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Archive for August, 2013

Members of the Qadiani Jamaat say that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet “without a shariah”. (Note: It is a separate subject as to what he himself meant by this term. Briefly, he meant one spoken to by Allah through wahy-i wilayat, whose revelation has no authority over the principles by which Islamic shariah is derived.)

The question arises, What powers and authority does a prophet without a shariah have, according to the Qadiani Jamaat conception? This question was answered by no less a personage than Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifa 2, in a khutba delivered on 4th July 1924. It can be read on their website www.alislam.org in the collection of his khutbas, Khutbat Mahmud, vol. 8, pages 448 to 460. I have extracted pages 454 to 457 from this which can be read at this link.

In the document at the above link, I have marked the relevant Urdu passages by a red line in the margin, which I translate below. The bolding is mine.

Page 454:

“Thus, those who receive the word of God are not ordinary human beings. … Such persons, whether with a shariah or without, hold the same status. If someone is called “without shariah” it only means that he brought no new command. Otherwise, no one can be a prophet who does not bring shariah. Of course, some bring a new shariah and some bring again the earlier shariah.

Therefore, ‘prophet with a shariah’ means that he is the first to bring the revelation. The Holy Prophet Muhammad is a prophet with a shariah, which means he brought the Quran first, and the Promised Messiah is a prophet without a shariah, which means he was not the first one to bring the Quran. Otherwise, he also brought the Quran.”

Regarding hadith and its transmission by reporters, he writes from the last line of page 454 over to page 455:

“You tell us, if one man hears something from a person’s own mouth, and another man hears it through other people, whose report will be trustworthy? It will be that man’s report who heard it himself. We do not say that the Promised Messiah could abrogate something said by the Holy Prophet Muhammad. But what others say [as to what the Holy Prophet said], is something they heard which was passed from one person to the next. So the question is not whether the Promised Messiah was a prophet with a shariah or without a shariah, but it is a question of the narrators, as to which narrator is more reliable. Is it those ten or twenty narrators who relate a hadith by passing on what they hear from one person to the next, or is it he who is the Messiah of God, who hears from God and tells it?”

Pages 456-457:

“It should also be remembered that when one prophet comes, the knowledge about the previous prophet comes only through him. It cannot be obtained directly. Every prophet is like a hole for viewing the previous prophet. A wall is placed in front of the earlier prophet and nothing of him can be seen except by looking through the prophet who has now come. This is why there is now no Quran except the Quran presented by the Promised Messiah, and no hadith except the hadith seen by the light of the Promised Messiah. And there is no prophet except him who is seen by means of the light cast by the Promised Messiah. In this way, the Holy Prophet Muhammad can only be seen if we look by means of the light of the Promised Messiah. If someone wants to see anything of the Holy Prophet through any means other than the Promised Messiah, he will see nothing. Similarly, if someone tries to see the Quran through other means, the Quran he will see will not be the Quran with which Allah ‘guides whom He pleases’ but it will be the Quran with which Allah ‘leaves in error whom He pleases’.”

Page 457:

“The state of the books of Hadith is that you can draw any conclusion from them. It is the work of a prophet to tell us which hadith is the result of human interference and which is the real word of the Holy Prophet.”

From the entire khutba it is clear that he is addressing his own Jamaat members here, and refuting the belief held by some of them that as the Promised Messiah was a prophet without a shariah therefore his rulings are not conclusive and binding.

We see here that when the reality of the powerlessness of a prophet without a shariah dawned on some members of the Qadiani Jamaat (that such a prophet is akin to the last powerless Mughal emperor of India, who could only do the bidding of the British East India Company!), Mirza Mahmud Ahmad then shifted the status of the Promised Messiah towards that of a prophet with a shariah. Since much of the shariah is based on Hadith, and reports in Hadith have been transmitted and compiled by human beings who were not appointed by Allah, Mirza Mahmud Ahmad exploited this as a loophole to place the revelation of the Promised Messiah over all Hadith. By this trick, he remains in name ‘prophet without a shariah’ but becomes in fact ‘prophet with a shariah’ because he can define and set Islamic shariah through his own revelation!

Let us now see what Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself said about the authority of Hadith.

He writes in three different books as follows. In the first two extracts, he is directly addressing his followers.

“You must value hadith because they are attributed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Unless they are belied by the Quran and Sunna, you also must not belie them. You ought to adhere to the hadith of the Holy Prophet so much so that for everything which you do, and everything which you refrain from doing, you find some support in a hadith. However, if there is a hadith which is in clear conflict with what is explained in the Quran, you must think about making it reconcile with the Quran. Perhaps the conflict is due to your own misunderstanding. If the conflict cannot be resolved by any means, then discard that hadith as not being from the Holy Prophet.” (Kishti-i Nuh, Ruhani Khaza’in, v. 19, p. 63).

