Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (seated centre) with some of his companions in QadianIn time, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s claims of being the Mujaddid (reformer) of his era became more explicit.[27] In one of his most well-known and praised[25] works: Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, a work consisting of a number of volumes, he claimed to be the Messiah of Islam[27] which has proven a strong challenge for Muslims to accept, since traditional Islamic thought maintained that Jesus will return in the flesh during the last age.[28] Ahmad, by contrast, asserted that Jesus had in fact survived crucifixion and died of old age much later in Kashmir where he had migrated. According to Ahmad the promised Mahdi was a symbolic reference to a spiritual leader and not a military leader in the person of Jesus Christ as is believed by many Muslims. With this proclamation he also rejected the idea of armed Jihad, and argued that the conditions for such Jihad are not present in this age which requires defending Islam by the pen and tongue but not with the sword.[29]
