Three Questions by a Christian and their Answers — Page v
About the Author Born in 1835 in Qadian (India), Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdias, 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 for- tunes of Muslims at a low ebb, he undertook vindication and exposition of Islam. In his vast corpus of writings (including the epoch-making Brāhīn-e-Ahmadiyya), his lectures, discourses, religious debates etc. , he argued that Islam was the living faith and the only faith by following which man could establish con- tact with his Creator and enter into communion with Him. The teachings contained in the Holy Quran and the Law promulgated by Islam were designed to raise man to moral, intellectual and spiritual perfection. He announced that God had appointed him the Messiah and Mahdi as mentioned in the prophecies of the Bible, the Holy Quran and Ahādīth. In 1889 he began to accept initiation into his Community, which is now established in one hundred and seventy-six countries. His eighty books are written mostly in Urdu, but some are in Arabic and Persian. ra After his demise in 1908, the Promised Messiahas was succeeded by Hadrat Maulawi Nūr-ud-Din, Khalifatul Masih I. On the death of Hadrat Maulawi Nūr-ud-Dinta in 1914, Hadrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmada, who was also the Promised Messiah'sas Promised Son, was elected as Khalifa. Hadrat Mirza Bashīr-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmada remained in office for nearly fifty-two years. He died in 1965 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Hadrat Hafiz Mirza Nāsir Ahmadth, the Promised grandson of the Promised Messiahas. After seventeen years of meritorious ra V