On the occasion of Musleh Maoud Day, Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib
(atba) of Mauritius delivered a special sermon on February
20, 2012. The speech contains illuminating insights on the life and
personality of the Musleh Maoud Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood
Ahmad, the Promised Son and Reformer of the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad (as). The speech is also significant for the powerful and
unassailable arguments the Khalifatullah brings forward in defence of this Man
of God, especially in the backdrop of the objections being raised against his
status as Musleh Maoud by Abdul
Ghaffar Janbah Sahib of Germany who claims to be the
Divinely-appointed Mujaddid of the era.
This part contains the
first instalment of this important speech and deals with the major milestones
in the life of Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra). The second instalment dealing with
the accusations that he met with an accursed death of a false claimant of
Divine office is examined against the backdrop of true Islamic teachings on the
Divine shadow of help over the missions of Divine Elects, historic record of martyrdom
of the Jewish Prophets and the experiences of the Holy Prophet (sa) himself.
For the second and final part of the Speech, click here].
Musleh Maoud Day marks the
announcement of the revelation of the prophecy by the Promised Messiah, Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), about the birth of a son to him who would be the
Musleh Maoud or Promised Reformer. The advent of Musleh Maoud was not only
prophesised by the Promised Messiah but also by the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh), and the saints of Islam who lived before the advent of the Promised
Messiah and in the scriptures and traditions of the past.
Born on 12 January
1889, Hazrat Musleh Maoud started his education in early 1895 with the
simple reading of the Holy Quran. He attained fluency in reciting the Holy
Quran within the short period of two years and an Ameen function was held to
mark the happy occasion on 07 June 1897. For this memorable
achievement the Promised Messiah (as) composed a poem in the form of a moving
prayer, in acknowledgement of the grace and favour of Allah. (Thereafter Huzur (atba) sang the said
poem).
He was then enrolled in
the District Lower Primary School and then later joined
the Talimul Islam School. Due to his constant ill-health and
weak eyesight he did not achieve any degree of success in his secular studies. The
Promised Messiah was very much concerned about his son’s illness to the degree,
that in the last days of his life, he called one of his attending physicians
and told him to take greater care of Mahmood’s health and should be more
attentive to his treatment. His teachers were not altogether satisfied with the
educational progress he was making in his studies, so they complained to the
Promised Messiah who had him undergo a hand-writing test and found that his
handwriting corresponded almost to his own. In his matriculation examination he
could only secure passes in Arabic and Urdu.
Subsequently, Hazrat
Maulvi Nuruddin (ra) took over the duties of his religious education.
At the early age of fourteen, he composed his first poem in which he addressed
Allah in the following words: “I
seek Thy pleasure all the time. If I am favoured with it, I shall feel that I
got all that there is to get.” This
was the state of the heart that was to revolutionise the world and we find that
was his guiding theme throughout his life which led him from success to
success.
In 1903, he
married Sayyeda Mahmooda Begum who later became known as Hazrat Sayyeda Umme
Nasir. In May 1914 he married Hazrat Sayyeda Amatul Hayy, the daughter of
Hazrat Khalifatul Massih I. Then in 1925, he married Hazrat Sayyeda Sarah
Begum. He subsequently married Hazrat Sayyeda Umme Tahir. The first mentioned
wife bore him Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad who then became
Khalifatul Massih III, while the last mentioned wife bore him Hazrat
Mirza Tahir Ahmad (may Allah forgive him) who then afterwards became
the Khalifatul Massih IV.
Among his other renowned
sons are Mirza Mubarak Ahmad. In March 1906 he started the
publication of a magazine known as Tashhizul Azhan of which he was the editor. His first
editorial covered fourteen pages. In the Jalsa Salana (Annual Gathering) of the
same year, he delivered his first important lecture which was highly
appreciated by the audience and which was later published as a book.
At the age of nineteen, he started giving
lessons on the Holy Quran after Maghrib (evening)
prayer. In 1913, with the permission of Hazrat Khalifatul-Massih I, he
started Al-Fazl newspaper
from Qadian on a bi-weekly basis but it has since been converted into a daily
newspaper. In the meantime, he also organised an association called ‘The Anjuman Ansarullah’ with
the objective of raising the Community to greater activity in pursuing its
objectives. Also when he was nineteen his illustrious father, the Promised
Messiah, died and standing by him, he made the following historic
statement: “Even if everybody
deserted you and I were left alone to battle against the whole world, yet will
I stand against the whole world and shall not heed any opposition or
hostility.”
During the years from 1909
to 1911, he took lessons in English from Hazrat Maulvi Sher Ali and on the very
first page in his notebook he wrote a very remarkable prayer which runs as
follows: “O Lord God, help me in learning this language and bless every word
that I learn from my teacher and help us in breaking the power of the cross and
in slaying the swine, for man has no power without Thy aid.”
In March 1914, Hazrat
Khalifatul Massih I became seriously ill, so he appointed Hazrat Musleh Maoud
to lead the prayers. It may here be noted that Hazrat Musleh Maoud was only 25
years old at that time and to be appointed Imaam for prayers by the Khalifatul-Massih I showed
what qualities must have been observed in him.
In this context it may be
pointed out that an old and very respected companion of the Promised Messiah
whose name was Pir Manzur Muhammad, after studying the works of the
Promised Messiah on the subject of Musleh Maoud concluded that Mirza
Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad combined in himself all the qualities which mark him
out very clearly as the Musleh Maoud of the prophecy. He wrote a paper on it
deducing fourteen points and applied the prophecy to Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud
Ahmad (ra). He presented the paper to Hazrat Khalifatul Massih I and having
written a gist of the discussion between himself and the Khalifatul Massih, he
presented it to him, requesting his signature for confirmation.
Hazrat
Maulvi Nuruddin (ra) wrote the following on the
paper and signed it: “We have
known this for a long time. Haven’t you noticed that in our personal attitude
towards him there is a deep inner shade of deference? I confirm that I
said this in the course of a talk with Brother Pir Manzur Muhammad.”
On Friday 13 March 1914, Hazrat Khalifatul-Massih
I passed away and the following day Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad (ra)
was acclaimed as Khalifatul Massih II at that young age of 25. According to the prophecy announced by the
Promised Messiah about the Musleh Maoud, two of the qualities mentioned are
that he would be filled with secular and spiritual knowledge. During more than
half a century of his Khilafat, Hazrat Musleh Maoud (ra) demonstrated these
qualities in an exceptional manner.
In 1924, he travelled to England to present a paper
at the Conference of Living Religions of the Empire. The natural outcome of the
paper is his book Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam. On 19 October 1924, he laid the
foundation stone of the London Mosque. During the early thirties, he played an
important role in the Kashmir situation and was unanimously acclaimed
as the first President of the All India Kashmir Committee, a duty which he
performed meritoriously. The result of the All India Kashmir Committee were
nothing but miraculous.
He initiated Jalsa Seerat-un-Nabi (pbuh) and some years later, he
launched All Prophet’s Day. With the combined efforts of the
Ahrar and the Mullahs to undo the Community, Hazrat Musleh Maoud (ra) initiated
the scheme of Tahrik-i-Jadid which roused the members of the Jamaat to respond
admirably with great sacrifices. In
1944, he announced publicly that it was revealed to him that he was the Musleh
Maoud (Promised Reformer) mentioned in the prophecy of the Promised Messiah who
was the recipient of Divine revelation from his very youth.
He wrote by the grace of Allah more than two hundred books
and pamphlets and his most famous work was the Tafseer-i-Kabeer which is a veritable storehouse of
knowledge. All his writings and speeches display a very high scholarship in
both the religious and secular fields and they stand second to none in his
time. In every aspect of his life and action was fulfilled in every detail the
prophecy about him being the Musleh Maoud. It was on Monday, 08
November 1965 that he breathed his last.