From: umnoor@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Nasir Ahmed Noor)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: ADVENT OF PROMISED MESSIAH (one answer serves all!!)
Date: 13 Apr 92 06:39:01 GMT
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada


IN THIS ARTICEL I DISCUSS THE HADITH AND QURANIC VERSES WHICH TELL US
ABOUT THE ADVENT OF PROMISSED MESSIAH AND MAHDI.

I ALSO GIVE THE SIGNS MENTIONED IN QURAN AND HADITH AND HOW THEY WERE
MET/FULFILLED/APPEARED.

Dear Reader,
Asslam-o-Alaikum,

I guess now is the most appropriate time to look at the advent of Promissed
Messiah and Mahdi in light of Quran and Hadith. Many have asked on and off
the net to discuss this point (which also happens to be the core of debate).

The time when Hazrat Massih-e-Maood appeared was the  most trying period in
the history of Islam. One can go on and on to cite instances of the social,
moral and spiritual degradation of Muslims in those days. It was the greatest
challenge, the greatest tribulation that Islam had ever faced. THis was the
time that instead of Muslims converting non-Muslims to Isalm, Muslims were
being converted in large numbers and with incredible rapidity to
Christianity.

These erstwhile Muslims after abandoning Islam would become such virulent
enemies of Islam taht they would be foremost in attacking Islam and they
would attack it with such vehemence as would defy description.

Would Allah watch these terrible times, these tribulations, this deluge
to engulf and swallow up Islam without any move to remedy the situation?
Never!

The fact is, in the whole long history of th eworld, the greatest single 
event was the advent of the Holy Prophet of Islam, Muhammad Mustapha (on
whom be peace and blessings of Allah). The next most significant event in
the history of the world is the advent of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.

The Holy Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) is
reported to have said:

     "Even if only one day would have been left for the world to come to
      an end, Allah would lengthen that day and would not let that day end
      until He causes the Promised Messiah and Mahdi to appear."
                          (Abu Daud Vol. 2: Kitabul Mahdi).

In other words, the apearance of the Mahdi is so important for the 
fulfilment of th eobject of the creation of the world that he will, 
definitely, without doubt, be made to appear before the world comes to an 
end.

The Hadith goes further to tell us the moral condition of the world at the 
time of his appearance. It says that he will come at a time when the world
would have been filled with corruption, transgression, iniquity and 
injustice and it is only with his coming hhat these evils will be removed
and in their place, virtue, equity and justice would be established. The
wording of the Hadith is as follows:

      "He (the Messiah and Mahdi) will fill the world with justice and 
       virtue in place of the injustice and iniquity that would have
       engulfed the world."

It must be stated with all the emphasis at our command that if Allah would
allow this horrible condition of Muslims to persist without taking any 
remedial steps to arrest the situation, if Allah would permit Muslims to
divide inot 73 sects without any move to unite them, if Allah would allow
such unprecedented moral degeneration of Muslims without raising a Reformer
to reform them, then, there can be no justification in describing Muslims
as:

    "the best community that has been raised for mankind."
                                       (Quran   3:111).

In that case, Islam may be linked to, in the words of the Mahdi, a beautiful
garden that has been abandoned by its owner so that, for lack of care, it
withers away and its charming and sweet smelling flowers fall off.

It should be clear to all those who have read Quran and the Hadith that
all the signs which wre meant to herald the apearance of the Mahdi have been
fulfilled.

There are those who say that the Traditions which deal with the advent of 
the Promised Messiah and Mahdi are weak adn ureliable. This is a later
development otherwise the truth is, the appearance of the Mahdi in the latter
days was so stressed by the Holy Prophet that it had become a cardinal part 
of the faith of every Muslim.

Another thing in this connection which is worthy of note are the prophecies
about the advent of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi which are not confined
to the traditions only. The Holy Quran also prophesies his advent.

One of the signs mentioned in the Hadith to herald the appearnce of the
Promised Messiah is that a time would come when the camel which used to be
the most reliable and efficient means of transport in Arabia would be
abandoned and when that tiem comes, we should know that the time of the
appearnce of the Mahdi is at hand.  (Majma' Bihar, Vol III P.165, 
Mishkaat Bab Nuzul Issa Ibn Maryam).

This same sign has been mentioned in the Holy Quran: when the she-camels,
ten months pregnant, are abondoned. (81:5).

The Holy Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said:

   "What will be your condition when the Son of Mary, will descend among
    you and he will be your Imam from among you"
                          (Sahih Bukhari, Bab Nuzul Issa Ibn Maryam).

