Expansion of The Jamaat
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas stated in 1897:
That is [Arabic] Enlarge your house; people will come to you from very distant lands. Accordingly I have seen this prophecy fulfilled [through the coming of visitors] from Peshawar to Madras. However, the revelation had been repeated, which is an indication that the prophecy will be fulfilled in greater strength and greater numbers
[Allah does whatever He wills and no one can obstruct that which He determines upon.] (Announcement of February 17, 1897, Majmu’ah Ishtiharat, Volume 2, Page 327)
Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmadra states:
” This prophecy relates to divine promises about the diffusion of ideas, teaching, and spirit which Hazrat Mirza Sahib was commissioned to impart. These were the ideas and teachings of the Holy Quran, which had been forgotten by both Muslims and others. The prophecy received good publicity. It was issued at a time when not the slightest conditions conducive to its fulfilment existed in the world. I quote the exact words of some of the revelations:
‘I will carry thy message to the ends of the= earth.’
‘I will add to the fold of thy sincere and loyal friends. I= will add to their progeny and their wealth and increase them= manifold.’
‘He, God, will make the Ahmadiyya group grow, so that their size and their influence begin to seem= strange.’
‘They [visitors to Qadian] will come in large= numbers.’
‘Verily We will grant you increase of everything.’
Some revelations came in English. One said:
‘I will give you large party of Islam.’
Another revelation said:
A party out of the first and a party out of the latter [peoples].’
This may mean that the members of the Ahmadi Jama’at would be drawn from the followers of earlier prophets as well as from Muslims.
Another said:
‘O Prophet of Allah, I knew you not.’
This speech is put into the mouth of the earth, meaning people in general, who would be remorseful at their failure to believe in the Promised Messiah.
Yet another revelation said:
‘The earth is Our inheritance. We will devour it from all sides.’
Some of these revelations belong to the very earliest days. They were received and published when Hazrat Mirza Sahib did not have a single follower. Others were received later when the Jama’at had grown, but not yet to any size. It was no ordinary thing for Hazrat Mirza Sahib to proclaim that a time would come when he would have a large following; that members of his Jama’at would be found not only in India but also in other countries; and they would be drawn from all communities and sections; and that their numbers would increase and no country would remain inaccessible to his message. To say such a thing is not easy. Human imagination cannot make predictions of this size, not on the basis of ordinary knowledge.
Today science and philosophy predominate. Belief all religions is on the decline. Beliefs held from early childhood are being abandoned. Christians today are no longer Christians, Hindus no longer Hindus, Jews no longer Jews, and Parsis no longer Parsis. The place of old religious beliefs is being taken by a vague sort of rationalism which tends to become the inner content of all religious beliefs. Only the external forms are still different. In the face of this universal tendency, it seemed futile to expect people to turn to Hazrat Mirza Sahib’s teaching and to adopt the beliefs he taught. Followers of earlier prophets, who were turning away from their own prophets and were gradually adopting a kind of natural religion, could not so easily accept the claims of Hazrat Mirza Sahib. At the same time Hazrat Mirza Sahib’s power to reach the peoples of the world was severely limited. He knew only Urdu, Arabic, and Persian. He had been born in India, and Indians until quite recent times have been hated in Arabia and Iran. Nobody could imagine that the inhabitants of Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Egypt would believe in revelational claims made by an Indian. English-educated Indians had come to think divine revelation mere delusion, the Holy Quran not the Speech of God but the speech of Muhammad, the Prophet.
How could they believe that divine revelation was a fact and that God really does communicate His Will and Knowledge to His favoured servants, even to those who do not know English? Not knowing English is like a sin in the eyes of the English-educated Indians. Hazrat Mirza Sahib was completely ignorant of European languages, European sciences, European customs and institutions. He had never stepped out of his own province. Only once did he go as far as Aligarh. Nobody would have thought that such a man would address himself to Western countries and win converts. Nobody would have thought that well-trained European minds full of contempt for Asians would pay any attention to the teaching of an Asian, much less accept it. Nobody would have said that people in isolated parts of Africa would accept the teaching of such a man. Nobody in India could use an African language. These insuperable difficulties were challenged by the Word of God, and the Word of God came true. A man walked alone in the small yard of his house and wrote down the revelations of God as he received them. The revelations predicted acceptance of his teaching by the world; this, at a time when his own village did not know him that well. In the face of all difficulties, he arose and thundered like a cloud. Jealous and hostile eyes looked on. But the cloud spread, to their discomfort and dismay. It spread over the whole sky, and it rained. It rained over India, Afghanistan, Arabia, Egypt, Ceylon, Bokhara, East Africa. Mauritius, South Africa, parts of West Africa (Nigeria, the Gold Coast, and Sierra Leone), Australia, England, Germany, parts of Russia, and America.
In every continent of the world, somewhere, followers of the Promised Messiah can be found. There is not a community in the world which has not yielded followers to him. Members of the Ahmadi Jama’at have been drawn from Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs, Jews, and also Europeans, Africans, Americans,= and Asians.
If what the Promised Messiah prophesied was not prophesied in the name of God, why was it fulfilled? Why did it come true? It is strange that Europe and America until today treated Islam as their prey, but now thanks to the Promised Messiah, Islam can treat Europe and America as its prey. Several hundred persons in England and several hundred in America have accepted Islam already. Similarly, individuals in Russia Germany, and Italy have accepted and joined the Jama’at. The Islam which suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of other religions now inflicts defeats on them. The tables have now been turned by the prayers and the spiritual power of the Promised Messiah. Islam is on the march, the enemy in retreat. And praised be Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.” (Invitation to Ahmadiyyat, Prophecy no.12)