Hazrat Mirza sahib as Imam and Mujaddid
In Badr, 19 September 1907, a letter is printed entitled Why I became an Ahmadi by one Baqa Muhammad. He writes in the article that after he became an Ahmadi he received a letter from a Maulvi friend expressing surprise at this. After quoting the letter from his Maulvi friend, he then quotes the reply that he sent him. We translate below just some extracts from his lengthy reply:
“Since the beginning of time, when a prophet died and his book was altered and there was a denial of the signs of God, then God appointed another prophet to spread the doctrine of His oneness who verified the earlier prophets. It is obvious that the prophets before the Holy Prophet Muhammad came for only their own nations, while our Holy Prophet came for the whole world. No prophet will come after him who will be commanded to follow laws other than the commandments of the Holy Quran. Certainly not. Instead, for the propagation of the same Islam, which attained completion with the Holy Prophet Muhammad, mujaddids or imams have been coming, as there has always been a mujaddid at the turn of every century. Because there was a need these days for an imam and mujaddid, God out of His grace and mercy appointed the Imam of the time who had been promised. He came with clear arguments and signs because this is an age in which Muslims have become divided into many sects, each considering itself to be destined for heaven and the others for hell. …
Jesus can only come holding one of two positions: (1) as a rasul, (2) having been removed from risalat as an ummati. In the first case the Holy Prophet Muhammad would not remain khatam-un-nabiyyin, but one would have to accept Jesus as the khatam. In the second case, to consider a rasul as an ummati is very much against the basics of faith, and is heresy because we believe in the prophethood of all prophets.”
This shows that:
- After the Holy Prophet Muhammad, those who are sent by God among Muslims are mujaddids and imams.
- Khatam-un-nabiyyin means Last of the Prophets because if Jesus came after the Holy Prophet Muhammad he would become Khatam-un-nabiyyin. Note that if khatam here meant ‘best’ or ‘greatest’ then even in the event of Jesus coming back as prophet, the Holy Prophet could still remain Khatam-un-nabiyyin.
- If it applies to Jesus that a prophet cannot be an ummati, then in case of Hazrat Mirza sahib too he being an ummati cannot be a prophet.
From Abdul Momin:
I think if we study the circumstantial evidence after the publication of Aik Ghalti Ka Izala (1901) all roads point to the fact that HMGA never claimed a change in status, and any claim to the contrary is a later fabrication after his death by vested interests. It is really a revision of Ahmadiyya history.
Since the split of 1914, the most contentious issue between the two Ahmadi jamaats is the status of HMGA (whether prophet or wali). If this issue has dogged the two jamaats for nearly a century, is it not reasonable to expect that if HMGA had announced a change in his status from non-prophet to prophet, at least some of his followers would have quit his jamaat, just like the members of the future Lahori jamaat disassociated themselves from the Qadiani section in 1914 when they could not reconcile their beliefs with those of the new Khalifa?
Food for thought.