An article with a full and referenced history/analysis of the split between Lahori and Qadiani Ahmadi sects can be found This Link
Introduction
Over the past few days, a Lahori Ahmadi Muslim brother has repeatedly left comments asking us questions about our belief. However, we feel as he has come onto our site and been the first to intiate a debate we have never looked for he should be the one to answer our questions first and then we might consider replying to his.
The issue of the Lahori Ahmadi's rejection of Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya in 1914 was first raised on this site by Ahmadiphobic commentators last year. We responded with perhaps the longest article in the history of the site, which has since become the most read article we've ever had with the best part of 2,000 page views. Based on the research of that article we would like to begin a series of five or more follow up articles in which we ask questions of the Lahori Ahmadi Muslim community.
The Prophecy of The Promised Son
In 1886 Hadhrat Sahib decided to travel to the small town of Hoshiarpur specifically with the purpose of secluding himself, fasting and praying constantly for a divine sign to be granted by Allah. In answer to his prayers, he received the following revelation:
I confer upon you a Sign of My mercy according to what you begged of me. So I have heard your entreaties and have honoured your prayers with My acceptance through My mercy and made your journey a source of blessings for you. Therefore, a Sign of power, mercy, nearness is bestowed on you, a Sign of grace and beneficence is awarded to you and you are granted the key of success and victory.
Peace on you, O victorious one. Thus did God speak so that those who desire life may be rescued from the grip of death and those who are buried in the graves may come out of them and so that the superiority of Islam and the dignity of God’s Word may become manifest unto the people and so that truth may arrive with all its blessings and falsehood may flee with all its ills, and so that people may understand that I am the Lord of Power, I do whatever I will, and so that they may believe that I am with you, and so that those who do not believe in God and deny and reject His religion and His Book and His Holy Messenger Muhammad, the Chosen One s.a.w. may be confronted with a clear Sign and the way of the guilty ones may become manifest.
Rejoice, therefore, that a handsome and pure boy will be bestowed on you; you will receive an unblemished youth who will be of your seed and will be of your progeny. A handsome and pure boy is coming as your guest. His name is Emmanuel and also Bashir. He has been invested with a spirit of holiness, and he is free from all impurity. He is the light of Allah. Blessed is he who comes from heaven. He will be accompanied by grace which shall arrive with him. He will be characterised with grandeur, greatness and wealth. He will come into the world and will heal many of their disorders through his Messianic qualities and through the blessings of the spirit of holiness. He is the Word of Allah for Allah’s mercy and honour have equipped him with the Word of Majesty. He will be extremely intelligent and perceptive and will be meek of heart and will be filled with secular and spiritual knowledge. He will convert three into four. It is Monday a blessed Monday. Son, delight of the heart, high ranking, noble. A manifestation of the First and the Last, a manifestation of the True and the High; as if Allah has descended from heaven. His advent will be greatly blessed and will be a source of manifestation of Divine Majesty. Behold a light comes, anointed by God with the perfume of His pleasure. We shall pour Our Spirit into him and he will be sheltered under the shadow of God. He will grow rapidly in stature and will be the means of procuring the release of those held in bondage. His fame will spread to the ends of the earth and peoples will be blessed through him. He will then be raised to his spiritual station in heaven.
This is a matter decreed. Your house will be filled with blessings and I shall perfect My favours unto you and you will have a large progeny from blessed women, some of whom you will find hereafter, and I will cause a great increase in your progeny and will bless it; but some of them will die in early age and your progeny will spread greatly in different lands.
Every branch of your collaterals will be cut off and will come to an end soon through childlessness. If they do not repent, God will send chastisement after chastisement upon them, until they are completely wiped out. Their houses will be filled with widows and God’s wrath will descend upon their walls.
But if they turn to God, He will turn to them in mercy. God will spread your blessings about and will revive a ruined house through you and will fill a fearful house with blessings. Your progeny will not be cut off and will flourish till the end of days.
God will maintain your name with honour till the day when the world comes to an end and will convey your message to the ends of the earth. I shall exalt you and shall call you to Myself but your name will never be erased from the face of the earth.
It will so happen that all those who seek to humiliate you, and are determined to cause you to fail and wish to ruin you will themselves be frustrated and will die in failure and frustration. But God will grant you complete success and will grant you all that you desire. I will cause an increase of your true and sincere friends and shall bless their lives and their properties and they will grow in number and they will prevail over the other Muslims—who are jealous of you and are hostile to you—till the Day of Judgment. God will not forget your supporters and will not lose sight of them and they will have their reward according to the degree of their devotion.
