The Promised Messiah & Mahdi, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as)
Many Muslims often ask, where the coming of the latter day Messiah is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an. Regarding this, The Promised Messiah and Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) himself states:
‘Everyone can appreciate that if—according to the Holy Qur’an—at the time of the great Christian mischief, the coming of a punishment was necessary, then the coming of the Promised Messiah was also necessary. And it is clear that the coming of this chastisement during the peak of Christianity’s mischief is proven from the Holy Qur’an. Thus, the coming of the Promised Messiah is also proven from the Holy Qur’an. Similarly, it is generally proven from the Holy Qur’an that Allah the Exalted says that when We decide to visit a people with chastisement, We permit their hearts to become filled with sinfulness and immorality and, as a result, they exceed all limits of indulgence in their carnal desires and shamelessness. It is then that divine chastisement overtakes them. It is obvious that these matters, too, have reached a climax in Europe, thereby inviting chastisement which, in its own right, requires the [simultaneous] presence of a Messenger of Allah—and the same is the Promised Messiah. Thus, it is indeed surprising that these people should allege that the Holy Qur’an makes no mention of the Promised Messiah. Furthermore, this Qur’anic verse:
[1] كَمَااسْتَخْلَفَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ
also requires that in the fourteenth century one like ‘Isa [Jesus] should make his appearance in the Ummah, quite like Hadrat ‘Isa, who appeared fourteen centuries after Musa [Moses], so that a similarity should be maintained between the beginning and the end of both orders.
Furthermore, the following verse of the Holy Qur’an also contains this prophecy:
[2] وَإِنْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ إِلَّا نَحْنُ مُهْلِكُوهَا قَبْلَ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُوهَا عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا
Meaning that, there is not a town but We shall destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. This means that a terrible chastisement shall descend upon the world in the Latter Days. While on the other hand God says:
[3] وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا
This also shows that a Messenger will appear in the Latter Days, and he it is who will be the Promised Messiah.
And this same prophecy is contained in Surah al-Fatihah, for God Almighty has designated the Christians as الضَّالِّينَ—those who have gone astray’. This contains the indication that although hundreds of religious groups exist in the world who have gone astray, the Christians shall transgress all limits to the extent that they alone will stand out as the misguided ones. And when the misguidance of a people becomes extreme and they do not desist from committing sins, it is the established practice of Allah that such a people are overtaken by divine chastisement. Thus, from this too it becomes necessary that the Promised Messiah must appear; that is, in keeping with the requirement of the verse:
[4] وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا
And it is rather extraordinary that just as in the ahadith [sayings] of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, there is a prophecy about the Promised Messiah who would appear in the Latter Days, so also is there a prophecy regarding a man of Persia who would come in the Latter Days to restore and re-establish lost faith. As is written لوكان الايمان معلقابالثريالناله رجل من فارس meaning that, even if the faith had left [the earth] for the Pleiades, a man of Persia would bring it back. Now it is clear that in this hadith, the Man of Persia has been given such precedence and ascribed the performance of such a great task that one has to say that the Man of Persia is superior to the Promised Messiah because the Promised Messiah—as alleged by my opponents—will only kill the Dajjal, whereas the Man of Persia will bring the faith back from the Pleiades. It is also mentioned in another hadith, that in the Latter Days, the Holy Qur’an will be taken up into the heavens. People will recite the Holy Qur’an but it will get stuck in their throats. Thus will it be time for the Man of Persia and for the Promised Messiah— both would be contemporaneous. But in comparison to the special function that the Man of Persia would discharge of bringing faith back from the heavens, any service to the Faith for the killing of the Dajjal is at best the negation of mischief, which alone cannot serve as the basis of salvation. On the other hand, to bring faith back from the skies and to transform people into perfect believers amounts to the acquisition of virtue which is the criterion for salvation. Negation of mischief bears no comparison to the acquisition of virtue. What is more—in regard to whosoever accomplishes the immense virtuous feat of bringing faith back from the Pleiades to earth—how could anyone with reason believe that such a person would be incapable of dispelling mischief ?’ (Haqiqatul Wahi, Page 626-629)
ENDNOTES
[1] As He made successors from among those who were before them (The Holy Qur’an 24:56)
[2] The Holy Qur’an 17:59
[3] We never punish until We have sent a Messenger (The Holy Qur’an 17:16)
[4] Ibid
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