Source/Credit: Suwanee | Patch
By S. Ahmad | March 20, 2012
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, GA chapter, organized an event to educate the public on the topic of the "Second Coming of the Messiah” on March 17at the Baitul Baqi mosque in Norcross. The National Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA, Naseem Mahdi who was visiting from Washington D.C. to meet Georgia chapter members, gave a speech on the topic followed by a question and answer session.
Mahdi serves as the missionary-in-charge for the community. In the past few years, he led the community in their nationwide campaigns “Muslims for Peace”, “Muslims for Loyalty”, and “Muslims for Life”. Last year he had the honor to inform President Obama about the “Muslims for Life” campaign in person when he was invited at the annual Iftar dinner hosted by the White House.
Talking about the concept of Messiah, Mahdi said that Muslims are not the only people of faith who believe in the idea of the second coming of the Messiah. But since most clerics have not understood how to recognize the Messiah, they have lost hope whether he will ever show up or not. He also gave examples of a few rabbis who have started saying that there is no concept of the second coming of the Messiah emulating this hopelessness. Even some Muslim scholars are telling people that they do not think the Messiah is going to appear.
He urged Muslims not to lose hope because apart from other holy scriptures, Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon him) also gave glad tidings of the Messiah who will unite and purify them and Islam will be restored to its original pure and pristine form. He emphasized that it is just a matter of seeking and recognizing him.
We, the Ahmadi Muslims, believe that the second coming of the Messiah has already happened in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (India). He was born in 1835 and claimed to be the Promised Messiah. Ahmad (peace be upon him) claimed to be the metaphorical second coming of Jesus (peace be upon him) of Nazareth and the divine guide.
Mahdi expressed his shock and disappointment at the statement made by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia recently, who is asking Kuwait to demolish all churches in the country. He quoted a saying of the Prophet of Islam in regards to all such clerics that “they will be the worst people under the canopy of heaven. Disorder will start from them and it will come back to them”
Citing chapter 16, verses 40, and 41 of the Holy Quran, he said that God gave people who have been wronged permission to fight so that they could protect their places of worship, which would have been destroyed otherwise. He said, “The Holy Quran respects the places of worship of other faiths. Cloisters, churches, and synagogues are mentioned before mosques in these verses.”
“In the light of the Holy Quran, if there is one Jihad then that Jihad is to establish freedom of religion,” Mahdi said.
A guest shared a common belief prevalent in Damascus that he got introduced to, during his stay in that country. He hinted to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) that talks about the Messiah appearing in Damascus as the root of this belief. Mahdi expressed that the hadith is indeed authentic but also clarified that it tells us to look for the Messiah on the east of Damascus and not in Damascus.
The event concluded with silent prayers and light refreshments.
Read original post here: 'Second Coming' Event by Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, GA Chapter, in Gwinnett
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