The Evidence
Section 12:
Titles Mary and Messiah for Muslims |
12.1: How a believer becomes Mary
and Messiah
There is a saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad:
“No one shall enter the kingdom of heaven who was
not born twice.”
(Maktubat of Shaikh Ahmad of Sirhind, the Mujaddid
Alif Sani)
The meaning is that a person has two births. The first birth is the
physical birth. When a child is born, his parents name him after a
prophet, saint or other righteous person. The second birth takes place
when a person becomes an adult. At that time, he has many aspirations
and desires, and that is the time when he is subject to attack from
the devil, then does his spiritual and real birth take place. He is
given a name again by Almighty God, in the spiritual world, corresponding
to the work he does.
Two types of believers
Among the believers, such persons are of two kinds. Firstly, those
who are pursued by the devil at the time of their spiritual birth,
who tries to mislead them. The believer engages in prayer and cries
before the Lord God that He may protect him from the attack of the
devil and grant him to do good. In the Holy Quran, believers of this
kind are compared to the Pharoah’s wife, Assiyya. Just as she
remained firm on her faith in God and Moses, despite persecution of
all sorts by the Pharoah, similarly a believer of this class stays
away from evil and sin despite the full assault of the devil. In the
spiritual world, such believers are given the name Assiyya,
as the Quran says:
“God sets forth an example for those who believe
— the wife of Pharoah who said: My Lord, build for me with
Thee a house in heaven, and save me from the Pharoah and his doings,
and save me from an unjust people.”
(The Holy Quran, 66:11)
In this verse, God has given the example of those believers who are
not yet free of the grip of base passions, but, like the Pharoah’s
wife, pray and strive day and night to be free of this grip. This
state of soul is known as the self-accusing soul.
Believers named ‘Mary’
The second class of believers are those who are pure from the beginning,
and protected from attacks of the devil. Due to the high degree of
goodness and purity in them, God has compared them to Mary, as that
is their name in the spiritual world:
“And Mary, daughter of Amran, who guarded her chastity,
so We breathed into him Our Spirit [i.e. bestowed Divine
revelation]. She accepted the words of her Lord and His books, and
was of the obedient.”
(The Holy Quran, 66:12)
This is the example of those believers who possess the contented
soul. Note that the gender in the words “breathed into
him” is masculine, so that the example refers to the believer.
The believer who reaches this rank receives the word of God, and his
being is indeed a proof of the truth of the Books of God.
The Holy Prophet’s saying
This verse of the Quran is supported by the following Saying of the
Holy Prophet:
“No child is born but the devil touches him when
he is born, and so he cries due to the devil’s touch, except
Mary and her son.”
It is not the physical birth of a child that is meant here, but the
spiritual birth of a man. By “Mary and her son” are
meant believers having these qualities. This is also the meaning explained
by the famous classical commentator of the Quran, Zamakhshari:
“Its meaning is that the devil attempts to mislead
every child, except Mary and her son because they were both pure.
The same applies to everyone who has their qualities.”
(The commentary Kashshaf, vol. i, p. 302)
Hence, in this Saying of the Holy Prophet, it is not the two individuals
Mary and her son who are meant, but two kinds of people who have the
qualities of these two.
Sufis and the two births
The Sufis accept the two births of man. Suharwardy, founder of the
famous Sufi order, wrote:
“The disciple becomes a part of the master, just
as a child is a part of his father in his physical birth. Thus is
the disciple born from his master, in his spiritual birth.”
(‘Awarif al-Mu‘arif, vol. i, p. 45)
12.2: Muslim Saints likened to
Jesus and Mary
1. Jalal-ud-Din Rumi (d. 1273 C.E.)
Rumi is a world-famous Persian poet, philosopher and saint whose great
work Masnawi is known among Muslims as “the Quran in Pahlavi”
(i.e. Persian). He has also been studied by great European Philosophers,
and the Masnawi has been translated into English by R. A. Nicholson,
the eminent British orientalist of the turn of the century. Rumi is
revered in particular by the Muslims of Turkey, Iran, India and Pakistan.
He writes in poetic verse:
- “The Whole [i.e. Spirit of God] forms a relation with the
part [i.e. spirit of man], and from this, just as woman receives
sperm from man, the sense of man receives a pearl. The soul of
man then becomes pregnant, as did Mary, and from this pregnancy
is born a Messiah. This Messiah is not the Messiah who lived in
the past, but is a Messiah whose glory is not easy to comprehend.
