The Ahmadiyya Muslim community, a worldwide Movement in Islam, was founded in 1889 at Qadian, India. Its Founder, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, claimed to be the Promised Reformer whose advent was awaited under different names and titles by the adherents of various religions. The Hindus awaited Krishna; the Christians awaited the Messiah; the Buddhists awaited the Buddha and the Muslims awaited the Mahdi as well as the Messiah.
Under divine guidance, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad made the revolutionary disclosure that there was to appear only one such Reformer representing all these Promised Ones, whose mission was to ultimately bring mankind into the fold of one universal religion. He also maintained that the Promised Reformer was to appear, not in an independent capacity, but as a subordinate to the Holy Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. He believed Islam to be the final and complete code of life for all mankind and hence his claim that the awaited Reformer had to appear in Islam as a subordinate prophet to Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa, peace be upon him. His advent, he declared, would finally usher a golden era of one universal religion which for ages man had dreamt of and yearned for.
In 1889, he was commissioned by Allah to lay the foundation of a community which would pursue the goals and objectives of his advent. And hence on the 23rd of March, 1889, by accepting the Oath of Allegiance, he formally initiated the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at Ludhiana, a small town in Punjab, India.
On partition of India, the Headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were shifted to Pakistan where the Community built a small town, Rabwah, to be used as its Headquarters.
More than a century has lapsed since Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be an apostle sent by Allah Almighty. Ironically, since the initiation of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, there have been many hostile movements launched against the Community. The most well known among these are the anti Ahmadiyya movements of 1953, 1974 and 1984. The 1984 movement, however, was launched with the full support of General Ziaul Haq's Military Junta in Pakistan which promulgated an Ordinance restricting the basic and fundamental human rights of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan. As a result of this ordinance thousands of Ahmadi Muslims have been subjected to the most terrible persecution which varies from imprisonment to physical torture and also genocide. Yet despite intense controversy and excessive hostility, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has continued to make rapid progress in all parts of the world and it continues to march forward as the true Voice of Islam and although it has had to make immense sacrifices, every hostile movement against the community has been frustrated by the grace of Allah.
In fact, as a result of the hostilities, Ahmadi Muslims have reacted with immense resolve and a spirit of rejuvenation which has increased the Community's pace of progress many times over.
This selection from the writings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the promised Messiah and Mahdi, peace be on him, was made by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IV, may Allah have mercy on him, the Supreme Head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from 1982 to 2003.
This selection covers the following important subjects:
1. Allah the Exalted
2. The Divine Appearance
3. God's Treatment of People Loyal to Him
4. The Holy Prophet
5. The Holy Quran
6. The Mission of the Promised Messiah
7. The Objective of Founding the Community
8. Admonitions
9. Thinking Ill of Others
10. Our Tenets
11. Angels
12. Revelation
13. The Soul
14. Life After Death
15. Sin
16. Salvation
17. Prayers
18. Jihad
19. Kindness Unto Mankind
20. The True Nature of Gog and Magog
21. Season of Light
22. World Religions
23. The Future of Ahmadiyyat
24. Ultimate Victory
This selection from the Writings of the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, was a part of the program commemorating the Centenary Celebrations of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. It contains a few selected passages from his writings and these should shed some light on the various aspects of the Community's beliefs and philosophy.
We hope that the reader would find this study, through a miniature window to more than 80 books written by the Promised Messiah, not only informative but also illuminating and inspiring. For more information please visit www.alislam.org
Naseer Ahmad Qamar
Additional Wakil ul Isha'at London
December 2011