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Earlier this week, we announced that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Ramadan we would be publishing articles on various books of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to offer an online 'book club' where his writings can be discussed in the comments below and where others who have read the books can translate their favourite paragraphs in the comments etc. for the benefit of the readers. Today, we will be presenting the first book in the series, 'Braheen-e-Ahmadiyya'. For those of you who can read Urdu, the full, original book is available for free online in pdf. format here. We will be dividing this article into various parts:
1- Historical and Social Context on the Publication of Baraheen.
2- The Author of Baraheen.
3- The Contents of Baraheen.
4- Impact of Baraheen.
5- Discussion of Selected Passages from Baraheen.
1- Historical and Social Context on the Publication of the Baraheen.
India had for a long time been a religiously rich and varied country. Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and other religions had for centuries coexisted side by side. However, the advance of the British Empire and their eventual conquering of India lead to another religion very much coming to the fore: Christianity. Christian missionaries poured into India and the result was that within decades, by the late 1800s, it was estimated that India had had almost 3 million people convert to Christianity. To put that into context, this would have meant more than 1% of the Indian population joining Christianity in the space of just a few years.
On the other hand, Hindu reform movements of India, such as the Aryah Samaj and the Brahmu Samaj were strategically targeting Muslims for potential converts. Tactics they employed with some success included publishing literature full of foul language and derogatory remarks about the character of The Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and this was a pursuit that the Hindus and the Christians became united in. In fact, such strategies were so successful that the Muslims were left paralysed in shock and on a retreat. They were being attacked from every side. The Christians in particular became so confident by these early successes against Islam that they began to anticipate a complete victory. One Christian preacher in India, named John Henry Barrows, was emboldened enough to venture that, 'Christ, in the person of his disciples, shall enter the ka'bah of Mecca,' meaning that Barrows and his ilk had begun to envisage that their early successes would lead to the complete annihilation of Islam by Christianity, even in the holy city of Mecca.
2- The Author of the Baraheen.
In the late 1300s, an empire in central Asia was built by the Turkic-Mongol Muslim emperor Timur. It was from his uncle, Barlas, that a man called Mirza Hadi Beg migrated to a part of India in 1530, where he founded the village that would later be known as Qadian. The town of Qadian was well fortified and became a sort of local capital for around 600 villages, of which Mirza Hadi Beg was appointed the chief. His descendants continued to remain respected chiefs. At various points they seem to have been incredibly wealthy and to have kept armies of up to 7,000 soldiers and had great influence in the courts of the Mughal emperors of India. However, by the early 1800s the descendant of Mirza Hadi Beg called Mirza Ghulam Murtaza had seen the family estate dwindle to just Qadian and a few surrounding villages.
It so happened that Mirza Ghulam Murtaza was blessed with three children. The eldest was named Mirza Ghulam Qadir and the youngest two siblings, born in 1835, were twins; a girl and a boy. The girl passed away shortly after her birth, but the boy remained healthy and was named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Through his childhood, tutors were hired for the purpose of his education and by the standards of the time he became very well educated. He was taught The Holy Qu'ran and the basics of religion, as well as reading and writing in Arabic, Urdu, Persian and studying logic, medicine and philosophy. He was also well acquainted with the local language Punjabi and so in this way he became multi-lingual.
As he grew older, it became clear where Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's interests lay. Whilst his father and, later, his brother regularly attempted to cajole him into taking up various professional and financially lucrative careers, he would instead devote his time to praying, fasting, and a constant and regular study of The Holy Qu'ran and the collection of ahadith found in Bukhari. As he grew older, he began to become involved in debates with Christian scholars and so he obtained a copy of The Holy Bible and studied it so carefully that he could quote from it as easily as the best Christian preacher.
3- The Contents of the Baraheen.
