Contradictions in the Popular Beliefs — Essence of Islam Vol. 3

14 Sep, 2026 Essence of Islam 0

Essence of Islam Book Cover by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS)

Introduction

In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 3), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon Contradictions in the Popular Beliefs, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.

Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 6: The Messiah and His Second Coming
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his temperament, power and function. As Jesus, son of Mary, had revived the religion of Mosesas and had set forth afresh the true teaching of the Torah, which the Jews had forgotten, in the same way this second Messiah would revive the faith of the Prophet who was like Mosesas and was the Seal of the Prophets (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.) This Messiah of the Prophet who was the like of Mosesas will completely resemble the Messiah of Mosesas in the events of his life and in all other consequences that his people will experience on account of their obedience to him or their denial of him. God Almighty has revealed to me that I am that Promised Messiah. According to their old ideas which have taken firm root in their hearts, the Muslims’ claim that Jesus, son of Mary, will descend from heaven near the eastern minaret of Damascus with his hands resting on the shoulders of two angels. Some of them say that he will descend on the minaret with the help of a ladder which the Muslims will provide for him, and the angels will then depart. He will be well dressed—he will not be naked—and will meet the Mahdi in that condition. His age will be the same as when he ascended to heaven, that is thirty-two or thirtythree years. Passage of years and months will not have affected his age or physique; nor will his hair and nails have grown; they will only become subject to change after his descent. He will not engage in fighting, but the disbelievers will die by the power of his breath alone, which, instead of reviving the dead as it formerly did, will now cause the living to die. Here the clerics contradict themselves and assert that he The Messiah and his Second Coming 175 will wage wars, and the one-eyed Antichrist will die at his hands. The Jews will also be killed by his command. They assert that he will be the same Jesus, son of Mary, who was a Prophet of God and who was bestowed the Gospel through Gabriel, and yet they allege that on his descent upon earth he will have lost his status of Prophethood and will only be a follower of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and will be bound by the law of the Holy Qur’an, like the Muslims, and will join them in their prayers. Some say that he will be a follower of the great Imam Abu Hanifa, but it is not specified which of the four Sufi orders, Qadri, Chishti, Suharwardi or Naqshbandi he will identify himself with. In short, they begin with describing him as a Prophet and then reduce him to a degree that no sensible person can ever contemplate. Then, converting his functions from their metaphorical description into physical activities, they allege that he will break crosses and slaughter swine. They do not explain what he will gain by breaking crosses. Even if he broke one or two million crosses, would the Christians, who are devoted to the worship of the cross, not make new ones in place of the broken ones? If the slaughtering of swine is also to be taken literally, will the principal occupation of the Messiah be that of hunting swine with a pack of dogs? If that is so, it will be a great day for Sikhs and some nomadic tribes like the Chamars, Sansis, Gondelas, etc., who are fond of hunting swine. But this activity of his will not in any way benefit the Christians, who are already very skilful in hunting swine. There are up to a thousand shops in London that sell the flesh of swine, and up to twenty-five thousand pigs are daily sent to the outlying areas of the city. The question is: is it worthy of a Prophet who has appeared for the reform of mankind to waste his time hunting pig, a disgusting animal, while even touching the pig is a grave sin according to Torah. A question also arises that—while hunting is a hobby of the idle—if the Messiah is still to be so fond of hunting, is there any dearth of such good animals as deer, caribou, rabbits, etc., that he should soil his hands with the blood of such a foul animal? I have presented here a picture of the character and activities of the Messiah in his second advent, as conceived by the bulk of the Muslims. It is for sensible people to consider how unnatural, contradictory and inconsistent with the high status of Prophethood all this is. It should be remembered that none of this nonsense is mentioned in either of the two great compilations of Ahadith. Imam Bukhari has given no indication that the Messiah who is to come will be the same person as Jesus, son of Mary. On the contrary, he has narrated two actual sayings of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), which distinguish the Second Messiah from the first. The connotation of one of these Ahadith is that the son of Mary will appear from among you, and it further clarifies that he will be your Imam from within you.
One should carefully consider how the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), in order to remove any misunderstanding which may result from the name ‘son of Mary’, goes on to say: Do not take him to be the son of Mary himself, rather:

The Messiah and his Second Coming 177 The other Hadith, which gives the same indication, is that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) described the features of the first and the second Messiah differently. His description of the features of the second Messiah fits me exactly. Is the clear distinction between the features of the two not enough to prove that the first and the second Messiah are in fact two distinct personalities?
[Izala-e-Auham, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 3, pp. 121-125]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 174]

It would not be without interest to mention that the Promised Messiah’s appearance was awaited by all Muslim sects and everyone was looking forward to the fulfilment of the prophecies predicting this event in the context of the repeated sayings of the Holy Prophetsa. Many who were favoured with visions had intimated, on the basis of revelation, that the Promised Messiah would appear at the beginning of the fourteenth century of the Islamic era. The advent of the Promised Messiah is only briefly referred to in the Holy Qur’an, but it is mentioned so frequently in Ahadith, that it is unreasonable to deny its authenticity. Of all the prophecies made by the Holy Prophetsa, this is the one that has been reported more than any other….
It is a pity, however, that despite its frequent occurrence, the divines of this age of ignorance have gone utterly astray in construing this prophecy correctly. In consequence of their grave misunderstanding, they have inserted shameful contradictions into the body of this doctrine. On the one hand, they are compelled to believe, in accordance with the Holy Qur’an and true Ahadith, that Jesusas has died; and, on the other, they believe that he has not died and is alive in heaven in his physical body, and will descend to earth some time in the latter days. Again they hold, on the one hand, that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was the last Prophet, and yet they also believe that a Prophet will come after him, namely Jesusas son of Mary. They believe on the one hand that the Promised Messiah will appear when the Antichrist has supremacy over the whole world, with the exception of Mecca and Medina. On the other, they are compelled to believe, in accordance with a true tradition narrated by Bukhari, that the Promised Messiah will appear at the time of the supremacy of the cross, that is to say at the time when Christianity will be dominant, and the power and the wealth of Christians will be greater than all others. Again, they believe that the Promised Messiah will not be the Mahdi and the Imam, rather some other person from the descendants of the Holy Prophetsa will be the Mahdi. In short, they set forth so many contradictions that they have created serious doubts about the very truth of this prophecy; for a collection of contradictions cannot be true, and sensible people cannot accept it at the cost of reason. That is why the newly educated section of Muslims, who judge everything by the criteria of nature, its laws and the dictates of reason, have been compelled to reject this prophecy despite its frequent occurrence. Indeed, if this prophecy can only be interpreted in a manner that would entail so many contradictions, then human reason, failing to reconcile them, would resolve the difficulty by rejecting the prophecy altogether. That is why those who are committed to nature and reason have rejected this great prophecy despite its frequency. It is a pity, however, that these people were hasty in their rejection of the prophecy, as no sensible person should reject a prophecy that is reported with such persistence and frequency The Messiah and his Second Coming 179 as to guarantee its accuracy. The way of fairness and support of the truth was not to reject the prophecy, but to reject the interpretations put upon it by the foolish clerics which entail all manners of contradiction. It is the faulty reasoning of the dim-witted clerics which has misinterpreted a simple prophecy in such a way that it has become a myriad of contradictions which have bewildered every research minded people. True Meaning of the Ascension and Second Coming of Jesus God Almighty has now disclosed the true meaning of the prophecy, which is free from all contradictions and unreasonableness. He has thus furnished every fair-minded seeker of truth the opportunity to accept the prophecy and to look for its fulfilment, thus safeguarding himself against rejecting a clear and true prophecy.
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 177]

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Introduction