In this third year of Al Hakam, we will present a selection of incidents from the blessed life of the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, this time, with some more details
27 November 1891: The Promised Messiahas wrote a lengthy letter to Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Nuruddinra in which he said that he had indented to travel to Amritsar, Kapurthala and Sialkot, but was unable due to his health. Huzooras further mentioned the growing opposition of Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi and proceeded to shed light on matters related to the world and religion. (Maktubat-e-Ahmad, Vol. 2, p. 129)
27 November 1902: In November 1902, a debate was held between Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi of the Ahl-e-Hadith and Maulvi Abdullah Chakrhalvi of the Ahl-e-Quran. Maulvi Abdullah, of district Mianwali, called himself a protagonist of the Ahl-e-Quran and did not believe in the supremacy of hadith, whereas Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi deemed hadith to be the arbiter on the teachings of the Holy Quran. Both clerics held opposite views.
The Promised Messiah’sas advent was precisely for the purpose of demolishing such differences. Thus, the Promised Messiahas wrote a book on this day, Review bar Mubahisa Batalvi wa Chakrhalvi (A Review of the Debate Between Batalavi and Chakrhalavi) reviewing the positions taken up by the contending parties. The Promised Messiahas wrote very lucidly and clearly on the subject. He indicated that as Muslims, we have three clear directions (in order of significance): the Holy Quran, sunnah and hadith.
28 November 1885: The people of the Indian subcontinent experienced a rare show of meteor showers at night. The Promised Messiahas termed this a divine sign shown in his favour. Huzooras said, “On the night of 28 November 1885 … there was such a display of meteor showers in the sky, the like of which I have not witnessed before in my life and so many thousands of flames were traversing the atmosphere in the skies that there is no other spectacle in the world that I can cite to describe it. I recall that at that time, the following revelation was vouchsafed to me repeatedly:
وَمَا رَمَیْتَ اِذْ رَمَیْتَ وَلٰكِنَّ اللہَ رَمَى
“[And thou threwest not when thou didst throw, but it was Allah Who threw.]” (Tadhkirah, 2009, p. 166)
28 November 1889: The Promised Messiahas wrote a letter to Hazrat Munshi Rustam Alira in which he wrote that due to feeling ill and weak, he was unable to reply to the list of questions he had sent earlier. (Maktubat-e-Ahmad, Vol. 2, p. 569)
28 November 1893: The Promised Messiahas was in Firozpur. It is reported that he stayed in this city for 25 days. On this day, the Promised Messiahas wrote to Hazrat Munshi Rustam Alira in which he stated that he was currently in Firozpur Cantt, a town in India. Huzooras further said that he intended to return to Qadian on the coming Sunday. (Maktubat-e-Ahmad, Vol. 2, p. 596)
30 November 1898: The Promised Messiah’sas book, Raz-e-Haqiqat, was published on this day at Zia-ul-Islam Press, Qadian. Alongside dealing with other subjects in this book, he wrote his research about the escape journey of Prophet Jesusas towards Kashmir after being put on the cross and leading to his death in Srinagar, along with a detailed map of the tomb of Jesus in Mohalla Khanyar on page 68 of the book.
Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi, a staunch opponent of the Promised Messiahas, in attempting to find faults in the Promised Messiah’s Arabic, stated that the usage of the “lam” in the revelation of the Promised Messiahas:
اتعجب لامری
[Do you wonder at My command?] was wrong and therefore, he concluded, that the revelation was not from God. In response to this, the Promised Messiahas provided five instances from the Ahadith in which “lam” was used in a similar way and thus exposed Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi’s flawed knowledge in hadith.
30 November 1901: An amin ceremony (a gathering to mark the first complete recitation of the Holy Quran by a child) was held in Qadian on this day. The following three children of the Promised Messiahas completed the recitation of the Holy Quran for the first time: Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad, Hazrat Mirza Sharif Ahmad and Hazrat Nawab Mubaraka Begum, may Allah be pleased with them all. (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. 2, p. 194)
December 1885: During this month, a series of correspondence between the Promised Messiahas and Pandit Lekhram took place. The letters have been recorded in the Promised Messiah’sas book, Siraj-e-Munir (Ruhani Khazain Vol. 12, pp. 113-115).
