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January 17th, 2020
This entry was posted on Friday, January 17th, 2020 at 11:46 am and is filed under Ahmadiyya issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
From T Ijaz:
Regarding the April 1904 Review of Religion quotes from Maulvi Muhammad Ali sahib, which are referred to in the pamphlet by him ‘How I use nabi in my writings’, it appears he is presenting a section from Aaeena Kamalate Islam as his own words from 1904, unless the pamphlet I’m seeing online is not edited correctly
From Zahid Aziz:
He doesn't actually say they are his own words. Before quoting them he says: "the following words will be found". After quoting them, he writes:
"Don't the above two quotations make it abundantly clear that I am using the word 'Nabi' (Prophet) in its literal dictionary meanings and not in its terminological shariah sense".
"I am using" doesn't mean "I am using these in the above quotations". He is referring to his own other writings that are objected to, meaning that wherever he himself has used these words, his use is made clear by these two quotations.
Although the English translation of this pamphlet goes on to say: "The above are the quotations from my writings in 1904", if you look at the Urdu original (whose link is given above the English translation) it only says: "The above are quotations from 1904".
However, I have not the least objection if T. Ijaz wishes to stress that these quotations are actually from Ainah Kamalat-i Islam and should be called the words of the Promised Messiah and not of Maulana Muhammad Ali.
I am quite happy to say that it was the Promised Messiah who wrote:
“if the door of prophethood had not been closed, every muhaddas possessed in himself the power and capability to become a prophet. It is according to this power and capability that it is allowable to apply the word nabi to a muhaddas. That is, we can say: the muhaddas is a prophet.” (Review of Religions, Urdu edition, Vol. 3, 1904, p. 117)
“This is the Umma which, though not having any prophets (nabi) in it, has those who receive the word of God like prophets, and though not having any messengers (rasul) in it, has those who show God’s clear signs like messengers.” (Ibid., p. 131)
Yes indeed, the Promised Messiah wrote this in 1893, and Maulana Muhammad Ali never wrote this but only published it within articles he compiled in 1904. Thus what was written by the Promised Messiah in 1893 about prophet and muhaddas was still valid and applicable in 1904.
(Note: The two articles in the Review of Religions, April 1904, 'The Blessings of Islam' and 'Restoring the Dead to Life' are both from Ainah Kamalat-i Islam. The first is an exact reproduction, while the second contains extracts from that book, re-arranged and mingled with other comments to make it into an article.)