Foreword:

Ahmadiyyat is today much misrepresented and, consequently, much misunderstood. Apart from distortions and calumnies regarding its Founder's claims, most people are not aware that there are two Ahmadi groups: the Lahore Jamaat (or the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam of Lahore, Pakistan, whose members are known as Lahore Ahmadis); and the Qadiani Jamaat (having its headquarters now in Rabwah, Pakistan, whose members are generally known as Qadianis). These two groups differ basically about whether:

(i) the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, Hazrat [Hazrat: an Arabic word, employed among speakers of Urdu and Persian as an honorific title for a Muslim dignitary or holy man.] Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835 - 1908), was a Mujaddid (Reformer) as believed by the Lahore Jamaat, or a prophet as believed by the Qadiani (now Rabwah) Jamaat

(ii) those who do not believe in Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib [Sahib: an Arabic word meaning literally 'friend' or 'companion' used in Urdu as a polite form of address like 'Sir,' 'Mr.,' or 'Esquire.'] remain Muslims, as upheld by the Lahore Jamaat, or become kafirs (outside the pale of Islam), as believed by the Qadiani Jamaat.

Maulana Muhammad Ali (world-famous translator and commentator of the Holy Qur'an, and author of the equally famous book The Religion of Islam and several other valuable books on Islam), Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din (founder of the world-famous Woking Muslim Mission), and other important followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib, broke away from the Qadiani group as far back as 1914 on the two above-mentioned principles. They formed the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam ('Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam') in Lahore, present-day Pakistan, to preserve the true teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib and carry on his great mission of the propagation of Islam, especially to the West.

This book sets out the correct position about the Founder and the Ahmadiyya Movement with reference to the Founder's own writings. Details and unimportant side-issues have been avoided to keep the book readable and easily understandable.