The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Lord Headley’s view about AAIIL

Submitted by Ikram.

Lord Headley’s view about Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-I-Islam, Lahore (AAIIL) –

as expressed by him in his address to the annual gathering of AAIIL in Lahore, 1927.

His address below may be read in context of his views about Qadianis.

MR. PRESIDENT AND BRETHERN IN ISLAM,

Permit me to thank you most sincerely for the kind expressions and references you have made in your Address to me. I am afraid I may not perhaps meet all your expectations but in my zeal for the propagation of our Faith I stand second to none.

You have kindly alluded to my humble quota in the service of Islam. I must confess that I have only done my duty and I wish I could do more. You have also kindly alluded to some of the hardships I had to face since my formal declaration in the Faith in 1913. My hardships may be many and who knows many more may be in store, but Allah be glorified who enables me to bear all this in a humble Muslim spirit. It has been due to my strong faith in Islam which has enabled me to bear these. Every adversity that befell me made my faith in Islam still stronger. In this connection I must mention the moral support I have always received from my dearest brother Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din – the first Missionary of Islam in Europe. His untiring energy, his Muslim sacrificial spirit and his unassuming character coupled with his undaunted courage have been a constant source of strength to me and are among the chief causes of spread of Islam in West. In his preachings as a Muslim he has not only stood above sectarian differences but has always proved conclusively that there are no sects in Islam.

As you have rightly remarked, in Islam there are different schools of thought only, and no sects, and I, therefore, in the very beginning wish to disassociate myself from all such so-called sects of Islam. I belong to none of them and especially deprecate the ways of those who denounce other Muslims as being out of the pale of Islam simply because they differ from them in certain matters. I am a Muslim pure and simple and follow the Quran and Sunnah (the words and ways of the Holy Prophet). I believe in the finality of the Divine Messengership in the holy person of Muhammad. I believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers (with Muhammad the last of them), the Hereafter and the Pre-measurement of good and evil by God and the Resurrection after death. I need no more. I am, therefore, glad to realize that in your propagation of Islam you have taken the same attitude and directed your activities above sectarian differences.

Gentlemen, it gives me real pleasure to hear about all you have said about your activities in the propagation of our dear Faith in different ways in different places. How happy I feel to find you, Indian Brethren, engaged in a most sacred cause so essential to the very life of Islam, and my personal gratitude to your efforts becomes enhanced when I find a sort of indifference to this sacred cause prevailing in other quarters. The Woking Mission has met a marvelous success and I may say unprecedented in some way, and I hope the day is very near when your efforts will be crowned with success in other quarters. Your means may be limited but I hope your enthusiasm, sincerity and honesty of purpose, combined with your full trust in God, will compensate all this and you will achieve success….

—
An Address of The Right Hon’ble Al-Haj Lord Headley (El-Farooq) Delivered on the 28th of December 1927 at the Annual Gathering of The Ahmadiyya Anjuman-i-Ishaat-i-Islam, Lahore, pages 1-2. [link]