My purpose, yearning, and heartfelt desire is to serve humanity;
This is my job, this is my faith, this is my habit and this is my way of life.
By Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V, may Allah be his help
Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Parts I and II were authored by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) of Qadian and published in 1880. At that time the Indian subcontinent had become a virtual battleground for the major religions of the world. Islam, in particular, found itself on the defensive against the onslaughts of Christians and Hindus, who spared no ploy to defame the Faith and its Foundersa. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as), pained by these unjust attacks, undertook a series of debates and discourses with Christians and Hindus. He himself describes the pain that he suffered as follows:
My purpose, yearning, and heartfelt desire is to serve humanity;
This is my job, this is my faith, this is my habit and this is my way of life.
Finding the world in darkness, I pray to my Lord:
May He grant my prayers of the small hours of the night.
(see Part II, Preface)
Establishing faith in Tauhid (Oneness of God)—which he found only in Islam—was his primary concern. He writes:
What I am trying to demonstrate by writing all this is that Tauhid, in its purest form, is not to be found among any people on the face of the earth except the followers of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. And there is no book upon the earth, other than the Holy Quran, that has firmly committed millions to this holy doctrine and that leads mankind so reverentially towards the One True God. People of every religion have created artificial gods for themselves, whereas the God of the Muslims is the One, Eternal, and Immutable God, whose attributes are the same today as they were before. (see Part II, Preface, on page 138)
At last, as a conclusive argument against the detractors of Islam, he decided to write Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya—a compendium of arguments for the truth of the Holy Quran and Islam. He announced a reward of 10,000 rupees—the sum total of his considerable wealth at the time—for anyone who could counter even a fraction of these arguments or produce similar arguments from their own scriptures—a challenge that remains uncontested to this day.
He also laid down upright rules for religious dialogue and discussion. He says:
Anyone who wishes to reply to this book must respond in two ways as per the conditions laid down in the Challenge [in Part I]. They must produce arguments from their own scriptures, for comparison with the arguments of the Holy Quran, and must also refute the arguments I have given. If they fail to present comparable evidence from their own scriptures and focus entirely on countering my arguments, it will be taken to mean that they are totally incapable of providing evidence for the divine origin of their Book. (see Part II, Preface, on page 104)
Based on the Holy Quran, he declared that all religious founders whose teachings have become widespread must be honoured and accepted as true. He also appealed for due courtesy in all religious discussions.
Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya was started with the intent of providing 300 rational arguments in support of the divine origin of the Holy Quran and the truthfulness of the Holy Prophet(sa). While still writing Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Hazrat Ahmad(as) started receiving an abundance of divine revelations, many of which are recorded in Parts III and IV. He states at the end of Part IV:
In the beginning, when I wrote this book, the situation was very different from now. Thereafter, the Providence of Allah the Almighty descended upon me with the spiritual light that made me aware, like Moses, of which I was totally unaware before. I was wandering, like Hazrat Ibn-e-Imran, in the dark night of my own ideas when suddenly I heard the voice from the unseen: 
Verily, I am your Lord.
Thereafter, such secrets were revealed to me as I had not thought or imagined. Therefore, Allah the Almighty is now the Guardian and Manager of this book, both manifestly and intrinsically. I do not know what His will is as to its size. The fact is that the blessings of the divine origin of Islam which have been manifested up to Part IV are sufficient to bring the argument home. I hope that with His grace and munificence, He will continue to grace me with His support from the unseen till the darkness of doubts and suspicions is totally dissipated… (Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part IV, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, p. 673)
Under divine commandment, he founded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at in 1889 and invited all the righteous to take the bai‘at (pledge of allegiance). Later, he claimed to be the same Mahdi and Promised Messiah whose advent had been prophesied by the Holy Prophet(sa) for the latter days.
Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part III records a dream which the Promised Messiah(as) saw in his early youth that is specifically related to Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya. He relates:
My humble self saw Hazrat Khatamul-Anbiya’ [the Seal of the Prophets], may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in a dream in 1864 or 1865 in my early youth, when I was still pursuing my studies. In my dream I had in my hand a religious book which I felt was of my own authorship. Upon seeing the book, the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, enquired from me in Arabic: ‘How have you named this book?’ I submitted: ‘I have named it Qutbi.’ The interpretation of this name has now come to my mind on the publication of this well-publicized book [Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya]—that it is a book, which, in its reasoning and arguments, is firm and unshakeable like the polar star. Presenting the firmness of the contents of this book, I have issued a challenge and announced the award of a prize of 10,000 rupees [for anyone who might be able to refute it].