From this Tradition, it has been wrongly inferred that Jesus has been kept
alive for nearly 2000 years in the skies and that he will come again in the
latter days for the reformation of mankind, including Muslims.

I must draw the attention of those Muslim brethren who hold such opinions
that nothing can be more derogatory to the honour of the Holy Prophet of 
Islam than this belief.

It is suggested that while the Holy Prophet, the best of creation, the one
individual who is the cause of the creation of the entire universe, has
tasted of death like all other prophets, but Jesus, son of Mary, has been 
kept alive in the heavens for as long as 1900 years?

We read in the Holy Quran:
 
    "We granted not everlasting life to any human being before thee.
     If then thou shouldst die, shall they live here for ever."
                                                   (21:35)

Finally I ask those Muslims who hold such opinions to consider the verse:

    "And He will teach him th ebook and the Wisdom and Torah and the 
     Gospel. And will make him a Messenger to the Children of Israel."
                                             (3:49-50)

Should he come again as a Messenger for the whole of mankind, are those
Muslims going to alter this verse from the Holy Quran and insert:

               "A Messenger to the whole world?"

When one ponders over the Hadith which foretells the second coming of Jesus,
one finds that the solution of this matter is contained in the very Hadith
itself. The Holy Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) was so perfect in his
diction that nobody dares suggest other meanings to what he said.

The literal translation of the hadith is what will be your condition when
Jesus, son of Mary, will appear FROM AMONG YOU and will be your Imam FROM
AMONG YOU?

The phrase "FROM AMONG YOU" occuring *TWICE* in the same Hadith clearly
shows that the Mahdi wsa to appear from among Muslims themselves and not 
from among another community of people.

It also means that the Mahdi was to be from among the living on earth and 
would not be an earlier prophet descending from the sky.

When Jesus was asked about Elijah who, according to prophecy, was to descend
fron heaven before him, his answer was the Elijah had already come in the
spirit of John the Baptist.
                        (Matt.17:10-13; Mark 8:11-13; Luke 1:17).

This clearly shows that whenever a prophecy referring to the descent of any
prophet means that somebody else will come in his spirit and power.

The question also arises of the possibility of a prophet coming after the
Holy Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him). It was the Holy Prophet himself
who called the promissed Mahdi to come "Issa" (Jesus) which makes it clear
that the expected Mahdi was to be a prophet.

In as Hadith in Muslim, the Holy Prophet referred to the Mahdi as a Prophet
as many as FOUR times:

    "The Prophet of Allah, Issa, and his Companions will be besieged...
     then Issa, Prophet of Alah, and his Companions will turn to Allah.....
     then Issa, Prophet of Allah and his Companions will invade the camps
     of the enemy....and again, Issa the Prophet of Allah, and his
     Companions will turn to Allah".
                                    (Muslim, Bab Zikrul Dajjal).

There is yet another Hadith:

    "There is no Prophet between me and him. He will definitely appear. So
     when he does appear, you should recognize him."
                                    (Abu Daud Kitabul Malahim).

The truth is, the verse in which the Holy Prophet is referred to as Khatam-
un-Nabiyyin, was revealed some FIVE YEARS *BEFORE* his son, Ibrahim, died.
Yet on the death of Hazart Ibrahim, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is
reported to have said:

    "If Ibrahim had lived, he would certainly have been a true Prophet."
                                   (Ibn-e-Maja, Kitabul Janaiz).

If no Prophet could come after him, he would not have said that if Ibrahim
had lived he would have been a prophet.

Some of our friends have said that Allah caused him to die because He did
not want him to become a prophet.

*NOTHING* can be more ridiculous and derogatory to God than such an opinion,
for it  this is to be accepted, it will mean that GOd had forgotten His
Own revelation that there was to be no Prophet after the Holy Prophet and
so it was after Hazrat Ibrahim had been born that He remembered His promise
and, therefore, caused him to die.

Is any Muslim prepared to accept such a course of thinking? No. Never!

What is important to note in this connection is that just as Jesus came 
without a new law but to serve the law of Moses so also was the Mahdi not to
bring any new law but to serve the law of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)

And this is exactly the claim of Hazrat Mieza Ghulam Ahmed, the Promissed
Messiah. He says:

     "Whatever my spiritual attainment, I have attained it through the
      blessing of the master Prophet, Muhammad Mustapha (peace be upon him).
                                            (Durri Samin Urdu).

And this also is the view expressed by eminent Companions of the Holy Prophet
of Islam, including Hazrat Ayesha and distinguished Muslim divines and saints
after them.

These include Hazrat Muhiuddin Ibn Arabi, hazrat Imam Abdul Wahhab Shi'irani,
Hazrat Imam Muhammad Tahir and Hazrat Mulla Ali Qari.