By the late 1870s, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had reached maturity and could see the state of affairs facing the Muslim world. Many Muslim scholars and leaders had openly written their belief that Islam was in a state of decline. Faced with these circumstances, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was compelled to become like a mighty lion, roaring in the defence of Islam. He undertook a huge project, collecting hundreds of allegations which he planned to refute in one lengthy book, with logical arguments and referenced proofs. Although the book came to be known as 'Baraheen-e-Ahmadiyya,' it's full title translated to, 'Arguments in Support of The Holy Qu'ran and The Holy Prophet s.a.w'. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad described the purpose of the book in it's early pages:
Moreover, unlike the foul practices of the anti-Islam religious scholars of the age, he did so without resorting to foul or derogatory language:
The original manuscript for the book was 2,500 pages long. This was condensed into the initial four volumes. Volume 1 and 2 were published in 1880, with volume 3 following in 1882 and volume 4 in 1884. The first volume dealt with the excellences of Islam and challenged the scholars of any other faith to find even one fifth of the same excellences from their own religious scriptures as he had given for the sake of Islam in this book. If they could do so, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad offered to pay them the enormous prize of 10,000 rupees. To this day, noone has succeeded in this challenge. The second volume dealt with refuting the arguments of the Hindu Sect called Aryah Samaj. In the third volume, he highlighted the beauties and perfections of The Holy Qu'ran. He also explained how God communicates with man and announced that he himself was ready to prove that he was the recipient of divine revelation. The fourth volume dealt with a wide range of subjects. These included the nature of miracles and the abilities of God's prophets to foretell the future and contained prophecies by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself. He also conducted detailed analysis of sects from Hinduism and the religions of Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. The book also contained arguments proving that Muhammad s.a.w. was the most superior human being of all time, better than any prophet or leader ever in the history of mankind.
Yet another review stated:
One further journal noted:
It should be noted when considering the ecstatic reviews of the book presented above, that at the time of it's publication Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had not made any claims to prophethood etc. because his mission had not been made clear to him by Allah as yet. It is interesting to see that the notable scholars and academics of the Islamic world at the time were ready to accept him as their Mujaddid and as one of the best scholars and personalities the Muslim world had ever seen. It is a shame they turned away from him and became his enemies in some cases after Allah the Almighty made his position as a prophet of the Islamic ulama clear.
The above extract is one of the countless logical arguments presented through the book for the truth of the prophethood of Muhammad s.a.w. As mentioned earlier, the book is filled with the defence of Islam, The Holy Prophet s.a.w. and The Holy Qu'ran, but for the sake of brevity we are only presenting the very short extract above. Apologies. Anyhow, now we will turn to another Arabic revelation from the book:
It is important to note that the above revelation was published in Baraheen-e-Ahmadiyya Volume 4 in 1884. As already mentioned, an allegation raised against Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is that he changed his claims with time. The truth is, that the revelations he received from Allah describing his status were consistent throughout his lifetime. Here, years before he understood himself to be a prophet of God, he was already receiving hints in revelations by having himself described as a 'Champion of Allah in the mantle of the Prophets'. Without a doubt, at the time he did not understand this revelation to literally mean he was a prophet of God. However, the fact it took him a number of years to understand the full meaning of this and similar revelations should not be held against him. It should be remembered that The Holy Prophet s.a.w. did not initially fully understand the meaning of Gabriel when passed on Allah's message to 'recite'. In the same way, Abraham did not initially understand that the meaning of the dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son did not literally mean he should slaughter his own son. The point is, that there are many examples of even prophets of Allah not immediately recognising the true significance of revelations which they receive.
