Anecdotes from the Life of the Promised Messiah

A Short Biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian

Compiled by Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui

Chapter 4: Some Prophecies of the Mujaddid [Reformer] of the Age

Allah speaks and communicates with His chosen ones. The Holy Prophet [Muhammad (pbuh)] said that the only thing left of Prophethood for the ummah [Muslim nation] after him was the giving of glad tidings (Mubashsharat). He also said that God spoke to such holy men among the Israelites also, although they were not ‘prophets’ (in the accepted sense of the word) and that Umar (the second caliph of Islam) from his ummah, was one such person. Many auliya [holy men; saints] and Mujaddids [Reformers] in Islam have confirmed in their writings of having received communication from God. In fact, how can there be a living God if he does not speak and what kind of living religion it would be if its auliya (or holy men) are not honoured by communication from God. Of course, no prophetic revelation can come to any one after the Holy Prophet Muhammad. So Hazrat Mirza Sahib also received many communications from God and some of those, to prove the truth of Divine origin of these tidings, were prophecies about coming events of which no indication was present at the time of such announcements. Such prophecies incidentally proved that a living and mighty God existed and that Islam was a living religion.

The Divine Communications vouchsafed to Hazrat Mirza Sahib were long and many; and have been compiled in the form of a book viz., Tazkirah. Some of these prophecies are mentioned below:

The Rise of Japan:

Japan, less than a century ago, was merely an obscure and weak Asiatic country. Of her people and customs very little was known to the outside world. In 1853 C.E., Commodore C. Perry [Matthew Calbraith Perry] with a squadron of the U.S.A, navy, appeared near the Japanese coast, and induced Japan to enter into trade relations with the nations of the West. It was destined by God to raise Japan into a great power whose friendship would be sought by the nations of the world; and the country would progress tremendously. It was revealed to the Promised Messiah [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian]:

“A great Power of the East, and the critical condition of Korea”.

Japan, as her power grew, entered upon a career of territorial expansion in Eastern Asia. The Sino-Japanese war brought Korea under Japanese influence, and it was finally annexed by Japan in 1910 C.E. The policy of Japan also came in conflict with that of Russia of the Czars, and finally a war broke out between the two countries. The Russian Naval fleet came all the way from the Baltic Sea to the Sea of Japan to give battle which had started by 8th February 1904 C.E. The Russian fleet was destroyed and the Russian armies were defeated by Japan on 10th October 1904 C.E. A truce was declared. Thus, the prophecy made by the Promised Messiah came out to be true. Korea was subjugated and Japan became a big power.

A Prophecy about Bengal (India):

Lord Curzon was the British Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 C.E. One good thing he did was to organize the Department of Archaeology in the Indian Government, thereby help preserving the priceless and historic remains of the former and ancient kingdoms in India. However, to increase the Government revenue and partially to undo the permanent Settlement of Bengal, he arranged to create a new province of ‘East Bengal and Assam, while Bengal proper with its capital at Calcutta remained as such. The Bengalees [Bengalis], resented this partition; and when the representations to the Government failed to undo the division of their homeland, they resorted to violent measures. This was the state of things when in February 1906 C.E., the Promised Messiah received a Divine Communication saying

“About the first order (of division) regarding Bengal, now they (the people) will be conciliated”.

There was no indication of any cancellation of the decree by the British Government at the time. King George V of Great Britain, being Emperor of India, was requested in 1911 C.E. to visit India and hold a darbar (a Royal Court and Reception) at Delhi which was to become the new capital of India (in place of Calcutta) and the seat of the Indian Government. It was in this darbar that the king formally ordered the cancellation of the Division of Bengal and restored it to its original position. Thus, was fulfilled the great prophecy which had been announced some six years ago by the Mujaddid of the age.

Revolutionary Changes in Persia (Iran):

In Persia there was absolute monarchy and the subjects were none too happy and wanted more democratic ways of life. In 1896, the then Shah of Persia was assassinated, and Mirza Muhammad Ali Shah became the King; but unrest continued. In 1906 C.E., the Promised Messiah received a Divine Communication:

“A violent upheaval in the palace of Kisra” (the ancient title of the Kings of Persia).

In 1909 C.E., a revolution broke out in Persia and he took shelter in the Embassy of Russia in Tehran. A people’s parliament came into being. But this prophecy also foretold the coming misfortunes which would befall Persia. Not long afterwards the two major powers of the region — British and the Russians, started interfering in the affairs of Persia and established their spheres of influence — the British in the Southern half of Persia and Russians in the Northern half. But the Lord God finally saved Persia, now Iran.

The World-War (1914–1918) and its Aftermath:

The Promised Messiah had been receiving repeated Divine Communications about some world-shaking earthquakes or upheavals.

1. The first warning came in December 1903 and June 1904:

“Its (Punjab) buildings of both permanent as well as temporary residence would be levelled to the ground”.

And then a Divine promise came that:

“All those persons within the four walls of your dwellings shall be saved”.

On April 3, 1905, the Divine warning came:

“Death is standing at the door.”