When the Spirit of God makes pregnant the spirit of man [i.e.
man receives revelation from God], that spirit then makes a whole
world pregnant [i.e. they receive spiritual benefit from it].
This produces a spiritual revolution and resurrection in the world,
which is so grand as to defy description.”
- “Whether the word of God is from behind the curtain or
not, He bestows the very thing which He gave to Mary.”
(Miftah al-‘ulum, vol. i, p. 11)
The reference in “behind the curtain” is to the
verse of the Quran, discussed in Section 4, according to which
this is one mode of Divine revelation to man.
- “Souls themselves are the breath of Jesus. At times they
wound and at other times they act as balm. If the veil be lifted
from the souls, every one of them would say, I am the Messiah.”
(ibid., vol. ii, p. 247)
- “I am Jesus, but whoever receives life from my breath
lives forever. Those who were brought to life by Jesus died, but
fortunate are they who entrusted their lives to this Jesus.”
(ibid., vol. vii, p. 45)
- “The one lacking insight who opposes a Messiah [i.e. a
Messiah-like saint], he shall go astray like the Jews.”
(ibid., vol. xvii, p. 141)
- “God confines free spirits into bodies, and makes each
body pregnant by the spirit. Each one of us [sages] is a Messiah
for the world, the balm for every pain is in our hands.”
(ibid., Daftar no. 1, Part I, p. 55)
2. Shams-ud-Din of Tabriz (d. 1248 C.E.)
This saint, who was the chief influence upon Jalal-ud-Din Rumi, wrote
the following verses:
- “I am the spirit which was breathed into Mary,
“I am the soul which was the life of Jesus.”
(The Kulliyat of Shams-i Tabriz, p. 292)
- “I was in the breath of Jesus, I am the lover of old.”
(ibid., p. 508)
- “The ranks and stations which Jesus and Mary did not attain,
I did attain them.”
(ibid., p. 212)
- In a recent English book on Rumi, The Life and Work of Jalal-ud-Din
Rumi by Afzal Iqbal (The Octagon Press, London, 1983), while
commenting on this great saint’s view of his teacher Shams-ud-Din
as expressed in his odes, it is noted:
“Shams is identified with the primeval man; he is Adam,
Jesus and Mary, all rolled into one.” (p. 163)
And on page 164 are quoted some of Rumi’s Persian verses
referring to his master by these titles.
3. Khawaja Mu‘in-ud-Din Chishti (d. 1236 C.E.)
He is the saint and missionary credited with laying the foundations
of the propagation of Islam in India. His urs (annual festival)
is celebrated by Muslims around the world, and thousands go to pay
homage at his shrine in Ajmer. He wrote the following verses:
- “If the Holy Spirit continues to give succour,
“Every day in the world the Mary of the time will give birth
to a Jesus.”
- “Every moment the Holy Spirit breathes into Mu‘in,
“So it is not I who says this, but in fact I am the second
Jesus.”
(Diwan of Mu‘in-ud-Din Chishti, ode no. 70, p.
102)
- In his Tazkira Pak in praise of Mu‘in-ud-Din Chishti,
Faqir Muhammad Chishti wrote:
“To speak while still in the womb,
“To show such a Messianic miracle,
“Is it the miracle of a saint or the marvel of a Messiah?
“I cannot comprehend what it is.
“Your soul is the soul of Jesus, O Khwaja!
“This is the prayer of your devotee.”
(pp. 27, 86 and 143)
4. Shaikh Sa‘di (d. 1292 C.E.)
This world-renowned Persian poet, whose work Gulistan is well-known
in the West, wrote:
“Your Jesus [i.e. your spirit] dies of loss of weight,
while you are busy pampering your ass [i.e. your body].
“O wretch! buy not this world for faith,
“Buy not the ass for the Gospel of Jesus.”
(Bou-stan, ch. 6)
5. Sayyid Farid-ud-Din ‘Sipa Salar’:
“I am that Jesus of the sky who went even beyond
the moon,
“I am the Moses of Mount Sinai where God revealed himself.”
(Risala Sipa Salar, p. 16)
6. Abu Yazid Bustami (d. 874 C.E.)
It is recorded about him in the classical work Tazkirat al-Auliya,
a compilation of the lives of early Muslim saints:
“It was said, God has servants like Abraham, Moses
and Jesus. He said: I am all of them.”
