Souvenir on 50th Jalsa Salana USA — Page 2
H 1/JllREiT :VllRZA C. lll LA~I All~IAD 1 H~ PRO\IISIt of the world. lladhrat Ahmad (AS) received his elementary educa- tion at home. Since hi. . , childhood, he showed an extra- ordinary indifference to material values and dedicated most of his time either in the study of the Holy Qur'an and other Islamic literature or in supplication to God Almighty. Although he accepted some domestic responsibilities entrusted to him, his lack of interest in worldly affair'> remained a matter of deep concern to his father. The aggressive and often offensive Christian and Hindu polemics against Islam and its Prophet (SA) was a mat- ter of deep concern and agony to Hadlzrat Ahmad. He was extremely distressed by the vulgarity of the adver- saries of Islam and the pitiable state of the Muslim reli- gious scholars and masse<. , who were unable to defend the honor of their prophet and the glory of their faith. Hadhrat Ahmad (AS) took over the responsibility to defend Islam and its glorious prophet Muhammad (SA). From about 1872 he began to emerge as a reputable scholar, an eloquent speaker and a distinguished preacher of Islam. He began to receive Divine revela- tions from God Almighty at the age of 40 which he con- tinued to receive till his last breath. In 1882, he received a Divine revelation that he had been commissioned as the Reformer of the fourteenth century of the Islamic era to re-establish upon the earth the faith which had vanished from it. In 1889, he claimed that he was the Promised Messiah and Mahdi whose advent in the latter days had been prophesied by the Holy Prophet of Islam, Hadhrat Muhammad (SA). Hadhrat Ahmad's claim to be the Promised Messiah raised a public outcry because the Muslims generally believed that he was to physically descend from Heaven in the person of Jesus Christ (AS). Orthodox Muslim divines condemned him as a disbeliever whose assassination would be an act of high spiritual merit. On 23 March 1889, Hadhrat Ahmad (AS) laid the foundation of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Communit y The signs mentioned in the Old Scriptures and the Holy Qur'an indicated that the Promised Mes si ah and Mahdi would complete the task of re-establishing the superiority of Islam over all other faith " In Hadhrat Ahmad (AS) these prophecies were fulfilled. He firmly established the superiorit y c Islam over all other faiths. He passed away on 26 May 1908 in Lahore.