'I am the Messiah of this Era'

"I want neither pelf nor power. I have been commissioned by Allah as a Warner unto mankind, and deliver His message to you. Should you accept it, you shall have felicity in this life as well as in the life to come. Should you reject the word of Allah, surely Allah will decide between you and me." 

More than 1400  years ago, addressing the doubting Makkan chieftains of his times, Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa)  emphatically declared his Divinely-inspired spiritual Mission in the aforesaid words. Through out history, the Holy Prophet's ringing words have been the signature tune of Islamic Messiahs and other Divine Elects; people who spoke with the help of Holy Spirit (Roohul Quddus) and were known by different spiritual titles. Like the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian (1835-1908 CE) in the previous era, Hazrat Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius in this era claims Divine revelations and messages as the authority behind his spiritual titles and religious claims as the Imam, Caliph, Mujaddid and Messiah of this era. 

06 December 2003. Almost 15 years ago, it was  on this day that Hazrat Saheb (aba) made his official proclamation as the Muhyi-ud-Din (Reviver of the Faith) and the Messiah of this era. The Speech is noteworthy on a number of grounds. As the Founding Head of the Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen, Hazrat Munir (aba) explains the spiritual and material circumstances in which the Jamaat was founded as a distinct group of believers who follow all teachings of Islam.  

In this context, it is especially noteworthy for Ahmadis to understand that Hazrat Saheb (aba) scrupulously follows and revives the expositions on fundamental Islamic beliefs- teachings and prophecies concerning the appearance of  a Divine Elect in every era of Islam- left behind by Hazrat Musleh Maoud Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra) (1889-1965 CE) in his writings. As a person Divinely-raised with a mandate for the renewal of the spiritual path among the Ahmadis of today, the larger mission of Hazrat Saheb (aba) is to propagate the true and living Islam among all of humanity. 15 years on,  Hazrat Saheb's Divine Mission continues to strive with patience and constancy in the path of Allah (swt)- with more and more people recognizing the precious opportunity it represents for them to grow spiritually and to learn wisdom, Alhamdulillah, Soumma Alhamdulillah.  

Reproduced Below is the text of the Official Proclamation:  

Say, ‘O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honour whom You will and You humiliate whom You will. In Your hand is all good. Indeed, You have power over all things. (Al-Imran, 3: 27).

O you who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance; strengthen each other; and fear Allah; that you may prosper. (Al-Imran, 3:201).

‘My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, so forgive me’, and He forgave him. (Al-Qasas, 28:17).

My Lord, for the favour You bestowed upon me, I will never be an assistant to the criminals. (Al-Qasas, 28:18).

My Lord, save me from the wrongdoing people. (Al-Qasas, 28:22).

My Lord, indeed I am in need of whatever good You would send down to me. (Al-Qasas.  28:25).

My dear brothers, sisters and all the children,

Assalamoualaikum Warahmatullah Wabarakaatuhu. 

May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon all of you.

Today 06 December 2003 at 9.00 pm exactly, a point I wish to make quite clear at the outset is that the names Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen do not point to a new religion. Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen are Muslims and their religion is Islam. Yes, we have adopted the names Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen, a name given by Allah, but the adoption of a name is not the adoption of a new religion.

It becomes necessary for us to adopt a name to distinguish ourselves from others. The best name we could adopt was the name Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen. This name has a significance for our time. Ours is the time appointed for the propagation, all over the world, of the universal message of the Holy Prophet (on whom be peace). It is the time for the diffusion of the praises of God and for the spread of a knowledge of His Bounty and Beauty, the time for the manifestation of the attribute of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen.

We are Muslims with our heart and soul. We hold the beliefs a true Muslim believer must hold and deny the beliefs a true Muslim believer must deny. If, in spite of our sincere subscription to the truths of Islam and our conformity to the commands of God, anybody attributes unbelief or Kufr to us and describes us as innovators or as believers in a new religion, he is unkind and cruel. He is answerable to God for this.

Our Beliefs: 

I now proceed to enumerate the beliefs held by our Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen so that you can see whether any of them are contrary to Islam & Ahmadiyyat.

(1) We believe that God exists; to subscribe to a belief in His existence is to affirm the most important truth; it is not to follow an illusion or superstition.

(2) We believe that God is one. He has no partner here or in Heaven. Everything else is His creation, dependent on His help and sustenance.

(3) We believe that God is Holy, free from all defects and full of all perfections; No imperfection which may be found in Him, and no perfection which may not be found in Him. His power is unlimited. So is His knowledge. He encompasses everything and there is nothing which encompasses Him. He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Creator and Master of all creation.