(Tazkirat al-Auliya, ch. on Abu Yazid Bustami; see also
its abridged English translation Muslim Saints and Mystics
by A. J. Arberry, p. 123)
7. Sayyid Muhammad Ismail Shaheed (d. 1831 C.E.)
In a poem in praise of his master Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi, he writes:
“Joseph has now come to Egypt from Canaan, and a
whole world has come for his purchase,
“To give life to the dead, the breath of Jesus has now come
into the world,
“From Madina my Ahmad has come, from the cave of Saur, to teach
the Ansar [name given to ‘helpers’ of Holy Prophet
Muhammad],
“Sayyid Ahmad came one day with his companions. You should
say that the Last of the Prophets came again with his Companions.”
(Najm al-Saqib, vol. ii)
8. Shah Niyaz Ahmad of Delhi (d. 1834 C.E.):
“Sometimes I am Idris, sometimes Seth, sometimes
Noah, sometimes Jonah, sometimes Joseph, sometimes Jacob, and sometimes
Hud. Sometimes I am Salih, sometimes Abraham, sometimes Isaac, sometimes
Yahya, sometimes Moses, sometimes Jesus and sometimes David. I am
Ahmad Hashmi and Jesus of Mary.”
(Diwan-e Niyaz, p. 42, 44)
9. Khawaja Mir Dard of Delhi (d. 1785 C.E.)
This famous saint, regarding whom there is a section in the English
book Mystical Dimensions of Islam by the eminent scholar Annemarie
Schimmel, wrote as follows:
“Every perfect man, by the all-encompassing power
of God, is the Jesus of his time. And every moment he faces for
his being the affair of the soul of Jesus.”
(Risala Dard, p. 211)
10. Muhiy-ud-Din Ibn Arabi (d. 1240 C.E.)
Ibn Arabi, known as the “Great Master” of Sufi-ism, whose
works have been much studied by Western scholars, wrote in his famous
book Futuhat Makkiyya:
“And as it happened with our spiritual guide, when
it was said to him: ‘You are Jesus, son of Mary, so heal
him’.”
(vol. i, p. 199)
11. Abu Tamam
This famous Arab poet was addressed as:
“O Jesus, son of Mary!”
(Da’irat al-Mu‘arif, Part II, p. 58)
He was given this title because his poetry was life-reviving,
even though he used to stammer.
12. Shah Wali-ullah of Delhi (d. 1763 C.E.)
The great philosopher, writer and scholar of Islam, considered as
the mujaddid of his time, wrote in his acclaimed work the Tafhimat
Ilahiyya:
“The miracle of raising the dead to life, which
was granted to Jesus — that was myself.”
13. Khawaja Shah Sulaiman Tonsovi (d. 1852 C.E.)
A verse in praise of the Khawaja reads:
“‘Arise by the command of God’
was a miracle at the hand of Jesus, but you [O Khawaja] made thousands
into Messiahs with a single breath.”
(Manaqib al-Mahbubin, p. 249)
14. Shaikh Mahmud-ul-Hasan of Deoband (d. 1920)
- Writing in praise of Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, a prominent Deoband
leader in the nineteenth century, the Shaikh says in a poem:
“He raised the dead to life, and let not the living die.
Just look at this Messianic work, O son of Mary.”
- And in praise of both Rashid Ahmad and Muhammad Qasim Nanotavi,
the founder of the Deoband religious school, he wrote:
“Qasim the good and Rashid Ahmad, both men of glory,
the two of them were the Messiah of the age and Joseph of Canaan.”
15. Muhammad Nasir Muhammadi (d. 1758 C.E.)
He was the father of Mir Dard of Delhi and author of the work Nala-yi-Andalib
(Lamentation of the Nightingale). He wrote in this book:
“There have been perfect, and still more perfect,
saints among the Muslims. In terms of their spiritual progress and
path of development, some had the temperament of Adam, some of Noah,
some of Abraham, some of David, some of Jacob, some of Moses, some
of Jesus, and some had the temperament of Muhammad.”
(vol. i, p. 243)
16. Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra
In his Urdu translation of this work, Sayyid Abdul Ghani Warisi writes:
“The man who is [spiritually] established in the
form of Muhammad, is called ‘O Muhammad!’ He who
is in the form of Moses is called ‘O Moses!’, and
he who is in the form of Jesus is called ‘O Jesus!’”
(p. 486)
17. Mirza Ghalib (d. 1869 C.E.)
He is one of the greatest and most famous poets of the Urdu language.
One of his best-known and most-quoted verses is the following:
“Let someone be the son of Mary, and let him heal
my pain.”
