The Promised Reformer(ra)
The Promised Reformerra
The following is the transcript of MTA International’s documentary entitled, “The Promised Reformer.” It is available to watch online at http://www.alIslām.org/v/24.html. We are grateful to Fatima Amatullah Naseer for providing its transcription.
The truth of Prophets is demonstrated by the fulfillment of the prophecies they make.
The founder of the Ahmadīyya Community in Islām, Hadrat Mirzā Ghulām Ahmadas of Qādiān, the Promised Messiahas, is the recipient of many prophecies. One of the most inspiring revelations concerns the advent of Musleh Mau’ūd, the Promised Reformer.
On February 20, 1886 the Promised Messiahas announced that God had revealed to him that he would be blessed with a son. The revelation stated,
“A handsome and pure boy will be bestowed on thee. He will be extremely intelligent and understanding and will be meek of heart and filled with secular and spiritual knowledge. His fame will spread to the ends of the earth and people will be blessed through him.”
This particular prophecy of the Promised Messiahas is referred to as the prophecy of Musleh Mau’ūd or the Promised Reformer. In accordance with his words, the Promised Messiahas was blessed with a son born on January 12, 1889 in Qādiān, India.
Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra was later to become Khalīfatul Masīh II. His life was filled with many extraordinary accomplishments and he was to become a prolific writer, scholar and leader. At a young age, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmad developed an interest in the study of the Holy Qur’ān and the traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa. He was tutored in this by the first Khalīfa, Hakīm Maulwī Nūr-ud-Dīnra.
Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmad’sra contribution to the Jamā`at activities began early. At the age of 17, he organized a little magazine called Tashīzul Adhān. A quarterly magazine devoted to writing about spiritual values was set up and this publication is still enjoyed by children today as it continues to be published under the same name.
When he was only 19, the father whom he revered dearly, passed away. Standing at the side of the Promised Messiah’sas deceased body, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra pledged, “If all of others should leave the Jamā`at of the Promised Messiah and I should be left alone, I will stand by the covenant of allegiance, the purpose of which Hadrat Ahmadas was sent to this world. I shall leave no stone unturned to fulfill that purpose.” The second Khalīfa lived another 57 years after making that pledge and every day of his life bore testimony to the fact that he lived up to his high resolve.
In 1914, he was elected as the second Khalīfa. He was only 25 at the time. The community was not very large in number, however, much more serious was the fact that some members of the community had challenged his position of office and had broken away. They protested that such a young man was unsuitable to become a caliph of the whole community. How wrong they were. The golden milestones and landmarks of Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmad’sra Khilāfat stand witness to his suitability as Khalīfatul Masīh.
A month into his Khilāfat, in April 1914, he formed a consultative body known as Majlis-e-Shūra. This went on to become established as a permanent institution within the community in 1922 and it is convened annually or as needed to make important policy decisions of the community. This blessed idea is now one of the great and unique features of the Ahmadīyya Jamā`at.
Hadrat Khalīfatul Masīh IIra was very aware of the religious and educational needs of Ahmadī ladies. To this end he established the organization Lajna Imā’illāh in 1922. A magazine, Al-Misbāh, was introduced in 1926 solely for this organization. To ensure that the educational needs of girls was being looked after, the Nusrat Girl’s High School was established in 1928 and in 1951, Jāmi`a Nusrat, or the Women’s College, started functioning in Rabwah and in Pakistan. Ahmadī girls were, thus, enabled to get education close to their homes. Religious education, as well as secular, was also given in these schools.
In December of 1938, Khuddāmul Ahmadīyya, an organization consisting of young men between the ages of 15 to 40, was set up. Atfāl-ul Ahmadīyya was also set up to cater for the needs of boys less than 16 years. In 1940, Majlis Ansarullāh was established for all male members of the Jamā`at over the age of 40.
These auxiliary organizations of the Jamā`at have remained in place from the time they were set up until today and within them all members of the Jamā`at worked together and show an exceptional spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood as they strive to inculcate spiritual and righteous values within themselves.
The Madrasa Ahmadīyya, which was set up for religious instruction, was raised to the status of Jāmi`a Ahmadīyya by Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra in May 1928. This institution was to train learned members of the community as missionaries to take the teachings of Islām to various parts of the world.
One of the main aims of the Ahmadīyya Community is the propagation of the message of Islām. During his Khilāfat, Hadrat Khalīfatul Masīh IIra took major steps in ensuring the fulfillment of this objective. After his election as Khalīfa he started a fresh translation of the Holy Qur’ān into English with explanatory notes in order to deliver the message of Islām to the European Nations. Muslim missionaries were trained and then posted out to various countries. Later on this responsibility was handed over to Anjuman Tehrīk-e-Jadīd or the Department of Foreign Missions.
The first Ahmadīyya mission was established under Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmad’sra Khilāfat was in Mauritius. Hadrat Sūfī Ghulām Muhammad was the first missionary there and he arrived on June 15, 1915. Hadrat Muftī Muhammad Sādiq, a companion of the Promised Messiahas, arrived in Philadelphia in the USA on February the 15, 1920 to preach Islām in the US.
The Tehrīk Jadīd Scheme is still alive today. Mosques, mission houses, clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges and printing presses have been built in nearly 176 countries of the world dedicated to the service of Islām.
