Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Mirza Ghulām Ahmad was an Indian religious figure and founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. He claimed to be the Mujaddid (divine reformer) of the 14th Islamic century, the Promised Messiah (“Second Coming of Christ”), the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the latter-days, and a “subordinate prophet”, with some qualifications. He declared that Jesus (Isa) had in fact survived the crucifixion and later died a natural death, after having migrated towards Srinagar, Kashmir in India and claimed that he had appeared in the spirit and power of Jesus. His claims, teachings, writings, prophecies and religious activities caused grave concern particularly in the Christian and Muslim religious circles.

He traveled extensively across the subcontinent of India preaching his new religious ideas and ideals and won a sizable following. He is known to have engaged in numerous debates and dialogues with the Muslim, Christian and Hindu priesthood and leadership. Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya movement in 1889. The mission of the movement, according to him, was the propagation of Islam in its pristine form.

Ghulam Ahmad authored around 80 books on various religious, spiritual and theological issues. Many of his books bear a polemic and vindicatory tone. He promoted the peaceful propagation of Islam and emphatically argued against the necessity of Jihad in its form of physical fighting in the present age.