The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for October, 2007

In Badr, 26th September 1907, a letter written by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad inviting a person to accept him is published, under the caption An old letter of Hazrat Aqdas. The date of the letter is 1317 A.H., and as the date on this issue of Badr is 1325 A.H., it means that the letter is from 1899. Its publication is one of many examples of pre-1901 writings of the Promised Messiah being published long after 1901. The letter is translated below. After the formal greetings, he writes:

 "I am appointed (mamur) in order to inform every right-minded, noble person of my mission, namely, that God the Most High has sent me at the head of this 14th century for renewal work (tajdid) to defeat through me the two troubles: the mischief of Christianity whose attacks from the outside have greatly weakened Islam, and the internal mischief that the condition of the Muslim themselves, in terms of faith, deeds and belief, has greatly declined. Accordingly, corresponding to the external reform work relating to breaking the cross, the Wise One has given me the name Promised Messiah, and corresponding to removing the internal trouble and establishing Muslims on true guidance He has given me the name Mahdi.

For, the man by whose hand the mischief of the cross is removed, and the distorted form of Christianity meets its fall, he is that Mujaddid whose name in heaven is Messiah. And the man who appears at a time when most Muslims have lost the true substance and essence of Islam, and he is sent to breathe into them again the spirit of true guidance and faith, he is that Mujaddid whose name is Mahdi, as the hadith says: 'There is no Mahdi except Jesus'. …

It is the condition of the present time that demanded that the Mujaddid of this century be called by the names Promised Messiah and Mahdi. … Is it not true that the heaven is calling out and the earth is pleading that, according to the prevailing circumstances and the internal and external troubles that are being witnessed, the name of the Mujaddid of this century should be Messiah and Mahdi?

If the prevailing circumstances themselves do not by their nature bestow upon me these two titles then I am a liar. But if they do, then it is obligatory and essential for every God-fearing person to join my helpers. On this basis, I write this letter to you, as I entertain a favourable view about you, and wish that you, having fear of the day when any deviation and laxity in the way of God will nullify one's deeds, should become my helper…

Ask God to show you light in my affair, so that you do not join those who, having found the Messiah sent by God, did not pay the least attention to him."

This is a very clear explanation of his claim written some eight years after first making it. And it is republished in Badr a further eight years later. Thus the Promised Messiah is the title of the Mujaddid of the fourteenth century.

On the front page of Badr, 19 September 1912, there is an article by the editor Mufti Muhammad Sadiq (later a prominent missionary of the Qadiani Jama`at) entitled: What was the occupation of the Promised Messiah?

He writes:

On 18th January 1905 when I was headmaster in Qadian I wrote a note to the Promised Messiah which is reproduced below along with his reply. It is hoped it will be of interest to readers.

The Note

To the holy Hazrat, our leader and our Mahdi, the Promised Messiah.

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu

The name of Mian Mahmud Ahmad will today be sent forward for the examinations. The form that has to be filled has a space asking, What is the occupation of the boy’s father? I have written in it the word nubuwwat [prophethood].

… [Rest of note omitted in this translation as it is about some medical advice, see image for full text]…

Your most humble servant, Muhammad Sadiq,

18th January 1905

The reply

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu

Nubuwwat is not an occupation. Please write that he is the leader and Imam of the Ahmadiyya sect which numbers about 300,000. The occupation is the reform of the people.

Ghulam Ahmad.

So in that form I wrote in English as follows the occupation of the Hazrat:

National Reformation and Leadership of Ahmadiyya Sect (300,000 members)

See image from Badr below (click to enlarge to full size).

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:

1. After the Holy Prophet Muhammad, those who are sent by God among Muslims are mujaddids and imams.
2. 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.
3. 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.