Progeny: Biological and Spiritual

...[t]he belief in all the prophets of God is fundamental to a true believer in the Oneness of God, especially for the one who calls himself Muslim. The prophets form a chain and the medallion, which enhances the beauty of the chain, is certainly the greatest prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh).

If the Israelite prophets received from God sons who were both biological and spiritual, so why not the Muhammadan Ummah?  From the prayer of the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), it is clear that the Messiah (as) wanted a son like Prophets Zakariyya and Ibrahim (as) each received; extraordinary, learned, and intelligent sons, one who would raise the honour of the physical family of these prophets, as well as their spiritual ones, that is to say, their communities of believers.It is in this context that the Promised Messiah (as) went into retirement/retreat at Hoshiarpur so that Allah may listen to his supplications and answer his prayers. 

In addition to this, the people around him wanted to witness a divine sign which clearly assert his veracity. Thus, it was about such a sign which had to be manifested in the lifetime of the Promised Messiah (as) so that they may witness to this sign. And Allah, by accepting his prayer during his retreat has confirmed that He shall fulfill his prayer and grant him such a son who would be from his own seed, and who would be a Great Divine Sign.

 Definitively, by the other words of the Messiah, it is clear that he knows that later in the future other prophets-reformers shall come in the Muhammadan Ummah because as Allah has sent him as the first of Messiahs in this extraordinary line – being the first Messiah and Mahdi to appear for the reform of all humans (the whole world), then others will come to reform the world, and of course these Islamic reformers, in turn, each in his century will revive the flame of divine love in the heart of people.

An example of this is certainly this humble servant of Allah who has come, not only as a follower of the seal of all the prophets, but I am also the follower of the Seal of Islamic Messiahs. And indeed, Allah has called me “Musleh Ma’ud” as well as “Massih Ma’ud”, “Muhyi-ud-Din”, “Khalifatullah”, “Nabi”, “Rassool”, “Musli-ud-Din”, “Khawja Noor-ud-Din”, “Qamaram-Muniraa” and other titles of honour by my obedience to these two great Islamic leaders, demonstrating the heavy responsibilities that I have to convey Allah’s message to everyone.

But for the moment, and not concerning the other prophets/messiahs of Allah who will come later in the future, then the Promised Messiah (as) wanted that Allah give him such a son who will tread in the same right path that he has taken as the Promised Messiah of the Muhammadan Ummah and as the Seal of the Islamic Messiahs. And this desire for a biological and messianic son was gracefully received by the All-Merciful who confirmed his request and told him the good news:

The Great Prophecy

“I confer upon you a Sign of My mercy according to your supplications. I have heard your entreaties and have honoured your prayers with My acceptance through My mercy and have blessed this your journey. A sign of power, mercy, nearness to Me is bestowed on you. A Sign of grace and beneficence is awarded to you and you are granted the key of success and victory.

Peace on you, O victorious one. Thus does God speak so that those who desire life may be rescued from the grip of death and those who are buried in the graves may emerge therefrom and so that the superiority of Islam and the dignity of God’s word may become manifest unto the people and so that the truth may arrive with all its blessings and falsehood may depart with all its ills, and so that people may understand that I am the Lord of Power, I do whatever I will, and so that they may believe that I am with you, and so that those who do not believe in God and deny and reject His religion and His Book and His Holy Messenger Muhammad, the chosen one (on whom be peace) may be confronted with a clear sign and the way of the guilty ones may become manifest.

“Rejoice, therefore, that a handsome and pure boy will be bestowed on you. You will receive a bright youth who will be of your seed and will be of your progeny. A handsome and pure boy will come as your guest. His name is Emmanuel and Bashir. He has been invested with a holy spirit and he will be free from all impurity. He is the light of Allah. Blessed is he who comes from heaven. He shall be accompanied by grace (Fazl) which shall arrive with him. 

He will be characterized with grandeur, greatness and wealth. He will come into the world and will heal many of their disorder through his Messianic qualities and through the blessings of the Holy Spirit. He is the Word of Allah for Allah’s mercy and honour have equipped him with the Word of Majesty. He will be extremely intelligent and understanding and will be meek of heart and will be filled with secular and spiritual knowledge. He will convert three into four (of this the meaning is not clear). It is Monday, a blessed Monday. Son, delight of heart, high ranking, noble; a manifestation of the First and the Last, a manifestation of the True and the High; as if Allah has descended from heaven. 

His advent will be greatly blessed and will be a source of manifestation of Divine Majesty. Behold! A light come, a light anointed by God with the perfume of His pleasure. We shall pour our spirit into him and he will be sheltered under the shadow of God. He will grow rapidly in stature and will be the means of procuring the release of those held in bondage. His fame will spread to the ends of the earth and peoples will be blessed through him. He will then be raised to his spiritual station in heaven. This is a matter decreed.”

