The Promised Son — Page 11
11 from Allah. Mian Mahmud ra replied that he did see many dreams, but one recurring dream was that he was command- ing a large army. The teacher understood this to mean that one day Mian Mahmud ra would lead the Jama’at started by his father, the Promised Messiah as. Mian Mahmud ra was married at the tender age of 14 to Hazrat Sayyidah Mahmudahra. She was the daughter of the eminent Hazrat Dr. Khalifah Rasheed-ud-Din ra. During the lifetime of the Promised Messiah as he had developed a strong desire for religious services. When the Promised Messiah as appealed to the youth to come forward to serve Islam, Mian Mahmud Ahmad ra was one of the first volunteers. He formed Anjuman Tash’heezul-Azhaan and started a magazine by the same name. Even at this early age, highly convincing and silencing replies to the criti- cism against Ahmadiyyat flowed from his pen. The Jama’at in those days had very little funds so Mian Mahmud’s wife donated her jewellery to the Jama’at so that the magazine could be published. In 1908, when Mian Mahmud ra was only 19 years old, tragedy struck and he lost his dear father, the Promised Messiah as. Mian Mahmud ra understood the true importance of his father’s death. The Promised Messiah as had accom- plished so much during his lifetime for the sake of Islam but there was a lot of work that still needed to be completed. He stood by the body of his father and made a pledge: