After announcing his claim to be the Messiah and Mahdi, his opponents demanded that he should produce the "heavenly sign" detailed in the tradition attributed to the 7th century Imam Muhammad al-Baqir[33] also known as Muhammad bin Ali, in which it is stated about the appearance of the Mahdi [34]
For our Mahdi there are two signs which have never appeared before since the creation of the heavens and the earth, namely the moon will be eclipsed on the first night in Ramadhan and the sun will be eclipsed on the middle day in the same month of Ramadhan, and these signs have not appeared since God created the heavens and the earth.
– Dar Qutni Vol 1, page 188
Ahmadis maintain that this prophecy was fulfilled in 1894/1895, about three years after Ghulam Ahmad proclaimed himself to be the Promised Mahdi and messiah, with the lunar and solar eclipse during the month of Ramadhan. Ghulam Ahmad declared that this was a sign of his truth, and was in fulfillment of the tradition or prophecy.[35]
The occurrence has, however, faced some criticism, with critics of Ahmad asserting that this was a weak tradition with unreliable narrators, one which cannot be traced back to Muhammad himself,[36] and that such eclipses have taken place before. Ahmadis however argue that such eclipses have never taken place as a sign for the truth of any person, and that this sign being mentioned in other religious scriptures such as the Bible [37] and the Qur'an,[38] and the fact that it actually took place while there was a claimant further enhances the reliability of the tradition.