Commenting on this verse, Professor Yusuf Salim Chishti writes in
his Sharh Diwan Ghalib:
“Meaning — If my beloved can heal my pain,
I accept him as Messiah.”
(p. 826)
18. Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938 C.E.)
In praise of the perfect believer, Iqbal says in Persian verse:
“He is Kalim [Moses], he is Masih
[Messiah], he is Khalil [Abraham],
“He is Muhammad, he is the Book [Quran], he is Gabriel.”
19. Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jilani (d. 1166 C.E.)
The much revered saint of Iraq wrote:
“I was with Jesus when he spoke from the cradle.”
(Qasida Ruhi)
20. Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn Ali Jilani:
“I am Joseph and Ali,
“I am Moses and Jesus — and many of the persons before
them.”
(Gulshan-i-Raz)
21. Anne Marie Schimmel
She is a renowned European orientalist and scholar who has been honoured
by the authorities in Pakistan for her research on Islam. In her English
book Mystical Dimensions of Islam (University of North Carolina
Press, U.S.A., 1975), she writes:
“According to some sufi orders, on the higher levels
of his path the mystic ascends through the stations of the Islamic
prophets, from Adam to Jesus; many Sufis remain in one of these
stages, but the perfect shaikh is he who has become annihilated
in the Prophet Muhammad. United with the haqiqa Muhammadiyya,
he becomes the Perfect Man and thus leads his disciples with a guidance
granted directly by God.” (p. 237)
“The Sufis particularly loved Mary. ... She is often taken
as the symbol of the spirit that receives divine inspiration and
thus becomes pregnant with the divine light.” (p. 429)
12.3: Sayings of Holy Prophet Muhammad
The doctrines of spiritual advancement expounded by the Sufis, as
explained above, have their foundations in verses 24:55 and 66:11
– 12 of the Holy Quran. Hadith, too, provides the ground for
these ideas, as shown below. The Holy Prophet Muhammad said:
- “There is not one prophet but a like of him is to be found
among my followers. Abu Bakr is like Abraham, Umar is like Moses,
Uthman is like Aaron, and Ali is like me. He who wishes to see
Jesus, let him look at Abu Zarr Ghaffari.”
(Kanz al-Ummal, vol. vi, p. 193. According to Tirmizi
the Holy Prophet said: “Abu Zarr is like Jesus, son
of Mary” and “Abu Zarr walks in the earth with the
piety of Jesus, son of Mary”; see Tirmizi, chapter
al-Manaqib, section on Abu Zarr)
- “He who likes to see Jesus in terms of piety, let him
see Abu Darda.”
(quoted in Mansab-i Imamat, a famous book by Sayyid
Ismail Shaheed; see also Kanz al-Ummal, vol. vi, p. 169)
- “He who likes to see Abraham in his tender-heartedness,
let him see Abu Bakr in his kindness. He who likes to see Noah
in his firmness, let him see Umar in his bravery. He who likes
to see Enoch in his exaltation, let him see Uthman in his mercy.
He who likes to see John the Baptist in his devotions, let him
see Ali in his state of purity.”
(Kanz al-Ummal, collection of Hadith, vol. vi, p. 161)
- “The earth shall never lack forty men who are the likes
of Abraham, on account of whom you shall be given water and aid,
and sustenance. The Majma‘ al-Zawa’id says that
this saying has sound authorities.”
(Al-Khabr al Dal, by Imam Sayuti)
- “Dahya al-Kalbi resembles Gabriel, Urwah ibn Masud Thaqfi
resembles Jesus, and Abdul Uzza resembles the Anti-Christ.”
(Kanz al-Ummal, vol. vi, p. 173)
- “Among the servants of God, there are three hundred whose
hearts are like Adam’s heart, forty whose hearts are like
Moses’ heart, seven whose hearts are like Abraham’s
heart, five whose hearts are like Gabriel’s heart, three
whose hearts are like [the angel] Michael’s heart, and one
whose heart is like [the angel] Israfil’s heart.”
(Al-Khabr al-Dal by Imam Suyuti, p. 15; see also Kanz
al-Ummal, vol. vi, p. 239).
(See also Anne Marie Schimmel’s Mystical Dimensions
of Islam, p. 202, which mentions that the name of Jesus
has also been added to this list in another version.)
- “The Ulama are the heirs of the prophets.”
(Sunan Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Ilm, ch. 1: ‘Excellence
of knowledge’.)
