Front matter
Truth About the Split
By
Hadrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad
Khalifatul Masih II (ra)
by Hadrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad (ra)
© Islam International Publications Ltd.
First English Edition 1924
Second English Edition 1938
Third English Edition 1965
Present Edition 2007
Published by:
Islam International Publications Ltd.
'Islamabad' Sheephatch Lane,
United Kingdom.
Printed in Great Britain by
The Promised son (ra) of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi (as); the manifest Sign of Allah, the Almighty; the Word of God whose advent was prophesied by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) and the Promised Messiah (as) as well as the past Prophets; a Star in the spiritual firmament for the like of which the world has to wait for hundreds of years to appear; the man of God, crowned with a spiritual hallo from which radiated such scintillating rays of light as would instil spiritual life into his followers and captivate and enthral those who were not fortunate to follow him; an orator of such phenomenal quality that his speeches would make his audience stay put for hours on end, come rain or shine, deep into the late hours of the evenings while words flowed from his tongue like honey dripping into their ears to reach the depths of their soul to fill them with knowledge and invigorate their faith; the ocean of Divine and secular knowledge; the Voice Articulate of the age; without doubt the greatest genius of the 20 th century; a man of phenomenal intelligence and memory; an epitome of the qualities of leadership; the one whose versatility cannot be comprehended—Hadrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad (ra) (1889-1965), Muslih Ma‘ud (the Promised Reformer) was the eldest son and the second successor (Khalifa) of the Promised Messiah (as). He took charge of the Ahmadiyya Jama‘at at the young age of 24 when the Jama‘at was still in its infancy and nourished it to its maturity for more than 50 years with his spiritual guidance, prayers, tears, toil and blood. Not only did he fortify the foundations of the Community laid down by the Promised Messiah (as), but expanded the structure of the Jama‘at by initiating various schemes, organizations, and programs taking his inspiration from the Promised Messiah (as) and under the Divine guidance. His foremost concern, to which he devoted all his life, was to accomplish the mission of the Promised Messiah (as)—the daunting task of spreading the message of true Islam in its pristine purity to the ends of the world. To achieve this, he initiated Tahrik-e-Jadid through which spread, and continues to spread, the missionary work all over the globe. His acute intelligence, keen intellect, deep and extensive scholarship and above all his God-given knowledge enabled him to produce a vast corpus of writings, speeches etc. His oeuvre is so vast that it will take many years to see the light of publication.
When the Promised Messiah (as) fervently prayed to God to grant him a Sign in support of Islam, Allah gave him the good tidings about this son of his and said:
"…He will be extremely intelligent … and will
be filled with secular and spiritual knowledge
… Son, delight of the heart, high ranking,
noble; a manifestation of the First and the
Last, of the True and the High; as if Allah has
descended from heaven. Behold a light cometh.
We shall pour our spirit into him…"
[Revelation of 20 th February 1886]
contents
Truth about the Split vii
The name of Muhammad (sa), the Holy Prophet of Islam, has been followed by the symbol (sa), which is an abbreviation for the salutation ( ) Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The names of other Prophets (as) and messengers are followed by the symbol (as), an abbreviation for ( / ) ‘Alaihissalam/ ‘Alaihimussalam (on whom be peace). The actual salutations have not generally been set out in full, but they should nevertheless, be understood as being repeated in full in each case. The symbol (ra) is used with the name of the Companions of the Holy Prophet (sa) and those of the Promised Messiah (as). It stands for ( / / ) Radi Allahu ‘anhu/‘anha/‘anhum (May Allah be pleased with him/with her/with them). (rh) stands for ( ) Rahimahullahu Ta‘ala (may Allah’s blessing be on him).
In transliterating Arabic words we have followed the following system adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society.
at the beginning of a word, pronounced as a, i, u
preceded by a very slight aspiration, like h in the
English word 'honour'.
th, pronounced like th in the English word 'thing'.
h, a guttural aspirate, stronger than h.
kh, pronounced like the Scotch ch in 'loch'.
dh, pronounced like the English th in 'that'.
d, similar to the English th in 'this'.
t, strongly articulated palatal t.
‘, a strong guttural, the pronunciation of which
must be learnt by the ear.
gh, a sound approached very nearly in the r
'grasseye' in French, and in the German r. It
requires the muscles of the throat to be in the
'gargling' position whilst pronouncing it.
q, a deep guttural k sound.
’, a sort of catch in the voice.
Short vowels are represented by:
a for (like u in 'bud');
i for (like i in 'bid');
u for (like oo in 'wood');
Long vowels by:
a for or (like a in 'father');
i for ی or (like ee in 'deep');
u for و (like oo in 'root');
Other:
ai for ی (like i in 'site')♦;
au for و (resembling ou in 'sound').
Please note that in transliterated words the letter 'e' is to be pronounced as in 'prey' which rhymes with 'day'; however the pronunciation is flat without the element of English
Truth about the Split ix
diphthong. If in Urdu and Persian words 'e' is lengthened a bit more it is transliterated as 'ei' to be pronounced as 'ei' in 'feign' without the element of diphthong thus ' ' is transliterated as 'Kei'. For the nasal sound of 'n' we have used the symbol 'ń'. Thus Urdu word ' ' is transliterated as 'meiń'.
The consonants not included in the above list have the same phonetic value as in the principal languages of Europe.
We have not transliterated Arabic words which have become part of English language, e.g., Islam, Mahdi, Qur’an, Hijra, Ramadan, Hadith, ulama, umma, sunna, kafir, pukka etc.