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself explained the meaning of the above revelation which he received with the following words in the same book: 'Hadhrat Moses exercised more forbearance and gentleness towards the the Israelites than any of their other Prophets. Neither The Messiah nor any other Prophet in Israel approached the high status of Hadhrat Moses. The Torah says that Hadrat Musaas was better and higher than all Prophets in Israel in kindness, gentleness, and high moral qualities. For instance, the Torah says: The man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth (Numbers, 12:3). Thus, God has praised the meekness of Moses in the Torah using words which He has not employed with reference to any other Prophet in Israel. It is true, however, that the high moral qualities of the Seal of the Prophets s.a.w, which are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, are thousands of times higher than those of Hadhrat Moses a.s. inasmuch as God has announced concerning the Seal of the Prophets, s.a.w, that he comprehends in his own person all high moral qualities that are found spread out among all the Prophets. Moreover, He has said with regard to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:You do most surely possess the highest moral excellences…As the Muslim divines are like the Prophets of Israel, therefore, in this revelation this humble one has been likened to Hadrat Moses a.s. This is all a part of the blessings of the Chief of the Prophets that God, the Noble, honours individual ones among his humble followers with such noble messages out of His great bounty and benevolence. O Allah, send down Your blessings upon Muhammad and upon the progeny of Muhammad.' Yet another revelation recorded in Baraheen reads:
This incredible prophecy, revealed to Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and recorded in Baraheen-e-Ahmadiyya, was marvelously fulfilled during the lifetime of Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, fourth successor of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. During Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad's khilafat, numerous kings from parts of Africa accepted Islam Ahmadiyya. The major kings from amongst these were honoured at a ceremony, in which Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad presented them with various garments that had once been worn by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
The revelation above was fulfilled in the lifetime of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, with thousands entering into his community, and continues to be fulfilled to this day with millions now following him worldwide.
Once again, as mentioned earlier, the anti-Ahmadiyya group allege that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad constantly altered his claim. The above revelation published years before he claimed to be the Messiah of the age, shows that the revelations he received were consistent throughout his lifetime as even in the above revelation, published in 1884, he is being described as 'Isa' (Jesus a.s.) and he himself admitted this by writing on the same page of Baraheen, 'In this revelation this humble one is meant by the word ‘Isa.' However, it was only years later that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad would acknowledge the full significance of this revelation by announcing that Allah the Almighty had repeatedly informed him that he was the Messiah of the age. Also, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad explained that the last line of the revelation, 'There is a group from among the first ones and a group from among the last ones,' was a prophecy which meant that his followers would include those who would accept him from both the Muslims and the non-Muslims worldwide and this has already been fulfilled with many non-Muslims having entered his community.
The above revelation again shows that in the early 1880s Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was already receiving revelations which hinted at his prophethood, which he would only fully understand years later.
In the above revelation, Hadhrat Nusrat Jehan Begum, wife of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a.s. was compared to Khadijah, the wife of The Holy Prophet s.a.w. Again, this is a revelation of which the Lahori Ahmadiyya sect, who accept Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claim to Messiahship and Mujadiddiyya, whilst rejecting his prophethood and also rejecting Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya, should pay careful attention to. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad passed away in 1908 whilst Hadhrat Nusrat Jehan Begum lived till 1952. Throughout her life she remained loyal and obedient to Khilafat. Do the Lahori group accept Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad whilst believing his Khadijah to be the follower of impostors, liars and deceivers?
Furthermore, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad commented on this revelation with the words, 'my wife was named Khadijah as she is the mother to a blessed progeny and a blessed progeny has also been promised to me.' (Nazulul Masih, p146-147). This promise of Allah's to bless the progeny of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his wife Hadhrat Nusrat Jehan Begum has been fulfilled through over 700 descendants to date. Amongst these descendants, four have been khalifas who the Lahoris believe to be impostors, liars and deceivers of the worst kind. What sort of blessed progeny do they believe in?! Furthermore, amongst those 700 descendants, every single one claims allegiance to the Khalifa and not a single one has ever entered the Lahori sect. What sort of blessed progeny is this that, according to them, every single one of their number has entered falsehood and left the truthful party?
The above revelation, recorded in the 1884 publication of Baraheen Volume 4, prophecised many of the strategies that would be employed by the opponents of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. What is remarkable is that at this point Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had not stated anything particularly controversial to the Muslims and was largely praised. He had not announced that he was the Mahdi, nor that he was the Messiah, nor that he was a literal prophet of God. Nor had he announced that Jesus a.s. had died in India etc. However, already Allah the Almighty had informed him that he would be the person who would give insights into religion which would prove controversial with the Ummah and be of such a nature that his opponents would denounce him with phrases such as, 'We have not heard of it from our forefathers, that is the elders in faith'. These words have been magnificently fulfilled and continue to be fulfilled even by anti-Ahmadiyya commentators on this site who raise objections against Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad that his claims contradicted the interpretations of such and such famous old Muslim scholars.