- “The Shaikh [spiritual leader] among his followers is
like the prophet among his nation.”
(This hadith has also been quoted in Mystical Dimensions
of Islam, on p. 101 and p. 237.)
- “The Ulama of this nation deserve to be alongside the
prophets in rank.”
(quoted by Ibn Arabi in his Futuhat Makkiyya, p. 570)
- “The righteous Ulama of this nation are heirs to the ranks
of prophets.”
(ibid.)
- “The Ulama of my nation are like the Israelite prophets.”
- “The Ulama of this nation are like the prophets of all
the nations of the world.”
- Among the Muslims there shall be “men who are spoken to
by God, without being prophets”.
(Bukhari, book 62, ch. 6)
- “The Ulama are the lights of the earth, and the successors
of the prophets, and heirs to me and the other prophets.”
(Kanz al-Ummal, vol. v, p. 201)
Hence, it is quite allowable to liken non-prophets to prophets,
as the Holy Prophet Muhammad himself likened those who were not
prophets to prophets.
12.4: Views of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad
Hazrat Mirza has written exactly what the eminent scholars and saints
of Islam before him had written, and has expressed the view-point
accepted as standard in Islam:
- “Of all the leaders of Tasawwuf that there have
been till the present day, not even one has disagreed with the
point that in this religion the path to become the likes of prophets
is open, as the Holy Prophet Muhammad has given the glad tidings
for spiritual and godly learned persons that ‘the Ulama
of my nation are like the Israelite Prophets’. The words
of Abu Yazid Bustami given below, which are recorded in Tazkirat
al-Auliya by Farid-ud-Din Attar, and are also found in other
reliable works, are on this basis, as he says: ‘I am Adam,
I am Seth, I am Noah, I am Abraham, I am Moses, I am Jesus, I
am Muhammad, peace be upon him and upon all these brothers of
his.’ ... Similarly, Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jilani, in his
book Futuh al-Ghaib, refers to this point, i.e. that man,
by leaving his ego and annihilating himself in God, becomes the
like, rather the very form, of the prophets.” (Izala Auham,
pp. 258 – 260)
- “God’s ancient way cannot be denied, viz., that He
gives the name of one to another on account of spiritual similarity.
He who has the nature of Abraham is Abraham in God’s sight,
he who has the nature of Moses is Moses in God’s sight, and
he who has the nature of Jesus is Jesus in God’s sight. And
he who has a share of all these has all these names applied to
him.” (ibid., p. 412)
- “Ponder over this, that all the eternal fountains of spiritual
life have come into the world through the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
This is the nation [i.e. Muslim nation] which, though not having
any prophets (nabi) in it, has those who receive the word
of God like prophets, and though not having any messengers (rasul)
in it, has those who show God’s clear signs like messengers.”
(Ainah Kamalat Islam, p. 224)
Hazrat Mirza on how a believer becomes ‘Mary’ and ‘Jesus’
“In the Holy Quran, God has given two parables of
the believers. The first comparison is with the wife of Pharoah
who wishes refuge in God from this kind of husband. This is the
example of those believers who bow to base passions and make mistakes,
and then they show regret and repent. They seek refuge in God, as
their soul is always doing them injustice like the Pharoah as a
husband. These people have the self-reproaching soul, and are constantly
striving to be free from evil.
“There are other believers who have attained a higher rank.
They do not only refrain from evil, but earn virtue. God has compared
them to Mary: ‘She who guarded her chastity, so We breathed
into it of Our spirit.’ Every believer who accomplishes himself
in piety and purity, is Mary in the sense of burooz [manifestation
or spiritual representation]. And God breathes into him His spirit,
which becomes the son of Mary.
“Zamakhshari [classical commentator of the Quran] has given
the same meaning, i.e. this verse is of general application. If
this meaning is not taken, then because Hadith says ‘None
is safe from the devil except Mary and the son of Mary’,
it would simply imply that — God forbid — all other
prophets were prone to the devil.
“Hence, in reality, this verse refers to the fact that
into every believer who reaches this accomplishment, the spirit
of God is blown, and he becomes the son of Mary. This contains
the prophecy that a ‘son of Mary’ would be born in this
Muslim nation. It is surprising that people name their children
Muhammad, Isa [Jesus], Musa [Moses], Yacub [Jacob], Ishaq [Isaac],
Ismail and Abraham, and consider this to be permissible, but they
do not think it allowable for God to name someone Mary, or ‘son
of Mary’.” (Mulfuzat, vol. ii, pp. 317 –
318)
“There is another point which is realised by pondering
over the Divine word. That is that as a person makes daily progress
towards the truth by receiving guidance from the attracting power
of God, and goes on forsaking the self and the lower passions,
the ultimate point of the purification of his soul is that, having
emerged completely from the darkness of the self and base desires,
and having cleansed his body — which is the residence of
the soul — of dark bodily smoke, he becomes like a pure drop
of water. At that time, in God’s sight he is but the mere
spirit which remains after the extermination of the self. In terms
of perfect obedience to God, he acquires a similarity to the angels.