You are to me as the prophets of Bani Isra’il. You are to Me as My Unity. You are of Me and I am of you. The time is approaching, indeed it is near, when God will put your love in the hearts of kings and nobles till they will seek blessings from your garments. O you who deny and who oppose the truth, if you are in doubt concerning My servant, if you deny the grace and bounty that I have bestowed upon My servant, then produce some true Sign concerning yourselves like this Sign of mercy, if you are truthful. If you are unable to produce it, and be sure you will never be able to produce it, then be mindful of the Fire which has been prepared for the disobedient, the liars and the transgressors. (Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Ishtaharat, February 20th 1886)
Soon after, Hadhrat Sahib further explained the meaning of this prophecy:
In the Announcement of February 20, 1886 made by this humble one…there is a prophecy of the birth of a righteous son possessing the qualities mentioned in the announcement.…Such a son, according to the divine promise, will surely be born within nine years, soon or late, but certainly within this period. (Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Ishtiharat, March 22 1886)
In 1887, Hadhrat Sahib published a booklet called Sabz Ishtihar in which he further elaborated:
I supplicated again for further disclosure concerning this matter and it was disclosed to me today, April 8, 1886, by God Almighty that a son will be born very soon. Such period cannot exceed the interval of one pregnancy. (Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Sabz Ishtihar, 1888)
The following year, Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad was born. Even after his birth, Hadhrat Sahib continued to emphasise the blessed status of the promised son:
When his mission comes to its successful conclusion, his son, who will be his very image, will succeed him. That is, it is destined that God, the Exalted, will grant him a righteous son, who will be his exact image and will follow in his footsteps and thus remind people of his father. This is, in fact, in accordance with the prophecy that I have made about a son of mine. (Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Nishan-e-Asmani, 1891)
Hadhrat Sahib also wrote that the Promised Son had been indicated in the very prophecies of The Holy Prophet s.a.w regarding the coming Islamic messiah:
The Holy Prophet s.a.w has foretold that the Promised Messiah will marry and have children. In this there is an indication that Allah will grant him a righteous son, who will resemble his father, and will not defy him, and will be one of the revered servants of Allah. The secret of it is that Allah does not give glad tidings to Prophets or Saints regarding their progeny, unless He has decreed the birth of righteous progeny. (Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, 1892)
Summary of the Prophecy
1- God revealed he would grant to the world of truthfulness of the Promised Messiah with the birth of a 'pure boy' of his 'seed'
2- The son will be named 'Bashir'
3- God revealed: ' His advent will be greatly blessed and will be a source of manifestation of Divine Majesty'
4- He will be born within nine years
5- He will be born within the interval of one pregnancy from 1988
6- The Promised Son will be The Promised Messiah's spiritual successor and will follow in his footsteps
7- The Holy Prophet s.a.w's prophecy that the coming messiah would have children means Allah had decreed those children would be righteous.
Questions for Lahori Ahmadis regarding this prophecy
1- The prophecy is clear that the son would be a physical, genetic and biological son as it states he will be of the Promised Messiah's 'seed', born within 9 years and within an interval of one pregnancy, clearly meaning a physical son. Who was this son if not Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad?
2- The prophecy stated the promised son would be called Bashir. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had seven sons in total, two before the prophecy (Sultan and Fazal), three during the nine year period (February 20th 1886- February 19th 1895) of the prophecy (Bashir I, Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad) and two after the nine year period of the prophecy (Hadhrat Mirza Sharif Ahmad and Mubarak). The prophecy said the son would be called 'Bashir' and The Promised Messiah named each of his sons born during this period 'Bashir' but none of those born outside this period. Why did he keep naming his sons Bashir if they did not fulfil the prophecy?
3- The Promised Messiah clearly stated the Promised Son would be his spiritual successor, or in other words the Khalifa of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya. How do you interpret these clear words?
4- The Promised Messiah stated that the hadith of The Holy Prophet s.a.w regarding the coming messiah having children indicates that The Holy Prophet s.a.w had been informed by Allah that his children would be righteous as otherwise there would be no reason to mention unrighteous progeny as part of the prophecy. Do Lahori Ahmadi Muslims reject this hadith and Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's own interpretation of the prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah?
5- When Maulawi Muhammad Ali Sahib gave the following interpretation of this prophecy:
It is a long story and I cannot discuss the prophecy of the Promised Messiah in detail within a Friday khutba...If this evil requires to be corrected then I consider that each and every member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jama‘at is a Muslih Mau‘ud, and would be right in making that claim. God the Most High has Himself testified to this in the revelation of the Promised Messiah: "Our purified members are in Lahore". As to when the Muslih Mau‘ud will come, Allah knows best, but if a promised mischief-maker had to come then certainly the Mian sahib can make this claim. (Maulawi Muhammad Ali Sahib, Friday Sermon, 3rd February 1944)
did it not run in direct contradiction to both the prophecy and every interpretation Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had given of the prophecy?Five questions for now are enough. We have prepared five articles worth of questions for the Lahori group, however there will perhaps be no need to publish the next four if they are unable to answer this first one. Also, the comments section is not to be hijacked on unrelated issues. Lahori Ahmadi Muslims (and Ahmadiphobes) should stick to the topic in hand and they have their own blogs for other issues. If they can answer these five questions they will get a chance to discuss further topics of controversy between the two groups on subsequent postings.
An article with a full and referenced history/analysis of the split between Lahori and Qadiani Ahmadi sects can be found on This Link
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