(4) We believe that angels are a part of God’s creation. They follow the law laid down in the Quran – they do what they are commanded. They depend on God in the same way as men or His other creatures. He is not dependent on them for the manifestation of His power. The angels only manifest the will and wisdom of God.

(5) We believe that God speaks to His chosen servants and reveals to them His purpose. Revelation from God descends in words. The recipient provides neither the meaning nor the words of revelation. Both come from Him. Revelation provides real sustenance for man. Man lives by it and through it, man comes to have contact with God. The words, which embody a revelation of God, are unique in their power and majesty. No man can coin such words. They carry treasures of knowledge and wisdom.

(6) We also believe that when darkness prevails in the world and human beings sink deep in sin and evil, when without the help of God it becomes difficult for them to release themselves from the hold of Satan, then out of His Mercy and Beneficence, God chooses from out of His own loving and loyal servants, those whom He charges with the duty to guide the world. Through them God reveals His will and purpose. Those who turn away from them degrade themselves. Those who turn to them earn the love of God. The doors of His blessings are opened to them. His grace and mercy descend on them. They become spiritual preceptors for generations to come and attain greatness in this world and the next.

(7) We also believe that divine messengers, who in the past have helped mankind out of darkness and evil, have belonged to different levels of spiritual greatness and have fulfilled in different degrees the divine purpose which determined their advent. The greatest of them was the Holy Prophet (s.a.w). God described him as “the chief of men, a Messenger unto all mankind”.

(8) We also believe that God hears the prayers of His supplicants and servants. He helps them out of difficulties. He is a living God, His living character being evident in all things, at all times. It is not true that God created the world and then chose to sit aside. He continues His beneficent and benevolent interest in His servants and creatures. When they feel humble and weak, He turns to them with His help. If they forget Him, He reminds them of Himself and of His concern and solicitude for them. It is up to men to believe in Him and pray to Him. If they do so, they will have guidance from Him.

(9) We also believe that from time to time God determines and designs the course of events in special ways. Events of this world are not determined entirely by laws called the laws of nature. Besides these laws, there are special laws through which God manifests His might, interest, and purpose. It is these special laws which constitute evidence of the will and power and love of God, but which many out of ignorance happen to deny. Such men believe in nothing besides the laws of nature. Yet laws of nature may be laws of nature, but not laws of God. Laws of God are laws through which God helps His chosen ones, those whom He loves; through them He disgraces and destroys the enemies of His friends.

(10) We also believe that death is not the end of all existence for human beings. Man survives death and has to account for his deeds in the Hereafter. Those who do good deeds merit generous rewards. Those who offend His teachings and commandments meet the punishment which is their due.

(11) We believe that disbelievers in God and enemies of His revealed guidance, unless forgiven out of His infinite mercy, will stay in a place called Hell. In Hell, unbelievers and enemies of God will spend their days in wail, in regrets over days spent in evil.

(12) We believe that those, who believe in God, his prophets, His angels and His books; who affirms with their heart and soul the guidance which comes from Him, who walk in humility and abase themselves in His presence; who live like the poor though they may be rich, who serve humanity and sacrifice their comfort for others, who abjure excesses of all kinds, hate, cruelty and transgression; who are models of human goodness; these men will go to a place called Heaven. Peace and pleasure will reign in this place. Pain will not exist. The pleasure and approval of God will have been won by every man. All low desires of men will disappear. The desires of men will be the desires of God. They will have attained everlasting life, everyone an image of his Creator.

These are our beliefs, i.e. Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen. We affirm all the beliefs of ISLAM and hold these beliefs as our beliefs.

COMING OF THE MESSIAH, IMPORTANT ISLAMIC BELIEF

Belief in the coming of the advent of the Messiah has been held from before the time of Islam. It existed centuries before the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h), as part of the Mosaic tradition. But in Islam the coming of the Messiah has been taught so systematically and determinately that we are obliged to regard it as one of the important beliefs of Islam. Factors, which have strengthened and systematized the Islamic belief, are the following:

(1) The advent of the Messiah is described in Muslim traditions as the advent of a new era in the advancement of Islam. The conquest of other faiths by Islam was to wait on the coming of the Messiah. It was to be initiated by the Messiah.

(2) The coming of the Messiah has seemed like the coming of the Holy Prophet himself, the first believers of the Messiah like the first believers of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w).