“Then, having reached that stage, it is his right near
God that he should be called Ruh-ullah [the spirit of God]
and Kalimat-ullah [the word of God]. This significance
can, in a sense, also be derived from the hadith which Ibn Maja
and Hakim have recorded in their books, viz. ‘There is no
Mahdi except Jesus’. That is to say, only he reaches the
perfect rank of Mahdi [the rightly-guided one] who first
becomes Isa [Jesus]. In other words, when a person acquires
such an accomplishment in turning to God that only the spirit
remains, he then becomes Ruh-ullah [spirit of God] in God’s
view, and he is named Isa [Jesus] in heaven. He receives
a spiritual birth at the hands of God, which is not from any physical
father, rather it is the shadow of the grace of God which grants
him that birth. So, in fact the excellence of purification and
of fana fi-llah [absorption in God] is precisely this,
that he should attain such severance from bodily darkness that
only the spirit remains.
“This is the rank of Iswiyyat [‘Jesushood’],
which God bestows perfectly upon whom He pleases. And the rank
of perfect Dajjaliyyat [being the Dajjal or Anti-Christ]
is that, according to the verse ‘he clings to the earth’,
he inclines more and more to the lower valleys of base desires,
till having descended to the depths of darkness, he becomes darkness
personified, and an instinctive friend of darkness and enemy of
light. The existence of the quality of Dajjaliyyat, in
opposition to the quality of Iswiyyat, is necessarily implied
because a thing is identified by the existence of the opposite.
These two qualities have been in existence right from the time
of our Holy Prophet. He named Ibn Sayyad as Dajjal, and
said to Hazrat Ali, ‘You bear a resemblance to Jesus’.
Hence, the seed of Jesus and of Dajjal began at that time, and
as with the passage of time, the mischief of Dajjaliyyat increased,
persons embodying the quality of Iswiyyat appeared in opposition
in a corresponding manner. In the last age, by reason of the spread
of evil, wickedness, unbelief and error, and by reason of the
arising of all those evils which had never before existed in such
magnitude and extent — in fact, the spread of these in the
last days had been prophesied by the Holy Prophet — Dajjaliyyat
was manifested to perfection. To combat this, it was essential
that Iswiyyat be also manifested to perfection.” (Nishan
Asmani, pp. 8 – 9)
12.5: Meaning of Messiah
and claim of Promised Messiah
- “The term messiah is applied to that righteous one
whose touch (mas-h) has been blessed by God, and whose
breath, preaching and words are life-giving. Then this word was
applied particularly to that prophet who did not fight wars, but
reformed people through spiritual blessings only.” (Ayyam
as-Sulh, p. 69)
- “It is written in the Lisan al-‘Arab, p. 431
[Dictionary of Arabic] that Jesus was called the Messiah because
he travelled in the earth, and was not settled anywhere. The same
is given in Taj al-‘Arus and Qamus [Dictionaries].
It is also written that Messiah is he who has been touched (mas-h)
with good and blessing; i.e. good and blessing have been placed
in his nature, so much so that his very touch gives blessings.
This name was given to Jesus, and is given by God to whom He pleases.”
(Masih Hindustan Main, p. 71)
- “Messiah is a title which was given to Jesus, meaning
‘one who touches God’, ‘partakes of Divine favours’,
the ‘vicegerent of God’, and ‘one who adopts truth
and righteousness’.”
“Mahdi is a title given to the Holy Prophet Muhammad,
meaning rightly-guided by instinct, heir to all guidance, and
the full reflection of the Divine attribute Guide.”
(Zameema Jihad, p. 6)
- “I have definitely not claimed that I am Jesus, son of
Mary. The person who levels this allegation against me is a liar
and a fabricator. On the contrary, I have been constantly publishing
for seven or eight years that I am the like of the Messiah. That
is to say, God has put in my nature some of the spiritual characteristics
and habits and morals of Jesus, peace be upon him. And there are
many other aspects, which I have explained in these books, in
terms of which my life bears a great similarity to that of Jesus.
