A missionary from Kerala, India, wrote to Hazrat Amirul Momineen, Khalifatul Masih Vaa that the Promised Messiahas, had stated that “after the death of Jesusas of Nazareth, Paul initiated the concept of the Trinity.” However, according to Ahmadiyya beliefs, Prophet Jesusas lived for 120 years and Paul the Apostle died before that. The individual sought guidance on this matter. In his letter, dated 31 January 2022, Huzoor-e-Anwaraa provided the following answer to this question:
“In your correspondence, you made reference to a statement by the Promised Messiahas, which is taken from Huzoor’sas work, Chashma-e-Masihi. This publication was composed by Huzooras in response to a letter received from a Muslim individual in Bareilly, who had cited certain objections raised against Islam in Yanabi‘ul Islam, a book by a Christian author [i.e., The Original Sources of the Quran by W. St. Clair Tisdall, 1905]. In Chashma-e-Masihi, Huzooras provided a counter-response to the objections cited in that letter while drawing on the very beliefs of Christians and research conducted by non-Muslim scholars of Europe and America [on the subject]. Through this, he highlighted the reality of the corrupted teachings of Christianity. In this context, Huzooras also stated that, as per Judeo-Christian traditions:
“‘As long as Jesusas lived, Paul was his sworn enemy, and, according to Jewish chronicles, he only turned to Christianity after Jesus’ death because he had some selfish desires which the Jews did not fulfil. Therefore, in order to avenge himself, he became a Christian and pretended that Jesusas had appeared to him in a vision. He first sowed this unholy plant in Damascus, and this is the place where ‘Pauline Trinity’ was born.’ (Chashma-e-Masihi, Ruhani Khazain, Vol. 20, pp. 76-377)
“According to the words of Huzooras i.e., ‘according to Jewish chronicles’, it is evident that the death of Jesusas here refers to his death according to the Judeo-Christian traditions, according to which it happened when he was crucified. However, according to our belief, Allah saved His pious prophet from the cross to spare him from the cursed death described in the Bible [Deuteronomy 21:23]. Subsequently, he migrated to Kashmir in search of his remaining ten tribes, where he preached to his followers under the name ‘Prophet Yuz Asaf’. He passed away at the age of 120 and was laid to rest in Mohalla Khanyar, Kashmir, India, where his grave still exists. With regard to Paul’s case, while elucidating it, the Promised Messiahas writes in his other work, Kashti-e-Nuh:
“‘When the edict of disbelief was issued against Jesus, peace be upon him, Paul was also from the party that rejected him. Later, however, he promoted himself as an apostle of the Messiah. During the lifetime of the Messiah, this man was a strident opponent. Not one of the Gospels, which is attributed to the Messiah, prophesies that after him Paul will repent and become an apostle. There is little need to write about Paul’s character before his conversion, for the Christians are well acquainted with it. It is lamentable that for as long as the Messiah remained in his homeland, Paul caused him great grief. Yet after his deliverance from the cross, when the Messiah migrated to Kashmir, the same person entered himself amongst his disciples on the pretext of a fabricated dream, invented the doctrine of the Trinity, declared the flesh of swine to be lawful even though it was strictly forbidden in the Torah, and also made the consumption of wine a common practice. He entered the concept of the Trinity into the doctrine of the Gospel so that all these innovations would ingratiate the idol-worshippers of Greece.’ (Kashti-e-Nuh, Ruhani Khazain, Vol. 19, p. 65, footnote)
“Therefore, the specific reference to the death of Jesusas in the book Chashma-e-Masihi pertains to his death in accordance with Judeo-Christian traditions, according to which it occurred when he was crucified, not according to our belief.”