A Brief Sketch of My Lifefrom the bookKitab al-Bariyya by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad |
This is an English translation of a complete, self-contained
section from the book Kitab al-Bariyya. The translation of
the rest of Kitab al-Bariyya is available
here.
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Contents Heading: |
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| Title page and Publisher's Note | |||||
| 1. | Introduction | 1 | |||
| My brief biography and objects of my mission | 1 | ||||
| Purpose of biography | 2 | ||||
| 2. | Family history | 4 | |||
| Settlement in Qadian | 4 | ||||
| Great-grandfather’s time | 5 | ||||
| High, noble qualities of Mirza Gul Muhammad | 6 | ||||
| Teaches noble lesson on death-bed | 7 | ||||
| Time of grandfather | 7 | ||||
| Qadian captured by Sikhs | 8 | ||||
| Return to Qadian in father’s time | 9 | ||||
| 3. | Early life | 10 | |||
| Education | 11 | ||||
| Pursuit of father’s legal cases and farming work | 12 | ||||
| Short period in official service | 12 | ||||
| Return home | 13 | ||||
| Father’s death | 15 | ||||
| 4. | Spiritual experiences | 16 | |||
| Undertaking spiritual rigours | 18 | ||||
| Experience of visions | 18 | ||||
| Spiritual hardship was to come | 20 | ||||
| 5. | Divine appointment and claims | 21 | |||
| Appointed as Mujaddid of fourteenth century | 21 | ||||
| Acclaimed by Ulama | 22 | ||||
| Reaction to claim of being Promised Messiah | 22 | ||||
| My followers | 23 | ||||
| Expectation of Promised Messiah by Muslims | 24 | ||||
| Contradictions introduced into beliefs | 25 | ||||
| True interpretation of prophecy | 26 | ||||
| Messiah, not king in literal sense | 28 | ||||
| Opponents resort to false accusations | 30 | ||||
| Messiah to come at time of havoc caused by Christians | 30 | ||||
| No prophet after Holy Prophet Muhammad | 31 | ||||
| 6. | Death and spiritual ascension of Jesus | 33 | |||
| Death of Jesus | 33 | ||||
| Sound Islamic authorities uphold death of Jesus | 33 | ||||
| Belief that Jesus is alive contradicts the Quran | 35 | ||||
| Meaning of raf‘ | 38 | ||||
| Which issue was the Quran settling? | 38 | ||||
| Jews’ attempt to prove Jesus accursed | 39 | ||||
| Christians also declared Jesus ‘accursed’ | 40 | ||||
| Quran removes allegation of curse from Jesus and teaches his spiritual ascension | 42 | ||||
| Bodily ascension was not the issue | 43 | ||||
| Raf‘ of prophets and believers | 45 | ||||
| Jesus cannot return if dead | 46 | ||||
| 7. | Prophecy about Dajjal | 47 | |||
| Ulama’s beliefs disillusion rational thinkers | 47 | ||||
| Meaning of Dajjal | 49 | ||||
| Religious leaders and scientists of Europe fulfill signs of Dajjal | 50 | ||||
| Man’s control leading to denial of God’s power | 51 | ||||
| Other nations revere Europe because of scientific advances | 53 | ||||
| 8. | Proof of claim of being the Promised Messiah | 56 | |||
| Likeness to the time of Jesus | 57 | ||||
| Place of coming of Messiah and Mahdi | 58 | ||||
| 9. | Breaking of the Cross | 60 | |||
| Smashing of Christian belief of crucifixion | 60 | ||||
| Jesus’ ascension — spiritual, not bodily | 60 | ||||
| No proof of Jesus’ bodily ascension | 64 | ||||
| How could the curse be for only three days? | 65 | ||||
| My Divinely-ordained mission | 67 | ||||
| 10. | More proof of claim | 69 | |||
| Revival and strengthening of faith in God | 69 | ||||
| Criteria for the truth of a claimant | 70 | ||||
| Mujaddid of the fourteenth century Hijra | 72 | ||||
| How will the cross be broken? | 74 | ||||
| Meaning of ‘shining forehead’ and ‘lofty nose’ | 76 | ||||
| Bringing down faith from the Pleiades | 77 | ||||
| Revelations | 78 | ||||
| Triumph by spiritual, not physical, weapons | 80 | ||||
| Author’s footnote to page 66 | 83 | ||||
| Index | 86 | ||||
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