BIBLE PROPHECISED HAZRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD OF QADIAN

Ahmadiyya Mosque, Indonesia

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Some of our more cynical readers often exclaim: who cares what the Bible says- it has been tampered with! Without a doubt, The Bible has been tampered with and does not remain the reliable source it once was, however the readers should also remember that the Bible has been endorsed on several occasions by The Qu'ran. Without going into detail and presenting every example, let us give just look at one:

He has sent to thee down the book containing the truth and fulfilling that which precedes it and he sent down the Torah and the Gospel before this, as a guidance to the people and he has sent down the discrimination. Surely, those who deny the Signs of Allah shall have a severe punishment (The Noble Quran, 3:3-5)

The Torah is from the first part of the Bible, The Old Testament, and was revealed to Moses a.s and The Gospels make up the second part of the Bible, The New Testament, which contained the revealed teachings of Jesus a.s. Anyhow, this verse has clearly stated that these books contain prophecies which are being fulfilled by Islam and are a sign and therefore to dismiss the entire book as corrupt is not only against all the evidence and research into The Bible by academic scholars, but is also opposed by the statements of the Qu'ran. Yes, it has been altered, but it does still contain some truths. 

Anyhow, recently we conducted some quite exhaustive research into the Biblical prophecies concerning the second coming of the messiah. The main problem we found with understanding these prophecies was that in many cases they appear to be very general, vague and open to interpretation, simply stating that the Messiah will come in an era of wars or famine or that he will return with God's angels supporting him or that he will be sent from the sky. So with such prophecies, anyone could argue that in every era of human history there have been some wars and famine and that every prophet has had the support of God's angels and of course we all know that Ahmadis believe that prophets descending from the sky is simply metaphorical language meaning they have been sent by God. So whilst we can accept these general prophecies, we're not wholly convinced that they mean anything much other than a second messiah will one day come. Instead, we would like to present some of the specific and clear prophecies we were able to find in the Holy Bible.

The Bible Prophecised that the Second Messiah would be a Muslim

Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ (The Holy Bible, Matthew 23:37-39)

The above statement of Jesus in The Holy Bible contains a prophecy so stark it is incredible. He warns the Jews that because they have tried to murder the prophets who have been sent to them, their 'house is left to you desolate,' meaning they will now lose the blessings of prophethood amongst the Jews. Further, they are warned that they 'will not see me again until you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" '. 

This prophecy is simply astounding. It clearly states that the Jews will not receive the blessings of the second messiah unless they first invoke darood or blessings upon the Holy Prophet s.a.w, who came down and taught the world to recite, 'In the name of Allah' before every recitation of the Qu'ran and every other good deed. He also taught Muslims to recite the prayer, 'Bless, oh Allah, Muhammad and the people of Muhammad' in at least every prayer, five times a day. 

This prophecy cannot be taken in any other way than to mean that Jesus a.s. would be from the Ummah of Muhammad s.a.w. It does not say that Jesus will return after Muhammad s.a.w, it says that only those who first accept Muhammad s.a.w. will even be able to recognise Jesus! If Jesus were to literally descend from the sky on a cloud, what difference would it make if someone had or hadn't accepted Muhammad s.a.w? It would be such a great miracle that anyone could immediately recognise a man returning from the dead by flying from the sky to be a true prophet of God. However, this isn't what Jesus has said. He has instead clearly indicated that only those who first accept Muhammad s.a.w. will be able to recognise him and this is a clear indication that the promised prophet can only be a messiah from the ummah of Muhammad s.a.w. 

There is no other sensible interpretation of this and if the antis wish to reject this, they are at liberty to do so, but they must also first reject the grand prophecy that the passage contains of the coming of Muhammad s.a.w. and the teachings of Muhammad s.a.w. and perhaps they must also reject the verses from the Qu'ran which we presented earlier which clearly stated that Muhammad s.a.w. and his teachings had fulfilled the prophecies of the gospels- such as the one contained in the passage above. 

The Bible prophecised that the Second Messiah would come in the 1800s

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. 

