the message — june–december 2008 issue —

Quarterly

Editors Imam Kalamazad Mohammed B.A., Dip. Ed.

Nasir Ahmad B.A., LL.B

June - December, 2008

Special issue dedicated to the 100th Death Anniversary of

Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in IslamHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Darus Salaam Mosque at the Headquarters of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement

situated at Darus Salaam Colony, New Garden Town, Lahore (Pakistan).



Mr. Jalal-ud-Din Akbar (USA), editor of news bulletin“Hope” is receiving the Centenary Memorial Shield

from Hazrat Ameer Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed.

Mr. Mahboob Raza of Fiji receiving Centenary Memorial Shield from

Hazrat Ameer Dr. Abul Karim Saeed.

Ahmadiyya Mosque, Ahmadiyya Buildings, Brandreth Road, Lahore where the Promised Messiahoffered his congregational prayers during the last days of his life

@ A Lahore Ahmadiyya Publication

www.aaiil.org

Hazrat Ameer's Eid ul Adha Message December 2008

"And relate to them with truth the story of the two sons of Adam, when they offered an offering, but it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other. He said: I will certainly kill thee. (The other) said: Allah accepts only from the dutiful. If thou stretch out thy hand against me to kill me I shall not stretch out my hand against thee to kill thee. Surely I fear Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I would rather that thou shouldst bear the sin against me and thine own sin, thus thou wouldst be of the companions of the Fire; and that is the recompense of the unjust. At length his mind made it easy for him to kill his brother, so he killed him; so he became one of the losers. Then Allah sent a crow scratching the ground to

show him how to cover the dead body of his brother. He said: Woe is me! Am I not able to be as this crow and cover the dead body of my brother? So he

became of those who regret." (Al-Ma'idah, 5:27-31) Dear sisters and brothers,Assalaam-o-alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuhoo

I have selected these verses of the Holy Qur'an for my Eid ul Adha message, as they relate the story of the first sacrifice offered in human history. The story is that of the two sons of Adam, Abel and Cain who respectively represent the virtue and evil amongst human beings. It is also the story of the first violent act and murder; a story which teaches forbearance and patience as virtues; jealousy, aggression, pride and ignoring of good advice, killing and harming fellow beings as evil deeds.

In these days of tragic events in the world this is a message of peace and non-violence in the face of aggression. Abel is not deterred from good when threatened by his brother, who is eventually killed and becomes the first martyr in history.

As we celebrate this Festival to mark the sacrifice Hazrat Ibrahim offered without questioning when Allah ordained, we too must follow his example and present our offerings with a sincere heart and do as Allah desires. This is the spirit of Taqwah.

The story of acceptance of the sacrifice made by one brother and not by the other demonstrates that Allah accepts the spirit of the sacrifice and not the outward appearance of that action. Allah does not accept the 'zaahir' aspect but the 'baatin' of all spiritual acts as stated in the following verse of the Holy Qur'an:

"Not their flesh, nor their blood, reaches Allah, but to Him is acceptable the observance of duty on your part. Thus has He made thee subservient to you, that you may magnify Allah for guiding you aright. And give good news to those who do good (to others)." ( Al-Hajj, 22:37)

Many may pretend to be pious and make sacrifices to be seen by the world but Allah knows what is concealed in the hearts and accepts only from the observers of duty (muttaqeen) as exemplified by the sacrifice of Abel. Dear sisters and brothers,

Today we have a chance to pledge that we will submit to the will of Allah as demonstrated in the lives of Hazrat Ibrahim, Hazrat Ismael and Hazrat Hajirah, may Allah shower peace on all of them. It is also a chance to share the family values of togetherness in faith and sacrifice as demonstrated by them. Hazrat Ibrahim obeyed the command of Allah without hesitation; Hazrat Ismael, a young boy, submitted to the will of Allah without questioning and Hazrat Hajirah who had spent a life of sacrifice in the desert with an infant son finally submitted to the will of Allah to sacrifice him.

If today we learn to obey Allah in all His commands and submit to His will, we would then achieve the spirit of the day and be really happy, which is the essence and literal meaning of the word 'Eid'.

I pray that Allah may help us to become His true servants and to submit to His will. Ameen.

Ameer and President Worldwide Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement

Professor Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed

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CONTENTS1. 100th Death Anniversary of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement

Inaugural speech by Hazrat Ameer Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed ----------------------------------------------------- 2

2. English translation and Commentary of the Qur’anDr. Basharat Ahmad ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

3. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as Defender of IslamDr. Zahid Aziz, Nottingham, UK. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

4. Birthday Song for Muslim ChildrenMrs. Sharda Ahmadali, Suriname ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11

5. Brief Life History of the Promised MessiahNasir Ahmad, UK. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

6. Ten Conditions of the PledgeHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18

7. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – A Saint and a PhilosopherMaulana Muhammad Yakub Khan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 19

8. The Most Misunderstood Imam of the AgeDr. Basharat Ahmad ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22

9. Glimpses from the Life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam AhmadDr. Basharat Ahmad (English translation by Mr. Akram Ahmad USA.) -------------------------------------- 24

10. The Role of the Ahmadiyya Movement in the Promotion of Inter-Faith DialogueDr. Jawad Ahmad, UK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28

11. Institution of MujaddidshipNawab Siddiq Hassan Khan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33

12. The True Spirit of DemocracyFazeel S. Khan, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 34

13. Religious Freedom and Social Justice — Emperor Babur’s Confidential will for his son, HumayunDr. Syed Mahmud--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36

14. A brief history of Ahmadiyya Buildings, LahoreNasir Ahmad, B.A. LL.B (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 36

15. Hajj—‘An Inward’ VoyageProf. Abdul Hakim Murad ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45

16. Spiritual Significame of Slaughtering of CowDr. Zahid Aziz, U.K ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 46

17. Management of AngerMiss Habiba Anwar LL.M. (UK) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 48

18. Prophet Abraham—A life of Supreme Dedication, Submission and SacrificeDr. Jawad Ahmad (UK) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 52

19. Monument Open Days at the Berlin MosqueMr. Muhammad Ali ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57

20. 100 Years later—His Teachings still sorely NeededDr. Zahid Aziz, UK. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 59

21. The Glorious Muslim SpainMrs. Zaitun Toto, UK. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 61

22. What ‘Kingdom of God on Earth’ means?Karen Armstrong in Islam—A Short history ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 64

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Spiritually-Elevating 100th Death Anniversary Convention of

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian

My respected elders, dear brothers,sisters and young boys and girls,Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullah-iwa Barakaatuh. (May the peace, mercyand blessings of Allah be on all of you).

Today is the 26th May, 2008 and theexact time is 10.15 AM. This is the exactmoment on the early morning of 26th May,1908 – exactly 100 years ago – when ourMessiah (may peace be on him) washaving his last breath. Today, we all, as amark of respect, bow our heads. This wasthe exact time –100 years ago – when thesoul of the Promised Messiah was calledback by the Almighty Allah. This was themoment when (the soul of) the PromisedMessiah, after entrusting the great workof (disseminating the message of Islam)to the Community, left this finite world.So at this solemn moment we should makea firm resolution in our hearts that Allahmay provide us with the support andstrength to go forward with his Mission,so that the efforts of our dear Imam maynot go to waste. His efforts will nevergo in vain. But may be weakness on ourpart may bring weakness to the GreatCause. If we will not work for it, Allahwill get this work done through others.But it is His promise that He shall cause

Hazrat Ameer Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed

this work to be done through thisvery Community. May Allahenable us to carry forward theMission with firm commitment,and that we may never allow thisCommunity to get weak. And atthis moment we resolve in ourhearts that now, when 100 yearshave passed, every coming minuteshall find us more determined inour hearts, and that at this solemnmoment we beseech Allah’s mercyto forgive our sins and we will tryour utmost to shun all sorts of sinsand shortcomings.

And now let us address our humblesupplications to His August Being: “OurLord! We have wronged ourselves; andif Thou forgive us not, and have mercy(not) on us, we shall certainly be of thelosers” (7:23).

We turn to You in all sincerity, andwe present ourselves in Your presence witha renewed pledge to the Mission of thePromised Messiah and make a solemnpromise that we will serve his Communitywith our heart and soul. And we will carryforward the message of Islam in a peacefulmanner as taught by our holy Imam.

We solemnly promise that we willhelp the cause with our wealth. We willhelp the cause with our time and energy,and we will help the cause with our livesif such a sacrifice is needed. We shallpurify our hearts of all traces of shirk(any interest greater than His cause) andshall not entertain any fear whichstealthily enters the hearts in the formof shirk. We beseech Allah that He maygrant us strength to be steadfast fully infulfilling the determination which we areundertaking at this moment.

Let us all raise our hands to recitethe first Chapter, Al-Fatihah (TheOpening) of the Qur’an followed by the

Darood (salutations to the Holy ProphetMuhammad) so that the holy soul ofHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad that left thisworld to be with his real Creator may begranted forgiveness and higher states inthe August Presence of our Lord.

I seek refuge from the accurseddevil. And we begin in the name of Allah,the Beneficent, the Merciful.

“All praise be to Allah, the Lordof the worlds, the Beneficent, theMerciful. The Master of the Day ofRequital. Thee do we serve and to Theedo we beseech for help. Guide us to theright path – the path of those on whomThou hast bestowed favours, not thoseupon whom wrath is brought down northose who go astray” (1:1-7)

O Allah! Exalt Muhammad and thetrue followers of Muhammad as Thouexalted Abraham and the true followersof Abraham. Certainly Thou art Praisedand Magnified. O Allah! BlessMuhammad and the true followers ofMuhammad as Thou blessed Abrahamand the true followers of Abraham.Certainly Thou art Praised and Magnified.

O Allah! Help those who help thereligion of Muhammad and count usamong them. O Allah! Disappoint thosewho try to disgrace the religion ofMuhammad and do not make us of those.

“Our Lord! Make not our heartsto deviate after Thou hast guided us andgrant us mercy from Thee. Surely Thouart the most Liberal Giver” (3:8).

“Our Lord! Accept our(supplications). Surely Thou art theHearing, the Knowing” (2:126).

O Almighty and All-powerfulLord! Accept our supplications andgrant us the will and strength to carrythe message of Islam entrusted to us bythe Great Imam of the Times to the farcorners of the world. Aameen!

(1835-1908 CE)The Great Mujaddid of the 14th Century Hijrah, the Promised Messiah and Founder of the Ahmadiyya

Movement in Islam held at Darus Salaam Colony, New Garden Town, Lahore, Pakistanby Hazrat Ameer Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed




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ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY OF THE QUR’ANby Dr Basharat Ahmad

(Translated and edited by Imam Kalamazad Mohammed from Anwarul Qur’an)

Chapter 81: Al-Takwir (The Folding Up)-1“In the name of Allah, the

Beneficent, the Merciful.When the sun is folded up, and when

the stars are dust-coloured, and when themountains are made to pass away, andwhen the camels are abandoned, andwhen the wild animals are gatheredtogether, and when the cities are made toswell, and when men are united”(1-7).Introduction

This chapter is entitled Al-Takwir orThe Folding Up from the mention of thefolding up of the sun in the first verse.“The significance of the folding up ofthe sun is that it will lose its light or thatthe entire solar system will be destroyed.It may thus indicate the end of things sofar as this life is concerned and may thusstand for the new order, which is calledthe Resurrection.”–MaulanaMuhammad Ali.

It brings in a new line of argumentto highlight the fact that our ultimaterecompense in the hereafter dependsupon our deeds. In the beginning of thischapter, some great and grandprophecies have been made, propheciesthat were to be fulfilled prior to thecoming about of the great and final dayof Judgement. At a time whenmaterialism and atheism would berampant. At that time also, there wouldbe a very emphatic and widespreaddenial of the Day of Judgement as wellas a non-acceptance of the belief thatwe would be rewarded or punishedaccording to our conduct in this life.

Obviously, the said time is this veryage in which we are living. By clear andbeautifully disclosing fourteen hundredyears ago the knowledge of the unseen,a knowledge lying hidden in the folds ofthe future, the argument has beenbrought home to the antagonists, that thesame God Who is giving the news of thefuture, news fully true, is also giving

notice of the fact that there is no doubtthat we will be judged according to ouracts and recompensed accordingly.

Eventually, a day will come, the LastDay, when a complete result of our actswill be determined, and none will remainoutside this reckoning. And if theseprophecies that contain news of thefuture turn out to be true, then the othernews about the final reckoning of ourdeeds is also true and certain.Hidden aspect in prophecies

It must be remembered that theseprophecies always contain a hiddenaspect, and this hidden aspect isdisclosed at the time of their fulfilment.In other words, the events of life lift theveil of secrecy from the face of theseprophecies, and then the said prophecy,when fulfilled, begins to shine like thebreaking of the day, and becomes asource of fortifying the faith of thebelievers and of driving the argumenthome to the antagonists.

This hidden aspect is usually statedin a metaphorical way. This metaphor,on the one hand, puts a veil of secrecyon the prophecy, and on the other, it lendsforcefulness, eloquence and elegance tothe statement. For example, ProphetJoseph (as) was shown in a vision thatthe sun, the moon and eleven stars weremaking obeisance to him. What a fineand delicate metaphor it was. For, whatfiner metaphor can be devised forindicating to someone that he was goingto inherit a spiritual legacy than byrevealing to him the heavenly bodiesbowing obediently before him.

Similarly, even in this chapter, Al-Takwir, there are to be found propheciescontaining very subtle and wonderfulnews of future events, and along withthese it is full of such fine metaphorsthat when the events foretold unfoldthemselves, the soul of the reader begins

to throb with ecstasy as he realises thegrandeur, the greatness and the profoundknowledge contained in these verses.Significance of hidden aspect to aprophecy

At this point, a question arises: Whyis there this hidden aspect to a prophecy?The answer to this is: to give clear proofthat this knowledge of the unseen futureis from God and not the outcome of ahuman brain. For, when the recipient ofthe prophecy and divine revelationhimself cannot comprehend the realitydisclosed therein at the time of therevelation, and until the events that areforetold in the prophecy manifestthemselves, he, himself, has noknowledge of the real purpose andmeaning of the prophecy, and if such aprophecy is true, then it can clearly beseen that the fountainhead of this newsof the unseen is some All-Knowing andAll-Wise Being, and not the brain of therecipient of divine revelation.

For instance, the Holy ProphetMuhammad (sas) saw in a dream thatafter his death the wife, who had thelongest hands would be first to join him.All his wives measured their hands inthe presence of the Holy Prophet and hedid not stop them from doing so. As aresult, it was taken to mean at that timethat Hazrat Saudah (ra) would be thefirst to die. But when the first to dieturned out to be Hazrat Zainab (ra), thenit was realised that by the longest handswas meant the one who was foremost ingenerosity and charity, and HazratZainab (ra) was the most fitting in thisrespect because she was the mostgenerous of all. The news was absolutelycorrect, but the veil of secrecy that hadbeen thrown on it through the use of ametaphor was lifted when the event itselfunfolded. The fact that the recipient ofthis revelation himself was unaware of




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the actual import of the prophecyindicates that this news of the unseenwas not a product of the recipient’sbrain. Rather, it had come down fromsome All-Knowing Entity.

The second useful aspect of thissecrecy surrounding a prophecy is todebar any impostor from making himselfthe fulfiller of the prophecy, one who,by fabricating and rigging up somecircumstances in conformity with theapparent wording of the prophecy, mighttry to deceive people. That is why thisnews of the unseen has a hidden aspectto it, and the real significance of thismystery is not disclosed to anyone butthe true claimant, that is, the actualperson in whom the prophecy is fulfilled.

In order to fix the timing of the eventsthat have been prophesied and portrayedin this chapter, events that would presagethe coming of the Final Day ofResurrection, it was first necessary toportray the atheism and materialism ofthose times. Hence, Allah, the High, saysat first:1, 2. When the sun (the fountainheadof divine light) is folded up, and whenthe stars (that are lit up with the divinelight) become dust-coloured or faded.

This metaphor is to be foundelsewhere in the Holy Qur’an. Forexample, the Holy Prophet has beencalled a light-giving lamp (sirajammunira). The aptness of this metaphorlies in the fact that just as the real sun isthe fountain-head of heavenly light, so,too, are the personalities of the prophets,especially the Holy Prophet - apersonality who lit up the darkenedhearts of the people through the light sentdown by Allah in the form of the HolyQur’an – the fountain-head of spirituallight. And these darkened hearts, whenlit up by this divine light, become perfectpersons who begin to shine like stars inthe spiritual heaven and are thus likenedto the stars, as the Holy Prophet himselfhas said: “My companions are like thestars.”

Hence, anyone who is enlightened bythis spiritual light, whether a holy

companion of the Holy Prophet (sas) ora saint or a God-gifted scholar ofreligion, is a star of the spiritual heaven.How beautifully have the presentepoch’s atheism and materialism beenportrayed here. Allah says that thefountainhead of the spiritual light willbe folded up in that age (that is, theknowledge of the Qur ’an andcompliance with its injunctions willdisappear), and the darkness of atheismand deviation from the straight path willengulf the world. The personsenlightened by this spiritual light, therighteous and the scholars, would haveeither departed from this world, or if anywere still left, they would have no traceof resplendent light in them, or if therewere some light, it would be very dim.What an exact portrayal is this of thereligious condition of these times!

After depicting the religiousdegradation of the world, Allah, theHigh, in subsequent verses portrays thematerial progress of these times. Cultureand civilization are pre-requisites formaterial progress, so that the distancesbetween the villages and the cities areshortened and any hindrance to travel isremoved, and such means of transportare made available that would facilitatetravel and save time. This is so in orderthat people may benefit from oneanother’s knowledge, and throughexchange of ideas, they may travel onthe road to scientific, industrial andprofessional progress, and throughmutual commerce and trade, they maypartake of financial progress. Therefore,Allah, the High, first of all mentionsthese very things. As a result, He dividesthose factors that are obstacles to mutualinteraction and exchange betweenpeople, obstacles that, once removed,clear the way to progress and perfection,into four parts: firstly, the presence ofmountainous barriers on land, secondly,the long distances, thirdly, ignorance andbarbarity, and fourthly, the impedimentin the form of the oceans.3. And when the mountains will bemade to pass away.

First, Allah mentions the mountains,as man has to make his settlements on land,and the first hurdle in the way of mutualinteraction and co-operation are themountains as Allah says: “Mountainsshall be made to pass away.” Now, seehow most of the mountains of the worldhave been made to pass away. Roads havebeen built and tunnels dug – whichmountainous height is there that has notbeen traversed by Gog and Magog, thatis, the European nations? In fact, themountains are no longer the obstacles thatthey used to be; rather, Allah says that noobstacle in the way of interaction andcommerce between cities and towns willremain, and even the mountains will bemade to give way, and travel andinteraction between communities shall bemade possible by digging tunnels throughthem and building roads over them, andthe green meadows and pastures in themountains will become tourist resorts.Efforts are underway to scale the highestpeaks not yet conquered by man, and itwill certainly come to pass that all of themwill be conquered, for Allah, the High,says: “Even when Gog and Magog arelet loose, and they sally forth from everyelevated place” (21:96).

Allah next deals with the obstacleoffered by long distances. Since theworld cannot be made to shrink, the onlyway distances could be shortened in apractical manner would be to invent suchspeedy means of transport that distanceswould virtually contract: the shorter thetime of travel, the shorter the distance,as it would appear to the traveller.4. When the she-camels areabandoned.

The word ‘ishaar is applied to a ten-month pregnant she-camel. It is a rulethat a female cow becomes morevaluable when it is nearing the time ofdelivery. For instance, in our country,cows and buffaloes become morevaluable when their time of delivery isnear, and they are held in greaterestimation. The reason is that there ishope of an imminent offspring.Similarly, when a she-camel was near




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its term of pregnancy, it was called‘ishaar in Arabia, that is, ten-monthpregnant, and its value increasedbecause there was an expectation of ayoung camel being born. In addition, ashe-camel is faster and sturdier intraversing long distances.

A special mention was made of thetransport by camel because it is a typeof mount that is used for riding andcarrying of loads in terrains where noother means of transport or animal canbe very effective. In deserts and drymountain ranges, where there is not evena trace of water, a camel can go on fordays on end without fodder and drink. Ithas the stamina to cover long distanceswhilst carrying heavy loads, a staminathat is not matched by any other animal.

The Arabs could only traverse thewaterless and verdure-less deserts anddry burnt-out mountain ranges by usingthe camel, and this they did. Horses wereonly useful in war. Accordingly, to them,the camel was a thing of great value andutility, their only way of traversingdifficult routes. Thus, when we are toldthat a day would come when the camelwould become redundant and no onewould look for pregnant she-camels, it isa clear indication that such means oftransport, such as railways and roadtransport, would be invented that wouldnot only be more effective than the camelin transporting passengers and goods, butthat they would also travel over thosedifficult routes over which only the camelswere of any use in former days.

Another explanation is that theroadways would be made so easy thatthere would be no special need forcamels. Rather, these new modes oftransport would be able to travel on thosedifficult routes where camels used to go,and better and speedier modes oftransport would run on these roads andsave time. Thus, the question ofobstacles of the road and long distanceswould no longer be pertinent.

And so it has happened. Today,distance means nothing in the face offast-flying aircraft, railways and road

transport, and even the most arduousroutes were made easy and available tothese vehicles and a worldwide networkof roads and rails has made the use ofcamels obsolete. Now, who would golooking for a ten-month pregnant she-camel? How great a saving of time andhow easy the growth of internationalcommunication and interaction, and howtremendously international trade hasgrown because of these new means oftransport!

This also applies to the Hijaz.Nowadays, Muslim pilgrims travel onroad transport to go to perform thePilgrimage, and camels have becomeredundant there. Here, I will mentionan incident that betrays the mentality ofthe so-called ‘ulama (religious scholars)of these times. It was Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, the Reformer of theFaith of this age, who drew our attentionto this prophecy. At that time, the Hijazrailway was under construction, but dueto the revolution in Turkey, the projectstopped when the railway line reachedMadinah. Thereupon, certain ‘ulama ofthe Punjab started to dance with joy, onlybecause they thought they had got achance to prove Hazrat Mirza wrong,not realising that their stand, in fact, wasagainst the Holy Qur’an itself, becauseit is the Qur’an which says that therewould come into existence suchtransport as would render camelsredundant. Their view was also againstthe Holy Prophet who had prophesied:“The she-camels will be abandoned andwill no longer be used.”

The only fault of Hazrat Mirza wasthat he had lifted the veil from the faceof this prophecy after getting the newsfrom Allah. But woe to the jealousy andprejudice of those ‘ulama that, thoughtheir interpretation was contrary to theHoly Qur’an and the Hadith, yet theydanced with joy over the possibility ofproving Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadto be in the wrong.

But Allah, the High, soon ended thejoy of those adversaries and roadtransport became a reality between

Jeddah and Makkah and Madinah andthe she-camels became redundant. Now,instead of camel caravans, the motortransport is used on this route and thereis a proposal for constructing a railwayalso, thus fulfilling the prophecies of theHoly Qur’an and the Hadith.

