Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 290
29° AHMADIYY AT make any claim? Thus it is not necessary for a non-cornmissioned one to make a claim. A claim is necessary only in the case of prophecies relating to a commissioned one. In the case of a non- commissioned one his achievements should be looked at, and if they show clearly that a prophecy was related to him, it is not necessary for him to make a claim. In such a case even if he disclaims being the subject of the prophecy we would say that the prophecy has been fulfilled in his person. . . . Thus I do not consider it necessary to make any claim that I am the Promised Reformer. He did on one occasion state: 'I have no doubt that the prophecy relating to the Promised Reformer mentioned in the green announcement is related to me'; yet he did not put forward a positive claim that he was the Promised Reformer till in the beginning of 1944 it was revealed to him in a dream that he was the Promised Reformer. In view of the grandeur of the dream he decided to make a public announcement that he was the Promised Reformer. On 28 January 1944 he related his dream in detail in the Friday sermon and announced that he was the Promised Reformer. He prefaced his description of the dream with the observation: 'I wish to state something today which I find it difficult to set forth having regard to my temperament, but as some prophet- hoods and Divine decrees are involved in making this exposi- tion I cannot refrain from making it despite my reluctance. ' In his dream it was clearly conveyed to him that he was a reflection of the Promised Messiah and his Khalifa. At the end of his exposition of the dream he 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 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, and that He has laid a foundation