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (The Holy Bible, Matthew 24:3-14)

In the passage presented above, the followers of Jesus knowing he will come at the 'end times' ask him what the signs of his second coming will be in this era. To comment on just a few aspects of the prophecy, we will begin by examining the statement of Jesus that the era of the Messiah will be marked by the by the claimants to messiahship and 'false prophets'. The Promised Messiah, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, lived from 1835 to 1908. Let us briefly examine examples of those who the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believe to have been the most notable false prophets of his era:

Joseph Smith, 1805-1844, claimant to Prophethood, founder of Mormonism

Bahaullah, 1817-1892, claimant to Messiahship, founder of Bahaiism

Bab, 1819-1850, claimant to Mahdiship, founder of Babism

Muhammad Ahmad, 1845-1885, claimant to Mahdiship, political leader

John Alexander Dowie, 1847-1907, claimant to Messiahship, church founder

John Hugh Smyth Piggot, 1800s-1927, claimant to Messiahship, leader of Apegamone sect

Another interesting part of the prophecy is that Jesus stated, 'you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death and you will be hated by all nations, because of me'. Without going into too much detail, this was fulfilled magnificently in 1974 when the World Muslim League, which is affiliated with and has representatives from every single Muslim nation in the world, unanimously declared Ahmadis to be Kafir. Furthermore, shortly after Pakistan passed it's first round of legislation against Ahmadis and ushered in a new era of fierce persecution and murder of Ahmadis, only because of their religious beliefs. 

Finally, Jesus marked the era of the second messiah with the words, 'this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.' This prophecy indicated that prior to the coming of the messiah, the Christian section of the Bible, called The Gospels and containing the teachings and words of Jesus, would be preached in every corner of the world. It was regarding this prophecy that Khalid Nawaz Sahib- a regular commentator on this site- recently sent me a quite fascinating research article:

In 1804, the British Foreign Bible Society was established and twelve years later its sister organisation, The American Bible Society came into being. By 1816, according to the records of these societies, 421 million copies were distributed amongst all nations. Massive efforts were launched by all Christians to spread the good news.  

All continents were covered, even the interior of Africa. This all occurred, not on a small singular scale, but on a massive organised scale. A Year Book and Guide to East Africa published by Robert Hale Ltd in 1953, page 44, states that Christian missions began their activities among the African people in 1844. Dr. D. L. Leonard, a famous Christian historian of the Mission Movement, states in his book A Hundred Years of Missions: "For the first time since the epistolic period, occurred an outburst of general missionary zeal and activity." Dr. Leonard was speaking of the period between the end of the 18th century until 1844. Mr. G. S. Faber states in his book, Eight Dissertations, completed in 1844:

 

"The stupendous endeavors of one gigantic community to convey the scriptures in every language to every part of the world may well deserve to be considered as an eminent sign of these eventful times. Unless I be much mistaken, such endeavors are preparatory to the final diffusion of Christianity, which is the theme of so many inspired prophets, and which cannot be far distant in the present day." (G. S. Faber, Eight Dissertations, 1844)

Mr. M. H. Goyer states in his book, Prophetic Fulfillment, that The British and Foreign Bible Society has issued since its foundation in 1804, over 421 million copies of the scriptures, in practically every country throughout the world. 

In 1842, Mr. Spicer stated in his book Our Day in the Light of Prophecy that the Gospel in his day had been spread to 95% of the inhabitants of the earth. He further stated that in 1842, five treaty ports in China were opened for commerce and missionaries. 

In 1844, Turkey was prevailed upon to recognise the right of Muslims to become Christians. In 1844, Mr. Allen Gardiner established the South American Mission. In 1842, Dr. Livingston, with the aid of his medical qualifications, opened the door of Bible preaching in the interior of Africa. 

Dr. A. T. Pierson wrote in Modern Mission Century that India, Siam, Burma, China, Japan, Turkey, Africa, Mexico, and South America were successively and successfully entered. Within five years from 1853 to 1858 new facilities were given for the entrance of seven different countries, together embracing half the world population. 

Within the period of 1800 to 1900, British evangelists and regular missionaries had openly declared that God had ordained that India, The Middle East and Africa should become Christian. Nothing was going to stop them. Britain, being the mighty empire of the day made sure that all facilities were granted for the work of the missionaries. The British believed in Christ's return and rushed to spread the news. (Masood Khan, The Review of Religions)

As we can see, the era of the Promised Messiah, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was exactly the era prophecised by Jesus in the Bible to be the era of the second messiah.  

The Bible Prophecised the Second Messiah would come from the East of Jerusalem

For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the distress of those day the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. (The Holy Bible, Matthew 24:27-30)

In this passage of the Bible, Jesus told his disciples that his second advent will take place in the East. At the time, he was speaking in Jerusalem and anyone who glances at a world map will find that Qadian, in northern India, is almost directly east of Jerusalem. 