In short, it is obvious that by virtueof the overcoming of the obstacles posedby mountains, construction of roads, andthe invention of fast-moving transport,which makes the covering of very greatdistances in a matter of minutes, theinteraction and mingling of variousnations have increased, and moderncivilization has also reached peopleliving in remote and far-off places andwho, because of their ignorance, wereclassified as wild, jungle people. Thisinteraction and mingling was bound todispel their ignorance and wildness andrender them civilized and cultured. Thus,culture and civilization could spreadthroughout the world. So Allah, MostHigh, refers to this very fact of theelimination of ignorance and wildnessby saying:5. And when the wild (men and)animals are gathered together.

That is to say, the wild people who usedto live in jungles and mountains likenomads would now come into towns andcities to settle there, and would partake ofthe benefits of every aspect of culture andcivilization. Just look at the savage peopleof Africa’s jungles and see how they arecoming and settling down in towns. Thesame applies to other countries. What wasEurope after all? Just a collection ofsavage people. Observe how their societyhas progressed today and then ponder overthe verse and experience the joy of truthunfolded in it.

As the ignorance and savagery of thosejungle people gradually disappeared, theykept progressing through various stagesof culture and civilization. But thiscivilizing process could not reach itsclimax until all the countries andcontinents were so connected that thewhole world would become like one city;the commerce of one country would




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readily reach another, and the people ofone country would visit other countries,meet one another and, by benefiting fromone another’s expertise in wisdom andknowledge, arts and crafts, commerce andcivic organization, would develop andprogress in every field. So it wasnecessary, in order to achieve this, thatthe obstacle offered by the oceans beremoved.6. When the seas are made to swell (withhuge ships carrying people and cargo).

So Allah says: The rivers and theoceans that separate continents andcountries would be “filled up” by meansof bridges over rivers and plying of

modern means of transport over the seas.And these would become so commonthat the seas and rivers would becomelike ordinary highways easy to traversethem as if they are “filled up.”

Now, see how today, Asia and Africa,Europe and America, Australia andthousands of islands in the world havebecome like one city. The sea is no longera barrier between them. Rather, it servesas a highway and travel over these sealanes, as also through the airways, hasbecome so comfortable and swift, andthere are in existence large number ofgrand and comfortable ships and aircraftplying these lands, that sea and air travel

have become more comfortable andmore luxurious than overland travel.7. And when people will be joinedtogether.

How clearly this prophecy has beenfulfilled. Where in the world do you findpeople who do not travel abroad andintermingle with others? Now, whendistances have been obliterated and allbarriers removed, a whole multitude ofpeople are meeting with others and arebenefiting from this interaction, andfrom the sharing of their knowledge andideas and from mutual trade andcommerce. The result is that culture andcivilization have reached their zenith.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as Defender of Islamby Dr. Zahid Aziz, Nottingham, UK

[The following talk was delivered on24 May in Urdu at the Convention at theCentre of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Move-ment held from 24-26th May 2008 at DarusSalam Colony, Lahore, Pakistan tocommemorate the 100th anniversary of thedeath of the Founder of the AhmadiyyaMovement. – Ed.]

“Surely We have revealed theReminder and surely We are itsGuardian” (The Quran, 15:9).

The subject that has been assignedto me by the organizers of thisconvention is: “Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad as a Defender of Islam”. HenceI have recited this verse.

Before coming to the topic of myspeech, I thank Almighty Allah that Hehas enabled us to gather here in Lahorewhere the Promised Messiah breathedhis last and to attend this auspiciousoccasion, and to gather today, tocommemorate the 100th anniversary ofthe death of Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad. We must also express ourgratitude to all those people, many ofwhom are no longer on this earth, who,through their sacrifices and hard labour,enabled this Movement to continue inexistence for 100 years after itsFounder’s death.

What particularly moves me to

express this thankfulness is that ourMovement has reached this point afterpassing through many calamitous stormsand crises which threatened to destroyit. In the lifetime of many people presenthere, the events in Pakistan of thesummer of 1974 occurred events whichplaced the very existence of ourMovement in doubt, particularly withinthis country. Those friends can still befound who then sincerely feared for thesurvival of this Movement; thoseenemies can still be found who hopedthat this was the end of us, and thoseformer members who deserted thisMovement to save themselves fromdrowning with this ship still exist today.But thanks to Allah, and due to thestruggle against all odds of some devotedsenior members, the ship was saved andcontinues to sail in rough conditions.

When I pondered over the topicassigned to me, ‘Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad as a Defender of Islam’, I beganto consider whether under this heading Icould correctly convey the servicesrendered by him. This is because hismission was to make Islam triumphant,by arguments and writings, but‘defending’ seems to be a negativeactivity. Then there is also the saying

that “attack is the best form of defence”.Thinking about this, I reached theconclusion that defence of Islam is, infact, the way to make it triumphant.Regarding this saying, it may well applyin the business of the world, where byattacking you can best defend yourself,but in the field of religion attackinganother religion does not establish thetruth of your own faith.What defence of Islam means

I first raise the question: Is thedefence of Islam at all important? Youmay be surprised to know thattraditionally Islamic religious leadershave held that there is no need to respondto objections against Islam and it is notthe duty of a Muslim to do so. Accordingto them, as Islam is the true religion, itmeans that any criticism of it must befalse and need not be entertained. AnAmerican expert in Islam, Dr. FreelandAbbott, in his book entitled Islam andPakistan, published some forty yearsago, compares the approach of theorthodox Muslim religious leaderMaulana Maudoodi with that of HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad, and writes thatwhile Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is anxiousto prove the truth of Islam, MaulanaMaudoodi simply assumes it.




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This is why we find that the usualresponse by Muslims to any criticismof Islam or the Holy ProphetMuhammad is only to make someprotests, hold demonstrations, declarethat the criticism is due to a conspiracyby anti-Islamic forces, and even tothreaten violence against the critics.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadstrongly took the view that to establishthe truth of Islam it is essential and vitalto refute and reply to all objectionsagainst it. He writes: “It is undoubtedlytrue that Europe and America have beengiven a huge collection of objectionsagainst Islam by Christian clerics, andtheir philosophy and sciences raise aseparate kind of objections. I have foundthat the modern age has produced aboutthree thousand hostile criticisms pre-sented as objections against Islam. Wereit not for the bad consequences of thenegligence of Muslims, the existence ofthese objections poses no threat to Islam.In fact, it was necessary that they shouldcome into existence so that Islam shouldbe seen shining with truth from everyaspect” (Izalah Auham, p. 772).

It is a fact, which we have ourselvesexperienced, that whenever someallegation is made against Islam or itsHoly Prophet (or against the AhmadiyyaMovement or its Founder), and we carryout study and research in order to replyto it, then not only do we discover a

powerful reply to the allegation but wealso learn some new and inspiring pointwhich further proves the truth of the manor the system that we are defending. Thatis a sure characteristic of the cause oftruth. If a man is accused of some chargein court, then at most what may beestablished in his favour is that he is notguilty of it and the charge is false.However, clearing him of the charge willnot prove further that he is of impeccablecharacter. However, in the case of a truecause or a man of truth, answeringaccusations against them shows them notonly to be innocent of the charges but italso further reveals some new aspect oftheir greatness.

Hazrat Mirza Sahib has not onlyreplied to specific allegations againstIslam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sas) but has also discussed thephilosophy of why such allegations ariseand how we ought to respond. In thisconnection I draw your attention to amemorial he addressed to the Governorof the Punjab, a province in India inwhich he lived, in the year 1898. AChristian had written a highly scurrilousbook against the wives of the HolyProphet, entitled UmmahaatulMu’minin, or ‘Mothers of the Believers’.A Muslim association, the AnjumanHimayat-i Islam of Lahore, appealed tothe provincial government for this bookto be banned. Hazrat Mirza Sahib in hismemorial, dated 4 th May 1898,responded to the standpoint of thisassociation and opposed it. We quotesome extracts from it below:

“It is true that the author ofUmmahatul Mu’minin has useddeeply offensive language, and it isto be regretted even more that despitethese strong and foul words he couldnot substantiate his allegations byreferring to any reliable sources ofIslam. Nonetheless, we must not,instead of explaining to this mistakenperson in a polite and calm way andreplying to this book in a rationalway, adopt the method of persuadingthe government to stop its publi-

cation, and believe that this wouldgive us victory. This would not be areal victory. In fact, to run after suchways and means would be anindication of our defeat and helpless-ness, and we would be guilty in asense of using force to suppresssomeone’s voice.

Even if the government had thisbook burnt or destroyed, or tooksimilar action, we would forever beliable to the charge that, being unableto reply to it, we asked thegovernment to intervene, and webehaved like those who are overcomewith anger and are incapable ofreplying. Of course, after replying tothe book we can respectfully appealto the government that all religiousparties should be required to give upthe inflammatory technique emp-loyed these days and not to departfrom civility, good manners andpoliteness.”

Response to religious criticism“It is essential to keep open the door

of freedom of religious criticism to someextent so that people may progress inknowledge and understanding…Everyone has the right to discuss anyreligion with sincere motives and therebygive himself and other people the benefitof finding out how to find salvationaccording to his thinking. ...

We most certainly do not wish thatinstead of us replying to this book thegovernment should take the Christianwriters to task on our behalf or destroytheir books. On the contrary, after we havepublished a refutation of this book,couched in calm and measured terms, thisbook will lose all value and standing, andin this way it will perish by itself”(Majmu‘a Ishtiharat, v. 3, p. 41-42).




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He then adds that “a grave harm,which Muslims would suffer by gettingthis book banned is that subsequentlythey would not be able to publish arefutation of it since it would be entirelyunreasonable and inappropriate to referto the contents of this book in the reply, asthe book would have been banned!

Without a reply to the book, the world willthink that all that the Muslims could dowas to get the book proscribed and “thiscauses even more damage to our religioushonour than the opponent has tried to doby his abusive writing” (p. 42).

As to dealing with our offendedfeelings, he writes:

“We assure the government thatwe hold fast to patience with apainful heart in the face of theabusive and harsh words used by theauthor of Ummahaatul Mu’minin.We certainly do not wish to subjectthe author and his associates to anylegal penalty. Such a response is notworthy of those who claim to be well-wishers of humanity and to bezealous to bring about real reform”(pp. 42-43).

Interestingly, he goes on to say thatmost sensible Muslims agree with his

approach:“It is also worthy of stating before

the government that although myMovement has some differences of asecondary nature on certain matterswith other Muslims, yet on this issueno sensible Muslim disagrees withthe point that we have not been taughtto display rage and fury in supportof our religion. On the contrary, theQur’an instructs us: Argue not withthe People of the Book except bywhat is best [29:46], and in anotherplace: Call to the way of your Lordwith wisdom and goodly exhortation[16:125]…

But to seek the help of thegovernment or to show fury and rageourselves is not by any meansbeneficial for our real purpose. Theseare ways of fighting worldlydisputes, and true Muslims andfollowers of the Islamic path do notapprove of them because these wayscannot produce results that are ofbenefit in guiding mankind” (p. 43).

He further supports this from theHoly Qur’an by quoting 3:185 and




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explaining:“Its translation is that God will

try you by sending tribulations inrespect of your properties and lives,and you will hear from the People ofthe Book and the idolaters muchhurtful talk. But if you are patientand guard yourself from takingunworthy action then God will regardyou as a people of great resolve. …This was undoubtedly a prophecy forthe present age and has been fulfilled…

According to this prophecy of theQur’an it had to happen that a timeshould come when the Holy ProphetMuhammad (sas), whose followersextend over a large part of the world,should be verbally abused byChristians, who lay claim to beingcivilized, and he should be called bythem by the worst possible epithets.… Even an intelligent Christian canrealise … what painful hurt this mustcause to Muslims and how grievedthey must feel…

Nonetheless, in the above versewe are emphatically told that uponhearing such foul words which hurtour feelings we must have recourseto patience. There is no doubt thatapproaching the authorities forthwithis a kind of impatience. … God theMost High has also taught us in theQur’an that there is no compulsionor coercion in religion, as He says:‘There is no compulsion in religion’[2:256], and ‘will you compel peopletill they believe?’ [10:99]. But suchmeans [asking for the book to bebanned] are included in the meaningof compulsion and coercion, whichbring a sacred and rational religionlike Islam into disrepute” (p. 44-45).

You can see that the approach todealing with abusive, and indeed moregeneral, criticism of Islam as presentedby Hazrat Mirza Sahib here is highlyappropriate and most fitting in thepresent circumstances and in the lightof recent events that recur withregularity. In fact, it is the only way byfollowing which Muslims can restore thedignity of Islam in the world.Ahmadiyya response to RangeelaRasool

In this city of Lahore, within the hugeMiani Sahib cemetery, there is the plotwell-known to our Jama‘at where ourelders are buried. We visited it yesterday.Near to our plot, you pass the smalltomb of Ilm-ud-Din shaheed, regardedas a martyr. In the late 1920s an AryaSamaj Hindu in Lahore, a bookpublisher by the name of Raj Pal, wrotea bitterly vituperative book against theHoly Prophet Muhammad (sas) entitledRangeela Rasul (meaning: ‘The Licen-tious Prophet’). The young Muslim‘Ilmud Din, inflamed after listening to




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a khutba on the subject by a famousMaulana, went and stabbed Raj Pal todeath in his bookshop. He was convictedof murder and hanged, a punishment heaccepted willingly. Today he is verywell-known and is considered a Muslimhero. But Raj Pal was the sole abuserhe could silence! On the other hand,Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi, onbehalf of our Jama‘at, wrote articles andbooks in refutation of the Arya Samajsect. His writings destroyed all theallegations of the Arya Samaj againstIslam wherever and whenever theyarose, and handed the Muslims apermanent, literary weapon to defeatsuch abusers of Islam over and overagain. You can see whose service toIslam is greater and in accordance withthe teachings of Islam. Yet Ilm-ud-Dinshaheed and his story are widelyhonoured, while in comparison very fewMuslims in Pakistan have heard of thename or of the work of Maulana AbdulHaq Vidyarthi, who is buried a littlefurther away in the same cemetery.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, in hiswritings, has answered specific chargesagainst Islam and the Holy ProphetMuhammad (sas). The following are theprincipal allegations that he has dealtwith:§ That Islam preaches unprovoked

war and violence againstfollowers of other faiths.

§ That Islam did not spreadbecause its teachings wereacceptable but by either offeringpeople material gain and loot inthis life and sensual pleasures inthe next life, or by coercion andforce.

§ Allegations relating to themarriages of the Holy Prophet,and the permitting of polygamyas well as divorce in Islam.

§ That the Holy Prophet had gravemoral shortcomings and couldnot purify his followers, whereasProphet Jesus (as) was sinlessand perfect.

§ That Islam does not teach the

higher morals that are taught inthe Gospels.

§ That the concepts of revelationfrom God, acceptance of prayersby God and miracles areoutcomes of man’s ignorance andsuperstition, are unsupported byany evidence, and have beenshown to be false by modernscience.

For his treatment of these subjects,please refer to his following books:Government Angrezi Aur Jihad, AryaDharam, Nurul Qur’an Part 2,Barakatud Du‘a, Chashma-i Masihi,Chashma-i Ma‘rifat, and ThePhilosophy of the Teachings of Islam.Precedence of Qur’an over all othersources of Islam

A principle revived by Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, which enables mostallegations against Islam to be refuted,is that the Holy Qur’an must be givenprecedence over all other sources ofIslam. No conclusion should be acceptedfrom the Hadith reports, or rulings ofIslamic jurisprudence, which iscontradicted by the Qur’an. MaulanaMuhammad Ali has also stated in aFriday sermon that, having beenanswering objections against Islam forforty years, he always found that the vastmajority of them do not relate toanything in the Qur’an but arise fromsome Hadith report or story in abiography of the Holy Prophet.

It is to be regretted that theinauthentic stories contained in thesebiographies of the Holy Prophet aresometimes given credibility by Muslimwriters, instead of being exposed andrejected as contrary to the Qur’an, inthe first place, and even contrary toHadith reports. In 1983, a book entitledMuhammad: His Life Based on theEarliest Sources, was published, writtenby a highly scholarly English convert toIslam, Martin Lings (d. 2005), whoworked at the British Museum, and whorose to the position of Keeper of OrientalPrinted Books and Manuscripts. Hisknowledge and scholarship of Islam is

not in any doubt. Unfortunately, his bookis nothing but a collection of the mostcredulous and least authentic storiesfrom the biographies of the Holy Prophetthat appeal to those who reduce religionto fables and tales of wonder. This bookwas immediately awarded a prize by thegovernment of Pakistan of severalthousands of dollars as the bestbiography of the Holy Prophet everwritten in English.

We may give two examples from thisbook of the kind of material that bringsthe sacred figures of Islam into disreputeand subjects them to criticism from theopponents of Islam. We are told that thefamous companion, Abu Dharr, beforehis acceptance of Islam, was ahighwayman, i.e. a robber of travellers,as this was the occupation of most ofhis tribesmen. When he receivedinformation that the Holy Prophet waspreaching the oneness of God inMakkah, he came to see the HolyProphet and embraced Islam. So far sogood. Then we are told that after hereturned to his tribe, “many of whomentered Islam through him”, hecontinued his occupation as ahighwayman, but with the followingdifference:

“…when he had despoiled a caravanhe would offer to give back what hehad taken on condition that theywould testify to the Oneness of Godand the prophethood of Muhammad”(p. 54).Did Abu Dharr not learn by

accepting Islam that robbery was a greatsin? According to Lings’ account, whenAbu Dharr accepted Islam, the HolyProphet, upon learning that he belongedto a tribe who were well-known to berobbers, expressed “amazement” thatsuch a man had been guided by God tobecome a Muslim. This would lead tothe conclusion that the Holy Prophetmust have preached to him that robberywas a most serious sin in Islam. Yetaccording to Lings, Abu Dharr, aftergoing back and in fact converting manyof his people to Islam, still continued




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BIRTHDAY SONG FORMUSLIM CHILDRENLyric edited by Mrs Sharda

Ahmadali, Suriname

Glory to Thee, O Allah.Thine is the praise,Blessed is Thy name,Exalted is Thy Majesty.And there is none to be servedbesides Thee.

Happy birthday to you.May Allah bless you.O Allah! Subhaan Allah.

Glory to Thee, O Allah.Guide us to the way,Every single day.Lead us to prosperity.Because there is none so guidingBesides Thee.


Glory to Thee, O Allah.Grant us Your presence,Wisdom and health.Grant us the best we can be.Because there is none so generousBesides Thee.


(You can listen to this song at:http://www.ivisep.org/islamsongs/songs.htm.)

committing acts of robbery. Worse still,and far worse, is the claim quoted abovethat now he would return his spoils tothe victims of his crime on condition thatthey testified to the Kalimah. Thispalpably false story confirms theallegations that Islam was spread bycoercion, that the Holy Prophet did notbring about any reform of character, andthat Islam does not teach even ordinarymorals, let alone high ones.

In citing the second example fromLings’ book, we apologise to readers andseek forgiveness of Allah for quoting astatement derogatory to the dignity ofthe Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas).Christian critics of the Holy Prophetallege that once when he visited hismarried cousin Zainab at her house hebecame aroused with the desire to marryher himself. They charge him witharranging to receive revelation clearingthe way to marry her after divorce fromher husband Zaid, as he otherwise couldnot marry her since Zaid was his adoptedson and Arab custom did not allow sucha marriage. Here is what is reported inLings’ book:

“It happened one day that he[the Holy Prophet] wanted to speakto Zayd about something and wentto his house. Zaynab opened thedoor, and as she stood in thedoorway telling him that Zayd wasout but inviting him none the lessto enter, a look passed between thetwo cousins which made each oneconscious of a deep and lastingbond of love between them. In amoment the Prophet knew thatZaynab loved him and that he lovedher and that she knew he loved her”(pp. 212–213).Although the further elements of the

story given by Lings, namely, that Zaidand Zainab subsequently divorcedagreeably and that the Holy Prophet thenmarried Zainab, are no doubt true, butthe misconceived passage above enablesthe critics of Islam to allege that the HolyProphet wanted to follow base humandesires, which is unworthy of a man sent

by God, and that his revelation merelysupported him in his own desires. Anatural question arises: How do weknow that the feelings of the HolyProphet and Zainab were as portrayedabove, when neither of them everreported this to anyone? This is nothingbut a piece of ill-considered imaginationby some earlier source, who hasembroidered the events with fictitiousdetails, more in the style of romanticnovels than religious literature. In asubsequent edition of Lings’ book theabove wording has been toned down,although it essentially conveys the samemeaning as here.

The reason why even eminentMuslim writers and scholars acceptsuch baseless stories is that they eitherdo not realise or are unconcerned abouttheir implications for the defence ofIslam. If they believe, as would appearto be the case, that these stories illustratethe human side of the Holy Prophet andhis Companions, then they do notunderstand why prophets were sent, howthey are purified by the hand of God,and how they purify and reform theirfollowers. Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad, and those who followed him inconducting the defence of Islam, are wellaware of the damage done by suchreports, which have no basis in any caseand contradict the real earliest sourceof the Holy Prophet’s life, which is theQur’an.

The vast criticism of and allegationsagainst Islam, as referred to by HazratMirza Sahib, were widely propagatedto Muslims during the times of colonialrule. Then, after Muslim countriesbecame independent, this criticismdisappeared from public view.Subsequent generations of Muslimsbecame unaware of its existence. Sincethe start of the present century, whencertain events have led to Islam beingregarded by many in the West as agreat threat to its civilisation, it isthose same allegations that have re-emerged and are being broadcast bycertain hostile quarters in order to

vilify Islam. Muslims are puzzled,bemused and alarmed. But thesecharges against Islam are not new.Those who read the works of HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad and hisfollowers in the defence of Islam arefamiliar with them. That GreatDefender of Islam has providedMuslims with all the material theyneed to defend Islam even in thepresent age.


http://www.ivisep.org/islamsongs/songs.htm



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Brief life-history of the Promised MessiahCompiled by Nasir Ahmad B.A., LL.B. (UK)

Faimly historyHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the GreatReformer of the 14th century (Hijrah),Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement,was born at Qadian, a village in theGurdaspur District, Punjab, on Friday13 th February, 1835 CE.(Coincidentally, it was the 14th (fullmoon) of Shawwal, 1250 AH.)

He came of a good old stock ofCentral Asia and was the scion of adynasty which originally belonged toPersia. As such, he was one of the “sonsof Persia” as was foretold by the HolyProphet Muhammad (sas) (Zurqani, vol.2, p. 126). He was one of twins; a girl(Jannat Bibi) was born first. (It fulfilleda prophecy about the coming Messiah.Ref. Shaikh-i Akbar Hazrat Muhiy-ud-Din ibn Arabi, Fusus al-Hikam, p. 83).His father’s name was Mirza GhulamMurtaza. The family descended from theBerlas tribe of the Mughal family. Hisancestors had long resided in Khurasan,a province of Persia, and were thedignitaries of the land.