“It should be the duty of our Jamaat to act on any hadith which is not in conflict with the Quran and Sunna, no matter how low the standard [of authenticity] of that hadith may be, and to prefer it over man-made Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). And if no solution is found in hadith, not having been found in the Sunna or in the Quran, then they should act on the Hanafi Fiqh.” (Review on debate between Muhammad Husain Batalvi and Abdullah Chakralvi, Ruhani Khaza’in, v. 19, p. 212).

“He who denies those hadith of our Prophet which are free of criticism and not in conflict with the Quran, he is brother of the devil and has surely bought curse for his soul and wasted his faith. The Quran has precedence over everything, and the revelation of the hakam [i.e. the Promised Messiah] has precedence over those hadith which are doubtful, but on condition that his revelation is completely in accord with the Quran, and on condition that those hadith do not accord with the Quran and it is found that their statements are opposed to the statements of the pure scripture [i.e. the Quran].” (Mawahib-ur-Rahman, Ruhani Khaza’in, v. 19, p. 288).

What a world of difference between the great respect shown by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad towards Hadith, and the casual dismissal of Hadith by Mirza Mahmud Ahmad as “something they [the narrators] heard which was passed from one person to the next”!

As Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has so carefully elaborated, all hadith are to be accepted and acted upon, except those which are in conflict with the Quran and the Sunna of the Holy Prophet. Even for such hadith, we must do our best to reconcile them with the Quran. It is only if that proves impossible that his revelation has precedence over such hadith (i.e. the hadith which would be rejected anyway), but on condition that his revelation is in accord with the Quran, meaning that his revelation in such cases should be interpreted in such a way that it accords with the Quran.

Anyhow, now Qadiani Jamaat members have to explain how Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is a prophet “without a shariah” when their second khalifa says that his revelation occupies a higher position than any hadith whatsoever, because he hears his revelation directly from God while every hadith was heard from a human narrator by a narrator who passed it further down. Therefore, according to this, Islamic shariah is now to be determined by the Quran first, the revelation of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad second, and the hadith third.

Recently I heard a hadith about fasting being quoted on a Muslim television channel, which I then traced to several Muslim websites and forums. It runs as follows:

Once Musa asked Allah: “O Allah! You have granted me the honour and privilege of talking to you directly, have you given this privilege to any other person?" Allah ta’ala replied

"O Musa, during the last period I am going to send an ummat who will be the ummat of Mohammad (SAW) with dry lips, patched tongues, emaciated body with their eyes sunken deep into their sockets, with livers dry and stomachs suffering the pangs of hunger [during fasting] will call out to me (in dua) they will be much much closer to me than you. O Musa! While you speak to me there are 70000 veils between you and me but at the time of iftaar there will not be a single veil between me and the fasting ummati of Mohammad (SAW). O Musa I have taken upon myself the responsibility that at the time of iftaar I will never refuse the dua of a fasting person!”

Various contributors on the above forums have discussed whether this hadith is authentic and what is its original source. There are some authentic hadith mentioning the excellence of certain members of the Muslim ummah over prophets. The following is reported from Umar:

“Among the servants of God there are persons who, although they are not prophets or martyrs, yet the prophets and the martyrs will envy their ranks from God, on the Day of Judgment.” (Mishkat-ul-Masabih, Book of Manners (Adab), Section 2.)

This is related to the concept known as juz’i fazilat, or superiority in part or in certain respects of a Muslim over prophets before the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

I once read in a newspaper in Pakistan (I have kept the cutting somewhere) that more people were brought to Islam by Hazrat Muin-ud-Din Chishti, saint of Ajmer, than by any prophet.

One example, often cited in classical Islamic works, of a non-prophet excelling a prophet is from the Quran, 18:60–82, of the man to whom Moses went to gain knowledge. This man, known as Khadir or Khidr, was superior to Moses in knowledge. In his book Haqiqat-ul-Wahy, when Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad writes that his superiority over Jesus is due to the fact that he is follower of a Prophet sent for the reform of all mankind and thus he possesses the message required for the reform of all mankind, while Jesus came only for a particular people and therefore would not be able to address the whole world, he adds at this point a footnote:

"No one can encompass the works of God. Among the Israelites, Moses was a very great prophet who was given the Torah by God … yet it was the same Moses who had to face embarrassment before the spiritual knowledge of a recluse [i.e. Khidr] and he could not fathom those secrets of the unseen…" (Ruhani Khaza'in, v. 22, p. 157)

It is clear that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has added this example to show that his having a superiority over Jesus does not mean that he is a prophet.

