It is well known that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at (Community) for the Regeneration of Islam in this age was founded by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi (as). When Hazrat Ahmad died in May 1908, the Community elected Hazrat Hakeem Maulawi Noor-ud-Deen who, accordingly, became the First Khalifa of the Promised Messiah (as). Dissensions, however, began to raise their head, so that when Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih I (ra) died in March 1914, and the Jama‘at elected Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Deen Mahmood Ahmad as the Second Khalifa and Successor of the Promised Messiah (as), a party of Ahmadis headed by Khwaja Kamaluddin of the Woking Mission, and Maulawi Muhammad Ali of Lahore, seceded from the main body of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at. They not only denied Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih II (ra), but rejected now the very idea and institution of Khilafat. Maulawi Muhammad Ali withdrew from Qadian and settled in Lahore as President of the new Anjuman Isha‘at-e-Islam. The party has since come to be known as the Lahore Group of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Ahmadiyya Anjuman-e-Isha‘at-e-Islam and Ahl-e-Paigham.
A few years later, Maulawi Muhammad Ali wrote an account of these dissensions in English and had it published in parts of the world where Ahmadiyyat had just begun to be known. This he called The Split or Ahmadiyya Movement Part IV. To enlighten Ahmadis in distant parts of the world, where the very misleading account contained in The Split had appeared, as well as to guide those who had become disheartened by Ahmadiyya dissensions, a true account of these dissensions seemed called for. The Amirul Mu’minin, Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Deen Mahmood Ahmad, Khalifatul-Masih II (ra), accordingly, wrote a full reply to The Split. This was in Urdu and was called A’ina’-e-Sadaqat (lit. The Mirror of Truth). A much needed English version of it was produced in 1924, under the title The Truth About the Split. It proved very helpful in spreading a true account of the events which led to the Ahmadiyya dissensions.
The first English version appeared in 1924 under the auspices of the Nazarat Da‘wat-o-Tabligh (Department of Preaching and Propagation), Qadian.
It was followed by two more editions under the auspices of Tahrik-e-Jadid. The present edition is being published by Islam International Publications Ltd., London in a new format.
Munir-ud-Din Shams
Additional Wakilut-Tasnif,
London,
October 2007