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In Badr, 19 September 1907 (pages 8–9), a correspondence is printed entitled Why I became an Ahmadi by one Baqa Muhammad. There is first a brief letter dated 6 August 1907 which Baqa Muhammad received, after he became an Ahmadi, from one Maulvi Muhammad Ibrahim of Sialkot, editor of magazine Al-Hadi. In it, the Maulvi expresses great surprise at his joining the Ahmadiyya Movement and invites him to come and see him. Then Baqa Muhammad’s lengthy reply to the letter is printed. We translate below just some extracts from his reply (in which the underlining is ours):
“Since the beginning of time, when a prophet died and his book was altered and there was a denial of the signs of God, then God appointed another prophet to spread the doctrine of His oneness who verified the earlier prophets. It is obvious that the prophets before the Holy Prophet Muhammad came for their own nations only, while our Holy Prophet came for the whole world. No prophet will come after him who will be commanded to follow laws other than the commandments of the Holy Quran. Certainly not. Instead, for the propagation of the same Islam, which attained completion with the Holy Prophet Muhammad, mujaddids or imams have been coming, as there has always been a mujaddid at the turn of every century. Because there was a need these days for an imam and mujaddid, God out of His grace and mercy appointed the Imam of the time who had been promised. He came with clear arguments and signs because this is an age in which Muslims have become divided into many sects, each considering itself to be destined for heaven and the others for hell. …
Jesus can only come holding one of two positions: (1) as a rasul, (2) as an ummati, having been removed from risalat. In the first case the Holy Prophet Muhammad would not remain khatam-un-nabiyyin, but one would have to accept Jesus as the khatam. In the second case, to consider a rasul as an ummati is very much against the basics of faith, and is heresy because we believe in the prophethood of all prophets.”
The writer of this letter, Baqa Muhammad, has expressed the following beliefs:
- After the Holy Prophet Muhammad, those who are sent by God among Muslims are mujaddids and imams.
- Khatam-un-nabiyyin means Last of the Prophets because if Jesus came after the Holy Prophet Muhammad he would become Khatam-un-nabiyyin. Note that if khatam here meant ‘best’ or ‘greatest’ then even in the event of Jesus coming back as prophet, the Holy Prophet could still remain Khatam-un-nabiyyin.
- A prophet cannot be an ummati. If this is so in case of Jesus, then in case of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad too, as he is an ummati (follower of the Holy Prophet Muhammad) he cannot be a prophet.
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