Fazle Umar
The Promised Son The attitude of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II [ra] concerning the series of prophecies of the Promised Messiah [as] that were published in the announcement of 20 February 1886, was that he refrained from making any positive claim of those prophecies being fulfilled in his person, although he felt that probably this was the case. In 1940 he stated in the course of a Friday sermon: “I believe it is not necessary to make a claim in respect of a prophecy that relates to a person who has not been commissioned by God. How many of the Reformers whose names are entered in a list published after the approval of the Promised Messiah [as], made such a claim? I have heard the Promised Messiah [as] say that he thought Emperor Aurangzeb was the Reformer of his age. Did he put forward any claim? Umar bin Abdul Aziz is revered as a Reformer. Did he make any claim? Thus it is not necessary for a non-commissioned one to make a claim.” He did on one occasion state, “I have no doubt that the prophecy relating to the Promised Reformer mentioned in the green announcement is related to me”, yet he did not put forward a positive claim that he was the Promised Reformer till in the beginning of 1944 it was revealed to him in a dream that he was the Promised Reformer. In view of the grandeur of the dream he decided to make a public announcement that he was the Promised Reformer. On 28 January 1944 he related his dream in detail in the Friday sermon and announced that he was the Promised Reformer. He prefaced his description of the dream with the observation: “I wish to state something today which I find it difficult to set forth having regard to my temperament, but as some prophethoods and Divine decrees are involved in making this exposition I cannot refrain from making it despite my reluctance.”
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