Exhibition
The Promised Messiah
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , the Promised Messiah and Mahdi was born to a noble family in Qadian, India. From an early age he had a deeply passionate interest in religion. He was also known for his unparalleled honesty, deep compassion and sympathy, resolve and tolerance. Over time his phenomenal knowledge and understanding of religion and its application to society deepened. Being a Muslim it was his firm belief that all religions were true at their source but with the passage of time had drifted away from their original teachings; he upheld the dignity of religion and demonstrated its relevance to everyone. His earnest defence of religion was ultimately blessed when he started to receive direct revelation from Allah – a blessing that he received for the rest of his life.
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed that he had been appointed by God as the Messiah foretold in the Traditions of the Holy Prophet and the Mahdi promised in his Sayings. He claimed that the prophecies contained in all the different religious books about the advent of a Divine Messenger in the latter days have also been fulfilled in his person; that God had raised him for the advocacy and promulgation of Islam in our time.
By his work, his message and his example, the Promised Messiah glorified the Holy Prophet and demonstrated that God still spoke to his righteous servants today. At a time when fanaticism, obscurantism and bigotry had become the hallmark of Muslim thinking, he displayed before the wondering eyes of seekers after truth, a vast and seemingly limitless treasury of knowledge, philosophy and wisdom from the Holy Qur’an. The moral and spiritual values inculcated by the Holy Qur’an and illustrated to their perfection by the Holy Prophet were revived by him, so that men of their age could profit not only from his precept but also from his example.
His mission was to revitalise the truth that all religions held within them and to revive the teachings of Islam. It was through this that he would bring mankind together and establish everlasting peace.
In 1889, under Divine Guidance, Hazrat Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community – a community that has since grown in its stature and is now established in over 200 countries of the word and has remained active in conveying the true and peaceful message of Islam to the ends of the earth.
Hazrat Ahmad had established himself as a respected writer and had written over 80 books. His writings have been translated into more than 60 languages and continue to inspire readers to this day. One of his greatest scholarly works was The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, prepared as a paper and read out at the Conference of Great Religions in 1896. He also wrote a fascinating treatise in 1899 entitled Jesus in India, a book that uncovered remarkable evidence of Jesus’ journey to India. In 1902 the Promised Messiah initiated The Review of Religions which has covered a vast array of topics on religion, philosophy and contemporary issues of the day. It is the longest running English magazine in defence of Islam and the values it teaches.
People joining his community reflected his success in conveying the truth of Islam. From 1889 until the time of his demise in 1908 tens of thousands of people accepted him. This blessing has continued and will continue through his Khalifas (successors).
Currently under the fifth successor, we are seeing that the tide of acceptance is worldwide and that the message of Prophet Ahmad has really reached the ends of the earth.