In short, the Holy Prophet(sa) took that book from me. The moment the blessed hands of the Holy Prophet(sa) touched it, it became an attractive and lovely fruit resembling a guava, but as large as a watermelon. When the Holy Prophet(sa) started cutting it into pieces to distribute it, it yielded so much honey that his blessed hand and forearm began to drip with it.
Then a dead body that was lying outside the door came to life as a miracle of the Holy Prophet(sa) and came and stood behind me. My humble self was standing before the Holy Prophet(sa) as a supplicant stands before a ruler. The Holy Prophet(sa) was occupying his chair in great glory and majesty, and with display of authority, as if he was a great champion.
To summarize, the Holy Prophet(sa) handed over to me a piece of the fruit so that I might give it to the newly-revived person and he bestowed upon me all the remaining pieces. I gave that one piece to the revived person, which he ate immediately. When he finished eating it, I noticed that the blessed chair of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had risen much higher and the countenance of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, began to shine forth like the rays of the sun, which was an indication of the revival and progress of Islam. While watching this display of light I woke up. 
[Allah be praised for all this.] (Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part 3, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, p. 274–276 sub-footnote no. 1, see also, Tadhkirah, 2nd English edn., p. 5–6)
As the Fifth Successor to the Promised Messiah(as), I appeal to all fair-minded people to study Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya with care and attention, and to accept its message if they find it based on truth and honesty. For those who wish to defend their own faith, I request that the rules of fairness and courtesy be maintained in whatever they write to counter his arguments or to present the like from their own scriptures.
I also invite all good Muslims to heed the admonition of the Holy Prophet(sa) that:
When you find the Mahdi, perform bai‘at at his hand. You must go to him, even if you have to reach him across icebound mountains on your knees. He is the Khalifah of Allah, [he is] the Mahdi. (Sunan Ibn-e-Majah, Kitabul-Fitan, Babu Khurujil-Mahdi, Hadith no. 4074)
I also remind all Ahmadi Muslims that—being fortunate to have recognized the Khalifah of Allah, the Mahdi—they need to study the works of the Promised Messiah(as) and inculcate the habit of reading them among their children. Therein you will find the life-giving spiritual water to sustain and foster your faith. As the Promised Messiah(as) says:
I tell you truly that those who were revived by the Messiah(as) [Jesus] are dead, but he who will drink of the cup that has been bestowed upon me will never die. If there is anyone else who can also utter the life-giving words that I speak and proclaim such wisdom as I do, then you are at liberty to conclude that I have not come from God Almighty. However, if this wisdom and understanding—which serves as the water of life for those whose hearts are dead—is not procurable from any other source, then you have no excuse for the crime of having rejected the fountain that has been opened from heaven. No one on earth can stop it. (Izala-e-Auham, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 3, p. 104)
The Jama‘at has already published English translations of over thirty books of the Promised Messiah(as) and further publications continue. The translation of Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya constitutes a landmark, because it is widely recognized as his magnum opus, which laid down the themes which are further elaborated in his later works.
The Promised Messiah(as) was informed in a divine revelation that Allah the Almighty will carry his message to the ends of the earth. In his own lifetime, the facilities for this propagation had already started appearing as he says:
The phrase, ‘When the books are spread abroad,’ refers to the means for publication like the printing press. As you see, Allah the Almighty has raised a nation which has invented the instruments for printing. How many are the printing presses working in India and other countries. This is God’s doing, so that He may assist in my task and may spread my teachings and my books and convey to every nation the wisdom contained in my writings so that they may listen and be guided. (A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 5, p. 473, translated from Arabic)
By the grace of God Almighty, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community continues to avail itself of the fast-growing facilities for printing and publication. The message of the Promised Messiah(as) is conveyed to more than 200 countries around the globe through the Muslim Television Ahmadiyya. Our Internet presence (www.alislam.org) is a comprehensive source of knowledge and information about Islam/Ahmadiyyat. The translation of the original works of the Promised Messiah(as) has accelerated because of the availability of various electronic media which make it possible to speed up work, readily consult different source materials and bring about coordination and cooperation between the devotees of the Promised Messiah(as) serving in different countries.
Mirza Masroor Ahmad
Khalifatul Masih V
London
June 11, 2012