To attend to the religious needs of those in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra set up the Waqf-e-Jadīd Scheme in 1958. This had the aim of intensifying Islāmic activities in the rural areas of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra inspired the community to cultivate the spirit of sacrifice within themselves. He urged the unemployed to work even if it was for a small wage. He advised the community to develop values of simplicity, modesty and austerity in their manner of food, dress and housing. He laid down guidelines such as cooking only one dish for meals. Simple though it was, it created a collective spirit of sacrifice not seen in any other community.
In 1924, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra was invited to attend the Wembley Conference of Religions and to represent Islām. His arrival in London was covered widely in the press. Ch. Muhammad Zafarullāh Khānra read out the English translation of his address. The audience listened attentively and the address received a great deal of attention. While in London, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra also laid the foundation stone of the Fadl Mosque.
Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra was a great intellect. No subject was too difficult for him to speak upon. Whether it was about the existence of God, prayer, divine decrees, worship, the benefit of divine law, life after death, heaven and hell and their reality, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra was able to explain and discuss all of these topics clearly and understandably. His greatest achievement, perhaps, was his outstanding contribution to literature. He wrote over 200 books and pamphlets. Though he had no worldly qualifications he clearly displayed the ability, as was promised by Allāh, in both religious and secular knowledge.
As early as 1913, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra launched Al-Fadl, the weekly Urdu newspaper of the Jamā`at, and that continues to publish to this day. Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra wrote Tafsīr-e Saghīr, a brief commentary on the Holy Qur’ān, and Tafsīr-e Kabīr, an exhaustive commentary on the Holy Qur’ān which has been described as, “a fathomless ocean of knowledge.” This 10,000 page commentary contains a deep exposition of thousands of spiritual truths and hidden secrets of the Holy Qur’ān many of which have not been presented before.
On September 20, 1948 the Jamā`at faced a major upheaval following the partition of India and Pakistan. The centre of the Jamā`at was moved from Qādiān in India to Rabwah, a small town near Chiniot in Pakistan which was then a barren track of land. 313 volunteers elected to remain in Qādiān to protect its holy precincts. The group included Hadrat Mirzā Wasim Ahmad, Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmad’sra son. It was a very testing time for the Jamā`at in India which was surrounded by hostile forces but in spite of this the Jamā`at established itself and flourished in Rabwah.
Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra launched the Waqf-e-Zindagi Scheme for dedicating one’s life in Islām. He initiated the annual Sīrat-un-Nabī Jalsa, in which a public meeting is convened to present to the world the life and character of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him). He also instituted the annual observance of Religious Founder’s Day which is to celebrate the lives of founders of all the great religions. These events have been instrumental in promoting interfaith understanding and appreciation.
Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra had been given a prophetic title, Fadl-e Umar, indicating his spiritual affinity to Hadrat Umarra, the second successor to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessing of Allāh be upon him). His achievements bore a close resemblance to Hadrat Umarra in that he was a brilliant administrator and laid down the structure of the Jamā`at as we know it today.
The 52 glorious years of his Khilāfat saw many great achievements. It genuinely represented a golden era in the history of Ahmadīyyat in Islām. He led the community through times of great adversity. With all the odds against him, even to have survived would have been a great achievement but the Promised Reformerra did so much more and fulfilled the prophecy to the word.
To the members of the community, he was at all times a deeply loving father to whom they could look up to for guidance, advice and encouragement. To all intelligent and reasonable people of goodwill, he proved to be a wise friend and counselor. Towards his opponents he was forbearing and truly sympathetic over their lack of understanding. And to the afflicted he was, without discrimination, a ready source of comfort and relief.
His demise on November 9, 1965 plunged the members of the community into overwhelming and intense grief. The editor of The Light, a weekly publication by the Lahore Group, wrote under a caption entitled, “A Great Nation Builder,” that “the death of Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra, head of the Ahmadīyya Movement, rang the curtain down of an eventful career packed with a multitude of far-reaching enterprises, a man of versatile genius and dynamic personality. There is hardly a sphere of contemporary thought and life during the past century from religious scholarship to missionary organization even political leadership on which the deceased did not leave a deep imprint.”
Hadrat Mirzā Bashīr-ud-Dīn Mahmūd Ahmadra, in his own words on the occasion of the annual convention in 1961 said, “I declare depending on the favors and blessings of Allāh that my name shall be preserved in the world forever. Although I will die one day, my name shall never be erased from history. This is the decree of Allāh.”
On the occasion of the centenary celebrations of the Jamā`at Ahmadīyya, one of the sons of the second Khalīfa who was then the 4th Khalīfa of the Promised Messiahas, Hadrat Mirzā Tāhir Ahmadrh said, “So let us enter the new century with the determination that we would respond to the call of Musleh Mau’ūdra every moment of whose life saw the fulfillment of that prophecy. If you respond to that call, you will live that age of Hadrat Musleh Mau’ūdra, if you live the age of Hadrat Musleh Mau’ūdra, you will live the age of the Promised Messiahas, the greatest lover of the Holy Prophetsa. And if you live the age of the Promised Messiahas you are assured by the Holy Qur’ān that you will live the age of the Holy Prophetsa. A time will come when all people will proclaim in unison may the mercy of Allāh descend upon this great servant of Islām who sacrificed his whole life for this cause.”
