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244 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad meaning of this? You were always a very firm believer in God’s Oneness. ’ He responded by saying: ‘I did not offer this prayer as a precaution for the Friday Prayer, but as a precaution against being beaten. ’” What is Meant by the Promised Messiah Following the Hanafi School of Thought After this, Maulvi Baha-ud-Din Sahib of Ahmadabad said: “It is written in the Maktubat Imam Rabbani that the Promised Messiah as would follow the Hanafi school of thought. What does this mean?” The Promised Messiah as said: “This means that just as Hazrat Imam-e-Azam 1 would derive his argumentation from the Holy Quran and would give precedence to the Holy Quran in every mat- ter, similarly, the Promised Messiah would also bring the knowledge and verities of the Holy Quran. As such, in another place in his Maktubat , he has revealed this secret and has particularly mentioned that the Promised Messiah would be granted knowledge of the verities encompassed in the Holy Quran. ” Will the Mahdi Wage War and Spill Blood? The questioner from the 1st of August said that it is written that the Mahdi would cause bloodshed and the like. The Promised Messiah as said: “I have understood what you mean to say. Bear in mind that the various Hadith that are recorded in relation to the Mahdi which state that he would wage war and spill blood are those about which the Muslim clerics themselves have written that many of them are fabricated and all of them are, more or less, inauthentic. It is not my belief that the Mahdi will appear, and then go around spilling blood. After all, what sort of a religion is one that is characterised by nothing but war and battle? These ignorant people have failed to understand the true concept of jihad. The Holy Quran states: 2 ِ ْن ی ِّ الد لَاۤ اِكْرَاهَ فِي There should be no compulsion in religion. So, if the Mahdi appears and then wages wars, will compulsion in matters of reli- gion become permissible, and will this injunction of the Holy Quran be dishon- oured? Is the purpose of his advent to revive Islam or disgrace it? If it is war on 1 A title of Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifah rh 2 al-Baqarah, 2:257 p. 223