The fathomless treasures of Islam that flowed almost a century ago from the prolific pen of the Promised Messiah(as) is an abiding source of knowledge, which will serve for centuries to come as a lighthouse of guidance to those who seek the eternal truth and fundamental principles of progress in this and the world hereafter.
The pattern of the books reveals the powerful and dynamic personality of the Promised Messiah(as), who used his books as bullets and spears in defence of Islam.
It will not be strange if a reader finds in his book an essay, a formal discourse, or a dissertation, a qasidah (eulogy) of high literary merit in Arabic in praise of his master and mentor, Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or an insertion of his latest prophecy revealed to him either during the writing, or a little earlier, or an Ishtihar (leaflet) announcing a handsome prize to an adversary, or a challenger, who could match his literary merit, or compare with him in the knowledge of Arabic.
The digressions made during the course of a book are all cogently accounted for. Reasons are given and a case is convincingly made out.
The treasures that flowed from the pen and lips of the Promised Messiah(as) have all been well preserved and documented. These valuable treasures written and spoken word are grouped into three sections.
The written words have been published and collected in the form of books. Al-Shirkatul Islamiyyah, Rabwah, has painstakingly collected all the books and published them in a collection of twenty-three volumes, and in order to enable the reader to refer back to the original of Writings of the Promised Messiah(as), the reference to the original page numbers has been retained and quoted.
All posters, handbills and tracts that were published from time to time to meet a challenge or to counter a lie or rebut an allegation, have also been collected in three volumes under the title Majmu‘ah Ishtiharat (Collection of Flyers or Posters).
Contains 115 posters, leaflets and handbills, covering the period of 1878 to 1893.
Contains 65 posters, leaflets and handbills, covering the period of 1894 to 1897.
Contains 105 posters, leaflets and handbills, covering the period of 1898 to 1908.
All these volumes spread over 1, 556 pages, comprising 285 posters, leaflets and handbills.
Letters written by the Promised Messiah(as) from 1883 to 1908 to various personalities and some of these letters relate to the importance of the Khilafat and about the Companions of the Holy Prophet(sa) are collected in these volumes.
There are seven volumes of letters. The fifth volume comprises five parts. Details of these volumes are given as:
One hundred and sixteen pages, published in 1908, in Urdu. This comprises a collection of letters that the Promised Messiah(as) had written to Mir ‘Abbas ‘Ali Shah Ludhianvi from October 1882 to June 1885.
Ninety pages, published in Lahore in 1912, in Urdu. This comprises a collection of letters written by the Promised Messiah(as) from 1878 to 1903 to various Hindus and the leaders of the Aryah Samaj, including Indarman Muradabadi, Pandit Dyanand, Pandit Lekh Ram, Bawa Shiv Nara’in and Ram Charan, in which the Promised Messiah(as) explained the truth of Islam and fixed a period of one year for anyone of them to come and stay with him in order to witness a Divine sign and he also drew a comparison of the teachings of the Holy Quran with the Vedas.
One hundred and twenty-two pages, published in Lahore in 1914, in Urdu, is a collection of letters written by the Promised Messiah(as) from 1884 to 1903 to Christian missionaries, including Alexander Dowie. He asked the Christian missionaries to produce a comparable observation about Jesus as the one made about the Holy Prophet(sa) by the King of Ethiopia in his time. He offered them a reward of Rs. 1,000 for it. The Promised Messiah(as) effectively answered all objections raised by Christians about the Holy Prophet(sa) and established the truth of the Holy Prophet(sa) with cogent arguments.
Forty pages, published in Qadian, in Urdu, comprises a collection of the letters written by the Promised Messiah(as) to Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi, in which he marshalled arguments about his truth and adduced and enumerated signs which had taken place in his favour to establish his truth.
Fifty-six pages, published in 1918, in Urdu, is a collection of 96 letters written by the Promised Messiah(as) from 1892 to 1905 to Seth ‘Abdur Rehman of Madras.
One hundred and twenty-eight pages, published in Urdu, is a collection of 88 letters written by the Promised Messiah(as) from March 8, 1885 to August 26, 1892 to Hazrat Maulavi Hakim Nur-ud-Din. These letters are in his own hand and relate to the efficacy of prayers and specially those made at the eleventh hour. Mention has also been made of some of his revelations specially about the Promised Reformer and also contain suggestions about the printing of the magazines.
