Fazl-e-Umar — Page 3
Fazle Umar 3 f oreword This book is the biography of Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad [ra] , the Promised Son of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi [as] ; the manifest Sign of Allah, the Almighty; the Word of God whose advent was prophesied by the Holy Prophet Muhammad [saw] and the Promised Messiah [as] as well as the past Prophets; a star in the spiritual firmament for the like of which the world had to wait for hundreds of years to appear; the man of God, crowned with a spiritual halo from which radiated such scintillating rays of light as would instil spiritual life into his followers and captivate and enthral those who were not fortunate to follow him; an orator of such phenomenal quality that his speeches would make his audience stay put for hours on end, come rain or shine, deep into the late hours of the evenings while words flowed from his tongue like honey dripping into their ears to reach the depths of their souls to fill them with knowledge and invigorate their faith; the ocean of Divine and secular knowledge; the Voice Articulate of the age; without doubt the greatest genius of the 20th century; a man of phenomenal intelligence and memory; an epitome of the qualities of leadership; the one whose versatility cannot be compre- hended – Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad [ra] (1889–1965), Musleh Mau’ood (the Promised Reformer) was the eldest son and the second successor of the Promised Messiah [as]. He took charge of the Movement at the young age of 25 when the Movement was still in its infancy and nourished it to its maturity for more than 50 years with his spiritual guidance, prayers, tears, toil and blood. Not only did he fortify the foundations of the Community laid down by the Promised Messiah [as] , but expanded the structure of the Movement by initiating various schemes, organisations, and programs taking his inspiration from the Promised Messiah [as] and under Divine guidance 1.