In the tenth century of the Hijrah,when Babur ruled India, one of hisancestors, Mirza Hadi Beg, emigratedfrom Persia, most probably on accountof some family dissension, with hisfamily and about two hundred attendantsand sought refuge in India. Settling in avast and fertile sub-Himalayan plain,called the Majjhi, he founded there avillage, about 70 miles from Lahore ina north-easterly direction, and called itIslampur. The ruling monarch grantedhim a vast tract of land as an estate withthe right to exercise the powers of a Qadi(lit., a magistrate) or chief executiveauthority. Hence, Islampur becameknown as Islampur Qadi Majjhi,ultimately shortened to Qadi, which laterbecame known as Qadian.

In the latter days of the MoghulEmpire it was undergoing the process

of dissolution. The estate granted to theancestors of Hazrat Mirza became anindependent state. In the early days ofthe Sikh rule, when anarchy andoppression were the order of the day, andIslam and the Muslims were beingpersecuted everywhere, Qadianremained for a long time a place of peaceand prosperity. Mirza Gul Muhammad,the great-grandfather of Hazrat Mirza,was then the head of the family. He hadonly eighty-five villages in hispossession but, on account of his greatlove for piety and learning, many of thelearned men who could not find shelterelsewhere felt assured of a warmreception at Qadian and were giftedsome place to settle down.

After the death of Mirza GulMuhammad, his son, Mirza AtaMuhammad, became the chief. He wassoon overpowered by the Sikhs, whoseized village after village until not asingle village, except Qadian, was leftin his possession. This place wasstrongly fortified, but somehow a bodyof Sikhs called Ram Garhias entered thetown and took possession of the village.Mirza Ata Muhammad and his wholefamily were made prisoners anddeprived of their possessions. Theirhouses and mosques were made desolateand the library was burnt. After inflictingall kinds of torture, the Sikhs orderedthe family to leave the village of Qadian.Thus, expelled from their home, theysought shelter in another state, whereMirza Ata Muhammad was poisoned byhis enemies.

The rule of Ranjit Singh brought thefamily some measure of relief. In thelatter days of Ranjit Singh’s ascendancy,five villages from the large estate of hisancestors were returned to MirzaGhulam Murtaza, father of HazratMirza, and they re-settled at Qadian.

The Sikh anarchy was, soon after

Hazrat Mirza’s birth, replaced by thepeace and security of the British rule,and the Muslims in Punjab once againbreathed a sigh of relief. The familynaturally welcomed the change, and, inresponse, Mirza Ghulam Murtazashowed his staunch loyalty to the Britishrule in the mutiny of 1857. In recognitionof his services, he received a handsomepension and was highly esteemed by theBritish officials. Hazrat Mirza’s ownimpressions of the Sikh rule and thepersecution of Muslims were deep-seated, and he always spoke of thecoming of the British rule as a blessingand as saving the Punjab Muslims fromthe worse type of slavery andharassment.Education

In his childhood, Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad received his educationat home from tutors and learnt the HolyQur’an, some classical Persian worksand Arabic grammar. When he wasseventeen, a tutor was employed to teachhim ordinary Arabic text. He alsostudied some works on medicine fromhis father, who was a famous physicianof Indian medicine of his time.Righteous and God-fearing

From his early days, Hazrat Mirzahad studious habits and he loved toremain in seclusion with his books. Thefrivolities characteristic of that age didnot affect his heart. Gifted with acontemplative bent of mind, he lovedsolitude and books. His father was, onthat account, very anxious about himand repeatedly asked him to leave hisseclusion and books for the morepractical business of life and to take aninterest in the recovery of his lost estate.Such worldly occupations were hatefulto Hazrat Mirza and he cared little forthe restoration of the lost dignity andpossessions of the family.

In obedience to his father’s wishes




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he was compelled to accept Governmentservice at Sialkot where he remained inservice for four years (1864-68). Hisexperience in this line of life made uponhis heart a deep impression regardingthe degeneration of those with whom hecame in contact and therefore he alwayskept himself aloof. When his day’s workwas finished, he would straightaway goto his residence and bury himself in thepages of his books. His favourite booksunder his constant study were the HolyQur’an, Sahih al-Bukhari, Futuh al-Ghaib (Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jilani),Masnavi (Maulana Jalal-ud-Din Rumi),Dalail-ul-Khairat (Abu ‘AbdullahMuhammad ibn Sulaiman al-Jazawli),Tazkiratul Auliya (Shaikh Farid-ud-Din‘Attar) and Safar-us-Sa‘aadat(Mujaddid-ud-Din Ferozabadi).

It was in Sialkot that he came incontact with some Christianmissionaries and had discussions withthem on religious topics. Even at thatearly age in Sialkot he astonished thosewho listened to him with the power andclarity with which he expoundedreligious truths and supported the causeof Islam. Even some Christianmissionaries used to listen to hisconversations with rapt attention, soimpressive were his words. At last, hisfather recalled him from Governmentservice at Sialkot and he was againrequired to carry on the lawsuits relatingto his father ’s estate. Even whilepursuing lawsuits, Hazrat Mirzadevoted most part of his time to therefutation of Christian attacks on Islam.The town of Batala, about eleven milesfrom Qadian, was an importantChristian missionary centre. Hefrequented the place in connection withthe affairs of the estate, and it painedhim to see how Christian propaganda,un-refuted as it was, misled ignorantMuslims.

Even after returning from Qadian, hestill had to undertake long and wearyjourneys, mostly on foot, to follow uplawsuits in courts. However, his trips inthis connection to the hill courts at

Dalhousie were not absolutely devoid ofinterest. He loved to tread the lonelytracks, up and down the hills and dales,chanting to himself and musing on thebeauties of nature, in accompanimentwith the nodding trees and themurmuring streams.Love for the Holy Qur’an

At the age of forty, a new era dawnedupon Hazrat Mirza as he experienced anumber of visions and received newsabout the death of his father. And so hestarted to receive frequent Divinerevelations. His father’s death in June1876 brought about a radical change inhis life and his religious tendencies beganto assume a more definite form. Fromthen on the whole of his time was devotedto the study of the Holy Qur’an and otherIslamic literature. His religious devotionwas different from the one normallyfollowed in those days. His onlydevotional exercise was the study of theHoly Qur’an in solitude or the makingof deep supplications in his daily prayersand especially in the Tahajjud (ormidnight) prayers.Divine visions and revelations

True dreams started quite early in hisyouth, around 1868-69. One notableinstance related to the death of one ofhis colleagues, Pundit Sehaj Ram, withwhom he used to have frequent religiousdiscussions in Sialkot and who, in duecourse of time, became an assistant tothe Commissioner in Amritsar. Allah,Most High, informed Hazrat Mirzaabout Pundit Ram’s death while HazratMirza was in Qadian and it was sosudden that the news could not havereached him in any way on the same day.

Consequently, as he devoted all histime to studies and devotional prayersand was not taking an active part in themanagement of the lands, it was hisfather, therefore, who was supportinghim financially. On his father’s death,Hazrat Mirza’s elder brother, MirzaGhulam Qadir became the successor. Hewas not quite fair in paying his share ofincome. His late father used to get apension and also a good annual income

from the British Government out ofwhich he would pay something to HazratMirza as a special favour. But now afterhis death this amount came to an abruptend. In these circumstances he wasconcerned about his finances. He thenreceived a verse of the Holy Qur’an asa revelation: “Is not Allah sufficient forHis servant?” (39:36). This revelationgave him much consolation. Afterwards,he never worried about finances as hereceived thousands of rupees for hispublications and other projects from hissupporters and disciples.

On one occasion, he saw a vision inwhich an old man appeared to himsaying that, according to the law ofprophethood, fasting was a necessarypreparation for receiving Divine light.On the basis of this vision, he kept fastsfor a period of eight or nine months,reducing his food during that time to twoor three morsels. Nevertheless, he did itprivately so as to keep the fact concealedfrom his nearest relatives. This longfasting, however, had no injurious affectupon his health. On the other hand, hesaw many wonderful visions relating tothe future, some of which were later onpublished in Barahin-i Ahmadiyya, hisfirst great work in four parts (1880-84).

The publication of Barahin-iAhmadiyya generated a deep impressionon the Muslims. They loved its authorfor his righteousness and piety, for hisservices to the cause of Islam, for hisscholarly writings and his bold standagainst the opponents of Islam. Howgreatly he was respected by the Muslimsof India is evident from a review ofBarahin-i Ahmadiyya by MaulviMuhammad Hussain of Batala, theleader of the Ahl-i Hadith sect which raninto 14 instalments. The nature of thereview is enhanced when it is borne inmind that there were differences betweenthe Ahl-i Hadith and the Hanafi schoolof thought and it was to the latter groupto which the author of the book belonged.I quote below a part of the review:

“In our opinion, in this age andin view of the present circumstances,




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this is such a book that the like of ithas not been written up to this timein Islam. … Its author … has provenhimself firm in helping the cause ofIslam, with his property, with his penand tongue and his personal religiousexperience, to such an extent that anexample of it is rarely met withamong the Muslims who have gonebefore … who, besides helping Islam… have also come forward with theirreligious experiences and haveproclaimed, as against the opponentsof Islam and the deniers of revelation,the manly challenge that whoeverdoubted the truth of revelation mightcome … and witness the truth thereofand who have made non-Muslimstaste of the same” (Isha‘at-us-Sunnah, vol. 7, June-Nov., 1884,Batala, India).

Anti-Islamic Christian literatureHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was,

however, no mere visionary. From anearly age of sixteen or seventeen he hadbeen pondering over Christian objectionsand had collected all those objectionswhich the Christians advanced againstIslam, the Holy Qur’an and the HolyProphet. These were about threethousand. The fact remains that not fora moment had those objections made anyimpression on him or created any doubtin his mind. And this shows how deepwas his conviction in the truth of Islam.

Christianity necessarily attracted hisattention first, as that was the only foeof Islam in his early days in India.During his stay at Sialkot, he haddiscussions with Christian missionariesabout the comparative merits of Islamand Christianity. In fact, Christianpropaganda against Islam was mostactive, and at the same time mostscurrilous during the latter half of thenineteenth century. Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, being a devoted studentof religion, closely studied that literature,and his heart ached at the way in whichthe holiest of men was being malignedand abused. The extensive Christianmissionary network in India was

challenging the very existence of Islamand was gaining ground among theMuslims. Hazrat Mirza, whose heartwas full of the deepest conviction inIslamic truth, took up the challenge inreal earnest. He started to write inresponse to aggressive Christian andArya Samaj criticism and articles fromhis pen began to appear in leadingMuslim periodicals such as Manshoor-i Muhammadi of Bangalore (SouthernIndia), Safeer-i Hind, Hindu Bundhu,Widya Perkaashak, Aftab-i Punjab,Wakeel (Amritsar), etc.Comparative study of religions

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wasnot, however, a mere controversialist. Hewas a student of comparative religion,and, as early as 1873, while his fatherwas still alive, he had determined toplace the result of his researches beforethe public. The attention of the Founderwas not confined to the religiousdoctrines only. In the comparative studyof religions most of his writings shouldbe regarded as research worksvindicating the truth that Islam is auniversal religion revealed to andpreached by all the prophets of the worldand its teachings contain the pristinetruths of all the previous religions. Thefollowing verses of the Qur’an allude tothis:

“Whoever submits himselfentirely to Allah and he is the doerof good (to others), he has hisreward from his Lord, and there isno fear for such nor shall theygrieve” (2:112).

“So set thy face for religion,being upright, the nature made byAllah in which He has created men.There is no altering Allah’s creation.That is the right religion ...” (30:30).

“Mankind is a single nation. SoAllah raised prophets as bearers ofgood news and as warners, and Herevealed with them the Book withtruth, that it might judge betweenpeople concerning that in which theydiffered…” (2:213)“It is clear messages in the hearts

of those who are granted knowledge”(29:49).

“…Pure pages wherein are all rightbooks” (98:3).Re: Christianity

Christianity of the present Churchdepicted Prophet Jesus (as) as the sonof God, sitting on the right side of theSupreme God, sharing His attribute offorgiveness after being raised alive tothe heavens from the Cross. Thus thedeath of Prophet Jesus (as) on the Crossand later on his resurrection becamebasic teachings of Christianity. HazratMirza carried on an investigation inrelation to the tribes of Israel and wassuccessful in proving that those tribeshad migrated from Palestine and settledin Afghanistan and Kashmir long beforethe appearance of Prophet Jesus (as).He also proved with historical facts thatthough Prophet Jesus (as) was nailed tothe Cross, he did not die on it but escapedthe accursed death and later travelled indisguise to Afghanistan and Kashmirafter being taken down alive from theCross, that he preached his message tothe Israelite tribes that had settled there,and that he lived to the ripe old age of120 years. The Founder also producedhistorical, philological andarchaeological evidence that ProphetJesus (as) died in Kashmir and that histomb was at Mohalla Khanyar, Srinagar(Kashmir).

Most of his writings dealt with theanalytical study of the teachings of Islamand Christianity and the refutation of theopponents’ criticism against Islam, theHoly Qur’an and the Holy ProphetMuhammad (sas), in the light of theQur’an and the Bible.

But in some respects he made uniquecontributions by way of research basedon old and modern classical works,history and archaeology about the losttribes of Israel, Prophet Jesus’ escapefrom death on the Cross and his latertravels towards the East, and his settlingdown in Kashmir and his eventual deathin Srinagar, Kashmir. (Ref., Noor-ul-Qur’an, Part II (1895), Raaz-i Haqiqat




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(1898), Masih Hindustaan Mein (1899),Arba’een (1900), Tuhfa-i Golarwiyya(1902), Tuhfatun Nadwa (1902).Discovery of St. Peter’s letter showingthat prophet Jesus died almost fifty yearsafter the Crucifixion), Al-Huda (Arabic,June 1902).

The book, Masih Hindustan Mein(1899), is in fact a brief but conciseresearch on this subject and is widelyquoted by scholars in the West. It alsodeals with the hypothesis on howProphet Jesus’ teachings were greatlyinfluenced by Buddhism, which hestudied during his first visit to Indiaduring his early youth. The basicresearch about Prophet Jesus (as) wasfurther carried on by another learnedmember of the Lahore Ahmadiyyasection, Khwaja Nazir Ahmad, a leadingadvocate of Lahore (Pakistan) in hisequally scholarly comprehensive work,Jesus in Heaven on Earth.Re: Sikhism

In 1895 Hazrat Mirza went to thevillage of Dera Baba Nanak to find outthe truth about Baba Nanak’s CholaSahib (the Holy Cloak). The Chola iskept at this place as a relic of BabaNanak, whose followers call themselvesSikhs (Sanskrit: Seekers of Truth). TheChola was shown to him by thecustodian, and to the amazement of allwho went with him, he found that thewritings on the Chola were all verses ofthe Holy Qur’an. On his return he wrotea book called Sat Bachan in 1895.

The Cloak of Baba Nanak (1469-1538 C.E.), the Founder of Sikhism, wasworn by him in the latter part of his life,and is preserved as his sacred relic atKirtarpur, Dera Baba Nanak, India. Thediagram of this Cloak is given in SardarKirtar Singh’s Jughrafiya Zila‘Gurdaspur (Geography of GurdaspurDistrict, published by Mulk Raj Duggal,Booksellers and Publishers, India).According to the Sikh traditions, Godpresented this Chola to Baba Nanak.The Founder of the AhmadiyyaMovement during his visit, drew a sketchof the Chola and noted the writings on

it. These consist of some chapters of theHoly Qur’an, the Divine attributes ofGod, the Muslim formula of faith etc.With this Chola was also a cap whichBaba Nanak wore and it is reported thatsome Arabic verses have also beenwritten on it. The exact text, however,is not known so far. Thus Hazrat Mirzaput forward in that book solid argumentsand historical facts to prove that BabaNanak really believed in the truth ofIslam.

In April 1908, Hazrat Mirza sent aresearch group led by MaulanaMuhammad Ali to visit the village GuruHersehai in District Ferozepur to makeenquiries about the Pothi Sahib. It wassaid to be in the possession of thedescendants of Guru Amdas, the fourthGuru. It is also said that the GoldenTemple of Amritsar (i.e. Darbar Sahib)was dedicated to his name. Thedescendants of this Guru originally livedin Muhammadipur (Tehsil Chunian,Distt. Lahore). Later on, one of itselders, Guru Jevan Mal came down tothe present place and settled here andnamed it Guru Hersehai, after the nameof his son. It is related about the PothiSahib that Baba Guru Nanak always hadit hung from his neck and constantlyrecited from it and considered itsrecitation as a mode of worship. It wasconsidered so sacred that devotees ofBaba Guru Nanak visited from far offplaces to have a glance of it and offeredgifts in the form of cash or valuablesheets. In order to uncover the PothiSahib, the caretaker had to bathe 101times and a fixed amount was to be paidby the visitor. At that time, the caretakerwho was in possession of the PothiSahib was Guru Bishan Singh. Finallyit was discovered to the amazement ofall present that the Pothi Sahib was infact a copy of the Holy Qur’an. (Ref.Chashma-i Ma‘rifat, May 1908.)Arabic – Mother of all languages

He also carried on research to showthat Arabic was the mother of languages.Hazrat Mirza’s hypothesis was that thefirst language taught by Allah to man

was Arabic, and as mankind spread todifferent parts of the world, this commonlanguage evolved into divergent dialectsand gradually different languages cameinto being. In 1898, in a handout aboutthe book Minan al-Rahman (TheFavours of the Beneficent), he wrote:

“The unique theme of this bookcame to my mind by certain profoundverses of the Qur’an (2:31; 26:195;30:22; 41:21; 42:7) which referredto the diversity in languages as oneof the great blessings of Allah, and itexplains to us the philosophy of thediversity of languages. It also pointsto the underlying reality as to howdifferent human dialects eventuallydeveloped into different languagesfrom a common source and origin …

It may be pointed out that afterthorough research of variouslanguages it has been proved that theQur’an is the only book which hasbeen revealed in the language whichis divine and is the mother of alllanguages and is also the source andorigin of all the languages of theworld.

It is obvious that the full eleganceand excellence of God’s book are theresult of it being in a language thatis from God’s mouth. It excels allother languages, and is perfect in itsstructure. When we find perfectionin a language that is beyond theability of human strength and man’sendeavour, and we see eminencedeficient in other languages … thenwe have to admit that such alanguage has a Divine source.”Minan-ur-Rahman was published

after the death of Hazrat Mirza in itsunfinished form. Even the partial workthat has become available through thepublication displays the strength of itsarguments. Had this book beencompleted, it certainly would haverevolutionised the study of linguistics.This motivated Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din,who was the chief assistant and the maindiscussion-partner of Hazrat Mirza inthis research, to write a book called




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Ummul al-Sinah (Mother of Languages)based on the principal research themeof his master. Although this latter bookis not as comprehensive in itsdeliberation and evidence as wasconceived by Hazrat Mirza, yet KhwajaKamal-ud-Din was eminently successfulin proving Arabic to be the mother oflanguages.

Hazrat Mirza’s main mission as wellas his passion was to present to the worldthe beauties of the Holy Qur’an and theexcellent precepts of the life of the HolyProphet Muhammad (peace andblessings of Allah be on him) as theperfect example to epitomise themessage of peace and universalbrotherhood of Islam. Though he dealtwith the criticism of the opponents ofIslam and the objections of the atheistsand agnostics, yet he also tried to suggestways and means of bringing peace,tolerance and amity between variousreligious sections of the society at largeand in particular between the twodominant religious communities in India,namely the Hindus and Muslims. Thispassion occupied his mind even up tothe time he was receiving continuousrevelations about his approaching death.

He came to Lahore on 29 April 1908for a change and also to deliver hismessage to the educated and elite of thecity of Lahore. On 17 May he addresseda public meeting at the AhmadiyyaBuildings explaining the true nature ofhis claim and the passion he had topresent the authentic message of Islamand the excellent precepts of the HolyProphet Muhammad (sas) to the worldat large.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad alsointended to deliver a public speech on31 May to convey to the Hinducommunity a message of peace andreconciliation, explaining how the twomajor communities of the Indiansubcontinent could live together in peaceand harmony. With this in mind, hestarted writing a lecture that was laterpublished in the form of a booklet,Paigham-i Sulh (or The Message of

Peace). It was written during the last dayor two of his life. He fell ill due to thestrain of entertaining a constant streamof visitors. In this condition he had arevelation in Arabic, the translation ofwhich is, “The time for the march isnigh; again, the time for the march isnigh.”

In spite of this revelation and hisillness, he remained at work andproposed to deliver a lecture on how topromote peace and goodwill between thecommunities of India. The writing of itproduced a further strain on hisexhausted body. His condition worsened.The night preceding the day on whichhe planned to finish it he again had arevelation in Arabic. Its translation is,“Trust not the ebbing life.” Nevertheless,the following day, 25 May, he was ableto complete the lecture.

The following night he became veryweak. Late in the night his conditionbecame even worse. He was given somemedicine to sleep with the hope that thismight have given him some relief. Atearly dawn he woke up and performedhis morning prayer, but his voice wasnow completely hoarse. He tried to speakbut could not. He ordered pen and paperbut could not write. Soon drowsinesscame upon him, his pulse faded away,and at about quarter past ten, on 26 May1908, his holy spirit passed away to thepresence of that August Master toWhose service he had devoted his wholelife. “Verily we are from God, and toGod we return!” The Message of Peaceremained therefore the last of his longlist of writings, while the circumstancein which it was written invests it withan appeal, the power and sincerity ofwhich few will fail to appreciate.Passion for mutual understanding andreconciliation

To give a glimpse of his passion forpromoting peace and goodwill, wereproduce the following extracts fromit:

“My God Almighty! My Guidebeloved! Guide us into the path bywhich Thy truthful and sincere

servants find Thee, and save us fromthe ways of those who seek to gratifytheir passions of revenge or hatredor their greed for things of the world.

“And now friends, all of us,whether Hindus or Mussalmans,notwithstanding hundreds ofdifferences, are one in believing inGod, the Creator and Master of theworld. Moreover, our cause iscommon not only because we are allhuman beings, but also because, asinhabitants of one and the same land,we are related as neighbours to oneanother. It is but proper, therefore,that we should live as true and sincerefriends, and sympathise with oneanother, in difficulties both temporaland spiritual, and act as parts of onewhole, and limbs of one body…

Dear countrymen, there is nothinglike peace. Let us become one nationand one people by means of thiscompact. You see what discord thereis in the land and how much thecountry has suffered on account ofmutual recrimination. Come, and trynow the blessing of mutual regard.This is the only way to reconciliation.To try and seek peace by any otherway would be to neglect a sore whichis bright and smooth outside, butwhich is full of foul matter inside…

I need not stop here to point outthat disunity is daily increasing in thisland due not merely to religiousdifferences, but also to politicalconditions” (pp. 1, 29).

