Fazal Masood Malik and Farhan Khokhar, Canada
Eclipses of the sun and moon are celestial phenomena that have captured human attention across cultures and faiths. The 1894 eclipse season holds particular importance for Ahmadi Muslims due to its connection to religious prophecies and the claims of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi.
In 1894, a partial lunar eclipse occurred on the 13th day of the Islamic month of Ramadan, followed two weeks later by a solar eclipse on the 28th of Ramadan. This specific sequence aligned with prophecies attributed to the Prophet Muhammadsa about the coming of the Imam Mahdi and the Promised Messiah. According to these prophecies, the Mahdi’s advent was to be marked by a lunar eclipse at the start of Ramadan and a solar eclipse in the middle of the same month.
Fast forward to 2024, and a remarkable series of solar and lunar eclipses is set to take place over the course of the year. While these eclipses do not carry any specific prophetic significance in and of themselves, they hold importance for Ahmadi Muslims due to the parallels they draw with the pivotal 1894 events. Notably, the March 25th penumbral lunar eclipse in 2024 occurs on the 15th of Ramadan, while the April 8th total solar eclipse falls on the 29th of Ramadan – remarkably close to the 13th and 28th dates of the 1894 eclipses.
Among the notable 2024 eclipses, the total solar eclipse on April 8th will be visible across parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada – regions with significant Ahmadi Muslim populations. Later in the year, on October 2nd, an annular solar eclipse will traverse the Pacific Ocean and parts of South America, including Chile.
For Ahmadi Muslims, these 2024 eclipses serve as reminders of the celestial signs that heralded the advent of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas and the spiritual renaissance he ushered in. They provide an opportunity to reflect on the continued relevance and validity of his claimed status as the Promised Messiahas, as well as the global spread of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community since its inception in 19th-century British India.
While Ahmadi Islamic teachings acknowledge eclipses as natural astronomical phenomena governed by physical laws established by God, they also allow for the possibility of these events carrying deeper metaphysical meanings and symbolic significance, especially when aligning with religious prophecies or revelations.
Since the dawn of humanity, eclipses have captivated human observers across cultures, inspiring awe despite scientific explanations for their precise celestial mechanics. As relatively rare alignments of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, these events remind us of the universe’s grand scale. Eclipses unite humanity, however briefly, in witnessing the cosmos’s captivating choreography unfold before our eyes. The upcoming 2024 eclipses will continue this long tradition of cross-cultural observations through history’s epochs.