Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 101
101 The Time of the Advent of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi Then, the Promised Messiah as said: “Time can be described in two respects: first- ly, in the external and apparent sense; secondly, in the internal sense, i. e. spiritu- ally. The visions of the Noble Messenger, the saints and other holy people which tell us that the Promised Messiah and Mahdi would appear in the fourteenth century, refer to the apparent aspect of this era. Time in the internal sense, i. e. in terms of spirituality, is that the state of the present era proclaims the need for the advent of the Messiah. In the present age, the time has come in both respects. ” 22 January 1901 The Name of the Ahmadiyya Community When our community was named Ahmadi , a certain individual said that someone had raised the objection that this was a new name. There was some discussion on this. The Promised Messiah as said: “Certain people have named themselves Hanafi , Shafa’i , and so on—this is an innovation in the Faith. The Noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, only had two names: Muhammad and Ahmad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. The Greatest Name ( ism-e-azam ) of the Holy Prophet sa is Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, just as the Greatest Name of God Almighty is Allah. All of God’s other names such as Hayy (the Living), Qayyum (the Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining), Rahman (the Gracious), Rahim (the Merciful) etc. , refer to the name Allah. Ahmad is the name of the Noble Messenger sa which was mentioned by the Messiah as as follows: 1 ُ اسْمُهٗۤ اَحْمَد َاْتِيْ م ِنْۢ بَعْدِي ی A Messenger will come after me. His name will be Ahmad. The words mim ba’di (after me) indicate that the Prophet referred to here would be the very next one to appear after the Messiah, i. e. there would be no other Prophet between the Messiah and him. Moses as did not say anything of this nature, in fact he made a prophecy about the life of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in Medina, as is alluded to in the following words: 1 as-Saff, 61:7 p. 88