Inter-faith dialogueHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad should

not be mistaken for a stereotypedtheologian with narrow mental groovesstuffed with a few conventional books,nor for a self-centred ideal visionary,knowing or caring to know little aboutcontemporary thoughts. One has only torefer to his works such as Barahin-iAhmadiyya – a deep rationalisticdiscourse in as many as four volumes –and Aina-i Kamalat-i Islam in which hedealt with the incomparable beauties ofthe Qur’an and the excellent precepts




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of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas).Unlike other thinkers and philosophers,Hazrat Mirza Sahib had the advantageof having his light of reasonsupplemented by the light of revelation.Reason supplemented by revelation

Those who are accustomed to lookupon reason and religion as twodistinct things which may even runcounter to each other may be surprisedat this. But such was not HazratMirza’s view of religion. He gave abeautiful illustration of the inter-relation between reason andrevelation. He compared the latter toa microscope to the eye of reason. Justas the naked eye is limited in its visionto things up to certain degree ofmagnitude, so is the naked eye ofreason. But if one wants to see minutethings, one must call in the microscopeto its aid. Even so is the nature of thefunction of revelation with respect tothe eye of reason. The onesupplements the other.

If we glace at Hazrat Mirza’sministry (1884-1908), I have purposelystarted it from 1884, the year when hewrote his classic work, Barahin-iAhmadiyya, we shall find that in it helaid down the basis for his future courseof interpretation and defence of theQur’an and the teachings of Islamdemonstrated by the Holy ProphetMuhammad (peace and blessings ofAllah be on him). But it is quitesurprising that with his announcementin 1889 that he has been appointedMujaddid for the 14th century Hijrah,his style, diction and reasoning wentthrough a revolutionary phase (viz.,Izalah-i Auham, Taudih-i Maram andFath-i Islam). The classic style ofdiction frequented by synonyms wasreplaced by a simple, cogent andimpressive flow of facts, arguments andreferences from scriptures and authenticbooks of all the major religions. It is stillnoteworthy that towards the close of hisministry – the first decade of the 19th

century – he sought help in having accessto the research being done in the West,

especially about prophet Jesus’ unknownlife and his travels towards the East afterescaping an accursed death on the Cross,discoveries in the fields of archaeology,philology and classic works of historyand medicine. Even during this latterperiod of his life, he adopted the modernstyle of dividing a book in chaptersinstead of writing long footnotesregarding inter-related points connectedwith the subject under discussion (viz.,Al-Huda, Masih Hindustan Mein.Minan-ur-Rahman etc). This shows hisvast study, deep insight andunderstanding of the new thoughtsemerging around him and that is whyhis writings, even after one hundredyears of his death – are very muchrelevant and provide guidance andinspiration in presenting and defendingIslam in the modern context.Inter-faith dialogue

Today we hear much talk about inter-faith dialogue. Even the Pope of theCatholic Church in 1965 declared that,instead of considering Muslims as anti-Christ, they should be approachedthrough dialogue for fosteringunderstanding and co-existence amongstvarious communities in the present-dayworld. Hazrat Mirza foresaw almost 100years ago, at a time when the very ideawas least bothered about, that the onlyway to inculcate peace and tolerancebetween followers of different religionsof the world is to present one’s religiousview point from one’s respectiverevealed religion and by avoiding thehurling of abuses and the maligning ofothers’ holy founders and prominentpersonages. The first major effort in thisregard was undertaken by Hazrat MirzaSahib with the help of a Hindu scholar,Swami Shogan Chandra, by holding aGreat Religions Conference on 26th, 27th,28th and 29th December, 1896 in Lahore.The five questions selected for theConference were: 1. The physical, moraland spiritual conditions of man, 2. Thestate of man in the afterlife , 3. Theobject of man’s life and the means of itsattainment, 4. The action of the practical

ordinances of the law in this life and theNext, 5. The Sources of DivineKnowledge.

Hazrat Mirza in his introductoryremarks laid down a very sound basisfor inter-faith dialogue which provideda solid foundation for settling the worthof spiritual guidance provided in eachscripture which claimed to have beendivinely revealed by different religionsof the world.

“I deem it a matter of the firstimportance that everybody whobelieves in any sacred scripture of therevealed Word of God, should so setlimits to his advocacy of the religionhe supports as not go out of the holybook or depend upon arguments otherthan those which the book furnishes.For, if he does not observe this rule,he, as a matter of fact, makes andadvocates a new book and not the onewhich he professes to support .Therefore, as it is my object to showthe beauties of the Qur’an and toestablish its exclusive excellence overall other books, I shall bind myself bythe rule stated above and depend solelyupon the Qur’an for every assertionand argument, stating only that whichis contained in it in plain words, orwhat may be reasonably inferred fromits words. As the other gentlemen arealso expected to set limits to theirdiscourses by this reasonable rule,there will be a good opportunity forjudicious minds to form a judgementas to the comparative value of thedifferent books that are claimed to berevealed. For the same reason, I shallavoid all reference to the authoritiescontaining the reported words of theHoly Prophet of Islam and not gooutside the Word of God as revealedin the Qur’an” (pp. 1,2).

Besides holding and encouragingsuch inter-faith conferences on thebasis of rules laid down, he also sentmemoranda and petitions to the BritishGovernment with signatures of leadingreligious leaders of other faiths andthousands of their followers urging it




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to put a check on speeches andwrit ings casting abuses andhumilia t ion on the founders andprominent religious personalities of allthe religions. In his last writing,Message of Peace, Hazrat MirzaSahib even went to the extent ofexpressing his willingness to prohibithis followers from eating beef if theHindu community agrees to abstainfrom abusing and maligning theunblemished character of the HolyProphet, his companions and hiswives.

As has already been mentioned,Hazrat Mirza Sahib breathed his lastat Lahore in the early hours on 26th

May, 1908 and his body was takenby train from Lahore to Qadian. Itreached there on the morning of the27th. Hazrat Maulana Noor-ud-Din ledthe funeral prayer and the body waslaid to rest in Bahishti Cemetery inthe afternoon in the midst of the tearsand the sobbing of hundreds of hisdevoted followers who came from faroff places to bid farewell to this GreatImam of the present times. Later, aheadstone writ ten by Mir NasirNawab (father-in-law of HazratMirza) and amended by HazratMaulana Noor-ud-Din carried thefollowing wording:Janab Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib Qadiani

Ra’is Qadian, Masih-i Mau‘ud, Mahd-i Mas‘ud,Mujaddid Sad Chahaar Dahum

a‘laihi wa ‘ala mutaa-‘i Muhammadas-salaatu was-salaam.

Tareekh-i Wafaat, 26 Mai, 1908.

which may be translated as:Respected Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian

Chief of Qadian, Promised Messiah,Auspicious Mahdi

and Mujaddid of the 14th Century (Hijrah),upon him and upon his Master,

Muhammad, be blessings and peace.Date of death, 26th May, 1908 C.E.

Sources:1. English Translation and

Commentary of the Qur’an byMaulana Muhammad Ali

(Revised edition, 1951).2. The Ahmadiyya Movement (English

translation by Maulana S. M.Tufail) by Maulana Muhammad Ali(1973).

3. Founder of the AhmadiyyaMovement by Maulana MuhammadAli (2008 ed.).

4. Mujaddid-i Azam (Biography ofHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in

Urdu) in two volumes by Dr.Basharat Ahmad (1943-44).

5. Message of Peace by Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad (English translationpublished by Ahmadiyya AnjumanIsha‘at-i Islam, Lahore, 1949).

6. Quest After God by MaulanaMuhammad Yakub Khan (publishedby Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at-iIslam, Lahore. 1948).

TEN CONDITIONS OF THE PLEDGEOne who would like to be initiated into the Ahmadiyya Movement mustpledge as follows:

Firstly, that until he is laid in his grave, he will shun all forms and shades ofshirk (polytheism).

Secondly, that he will guard against falsehood, fornication, evil sight andevery form of sin, evil, cruelty, dishonesty, disorder and rebellion; and thatin moments of passion, he will on no account give in, however boisterousthat passion may be.

Thirdly, that without fail, he will say his prayers five times a day as enjoinedby God and His Messenger and that, to the best of his power, he will say hismidnight prayers, will invoke divine blessings on the Holy Prophet, will askforgiveness for his sins and will, with a truly loving heart, recall God’s favoursand glorify Him.

Fourthly, that he will do nothing in any way to injure his fellow humanbeings in general and the Muslims in particular – neither with the tongue,nor with the hand, nor in any other way.

Fifthly, that he will show fidelity to God under all circumstances – alike inprosperity and adversity, in pleasure and pain, in time of bliss and affliction;that he will resign himself to God under all conditions and will cheerfully bearall hardship and humiliations in His way; that in the hour of calamity he will notturn his back but will step yet onward.

Sixthly, that he will eschew observance of evil customs or following thepromptings of his lower nature; that he will thoroughly submit to the yokeof the Holy Qur’an; and that in every walk of life he will hold the Word ofGod and of His Messenger as his guiding principle.

Seventhly, that he will totally abstain from haughtiness and will live inhumility, meekness and mildness.

Eighthly, that he will hold the honour of religion and sympathy for Islamdearer than everything else – dearer than his life, his wealth, his honour, hischildren, his kith and kin.

Ninthly, that he will make it a rule of his life to show sympathy towards allhuman beings out of love for God and that, to the best of his power, he willuse all his God-given faculties and blessings for the benefit of humanity.

Tenthly, that binding himself with me (i.e. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder ofthe Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam), in a fraternal bond in the way of Allah,he will obey me in everything good, and will live up to his pledge till hisdeath; that in this fraternal bond he will show such sincerity as is not metwith in cases of blood relations or other worldly connections.

(Izala-i Auhaam: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, September 3, 1891, pp. 853-854)




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HAZRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMADFounder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam

A Saint and a Philosopher with a Deep Islamic Insightby Maulana Muhammad Yakub Khan

“Is not Allah sufficient for His servant?”(39:36).A man with a deep spiritual insight

In this narrative of the Great Imamof the present times, Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement in Islam, I havebut one purpose before my eyes. I wantthe reader to grasp, not so much whatMirza Ghulam Ahmad said or did, butwhat he was. For, what a man is, thathe says and does. If I have to refer tohis words or deeds, I do so in so far asthey throw light on the inner man withinhim. It is, to my mind, in this that liesthe meaning and value to us of anygreat man. If we are to understand andappraise the worth of Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad we are liable to bemisled, unless we lay our hands righton the Man himself, unless we take aplunge down into depths of his very souland watch its inner working at closequarters or unless we soar up withhim to those heights from which helooked down on the world: its why andits wherefore.

A glimpse of Hazrat Mirza’s mindas we have had so far, leaves us in nodoubt as to the dominant note of hispersonality. He was out to hit upon somesure solution to the riddle of life.Appearances could not deceive orhoodwink him. He must penetrate theveil and lay hold on the Reality behindit. Such was the cast of his mind andfrom very early days could be seen inhim the germs of a Master Mind. As theyears rolled by, that great passion tooka firmer hold of his head and heart.His days of life during his service inSialkot were characterised by the samedetachment from earthly connections,the same longing to pierce through theall-enveloping darkness. Things went on

like this till we reach a periodsomewhere in the seventies of the lastcentury. This was for him a stage ofintense groping for light.

Seekers after Divine light tell us thatbefore that light comes in full blaze, theywitness what might be compared totwilight on the distant horizon. In thistwilight, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad livedever since his Sialkot days. The spiritualexperience known as a vision issomething like seeing things in such lightand this must, at best, mean a hazy,vague, dim perception. Of these ‘visions’Hazrat Mirza was quite a frequentrecipient for years in the past. In fact,among the small circle of hisacquaintances he was noted for these.With great precision would they comeout true. His biographers give lengthydetails of these, how he would catch aglimpse of something distant even, howhe would communicate it to the personor persons concerned and to the surpriseof all, it would come out exactly asforetold. But then this was just twilightas I have already said.

The full blaze was yet to come. Thesun was yet to dawn. And this is howthat dawn came in all its brilliance,illuminating the innermost chambers ofhis heart. It was on the eventful day ofhis father’s death (1876) that the firstbright ray came to him. The twilight wasgone and it was full light. The curtainlifted, the mystery removed, he foundhimself in the full blaze of the Divinepresence. His father was on the sickbedand there was nothing unusual about it.It was one of his ordinary attacks. Yetwhat was a common sickbed to the eyeof man was shortly to be the father’sdeathbed. “Wassamai wat-taariq”(86:1) came the voice of the Unseen.And it shook the whole of the young

Mirza’s being. It communicated to himhis father’s approaching end. “By theheaven and the event coming at sunset,”said the revelation. This the young Mirzacommunicated to others and just at sun-set, the hour foretold, the father breathedhis last.

But as soon as the Word of Godbrought him the news of his father’sdeath, a sort of a vague fear overtookhis heart. As we have already seen,Hazrat Mirza was not much of aworldly-wise man. The entire familydepended upon the resources of hisfather which were to end with his life.The youthful Mirza naturally felt thecoming responsibilities weighing heavilyon his mind. Hardly however had thisapprehension flashed upon his mindwhen there came the all-powerfulconsolation: Alaisal laahu bika’fin‘abdahu—“Is not Allah sufficient forHis servant?” Words breathing theMajesty of God! All fears evaporatedand his heart was filled with powerwhich was not of this earth. This mightbe regarded as a big landmark in theGod-ward voyage of our hero. Here ishis own account of this grand spiritualexperience.

“With this Divine revelation my heartwas greatly strengthened, even so as amost painful wound heals all of a sudden,with some balm. It is a fact borne out byexperience that a revelation from God hasthis peculiarity of its own, that it bringscheer and solace to the heart of therecipient and this is due to the deep, firmconviction that revelation brings alongwith it. For such revelations areaccompanied by all the light and resplen-dence of the Lord and His power. As soonas I received this revelation, deepconviction went home down into my heartthat never will God forsake me.”




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The Philosopher with a deepIslamic insight

It is the light of the Qur’an thatturned out to be the most resplendentof all lights;

Pure is He from Whom gushedforth this flood of light.

The entire world have I combedand all shops have I hunted;

Of pure wine of Divine knowledge,have I found but this one phial.

Let the reader not mistake MirzaGhulam Ahmad for a stereotypedtheologian with narrow mentalgrooves stuffed with a few conventionalbooks, nor for a self-centred idlevisionary, knowing or caring to knowlittle about contemporary thought. Hewill certainly miss the man completelyif he should take him for one or the other.One has only to refer to his works suchas Barahin-i Ahmadiyya — a deeprationalistic discourse in as many as fourvolumes — and Aina-i-Kamalat-i Islam,to class him so far as critical researchgoes, with men like Spencer, Kant,Berkley and Nietzsche, with thisdifference that whereas these latter hadonly the eye of reason with which toexplore the regions of thought, HazratMirza had the advantage of having hislight of reason supplemented by the lightof revelation.Reason and revelation

Those who are accustomed to lookupon reason and religion as twodistinct things which may even runcounter to each other may be surprisedat this. But such was not Hazrat Mirza’sview of religion. He gave a beautifulillustration of the inter-relation between— reason and revelation. He comparedthe latter to a microscope to the eye ofreason. Just as the naked physical eye islimited in its vision to things up to acertain degree of magnitude, so is thenaked eye of reason. But if you want tosee minute things, you must call in themicroscope to its aid. Even so is thenature of the function of revelation withrespect to the eye of reason. The onesupplements the other.

I have shown how Hazrat Mirza wasfurnished with this microscope of Divinerevelation and ever since he used it withdistinct advantage in his criticism of allcontemporary thought and in theexposition of the spiritual lawsgoverning the life of man. He had madea grand discovery. He had found God.But it was only the God of the Qur’anthat existed. All other gods were onlythe “big brother” of the mumbo jumboof primitive man. No other spiritualexplanation of this Universe, heproclaimed, was in consonance withreason except that given in the Qur’an.This was not mere credulity. It was anenlightened conviction, the mature resultof a thorough survey of all the existingreligions of the world. This naturallydrew him into the field of controversyin which he displayed considerable forceand acumen. And as the last word oncomparative religion, he compiled hisfamous work, Barahin-i Ahmadiyya,dealing with every existing shade ofthought in the field of religion — fromHinduism in all its off shoots (AryaSamaj, Brahmo Samaj, Dev Samaj andso forth) to Christianity, and down toatheism. The work may rightly be calledthe Encyclopaedia of Religion.A great servant of Islam

The publication of this book createda stir in religious circles and broughtHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to aposition of prominence in the world ofreligious thought. The Muslimsacclaimed him as the greatest servantof Islam. To give the reader an idea ofthe deep appreciation which his workwon, I cannot do better than reproducein brief the tribute which a leadingtheologian of the day, MaulviMuhammad Hussain of Batala, aleading Ahle Sunnat theologian, whosubsequently became the leader ofopposition against him, paid to it. Hedevoted as many as 125 pages in severalissues of his magazine, Isha‘at-us-Sunnah (June to November 1884) to areview of this book. He winds up thislengthy review with the observation:

“This is the summary of thebook. Now we would express ourestimate of it in brief and inunexaggerated terms. In ouropinion, this book, in view of thepresent age and the presentconditions, is such that the likeof it has never so far beenpublished in the history of Islamand as for the future, we can saynothing. Its author has alsodisplayed such steadfastness inhelping forward the cause ofIslam with money, with personallabour, with pen and tongue, thata parallel of it is rarely met withamong the past Muslims. Ifsomeone should consider thesecomments of ours as Easternexaggeration, let him produce atleast one such book in whichIslam has been so forciblydefended against a ll hostilecritics, especially against theArya Samaj and Brahmo Samajsects of Hinduism. And over andabove this, let him point to justa few of such persons who mayhave undertaken besides thesemanifold services, to furnishproof of the spiritual fruits ofIslam and have so manfullythrown out to all opponents ofIslam and disbelievers in the factof Divine revelation thechallenge: Whoever doubts thefact of revelation, let him cometo me and have a personalobservation of the truth of thisspiritual experience.”

Scientific exposition of Islamic truthsIt is no place to go into details. It is a

pity the numerous admirers of HazratMirza have so far done nothing tointroduce the outside world to thesebeautiful writings of the Great Man. Thewealth of thought contained in the pagesof at least the Barahin-i Ahmadiyya andthe Aina-i Kamalat-i Islam should bynow, have been made accessible to theWestern reader. The East isunfortunately too far behind in its modes




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of thought to appreciate the scientificexposition of Islamic truths containedin these books. Hazrat Mirza’s highphilosophy, so strikingly in keeping withthe scientific spirit of the West, is sure,if properly presented, to revolutionize theentire range of Western thought in thedomain of science and philosophy.Besides, no one can understand eitherthe man or his message but through thesebooks. It is not enough to tell the peoplethat a Messiah was foretold to appearin these latter days or to marshalquotations after quotations from theQur’an and the Hadith in support of it.People must see the Messiah as he was.The Messiah must be his own argument.And the Barahin-i Ahmadiyya and theAina-i Kamalat-i Islam constitute twomirrors which reveal the lofty soul oftheir illustrious author.No contradiction between Word ofAllah and the Work of Allah

But to give the reader just a sampleof the pearls of thought in these books,for the first time in the history of religion,Mirza Ghulam Ahmad postulated, ofcourse, from the Qur’an that the lawsand teachings of a revealed religion mustnot conflict with the laws of physicalnature, inasmuch as the one is the Wordof God and the other the Work of God.The laws emanating from one and thesame source must not be contradictory.That is why the Qur’an, when it wantsto explain some abstract spiritual truth,calls attention to some concretephenomenon of Nature. This is likeexplaining the unknown by the known.Under this general principle, HazratMirza, in the course of his exposition,has thrown light on some very subtle qu-estions, for example, the existence ofGod and the fact of Divine revelation.

He takes the following line ofargument: In the whole realm of physicalnature there appears at work a law thatmay be called the law of demand andsupply. There is no demand anywherebut without fail, there is correspondingto it supply as well somewhere in Nature.Hunger and thirst are the two primary

demands of man’s nature. The needfulsupply is there in the shape of food andwater. Even before man’s birth Natureensures the requisite supply and fills themother’s breast with milk. Man wantsto see with his eyes but this cannot bedone without light. So comes the supplyof light. The ear must hear and thiscreates a demand for something to bringsounds. That something is provided inthe form of air.

Generalizing from these naturalphenomena, Hazrat Mirza asks: Is notthere a deep hankering in the innermostheart of man after some Great UnseenPower to exist behind all this universe?If the hankering is there, the supply tosatisfy that hankering must also be there.Two things therefore follow. Firstly, theGreat Unseen Power must be there andsecondly, He must make Himself knownto man.Allah is and not ought to be

The next question that arises is. Howis it possible for man to know God? Bymere reason? No, he says. The highestflight of reason is this: There ought tobe a God. But ought to be would notdo. For a thirsty man, it is no use tellinghim that somewhere on earth, thereought to be water. That would not satisfyhis thirst. Likewise, a mere there-ought-to-be-a-God cannot quench man’sspiritual thirst. The demand wantssomething more — that there is a God.Now, how is it possible to bridge thisgulf between the ought-to-be of thephilosopher and there is that the thirsty-of-spirit wants? In one and the only oneway—viz., that God should actuallyspeak to man. Speech alone can removeall uncertainty and transform thephilosopher’s probable into the saint’sactual. Hence the fact of God speakingto man.

The parallelism between the Word ofGod, the Holy Qur’an and the Work ofGod — Nature, is beautifully broughtout at great length in the Barahin-iAhmadiyya. The very first attributes ofGod with which this Book of God opensare shown to be every inch the same we

find at work in the book of Nature. Acursory glance at Nature around usreveals four laws universally at work.Firstly, everything is created with a setpurpose. By a gradual process ofevolution it attains to its appointed end.Take for instance, a tiny seedling. Theideal before the seedling is some day togrow into a big tree. The process of itsgrowth and development is marked bydefinite stages through which it mustpass. This is the primary law regulatingthe life of everything in Nature, that is,evolution from the lowest to the highestpoint along a set fixed route. This,primary law of the Nature forms thefundamental attribute of the God of theQur’an, viz., Rabb.

This word Rabb literally means onewho brings a thing up, step by step,from the lowest to the highest stage. Thewhole of Nature proclaims the workingof the attributes of Rabb. Rabb alone,therefore, could be the God of man,Who is part and parcel of the sameNature. And most appropriately theQur’an depicts Him, first and foremostas Rabb. Again, it is a common obser-vation that the seedling would neversee the light of day unless a number ofother requirements are provided — viz.,suitable soil, water, air, sunshine andso forth. The Qur’an represents this lawof Nature by the attribute Rahman,which means one Who supplies thesepreliminary requirements but for whichno growth is possible. This done, furthersuccess of growth depends on how farthe laws of horticulture are observed. Ifthese are observed, the result is propergrowth. If not, the seed must eitherbecome atrophied or the result must bestunted growth. These two laws formtwo further attributes of the God of theQur’an viz., Rahim and Malik. Rahimis one Who rewards effort along rightlines whilst Malik is one Who has thepower to punish or pardon in case theproper laws of growth are not observed.Physical and spiritual growth of man

No evolution of man is possible butalong these lines. For his physical




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growth, for instance, he must wantproper food. But food he cannot haveready-made. He must exert himself. Inexertion lies the secret of his growth.He must grow his own food. This hecannot do unless air, rain, sunshine andso many other things which are beyondhis control come to him as a free gift.Rahman makes a free supply of these,for the word means one who suppliessuch material without any effort onman’s part. When the material hasbeen supplied, man must use his God-given powers to put it to right use.When he does so he gets the desiredresults. The power which ensures thateffort must be plentifully rewarded iscalled Rahim. And to keep us to theright course of effort, we must be in

no doubt as to the inevitability ofresults. Wrong effort must lead toundesirable fruit. The power whichensures this is known as Malik. Anyprocess of evolution whether in Natureor in man proceeds along these four-fold lines. Thus the Qur’anic God isthe God we find manifested in Natureand hence the only true God.A spiritual man with the discerningeye of a scientific critic.