A = Jerusalem, B = Qadian

Jesus also goes on that the Messiah will be visible in both East and West. Until the era of photography, it was virtually impossible for the image of a person to be visible from both East and West. However, in 1820s the foundations of modern photography were laid and with The Promised Messiah born in the 1830s, numerous photographs of his were taken and these were published in western newspapers within his own lifetime. 

The Sunday Herald, Boston, USA, June 23rd, 1907

The passage goes on to refer to signs of his advent. Two of these perhaps indicate eclipses of the sun and moon, which we may discuss in another blog, as the eclipses in the Promised Messiah's lifetime require a detailed discussion. The verse goes on, that 'the stars will fall from the sky and heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven'. It should be noted, that this prophecy is a continuation of Jesus' answer from the extract we presented earlier. This prophecy has had it's truth testified to by the Qu'ran, which states:

Verily, that which you are promised must come to pass. So when the stars are made to lose their light and when the heaven is rent asunder and when the mountains are blown away like dust, and when the Messengers are made to appear at the appointed time (The Noble Qu'ran, 77:7-12)

So the Qu'ran gives the exact same prophecy, with the exact same ending: the coming of God's messengers. Ahmadi Muslims believe that stars are a great symbol of Islam and of the Muslims being rightly guided as seen in the following examples:

And He it is Who has made the stars for you that you may follow the right direction with their help amid the darkness of the land and the sea. We have explained the Signs in detail for a people who possess knowledge. (The Noble Qu'ran, 6:97) 

By the star when it falls, you companion has neither erred nor gone astray (The Noble Quran, 52:1-3)

Both these Qu'ranic verses areoccasions when the stars have been presented as of means by which the Muslims may be rightly guided. As such, Ahmadis believe that the Qu'ranic and Biblical prophecies regarding the dimming or falling of stars prior to the coming of a messenger, refer to the Muslims becoming misguided prior to the era of The Promised Messiah. Not even the most biased Muslim will be able to argue with the simple facts that prior to the coming of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Muslim nations and people had fallen desperately in both worldly and religious terms- the political power of all the Muslim nations combined had eroded and the Christians were making great onslaughts with their missionaries in Muslim lands, whilst the Muslim remained in disarray, squabbling and fighting amongst themselves. 

To finish, it is also worth noting that it is not just the Ahmadis who have concluded that the messiah was destined to arrive in the late 1800s: even the Christians of that era were fervently expecting his return. Again we will quote from the article Khalid Nawaz Sahib sent us:

The nineteenth century was indeed full of events, particularly from 1830 onwards. There was an air of religious fervour throughout Christian countries. The general conditions can now be realised only by reading some of the accounts of the times. Henry James Foreman, author of a book called The Story of Prophecy, stated on pages 310 and 311, that Lady Hester Stanhope, a valiant woman, and niece of William Pitt, turned her back on London and power and fashion, and made her home in Lebanon amongst the Arabs and Druse. She kept, as it was reported, two white Arab steeds in her stable, one for the Messiah and one for herself. 

A famous Jewish convert, Joseph Wolffe, predicted the advent of Christ in 1847. A famous Washington lady, Harriet Livermore, preached the advent of the second coming of Christas to the House of Representatives, where crowds gathered to hear her. 

The more orthodox Christians prepared robes for Christ. The fashion of the day was recorded to be a shroud. A magazine called Star of the West Vol. XIV, page 304 states: "There is a little mosque in the Holy Land, where the priests Preside keeping ready the shoes that the Messiah is to wear when he comes to Jerusalem" 

Henry J. Foreman states in his book The Story of Prophecy that so real was the hope of the advent, that people were actually taking almost violent action about it. Whole families were engaged in making shrouds for that fateful day. 

The Christian scholars and students in all continents, independent of each other, reached the conclusion that around 1843/44, the Promised Messiah will return. Among those who concluded this were Wolff in Asia, Edward Irving in England, Maso in Scotland, Davis in South Carolina, William Miller in Pennsylvania, Leonard H. Kelber in Germany and many others in various parts of the world. The sudden drive for evangelism, exemplified by Dr. Thomas who started the Christadelphian Church and Mr. Russel of the Jehovah Witnesses, was also an indication of such expectations around that time. It is clear beyond doubt that around 1844, Christians around the world expected the return of the Messiah. (Masood Khan, The Review of Religions)

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