Islamic faith. But millions of other Muslims abhor him, and fill the airwaves and electronic space with their messages of hate. Frequently this hateful propaganda results in acts of violence against the properties and persons of Hazrat Mirza’s disciples. Almost a hundred years after his death, the controversy about his personality and the Movement he started has not died down, and it evokes the same kind of passion, perhaps even more, as it did during his lifetime. It is obvious, that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is not the kind of person who will be confined to and forgotten in the pages of history. Although his severest critics have been the Muslims themselves, his mission was not to disunite the Muslims by chalking out a turf for him- self, but to rally and unite the Muslims against the onslaught of Christianity, which threatened the very existence of Islam in the nine- ix x THE GREAT REFORMER teenth-century world - a world in which ‘Britannia ruled the waves’ and the ‘sun never set on the British Empire.’ Over six hundred years of Muslim rule in India from Delhi came to an end when the British success- fully quelled the Mutiny of 1857. Under the protection and active encour- agement of the British government, thousands of missionaries landed in India and other colonies with the express purpose of turning the natives into believers in salvation through Christ. However, since the Trinity of Christianity did not have much appeal against the strict monotheism of Islam, the Christian missionaries adopted a two-pronged strategy. The first prong of this strategy was the character assassination of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and the second prong was the exploitation of a wide- ly held belief among the Muslims regarding the second coming of Jesus and the eventual success of Islam under his leadership. Most Muslims believed that the Israelite Jesus did not die on the Cross, but was bodily elevated into heaven. From there, he would descend in a later time and in the company of the then ruling Caliph, termed the Mahdi (the Rightly Guided One), would wage a bloody war, kill the infidels and ensure a last- ing victory for Islam. The Muslims were strengthened in this belief by some references in the Books of Hadith about the second coming of the Messiah. The Christian missionaries were quick to jump on this belief and argue, “If the final success of Islam has to be at the hands of Jesus, why wait for that time, and why not believe in him now?” This argument proved effective against many simple minded Muslims, who were won over to Christianity. The Muslim clerics, who for the most part had aban- doned reasonableness, rationality, and application of their mind to matters of religion, were unable to face the onslaught of the Christian missionar- ies. For the Muslims of India, this was a double tragedy. The loss of tem- poral power was followed in short order by relentless attacks on their faith, and they felt powerless to defend themselves. Encouraged by the general malaise that gripped the Muslim nation, the Hindus too picked up the courage to launch their own attacks under various movements such as the Arya Samaj, Brahmu Samaj, Deo Samaj etc. Muslim intellectuals bemoaned the helplessness of the Muslim nation and cried out for a sav- ior. The situation of the Muslim world outside of India was no different. The following verses by the poet Hali, who lived in that era, are represen- tative of the state of the Muslims at the time:1 1 Mussadas Hali. English translation by Dr. A.K. Pasha Saeed TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE xi If you want to see how the nations fall, See the falling of a tree that stood tall. Witness Islam in its declining days, It is unable to see the distant rays. It is convinced there will be no rise, After the sun has set from the skies. It was at this critical juncture, when the Muslim existence in India and elsewhere had hit a nadir, that Allah raised Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to defend His faith, not with the sword but with the pen, and to carry the bat- tle into Christian territory. His powerful writings rallied the Muslims, restored their faith, and put the Christian missionaries on the defensive. Muslim clerics on the whole applauded and appreciated his efforts. In 1885, he announced that he was the Mujaddid of the fourteenth century hijri, and this did not cause any stir among the Muslim community. In accordance with a well-known tradition of the Holy Prophet, Mujaddids had been coming in previous centuries to revive the Muslim faith, and most agreed that the time was ripe for another Mujaddid. In 1890 Hazrat Mirza claimed that Allah had directed his attention to verses of the Holy Quran that proved beyond doubt that the Israelite Jesus was dead. He claimed also that the reference in the Books of Hadith to the second coming of the Messiah was an allegorical reference to a person who would have a spiritual likeness to Jesus, and that he, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was that Promised Messiah. The Muslim nation, which was wait- ing for the descent of the Israelite Jesus, was generally unwilling to accept such a claim, and launched a campaign to excommunicate Hazrat Mirza on the grounds that he had claimed prophethood. Throughout his life, Hazrat Mirza expressed his belief that prophethood had ended with the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and no prophet could come after him.