Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya
Encyclopedia
Barāhīn-e-Ahmadiyya alā haqīqati Kitabilla hil Qur'an wannabuwatil Mohammadiyya (Proofs of the truth of the book of Allah - the Qur'an, and the prophethood of Muhammad) is a five part book written by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad was a religious figure from India and the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community. He claimed to be the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah , and the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the end days...

 The founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious revivalist movement founded in India near the end of the 19th century, originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as...

. The first 2 parts were published in 1880 CE, the third volume was published in 1882, the fourth volume in 1884 and the fifth volume in 1905. Written and published against the backdrop of an intense anti-Islamic atmosphere in the Indian sub-continent, a significant portion of the subject matter of the book is dedicated to the defence of Islam and substantiating the truth of Islam, the 'excellence of the Quran' and argues against the criticism of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

, the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

 and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 that was raised in the 19th century predominantly by Christian missionaries.

Along with the publication of the book, Ghulam Ahmad issued a poster advertising a reward of 10,000 rupees to anyone who could refute the authentications and arguments presented therein; and could present one-fifth of such 'excellences' as presented in the Barāhīn in favour of Islam, in favour of his own religion, scripture and founder.

The book was written in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's native language, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

. It has since then been partially translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.

Contents

The first and second volumes are largely introductory in their nature and present an outline of the book. Ghulam Ahmad listed six points to which the book adheres.
  • It contains all the truths based on the principles of the knowledge of religion; all the truths put together can be called Islam
  • It is claimed to contain 300 arguments for truth of Islam
  • It contains answers to the allegations, accusations, objections and whimscal views of the opponents of Islam, like Jews, Christians, Magians, Aryas, Brahmins, idol worshippers, atheists, naturalists and non-religious people.
  • It contains a discussion on the basic religious beliefs of other religions.
  • It contains the explanation of the secrets of the word of God. The wisdom of the holy Quran becomes manifest throughout.
  • All the discussions have been penned with great coolness and fineness and in perfect accordance with the rules of discussion; everything has been said in a lucid manner and understanding has been made easy.

Part III

In the third volume Ghulam Ahmad laments at the poor condition and plight of the Muslims and has shown great concern for them. The subject of external and internal proofs of the truth and excellences of the Quran are dealt with at length.

Part IV

The fourth volume discusses the need for the word of God (revelation
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...

). The excellence and uniqueness of Al-Fatiha
Al-Fatiha
Sura Al-Fatiha , is the first chapter of the Qur'an. Its seven verses are a prayer for Allah's guidance, and stress His Lordship and Mercy...

 and other verses of the Quran are discussed. A comparison is made between the teachings of the Quran and that of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

. Certain prophecies are made of which many people were told of beforehand. The miracles of Jesus, the meaning and nature of salvation and how it can be attained are also discussed.

Towards the end of this volume, Ghulam Ahmad claimed that he had received a sudden manifestation of God, the like of which had been received by Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 and that God addressed him saying Verily I am your Lord. Thereafter he was made aware of such secrets of 'spiritual heights' as could not be comprehended merely by human wit and intelligence. With this he declared that he no longer had any control over this book, but that it was God alone who knew how it would proceed.

Part V

Written about 23 years after the fourth volume, during which time Ghulam Ahmad had claimed to be the Promised Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...

 and the awaited Mahdi
Mahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...

this volume describes the nature of the true religion and how it can be recognized, the nature of divine love, the nature of miracles and why they are essential and that living and fresh miracles are the signs of a living religion and not merely stories of the old. Mention is made of the fulfillment of prophecies that had been made in earlier volumes and the divine succour that Ghulam Ahmad claimed to have received on all occasions. All these according to him, are proof of the truth of Muhammad and show that he (Ghulam Ahmad) was true in his claim that he had been commissioned by God.

In the preface to fifth volume Mirza Ghulam Ahmad explains the circumstances which caused the delay in writing the fifth volume. In essence he stated that nothing is possible except by the will of God.
A lengthy supplement is attached to this volume in which Ghulam Ahmad answers objections raised by some people; the death of Jesus is also dealt with in the light of verses of the Quran. After the supplement, Ghulam Ahmad intended to add an epilogue, the notes of which have been added. These notes explain what Islam really is according to Ghulam Ahmad, an explanation of the teachings of the Quran and the fulfillment of promises that he claimed God had made with him.

The fifth volume of Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya ends with an explanation of certain revelations which Ghulam Ahmad claimed to have received in which he was addressed as Jesus. About his claim he states (with which ends the fifth volume):

External links

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