It will be clear from the above thatHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wasnothing resembling a credulous sort ofman who is content with ideas, merelyhereditary, customary or conventional.He took things far too seriously to be socheaply satisfied. He had the keen,discerning eye of the scientific critic of

The Most Misunderstood Imam of the AgeWho in this day and age is a greater victim of injustice

than Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam and thePromised Messiah?

by Dr. Basharat Ahmad(Translated from Urdu by Dr. Zahid Aziz, UK)

the day and weighed and judged thecomparative values of the existingreligions on their own merits. It wasafter thorough investigation thatconviction as to the Divine origin ofthe Qur’an was forced upon him. Itwas not the conviction either of theover-credulous or of the self-duped.It was the enlightened conviction ofcritical scientific research that madehim sing:

My contemplation, I let go in everydirection:But no faith like the faith ofMuhammad did I find.In person did I test the truth of Islam.Listen! I say, it is light through andthrough.

[Translator’s Note: This article was writtenby Dr. Basharat Ahmad (d. 1943) shortlyafter his acclaimed Urdu biography ofHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Mujaddid-i Azam, had been published in two volumes.The article appeared in the weeklyPaigham-i Sulh, Lahore, in its issue of 21stFebruary 1941. English translation of thebiography is being done and published bythe Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at-i Islam,Lahore (USA). Its first volume, The GreatReformer, translated by Prof. HamidRahman of the USA has recently beenpublished.]THE IRONY IS that the great Saint ofQadian who unveiled and explained themystery surrounding the propheciesregarding the most awaited Imam of the14th century and the signs of the LastAge – such as breaking of the cross,killing of the swine, routing of the forcesof Gog and Magog, and making Islampredominant over other religions – isbeing maligned and branded as kafir orthe most detested unbeliever and his

followers are being persecuted for thelast one hundred years.

After reading the biography of thePromised Messiah, Mujaddid-i Azam,many members of our Movement andfriends from outside the community havesent me, or to Paigham Sulh, messagesof encouragement and appreciation, andsome have stated this verbally. For allthis, I am deeply grateful and obliged tothese respected persons — may Allahbless them.

I regard it entirely as a favour ofAllah the Most High, Who enabled meto render this service out of Hismunificence, mercy and grace. I cannotfind the words with which to thank Himjustly. It was His grace, for an unlearnedand insignificant man such as myselfwas not capable of this work.Nonetheless, that same God, Who hadmade the mere wooden staff of theprophet Moses (as) to perform greatwonders, enabled a humble admirer of

this Muslim Messiah, who was evenmore useless than a piece of lifelesswood, to write such a comprehensive andvoluminous book.The dream fulfilled

These are the marvels of God’spower, and I have always consideredwith wonder the dream which I saw inRawalpindi in 1904 or 1905. It wasduring the latter part of the night when Isaw the Promised Messiah in the dream.He smiled and said: I have had the name‘Scribe of the Mujaddid of India’(Muharrar-i Mujaddid-i Hind)bestowed upon you in heaven’. When Iwoke up, I was absolutely astonishedbecause in those days I had not thecapability to write even one line of anyreligious or scholarly article. But at last,gradually the time came when God byHis grace had enabled me to writehundreds of pages of scholarly articles.I had thought that that dream had beenthereby fulfilled, for it was through




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God’s grace and spiritual benefit fromthe Mujaddid of India, Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, that an unlearned manlike me was enabled to serve the faithand produce these writings.

However, upon the publication of thisbiography of the Promised Messiah thatdream suddenly came to my mind and Irealized that ‘Mujaddid of India’ is thisGreat Mujaddid born in India, whosebiography Allah enabled a sinner like meto write; otherwise I was far from beingable to render such a service to the faith.The wronged Imam

I apologise that in expressing thisgratitude I digressed from the realsubject of my article. Some friends haveexpressed criticism, couched in wordsof encouragement. All of that is fine andlaudable. I will, however, mention thecase of one friend here. He is fromoutside of our Jama‘at, and is a man ofgreat knowledge and learning. He saidthat having read the two volumes of thisbook he realized that Hazrat MirzaSahib was a “wronged” (mazloom)person. On the one hand, his enemieswronged him by making all kinds of falseallegations against him, ascribing to hima claim of prophethood, and declaringhim a kafir, thereby damaging his greataim of the service of Islam for which hestood. On the other hand, his friends,the people of Qadian, wronged him byascribing to him all kinds of extremebeliefs as well as a claim to prophethood,and declaring Muslims as kafirs, alsothereby damaging his mission of theservice of Islam. Generally, a victim ofinjustice is wronged only by hisopponents, but Hazrat Mirza Sahib hasbeen wronged more than anyone couldpossibly be, because both foe and friendhave done him injustice.

He said that I had mitigated thewrong that Hazrat Mirza Sahib hassuffered by writing Mujaddid-i Azam.However, he added that only a handfulof people have read this voluminouswork, and he suggested to me that thelast chapters, dealing with his love forGod, love for the Holy Prophet, and love

for the Qur’an, should be printedseparately and distributed free all overIndia in thousands. He said that if thereal beliefs and true character of HazratMirza Sahib presented in this book areput before the world, it was impossiblethat they would have no effect.

Hearing my venerable friend apply theword mazloom (‘wronged’) to HazratMirza Sahib reminded me of a verse ofpoetry of the Promised Messiah himself,wherein he says that Imam Husainsuffered wrong only once, at Kerbala, atthe hands of his enemies, while he is beingwronged every moment, suffering ahundred times over. During his life HazratMirza Sahib suffered only at the hands ofhis enemies, but after his death his extremefollowers have surpassed even theopponents. This is the Kerbala to whichthere seems to be no end.

At the same time, I recalled my otherdream which I saw in Bhera at the time ofzuhr on 26th May 1908. The PromisedMessiah had already died that day inLahore, but I had not received any newsof it. When I was asleep after the zuhrprayers, I saw the Promised Messiah in adream. I need not record the entire dreamhere, but mention only the last part. HazratMirza Sahib and I were sitting together,and I was eating a pudding out of a cupheld in my hand. He said to me: “A verybig fair is going to be held in Qadian wherea plan will be made to kill me. I haveappointed some guards to protect me. Youhave also been appointed as a guard to beon duty.”

Aghast, I said to him: “Can it reallybe true that a plan will be made to killyou, and that, too, in Qadian?” He replied:“Yes, in Qadian a plan will be made tokill me.” I said: “Then, sir, I shallsafeguard you at all costs.” I then wokeup, overcome with much grief and sorrow.A little later the opponents receivedtelegrams that Hazrat Mirza Sahib haddied. I received the news next day by post.

I now think that this referred to thewrong perpetrated against him inQadian. The gatherings at Qadian arelike a fair held to display the size of the

crowd. It is regrettable that, by ascrib-ing erroneous beliefs and claims toHazrat Mirza Sahib, the Qadiani leadershave done no less than to murder hismission. A Movement for thepropagation and defence of Islam hasbeen turned into a factory forproclaiming Muslims as kafirs. Whatgreater injustice than this could therebe, and who could be a greater victimof injustice than Hazrat Mirza Sahib?These extreme and misguided doctrineshave created the darkest picture of theholy Hazrat before the Islamic world.His real mission of the service of Islamhas been so mercilessly butchered thatno amount of mourning is too much. Agreater mourning is required than thatwhich is done for Imam Hussain.

It is consequently the duty of everytrue devotee of this victimized Imam,the Promised Messiah, to save hismission from slaughter and to presentthe correct picture of his mission to theworld. The most important means ofdoing so is by propagating the accountof his life, his real beliefs and hischaracter. So far the attention of ourmembers has been directed towardspresenting his beliefs, and there is nodoubt that these are so appealing andreasonable that they attract the heartsof people. However, many fabricatedallegations have engendered deep hatredagainst him among Muslims. Seeing anyservice to Islam creates respect in thehearts of Muslims, but the false picturecoming out of Qadian has so alienatedpeople from him that they acknowledgethe services of his followers but areopposed to their master.

In conversations I have again andagain been surprised by the high praiseI have heard being lavished by otherMuslims upon Khwaja Kamal-ud-Dinand Maulana Muhammad Ali. Peoplehave gone so far as to say that at thistime in the world of Islam there is noauthority and servant of the faith toequal Maulana Muhammad Ali. But ifthe conclusion of this is put to them,that all this achievement is due to Hazrat




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Mirza Sahib, they are unwilling toaccept this fact.Unfortunate prejudice against theGreat ‘Champion’ of Islam

It has happened frequently that at agathering of other Muslims, when someimportant issue has been underdiscussion which their ‘ulama have notbeen able to resolve, and I have putforward its solution, people have beenelated and a chorus of praise andapprobation has come forth from them.But when, taking this as a good oppor-tunity for propagation, I have told themthat all this knowledge and wisdom isfrom Hazrat Mirza Sahib, immediatelya wave of disgust and revulsion wouldpass over the entire gathering. After all,what is the reason for this? It is that thereis prejudice against the person of HazratMirza Sahib. Why? Because so muchslander and fabrication have beenemployed against him that hatred hasnow become firmly established inpeople’s hearts. And since the Qadianigroup has confirmed the very samewrong claims attributed to him by theopponents, this hatred has become asindelible as a writing inscribed on stone.

To dispel this loathing, the best wayis to present the true picture of his lifeto the public through a biography, lettingthem find out how close a connection hehad with God and that the aim of his lifewas solely the service of Islam. Bymaking known the facts about his life,all misconceptions can be removed,Allah willing. If the true picture of hispersonal goodness and the good he didto others comes to the fore, it isimpossible that it would not have aneffect on people’s hearts. After all,during his life, what was the only thingwe used to try to do after makingsomeone accept the death of Jesus? Weused to try to get such people to meetthe holy Hazrat just once. It was thenimpossible for them not to change. Thiswas why people said that Mirzapossesses the power to bewitch or tomesmerise. In fact, the bewitching wasdue to his character that was seen. So,

today, our effort should be directedtowards enabling people to read abouthis life. When the captivating image ofhis life comes before them, they will,Allah willing, be attracted towards him.

I have to say with regret thatmembers of the Jama‘at have not paidadequate attention to this. Apart fromsome who have given generousdonations towards the publication ofMujaddid-i Azam, and the few whodistributed copies free to their friends,no one has tried to put this book beforethe non-Ahmadi Muslim public for thepurpose of propagation.

Anyhow, I have done my work. I wrotethis biography purely for the sake ofpleasing God. It is not a commercial ormoney-making venture. In my view thiswas the greatest need for the service ofthe mission of the Promised Messiah.Allah fulfilled this purpose. I do not boast,for this is nothing but the grace of God.Now the work of distributing it videly is

up to the Jama‘at.If the Jama‘at propagates this

biography throughout the world, themisconceptions in the minds of manypeople will be cleared, and, Allahwilling, this book will prove very usefulin the acceptance of the truth. This willalso awaken the true spirit of theAhmadiyya Movement within theJama‘at itself. Maulvi MuhammadYaqub Khan, Headmaster of MuslimHigh School, commented after readingthis book that just as the PromisedMessiah had received a revelationmeaning that the mission of theAhmadiyya Movement is to awaken thespirit of Islam in Muslims (Persian:Musalman ra Musalman baazkardand), so as to make them trueMuslims again, similarly after readingMujaddid-i Azam we spontaneously say:“Ahmadi ra Ahmadi baz kardand,” thatis, among Ahmadis the real spirit ofAhmadiyyat will be awakened.

Glimpses from the life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian

Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in IslamRealisation of the Ultimate Reality of DivineUnity through Deep Devotion and Fervour in

Salah and Intense Love for GodBy Dr. Basharat Ahmad

(English translation by Mr. Akram Ahmad, MS, USA)

Love for GodThe life of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam

Ahmad presents a perfect embodimentof the love for God. Since childhood, hissoul and mind were devoted to Allah.While it is usual for children to beoccupied with pursuits of recreation andsports, Hazrat Mirza always abstainedfrom such pastimes. His father hademployed some tutors to teach his sonsome of the conventional subjects, andsons of his friends and neighbours wouldalso come to take lessons from them.However, Hazrat Mirza would take hislessons and spend most of his timestudying by himself, away from otherchildren, remaining completely isolated

from their pranks and antics.As he grew to adolescence, it did not

bring in its wake any desire for worldlythings. Neither was he fond of good anddelicious meals, nor keen for personalelegance. He always maintainedpersonal cleanliness and his diet andclothing were very simple. He despisedpersonal ostentation. He had no interestsother than spending time in the mosque,praying and devoting himself to the studyof the Qur’an and edifying religiousbooks. His father tried hard to get himinvolved in managing the lands. But suchmatters did not hold any attraction at allfor him. However, in deference to thewishes of his father, he worked hard in




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looking after the management of theestates and the pursuing of the legalcases. He always maintained his waysof piety and honesty, never allowingthose pursuits to make him negligent ofthe remembrance of Allah. Wheneversome legal case came to a close, hewould thank God, even if he had lost it,because then he was able to devote moretime to the remembrance of Allah. Inother words, as far as he was concerned,the love for God was upper most in hismind and all other concerns were of leastimportance to him.

The love for God was the paramountconcern of Hazrat Mirza. The wealth ofthe world, matters relating to themanagement of estates, and otherworldly and sensual desires were meresenseless trappings to him. His fathergot him appointed to various civil posts,but none of these held any charm for him.Eventually, Hazrat Mirza informed hisfather about his inner feelings by meansof a letter which was to the followingeffect: “My only needs consist of twopairs of rough clothes and food as maybe available. Please do not worry ordisturb me in my secluded life style.”

In effect, he informed his father thatworldly things held no fascination forhim. Finally his father realized that therewas not the least hope of getting his soninvolved in worldly affairs, and so heacquiesced to his son’s noble wishes. Buthe was always worried about how hisson would fend for himself after he hadpassed away. On the other hand, hisson’s only passion that continuouslyoccupied his mind was how to attainnearness to his beloved God. That waswhy his father would sometimesdisparagingly refer to his son as a personwho lived exclusively in the mosque.Hazrat Mirza had no desire for worldlyprestige, fame or wealth. On the otherhand, a great deal of humility waspresent in his nature. He had such amarked propensity for solitude, and wasso modest that his father once introducedhim to a friend of his by saying, “Thisis my other son, who is even more

modest and shy than girls.”But the brilliance of Hazrat Mirza’s

inner spiritual grandeur was somethingthat could not remain hidden, and so hisreputation for piety, engrossment inreligious studies and deep meditationspread throughout the surrounding areasof Qadian. Mr. Munawwar Khan, afriend of mine (the author) and a man ofadvanced age, who lived in the town ofShakargarh (District Gurdaspur) relatedto me his impressions about HazratMirza Sahib. At that time I had not yettaken the pledge at Hazrat Mirza Sahib’shands. Once, when we were having somediscussion about the acceptance ofprayers, Mr. Munawwar Khanmentioned the name of Hazrat MirzaSahib and highly praised his high stateof piety in the following words: “He is avery pious man. He is very devout andendowed with spiritual excellences.Whenever we have any problem, werequest him to pray for us, and as a resultwe have experienced that Almighty Allahhas solved the problem. Allah removesthe problem. But God knows what cameover him that he claimed that he was thePromised Messiah. Perhaps even thesaints can commit grave errors!”

The latter part of Mr. MunawwarKhan’s remarks appeared to mesomewhat strange and contrary to whatAllah states in the Holy Qur’an: “Allahis the friend of those who believe. Hebrings them out of darkness into thelight” (Al-Baqarah, 2:257).

So the view held that sometimes evensaints commit serious errors is obviouslyuntenable. And I wonder what kind offriendship it is on the part of God soclearly expressed in the verse mentionedabove of preventing His friends fromdrifting into darkness, yet does not savethe saints from committing major errorsin religious matters.Remembrance of Allah

It is human nature that one often talksabout the object of one’s love. There wasno moment in Hazrat Mirza’s life thatwas devoid of the remembrance of Allah.He often used to say, “The time that is

devoid of the remembrance of Allah isreally a time of unbelief.” In addition toperforming the daily prayers incongregation, he would spend a goodportion of the night performing theTahajjud prayer (midnight prayer) withdeep devotion, diligence and deepconcentration. He would also performthe Ishraaq prayer (a voluntary prayerafter sunrise). Profound dedication anddevotion characterised all his prayers.In the congregational prayers held in themosque, he would perform his prayerswith great solemnity, but he avoidedsobbing or crying in such congregationalprayers. He used to say that when abeliever cries before God in his prayers,he needs perfect solitude; if someonewere to suddenly disturb his solitude atthat time, the believer’s embarrassmentis akin to the embarrassment that abeliever would feel if someone were tointrude when he and his spouse wereenjoying moments of most intimaterelationship.

The deep concentration with whichHazrat Mirza performed his prayers isalso reflected by the following incident:Once, someone asked him how to achieveconcentration in prayer so that one couldfeel closeness to God. Hazrat Mirzareplied, “I cannot understand how one canperform prayers and yet feel detached fromGod.” In such a state one is expected toattain such a close spiritual relationshipwith Allah as has been described by theHoly Prophet Muhammad (sas) andnarrated in a hadith that in such state abeliever feels as if he is in the presence ofGod all the time, or at least perceives thatGod is watching him. This should be theultimate state to be achieved by a devoteewhile offering prayers and striving to gaindeep understanding of the Unity of Allah.Prayers in one’s own language

Hazrat Mirza strongly believed thatthe daily prayers were to be performedin the Arabic language and thatperforming the ritual prayers in anyother language was forbidden. However,he did believe that one could pray to Godin one’s own language at certain specific




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times during the prayer which are asfollows:

1. During iqama (after rising fromruku‘), after one has saidRabbanaa la-kal hamd (O ourLord, All praise is due to You).

2. During Sajdah (prostration)after one has said tasbih (Glorybe to Thee, the Most High).

3. During jalsa (sitting position),after one has said tashahhudand salat ‘alan Nabiyy(invoking salutations to theHoly Prophet).

We must not forget that a person hasmany supplications which he is eager tosubmit to his Lord, but it is difficult todo so in Arabic, and so one has noalternative but to make such lengthysupplications after the ritual prayers areover is like one going to the court of aking and observing silence but raisingmatters that he wished to present to theking only after the king has left the court!Hazrat Mirza Sahib was of the view thatone should first recite the prayers inArabic as revealed in the Qur’an andtaught by the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sas), otherwise, the spirit of unity andbond of brotherhood which are thehallmarks of the Muslim ummah wouldbe lost. Then one can submit hissupplications in one’s own languageafter reciting the tashahhud and salaat‘alan Nabiyy. The fact remains thatprayers in Arabic have their own beautyand grandeur which have no match inprayers composed in any other language.Moreover it is the language in which theHoly Qur’an, God’s final message, wasrevealed and it carries a specialsignificance and acceptance with Allah.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas)is reported to have said that a person isnearest to Allah during the prostration inprayer, and should beseech God profuselyduring that time. He is also reported tohave said, as already mentioned earlier,that after one has said the tashahhud andsalaat ‘alan Nabiyy, (i.e., sendingblessings to the Holy Prophet), he isallowed then to make his submissions in

his own language to his Lord duringvarious positions in prayers that have beenindicated by Holy Prophet Muhammad(sas), for it is Allah alone Who has theauthority to accept His servant’s prayersand has the power to help him.

An Arab can easily state hissubmissions in the Arabic language. Butwhat about others, for instance, anEnglish-knowing person or a native ofIndia, who cannot do so. As Allah haspromised to listen to submissions of eachand every devotee, naturally, then, itshould be permissible to pray to God inone’s own language at specific positionsduring prayers and especially whileperforming voluntary prayers to gain thespecial audience of Allah.The profound devotion of the disciplesin prayers

Hazrat Mirza Sahib always exhortedhis disciples to perform their prayerswith deep concentration and a soulfulattitude. He especially advised them toperform the Tahajjud prayers. By thegrace of Allah and the spiritual teachingsof Hazrat Mirza Sahib, Ahmadis werewell known both among Muslims andnon-Muslims for performing theirprayers with immense devotion. In fact,it was this devotion and submissivenessin prayers that attracted non-Muslimstowards Islam in the first place. KhwajaKamal-ud-Din, the well-knownmissionary of Islam to the West, relatedthe following incident in this connection:“Once a British atheist came to visit the(Shah Jehan) Mosque managed by theLahore Ahmadiyya mission in Woking(England). We had a brief conversationwith him. When the time came for a dailyprayer, we rose to perform our prayers.Out of deference, the atheist also joinedus. Shaikh Nur Ahmad (also known asBilal of Woking Mosque as he was theperson who called out the first Azan atthe Mosque) stood next to the visitor.Shaikh Ahmad became so engrossed inhis prayers and overwhelmed withdevotion and submissiveness to Allahthat he was spontaneously moved totears. This state of deep devotion carried

such an effect that the visiting atheistwas also moved to tears. After theprayers, the visitor remarked, “I amafraid that I may become a Muslim.”And it so happened that after severalmeetings and discussions he didembrace Islam.

Similarly, a great scholar, MaulviMuhammad Hassan of Ambala (India)and a friend of the author, related to himthe following incident: “In the year 1903,three Muslim religious clerics ofSaharanpur travelled to Qadian. Allthree had Sufistic inclinations. Theyincluded Maulvi Khalil-ur-Rahman aswell. When they met me (author) lateron, they told me that although they hadnot taken the pledge, they were greatlyimpressed by the way the followers ofHazrat Mirza Sahib performed thecongregational prayers with enviabledevotion and utmost submissiveness.They related to me the following episode:‘When the time for prayers arrived, themembers of the Ahmadiyya communityrose to perform their prayers. MaulviAbdul Karim was going to lead theprayers. Since we had decided not toperform our prayers under the leadershipof an Ahmadi Muslim, we began toleave the mosque. As we were near thestairs, the sweet and penetratingQuranic recitation by Maulvi AbdulKarim reached our ears. It kept usspellbound and we could not movefurther and turned around to observe theAhmadis performing their prayers. TheAhmadis performed their prayers withsuch profound humility and deepconcentration that it seemed as if theworshippers were solemnly standingbefore the August Presence andprostrating at the threshold of God’scourt.’ The visitors added that simplyby observing the prayers beingperformed with such immense devotion,they felt a deep sense of spiritualexhilaration and that ineffableimpression remains inscribed vividlyupon their minds and souls.”

