Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 40
Khilafat Centenary And whoever falls on this stone will be brok en, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powde r. Matthew 21 :43, 44 What this prediction refers to is that the kingdom of God was to be taken from Christianity and given to someone else. And in accordance with this premonition, the kingdom of God was taken away from Christians, and given to a new community: the Muslim community. Consequentl y, the second ad vent of Jesus as took place within Islam, in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian as. Why did Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as not appear in the Holy Land, where all other prophets had appeared? This question is actually based on a misunderstanding: it is simply not correct that all the prophets appeared in Palestine. Prophets have appeared all over the world. But as a better indication, there is also a prophec y indicating thatJesus as, at his second advent, would come from the East: For as the lightning comes out of th e e ast, and shin es ev en unto the west, so shall also the comin g of th e son of man be. Matthew 24:27 In accordance with these words, the Messiah was foretold to appear in the East, and that his message would then move to the West. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as did indeed appear in the East, in India, which lies to the east of Palestine, exactly as J esus as had predicted. The joyous news, and his message, subsequently moved westwards, thus eventually reaching more than 135 countries around the globe. There is not only a similar prediction made by the prophet Isaiah as , but also a Hadith (saying of the Hol y Propher aw ) which mentions that the Messiah and Mahdi would appear to the East of Damascus: He would descend near a white minaret, on the east of Damascus. Moreover, the Sikh literature also makes a prediction, forecasting that the Great Reformer would appear in India. Indeed , this literature details quite specifically the geographical location where the reformer would appear: Th en Mardana asked to Guru N anak, w heth er anyon e appear ed like Baghat Kab eer? Then Guru Nanak repli ed o, Mardana, on e from th e land lords (formers) will b e, but a hund re d ye ars after us. Th en Mardana aske d, in which place and countr y ? And Guru replied in th e area of Batala. In accordance with a further detail of this prediction, the Promised Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as , appeared exactly one hundred years after the last guru of the Sikh s, Guru Go bind Singh. The Sikh literature also mentions the time of the appearance of that reformer: Wh en th e ye ar 78 will app r oach and th e y ear 97 will e nd, that will be th e time when th e se rvant of the great man will app e ar. This prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Promised Messiah as. In the Ather Vedas, the Hindu literature even mentions the name of the birthplace of a Great Reformer, calling it Qudoon. In the present- da y era , this is Qadian , in the Indian Punjab. But we know even more, since the Islamic literature has told u s: Th e Holy Prophet' aw said: Th e Mahdi will app e ar in a villag e, which is called Qadia. This Qadia is , of course, the present-day Qadian. In a similar way that his birthplace is foretold, the Ather Vedas predicted that his name would be Ahmad. It is also mentioned in the Bible that the reformer would appear, and would not be an Arab , or from Palestine, but rather, from a foreign land. As prophet Isaiah as said: For pre ce pt must be upon prece pt, precept upon pre cept. Line upon lin e, line upon lin e, her e a little, th ere with stammering lips and anoth er tongu e, he will pe opl e. Isaiah 28: 10-11 This prophecy w as fulfilled, in two of its parts, in the person of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian as. He would speak with stammering lips.