THE ESSENCE OF VOLUME V Extracts from the Writings, Speeches, Announcements and Discourses of The Promised Messiah and Mahdi Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian [May peace be upon him] Published under the auspices of Hadrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad Fifth Successor to the Promised Messiah [May Allah be his help] The Essence of Islam, Volume V A rendering into English of extracts from the writings, speeches, announcements and discourses of Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at. First Edition: 2007 Islam International Publications Ltd. Translated into English by: Dr. Saleem-ur-Rahman Revised by: Wakalat Tasnif, Rabwah © Islam International Publications Ltd. Published by: Islam International Publications Ltd. ‘Islamabad’ Sheephatch Lane, Tilford, Surrey GU10 2AQ United Kingdom Printed and bound in Great Britain by: ISBN: 1 85372 755 5 CONTENTS VOLUME V FOREWORD.......................................................................................... V PUBLISHERS’ NOTE ........................................................................... VII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................................................................... XI MIRACLES, SIGNS AND PROPHECIES.....................................................1 MARRIAGE AND RIGHTEOUS PROGENY ..............................................41 THE CONFERENCE OF GREAT RELIGIONS ...........................................57 ‘ABDULLAH ATHAM...........................................................................63 LEKH RAM .........................................................................................69 THE PLAGUE.......................................................................................85 THE GREAT VICTORY.......................................................................113 EXTRAORDINARY RENOWN AND DIVINE SUCCOUR..........................119 EARTHQUAKES AND WARS...............................................................139 KING OF THE PEN .............................................................................155 THE REVEALED SERMON..................................................................159 MISCELLANEOUS SIGNS ...................................................................161 INDEX OF VERSES OF THE HOLY QURAN ..........................................217 SUBJECT INDEX ...............................................................................219 In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. FOREWORD The Essence of Islam is an English translation of extracts from the writings, speeches, announcements and discourses of Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadianas (1835-1908), the Promised Messiah, Mahdi and Founder of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at. The original compilation was made with great care and effort by the late Sayyed Mir Dawud Ahmad, and was published in the form of a book titled Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadianias Apni Tehriroń Ki Ru Sey (Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadianas, according to his Writings). May Allah reward him for his labour of love. The present volume contains extracts relating to the Prophecies, Signs and Miracles of the Promised Messiahas. It has been translated by Dr. Saleem-ur-Rahman, and re- vised by Wakalat Tasnif, Rabwah. Chaudhry Muhammad ‘Ali Wakil Tasnif Tehrik Jadid Rabwah May, 2007 v PUBLISHERS’ NOTE The system used for references is the same as adopted in Volumes I, II, III and IV. All references, unless otherwise noted, are from the Holy Quran. In the text, the references to the Holy Quran are given exactly as they were given in the original writings. In the footnotes, references are given in the modern numerical system. In these references, we have counted Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim as the first verse and have used the numerical system in which the first number refers to the Surah (chapter) and the second number refers to the Ayah (verse). References to the Books of the Promised Messiahas are based on the London Edition of the Ruhani Khaza’in published in 1984. References to Malfuzat and Majmu‘ah Ishtiharat are also based on the London Edition. The following abbreviations have been used in this book, Readers are requested to recite the full salutations when reading the book: sa. An abbreviation for sal-lallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, meaning “May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,” is written after the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa. as. An abbreviation for ‘alaihis salam, meaning “May peace be upon him,” is written after the names of Prophets other than the Holy Prophetsa. ra. An abbreviation for radi-Allaho ‘anhu/‘anha/‘anhum meaning, “May Allah be pleased with him/her/them,” is written after the names of the Companions of