Thus Hazrat Mirza Sahib’s disciples’enviable way of performing prayers




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were observed with wonder andastonishment by visitors. It would oftenhappen that an Ahmadi Muslim wouldremain in the sajdah (prostration) forso long that people would assume thathe had fallen asleep, and would shakehim with the intention of waking him up!Those were truly extraordinary days ofdevotion to Allah and the disciples ofHazrat Mirza Sahib would not feel theslightest fatigue in performing theirprayers with consistent absorption anddevotion. While in Qadian, no soonerhad we finished performing one prayer,we would eagerly await the scheduledtime of the next prayer, like a loverrestlessly and ardently awaiting themoment to meet his beloved.Remembrance of God in addition todaily prayers

In addition to the daily prayers, thepraise of Allah was constantly on HazratMirza Sahib’s lips. He would oftenrepeat the expressions, “Glory andpraise be to Allah, and glory be to Allah,the Most High,”. There was hardly anoccasion when the Unity, glory andgreatness of God were not emphasisedor discussed in his speeches andwritings. In fact, explaining deep insightof God and His magnificence andimbibing the spirit of God’s glory,according to the teachings of Islam andits propagation, invariably formed thebasic theme of Hazrat Mirza Sahib’sspeeches and writings. His earnestmission was to impress upon people thatthey should establish a personalrelationship with God. He used to saythat there is nobody more unfortunatethan the person who supplicates beforeAllah in prostration, reciting the words,“Glory be to my Lord, the Most High,”and yet does not feel the urge for theglorification of Allah to permeate hisinner self. At this point I feel impelledto quote the following hadith as it wassuperbly fulfilled in the person of HazratMirza Sahib: “Even if faith were liftedup to the Pleiades, a man from amongthese (Persians) would surely find it”(Bukhari, 65: lxii, 1).

As mentioned earlier, the glorificationof Allah was constantly on Hazrat Mirza’slips. He would speak of the blessings ofGod and His attributes in such affectionatewords that the listener’s soul would beinspired with the desire to seek nearnessto Allah. Hazrat Mirza Sahib’s faith inGod was so profound that it appeared asif he felt God’s presence at all the time,and such was the degree of faith insidehim that he wanted to instil it into hisdisciples. His strong faith in the power ofAllah is reflected in the followingexuberance which he repeated onnumerous occasions: “There are those whofind joy in the greatness of their wealth;there are those who find joy in theiroffspring; then there are those who findjoy in securing important politicalpositions. But my joy lies in knowing thatour Lord has power over all things, andthat nothing is impossible for Him.”Naturis despised

The preceding observation explainswhy Hazrat Mirza Sahib stronglydisagreed with the Naturis (Naturalists).Natury, is from the word nature whichrefers to the views of a group of rationalistMuslims of the nineteenth century whoheld that God could not act incontravention to the laws of Nature. Theyconsidered that spiritual phenomena, suchas revelation from God, Divineintervention and acceptance of prayers,could not take place outside the knownlaws of Nature. They interpreted suchexperiences, not so much as objectiverealities, but rather as perceptions of man’sown mind. What greatly offended HazratMirza Sahib was the claim of the Naturisthat God could not act beyond the domainof His laws operating in the Nature. Hewas of the view that those who considerGod as being constrained by His Ownlaws which we observe working in theworld do not really believe in His attributeof being All-Powerful. After all, what kindof God would that be Who, God forbid, isconfined in scope like a cow pulling onand on in a circle what is called “the oil-presser”? But God surely has limitlesspowers over His own affairs as mentioned

in a verse of the Qur’an: “And Allah hasfull control over His affair, but mostpeople know not” (Yusuf, 12:21).

In a nutshell, his arguments were:Firstly, it is impossible for man to haveall-comprehensive knowledge over all ofGod’s laws in operation in the Nature.Secondly, God’s laws are His Owncreation and hence subordinate to Him.So how can His laws have dominanceover its Creator? These laws certainlyare meant to govern mankind who areHis creatures. So God Himself can notpossibly be constrained by His ownlaws. Rather, mankind is inescapablyencompassed within the sphere of thoselaws. It is also true that God does notact in contravention to His eternalattributes mentioned in the Holy Qur’anor else such a Divine behaviour willbring chaos to the world which is boundand linked to an organised system oflaws formulated by God Himself.Ascribing such acts to Him that arecontrary to His own attributes certainlyreveals man’s lack of insight into theworking of the Divine scheme. Forexample, uttering falsehood on the partof God is contrary to His attribute ofjustice, and attributing such an act toHim would signify the utter ignoranceof a human being whose knowledge islimited. Again, it will negate His beingthe Supreme Judge. Therefore HazratMirza Sahib vehemently rejected theviews of the Naturis as they are basedon assumptions that go totally againstHis attributes as the Supreme andGlorious Being. This view of limitingGod’s sphere of action as subservient tothe laws of Nature, discovered byhuman beings over a long period ofhistory, negates the true nature of eternalattributes of God as most Majestic andMagnificent beyond human imagination.Thus, it is very obvious that thearguments of Naturis are based on mereassumptions and utter lack ofunderstanding of the laws of Nature.

(Taken from Mujaddid-i Azam,comprehensive biography of Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, vol. II, pp. 1344-1349.)




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THE ROLE OF THE AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT INTHE PROMOTION OF INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE

(Full text of talk given at the Centenary Convention of Lahore Ahmadiyya Jama‘ats ofHolland at the Tropical Hall, Dekkerhoek 46-48, The Hague on 14th June, 2008.)

by Dr. Jawad Ahmad B.Sc. MBBS. (UK).The subject for today is quite vast

and sensitive. Unfortunately, lack ofunderstanding and misconceptions aboutIslam have given rise to religious hatred,social tension and mutual mistrust in theWest and in particular against Muslimssettled in Europe and America. A lot canbe said and quoted while dealing withthe growing religious extremism betweenthe followers of three great religions ofthe world – Judaism, Christianity andIslam. We cannot deny the facts ofhistory that all the great founders of thesereligions underwent extreme persecutionbut they showed exemplary patience andforbearance towards their opponents inorder to uphold truth and to establishpeace, harmony, tolerance and mutuallove in the society.

Our learned brother, Dr. Zahid Azizof the UK, has written a concise andbeautiful booklet on this subject entitledIslam, Peace and Tolerance. It has beenrendered into Dutch by our youngtalented Bro Reza Ghafoerkhan and ispublished by Stichting AhmadiyyaIsha’at-i Islam, Hague. It is also beingrendered into German by Bro YahyaManfred Backhousen of Cologne,Germany, and in Urdu by Mrs. FaizaAli of Lahore (Pakistan). I am sure thisbooklet in English and its translationsin Dutch and German will certainly goa long way in removing misconceptionsand extremist perceptions about Islam,the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas) andthe Holy Qur’an. It will also clear gravemisgivings created in Europe by the printand electronic media in Holland andNorway by the publication of notoriouscartoons etc.

The booklet briefly presents the trueperspective of the teachings of theQur’an and practice of the Holy Prophet

Muhammad (sas) which guaranteereligious freedom and demonstrate truespirit of co-existence in the past and itsperennial message of religious freedomand tolerance. Undoubtedly, Islam is theonly religion whose scripture enjoinsinter-faith social relationship, toleranceand dialogue.

About 100 years after the death ofthe Founder of the AhmadiyyaMovement, his vision of peace andtolerance based on the teachings of theQur’an and practice of the Holy ProphetMuhammad (sas) is very much relevantand needed today as it was when towardsthe closing decade of the 19th century,Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, divinelyappointed Reformer of the present times,through his writings and interfaithconferences, promoted the spirit oftolerance and co-existence betweenvarious religious communities.

Two important aspects of the subjectwhich have come to my mind are: Whatis Islam’s attitude towards other faithsand their followers, and what is theproper way suggested by the Qur’an andthe practice of the Holy Prophet topromote inter-faith dialogue andunderstanding. The topic of my talkshould not give the wrong impressionthat the Ahmadiyya Movement hasinnovated something new to foster inter-faith relationship which has no basis inthe Holy Book of Islam and the preceptsof the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas).May I also clear the prevalentmisconception that the Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement, Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, initiated an all outattack against Christianity to justify hisown claim to be the Promised Messiah,and that his interpretation of the signsand prophecies of the Last Age are far-

fetched and have been misinterpreted tosupport his own claims. It is not theoccasion nor does time permit me to dealwith this aspect of the criticism againstthe Founder of the AhmadiyyaMovement. People interested in knowingthe truth are recommended to read TheSecond Coming of Jesus by HazratMaulana Muhammad Ali.

Brothers and sisters, the well-knownverse of the Holy Qur’an promotinginter-faith dialogue is verse 63 of thechapter, The Family of Amran, which Irecited at the start. Its English renderingis, “Say (O Muhammad) to the Peopleof the Book: Come to an equitable wordbetween us and you, that we shall servenone but Allah, and that we shall notassociate aught with Him, and thatsome of us shall not take others for lordsbesides Allah. But if they turn away,then say: Bear witness, we areMuslims.”

It may be pointed out that the chapterThe Family of Amran starts with adiscussion of the Christian doctrines inparticular. The persons addressed inparticular in this verse are the membersof the Christian deputation from Najranthat came to Madinah in the 10th year ofHijrah. It consisted of sixty men andwas headed by Abdul Masih, the chiefof the Najran Christians from Yemen.The members of the deputation werelodged in the Prophet’s Mosque and wereeven allowed to conduct their prayers init.

Here I would like to give the Englishtranslation of the text of the discussionheld between the deputation and the HolyProphet Muhammad (sas). It will giveyou an idea of the contents of thediscussion and the way the Holy Prophetconducted the discussion and what




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happened at the conclusion of thediscussion. Reference to this visit andthe discussion which followed arementioned in almost all thecommentaries of the Qur’an, Books ofHadith and biographies of the HolyProphet Muhammad (sas), as forinstance in the well-known commentaryof the Qur’an by Ibn-i Kathir (pp. 100-101) and the commentary of the Qur’anabout the historical context of theQur’anic verses viz., Asbaab-i Nuzoolby Abul Hassan Ali Ahmad Wahidi ofNishapur. Again, we find a briefreference about it in Bukhari (64:74).The details are so interesting andrevealing that it has once and for allgiven the clear verdict of the Qur’an andthe Holy Prophet regarding the birth,divinity and death of the Holy ProphetJesus (peace be on him). In Ahmadiyyaliterature complete discussion has beengiven in the well-known research work,Jesus in Heaven on Earth, by KhwajaNazir Ahmad.

Let us read the discussion in detail,which is as follows:

The leader of the Deputation openedthe discussion and enquired from theHoly Prophet (sas): They said: “Whatdo you think of our Lord (Sahib)?

The Messenger of God enquired:“Who is your Lord?”

They replied: “Isa (Jesus). Do youtake him to be a servant of God?”

The Messenger of God said: “Yes.”They then asked: “Have you seen any

one like him, or have you been informedof a man like him? He is God becausehe had no father, he raised the dead, hegave information of the unseen, he curedlepers and made birds from clay.Consider this superiority. Do you stillcall him a servant of God?”

The Holy Prophet (sas) did notanswer it at once, for at that verymoment came the Divine revelation, andone of the verses revealed was, “Surelythe likeness of Jesus is with Allah asthe likeness of Adam; He created himfrom dust. Then said, Be, and he was”(3:58).

The discussion went further:

They questioned: “Who was hisfather?”

The Messenger of God replied:“Don’t you know that no child is bornbut has a likeness to its father in formand appearance?”

They said: “Yes, we know.”The Messenger of God said: “Don’t

you know that our God is alive and willnever die and Jesus had to die?”

They said: “Yes, we know.”The Messenger of God questioned:

“Did Jesus possess any of thesepowers?”

They replied: “No.”The Messenger of God then asked:

“Did Jesus know of any of these thingsexcept those of which God gave him theknowledge?”

They answered: “No.”The Messenger of God said: “Don’t

you know that Our God neither eats, nordrinks, nor does He answer the calls ofnature?”

They said, “Yes, we know.”Then the Messenger of God said:

“Don’t you know that Jesus wasconceived by a woman just as any otherwoman conceives a child, he was thenreared up like other children, then heused to eat and drink and answer the callsof nature like other human beings?”

They said: “Yes, we know.”The Messenger of God then enquired:

“How can the Messiah be the one youtake him to be (i.e., God)?”

The narrator, Rabi‘, further statedthat the Christians could not reply to thislast question, but would not agree eitherand insisted on their false beliefs. Afterhaving argued the questions fully, andfinding them still insisting in their falsebelief in the divinity of Jesus (as), theHoly Prophet (sas) in accordance withthe Divine revelation invited them topray earnestly that the curse of Allahmight overtake the party that insisted onfalsehood.

The Divine revelation referred to isthe following verse of the Holy Qur’an:“Whoever then disputes with thee in thismatter after the knowledge that hascome to thee, say: Come! Let us call

our sons and your sons and our womenand your women and our people andyour people, then let us be earnest inprayer, and invoke the curse of Allahon the liars” (3:63).

The Christians wanted time to considerthe challenge. So, on the next day, AbdulMasih and two of his companions cameand informed the Holy Prophet (sas) thatthey had decided not to accept it, and thatthey would not pray against him nor invitehim to pray against them. Thereupon, anagreement was entered into whereby theywere given a guarantee to practise theirreligion freely. The text of this agreementhas been preserved in a book calledPolitical Agreements, compiled by Dr.Muhammad Hamidullah (Paris), pp. 175-179 published by Darul Nafaais, Beirut.

The well-known critic of Islam,William Muir made the followingcomments about this Agreement: “Theirauthority and rights shall not beinterfered with, nor anything that iscustomary amongst them, so long as theyconduct themselves peaceably anduprightly.”

The verse 63 of the chapter TheFamily of Amran undoubtedly lays downthe basis of the study of comparativereligion. Anyone who studies religiousliterature on a wide scale will find thatthe basic doctrines of Islam are thegreatest common measure of the truthcontained in different religions of theworld. And the Qur’an claims topreserve all such truths as stated in theverse, “A Messenger from Allah,reciting pure pages, wherein are allright books” (98:2).

The doctrine of Unity as taught byIslam affords a universal truth. Allhigher religions start on the basis ofDivine Unity which is thus common toall, but then each religious system hasits peculiarities unknown to all others.Islam alone is free from all theseadditions to the basic doctrine, and itpreaches Unity in its simplest form andrejects all additions.

The purpose of giving details of thediscussion held with the Christiandeputation, as mentioned earlier, is to




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show how inter-faith dialogue should beconducted in a logical manner conduciveto good understanding as outlined by theHoly Qur’an and practised by the HolyProphet (sas).

It is a historical fact that the Agreementwith the Christian deputation of Najranwas negotiated at a time when the HolyProphet was in a dominant position.Moreover, although the Christiandeputation had a long discussion and failedto reply to the questions of the HolyProphet, even then the Holy Prophet signedan agreement granting them completereligious and cultural freedom. Thus, theAgreement can rightly be considered asthe first and paramount charter of religiousfreedom in the history of religions evergranted to a religious minority by adominant power.

It will be interesting to mention herethat in a recent lecture the Archbishopof Canterbury of the Church of Englandreferred to the foundation of thePakistani state of Pakistan under Jinnahas “the clearest articulation” of the“universal claims of the Qur’an.”

It reminds me of the historic wordsof Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, when,as the first Governor-General of thenewly born state of Pakistan, he said:“You may belong to any religion, casteor creed. That has nothing to do withthe business of the state. In due courseof time, Hindus will cease to be Hindusand Muslims will cease to be Muslims,not in the religious sense, because thatis the personal faith of each individual,but in the political sense, as citizens ofthe State” (11th September, 1947).

Coming back to the subject of inter-faith dialogue, you must have noticedthat the Holy Prophet (sas) whilediscussing with the Christian deputationwas all the time inductive in hisarguments. It means that he alwaysreferred to or presented to them a factwhich they were aware of and they hadno alternative but to reply in theaffirmative. The same method has beenpertinently adopted by the Holy Qur’an.In order to explain various spiritualphenomena, it refers to the creation of

man and his limited life on this earth,the earth and its vegetation, the universeand its huge planets moving in it, thecreatures living at the bottom of the seaor huge ships sailing over the waves ofthe sea carrying thousands of tons ofprovision for the sustenance of humanbeings living in far off countries. Thusit appeals to human understanding,observation and sense of deduction.

In the Holy Qur’an, Allah, MostHigh, refers to the Qur’an as full ofwisdom (36:2). Again, Allah enjoinsMuslims to argue with people withwisdom and goodly exhortation: It says:“Call to the way of thy Lord withwisdom and goodly exhortation, andargue with them in the best manner.Surely thy Lord knows best him whostrays from His path, and He knows bestthose who go aright” (16:125).

Another very important basisprovided by the Qur’an for promotinginter-faith dialogue is that it guardsprevious scriptures, verifies pristinetruths originally revealed therein andalso corrects what has erroneously beenadded to them.

The Qur’an says: “And We haverevealed to you the Book with the truth,verifying that which is before it, of theBook and a guardian over it, so judgebetween them by what Allah hasrevealed, and follow not their lowdesires (turning away) from the truththat has come to thee. For every one ofyou We appointed a law and a way”(5:48).

In this verse, the Qur’an has beencalled muhaimin or a guardian over allprevious revelations, thus showing thatwhatever was of permanent value in theprevious scriptures has been preservedin the Qur’an. The previous bookscontained a light and guidance for thepeople for whom they were meant, andthey were commanded to judge by thosebooks, as the Qur’an says: “And We sentafter them in their footsteps Jesus, sonof Mary, verifying that which was beforehim of the Torah: and We gave him theGospel containing guidance and light,and verifying that which was before it

of the Torah, and a guidance and anadmonition for the dutiful” (5:46).

But the Qur’an is now the Bookwhich contains all the truths, whereverit may have been, and therefore is theonly Book which contains original truthsrevealed at different times and todifferent peoples and thus as a puredivine guidance should be followed.

We find somewhat similar statementgiven in the following verse of theQur’an: “We certainly sent messengersto nations before you… and We havenot revealed to you the Book except thatyou may make clear to them that inwhich they differ” (16:63, 64).

As we have already seen that in thediscussion with the Christian deputationfrom Najran the Holy Prophet (sas)followed the direction of the Qur’an byappealing to the commonalities and thendrawing logical conclusions which theycould not deny. Similarly, the Founderof the Ahmadiyya Movement followedthe same pattern and challenged theopponents of Islam to present from theirown respective scriptures some thingbetter and superior to what has beenrevealed in the Qur’an.

In the late 18th century, the BritishRaj was ruling the Indo-Paksubcontinent, the greater part of MiddleEast and Africa. In a bid to perpetuatetheir rule, they organized a missionarynetwork throughout the country withhuge man power and financial support.To have a glimpse of the British plan, Iwill like to quote some extracts from thereports published about the so-calledsuccess of their missionary activities.1. The Prime Minster of England,

Lord Palmerston said:“I believe we are all united in ourpurpose. It is not only our duty, butour interest is related to it as well,that we should spread the preachingof Christianity as far as possible, andtake it to every corner of India” (TheMissions: Robert Clark, p. 234).

2. A report of the British Legislature,the House of Commons, publishedin 1873, said:“The Government commends the




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noble efforts of 600 missionarieswith feelings of deep gratitude.Their unsoiled example anddedicated services are breathing anew spirit into the old lives ofcountless colonies of Britishsubjects, and making them bettermen and preparing them to be thebetter citizens of this great empirein which they live” (History ofProtestant Missions by A.M.Shering, London).

3. The well-known missionary JohnHenry Burrows said in a lecture:“Now I come to the daily increasingprogress of Christianity in Islamiccountries. As a result of thisprogress, today, if the splendour ofthe Cross is casting its light inLebanon, on the other side, themountain tops in Persia and thewaters of Bosphorus are glitteringwith its brilliance. This state ofaffairs is a forerunner of the comingrevolution when the cities of Cairo,Damascus and Tehran will bepopulated by servants of the Lord,Jesus Christ, till, piercing thesilence of the Arabian desert, thesplendour of the cross reaches eventhere. At that time, the Lord, Jesus,through his servants, shall enter theCity of Mecca and the sacredKa‘bah, and at last this truth shallbe proclaimed from there that‘eternal life is to know the one Godand Jesus whom He sent’ ”(Burrows Lectures, p. 42).

This was the situation when HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad, all alone in a faroff village of Qadian, in the province ofPunjab, having no formal education inany school or college and without anyfacilities of communication, set out ona stupendous task to face the religiouscrusade against the mighty empire of thetime over which the sun never set. Hisgreatest weapon of defence was theQur’an as well as Divine support.Besides writing scores of books, holdingdebates and facing several criminal andcivil court cases maliciously filed againsthim, where even some leading Muslims

sided with the opponents, he undauntedlytried to establish the truth of the Qur’anby holding conferences to promote inter-faith understanding, and to bring peaceand harmony among communitiesbelonging to different religions.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement,spent his whole life working to upholdthe honour and truth of Islam and itsHoly Prophet (sas) and was sad andgrieved at the foul and filthy languageused by the opponents of Islam whilecriticising the teachings of the Qur’anand tarnishing the unblemished characterof the Holy Prophet (sas). He alwaystried to find ways and means to bringunderstanding, peace and harmonybetween different religious communities.He had been inviting the attention ofleading scholars of various religions andeven the British Government to enact alaw whereby mudslinging and maligningof founders of various religions shouldbe stopped. He emphasised the need toadopt decency and tolerance and thatadvocates of each religion should try toconvince others by bringing out nobleideas and behaviour from theirrespective scriptures.

When Christian priests and Aryapundits in India crossed all limits ofdecency and their abuses and baselessaccusations became unbearable and asa reaction violent reaction becameimminent, Hazrat Mirza wrote adetailed petition entitled: “Noticeaddressed to Arya pundits, Christianpriests and leading religiousOpponents.” In this Notice he put downsuggestions and rules of conduct to beobserved in debates and suggested thatonly those books and writings should bereferred to which are considered asauthentic by the votaries of each religionso that speakers and writers should notresort to sources which are eitherunauthentic or are the authors’ ownviews and interpretation. For instance,for the Muslims, the Holy Qur’an, forChristians the Bible, for Hindus, theVedas, for Jews, the Torah and forSikhs, the Granth Sahib should be

considered as revealed books. He tookgreat pains to get the signatures ofthousands of people belonging to allthese religions on this Petition and sentit to the Government on 22nd September,1895. Though no notice was taken of itat that time; yet many years later theBlasphemy Act was passed in India.

Again he repeated his demand to puta check on malicious publications bywriting another memorandum to theGovernor of Punjab on 4th May 1898.This time it was regarding a filthypublication written by a Christian Dr.Ahmad Shah, Ummahaatul Mu’mineen,maligning the noble characters of thewives of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sas). It was distributed freely amongthe Muslims. It caused so much distressand uproar among the Muslims thatAnjuman Himayat-i Islam, Lahore, oneof the largest Muslim organizations havingscores of educational and charitableinstitutions, had to write a memorandumto Government of Punjab to ban the book.But Hazrat Mirza took a different standon this issue. He wrote that as the bookhad already been distributed among thepeople and malicious information had beencirculated, therefore it was essential thatproper reply to it should be published toclarify the misconceptions and filthyallegations heaped on the unblemishedcharacter of the wives of the Holy Prophet(sas) who were considered “Mothers ofthe Believers” by the Muslims.

