The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for 2008

It was by complete chance that, during my return flight from Lahore on 31st May, a fellow passenger discarded a copy of the well-known Urdu newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt of that date, and I picked it up. By further chance, my eye struck a short interview in it with one Maulana Mufti Zubair Bayat, introduced as President of the Jami`at-ul-Ulama of the Natal province in South Africa. The Maulana was interviewed during a visit to Makka where he was performing Umra.

A question he was asked by the interviewer was: “How many Qadianis are there in South Africa, and what line of action are the Muslims there taking in order to defeat the mischief of Qadianiyyat?”

The Maulana gave the following reply:

“A few years ago, Muslims in South Africa instituted a court case against Qadianiyyat in the High Court. They made it clear that the Ahmadiyya community is not a sect of Islam but is a new religion. They have no connection with Muslims; in fact, the Qadianis are a non-Muslim group. The High Court of South Africa considered the beliefs of the Qadianis and, being sensitive to the feelings of the Muslims, it ruled in favour of Muslims by declaring the Qadianis as kafir. On the side of the Muslims, Ulama from Pakistan such as Maulana Manzoor Ahmad Chinioti and others played an important role.” (Daily Nawa-i-Waqt, Lahore, 31st May 2008, p. 20, lower half, column 3)

The Maulana is from South Africa and therefore cannot plead ignorance for his mis-statements in this reply. While being on Umra in Makka, he has uttered a number of absolute untruths in his reply. Due to my involvement in our Cape Town court cases, I know it for a fact that the Maulana has made the following misrepresentations:

1. No “Qadiani” was at all involved in any such court case in South Africa. In one case it was a member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and in another it was a Sunni imam who was being persecuted by the ulama because he regarded Ahmadis as Muslims.

2. The “Muslims in South Africa” never instituted any court case against any Ahmadi. Both court cases were instituted against the Ulama.

3. No court in South Africa has at all, ever, ruled that Ahmadis (or Qadianis for that matter) are kafir. In fact, in the case that concluded in 1985 the court ruled that Lahore Ahmadis, the plaintiffs, are Muslims. The court ruled that the Ulama were defaming our members by calling them kafir, and it prohibited them from continuing this defamation.

4. The claim of the Maulana that “Muslims in South Africa” filed a suit is quite shameful for the following further reasons. (a) The Ulama vigorously submitted to the court that the court, being secular, was not qualified to determine who is a Muslim. (b) When the court ruled in favour of the Ahmadi plaintiff, the Pakistani Ulama who had been helping the Ulama in South Africa published statements that “the judge was a biassed Jew” and as “Qadianis are agents of Israel” therefore he ruled in their favour.

But now history is turned on its head and we are told that the Ulama actually themselves asked the court to determine if Ahmadis are Muslims, and the court gave a ruling in favour of the Ulama . What happened to the “biassed Jewish judge” story that was splashed in Pakistani newspapers in November 1985 by these Ulama?

No wonder the ulama of the latter days are described in Hadith as the worst creation under the sky.

I and others are prepared to make a statement sworn on the Holy Quran that the facts I have put forward above are true and within our personal knowledge. Is the Maulana prepared to swear on the Quran that his reply is true?

Zahid Aziz

Although I am now back from the great Convention in Lahore, held to commemorate the 100th aniversary of the death of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, my computer has irretrievably broken down. So my access is limited for the next few days while a replacement computer reaches me.

The Convention was held from Saturday 24th to Monday 26th May. On the 26th, it so happened that a speech finished at exactly 10.15 a.m. Thereupon, the Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, Hazrat Ameer Dr A.K. Saeed, took the stage to inform us that that was the exact moment of the passing away of the Promised Messiah, one hundred years ago. Many moving and tearful prayers were then said, led by the Hazrat Ameer. Allah’s blessings were called for the soul of this Great Reformer who sought to breathe new life into a dead Muslim Umma.

When the next scheduled speaker, a young man, opened his speech at 10.25 or so, he began by saying that his was the first speech of the new century. It then struck me that we had entered a new era, in which others will come after us to continue our work. People like me will see less of this new century than we have done of the past one.

On this visit I also met a venerable man, Malik Saeed, who was born in 1906, still quite mobile and mentally sharp and active. He attended all the speeches. He even made a speech himself from his chair. Later I asked him about his earliest memory and he told me: “I don’t recall seeing Hazrat Mirza sahib, but Hazrat Mirza sahib saw me when I was a baby and he picked me up.” He talked to me for an hour without tiring. He can recall being present at the death of Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din in Qadian in 1914.

We also visited the recently renovated Promised Messiah Memorial Room at Ahmadiyya Buildings which is in approximately the position of the room where the Promised Messiah expired.

All photos below open in a new browser window. These were taken by me on 23rd May.

Photo of the Memorial Room.