the Holy Prophetsa and of the Promised Messiahas. In transliterating Arabic words we have followed the fol- vii lowing system adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society. at the beginning of a word, pronounced as a, i, u ا preceded by a very slight aspiration, like h in the English word ‘honour’. .’th, pronounced like th in the English word ‘thing ث .h, a guttural aspirate, stronger than h ح .’kh, pronounced like the Scotch ch in ‘loch خ .’dh, pronounced like the English th in ‘that ذ .s, strongly articulated s ص .’d, similar to the English th in ‘this ض .t, strongly articulated palatal t ط .z, strongly articulated z ظ a strong guttural, the pronunciation of which ,‘ ع must be learnt by the ear. gh, a sound approached very nearly in the r غ ‘grasseye’ in French, and in the German r. It re- quires the muscles of the throat to be in the ‘gargling’ position whilst pronouncing it. .q, a deep guttural k sound ق .a sort of catch in the voice ,’ ئ Short vowels are represented by a for —— (like u in bud’); i for —ِ— (like i in ‘bid’); u for —— (like oo in‘ like a in) ﺁ wood’); the long vowels by a for ——ٰ orَُ‘ ﯼ or —— (like ee in ‘deep’); ai for —— ﯼ father’); i for‘ ♦ِ like oo in ‘root’); au) —— و like i in ‘site’) ; u forٰ) —— ُ.(’resembling ou in ‘sound) —— و forَ Please noteَ that in transliterated words the letter ‘e’ is to be pronounced as in ‘prey’ which rhymes with ‘day’; however the pronunciation is flat without the element of English diphthong. If in Urdu and Persian words 'e' is Shaikh) there is an element of diphthong) ﺷﻴﺦ In Arabic words like ♦ which is missing when the word is pronounced in Urdu. viii lengthened a bit more it is transliterated as 'ei' to be pro- nounced as 'ei' in 'feign' without the element of diphthong is transliterated as 'Kei'. For the nasal sound of 'ﮐﮯ' thus 'ﻣﻴﮟ' n' we have used the symbol 'ń'. Thus Urdu word' would be transliterated as 'meiń'.* The consonants not included above have the same pho- netic value as in the principal languages of Europe. We have not transliterated Arabic words which have be- come part of English language, e.g., Islam, Mahdi, Quran, Hijra, Ramadan, Hadith, ulema, umma, Sahib, Imam, etc. Please also note that the words in the text in normal brack- ets ( ) and in between the long dashes — are the words of the Promised Messiahas and if any explanatory words or phrases are added by the publisher for the purpose of clari- fication, they are put in square brackets [ ]. May Allah accept our humble efforts and make this blessed task a source of guidance for many. Amin. The Publisher May, 2007 * These transliterations are not included in the system of transliteration by Royal Asiatic Society. [Publisher] ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my appreciation for the help and support given by Maulana Munir-ud-Din Shams, Additional Wakil-ut-Tasnif, who provided the vital link for seeking guidance from Hadrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih Vaba. Those who rendered valuable services in assisting the undersigned in the preparation of this book are: Mr. Dhulqarnain Raja Ata-ul-Mannan Syed Tanwir Mujtaba Dr. Muhammad Shafiq Sehgal Tahir Mahmood Mubashar Kashif ‘Imran I am also grateful to Munawar Ahmad Saeed (USA) and Fouzan Pal who prepared the index. May Allah reward them all. Chaudhry Muhammad ‘Ali xi Though miracles may have vanished without a trace; Come, witness them at the hand of the servants of Muhammad sa Miracles, Signs and Prophecies “In order to prove that I am from Him, God Almighty has shown so many signs that were they to be divided among a thousand Prophets, they would suffice to establish the Prophethood of them all.” MIRACLES, SIGNS AND PROPHECIES God has informed me directly through His living Word that if I am troubled by people asking how they should know that I am from Him, I should tell them: It is sufficient proof that His heavenly signs are my witness, my prayers are accepted, knowledge of the unseen is revealed to me beforehand, and such mys- teries, as are known to none other than God, are disclosed to me in advance. And the second sign is that should anyone want to challenge me in the afore- said matters—in the acceptance of prayers, being given prior knowledge of their acceptance, and in be- ing given knowledge of unseen matters that lie beyond the limits of human knowledge—he will surely be defeated in this challenge, be he from the East or from the West. These are the signs that have been vouchsafed to me. [Government Angrezi Aur Jihad, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 17, pp. 29-30] I swear by God, in Whose hand is my life, that if all the people who have witnessed the signs that have been shown for my sake and for my support were to be gathered at one place, there would be no monarch on earth whose army would exceed them in numbers. Yet the earth is so full of sin that people are rejecting even these signs.