It is not a new development on my part that in these books I have
considered myself to be that Promised one whose advent is prophesied
implicitly in the Holy Quran and explicitly in Hadith.” (Izala
Auham, pp. 190 – 191)
- “The name ‘Promised Messiah’, which has been
given to me from heaven, means nothing more than that God has
made me to follow the example of Jesus in terms of moral conditions,
so that I may breathe spiritual life into people by peace and
gentleness. It is not just today that I have given this interpretation
of the name ‘Promised Messiah’, but I gave the same
meaning nineteen years ago in Barahin Ahmadiyya.”
(Kashf al-Ghita, p. 12)
- “I believe in all those things that are recorded in the
Holy Quran and authentic Hadith. I do not claim to be Jesus, son
of Mary, nor do I believe in re-incarnation. I only claim to be
the like of the Messiah. In the same way as sainthood in Islam
(muhaddasiyyat) bears a resemblance to prophethood, my
spiritual condition bears a similarity of the highest degree to
the spiritual condition of Jesus. I am a Muslim. ... I have come
from the Lord of the heavens and the earth as a Reformer (mujaddid)
of the religion, for the fourteenth century, having the characteristics
and disposition of Jesus.” (Majmu‘a Ishtiharat,
vol. i, p. 231)
- “In some Sayings of the Holy Prophet, which are replete
with metaphors, there is a prophecy of the return of the Messiah
to this world. The context of these Sayings, however, shows that
in fact the return of Jesus is not meant here. It is, in fact,
a subtle metaphor, meaning that in some age which would resemble
the time of Jesus, a man shall arise for the reform of mankind
who will resemble Jesus in his nature, faculties and appointed
work. Just as Jesus regenerated the religion of Moses, and disclosed
to the Jews the significance of the real intention of the Torah
which they had forgotten, similarly the second Messiah will restore
the religion of the ‘like of Moses’, who is the Last
of the Prophets — Muhammad, peace be upon him. This Messiah
granted to the ‘like of Moses’, shall in terms of his
life and all the consequences to befall his people due to their
obedience or rejection, bear total similarity to the Messiah granted
to Moses. What God has now disclosed to me is that I am that Promised
Messiah.” (Izala Auham, p. 37)
- “In a metaphorical and spiritual sense, this humble servant
is that Promised Messiah the news of whose advent is given in
the Quran and Hadith.” (ibid., p. 261)
- “By using the words ‘from among you’ in the
chapter The Light, the Holy Quran has given the verdict
that all khalifas [successors to the Holy Prophet] of the
Muslim nation shall arise from within the nation itself. These
khalifas will be similar to the chain of Israelite prophets
after Moses. Only one of them — the one at the end —
will be the Promised one, being the like of Jesus. The rest would
not be promised ones, i.e. there is no specific prophecy for any
of them by name.” (Tazkira Shahadatain, p. 30)
- “Although I have explained this point in many of my books,
that my claims that I am Jesus, the Messiah, and Muhammad, the
Mahdi, do not mean that I am actually Jesus, peace be upon him,
and actually Muhammad, peace and the blessings of God be upon
him, but still those people who have not read my books properly
can be labouring under the misconception that I have made this
claim in the sense of re-incarnation, or that I am claiming that
the souls of these two great prophets are actually within me.
This is not the case.” (Zameema Jihad, p. 1)
- “So God saw this injustice from heaven, and for its correction
he sent a man having the nature and temperament of Jesus. He named
him Messiah in the same sense as when the image of a figure
is reflected in water or glass, and that image may metaphorically
be referred to as the person himself.” (ibid., p. 3)
- “The interpretation I have given to the descent of the
Messiah is not a new one. In fact, it is the same interpretation
that Jesus himself expounded [when explaining the descent of Elijah
as the coming of John the Baptist], because the case of the descent
of Jesus is exactly analogous to the case of the descent of Prophet
Elijah.” (Kitab al-Barriyya, p. 195)
- “Raising me at the head of the fourteenth century, God
disclosed the logic behind this prophecy and made it clear that
the second coming of the Messiah to this world was destined to
have been in the same sense and manner as the second coming of
the prophet Elijah which had been prophesied in the book of Malachi
[in the Old Testament]. This book explicitly mentioned that the
Promised Messiah awaited by the Jews would not come into the world
until the Prophet Elijah had returned. If our opponents had any
element of goodness or truth-seeking in them, they would have
benefitted much by this prophecy of Malachi, upon which both the
Jews and Christians are agreed. ... As the re-appearance of the
prophet Elijah in person in this world was a pre-requisite to
the coming of the Messiah, under this condition Jesus would not
be proved to be a true prophet. He can only be proved to be true
if some other interpretation is given to the return of the prophet
Elijah. In other words, by the second coming of Elijah it should
be taken to mean the arising of someone like him, and that ‘like’
was John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias. This was the interpretation
given by Jesus when challenged by the Jews. This interpretation,
which is proved to have come from a prophet’s lips, shows
plainly that the second coming of the Messiah to this world is
on the same lines as the return of Elijah. To ignore a precedent
that has been established and to adopt the literal meaning, leading
to many inconsistencies in one’s beliefs, is the work of
people who have very little sense and understanding. Metaphors
and allegories predominate in prophecies, and there would be no
stupidity greater than taking a word in a prophecy literally when
such literal interpretation leads to many contradictions. It was
this attitude for which the Jews met their destruction.”