Photo of front of Ahmadiyya Buildings Mosque in centre of Lahore (which was our Centre from 1914 to mid-1970s)

Lahore Ahmadiyya plot in the Miani Sahib cemetery in Lahore, used from 1921. Lahore Ahmadiyya leaders such as Maulana Muhammad Ali and Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din are buried here.

Headstone of grave of Maulana Muhammad Ali

From now till the end of May, I will have very limited opportunity to operate this blog.

So for this period I have turned off the submission of comments by our esteemed contributors till 2nd June or so.

In place of the usual comment box, you will see a message saying: You must be logged in to post a comment. This means it can’t be done.

Zahid Aziz

Our friend Bashir has posted the following conclusions he has reached after study.

HMGA was a contradicting author. Hence his followers were left to explain his(HMGA) teachings and prophecies. That’s why the split happened. HMBMA interpreted HMGA’s writings in his own way. M. Ali did the same. So whats the true interpretation. One thing is for sure, HMBMA accused m. Ali of believing that HMGA was a perfect prophet(ummati and nabi) from 1901 to 1911. That is totally incorrect. M. ali wrote this in 1904:

“If the doors of Prophethood had not been closed, then a Muhaddath has elements and potentials of becoming a Prophet and with reference to these elements and potentiality application of word Prophet on a Muhaddath is permissible, i.e., we can say that ‘A Muhaddath is a Prophet’. (Review of Religions, Urdu edition, Vol. 3, 1904, p. 117)

HMBMA had his followers (500k) believe an un-true allegation. It is ironic how HMBMA never commented on this reference. He knew it existed, but he turned a cold shoulder to it. Also, the letter by Syed Maulvi Muhammad Ahsan(written after EGKI) should seal the case. But once again HMBMA never commented on this article. Fact is 95% of 400k people were illiterate. They followed the son of HMGA, irregardless of the issues. HMBMA was able to use the donations from this large body and multiply his jamaat, while M. Ali started from scratch. My estimations show 4 out 5% of literate people joined M. ali. They read about the issues between the two groups. M. ali won the argument. HMBMA won their hearts. When the vietnamese beat the USA in the vietnam war, the vietnamese commented that they didnt win the war in vietnam, they won the political war in the USA. Get the picture?????

Our friend Bashir has sent the following post:

Referring to my previous post:

There seems to be one thing that i left out. HMGA legally made the Sadr Anjuman his successor. The jamaat panicked upon the death of HMGA. They decided to choose Hazrat Maulvi Noorudin as their leader and gave him the title of khalifa.

This seems to be done as a precaution. There was one member of the sadr anjuman who didnt accept this. He never took bait at the hand of HMN. HMN did not ex-communicate him. In 1914 he joined the aaiil. This person later accepted bait at the hand of HMBMA in the 1940’s. I think his name was Maulvi Ghulam Hasan (not sure).

This was the proof that there was opposition to an autocratic system of khilafat. M. ali and others admired HMN so much that they considered him to be an exception to the rule. I agree with their admiration.

Even HMGA said about HMN, “If only everyone was Noorudin”.

Thats why m. ali and other afforded HMN with exceptionary privileges.

Blog Editor: Yes, Bashir, it was Maulvi Ghulam Hasan Khan of Peshawar. He was father-in-law of Mirza Bashir Ahmad (the middle son). Despite this, he joined the AAIIL in 1914 and was in it till about 1940. He died in 1943. I know several of the Maulvi sahib’s grand-children and great grand-children, as they are my wife’s cousins. See his photo here.
(Opens new window.)

At this link, you can access the special issue of The Light (U.K. Edition), commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. (Link opens a PDF file in a new window.)

Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig was a missionary sent by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha`at Islam Lahore to Java in 1924 to counteract Christian missionary activities against Muslims. He stayed there till 1937. As a result of his highly successful work, Muslims of that country rose out of their slump and despondency and were able to counter the attacks of the Christian missionaries. The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement expanded in large numbers, the Holy Quran and other essential literature of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman was translated into Dutch, and a strong, magnificent Jama‘at was established.

In this connection, Dr Hamid Rahman, a learned member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in the USA, has recently sent me a brief account that Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig related to him in the 1960s, showing the high respect in which he was held by President Sukarno (d. 1970), the famous figure who became the first President of Indonesia in 1945, and was President till 1967.

I quote Dr Hamid Rahman below:

This incident was narrated to me by Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig sahib in 1969 or thereabouts when I was taking lessons from Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig sahib in German in Karachi.

Actually there were two incidents.

1. Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig sahib had come to know Sukarno well during the time he was our missionary in Indonesia. Sukarno was at the time leading the fight for independence in Indonesia against the Dutch, and Sukarno had received some lessons from Mirza Baig sahib in Islam. He therefore looked upon him as his teacher.