In difference to space I shall give only two quotes.

Hazrat Ayesha is reported to have said:
     "Say, by all means that he is Khatamun Nabiyyin, but do no say there
      will be no Prophet after him."
                       (Durri Manthur, Vol. 5; Takmila Majma-al-Bihar, p.85).

Hazrat Sheikh Muhiuddin Ibn Arabi is also reported to have said:
     "The prophethood that has ceased after the Messenger of Allah, on whom
      be peace, is the prophethood with a new law. And this is the meaning
      of his saying: 'Messenger-ship and Prophethood have ceased; so there
      will be no Messenger after me.' All that this saying means is, there
      will be no Prophet after me who will abrogate my law so that any 
      Prophet who will appear will be bound by my law."
                                      (Fatuhate-Makkiyya, p.100)


******************
A MENTION OF SIGNS
******************
I now intend to mention a few signs which were to herald the appearance of
the Mahdi and adduce facts from them to prove that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad IS INDEED THE PROMISSED MESSIAH.

IT MUST BE SAID FROM THE OUTSET that nobody who reads the Traditions will
fail to be impressed with the spiritual vision of the Holy Prophet of Islam
because the prophecies are so clear and convincing that it would appear as
if at the time of making the  prophecies, the Holy Prophet was seeing
exactly what was to happen 1400 years hence.

For instance there is the Hadith:

    "The Promissed Messiah will apear beside a white minaret to the east of
     Damascus."
                                     (Kanzul Ummal, Vol.7, p.202)

There are those who would want it to appear that the Promissed Messiah was
to DESCEND on a white minaret IN Damascus. But the Hadith does not say so.
What the Hadith says in plain words is: "besides a white minaret to the east
of Damascus". Now, take a world map and study the location of Qadian. It
is exactly to the east of Damascus!!!

And it is to this that this Hadith also refers:

    "The Mahdi will appear in a town the name of which will be Qada'a."
                                   (Jawahirul Asraar, p.55).

So that the Holy Prophet did not only tell us the location of the Mahdi's
appearance, he even went to the extent of telling us the name of the town
from where he was to appear!

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) also gave us the description of
the appearance of Mahdi:

    "I saw in a vision that I was making the circuits round the Ka'aba. I
     suddenly was a man of wheat colour and his hair was straight and long."
                              (Bukhari, Vol. II, Kitab Bad-el-Khalaq).

Now this is the perfect photograph of Hazrat Ahmed.
The coulor of his skin was wheat colour and his hair was straight and long,
exactly as indicated in the prophecy.

*************
ANOTHER SIGN:
*************
Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) proceeded further to give us a sign the
like of which has not occured since the creation of the heavens and the 
earth, as proof of the appearance of any Prophet:

   "For our Mahdi there shall be two signs which have never happened for any
    one else since the creation of the heavens and the earth: At his advent
    there shall occur an eclipse of the moon in the first of its appointed
    nights and an eclipse of the sun on the middle one of its appointed
    dates and both will occur in the month of Ramzan."
                                     (Darqutni, p.188)

The same prophecy is to be found in the Holy Quran:

   "And the moon is eclipsed and the sun and the moon are brought together."
                                      (75:9-10)

Both the Holy Quran and the Hadith are one in proclaiming that for the 
Promissed Messiah, God will manifest two spectacular signs the like of 
which has not been manifested in favour of any other claimint to prophethood.
And it is that within one month, and the month will be Ramadhan, there will
be both an eclipse of the moon and then the eclipse of the sun!!!

It must be remembered that there have been eclipses from time to time ever
since the creation of the heavens and the earth; but *NEVER* had this sign
been shown as evidence of the truth of any prophet, and the beauty of the 
sign is further enhanced when it is specially predicted that it will be
the month of Ramadhan. Yes, within one month, in the month of Ramadhan, 
there was going to be manifested, first, an eclipse of moon and then an
eclipse of the sun.

Eclipses of the moon occur on 13th, 14th  or 15th of a given month. The
Hadith specifically mentioned it will be on the first of the three days,
that is the 13th of the month.

Eclipses of the sun occur on 27th, 28th and 29th of a given month. The Hadith
specifically mentioned the second days which is 28th of the month. Most
miraculously, that this phenomenon which had not been witnessed ever sinse
the creation of the heavens and the earth as a proof of the truth of any
prophet, was manifested by Almighty in support of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,
the Founder of Ahmadiyya Movement in Isalm.