Promised Sons: ‘Zaki’ and ‘Fazl’ '(Pure' & 'Blessed')

What I want to precise here are the words of revelation: 

“Rejoice, therefore, that a handsome and pure boy will be bestowed on you. You will receive a bright youth who will be of your seed and will be of your progeny. A handsome and pure boy will come as your guest. His name is Emmanuel and Bashir. He has been invested with a holy spirit and he will be free from all impurity. He is the light of Allah. Blessed is he who comes from heaven. He shall be accompanied by grace (Fazl) which shall arrive with him. He will be characterized with grandeur, greatness and wealth. He will come into the world and will heal many of their disorder through his Messianic qualities and through the blessings of the Holy Spirit...”

It is clear that this son will be a very gentle soul, with the sweetness of faith and clarity of the prophets. In addition to the explanations of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), what I can now say for the moment my brothers and sisters is that not only that son is indeed biological but also spiritual. If you think carefully on the matter, you will find that we are all guests in this temporary world. Our true identity is our soul which is connected with Allah, the Almighty.

On the death of his fourth son Mubarak Ahmad, the Promised Messiah (as) interpreted that this death was mentioned in the revelation itself, quoting that the handsome and pure child will come as his guest. And I do not contradict what he said, but there are other explanations for these events and also for these extracts of divine revelations, heralding the news of a Grand Divine Sign. It is only Allah who can inspire these explanations to His Chosen One, to make him understand the reality of this revelation once given to the Promised Messiah (as).

If we take the biological son as separate to the spiritual son who is also a reformer and possessor of the messianic qualities, then we must take into consideration this very important point “... He shall be accompanied by grace (Fazl) which shall arrive with him...”. If we take the biological son as a different being from the spiritual son, possessor of Messianic qualities, that is to say, if we take “Emmanuel/ Bashir” as being the biological son, and “Fazl” as the promised reformer, then we need to deduce that if that was the case, then BOTH should be twins, because the revelation states that “Fazl” must come along with him, that “Fazl” will accompany him. However, we found that despite the Promised Messiah was himself a twin, but he did not father twins who would have fulfilled the revelation in that way.

So, if we take “Fazl” as simply meaning “blessing” and not a name, but only as an adjective to qualify this child, so we understand that this biological pure and handsome child, equipped with a holy spirit, a spirit of truth will receive the divine blessing, because with his coming, God’s blessing shall remain with him from the beginning till the end of his life on earth. And therefore, this means that come what may, he will receive divine protection.

And it is this same son about whom Allah said that he will possess messianic qualities. Therefore, he will be also a Messiah, a representative of the Messiah, his reflection/ his likeness and Caliph. And it strengthens the vision of the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Movement Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra) who stated in 1944, after the vision he received from God that he was indeed the biological son and reformer promised to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as). He was certainly his Caliph as Khalifatul-Massih, but also held a higher rank than the others because he was from the messianic waters and he thus accomplished in his person the revelation from Allah promised to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as). His whole life reflects the divine protection over him.

I do not say that he infallible or that he alone is the promised son of the Promised Messiah. That which I state with the help of Allah is that he was indeed the biological son and reformer promised for the first Islamic Promised Messiah, but nonetheless there will be other biological and spiritual sons for the other Islamic Messiahs who will come afterwards.

A revelation can still be valid for years after the Elect of Allah’s specified time. Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra) was indeed the promised son and reformer for his father, the Messiah. But there will be other promised sons and reformers for the other Islamic Promised Messiahs also. Those who come as the Promised Messiah, even after me, this revelation will also be valid for them as well.

And Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra) himself affirms, taking the name of Allah, that it is Allah who told him, just as He told His servant Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), that there will be other promised ones also, and these promised sons (of the Promised Messiah) will come in the appointed time that God has chosen for them. And Allah will send the “Musleh Ma’ud” a second time on earth. This person will be endowed with intelligence and with extraordinary qualities.

And in his Friday Sermon, 28 January 1944, after relating his dream/vision wherein he proclaimed: “I ​​am the Promised Messiah, his reflection and Caliph”, then Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra) stated:

“I wish to mention that when I woke up after the dream I kept thinking over it and my thoughts were formulated in Arabic. The end of my thinking was that God had clearly determined that truth had arrived and falsehood had vanished, falsehood was bound to vanish (17: 82). Today, when I was reading the announcement of the Promised Messiah (as) of 20 February 1886, I found the same words set out in it. Thus, God Almighty has revealed the reality to me and I can affirm without the least hesitation that the prophecy of God Almighty has been fulfilled…”

Let me tell you today that Allah has the ability to manifest the Great Divine Sign which will be more miraculous than reviving the dead, as stated by the first Islamic Messiah (Announcement of 22 March 1886). This miracle, the world shall certainly witness it, there is no doubt about that. Later, the world will realize what I mean right now. May Allah manifest the Great Divine Sign in the shortest possible time. Ameen. 

-Extracts from a Special Speech delivered on 20 February 2014 by the Khalifatullah (aba).