The period mentioned in the Book of Prophet Danial [Daniel] for the appearance of the Promised Messiah is this age in which I have been appointed by God. It is written that in that age:
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.1 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.2
This prophecy tells about the Promised Messiah who was to appear in the Latter Days. According to Prophet Danial, his sign is that the Jews will give up the rite of making burnt offerings,3 and will fall victim to corrupt practices. The Promised Messiah is destined to appear after 1,290 years. This was the exact time of the advent of this humble one, for my book Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya was printed and published only a few years after I was appointed and commissioned.
It is amazing—and I consider this to be a Sign of God—that I was blessed with converse and discourse with God Almighty exactly in the year 1290 Hijrah; seven years thereafter, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya— in which my claim is recorded—was compiled and published. Accordingly, the following couplet is written on the opening page of the book:
Considering that it shows the path of salvation, How wonderful it is that the year of publication [1297 AH] is represented by the phrase ‘Ya Ghafur’ 5 [O Forgiving Lord].
Thus, the year 1290 recorded in the Book of Daniel is the year of the Promised Messiah’s advent. The book, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, in which I announced that I was commissioned and appointed by God, was published only seven years thereafter, and I have already stated that the series of converse with Allah had started seven years earlier; i.e. in 1290 Hijrah. Again the last days of the Promised Messiah are fixed by Danial at 1,335 years which resembles the revelation of God Almighty concerning my age.
This prophecy is not based on presumption, for it concurs with the prophecy of Hadrat ‘Isa(as) [Jesus] in the Gospel concerning the Promised Messiah which also fixes the present age for the Promised Messiah. Thus, the following Signs of the time [for the advent] of the Promised Messiah are noted during that period: the plague shall break out, earthquakes shall strike, wars will rage, and the solar and lunar eclipses shall take place. Hence, there is not the least doubt that the age whose hallmarks are spelled out in the Gospel is the same about which Danial prophesied. And the prophecy of the Gospel supports that of Danial, for all those things have come to pass in this age.
Furthermore, the Jewish and the Christian prophecy that is inferred from the Bible affirms it; namely, that the Promised Messiah will be born at the end of the 6th millennium from the birth of Adam. According to the lunar calendar, which is the original calendar of the People of the Book, my birth took place at the end of the sixth millennium—and the birth of the Promised Messiah had, since the beginning of time, been preordained by God to take place at the end of the 6th millennium, because the Promised Messiah is Khatamul-Khulafa’ [the Seal of the Khulafa’] and the last ought to have similarity with the first. Since Hadrat Adam(as) was born in the last part of the sixth day, it was necessary with respect to the parallelism that the last vicegerent—who is the last Adam—should also be born at the end of the sixth millennium. This is because each day of the seven days of God equals 1,000 years, as Allah Himself says:
Authentic ahadith also bear out that the Promised Messiah would be born in the sixth millennium.7 This is why all those blessed with [spiritual] visions have not gone beyond the sixth millennium in fixing the time for the Promised Messiah, and the outermost limit of the time of his advent is stated as the 14th century Hijrah.8
Muslims who were gifted with spiritual visions have foretold that the Promised Messiah—who is the last Khalifah and Khatamul-Khulafa’ [Seal of the Khulafa’]—is like Adam in that he would be born at the end of 6th Millennium, just as Adam was born at the end of the sixth day. Moreover, like Adam, he would be born on Friday and would be a twin birth. Just as Adam was born in the manner of a twin—Adam first, and then Eve—similarly, the Promised Messiah would be born twin. So, Allah be praised and thanked that I am the fulfilment of this prophecy of the mystics. I, too, was born a twin at dawn on a Friday with the sole difference that the first to be born was a girl whose name was Jannat—and she went to Jannat [Paradise] after a few days—and after her I was born. Sheikh Muhy-ud-Din ibn-e-‘Arabi has recorded this prophecy in his book Fusus, and has also written that he [the Promised Messiah] would be of Chinese descent.9 In any case, these three prophesies reinforce one another. Because they have been fulfilled, they have acquired the status of certainty that no sensible person can deny.
1 According to the Book of Daniel, one day represents a year. Here that Prophet indicates the year of Hijrah (migration) which is [counted from] the first year of the victory and dominance of Islam. (Author)
2 In the King James Version, these verses are Daniel 12:10–12. [Publishers]
3 Footnote: In accordance with the teaching of their Scriptures, the Jews were required to make burnt offerings. They would slaughter goats and burn them in front of the temple. What the law intended was that people should, similarly, sacrifice their own self before God and should burn their selfish passions and rebellion. The Jews had abandoned this practice, in letter and spirit, during the blessed days of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and had fallen prey to other loathsome practices as is quite well known. Thus, when the Jews stopped offering this real burnt sacrifice, i.e. sacrificing their ego in the path of God and burning their selfish passions, then God Almighty’s wrath deprived them even of physical sacrifice. This, in fact, was the period of rank misconduct on the part of the Jews which coincided with the advent of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and the uprooting of the Jews. As a matter of fact, the Islamic custom of sacrifice offered during the Hajj of the House of Allah, the Ka‘bah, is a substitute for the sacrifices which the Jews used to perform in front of Baitul-Muqaddas. The only difference is that there is no burnt sacrifice in Islam. The Jews were a rebellious people. Deeming it necessary for them to burn their selfish passions, this symbolic sacrifice was prescribed for them. Islam, on the other hand, does not stand in need of such a sign; instead, it is enough to surrender oneself in the path of God. (Author)
4 The word in the original Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya was 
(‘points to’). The word 
(‘shows’) as given here is a variation of the same with similar meanings. [Publisher]
5 In the Arabic abjad system each letter in the alphabet corresponds to a numerical value. Using this system, the value of ‘Ya Ghafur’ is 1,297. [Publisher]
6 And verily, a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of your reckoning (Surah al-Hajj, 22:48). [Publisher]
7 God Almighty has disclosed to me that, according to the Jumal [Abjad] system of enumeration, the numerical value of the letters constituting Surah al-‘Asr indicates the number of years that have passed since the beginning of Adam up to the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. In accordance with this blessed Surah, when calculated up to this age, the 7th millennium has now started. And, according to this calculation, my birth has taken place in the 6th millennium, for my age is almost sixty-eight years now. (Author)
8 See Hijajul-Kiramah compiled by Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan of Bhopal. (Author)
9 What is meant by it is that his family shall have Turkish blood in them. This prophecy finds fulfilment in our family—which is known as Mughals— because although the truth is, indeed what God said that this family is of Persian origin, it is certain and well known that many of our mothers and grandmothers are of Mughal lineage who are Chinese by origin; i.e. residents of China. (Author)