In 1311 Hijri which correspondes with 1894 A.D., this spectacular sign was
manifested, first in India and then in the United States of America. This was
such a clear sign in support of Mahdi that the Mullahs were convinced that
people will not fail to recognize it.

In their envy, they started saying that people will now be misled.

Such were the powerfull and clear signs manifested in support of the Mahdi.

Hzarat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was, and still remains, the only claimant to the
eminent spiritual position  of the Mahdi.

The condition of the times was pointing to the need of a Reformer. So he
came. Truly he said:

     "The time was quite ripe for the appearance of Messiah. Even if I had
      not come somebody else would have come."
                                               (Durri Sameen)

There are also the prophecies which throw light on what Allah had intended
to be accomplished at the hands of the Promissed Messiah and Mahdi. This is
important because if it is proved that he did whatever Allah inteded that
it be accomplished at the hands of the Promissed Kessiah, then that would
constitute a proof that he was the Promissed Messiah and Mahdi.

The Hadith clearly mentions two such tasks. One of the tasks was teh breaking
of the Cross while the other was the killing of the swine.
                                 (Bukhari, bab Nuzul Issa Ibn Maryam).

It is erroneously beleived that by "breaking of the Cross" it was meant 
that the Mahdi would go from place to place breaking all the crosses 
wherever he would find them.

What a strange job for a prophet!

The breaking of the cross meant that the Promissed Messiah would disprove 
with incontrovertible arguments of the false doctrines of Christianity
which revolve round the crucifixion of Jesus i.e. that Jesus was the son
of God who was sent to the world to die on the cross to atone for the sins
of mankind.

It was Hazrat Ahmad who proved beyond any shadow of doubt that there is 
not even an iota of truth in the fictions of the divinity of Jesus, his
accursed death on the cross, his bodily ascension to the skies, and his
atonment for the sins of mankind.

Nor can the Mahdi's "Killing of swine" be taken literally. All that is 
meant by his "killing of swine" is that he would expose the shameless and
immoral practices and concepts that would have become widespread among the
Christian nations during the time of his appearance.
This task was also accomplished at the hands of hazrat Ahmad.

Another task of the Promissed Messiah, as mentioned by the Holy Prophet
was to bring back faith which would have ascended to the Pleiades at the 
time of his advent.       (Bukahri, Kitabul Tafseer bab Tafseer Sura Juma).

This task too was accomplished by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Founder of
the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, who claimed to be the Promissed Messiah and
Mahdi.

In the world of disbelief, he succeded in establishing a religious Community
the members of which have such implicit faith in the Almighty that each one
of them would be prepared to sacrifice his/her all, including his/her life,
for winning the pleasure of Allah.

In todays world of materialism, prominent and well-placed Ahamdi Muslims are
literally being slaughtered in pakistan for nothing other than their faith
in Allah and they remain firm in their avowed faith.

What other evidence is required to establish the claims of the Holy Founder
of the Ahmadiyya Movement?

The Holy Quran affirms the fate that awaits a false claimant to prophethood:

     "And if he had forged and attributed any sayings to Us,
      We sould surely have seized him by the right hand,
      And then surely We sould have severed his life-artery,
      And not one of you could have held Us off from him."
                                          (69:45-48).

I close with an extract from the writings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the
Promised Messiah and Mahdi:

   "Herken, all ye people. This is the prophecy of Him Who had created 
    heavens and earth. He will spread this Community of His in all countries
    and will make it supreme over all, through reason and arguments. The days
    are coming, indeed they are near, when this will be the only religion
    which will be held in honour. God will bestow extraordinary blessings
    on this religion and Movement. He will frustrate everyone who seeks to
    destroy it. This supremacy will last till the Judgement Day.
 
    Remember that no one will descend from heavens. All our opponents who
    are alive today will die and no one will see Jesus son of Mary descending
    from the heavens. Then their next generation will pass away and none of
    them will see this spectacle. Then the generation next after them will
    also pass away without seeing Jesus son of Mary descending from heavens.
    Then God will make them anxious that the time of the supermacy of the
    Cross had passed away and world had undergone great changes, yet the
    son of Mary had not descended from the heavens. Then the wise people
    will suddenly discard this belief. The third century after today will
    not yet have come to a close when those who hold this belief, whether
    Muslims or Christians, will lose all hope and will give up this belief
    in disgust. There will then be only one religion that will prevail in the
    world and l=only one leader. I have come only to sow the seed, which has
    been sown by my hand. Now it will sprout and grow and flourish and
    no one can arrest its growth."
                                    (Tazkaratush Shadatain,  pp. 64-65).


Regards
Nasir Ahmed Noor
umnoor@ccu.umanitoba.ca