An Introduction to the Hidden Treasures of Islam — Page 281
281 The Promised Messiah as , in accordance with the Holy Quran and A ha d i th , did not put a ban on Jihad with sword forever, but on account of the conditions not prevailing for conducting the Jihad with sword, he temporarily postponed it or put it off. In a letter to M i r N as ir Naw a b, published in Dur u d Shar i f , p. 26, the Promised Messiah as clarified: In the current age, Jihad has assumed a spiritual shape. The spreading of the Word of God and Islam and rebutting the objections of the opponents and expressing the beauties of Islam, is the real way of Jihad till the time God, in His Majesty, does manifest any other way. There were many reasons for writing this book: • As Hadrat Ahmad claimed he is the Promised Messiah and Mahdi and according to the prevalent belief among Indian Muslims, it was thought that the Promised Messiah would wage war against non-believers. • Some years before the Promised Messiah as announced his mission in March 1889, Mahdi S u d a n i appeared and declared Jihad against British, but was defeated by the British in 1882. The British Government in India has not forgotten that event. • Many Maulav i s of his time were engaged in dissemination about the Promised Messiah as and comparing him to the Mahdi S u d a n i. • The Christian clergy who met repeated defeats at his hand were looking for some excuses to have him imprisoned. • As the Promised Messiah as was a Mughal, it was made out that Hadrat Ahmad has made this claim to demand the lost throne of Mughals, lost in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 in India.