Moreover, unlike the foul practices of the anti-Islam religious scholars of the age, he did so without resorting to foul or derogatory language:
The original manuscript for the book was 2,500 pages long. This was condensed into the initial four volumes. Volume 1 and 2 were published in 1880, with volume 3 following in 1882 and volume 4 in 1884. The first volume dealt with the excellences of Islam and challenged the scholars of any other faith to find even one fifth of the same excellences from their own religious scriptures as he had given for the sake of Islam in this book. If they could do so, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad offered to pay them the enormous prize of 10,000 rupees. To this day, noone has succeeded in this challenge. The second volume dealt with refuting the arguments of the Hindu Sect called Aryah Samaj. In the third volume, he highlighted the beauties and perfections of The Holy Qu'ran. He also explained how God communicates with man and announced that he himself was ready to prove that he was the recipient of divine revelation. The fourth volume dealt with a wide range of subjects. These included the nature of miracles and the abilities of God's prophets to foretell the future and contained prophecies by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself. He also conducted detailed analysis of sects from Hinduism and the religions of Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. The book also contained arguments proving that Muhammad s.a.w. was the most superior human being of all time, better than any prophet or leader ever in the history of mankind.
4- Impact of Baraheen.
If the humble and naturally reclusive Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had been largely unheard of before, the publication of his epic defence of Islam eventually resulted in his name becoming known and talked of in every corner of India. Scholarly reviewers of the time had the following to say about his efforts:
Another leading Muslim scholar wrote the following:Yet another review stated:
One further journal noted:
It should be noted when considering the ecstatic reviews of the book presented above, that at the time of it's publication Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had not made any claims to prophethood etc. because his mission had not been made clear to him by Allah as yet. It is interesting to see that the notable scholars and academics of the Islamic world at the time were ready to accept him as their Mujaddid and as one of the best scholars and personalities the Muslim world had ever seen. It is a shame they turned away from him and became his enemies in some cases after Allah the Almighty made his position as a prophet of the Islamic ulama clear.
5- Discussion of Selected Passages from Baraheen.
We cannot possibly hope to do justice to the incredible and beautiful nature of the book with just a few extracts. Nonetheless, so that readers can sample a little 'flavour' of the book we will present the following extracts, starting with this Arabic revelation contained within the book:
The revelation received by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and recorded in Baraheen-e-Ahmadiyya contained several marvelous prophecies. Firstly, let us remember that at the time that this extract from the third volume of Baraheen was published, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was riding a wave of popularity amongst the Muslims of India. As shown in the reviews sampled above, the first two volumes of his book, published two years earlier, had received widespread acclaim amongst the Muslim leaders of various sects. The reviewers had even gone so far as to declare Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be a Mujadid, before he himself had even told them he was one! For him, during this period of intense popularity, to have received the revelation that he would be mocked, scoffed, called a liar, presumed to be suffering from a 'delusion', be derided as 'lowly', 'mean', 'ignorant' and even, 'demented' must have been quite a shocking and surprising revelation to receive. However, every single one of these predictions has come true and many Muslims continue to make these exact same allegations against the person of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to this day. Not only was it prophecised in this revelation that the people would turn against Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and make every kind of mischief to try and undermine his mission, but it was also promised that he would have a victory of such a kind that people would migrate to live with him and that the tracks to Qadian would become exceedingly warn, due to the number of visitors coming to see him. These promises of victory were fulfilled in his own lifetime. We could dedicate a long article analysing the incredible nature of this revelation alone, but as this post is becoming very, very long we will leave it at that for now.
