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1892 declaration: Delete the word ‘Prophet’ from my writings and replace it with ‘Saint’

Later confirmation by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Read here the declaration by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, made in February 1892 after his debate with a Maulvi Abdul Hakim in Lahore, stating that the word nabi about him should be replaced by muhaddas. In the debate he had presented the Islamic concept of muhaddas (a non-prophet to whom God speaks) and had stated that his claim is that of being a muhaddas and not a prophet.

It is alleged by the Qadiani Jama‘at that from November 1901 onwards he began proclaiming himself as a prophet because he came to realise that the term muhaddas did not indicate a recipient of revelation of matters unseen from Allah. They allege that, as a result, his earlier declarations denying claiming to be a prophet and claiming to be a muhaddas are no longer valid after the publication of his booklet Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala on 5 November 1901.

However, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has referred to this debate later on, and used the word muhaddas as meaning one who receives the revelation which is promised by Islam to continue among Muslims.

1. “In Lahore I had a debate with a Maulvi Abdul Hakim. I put to him: Why do you object to God speaking, when Hazrat Umar was a muhaddas. He denied it flatly and said that the Holy Prophet had only stated it hypothetically, and that Hazrat Umar was not a muhaddas. He considered it impossible that anyone could receive revelation after the Holy Prophet. He does not believe it at all and has closed the doors of revelation forever.”

— Malfuzat, 2016 edition, v. 2, p. 391; from Al-Hakam, 24 May 1903, statement made on 27 November 1901.

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2. “In Lahore I had a debate with a Maulvi on the word muhaddas, that it says in Hadith reports that muhaddas is one to whom God speaks, and this applied to Hazrat Umar. The Maulvi replied that as in Islam there is no revelation after the Holy Prophet, therefore Hazrat Umar did not achieve this rank. It is as if in this Ummah only dajjals can come.”

— Malfuzat, Ruhani Khaza’in No. 2, 1988 edition, v. 4, p. 177, statement made on 28 October 1904.

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3. “In Lahore I had a talk with a man called Abdul Hakim. He said that revelation was limited to the earlier religions, in which even women received revelation, but in this Umma this door is closed. What a matter of embarrassment! Is this Umma less than even the women of the Israelites? Did God the Most High intend for it to be deprived while it is known as the best Umma?

That Abdul Hakim went so far as to say that Hazrat Umar was not in fact a muhaddas, but that he was told so in order to please him; however, he was not a muhaddas.”

— Malfuzat, Ruhani Khaza’in No. 2, 1988 edition, v. 4, p. 428, statement made on 26 September 1905.

These statements show that long after 1901 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was still confirming the standpoint he had taken in his debate with Maulvi Abdul Hakim in 1892 — that revelation continues among followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the recipient of such revelation is known as muhaddas in Islam.

4. At another place where Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is reported as saying something similar in September 1901, the editor of the Ahmadiyya community newspaper Al-Hakam has added a footnote about Maulvi Abdul Hakim.

Hazrat Mirza is reported there as saying:

“I had a debate with a man in Lahore, called Abdul Hakim. He said plainly that even Hazrat Umar was not a muhaddas. He interpreted the hadith report about him as meaning that if there was going to be a muhaddas it would have been Umar.”

The editor’s footnote, marked by * above, is as follows:

“When the debate of this Maulvi Abdul Hakim with the holy Imam was held in Lahore in February 1892, I myself, the editor of Al-Hakam, was present at that occasion. This man went off with the papers of the debate at the end. Then he came to Qadian, unashamedly, in 1900. Matters were explained to him but he did not understand and started saying ridiculous things. When he was reminded of the Lahore debate and accused of running off with the debate papers, he promised to have them printed and to send them to the editor of Al-Hakam within one month; otherwise, he said, he should be considered as a liar. Now, let alone one month, one year is passing and he has still not sent the papers. If that wretch had sent the papers, we would have published the Hazrat’s speeches. Anyhow, it is that Abdul Hakim who is mentioned here.”

— Malfuzat, 2016 edition, v. 2, p. 290–291, from Al-Hakam, 30th September 1901, p. 2.

This shows that in September 1901 the position taken by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in his 1892 debate was still accepted in the Ahmadiyya Movement, so much so that if the record of the debate had been available it would have been published in the Ahmadiyya community’s newspapers.