An Introduction to the Hidden Treasures of Islam — Page 4
4 Background The Promised Messiah as took up the writing of Barahin-e-Ahmadiyyah at a time when Christian missionaries had moved in a big way in India under the umbrella of the British Government. The Bible societies were being set up all over India, specially in the Punjab. The force and aggressiveness of the missionaries can be gauged from the fact that in a short period of forty years preceding the writing of this book, 2. 9 million Indians were converted to Christianity. Hundreds of tracts and books were produced by the Bible societies, not only attacking Islam, but also the noble personage of the Holy Prophet sa. This was the beginning of an onslaught on Islam at a time when the Muslims of India were in a state of complete demoralization and dejection. It was not strange, as the Muslims had recently lost their empire after what is called the "Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. " The Christians were not the only ones in the field against Islam. The A ryah Sam a j and the Brahm u Sam a j, two powerful movements of orthodox Hindu society, were making inroads among Muslims by maligning the fair face of the Holy Prophet sa and degrading the teachings of Islam. A leading Muslim poet, Maul a n a Hali , in his famous poetical work, Musaddas-e- Hali , described the decline of Islam in a pathetic way, lamenting how Islam in that age had fallen to a new low. It was against this background that Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as of Qadian single-handedly embarked upon the monumental task of defending Islam. Directed by a Divine revelation, he decided to write a book with convincing logic and containing irrefutable arguments and data in proof of the truth of Islam. The book completely disarmed his opponents and stopped them from venturing into the field against Islam.