One claim made by anti-Ahmadiyya commentators, even on this site, is that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, God forbid, changed his opinions and beliefs with time to suit his own agenda. The above quotation conclusively proves that in the very first book he published, long before he claimed- based on divine revelation- to be the Mahdi, the Messiah and a prophet of God, he already believed that a prophet could come amongst the followers of The Holy Prophet s.a.w. What it also shows beyond doubt is that the argument of Lahori Ahmadi sect (if you don't know who they are see the first edition of this series) that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was not a prophet, as they claim no prophet can come after Muhammad s.a.w, is patently false. How can you on the one hand believe someone to be a Mujaddid, the divinely appointed Mahdi and the Messiah of Islam and on the other hand disagree with his beliefs on Islamic theology?We cannot possibly hope to do justice to the incredible and beautiful nature of the book with just a few extracts. Nonetheless, so that readers can sample a little 'flavour' of the book we will present the following extracts, starting with this Arabic revelation contained within the book:
The revelation received by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and recorded in Baraheen-e-Ahmadiyya contained several marvelous prophecies. Firstly, let us remember that at the time that this extract from the third volume of Baraheen was published, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was riding a wave of popularity amongst the Muslims of India. As shown in the reviews sampled above, the first two volumes of his book, published two years earlier, had received widespread acclaim amongst the Muslim leaders of various sects. The reviewers had even gone so far as to declare Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be a Mujadid, before he himself had even told them he was one! For him, during this period of intense popularity, to have received the revelation that he would be mocked, scoffed, called a liar, presumed to be suffering from a 'delusion', be derided as 'lowly', 'mean', 'ignorant' and even, 'demented' must have been quite a shocking and surprising revelation to receive. However, every single one of these predictions has come true and many Muslims continue to make these exact same allegations against the person of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to this day. Not only was it prophecised in this revelation that the people would turn against Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and make every kind of mischief to try and undermine his mission, but it was also promised that he would have a victory of such a kind that people would migrate to live with him and that the tracks to Qadian would become exceedingly warn, due to the number of visitors coming to see him. These promises of victory were fulfilled in his own lifetime. We could dedicate a long article analysing the incredible nature of this revelation alone, but as this post is becoming very, very long we will leave it at that for now.
The above extract is one of the countless logical arguments presented through the book for the truth of the prophethood of Muhammad s.a.w. As mentioned earlier, the book is filled with the defence of Islam, The Holy Prophet s.a.w. and The Holy Qu'ran, but for the sake of brevity we are only presenting the very short extract above. Apologies. Anyhow, now we will turn to another Arabic revelation from the book:
It is important to note that the above revelation was published in Baraheen-e-Ahmadiyya Volume 4 in 1884. As already mentioned, an allegation raised against Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is that he changed his claims with time. The truth is, that the revelations he received from Allah describing his status were consistent throughout his lifetime. Here, years before he understood himself to be a prophet of God, he was already receiving hints in revelations by having himself described as a 'Champion of Allah in the mantle of the Prophets'. Without a doubt, at the time he did not understand this revelation to literally mean he was a prophet of God. However, the fact it took him a number of years to understand the full meaning of this and similar revelations should not be held against him. It should be remembered that The Holy Prophet s.a.w. did not initially fully understand the meaning of Gabriel when passed on Allah's message to 'recite'. In the same way, Abraham did not initially understand that the meaning of the dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son did not literally mean he should slaughter his own son. The point is, that there are many examples of even prophets of Allah not immediately recognising the true significance of revelations which they receive.
