Sabz Ishtihar

The Green Announcement

Background

After publishing Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Hazrat Ahmad(as) was keen to demonstrate and vindicate the truth, excellence and the beauty of Islam by heavenly signs. Therefore, in obedience to Divine Command, he went to Hushiarpur and there he spent forty days, just like Moses who went to the Mount Sinai for forty nights. Hazrat Ahmad(as) spent this time in what is commonly known as chillah. At the end of the chillah, he issued a special leaflet announcing the wonderful sign of a Promised Son. This leaflet, issued on February 20, 1886, and published as a part of a supplement, says:

Rejoice, therefore, that a handsome and pure boy will be bestowed on you; you will receive an unblemished youth who will be of your seed and will be of your progeny.

A handsome and pure boy is coming as your guest. His name is Emmanuel and also Bashir. He has been invested with a spirit of holiness, and he is free from all impurity. He is the light of Allah. Blessed is he who comes from heaven.

He will be accompanied by grace which shall arrive with him. He will be characterised with grandeur, greatness and wealth. He will come into the world and will heal many of their disorders through his Messianic qualities and through the blessings of the spirit of holiness. He is the Word of Allah for Allah’s mercy and honour have equipped him with the Word of Majesty. He will be extremely intelligent and perceptive and will be meek of heart and will be filled with secular and spiritual knowledge. He will convert three into four (of this the meaning is not clear). It is Monday a blessed Monday.1

It happened that Bashir I, who was born on August 7, 1887, led to the receipt of hundreds of letters by Hazrat Ahmad(as), who was asked whether he was the Promised Son. Hazrat Ahmad(as) replied by saying that he had received no clear indication and could not say that it was the Promised Son. However, when Bashir I died on November 4, 1888, at the age of sixteen months, the enemies of Islam raised a commotion in order to decry Hazrat Ahmad(as) by saying that the boy who died was the one who should have lived to become the Promised Reformer. For a time, Hazrat Ahmad(as) remained silent but when he saw that the enemies of Islam were deceiving the public, he issued a detailed reply in the form of a leaflet2 in December, 1888. This is known as Sabz Ishtihar (Green Announcement) because it was printed on green paper.

The Book

Hazrat Ahmad(as) pointed out that he had never declared that Bashir I was the son for whose birth the period of nine years was fixed. Bashir I was born in fulfilment of a separate prophecy contained in the leaflet which was published on April 18, 1886. There was certainly no revelation which declared that Bashir I was the Promised Reformer. Even if Hazrat Ahmad(as) had looked upon him as such, it could detract nothing from the value of the prophecy. His own conjecture could not be faultless. A prophet’s own interpretation sometimes may not be correct. It has always been the case with the prophets of God, but the Word of God cannot err. In this case, however, Hazrat Ahmad(as) had never put any definite interpretation on the prophecy, so there could be no mistake about it. As a matter of fact, the death of Bashir I was also in fulfilment of a portion of the original prophecy made on February 20, 1886, which runs as follows:

I shall multiply thee exceedingly and shall bless thy children. But some of them will die in their infancy.

Bashir I died in infancy and thus this part of the prophecy was fulfilled. So Hazrat Ahmad(as) stressed the importance of his mission and explained that the object of his prophecies was to demonstrate that Islam was a living religion. Honest seekers after truth were satisfied but those who were bent upon finding faults were not. Such perverted people always grovel in darkness and doubts.

Hazrat Ahmad(as) reiterates in the Green Announcement that the Promised Reformer called Bashir II would surely be born within the period fixed for his birth and said that his name would be Mahmud; and on the basis of his revelation, he also called him Fadl and Fadl-e-‘Umar.

On Saturday, January 12, 1889 (9 Jamadi Awal, 1306 A.H.), the Promised Son was born, who was given the name of Mahmud, and his birth was made known the same day by means of a leaflet. It was also written therein that he had not yet been informed as to whether this boy was the one who was to be the Promised Reformer. Later on, however, Hazrat Ahmad(as) definitely declared in his book3 that he was the Promised Son. Under Divine instructions, the son himself later claimed that he was the “Promised One.”