After reciting the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter Al Fatiha of the Holy Quran, Imam Zafrullah Domun said:

Even a cursory look at the history of mankind and especially at the history of religion will lead an independent observer to conclude that whenever someone has said that he receives revelations from God Almighty that he is mocked and rejected by his own people in the beginning. Whether we read the available history of Hazrat  Moosa^as or Hazrat Isa^as or even that of the greatest of prophets Hazrat Mohammad^saw one will see that the same treatment was reserved for all of them. And according to the Holy Quran we understand that all those who said they were messengers or prophets met with the same fate. Allah says:

 Yaa hasratan alal ebaad maa yaatihim mir rasoulin ill kaanou behi yastahzeoune.The translation is “Alas for My Servants there comes not a Messenger to them but they mock at him” (36:31). This verse is from chapter Ya sin of which the holy prophet saw has said that it is the heart of the Holy Quran. In other words the message of this chapter is the essence of the Holy Quran and that is why it is recommended to read this chapter often in order to be imbibed with its meanings. But Alas how many just read the words but fails to get any understanding at all. I know some persons who read this chapter every day but they do not understand much about its purport. If this is the case most probably it is because people do not take the time to try to understand and they content themselves just with the recitation of the words. We members of the Ahmadiyya Community especially those of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen we have learnt not to content ourselves with just words. We have been taught by the founder of our community to delve into the deep meanings of the Holy Quran in order to get to its essential meanings. Therefore our understanding of the Holy Quran is quite different from that of others.

Through the understanding of the Holy Quran that he received from Allah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as said that Allah has made him a messenger and prophet subordinate to the Holy Prophet Mohammad ^saw. He further said that contrary to the majority opinion of Muslims, Hazrat Isa^as is dead and in heavens and will never to return back to earth. The majority of Muslims believe that the same Hazrat Isa^as who was sent to the Jews about two thousand years ago would return back to earth in the latter days because according to them he had not died and was raised bodily to heaven. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ^as has proved convincingly with verses of the Holy Quran that the prophet Isa mentioned in the Holy Quran died a natural death and is buried in Kashmir, near India. But because of these beliefs and because of his saying that the Muslim’s concept of Jihad is wrong he was declared to be an infidel and an apostate by about 200 ulemas throughout India and Afganistan. Despite all the difficulties that he and his followers had to face the movement that he initiated gathered momentum and spread throughout India and the outside world. Hence the ideas put forward by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ^as were so convincing that many people around the world started accepting them and joined his Jamaat.

Meanwhile those who were bent upon uprooting the Ahmadis tried their best to create so many difficulties for them by trying to declare them non-Muslims in Pakistan and in other Muslim Countries around the world. Establishing Jamaat Ahmadiyya in countries outside India was an uphill task and it would never have been possible without the sacrifice and selfless devotion of the pioneering missionaries who were sent to the various countries around the world. Unfortunately the story of the sacrifices of these great sons of Ahmadiyyat have still not yet been told in English language and many Ahmadis are unaware of the extent of the sacrifices that they made to plant the tree of Ahmadiyyat  outside India. It is a fascinating story which needs to be told. But we will leave that for the time being.

In the books of hadiths there are plenty of sayings about the coming of Isa in the Umma of the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw. I will quote the following two from the book of  Bukhari.  The Holy Prophet ^saw is reported to have said:

"By the One who owns my soul, it is nigh, of a certainty, that the son of Mary will appear among you. He will be a judge, he will be just; so he will break the cross and he will stop war." (Bukhari, Vol. 1, Babo Nozooli Isa)and

"What will be your condition when the son of Mary will descend among you and he will be your Imam from among yourselves."(Bukhari, Kitabul Anbiya, Bab Nazool Isa)

These two hadiths make it crystal clear that the one who will come as Isa will be from amongst the Muslims and not from amongst the Jews of yore. Furthermore such a person will establish peace and justice on earth and by solving the differences amongst the Muslims and by showing the relevance and superiority of the message of Islam compared to Christianity, Judaism or any other system of beliefs. But unfortunately the majority of Muslims specially those who living in Asia preferred to think that the Isa who was sent to the Jews ascended boldily to heavens and will come back in the latter days to lead an army together with the awaited Mahdi to kill all non believers. It is such an ideology that has given birth to al Qaida and the Taliban and the world knows what havoc they have been wrecking on the world. But being the Judge sent by Allah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ^as warned the Muslims about 110 years ago in the introduction to his book “Jesus in India” written in 1899. He said:

“I have written this book, so that, by adducing proofs from established facts, from conclusive historical evidence of proved value and from ancient documents of non-Muslims, I might remove the serious misconceptions which are current among Muslims and among most Christian sects regarding the earlier and the later life of Jesus (on whom be peace) - misconceptions, the dangerous implications of which have not only injured and destroyed the conception of Divine Unity, but the unwholesome and poisonous influence of which has for long been noticed in the morals of the Muslims of this country. Spiritual maladies, i.e., want of good morals, evil thoughts, callousness, want of sympathy, are spreading among most Islamic sects, being the result of beliefs in unfounded stories and anecdotes of this kind. Human sympathy, pity and love of justice, humility and humble-mindedness - all good qualities - are disappearing day by day, as if they will soon bid a last farewell to this community. This callousness and this immorality make many a Muslim appear no better than the beasts of the jungle. A Jain or a Buddhist is afraid of and avoids killing even a mosquito or a flea, but, alas! there are many among us Muslims who, while they kill an innocent man or commit wanton murder, are not afraid of the powerful God, who rates human life higher than that of all the animals. What is this callousness and cruelty and want of sympathy due to? It is due to this - that from their very childhood, stories and anecdotes and wrong views of the doctrine of Jihad are dinned into their ears and inculcated into their hearts, the result being that gradually they become morally dead and cease to feel the heinousness of their hateful actions; nay, rather, the man who murders another man unawares and thus brings ruin to the murdered man's family thinks that he has done a meritorious deed; or rather, that he has made the most of an opportunity to win favour with his community. As no lectures or sermons are delivered in our country to stop such evils - and if there are any such lectures they have an element of hypocrisy in them - the common people think approvingly of such misdeeds. Accordingly, taking pity upon my own people, I have compiled several books in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, in which I have stated that the popular view of Jihad prevalent among Muslims, that is, the expectation of a bloody Imam, full of spite and hostility for other people, is a texture of false beliefs inculcated by shortsighted Ulema; otherwise, Islam does not allow the use of the sword for the Faith; except in the case of defensive wars, or in the case of wars waged to punish a tyrant or to uphold freedom. The need of a defensive war arises when the aggression of an adversary threatens one's own life. These are the three kinds of Jihad permitted by the Shariat, and, apart from these three kinds, there is no other kind of war which is permitted by Islam for the propagation of the Faith.”

We do not have the exact figures of the wanton killing of people which is a direct product of these beliefs but from what I have read one can have an idea what kind of callousness is being exhibited these days by those who kill in the name of Islam. In Iraq and Pakistan most of these killings are against fellow Muslims. According to some counts there have been at least 1000 terrorist acts perpetrated by Muslims per year since 2001. The number of victims runs in thousands. All these reflect really badly on Muslims. Today almost all major Muslim countries and also major developed countries have to fear and beware of Muslim Terrorism which is being perpetrated as a pious act. But re-read the extract above and any peace loving Muslim can easily understand how far sighted and divinely inspired were these words. But those who have perverted the teachings of Islam and misunderstand its meanings always try to present good Muslims as disbelievers.

With his god-given wisdom Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has spelt out quite clearly under what circumstance Jihad is justified in Islam. It is incumbent upon Muslims to fight tyrants or to defend their motherland and to uphold freedom. Fanatically trying to kill al Non-Muslims is an idea that is obnoxious to Islam. Yes we are allowed to propagate our faith but this should be done by peaceful means. Under no circumstance should we do anything to disturb peace of the land but we should not also refrain from spreading what we think to be true. Others also should enjoy the same freedom. We should aim at winning hearts and soul through cogent arguments and not through bayonets. When we say that Islam is a peaceful religion we should show through our own example how far we are ready to go to prove that it spreads peace and not war. Unfortunately these days due to the bad publicity that is being given to suicide bombings and its consequent trail of misery we hear more and more that Muslims are spreading more violence than peace. No one can deny that in Palestine, Chechen and even in Iraq Muslims rights have been trampled upon. But can this justify the fact that Muslims should perpetrate acts of violence against one another as is the case in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and some other places.

Many Muslims these days are dreaming about the coming of an Islamic caliphate that they think will solve all the problems of Muslims around the world. But such ideas only help the ignorant masses not to improve themselves and wait for a golden past to resurface. But whatever happened in the past can happen again if all Muslims learn to bury their differences and treat one another on an equal footing. Unfortunately this is not the case these days and it does not appear to be the case in the near future also. Rich Muslim countries are increasing their stockpiles of arms instead of helping to improve the lot of poor Muslims of the umma. We need to understand that progress will come when we are ready to make the necessary sacrifices for it to happen. There are some beliefs that are constraining the takeoff of the Muslim Umma. There is a need to identify these constraints and come up with a plane to address them. Without which there will be nothing to stop the downward slide that the Muslim countries have taken throughout the world. May Allah help all Muslim leaders to understand what should be done to really help Islam these days. There is a need for open-mindedness and fair play and the acceptance of others right to have a place of their own in the universe.