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri

1-For last 100 years Qadiani have been saying that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (HMGA) made claim of “Ummati-Nabi” (God forbid).  This is what Qadiani Missionaries are taught in Qadiani Missionary Schools, and this is what every Qadiani (who holds belief that Qadiani Khalifa 2 Mirza Mahmud Ahmad was a man of good morals and holder of divine appointment) believes and propagate. Qadianis were able to get away with their lies for over 90 years. Since year 2000, internet has become more common and accessible to young Qadianis. Taking advantage of this ‘great equalizer’ I started challenging Qadianis to provide ONE REFERNCE from HMGA writings where he has written phrase ‘Ummati-Nabi’. And in this regard, in tradition of HMGA, I announced prize money of US$1,000.00 that over the years  I increased to US$ 10,000.00 (Ten Thousand US dollars).  This was quite an unnerving challenge to Qadianis. They tried to “JUSTIFY” their claim by putting different quotations of HMGA together, but FAILED, again FALIED to produce any such a quote from HMGA writings, as demanded. I am willing to increase prize money if Qadianis want.

2-Qadiani Khalifa 4 Mirza Tahir Ahmad realized that his followers, including Qadiani Missionaries can NOT stand up to Lahori-Ahmadis (even those who have rudimentary knowledge of HMGA, Holy Quran and Hadith) in a discussion, so QK4 strictly stopped Qadiani Missionaries from discussing with Lahori-Ahmadis especially on a public forum like internet message boards, and discussion blogs.

3-Qadiani Missionaries are SO SCARED to discuss on blogs that not only they do not discuss with Lahori-Ahmadis but they also do NOT discuss with general Muslims. BUT THESE SHAMELESS CREATURES do not stop from inviting Lahori-Ahmadis and general Muslims to get into discussion with them in closed circles of email recipients.

4-Qadiani Missionary ANSAR RAZA, wrote me an email with attachment in Urdu language, inviting me to discuss NONSENSE of ‘Ummati-Nabi’ in October 2012. I asked him to write me in English and I will post his case on Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement blog [current host blog] and reply to his comments there. He went sleep on my reply but after some prompting he said he will write me in English when he gets time. But NEVER got back to me.

5-In last few days I started receiving emails (as one of the 41 recipients) of Qadiani Missionary in Canada Ansar Raza on the same old Qadiani LIE ‘Ummati-Nabi’. I figured like before, he will ignore me. So I started bouncing back his emails IN HARSH LANGUAGE AND PERSONALLY TARGETTING HIM, TO EMBARRASS HIM, WITH SOLE AIM OF DRAWING HIS ATTENTION AND GETTING HIM TO GET INTO DIRECT DISCUSSION WITH MYSELF. My strategy worked, so he stared writing me in English. So after few exchanges of emails,  I asked him to continue discussion on LAM blog. There are many reasons for it: I- LAM and other references are readily available on line. II-Gives chance to Lahori-Ahmadi and Qadiani scholars and readers to comment and enhance their knowledge, and to correct their misunderstandings and wrong beliefs. III-Information will remain safe and easily accessible to many decades. IV-Current and future generations will learn. V-Qadiani Khalifa 5 Mirza Masroor Ahmad will learn what his missionaries are doing, and QK5 will personally “TEACH” Qadiani Missionary Ansar Raza and other Missionaries. This “personal teaching” of Qadiani Missionaries, including Ansar Raza, will go LONG WAY in correcting status of HMGA in minds of Qadianis.

6-Qadiani Missionary, in Canada, Ansar Raza, has STOPPED CLAIMING that HMGA made claim of ‘Ummati-Nabi’ and has started following another Qadiani strategy. Remember: Qadianis claim that there are 200 Million Qadianis in the world. When you ask them to prove it, as onuses is on them for their claim they make, they shamelessly say, “if you’re saying we (Qadianis) are lying then prove to us that we are NOT 200 million”. Now Qadiani Missionary Ansar Raza says: Prove me from Holy Quran that there cannot be an ‘Ummati-Nabi. Please note he is NOT continuing Qadiani Claim that HMGA made claim of ‘Ummati-Nabi’.

FOLLOWING ARE LAST FEW EMAIL EXCHANGES BETWEEN ME AND QADIANI MISSIONARY, IN CANADA MR. ANSAR RAZA. I HOPE QADIANI MISSIONAY, IN CANADA, WILL DARE TO DISCUSS ISSUE ON ‘UMMATI-NAB’ ON OPEN BLOG…

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Please read message at this link.