One hundred and seventy-six pages, published in 1929, in Amritsar, in Urdu, is a collection of 278 letters written from 1884 to 1902 to Ch. Rustam ‘Ali, in which he praised the financial assistance rendered by him and other matters.
One hundred and forty-four pages, published in 1935, in Amritsar, in Urdu, is a collection of 62 letters written from 1890 to 1906 to Nawab Muhammad ‘Ali Khan in which a number of different subjects have been discussed, including the importance of bai‘at, signs of the Promised Messiah, the method of Istikharah, unreasonable wavering of the people on the prophecy of ‘Abdullah Atham and the true significance of Khatm-e-Nubuwwat.
Thirty-two pages, published on June 10, 1944, in Hyderabad Deccan, in Urdu, is a collection of 270 letters addressed to Munshi Ahmad Jan Ludhianvi, and other friends in Kapurthala, Hazrat Nawab Muhammad ‘Ali Khan of Jhajjar, Munshi Habibur Rehman, Munshi Dafar Ahmad, Khan Sahib ‘Abdul Majid and Maulavi ‘Abdullah Sanauri, and some other letters written in his own hand.
It is a collection of 23 letters written by the Promised Messiah(as) to Hazrat Maulavi Hakim Nur-ud-Din and a number of different non Ahmdi scholars. This collection was edited by Sheikh Ya‘qub ‘Ali Khan ‘Irfani.
This collection was compiled in 1954 by Malik Salah-ud-Din, M.A. This has 51 letters, 36 of them were addressed to Nawab Muhammad ‘Ali Khan of Maler Kotla between 1892 to April 1908, and some others addressed to a number of different personalities including Bhai ‘Abdur Rahman Sahib Qadiani and Muhammad Ibrahim Khan (Sindh).
Note: Nazarat Isha‘at has combined all the above letters (and some more letters which could not be included in the seven volumes) into three volumes and published them in 2008.
This is a set of ten volumes also published by Al-Shirkatul Islamiyyah under the title of Divine Treasures — Series II and known as Malfuzat. These are based on observations made by the Promised Messiah(as) in various sessions—now generally known as “Majlis-e-‘Irfan.”
The particulars of the volumes published under the title of Malfuzat are given below:
Published in Rabwah, August 1960, in Urdu, 464 pages, covering the period 1891 to 1899.
Published in Rabwah, 1960, in Urdu, covering the period from 1900 to 1901.
Published in Rabwah, 1961, in Urdu, covering the period from November 1901 to October 14, 1902.
Published in July 1962, in Urdu, 464 pages, covering the period from October 1902 to January 16, 1903.
Published in Rabwah, October 1963, in Urdu, 464 pages, covering the period from January 17 to May 30, 1903.
Published in Rabwah, 1963, in Urdu, 464 pages, covering the period from June 1, 1903 to April 1904.
Published in Rabwah, November 1964, in Urdu, 464 pages, covering the period from May 2, 1904 to August, 1905.
Published in Rabwah, June 1969, in Urdu, covering the period from September 1, 1905 to May 30, 1906.
Published in Rabwah, January 1907, in Urdu, covering the period from June 1906 to October 1907.
Published in Rabwah, in Urdu, 464 pages, covering the period from October 1907 up to the time of his demise in May 1908.
[Note: The new set of Malfuzat is now compressed into five volumes.]
In addition to the spoken words, which are mainly based on the observations made by the Promised Messiah(as) whenever he spent time with his Companions after prayers or similar other gatherings, some collections have also been published based on the speeches delivered by him on various occasions.
All the revelations of the Promised Messiah(as) have been collected in a separate volume published under the title of Tadhkirah by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad(ra), Qamarul-Anbia’. Tadhkirah was updated and published by Hazrat Maulana Jalal-ud-Din Shams(ra) in 1965 and then its new edition was prepared and published by Syed Abdul-Hayee Shah in 2004 with some additions. All editions were published under the guidance and permission of the Khalifa of the time. So far six editions have been published of Tadhkirah. This has been translated into English by Hazrat Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, published in 1976 by the London Mosque. This was revised and published as the second edition in 2009 under the guidance of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V(aba).