Hazrat Mirza was very keen that theGovernment should take stringentmeasures to stop such filthy and baselessspeeches and writings. He was also ofthe strong view that inter-faith meetingsshould be organised where scholars fromvarious religions should present thebeauties from their respective religiousscriptures which will ultimately help tocreate mutual understanding, harmonyand respect for one another.

Luckily, a well-known Hinduscholar, Swami Shogan Chandra, whobecame grieved to see the ills of societyand the religious disputes prevalentamong different groups creating hatred,and who was trying to find the remedy




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to eradicate the bickering betweendifferent societies, happened to visitHazrat Mirza in Qadian to find his viewson certain questions in this regard whichwere baffling his mind. The Swami wasimpressed by Hazrat Mirza’s deepknowledge about various religions and hiskeen interest to promote interfaith dialogueand apprised him of his efforts in thisregard. He also told him that he had earlierorganised one such interfaith meeting inAjmer in 1892. Thus, his meeting withHazrat Mirza proved fruitful andsuggestions and plan to hold anotherinterfaith conference were agreed upon.Hazrat Mirza not only encouraged himbut promised to participate in the proposedconference. He also agreed to give himmoral and financial support. So apreliminary public Announcement aboutthis conference was printed for him inQadian. He also deputed one of hisdisciples to accompany him to help himin organising and publicising theconference.

Due to the efforts of the learnedSwami Chandra, representatives of theSanatan Dharam, Arya Samaj,Hinduism, Brahmu Samaj,Theosophical Society, Religion ofHarmony, Christianity and Sikhism andsome leading Muslim religious scholarsagreed to attend the Conference. Amongthe Muslim speakers, besides HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad, there wereMaulana Muhammad Hussain Batalviand Maulvi Sanaullah, leading religiousscholars of the Ahl-i Sunnat and alsobitter opponents of the AhmadiyyaMovement. But by the grace of Allah,from the remarks of the moderators ofthe management committee and reportsof the contemporary newspapers, it wasevident that people highly praised theaddress given by the Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement and werespellbound throughout its delivery.

I will like to quote just one reviewout of many published in the daily andmonthly journals of India. JournalWigohar Asafi of Calcutta in its issuedated 24th January, 1897 wrote:

“If the article of Hazrat Mirza Sahib

would not have been there, the Muslimswould certainly have faced extremehumiliation and disgrace in front of peopleof other religions. But God’s powerfulhand saved the sacred religion of Islamfrom falling down. And because of thisarticle it achieved such a commandingvictory that supporters as well asopponents spontaneously in response totheir true inner enthusiasm declared that‘the article has superseded all.”

And even the great Russianphilosopher, author and novelist, CountLeo Tolstoy (1823-1910), appreciatedthe English translation of this lecturewhen it was later on published in serialform in the monthly Review of Religions.He wrote in a letter:

“I approve very much of two articles,‘How to get rid of sin’ and ‘The life tocome’. The idea is very profound andvery true.”

The organizers, on publishing acomprehensive report of this GreatConference of Religions considered it as“The most memorable event of 19th

century.” Hazrat Mirza in hisintroductory remarks before presentinghis marvellous lecture entitled,Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam,in Lahore in December, 1896, wrote:

“In this auspicious meeting, whichhas been convened with the object thatthe advocates of the different religioussystems should, so far as the limits ofthe questions set allow, set forth thebeauties of their respective religions, I,as an advocate of the faith of Islam, willdwell upon its beauties. Before I startwith the substantive subject, I take leaveto state that all my assertions andarguments will be based upon and drawnfrom the Holy Qur’an. I deem it a matterof the first importance that everybodywho believes in any sacred scripture asthe revealed Word of God should so setlimits to his advocacy of the religion hesupports as not to go out of the holy bookor depend upon arguments other thanthose which the book furnishes. For, ifhe does not observe this rule, he, as amatter of fact, makes and advances anew book and not the one which he

professes to support. Therefore, as it ismy object to show the beauties of theQur’an and to establish its exclusiveexcellence over all other books, I shallbind myself by the rule above stated anddepend solely upon the Qur’an for everyassertion and argument, stating only thatwhich is contained in it in plain words,or what may be reasonably inferred fromits words. As the other gentlemen arealso expected to set limits to theirdiscourses by this reasonable rule, therewill be a good opportunity for judiciousminds to form a judgement as to thecomparative value of the different booksclaimed to be revealed. For the samereason, I shall avoid all references to theauthorities containing the reported wordsof the Holy Prophet of Islam and not gooutside the Word of God as revealed inthe Qur’an” (pp. 1, 2).

In order to hold such deliberations ona regular basis, the Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement wrote aNotification dated 28th May, 1900 aboutthe Minaratul Masih (Minaret of theMessiah) which was under constructionin Qadian. He concluded it on the note:“O my friends! I will like to draw yourattention to a very important issue. Myintention in building this minaret alsoinvolves that within the minaret thereshould be a round room or some sort of ahall which can accommodate at least 100people and that it should be used fordelivering sermons and religiouslectures. It is my intention that suchreligious meetings in this hall should beheld at least once or twice a year. Andin such meetings any Muslim, Hindu,Arya, Sikh or Christian can describe thebeauties of his religion. But thecondition is that no one must attack anyother religion. Every one will be allowedto say any thing in support of hisreligious beliefs within the norms ofdecency.”

In 1902, Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad undertook yet another verysignificant step for the promotion ofinter-faith awareness and understanding.It was the publication of a monthly inEnglish viz., The Review of Religions.




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Its first editor was Maulana MuhammadAli. To manage this project a society hadalready been formed by the Founder inMarch, 1901 under the name ofAnjuman Isha‘at-i Islam.

Here are some views of non-Muslimscholars about this journal:

A prolific writer and critic of theAhmadiyya Movement, Mr. H. A.Walter, in his book, The AhmadiyyaMovement: The Religious Life of Indiapublished in 1918, writes the followingabout the Review of Religions:

“The editor of the journal is MaulviMuhammad Ali, M.A, LL.B., who is avery able disciple of Mirza GhulamAhmad. In the past he was also helpedby Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. ... Thisjournal, Review of Religions, carries thesame objectives as its very namesuggests, because in it, major religionsare discussed such as Sanatan Dharam,Arya Samaj, Brahmu Samaj,Theosophy, Sikhism, Buddhism,Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Christianityand Science. There are also discussionsand critical analysis of the views andbeliefs of various old and new sects inIslam mainly Shiites, Ahl-e Hadis,Khwarij, Sufis and modern timephilosophers in India like Sir SyedAhmad Khan and Syed Amir Ali etc”(Mujaddid-i Azam, p. 835).

Similarly, another critic of theAhmadiyya Movement, Mr. SpencerLavan, in his book Ahmadiyya Movement:Past and Present (1976) writes:

“Considering the times and thecontext in which it was first written andpublished, Review of Religions, was aremarkable publication” (p. 45).

The literary legacy of the Founderof the Ahmadiyya Movement in the fieldof research and critical analysis of otherreligions was carried on by the scholarsand writers of the Lahore AhmadiyyaMovement under the able and himself arenowned and prolific writer on Islam,Maulana Muhammad Ali. But theperson who earned distinction for hisknowledge, linguistic skill and extensiveresearch in Hinduism and Christianitywas Maulana Abdul Haque Vidyarthi,

whose book Muhammad in WorldScriptures is the first and uniquecontribution on comparative study ofreligions and can rightly be regarded astrend-setter for future studies in thisfield.

It is no exaggeration to say that itwas the Founder of the AhmadiyyaMovement who not only urged hisfollowers to seek knowledge andguidance from the Qur’an but tovindicate the truths mentioned thereinthrough research.

Let me quote two couplets of theFounder to show how intensely he lovedthe Qur ’an and the treasure ofknowledge and guidance contained in it.

Ja-maa-lo husn-i Qur-‘aan noo-rejaa-ni har mu-sal-maan hai,

Qa-mar hai chaand au-ron kaa ha-maa-raa chaand Qur-‘aan hai.It means:

The elegance and beauty of theQur’an is the life of every Muslim.The full moon may be source ofresplendent light for others but to behonest our moon is the Holy Qur’an.

Dil men ya-hee hai har dam te-raasa-hee-fah choo-moonQur-‘aan ke gird ghoo-moon ka‘-bah me-raa ya-hee hai.

It means:One thought which has possessed my

soul is that I should kiss Thy Scriptureand go round and round the Qur’anbecause that is my Ka‘bah, the soleshrine of my life.

INSTITUTION OF MUJADDIDSHIP(Advent of Divine Revivalists in Islam)

The Holy Qur’an“Allah has promised to those of you who believe and do good that He will surely makethem rulers in the earth as He made those before them rulers, and that He will surelyestablish for them their religion, which He has chosen for them, and that he willsurely give them security in exchange after their fear. They will serve Me, notassociating aught with Me. And whoever is ungrateful after this, they are thetransgressors” (24:55).A saying of the Holy Prophet“Most surely Allah will raise for this community at the head of every century one whoshall revive for it its faith” (Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Sunan, Ch. Al-Malahim (printed atAnsari Press, Delhi, India; vol. 2, p. 241).Names of Mujaddids of the 14 centuries of HijrahFirst century: ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul ‘AzizSecond century: Imam Shafi‘i and Imam Ahmad ibn HanbalThird century: Abu Sharh and Abu al-Hassan Ash‘ari.Fourth century: Abu ‘Ubaidullah of Nishapur and Qazi Abu Bakr BaqilaniFifth century: Imam al-GhazaliSixth century: Al-Sayyid ‘Abdul Qadir JilaniSeventh century: Imam ibn Taimiyya and Khwaja Mu‘in-ud-Din ChishtiEighth century: Ibn Hajar ‘Asqalani and Salih ibn ‘UmarNinth century: Sayyid Muhammad JaunpuriTenth century: Imam Jalal-ud-Din ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al-SuyutiEleventh century: Al-Shaikh Ahmad of Sirhind, Mujaddid Alf ThaniTwelfth century: Shah Wali Allah Muhaddath DehlviThirteenth century: Sayyid Ahmad BarelviFourteenth century: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Mujaddid of the fourteenth

century (the Promised Messiah)“About the fourteenth century (Hijrah) to which there are still ten more years to go, ifthe advent of Mahdi and descent of Jesus takes place, they would be the mujaddid andmujtahid (revivalist and jurist)” (Hujaj al-Kiramah, p. 139).(Extract from Nawab Siddiq Hassan Khan, Hujaj al-Kiramah, pp. 135-139, publishedby Shah Jehan Press, Bhopal, India).




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In the light of the Holy Qur’an

THE TRUE SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACYThe Role of Semantics in facilitating the spread of

norms of “Democracy” in the Muslim Worldby Fazeel S. Khan (USA)

[Mr. Fazeel Sahu Khan, a lawyer byprofession, editor of the monthly, TheLight & Islamic Review (USA), and atalented son of our dear sister, Mrs.Samina Malik (In-charge Publications,Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at-i Islam,Lahore Inc. USA), was asked by theeditors of the Columbus Bar Lawyers’Quarterly to write an article on Islamfor their periodical. He submitted a shortpiece discussing what he believes to bea fundamentally imperative approach tofacilitating the acceptance and spread ofdemocracy in the Muslim world. Hisobjective was to expose the readers ofthe periodical to some of the establishedprinciples from Islamic scripture andearly history that correlate with, andtherefore are supportive of, theinstitution of a democratic form ofgovernment. For the sake of making thearticle appealing to the readers of theperiodical, it was presented in the formof an argument about the benefits of theuse of “semantics” in facilitating thespread of democracy in the Muslimworld. The article, which is originallyentitled “What’s in a Name,” isreproduced below with a different title.The issue of the Columbus Bar Lawyers’Quarterly in which the article waspublished is also available online at:http:/ /www.cbalaw.org/members/p u b l i c a t i o n s / b a r b r i e f s /CBLQFall2007.pdf. - Ed.]

THE WORD SEMANTICS iscommonly defined as “the meaning thatcan be derived from words or some otherform of expression.” As lawyers, weare quite familiar with the value ofsemantics. Whether it is a word in astatute, a term found in a decision, oran idiom used by a witness, we utilizesemantics to argue interpretations thatfurther our clients’ interests. We providemeanings to words that go beyond their

common import so that the substance ofwhat is being presented may be captured.The process of employing effectiveinterpretations to words in order tofurther a specific agenda, however, mayprove beneficial beyond the realm of“lawyering”; it may also help promotedemocracy in the Muslim world.Definition of democracy

The word democracy has no singledefinition. It means different things todifferent people. For some, it equateswith a system of governance wherein awritten constitution is supreme. TheBritish though would necessarilydisagree, for they have no writtenconstitution. For others, it means agoverning structure wherein persons areelected strictly by popular vote. This,however, does not hold true inrepresentative democracies like the U.S.Still others view democracy as a politicalscheme whereby all people areguaranteed equality. Try reconciling thiswith the caste system prevalent in theso-called largest democracy in the world,India, or the years of slavery experiencedin America’s early history. Clearly,when promoting something as complexand multifaceted as democracy to theMuslim world – where the concept isgenerally viewed with suspicion as aninherently western idea that attempts todeny the sovereignty of God over Hiscreation through the establishment ofman-made rules – a more descriptiveinterpretation of the term is required.

A general consensus may be reachedin defining democracy, at its core, as asystem of governance wherein: (1)majority opinion is accepted, and (2)minority/individual rights are protected.By deconstructing the term to this basictwo-part formula, the system beingpromoted is more easily understood. Itdemystifies the western concept by

providing tangible mechanisms that maybe correlated with established principlesfound in Islamic tradition.

For instance, the essence of majorityrule finds explicit support in the Qur’an,the holy scripture of Islam. The Qur’an,in its forty-second chapter titled Al-Shura (The Counsel), specificallypraises those: “whose affairs are(decided) by counsel amongthemselves” (42:38). In this verse, wefind the foundation for the establishmentof a government by council orparliamentary government. Thisprinciple was put into practice by noother than the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sas) himself, the Holy Founder of Islam.Recorded history bears witness to himnot only engaging in consultativeprocesses with regard to administrativematters and state affairs, but alsoaccepting the majority view despite hispersonal opinion at times being to thecontrary.

The basis of a majority rule systemis further espoused in Islamic traditionby the Qur’an instructing: “Surely Godcommands you to make over (positionsof) trust (in government or affairs ofthe state) to those worthy of them”(4:58). This verse plainly calls for theinstitutionalization of an electoralprocess whereby the people determinewho they want as their representatives.This principle was also practicallydemonstrated in the early history ofIslam by the Muslims electing the firstfour Khalifas (i.e. heads of state afterMuhammad) either by agreement of allparties, by nomination after consultationwith leading representatives of thecommunity, or by appointment by anelective council.Individual rights and majority rule inDemocracy

Similarly, the fundamental elementsof the minority/individual rights notionare unequivocally upheld in Islamictradition. The Qur’an champions theequality of all mankind: “All men are asingle nation” (2:213). It also featureswhat some believe to be the magnacharta of religious tolerance bydeclaring: “There is no compulsion inmatters of religion” (2:256). Even the


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economic independence of the sexes isadvanced: “For men is the benefit ofwhat they earn. And for women thebenefit of what they earn” (4:32).Again, undisputed history bearstestimony to the distinguished civilliberties enjoyed by non-Muslims underearly Muslim rule, the protected statusof Jews in Spain being an illustriousexample.

And just as it is understood inwestern democracies that the formationof fair and impartial tribunals thataddress the claims of aggrieved partiesis essential to ensure the protection ofminority/individual rights, the Qur’anlikewise provides: “Judge between allmen justly and follow not any bias, lestit lead thee astray from the path oftruth” (38:26). The Holy ProphetMuhammad (sas) himself applied thisprinciple to the fullest extent possible.He provided persons of other faithsliving within Muslim communities theoption, in certain circumstances, ofbeing judged according to their ownlaws, if they so chose, so that fairadjudication may be achieved.

Clearly, the foundational componentsunderlying the broad term democracyshare many commonalities withentrenched Islamic principles governingstatehood. Unfortunately, the termdemocracy in and of itself does notinstinctively strike such parallels in theminds of common Muslims living inpurported “Islamic States”. Rather, itis more often than not perceived as aforeign concept, at odds with the basictenets of their faith. In order to spreaddemocracy in the Muslim world, thismisunderstanding must be corrected.The establishment of democratic formsof government in this region is muchmore likely to be realized if the basicconcepts of majority rule and minority/individual rights are presented in termsof the people’s own authoritativetraditions.The process of learning

The process of explaining somethingby deconstructing it to its basic elements,though, is certainly not limited to theexperience of lawyers. Rather, it is anatural phenomenon in which, whether

conscious or not, everyone engages. Weinstinctively recognize that whensomething is not understood and anexplanation is required, by presentingrudimentary parts of the larger, morecomplicated concept, the “thing” beingexplained may be more easilycomprehended. Intuitively, we know thisis the basis of knowledge and learning:by compartmentalizing and reconcilingthe basic elements of something, onemay acquire a full realization andappreciation of it.

This process of learning is alsouniquely “human”. It is only “man” thathas the ability to study the basic elementsof a thing in order to completelyappreciate its true nature, rather than,as other creation, simply accept a thingor a phenomenon for its mere outward/physical/obvious characteristics. This isthe primary quality that distinguishesman from other creation – man, is simplysmarter this way. And this universalprinciple is beautifully illustrated in theHoly Qur’an.

In Chapter 2 verses 31-33 of the HolyQur’an, it is stated: “And He taughtAdam all the names, then presentedthem to the angels; He said: Tell Methe names of those if you are right. Theysaid: Glory be to Thee! We have noknowledge but that which Thou hasttaught us. Surely Thou art the Knowing,the Wise. He said: O Adam, inform themof their names. So when he informedthem of their names, He said: Did I notsay to you that I know what is unseenin the heavens and the earth? And Iknow what you manifest and what youhide.”

The section in which these versesappear, deals with the nature of man.Using “Adam” as an illustration andrepresentation of “man” in general, weare told that God “taught Adam all thenames”. As Maulana Muhammad Aliexplains in his commentary on theseverses, although the Arabic word asmaa’literally signifies names, what is meantis that God taught man “the attributesof things and their descriptions and theircharacteristics, for the attributes of athing are indicative of its nature.” Thus,God explains that the distinctive

characteristic that makes man superiorto all other creation is his ability to studythe attributes and characteristics ofthings. Man does not rely on instinctalone, but rather has the unique abilityto conduct a comprehensive study of theproperties of things and it is through thisinherent skill, that he will rule the earthand all of its creation.

Therefore, the exposition presentedin this article actually serves twopurposes. First, the obvious, is that itpresents a simple overview of thecompatibility between basic componentsof democracy with established Islamicprinciples. Second, the one not soobvious, it presents a process by whichthe understanding of this compatibilitymay be facilitated, a process that isinherently Islamic!Spiritual concepts and physicalillustrations

It should be mentioned, though, thatthe Qur’an routinely explains spiritualconcepts by using physical illustrations.The parallel spiritual significance to thisphysical analogy may be that just as mancan attain greatness in the world due tohis ability to acquire a full and completeunderstanding of things, so, too, can manreach a stage of spiritual eminence byacquiring a complete understanding ofGod. The ninety-nine names (orattributes) of Allah presented in theQur’an are in fact the characteristics ofGod, which, when studied andunderstood thoroughly, can lead to thetrue realization of the “complete”Divine. The inherent, unique skill ofstudying the attributes andcharacteristics of a thing, what isreferred to in the Qur’an as the “names”of a thing, therefore, is the basic qualitywhich can lead to man’s material as wellas spiritual greatness.

May Almighty Allah help usrecognize our inherent abilities so thatwe may put them to use in establishingsystems of governance that lead topeaceful cohabitation on earth. May thisrecognition of our innate facilities alsobe used to develop our souls so that wemay be fit to live a life in peace withGod in this world and in the hereafter.Aameen.




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Religious Freedom and Social JusticeEmperor Babur’s Confidential Will for his son, Humayun

by Dr. Syed Mahmud

More than five hundred years afterAl-Beruni, who left India in 1030 AD,the Mughal king Akbar came to thethrone, and set about to cultivate, in anentirely new and unheard-of manner,associations with his Hindu subjects. Itwas a part of his government’s policy toeffect a fusion of the two great elementsof religious and social life, and he dideverything in his power to conciliate theHindus, to affect their manners andcustoms, and to encourage theobliteration of the differences betweenthe two communities. Consequently,there was scarcely a department of hisown private life in which somemodification of the Islamic rule was notintroduced. Although he was a man ofthe most meagre sort of education, yethe evinced the profoundest interest inHindu religion and philosophy, and inhis time had translations made from theSanskrit into Persian of the AthervaVeda, the Mahabharata and theRamayana.

All of these contacts with the Hinducommunity gradually tended to producean attitude of tolerance among theMuslims of India, which has given toIndian Islam some peculiarcharacteristics. Further proofs of this arefound in the terms of a confidential Willwhich Babur left to his own son,Humayun, the original copy of which ispreserved in the State Library at Bhopal.The document, as translated, runs asfollows:

O my son: People of diversereligions inhabit India, and it is amatter of thanksgiving to God thatthe King of the kings has entrustedthe government of this country toyou. The following is thereforeincumbent on you:

1. You should not allow religiousprejudices to influence your mind,

and you should administerimpartial justice, having due regardto the religious susceptibilities andreligious customs of all sections ofthe people.

2. In particular, refrain from theslaughter of cows, as this will helpyou to obtain a hold on the heartsof the people. Thus, you will bindthe people of the land to yourselfby ties of gratitude.

3. You should never destroy theplaces of worship of anycommunity and always be justice-loving, so that the relations betweenthe king and his subjects mayremain cordial and there may bepeace and contentment in the land.

4. The propagation (of Islam) will be

better carried on with the swordof love and obligation than withthe sword of oppression.

5. Always ignore the mutualdissension of Shias and Sunnis,otherwise they will lead to theweakness of Islam.

6. Treat the different peculiarities ofyour subjects as the differentseasons of the year, so that the bodypolitic may remain free fromdisease.- (Dr. Syed Mahmud, TheIndian Review, Aug. 1923, p. 490).

(Taken from Indian Islam – A PoliticalHistory of Islam in India by Murray T. TitusPh.D., D.D.; published by OxfordUniversity Press, London 1930; pp.156,157.)

