Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 39
Khilafat Centenary would have to meet. And when prophets appeared at other times, in other lands, and did not fulfill some of those imaginary signs, then the people judged that the reformers and their teachings were not to their own standard. But what they missed was that it was not they who made the rules: it was God who had laid down the conditions, the signs, in His scriptures. The people merely relied on convenient pretexts to reject those who were real prophets and messengers of God. That is why Noah as , Abraham as, Moses as, Jesus •s, and the Holy Propher •w of Islam were persecuted and suffered at the hands of their own people. Abraham as was thrown into the fire; Moses as was forced to leave Egypt; J esus as was hanged on the cross. The Holy Propher •w of Islam had to migrate from his motherland with tears in his eyes. To this day,Jews do not believe injesus as , and do not accept him as Messiah and Christ. And both Jews and Christians do not believe in the Holy Propher •w of Islam. And why? Because these prophets could not satisfy them and could not fulfill the conditions they had established to assess their truthfulness. In consequence, we must take care that a similar situation does not arise with the second advent of J esus as : that his coming is missed, or ridiculed and rejected. But that may be exactly what has happened Let us take a closer look at what the Gospels say. Would Jesusas descend from heaven? According to the traditional belief of Christendom, J esus as ascended to heaven, and he is expected to descend from heaven at his second advent. But the issue becomes clear in light of the Biblical teachings, in particular when considering a similar debate between Jews and Christians on the coming of the prophet Elijah as. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful days of the lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Malachi 4:5 In accordance with this verse,Jews continue to await the coming of Elijah, as they have been waiting for thousands of years. Even whenjesus as appeared two thousand years ago,Jews rejected him, because they believed that Elijah would have needed to appear before him, if he was to be the Messiah. Indeed, they ignored J esus' as very clear and beautiful explanation to them, as follows: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering with violence. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear. Matthew 11:12-15 With this statement, J esus as addressed the main issue that Jews had with his claim to being the Messiah, and yet they could still not accept him. But there is also an important analogy here. Jesus's as statement illuminates that it was the likeness of Elijah that appeared, in the person of John the Baptist. And so, similarly, at the second advent of Jesus as , it would not necessarily be the same person who would descend from heaven, but a likeness of Jesus as would appear. This likeness of course, was embodied in Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian as , India. He claimed to be the Messiah of this age in the year 1889, and said that he had appeared instead of Jesus as , in the same way as John the Baptist had appeared instead of Elijah as. All this had occurred in full accordance with Jesus' as own words: For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Matthew 23:39 This passage makes clear that someone would come in the name of the Lord Jes us Christ, not Jes us as himself, and that people should recognize J esus as in the form of another person. If Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) is the Messiah of this age, then why he is a Muslim, and not Christian? The fact that the Messiah came from among the Muslims, instead of from among Christians, was also foretold by Jesus as. Jesus as had warned his followers: Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from y ou and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.