(ibid., p. 194)
- “God has repeatedly favoured me with His exclusive word,
saying that He has sent me in the likeness, and with the qualities,
of Jesus in order to remove the Jewishness [i.e. Pharisaical attitude
and behaviour of Muslims] of the latter days. Hence, I am the
promised son of Mary in a metaphorical sense, who had been promised
to appear at a time of ‘Jewishness’ and supremacy of
Christianity. I have come devoid of material means, with spiritual
power and weaponry, as opposed to the wrong conception of physical
warfare that prevailed among the Muslims about [the second coming
of] Jesus. My war is spiritual and my kingdom is not of this world.
I have nothing to do with the battles and offensives of the world.
My life is one of humility and meekness, like that of Jesus. I
have come to re-establish humility, meekness, righteousness, civility,
and inner purity in the Muslims, and to teach the path of high
morals. If Muslims do not accept me, I shall not be grieved at
all because before me the Israelites did not accept Jesus.”
(Majmu‘a Ishtiharat, vol. i, pp. 232 – 233)
- “Why should one turn one’s face away from the unanimously
acknowledged belief of all the prophets, that sometimes God’s
prophecies are fulfilled literally and sometimes in a metaphorical
sense.” (Supplement to Barahin Ahmadiyya, Part V,
p. 93)
- “When God, having seen the condition of the present age
and finding the earth filled with sin, impiety and misguidance,
appointed me for the propagation of the truth and reformation,
it was also such an age that ... the people of the world, having
finished the thirteenth century Hijra had reached the head
of the fourteenth century. In obedience to this command I began
to announce to the ordinary public, through printed posters and
speeches, that the man who was to come from God at the head of
this century for the revival of the religion was myself, so that
faith which had disappeared from the earth, I should re-establish,
and, having obtained strength from God, I should draw the world
by the power of His Hand towards reform, piety and righteousness,
and correct errors in belief and weaknesses in deeds. Then, after
a few years had passed, it was disclosed to me clearly by Divine
revelation that the Messiah who had been promised to the Muslim
nation from the beginning, and the last Mahdi who was to be guided
by God directly at a time of the decline of Islam and the spread
of evil, the good news of whose advent was given thirteen centuries
ago by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, was myself. The Divine communications
and revelations about this matter came with such clarity and persistence
that there remained no room for doubt.” (Tazkira Shahadatain,
p. 1)
- “With great respect and humility I send this notice to
Muslim ulama, Christian divines and Hindu pundits, informing
them that I have been sent into the world to remedy and correct
weaknesses and errors of morals, doctrines and faith. I follow
the same lines as Jesus. On account of this I am called the Promised
Messiah, for I have been commanded to spread the truth in the
world by means of supernatural signs and holy teachings.”
(Majmu‘a Ishtiharat, vol. iii, p. 342)
- “The case of the second coming has already been decided
in the court of Jesus, and the verdict has been pronounced in
our favour. Jesus rejected the belief of the Jews that the prophet
Elijah would re-appear in the world, declaring the prophecy to
be metaphorical, and considered John the Baptist to be the fulfiller
of the prophecy. Look how clearly this verdict of Jesus resolves
the issue in contention. ... Tell us, if two parties have a dispute
on an issue, and one of them puts forward the decision of a prophet
as a precedent while the other party is unable to give a precedent,
which of the two is more worthy of being believed?” (Tuhfa
Golarwiya, p. 6)
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