Immediately after partition, Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig sahib got stranded in India. He wanted to come to Pakistan but it was impossible to get a visa to Pakistan because of all the bad blood between India and Pakistan. The Pakistan High Commission had turned his visa application down several times. Just when all of Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig’s attempts at getting the visa had been frustrated, Sukarno, now as the President of Indonesia and a close friend of Nehru in the nonaligned movement, came for a visit to India. Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig sahib learnt that Sukarno was going to say his Friday prayer in Jamia Masjid Delhi. So he went and waited for him on the steps of the Jamia Masjid. When Sukarno arrived with his entourage, Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig was able to catch his attention; no doubt a voice from the onlooking crowd beckoning to him in Indonesian must have been the reason. But Sukarno recognized him immediately and came over to talk to him. Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig asked for his help to get him a visa to go to Pakistan. Sukarno immediately issued instructions to his embassy staff to take up the matter immediately with the Pakistan High Commission and to see to it that his teacher got a visa. The visa was given to Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig sahib and he came to Pakistan.

2. Much later during the administration of Ayub Khan and I think it may have been soon after the 1965 war when Indonesia sent its submarines to guard the coast of Pakistan to prevent a surprise attack by India from the sea, Sukarno came to visit Pakistan. He sent a message to the Pakistan Government that during his visit to Pakistan, he would like to meet his teacher Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig. The Pakistan Government, of course, was totally oblivious to the existence of a Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig and the matter was entrusted to the Intelligence Branch to find him, which they did.

On the day that Sukarno was to arrive, Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig was taken in an Intelligence Branch jeep to the airport and put in the line up of the dignataries on the tarmac with whom Sukarno would shake hands. As President Ayub led Sukarno to the dignataries, he had a formal handshake for everyone but when he came to Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig, he shook his hands and then bent down to touch his knees, apparently a mark of respect in Indonesia for one’s teacher.

Contrast this with today’s situation.

Dr Tahir Ijaz has submitted the following:

Forget the theory about the next mujaddid to come 200 years after Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, he is now here with a website!

http://www.jamaat-ul-sahih-al-islam.com/

1. Please see here a report in the world-renowned Economist magazine of London on the Indonesia situation. (Link opens new window)

2. Here are the comments of a blog called The American Muslim. (Link opens new window)

3. This statement on the “World Muslim Congress” blog is well worth reading. It is linked in the above sources but you may miss it there. (Link opens new window)

It is reported in Badr, 30th April 1908 (p. 6) that an Eid Milad-un-Nabi function was held at Ahmadiyya Buildings, Lahore. This was, of course, long before the split in the Ahmadiyya Movement, and near the end of the life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Also to be noted is that the function is not called Eid Milad-un-Nabi. In those days the term used by Muslims in India was Bara Wafat, meaning “death on the 12th”. Below I translate the report, which is entitled Life of the Holy Prophet:

“A respected friend reports from Lahore that, on the previous day, a Tuesday, on the occasion of Bara Wafat, and for the benefit of the residents of Lahore, a grandly organised lecture was held at Ahmadiyya Buildings, where houses of our Khwaja [Kamal-ud-Din] sahib are located. The ground was very large and was decked with a marque and other necessities. It had been widely advertised in the city.

The poem in praise of the Holy Prophet written by Huzoor [presumably meaning the Promised Messiah] was read out by brothers Abdul Aziz, son of Mian Chiragh Din, and Ghulam Muhammad. Maulvi Sadr-ud-Din gave an explanation of the Surah Fatiha with great zeal and pure sincerity, and went over the events of the life of the Messenger of God, may peace and the blessing of Allah be upon him. Then brother Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig spoke on the life of the Holy Prophet in a fine speech. The audience included Hindus, Muslims and members of the Brahmo Samaj. All the leading men of Lahore who could come were in attendance. The whole gathering listened patiently and attentively to the highly effective speeches of these young men, who were preaching using this new technique and method, and they went away expressing much praise.

This meeting was also reported in other newspapers and was generally much liked. Hence the newspaper Watan wrote:

“Just as there was great regret that there were no arrangements in Lahore for holding this great occasion of remembrance, there was equal pleasure that on 14th April, corresponding to 12th Rabi-ul-awwal 1326 A.H., on behalf of the Anjuman-i Ahmadiyya Lahore a magnificent meeting was organised by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, lawyer, High Court. Capable speakers delighted the audience by telling them about the life of the Holy Prophet and his excellent and praise-worthy qualities. It is hoped that in future many people in Lahore will organise events for such a sacred remembrance.”

The newspaper Sada-i-Hind expressed a similar opinion.

Comment by Editor Badr: It is indeed essential that the general public should be fully informed about the life of the Holy Prophet. We cannot complain about non-Muslims when most Muslims themselves are utterly unaware of the life of their beloved master. When such ignorant people realise how much we owe to the Holy Prophet, they will want to shed tears uncontrollably.  But I do not consider it right to fix one particular day forever, like Bara Wafat, for this purpose.”

This idea was then taken up by other Muslims and led to the development of the Eid Milad-un-Nabi function.