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself explained the meaning of the above revelation which he received with the following words in the same book: 'Hadhrat Moses exercised more forbearance and gentleness towards the the Israelites than any of their other Prophets. Neither The Messiah nor any other Prophet in Israel approached the high status of Hadhrat Moses. The Torah says that Hadrat Musaas was better and higher than all Prophets in Israel in kindness, gentleness, and high moral qualities. For instance, the Torah says: The man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth (Numbers, 12:3). Thus, God has praised the meekness of Moses in the Torah using words which He has not employed with reference to any other Prophet in Israel. It is true, however, that the high moral qualities of the Seal of the Prophets s.a.w, which are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, are thousands of times higher than those of Hadhrat Moses a.s. inasmuch as God has announced concerning the Seal of the Prophets, s.a.w, that he comprehends in his own person all high moral qualities that are found spread out among all the Prophets. Moreover, He has said with regard to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:You do most surely possess the highest moral excellences…As the Muslim divines are like the Prophets of Israel, therefore, in this revelation this humble one has been likened to Hadrat Moses a.s. This is all a part of the blessings of the Chief of the Prophets that God, the Noble, honours individual ones among his humble followers with such noble messages out of His great bounty and benevolence. O Allah, send down Your blessings upon Muhammad and upon the progeny of Muhammad.' Yet another revelation recorded in Baraheen reads:
This incredible prophecy, revealed to Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and recorded in Baraheen-e-Ahmadiyya, was marvelously fulfilled during the lifetime of Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, fourth successor of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. During Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad's khilafat, numerous kings from parts of Africa accepted Islam Ahmadiyya. The major kings from amongst these were honoured at a ceremony, in which Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad presented them with various garments that had once been worn by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
The revelation above was fulfilled in the lifetime of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, with thousands entering into his community, and continues to be fulfilled to this day with millions now following him worldwide.
Once again, as mentioned earlier, the anti-Ahmadiyya group allege that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad constantly altered his claim. The above revelation published years before he claimed to be the Messiah of the age, shows that the revelations he received were consistent throughout his lifetime as even in the above revelation, published in 1884, he is being described as 'Isa' (Jesus a.s.) and he himself admitted this by writing on the same page of Baraheen, 'In this revelation this humble one is meant by the word ‘Isa.' However, it was only years later that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad would acknowledge the full significance of this revelation by announcing that Allah the Almighty had repeatedly informed him that he was the Messiah of the age. Also, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad explained that the last line of the revelation, 'There is a group from among the first ones and a group from among the last ones,' was a prophecy which meant that his followers would include those who would accept him from both the Muslims and the non-Muslims worldwide and this has already been fulfilled with many non-Muslims having entered his community.
The above revelation again shows that in the early 1880s Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was already receiving revelations which hinted at his prophethood, which he would only fully understand years later.
In the above revelation, Hadhrat Nusrat Jehan Begum, wife of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a.s. was compared to Khadijah, the wife of The Holy Prophet s.a.w. Again, this is a revelation of which the Lahori Ahmadiyya sect, who accept Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claim to Messiahship and Mujadiddiyya, whilst rejecting his prophethood and also rejecting Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya, should pay careful attention to. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad passed away in 1908 whilst Hadhrat Nusrat Jehan Begum lived till 1952. Throughout her life she remained loyal and obedient to Khilafat. Do the Lahori group accept Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad whilst believing his Khadijah to be the follower of impostors, liars and deceivers?
Furthermore, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad commented on this revelation with the words, 'my wife was named Khadijah as she is the mother to a blessed progeny and a blessed progeny has also been promised to me.' (Nazulul Masih, p146-147). This promise of Allah's to bless the progeny of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his wife Hadhrat Nusrat Jehan Begum has been fulfilled through over 700 descendants to date. Amongst these descendants, four have been khalifas who the Lahoris believe to be impostors, liars and deceivers of the worst kind. What sort of blessed progeny do they believe in?! Furthermore, amongst those 700 descendants, every single one claims allegiance to the Khalifa and not a single one has ever entered the Lahori sect. What sort of blessed progeny is this that, according to them, every single one of their number has entered falsehood and left the truthful party?
The above revelation, recorded in the 1884 publication of Baraheen Volume 4, prophecised many of the strategies that would be employed by the opponents of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. What is remarkable is that at this point Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had not stated anything particularly controversial to the Muslims and was largely praised. He had not announced that he was the Mahdi, nor that he was the Messiah, nor that he was a literal prophet of God. Nor had he announced that Jesus a.s. had died in India etc. However, already Allah the Almighty had informed him that he would be the person who would give insights into religion which would prove controversial with the Ummah and be of such a nature that his opponents would denounce him with phrases such as, 'We have not heard of it from our forefathers, that is the elders in faith'. These words have been magnificently fulfilled and continue to be fulfilled even by anti-Ahmadiyya commentators on this site who raise objections against Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad that his claims contradicted the interpretations of such and such famous old Muslim scholars.
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