1 December 1888: The Promised Messiah’sas book, Sabz Ishtihar (The Green Announcement), was published on this day at Riaz-e-Hind Press, Amritsar. Its full title was Haqani Taqrir bar Waqiah Wafat-e-Bashir and it was printed on green pages. It contained the news of the sad demise of his son Bashir Awal (the first). This announcement also provides us with another clear sign of Hazrat Ahmad’sas truth; he announced that he was commanded by God Almighty to accept Bai‘ats (pledges of initiation).
Moreover, on this day, the Promised Messiahas published an announcement entitled Tabligh, in which he said:
“Another message that I wish to convey to the people at large, and to my Muslim brothers in particular, is that I have been commanded to receive an oath of allegiance (Bai‘at) from seekers of truth who wish to acquire true faith and purity and yearn to find the path to Allah’s love and want to give up their foul, slothful and false existence. Whosoever finds in themselves the willingness to do this must come to me. I will be their comforter and will do my best to ease their burden. God will bless them through my prayers and my attention, provided they are ready with heart and soul to abide by His conditions. This is a divine command, which I have hereby conveyed. The actual words of the revelation in Arabic are as follows:
إِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللّٰهِ۔ وَاصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا وَوَحْيِنَا۔ إِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ يُبَايِعُوْنَكَ إِنَّمَا يُبَايِعُوْنَ اللّٰهَ يَدُ اللّٰهِ فَوْقَ أَيْدِيْهِمْ
[When thou hast determined a matter, then trust in Allah and build the Ark under Our eyes and according to Our instructions. Those who perform your Bai‘at actually perform the Bai‘at of Allah; Allah’s hand is above their hands.]
“Peace be on him who follows the guidance. Ghulam Ahmad. 1 December 1888” (Majmua-e-Ishtiharat, Vol. 1, p. 205)
1 December 1902: The Promised Messiahas went to the rooftop of Masjid Mubarak in Qadian to see the new moon of Ramadan before offering the Maghrib prayer. The Promised Messiahas went on to explain the philosophy behind Ramadan and alluding to his health and age, stated that earlier, he could easily, without fatigue, travel to and from Batala by foot. Now, Huzooras said, simply walking 5-6 miles caused him fatigue. (Malfuzat [Urdu], Vol. 2, pp. 561-562)
2 December 1885: Hazrat Maulvi Abdullah Sanaurira, upon witnessing the display of meteor showers in the sky, wrote to the Promised Messiahas. On this day, the Promised Messiahas replied to the letter and wrote, “In my view, [these signs] are pointing towards the propagation of guidance [Islam]. Wallahu A‘lam [But Allah knows best]”. (Maktubat-e-Ahmad, Vol. 3, p. 196)
2 December 1907: A religious conference was held by the Arya Samaj Movement in Wachowali Bazar, Lahore, which continued for the next three days. The Promised Messiah’sas article was read on 3 December 1907 and despite the pleadings of maulvis that people should not go to listen to this address, there were scores of listeners. The Promised Messiahas started writing the lecture on 8 November 1907 and completed a 69-page long dissertation on the subject on this day. Hazrat Maulvi Hakim Nuruddinra was selected to read the speech as Hazrat Maulavi Abdul Karim Sialkotira – who would usually read out speeches and lectures of the Promised Messiahas – had passed away by that time. The Promised Messiahas also sent a delegation of Ahmadis to take part in the conference.
3 December 1894: On this day, the Promised Messiahas replied to a letter he received from Hazrat Munshi Rustam Alira. In the letter, the Promised Messiahas prayed for him and stated that he would be very pleased if Munshi Sahibra would be posted as a court inspector in Gurdaspur. Huzooras went on to say that the Jalsa days were soon approaching and trusted that Munshi Sahibra would be in attendance. Huzooras added that his attendance was necessary and that he should make arrangements in advance. (Maktubat-e-Ahmad, Vol. 2, p. 606)
3 December 1905: Hazrat Maulvi Burhanuddin Jhelmira passed away on this day. He was buried in Jhelum, India (now Pakistan). He was a great scholar of his time. His sudden death, as well as the death of Hazrat Maulvi Abdul Karim Sialkotira (which occurred earlier that year), concerned the Promised Messiahas about the future of his community with regard to their standard of knowledge. Thus, the idea of Jamia took shape soon after. (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. 2, p. 399)
3 December 1903: Less than a year old, the Promised Messiah’sas daughter, Amatul Naseer, passed away on this day. She was born on 28 January 1903. (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. 2, p. 273)