The Purpose of the Promised Messiah’s Advent

The Promised Messiah^as wrote over 80 books in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. Excerpts of his collected works have been translated into English and organised by topic. The Review of Religions is pleased to present these excerpts as part of a monthly feature. Here, the Promised Messiah^as explains the purpose of his coming. 

Extracts from the Essence of Islam, Vol.IV, pp. 108-113.

‘I firmly believe that whoso follows me with steadfastness and sincerity of heart will not perish but will partake of the life which is immortal.’

All Prophets Come for the Same Purpose

The main purpose of the advent of prophets^as in this world and the grand objective of their teaching and preaching is that mankind should recognize God Almighty and should be delivered from the life which leads to hell and ruin and which is known as the life of sin. In fact, this is the most important objective before them. Now that God Almighty has established a dispensation and has raised me, the same purpose which is common to all prophets^as is also the purpose of my coming; namely, that I wish not only to tell the world what God is, but I actually want them to see Him, and to show them the way of desisting from sin.

[Malfuzat, vol. 3, p.11]

Blessings of the Imam of the Age

Whenever the Imam of an age makes his appearance in the world, he is accompanied by thousands of lights. There is jubilation in heaven and people’s good qualities are stimulated through the spread of spirituality and light. So, the one who possesses the capacity of receiving revelation, begins to receive revelation, and the one who has the capacity to gain understanding by reflecting upon matters of faith, his power of reflection and understanding is augmented, and the one inclined towards worship begins to find pleasure in worship and supplication, and the one who engages in discourse with the followers of other faiths, is bestowed the power of reasoning and carrying the arguments to a convincing conclusion. In fact, all this results from the diffusion of spirituality which descends from heaven with the Imam of the age and finds its way into every eager heart. This is a general phenomenon and a Divine practice to which the Holy Qur’an and the authentic Ahadith [traditions and sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad^sa] guide us and which I have observed through my personal experiences. But the age of the Promised Messiah has a unique characteristic, which is that in the scriptures of earlier prophets^as and in Ahadith it is recorded that at the time of advent of the Promised Messiah, the spread of spiritual light will reach a degree that women will also receive revelations, children will be able to prophesy and common people will speak with the power of the Holy Spirit. All this will be a reflection of the spirituality of the Promised Messiah.

When the light of the sun falls upon a wall, it is illuminated, and if it has been white-washed with lime it shines even more, and if it is studded with mirrors it reflects the light so strongly that the naked eye can hardly bear its reflection. But the wall cannot claim that the light is its own, for the light vanishes altogether after sunset. In the same manner, all the light of revelation is a reflection of the light of the Imam of the age.

[Darurat-ul-Imam, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 13, pp. 474-475]

Strengthening of the Faith

I have been sent to strengthen the faith and to prove the existence of God Almighty to the people, for their faith has become weak, and they take life after death no more seriously than a fable. The conduct of every person proclaims that he has not the faith and trust in God and in the hereafter as he has in the world and its ranks and its resources. Tongues profess a lot but the hearts are suffused with the love of the world. It is the same condition in which the Messiahas had found the Jews. As a characteristic of the weakness of their faith, the moral condition of the Jews had deteriorated greatly, and love of God had become cold in their hearts. The same is true in my time. I have been sent so that truth and faith may be revived and righteousness may inspire the hearts. This is the purpose of my advent. I have been told that heaven will once more come near the earth after it had moved far away. These are the reforms that I have to bring about and these are the tasks for which I have been sent.

[Kitab-ul-Bariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 13, pp. 291-294, footnote]

…I wish to state that God Almighty – having found this age full of darkness, and sunk deep in heedlessness, denial and paganism, and having observed the waning of faith, truthfulness, sincerity and righteousness – has sent me so that He may once again reestablish in the world the intellectual, physical, moral and spiritual verities, and to safeguard Islam against the onslaughts of those who design to harm this divine garden in the guise of philosophy, naturalism, innovation, polytheism and atheism.

[A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 5, p. 251]

The task for which God has appointed me is that I should remove the malaise that afflicts the relationship between God and His creatures and restore the relationship of love and sincerity between them. Through the proclamation of truth and by putting an end to religious conflicts, I should bring about peace and manifest the divine verities that have become hidden from the eyes of the world. I am called upon to demonstrate spirituality which lies buried under egoistic darkness. It is for me to demonstrate by practise, and not by words alone, the divine powers which penetrate into a human being and are manifested through prayer or attention. Above all, it is my task to re-establish in people’s hearts the eternal plant of the pure and shining Unity of God which is free from every impurity of polytheism, and which has now completely disappeared. All this will be accomplished, not through my power, but through the power of the Almighty God, Who is the God of heaven and earth.

[Lecture Lahore, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 20, p.180]

God has sent me into the world so that through gentleness, love, and kindness, I should draw towards God and His holy guidance people who have gone astray, and should enable them to tread the right path with the Divine light that has been bestowed upon me. Man stands in need of such reasoning as would convince him that God does indeed exist, inasmuch as a great part of the world is being driven to ruin for lack of faith in the existence of God Almighty and in His revealed guidance. There is no clearer and easier way to believe in the existence of God than through the understanding that He reveals to His close servants matters of the unseen and prophecies regarding future events. He discloses to those who are close to Him the deep hidden secrets, because there is no way for man to be enlightened about such secrets of the future as are beyond the reach of human faculties. It is indeed true that knowledge of unseen events and hidden matters, especially those which are related to the exercise of Divine power and will, are matters that man can never attain through his own efforts. There- fore, God has bestowed His beneficence upon me and has chosen me out of the whole world so that, through the manifestation of His signs, He may bring back to the right path those who have gone astray. But God has observed from heaven that the helpers and followers of the Christian faith, i.e. the Christian clergy, have wandered far from the truth, and have become a people who have not only lost the straight path themselves but they traverse thousands of miles of land and ocean and endeavour to convert others to their own doctrines. They do not know the true God, but their god is their own invention. Therefore, God’s mercy for mankind demanded that He should rescue His creatures from their deception. He has, for this reason, sent this Messiah so that through the right reasoning and argument he should break the cross that had broken and wounded the body of Jesus^as.

[Tiryaq-ul-Qulub, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 15, pp. 143-144]