(3) The Messiah was to render Islam a great service at a time of great difficulty. The time is described in the most fearful terms in the Hadiths. A time of unparalleled danger, it was to shake Islam to its very foundations. The Reformer comes and makes Islam secure against its enemies.

The coming of Reformers and Messengers is often described in religious books. Such descriptions are always metaphorical, literal descriptions being useless for the promotion of spiritual merit. If signs of the time of a Reformer are described in minute detail and the detail is to be taken literally, there can be no distinction between a believer and a disbeliever.

The coming of the Messiah is no ordinary event. It is a great event. Everyday, therefore, in our time is precious, infinitely more precious than the most precious possession of this world. Lucky is he who knows the value of the present and decides to join the MESSIAH OF THIS ERA, and earns the approval and pleasure of God. Such a man will find the goal of his life, and capture the secret of being truly human.

When a Messiah/ Messenger of God comes and raises a Jamaat, the first to join are generally poor. But the Jamaat does not remain poor for all time. It begins to prosper and ultimately many peoples join its fold. Nobody need think, therefore, that our Jamaat is poor and will remain poor. It will grow by leaps and bounds.

The value of great events or good actions depends upon the time chosen for them. A thing done at a certain time turns out very great. At another time the same thing turns out not so great at all. Those, who were the first to believe in the Holy Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h), remain to this day the spiritual leaders of the world. Those, who believed when Islam had become a power in the world attained to little fame or honour. Therefore, those who join the Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen now, when it is thought to be weak and insignificant, will attain the honour of early believers. They will inherit special rewards and blessings. Much time has gone by already, but the door to honour is still open, my dear brothers and sisters; to earn nearness to God is still easy. I invite you, my dear brothers, sisters and beloved children, to consider how precious is your opportunity.

O my brothers, sisters and beloved children, the task for which God has appointed me is, that I should, by removing the obstacles which have been set up between man and his Maker, re-establish in the hearts of men love and devotion to God, and by making manifest the Truth, should put an end to all religious wars and strife and thus lay the foundations of abiding peace, and should bring mankind with the spiritual truths which it had forgotten, and should demonstrate to the world the true spiritual life which had been displaced by material desires, and should in my own life manifest those Divine Powers with which man has been endowed, but which can be manifested only through prayer and devotion.

God has filled me with knowledge so that I should warn those who have gone astray and should lead those who dwell in darkness into light. I have been sent by God to restore Truth and Faith and to revive the love and fear of God in the hearts of men. I have been sent to attract men to Truth in all things relating to belief, morals, knowledge and conduct.

My duty, firstly, is to demonstrate the truth of ISLAM to all nations. Secondly, to present to the world the true teachings of Islam, which are full of truth and spirituality, free from all false interpretations and irrelevant interpolations and, thirdly to bestow the light of faith on all those who, from among the nations of the earth, should be eager in their search for it.

I want neither pelf nor power. I have been commissioned by Allah as a Warner unto mankind, and deliver His message to you. Should you accept it, you shall have felicity in this life as well as in the life to come. Should you reject the word of Allah, surely Allah will decide between you and me.

As from today, I take my Allah, my Rab as my witness that I AM THE MUHYI-UD-DIN OF THIS ERA.

So, all of you, put your hand in my hand and repeat after me:

“Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim. I bear witness, that there is no god but God (Allah) and that Muhammad (s.a.w) is the Messenger of God.

I enter into the Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen at the hands of Hazrat Amir’ul Mumineen Muhyi-ud-Din.

I ask forgiveness for my sins and in future will try to guard myself against evils of every kind. I will never set up equals to God and will give my religion (ISLAM) precedence over all worldly considerations. I will do my best to observe all the commandments of Islam and will try to study, learn and teach the Holy Quran and Hadiths of the Holy Prophet. I consider Muhammad (on whom be the peace and blessings of Allah) to be the Seal of the Prophets and I acknowledge all the claims of the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (Peace of God be upon him) and the MESSIAH of this Era (i.e. Hazrat Amir’ul Mumineen Muhyi-ud-Din Munir Ahmad Azim).

I will deem the propagation of Islam to be the first of my duties. I will obey you in everything good according to the Holy Quran, Hadiths, teachings of the Promised Messiah.

I beg for forgiveness from the Lord my God for all my sins and turn towards Him. O my Lord! I have wronged my soul and confess my sins. Please forgive me, for there is no forgiver except Thee. Ameen!”

After the Bai’at (oath of allegiance), DUAHS (Silent prayer)...