On the next day April 4, 1905, in the morning a very violent earthquake occurred in the mountain range which caused much death and destruction particularly at Dharamsala and Palampur in the district of Kangra, Punjab. As people never took warning and reformed themselves, such terrible earthquakes came in latter years also, of which the Bihar and the Quetta earthquakes (in 1935) were the most destructive.

2. But the warning of another terrible disaster came again and was published in the April 1905 issue of The Review of Religions. In this the Promised Messiah compared it to the shaking of the Day of Judgment and which the world had not hitherto seen. Further details of the prophecy are given (in the form of a poem) in the book Barahin-i-Ahmadiyya, Part V, p. 120:

  • In the twinkling of an eye this earth shall turn upside down.
  • Streams of blood shall flow as the water of rivers.
  • The travellers shall feel the severity of that hour; those who are on the way shall lose the way, losing their senses as well.
  • The great and the small shall all be in a state of prostration on account of this fear.
  • Even the Czar (of Russia) shall at that hour be in a state of utmost distress.

The prophecy was made on 15th April 1905. The Promised Messiah left this world on 26th May 1908. In 1914 events happened which led to the most terrible world-wide war [The Great War; World War I) of the history. Millions of people died, thousands of cities were reduced to rubble, many kings lost their crowns and their countries changed shape. But the most outstanding change in history came through the revolution in 1917 C.E. in Russia, when the Mighty CZAR not only lost his crown but his head as well; and the Romanoff Dynasty of absolute power ended after 304 years of rule.

The Turkish Empire, its Disintegration, and Rising like a Phoenix from its Ashes:

The great Turkish Empire which took its birth in 1258 C.E., and after the conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Muhammad II, expanded step by step till most of South-Eastern Europe was under its control; while its sway extended to the shores of Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and to Egypt and Tripoli in Africa. Its naval fleet sailed in all its glory and power over the Mediterranean Sea.

But in the 18th century, signs of decadence began to appear. The control of its affairs passed into the hands of the self-seeking ministers. Russia was all the time pecking on the northern frontier; and Christian nations had not yet quite forgotten the crusades or the conquest of Constantinople. They plotted and planned and before the 19th century was out, Turkey had lost most of its European possessions.

In the 1914–1918 World War, Turkey sided with Germany; and after their defeat, the Allied powers dismembered the Turkish Empire in the East. Greece was given a free hand in Asia Minor. But long before that, in January 1904 C.E., the Promised Messiah had received a Divine Communication (published in The Review of Religions [Urdu edition, January 1904, p.40]), in the following words:

“The Turks (called Rūm in olden days) shall be defeated in the land nearby but after their defeat they shall overcome their foes.”

Turkey had accepted defeat in October 1918 C.E., but God had different plans. The presence of Greek Forces in their homeland at last roused the anger of the Turkish people. They got together and being organized by Mustafa Kamal Pasha, they fought and drove the Greeks out of Asia Minor. In October 1928, a new Turkish Republic, headed by Mustafa Kamal Pasha, with its capital at Ankara, came into being. They defied the European Powers and finally made them agree to their independence and the new republic. So came true the word of the Lord God.

Shastri’s Prophecy turned out to be False:

On the termination of the British Rule in India in 1947 C.E., the country was divided into two parts — Bharat [India] and Pakistan. The Hindus of Bharat never forgave Pakistan and from the very start plotted to undo it.

The Promised Messiah was vouchsafed a vision on April 29, 1905 (Al-Hakam of 30th April 1905), which goes as follows:

“It was seven minutes to two in the night when I beheld in a vision that all of a sudden, the earth began to quake. A severe shock was then felt. I said to the members of my family: Get up; it is the earthquake; and take Mubarak (his young son) also with you. In the same state of vision, a thought also came to me that the prophecy uttered by Shastri turned out to be false.”

The Promised Messiah also mentioned that in the vision he had received the Divine Communication.

“I shall come stealthily. With my armies I shall come at a time when no person would ever dream that such an event is about to take place”.

The Indian Army, with all their might, invaded Pakistan, even without a declaration of war, in the early hours of September 6, 1965. The area between the border and the city of Lahore shook under the bombardment of enemy guns, and their armour and tanks relentlessly rolled on till they were stopped at the B. R. B. Canal [Bambanwala-Ravi-Bedian Canal] a few miles away from the city, by the gallant troops of Pakistan, who though small in number and with fewer lethal weapons, fought like tigers to save their homes and hearth. But in India, the Prime Minister Shastri was announcing in the Indian Parliament, in unholy glee, that the Indian Forces had invaded Pakistan to punish them; and he said boastfully that after 24 hours he would tell them a very happy news (of the conquest of Lahore). The Indian Commander-in-Chief, General Choudhry was inviting his colleagues to be his guests at a cocktail party that evening (of 6th September) at the Gymkhana Club at Lahore.

It is now history, how the Indian Forces were badly mauled; and finally, the Security Council of the United Nations, stepped in with their resolution of cease-fire. Mr. Shastri, while making his statement on the cease-fire in the Indian Parliament, wept twice.

So again, the mighty ‘forces’ of God intervened and triumphed and worsted [defeated] the enemies of the Muslims and Islam.

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