The Mirza Becomes Messiah

Influence of Nuruddin We have seen earlier that when Nuruddin was in jammu in connection with his employment the Mirza was staying in Sialkot, where he was employed in the District Commissioner's office. The two had a number of things in common: both relished religious controversies and debates, and both were ambitious. It seems plausible that each of them was influenced by the other's personality. Hence, correspondence between them began in 1885. In the collection of the Mirza's letters, the earliest letter to Nuruddin that we find is dated March 8,1885. This correspondence continued without break and became so intimate as to include family and matrimonial problems. In January, 1888, the Mirza undertook a trip to Kashmir in order to meet Nuruddin and stayed with him for a month. The Mirza kept Nuruddin in touch with his inspirations, inspired predictions, and novel pieces of information and research. He even complained to Nuruddin about the opposition of the 'ulama and the- alleged view of some of them that he was not a Muslim. In a letter of July 15, 1890 he wrote Ito Nuruddin : "And I have heard that these people have begun to call me in hushed tones a kafir. It was known from this that the Exalted Allah wants to show something great." (Makiiibit-i-Ahmadiyah, Vc)l. V, p. 79.)

Up till then (i.e. 1890), the Mirza had only claimed, that he was a mujaddid and that he had been commissioned by God, and according to Mirza Bashir Ahmad, he continued to say that he had been raised to reform the people in the manner of the Messiah of Nazareth and that he had a certain resemblance to him. (Sirat al-Mahdi, Vol. I, p. 39. ) In the Barahin he expressed the opinion that the absolute predominance of Islam which has been promised in the Quranic verse : 'It is He who has sent His Apostle with Guidance and the Religion of Truth to proclaim it over all religions' would be fulfilled through the Promised Messiah, whose return to the world had been mentioned in the Traditions of the Prophet. As for himself, he merely resembled the Messiah in respect of the first phase of his life, that is, his life on earth. In his own words:

"This, verse ('It is He who has sent His Apostle') is a prophecy which, in the physical and political senses refers to the Messiah; and the promise of complete predominance of the religion of Islam which has been made will be fulfilled through the triumph of the Messiah. And when Hazrat Masih (upon him be peace) will come into this world, Islam will spread all over the world, to all lands. But it has been revealed to this humble one that in view of his poverty and humility, his trust in God and his sacrifice, and in respect of signs and illuminations, he is an examplar of the first phase of the life of Messiah and that the natures of this humble one and of the Messiah are extremely alike as if they were two pieces of the same substance, two fruits of the same tree; and the similarity goes to such an extent that the distinction is very minor." (Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah, Vol. IV, p. 495-98.)