The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 146
THE PROMISED MESSIAH AND MAHDI obedience to and his love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him. He explained that he was called Prophet because of frequent. Converse and Revelation granted to him containing knowledge of unseen and numerous prophecies. He claimed that whatever he had attained was due to the blessings of the Holy Prophet. His prophethood was merely an image and a reflection of prophethood of the Holy Prophet and was nothing new and was not independent of him. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a great spiritual son of the. Holy Prophet. Such a prophethood which he claimed for all practical purposes, means a reformer within Islam, of a high spiritual status. He was given the names of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi. . It is worth reminding our Orthodox Muslim brothers, who take offence about the title "prophet" being applied to the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, that the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, himself called the coming Messiah "Prophet" four times in a single Hadith (Muslim, Ch:'Zikrud-Dajjal'). . The great majority of Orthodox Muslims believe in the coming back of Jesus, a prophet, to work revival of Islam. They also believe that Jesus never died and is alive in Heaven physically. . Assuming for a moment that this concept is justified, when Jesus returns he will still be a prophet because a prophet is never deprived of his prophethood. If by his advent the Seal of Prophethood of the. Holy Prophet would not be broken, then how is it broken by claims of the Promised Messiah that he is a follower prophet and a reflection of the Holy Prophet?. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad explained that the Quran states emphatically that Jesus had died a natural death and not on the cross. The idea that Jesus, an Israelite prophet, should return and revive Islam is a dishonour to Islam and the Holy Prophet. Allah can raise a perfect follower of the Holy Prophet Muhammad as a Messiah and a prophet like Jesus. This is what Hadhrat Ahmad claimed that he was a Messiah of Islamic dispensation, just like Jesus was a Messiah of Mosaic dispensation. The revival of Islam is taking place at his hands and is destined to be completed. 146