The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for November, 2007

A member of the Qadiani Jamaat in California has alleged that the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jamaat has falsely inserted the following statement into its English translation of the book Kitab-ul-Bariyya by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad:

“I was born towards the last days of Sikh rule in 1839 or 1840.”

The reason for this accusation is that in their own Jamaat’s literature they read that the Promised Messiah was born in 1835 (of course we also accept that date). Qadiani Jamaat members appear to think that any statement in our publications which happens to conflict with something in their publications must be a deliberate falsehood. This gentleman claims that he has read through Kitab-ul-Bariyya and did not find any words like the above in it.

I have responded by simply making a sworn statement that I have read this book on the Qadiani Jamaat’s own website, and these words in Urdu are present in it. I have asked the accuser to make a similar sworn statement that he has read the book and that these words are not in it and that “Lahoris” or Zahid Aziz have falsely inserted them. I have asked that he can also try getting his accusation published in his Jamaat’s organs.

Perhaps his Jamaat would care to comment.

In Badr of 7th November 1907, under the title What is meant by progeny of God? Hazrat Mirza sahib is reported as saying the following:

Allah has said, addressing me, “You are to me in the place of My progeny”. He has not said here: “You are My progeny”, but said “in place of My progeny”, in other words, “like My progeny”. This is, in fact, a rejoinder to Christians who believe Jesus to be the son of God in the real sense, while God has no progeny.

God has not brushed away in totality the claim of the Jews that “we are the sons of God and His beloved ones” (the Quran, 5:18), but said that they do not deserve these titles. It is, in fact, a figure of speech whereby God uses such terms to honour his chosen ones. It is just as it is stated in hadith reports that God becomes the eyes or the hands of the man whom he loves, or that God says: “O My servant, I was thirsty and you did not give Me water. I was hungry and you did not feed Me”. Similarly it is written in the Torah that Jacob is the son of God, even his prince. All these are figurative expressions which are found generally in all the books of God and in Hadith.

God has used such words about me as well, as a rejoinder to Christians, because despite these words I never make such a claim that, God forbid, I am the son of God. In fact, I regard making such a claim as an act of heresy.

As regards such words which God has applied to the prophets, the most excellent and the highest ranking title has been given to the Holy Prophet Muhammad. For, God said to him: “Say: O My servants” (the Quran, 39:53). Now it is obvious that the people thus addressed were the servants of God, not servants of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. These words show how broad is the scope of application of such words by way of metaphor.

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Hazrat Mirza sahib here declares unequivocally that despite being called by God as “like My progeny”, he does not claim to be the son of God, as this title is only by way of metaphor. The same explanation applies to his being called “prophet” by God.

In another brief item in Badr of 7th November 1907, Hazrat Mirza sahib is reported as saying:

“Just as before Jesus, the prophet John the Baptist was martyred while preaching the oneness of God, similarly before me in this very land of Punjab Sayyid Ahmad was martyred while preaching the message of the oneness of God. This was another similarity, which God fulfilled.”

Hazrat Mirza sahib bore likeness to Jesus. That was the basis of his claim to be Promised Messiah. Here he states that Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi (d. 1831) in the same way bore likeness to John the Baptist, who is known in the Quran as the prophet Yahya. If Hazrat Mizra Ghulam Ahmad is the Messiah then Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi was his forerunner, his John the Baptist. This clearly shows that a religious leader among the Muslims can bear likeness to a prophet of the past without himself being a prophet, since no one considers Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi to be a prophet.

In Badr, 7th November 1907, the following conversation in the company of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is reported:

The new balloons to be used in wars were being mentioned and it was said that some Englishmen proposed to communicate with the inhabitants of Mars. Hazrat Mirza sahib said: Earlier prophecies about these people are being fulfilled, that they will shoot arrows towards the sky. God has given these people the power to do anything. Let us see what is the final consequence.

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1. The “balloons” would be an early form of aerial warfare.2. Hazrat Mirza’s statement here about a prophecy (presumably in Hadith) that these nations would shoot arrow towards the sky was made before the invention of rockets. The launching of rockets  for space travel resembles exactly the shooting of arrows towards the sky.

Khwaja Ghulam Farid of Chachran (Bahalwalpur state, now Pakistan) was a renowned Muslim saint, with a large following, in the time of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and passed away before the Promised Messiah in 1904. Much to the chagrin of the Promised Messiah’s opponent ulama, the Khwaja refused to denounce him and openly declared that he was a true and sincere servant of Islam. He was not, of course, an Ahmadi, yet the Promised Messiah declared him in a poem as “the peerless one of this age in truthfulness and purity”. In Badr of 10th October 1907 a news is printed about a disciple of the Khwaja as follows:

“Hazrat Khwaja Ghulam Farid, upon whom be mercy of Allah, had true love for the Promised Messiah. This is why his disciples, when expressing love and loyalty towards the Promised Messiah, mention that they are following their late leader, may Allah have mercy on him. Recently, an honourable sufi, Khalifa Muhammad Sadiq Ali, has entered into the bai`at of the holy Hazrat. We reproduce two of his letters which will be a source of guidance for our readers.”

The words of this note shows that Khwaja Ghulam Farid, while not being an Ahmadi, is nonetheless being regarded here as a great Muslim saint 

The first letter is translated below:

“O true Mahdi and true guide! assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. Today I saw the Review of Religions, which proved and showed me that the declarations against you which appear in newspapers are written by misguided people.  You are teaching us the Islam which we have forgotten. Far from being a denier and falsifier of the khatam-ur-rusul Muhammad, peace be upon him, you are one who supports and propagates his religion. You belong to that group regarding whom our Holy Messenger said that in his umma there will be ulama who will excel the prophets of the past. In a partial sense, messengership continues and will continue till the Day of Judgment. …

O true Mahdi who has been sent by God, I sincerely believe you to be true and God the Glorious is witness to it. …

O Mahdi sent by God, guide and mentor, I accept that the Holy Quran is the highest guide and teacher of Islam. However, to understand it, when knowledge and reason are not enough then a guide is required. So I take you as my guide. Teach me and show me the right path. …”

The words used by the letter writer, “You belong to that group regarding whom our Holy Messenger said that in his umma there will be ulama whom will excel the prophets of the past”, clearly show that he considers Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as one of the saints of Islam. That is the only group spoken of thus in Hadith. The next words, “In a partial sense, messengership continues and will continue till the Day of Judgment”, equally clearly refer to the concept of muhaddasiyya, since “partial messengership” is a recognised term for that concept (based on the hadith that the true visions of a believer are a part of prophethood).