How to be Free from Sin — Page iii
iii Introduction About the Author Born in 1835 in Qadian (India), Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi as , devoted himself to the study of the Holy Quran and to a life of prayer and devotion. Finding Islam the target of foul attacks from all directions and the fortunes of Muslims at a low ebb, he, as the Imam and the voice articulate of the age, undertook the task of vindicating Islam and presenting its teachings in their pristine purity. In his vast corpus of writings, lectures, discourses, religious debates etc. , he argued that Islam was the only living faith, by follow- ing which, man could establish contact with his Creator and enter into communion with Him. He announced that God had appointed him the Messiah and Mahdi, according to the prophecies of the Bible, the Holy Quran and A ha d i th. In 1889 he began to accept initiation into his Jam a ‘at, which is now established in over a hundred and eighty countries. He wrote more than eighty books in Urdu, Arabic and Persian. After his demise in 1908, the Promised Messiah as was suc- ceeded by Khulaf a (Successors), who have continued his mission. Hadrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V at , is the present head of the Ahmadiyya Muslims Jam a ‘at and the fifth Successor of the Promised Messiah as. About the Book The Islamic concept of salvation differs from that of other relig- ions, and from Christianity in particular, because Islam rejects the concept of Original Sin and declares man to be responsible only for his own sins. He, therefore, needs to free himself from his own sins in order to attain salvation. In this article, the