A brief history of AhmadiyyaBuildings, Lahore

by Nasir Ahmad B.A., LL.B. (UK)Ahmadiyya Buildings is the name of asmall locality comprising of residencesand buildings belonging to Ahmadis inthree streets that run off the famousBrandreth Road in Lahore. The land ofthis locality was originally owned byChaudhary Allah Yar, a scion ofKambuh clan and father of ChaudharyZahur Ahmad, one of the senior figuresof the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.In 1906 this plot of land was taken onlease from the owner by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, Dr. Syed Muhammad HusainShah and Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg. KhwajaKamal-ud-Din was the first to build hishouse on the eastern side of the plot,facing Brandreth Road, followed by Dr.Syed Muhammad Husain Shah alsofacing Brandreth Road, but across thesame street. This latter house occupiedthe central portion of the plot. Khwaja

Kamal-ud-Din’s house stood at the headof the eastern-most street, and on itsfront at the top, in the early days, thename Ahmadiyya Buildings was writtenin large letters, visible from a longdistance. This street was called Jami‘aStreet. The middle street was a privatecul-de-sac and therefore had no name.The last of the three streets, the western-most, was called Ahmadiyya Street.

After some time, Babu Manzur Ilahiand Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg also built theirhouses in Street No. 1 and Street No. 3respectively. Up till that time there wasno other house on this side of the road.However, on the other side of BrandrethRoad, facing this plot, the grandbuilding of Islamia College had alreadybeen constructed. In front of the Collegebuilding there was a big playground ofthe College with two large gates opening




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on to Brandreth Road through whichaccess could be had to the playgroundand the College building. These gateshave been closed and there are nowshops there. Over the gates there is atwo-storey building. On its first floorare shops and on the second is thebuilding of Tibbia College, Lahore. Allthis belongs to the Anjuman Himayat-iIslam, Lahore, the first Muslimorganization in Punjab in the pre-partition days, founded in the 1880s,which promoted education for Muslimboys and girls.

The layout of the houses of Ahmadisin the three streets, when fullydeveloped, was as follows. Approachingfrom Lahore Railway Station andpassing through Dalgiran Chowk, wecome across the three streets onBrandreth Road on its right side.The first street (Jami‘a Street)Right side in order, the houses of:

• Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din• Khwaja Jalal-ud-Din• Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din• Khwaja Abdul Ghani• Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. On the

ground floor of this house was builtthe Bashir Badshah Reading Room,in memory of the early deaths ofKhwaja Bashir Ahmad, eldest sonof Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and hisdaughter-in-law Badshah Begum. Itlater became the Central Library ofthe Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at-Islam Lahore. The library wastransferred to Darus SalamAhmadiyya Colony in Garden Townin 1988.

• Khwaja Jalal-ud-Din• Babu Manzur Ilahi:

(Note: Babu Manzur Ilahi had received the titleKhan Sahib from the government for hisdistinguished services in the railway. After retire-ment he worked in the Anjuman as in charge ofthe section for propagation overseas. His personaldedication and hard work in maintaining corres-pondence with other countries and sendingliterature abroad led to many branches of theJama‘at being created by volunteers in variouscountries. He also wrote and compiled manybooks. His greatest literary accomplishment wasthe compilation in book form, for the very firsttime, of the daily discourses of the Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement taken from the reports

published in Ahmadiyya newspapers at the time.The first volume of this Malfuzat was publishedunder the title Manzur Ilahi. He published sevenparts, covering the period up to 1902.)

• Mian Taj-ud-Din. This waspurchased by the Central Anjumanin 1958.

• Building of Muslim High School,Lahore:

(Note: The Muslim High School was originallyestablished in the house of Dr. Syed MuhammadHusain Shah at Abbot Road. Later an appeal waslaunched to construct a building for it. From thefunds raised most of the land required waspurchased from Chaudhary Zahur Ahmad. Thena house belonging to Baba Ahmad Din was addedto this property. This house was located where thewest entrance to Muslim High School and somerooms stand today. The owner bequeathed thehouse to the Anjuman. For some time this housewas used to accommodate guests.)

• Mian Miraj-ud-Din, a respectableGujjar.

Left side, houses of:• Dr. Syed Muhammad Husain Shah.

It was on the first floor of this housethat the Promised Messiah breathedhis last on 26 May 1908. This houseextended upto the AhmadiyyaMosque.

• The Ahmadiyya Buildings Mosque• Master Niaz Ali. This was later

converted into a Guest House. Itwas purchased by the CentralAnjuman on 24 August 1926. Mr.Niaz Ali retired as Headmaster ofthe Muslim High School, Lahore.

• Babu Shaikh Ghulam Qadir:(Note: Shaikh Ghulam Qadir was TelegraphMaster in the railways. In that official capacity,he was the one who gave clearance to the trainthat was taking the body of Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad from Lahore to Qadian on 26 May 1908.After retirement he was in charge of the Anjuman’ssection for propagation overseas and to himbelongs the credit for the outstanding success ofthe work of this section.)

• Maulana Aziz Bakhsh, elder brotherof Maulana Muhammad Ali.

The middle streetRight side: As already mentioned, it wasthe house of Dr. Syed MuhammadHussain Shah.Left side, houses of:

• Beli Ram, a Hindu businessman• House of a non-Ahmadi. It later

became property of the CentralAnjuman in exchange for a housein Qadian.

• Syed Nadir Husain Shah, brotherof Dr. Syed Muhammad HusainShah. It was called Nadir Manzilafter his name. It was in the 1970’sthat, due to the efforts of Lt. Col.Dr. Syed Bashir Hussain, theCentral Anjuman was able topurchase it.

The third street (Ahmadiyya Street)Left side:

• House of a non-Ahmadi• Dr. Mirza Yaqub Beg. It extended

upto the end of the street. In its firstpart was the clinic of Dr. MirzaYaqub Beg. In the next part was hisresidence, called Ahmad Manzil.Then there was a huge open spaceand towards the end were residentialrooms which later became officesof the Central Anjuman. It was thecentre of the world-wide activitiesof the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘atIslam Lahore till 1970, when theoffices of the Central Anjuman wereshifted to a new building, adjacentto the Ahmadiyya Masjid,constructed over the old NadirManzil. But ultimately the CentralOffices were shifted to the newDarus Salaam Colony in GardenTown, Lahore in 1983.In April 1914, Maulana

Muhammad Ali, due to the extremelydangerous situation that had developedin Qadian following the demise ofHazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din, migratedto Lahore and took up residence at thehouse adjacent to the AhmadiyyaMosque, owned by Dr. SyedMuhammad Hussain Shah. It was stillunder completion. Later it was donatedby Dr. Syed Hussain Shah to the CentralAnjuman.

In the early days there wereconnecting wooden bridges, at the firstfloor level, between the houses ofKhwaja Kamal-ud-Din, Dr. SyedMuhammad Hussain Shah and Dr.Mirza Yaqub Beg, by means of whichladies living in these houses could easilyvisit each other without passing throughthe streets. One such bridge existed till




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1948 between the houses of Dr. SyedMuhammad Hussain Shah and NadirManzil, but it was not in use then.

Ahmadiyya Market No. 1 and flatshave been constructed over the housesof Dr. Syed Muhammad Hussain Shah.In this Market, facing Brandreth Road,in place of the portion where the Founderof the Ahmadiyya Movement, HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad, breathed hislast , a memorial room has beenspecifically constructed, approximatelyto the first floor level of the previousold building. In this memorial roomhand-drawn portraits of the holyFounder and his prominent companionshave been displayed on the walls. Thisroom in memory of Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad was constructed in1965. Similarly Ahmadiyya Market No.2 was constructed over the land of NadirManzil and the adjacent house.Construction of the two markets andflats was possible only due to the tirelessefforts and supervision of Hazrat AmeerMaulana Sadr-ud-Din, second Head ofthe Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, andgenerous contributions made by themembers of the Jama‘at. At severalplaces in the Markets and flats namesof prominent donors have been engravedon stones.The Founder comes to Lahore

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad cameto Lahore in April 1908 and stayed inAhmadiyya Buildings. On 1st May, thefirst Jumu‘ah congregation was held atAhmadiyya Buildings. PreviouslyJumu‘ah congregations were held at thehouse of Mian Chiragh-ud-Din, outsideDelhi Gate. After the Fr idaycongregation, the Promised Messiahtook his seat on a chair. Several personstook the pledge of allegiance (bai‘at).Then Khalifa Rajab-ud-Din stood upand asked the Promised Messiah: Sir!Some people ask us this question: “Sincewe solemnly believe in Allah, His bookthe Holy Quran and His Messenger theHoly Prophet Muhammad, peace andblessings of Allah be upon him, andperform Prayers, Fasting etc., why do

we need to accept you as well?” In replyto this question, the Promised Messiahdelivered a lecture which was laterpublished under the title Hujjat-ullah(Proof from Allah).

Up till that time the present Mosquein Ahmadiyya Buildings had not beenbuilt. Afterwards a cemented terracewas constructed on the open land anddaily congregational prayers wereoffered on it. Sometimes lectures anddiscourses in the Quran were alsodelivered there. But Fr idaycongregations were held at a large roomin the house of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din.Hazrat Maulana Hakim Nur-ud-Din,during his tenure as head of theMovement (May 1908 – March 1914),visited Lahore two or three times andstayed at the Ahmadiyya Buildings.Afterwards, upon that terrace, KhwajaKamal-ud-Din delivered a series oflectures every Sunday. The title of oneseries of his lectures was: “What shouldMuslims do now?” His lecturescontained such a wealth of knowledgeand spiritual insight, and were soeffective, that people in large numbers,some from quite afar, used to attendthem with great interest. Among theaudience were the general public,influential and leading figures of the city,educated and professional people andgovernment officials. After some time aproper mosque was built over theterrace. The building of the mosque wasfurther extended by installing steelpillars and an upper level gallery on theright side of the inner hall of the mosquewas built for women.Early days of the LahoreAhmadiyya Movement

After the death of Hazrat MaulanaNur-ud-Din in March 1914, whencircumstances in Qadian becameintolerably hostile to MaulanaMuhammad Ali and it becameimpossible for him to remain there anylonger, he sent his family to Rawalpindito stay with his father-in-law Dr.Basharat Ahmad, and he all alonemigrated to Lahore and came to

Ahmadiyya Buildings on 20th April1914. He took up residence at the houseadjacent to the Ahmadiyya Mosquewhich was still under construction andwas owned by Dr. Syed MuhammadHusain Shah. Two rooms on the groundfloor had already been constructed, butthese were without proper flooring andplastering. Maulana Muhammad Ali,after getting a door fitted to one of therooms, made it his office and the otherroom was used for guests. Two roomson the upper storey were used foraccommodating his family. These werestill without any proper doors. Curtainsof sack cloth were hung to be used asdoors and the open courtyard on the firstfloor was used as kitchen by placing acooker there. He called his family to thisunfinished house, and began to live andcontinue his literary work in it despitethe extremely cramped conditions.

The room on the ground floor,which was being used as the Maulana’soffice, was later on extended. Woodencupboards were placed in it to house allthose valuable, classical reference workswhich he consulted while writing hismonumental books on Islam and theAhmadiyya Movement, such as theEnglish translation of the Holy Quranand The Religion of Islam, which earnedacclaim and praise from Muslim andnon-Muslim scholars and religiousleaders. These scholarly contributionsby the Maulana presented an enlightenedinterpretation of the religion of Islam tothe West and removed misconceptionsabout it. In fact, through them hundredsof educated and learned Westernersentered the fold of Islam, and the sun ofIslam began to rise in the West.

Regarding the basic differencebetween the Lahore and Qadian sectionsof the Ahmadiyya Movement, namely,whether those Muslims who do notaccept the claims of Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad remain Muslims orbecome kafir, there is a clear statementby Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a well-known Muslim scholar, in hisnewspaper Al-Hilal published at the




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time of the Split in 1914. He wrote:“For some time, there had been twoparties in this Movement over thequestion of takfir. One party believedthat non-Ahmadis are Muslims eventhough they may not believe in MirzaSahib’s claims. The other party,however, declared openly and clearlythat those people who do not believein Mirza Sahib are kafir absolutely— inna lillahi wa inna ilai-hiraji‘un. The head of the latter partyis Mirza Bashir-ud-Din MahmudAhmad, and this faction has nowmade him khalifa but the first groupdoes not accept this. The writingpublished in this connection byMaulana Muhammad Ali, and thewonderful and admirable courage hehas shown in expressing these viewswhile staying in Qadian, where thehead of the other party lives, is trulyan event which shall always beregarded as a memorable event ofthis year.” — Al-Hilal, 25 March1914.

Teaching the meanings of the QuranAs soon as he came to Lahore in

April 1914, Maulana Muhammad Alistarted daily classes at AhmadiyyaBuildings in explaining the meanings ofthe Quran (Dars-i Quran). When helived in Qadian, the Maulana had formany years listened to Maulana Nur-ud-Din’s teaching of the Quran andgained knowledge of the Holy Bookfrom there. Then he had also read outto Maulana Nur-ud-Din his own Englishtranslation and commentary of theQuran. Now the time had come for himto impart this knowledge so that otherscould benefit by it. Therefore, he madeit a rule for himself to give regularclasses in the Quran. His teaching hadsuch an attraction that a large numberof educated people of Lahore, bothAhmadis and other Muslims, used toattend. Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, editorof the newspaper Zamindar, who usedto attend these meetings, wrote on oneoccasion:

“Respected Maulvi Muhammad Ali

Sahib, M.A., is one of thoseesteemed persons who devote everysingle moment of their scholarlylives, without exception, in servingIslam. Daily he holds classes in theQuran, and in explaining each andevery verse he lets flow rivers ofknowledge and fine and deep points.Recently he himself has written andpublished the most importantextracts from his teaching. Thiscommentary (tafsir) is of such highmerit that one may not be able to findsimilar precious gems anywherewithin the treasure of Urdu literatureeven after making the hardestsearch.”

— Zamindar, 15 April 1915.Claims of the Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement

In order to understand the claims ofthe Founder of the AhmadiyyaMovement in Islam, it is essential toknow some basic facts and principles.In the Holy Quran the term khalifa andin the Hadith the term Mujaddid havebeen used for persons who are raisedfor the reformation of the MuslimUmmah since the closure and finalityof Prophethood with the Holy ProphetMuhammad. It is a fact which isaccepted by scholars of the Ahl-i Sunnaas well as by the Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement that after theending of prophethood upon the HolyProphet Muhammad, its blessings havecontinued in the form of communion andcommunication with Allah and grantingof news of the unseen or making ofprophecies. As this form of the blessingsof prophethood is equally granted toprophets as well as to non-prophets, ithas been called as “the forty-sixth partof prophethood” in the Hadith. Suchpersons having communication fromAllah are called in the Quran and Hadithby the term auliya, and in the Hadiththey are also called by the termmuhaddas. The institution ofMujaddidiyyat and Wilayat has been invogue throughout the history of Islam.According to reports mentioned in

Hadith, the Mujaddid of the fourteenthcentury Hijrah was destined to performtwo unique tasks: to eradicate themischief of the Anti-Christ (Dajjal) andto break the Cross. Details and signsabout the time and consequences of theefforts of the promised Mujaddid arealso mentioned in the Hadith.

Sufis, or mystic scholars of Islam,in the later centuries coined their ownterminologies to refer to the sameexalted persons who are called in theQuran and Hadith as khalifa, auliya,mujaddid and muhaddas. The Sufiterms for the same concept ofcommunion with and communicationfrom Allah, and granting of knowledgeby Him about future events, are: juz’inubuwwah (partial prophethood),buruzi nubuwwah (manifestation ofprophethood), ummati nubuwwah(prophethood within the ummah), zillinubuwwah (reflection of prophethood)and nubuwwah naqisah (imperfect,incomplete prophethood). But theoccurrence of the word ‘prophethood’in these mystic terms does not refer toreal prophethood and if someone usesthese terms for his spiritual experiencesit does not mean that he is claiming tobe a prophet in the real sense of the term.As Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wasaddressing a variety of Muslim religiousgroups and schools, he used the termswith which they were conversant toexplain the nature of certain spiritualstations and experiences which areattained by true followers of the HolyProphet Muhammad, peace andblessings of Allah be upon him.

Unfortunately, his opponentspurposely mix up terms of the Quranand Hadith with the terminologies of themystics and thereby maliciously ascribeto him a claim to real prophethoodbecause of his use of Sufi terms such asummati nubuwwah and buruzi nubu-wwah. But the fact is that these termshave been frequently used by Mujaddidsand classical Muslim scholars andspiritual leaders in the past in theirwritings and discourses. We are giving




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below some quotations from the writingsof Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad toshow what he really meant by usingterms like juz’i nubuwwah, buruzinubuwwah, ummati nubuwwah andghair tashri‘i nubuwwah. These quota-tions clarify the meaning of these termsand prove that they do not mean realprophethood. He declared:

“Question: In the booklet Fath-iIslam you have made a claim toprophethood.Answer: There is no claim ofprophethood. On the contrary, theclaim is of sainthood(muhaddasiyyat) which has beenadvanced by the command of God.”— Izalah Auham, p. 421-422.“Those people have fabricated a lieagainst me who say that this manclaims to be a prophet.”— Hamamat-ul-Bushrah, p. 8.“Before I conclude, I wish to makeit clear again to the general publicthat I declare it in the name of GodAlmighty that I am not an unbeliever(kafir). La ilaha illallahuMuhammadur Rasul-ullah (There isno god except Allah, Muhammad isHis Messenger) is my creed andregarding the Holy ProphetMuhammad my belief is (the verse)‘he is the Messenger of Allah andthe Khatam-un-Nabiyyin’. And uponthe veracity of my above statement,I swear in the name of the Most HighGod as many times as is the numberof His sacred names, as many timesas is the number of letters in the HolyQuran, and as many times as is thenumber of excellences of the HolyProphet in the sight of God. None ofmy beliefs are against thecommandments of God and of HisMessenger.”

— Karamat-us-Sadiqin, p. 25.In his well-known book Haqiqat-

ul-Wahy, which was published one yearbefore his death, discussing at one pointhow the name Allah is defined in theHoly Quran, Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad wrote:

“God the Most High has defined thename Allah in the Holy Quran asfollows. Allah is the Being Who isRabb-ul-‘alamin, Rahman andRahim, Who created the earth andthe heaven in six days, and madeAdam, and sent messengers, and sentscriptures, and at the end of all ofthem sent Muhammad, may peaceand the blessings of Allah be uponhim, who is the Khatam-ul-anbiyaand the best of messengers.” (p. 141;bolding is ours)In the same book, referring to some

of his own prophecies, he writes:“This news was given only by thatGod Who sent our Holy Prophet,peace and blessings of Allah be uponhim, after all the prophets, in orderto gather all the nations under hisbanner.” (Haqiqat-ul-Wahy,appendix, p. 44; bolding is ours)Again in the same book, while

enumerating signs of his truthfulness,the first sign that he mentioned is hisclaim to be a Mujaddid (Reformer) inaccordance with the hadith about thecoming of Mujaddids, and then replyingto an objection regarding theauthenticity of this hadith, he wrote:

“So until, as against my claim,another claimant can be presentedfulfilling the same characteristics,my claim stands proved that thePromised Messiah who is theMujaddid of the Last Days is noneother than myself.” (p. 194).In the Arabic appendix to Haqiqat-

ul-Wahy, he wrote:“Prophethood has been cut off afterour Prophet Muhammad, peace andblessings of Allah be upon him …With the advent of our Prophet, theKhatam-un-Nabiyyin, the institutionof messengership has been cut off.… I have been named as prophet byway of metaphor and not by way ofreality”. (pp. 64, 65)The above book was published in May

1907. He had written exactly the same in1891 when he first claimed to be PromisedMessiah. For example, he wrote:

“It is to be carefully remembered thatthe type of prophethood which is tocontinue forever is not perfectprophethood but, as I have just men-tioned, it is only a par tialprophethood (juz’i nubuwwah),which in other words is termedmuhaddasiyya, attainable byfollowing the greatest and mostperfect of all human beings, i.e., theHoly Prophet Muhammad, theembodiment of all the excellences ofperfect prophethood.”

(Tauzih Maram, pp. 9, 10)Many years later he stated in a talk:“Muhy-ud-Din Ibn-i Arabi haswritten that tashri‘i nubuwwah(prophethood with Shariah) is notallowed but the other is allowed. Butmy own belief is that the door ofevery kind of prophethood is closed.Only that prophethood is allowedwhich is a reflection of theprophethood of Muhammad, peaceand blessings of Allah be upon him.”

— Newspaper Badr, no. 13,vol. 2, dated 7 April 1903.

On 3rd February 1892 HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad issued a writtenpublic declaration at the end of a debatewith a Muslim opponent, Maulvi AbdulHakim. He clarified in it his use of theword ‘prophet’ as follows:

“Let it be known to all Muslims thatall such words as occur in mywritings Fath-i Islam, TauzihMaram and Izala Auham, to theeffect that a muhaddas is in onesense a prophet, or that being amuhaddas is partial prophethood orimperfect prophethood, are not to betaken in their real sense, but havebeen used according to their rootmeaning in a straight-forward way;otherwise, I lay no claim whatsoeverto actual prophethood. On the otherhand, as I have written in my bookIzalah Auham, page 137, my beliefis that our leader and masterMuhammad Mustafa — may peaceand the blessings of God be upon him— is the Khatam-ul-Anbiya.




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So I wish to make it clear to allMuslim brothers that, if they aredispleased with these words and ifthese words hurt their feelings, theymay regard all such words asamended, and instead consider me tohave used the word muhaddas. ForI do not like to create dissension anddiscord among the Muslims.

From the beginning, as Godknows best, my intention has neverbeen to use this word nabi asmeaning actually a prophet, but onlyas signifying muhaddas, which theHoly Prophet has explained asmeaning ‘one who is spoken to byGod’.

Therefore, I have not the leasthesitation in stating my meaning inanother form for the conciliation ofmy Muslim brethren, and that otherform is that in every place instead ofthe word nabi the word muhaddasshould be understood, and the wordnabi should be regarded as havingbeen deleted.”

— Majmu‘ah Ishtiharat,vol. 1, pp. 312–314.

So why did the opponents fall intothe misconception that he claimed to bea prophet? The answer to it can be foundin a report by a prominent scholar ofthe Qadiani Jama‘at, Mufti MuhammadSadiq, editor of newspaper Badr, of hismeeting with Maulana Shibli Naumani,the famous Muslim scholar and author.The report was published on p. 9 of theissue dated 27th October 1910:

“We reached the house of MaulanaShibli to meet him… He asked if webelieve the late Mirza Sahib to be aprophet. I replied that our belief inthis respect was the same as that ofother Muslims, namely, that the HolyProphet Muhammad (sas) is theKhatam-un-Nabiyyin. After him, noother prophet can come, neither newnor old. However, the phenomenonof Divine revelation still continues,but even that is through the agencyof the Holy Prophet. By receivingspiritual benefit from him, there have

been men among the Muslims whohad the privilege of receiving Divinerevelation, and in future too thereshall be such. As Hazrat MirzaSahib was also privileged withDivine revelation, and in hisrevelations God gave him many newsof the future as prophecies, whichwere fulfilled, for this reason MirzaSahib was one who made prophecies.Such a one is called nabi in Arabiclexicology, and in Hadith too thecoming Promised Messiah is callednabi.

To this, Shibli replied thatcertainly according to thedictionary meanings this can be so,and in the Arabic language thisword does have this meaning, butthe ordinary people becomeperturbed because they do notknow this significance, and theyraise objections. I responded that,with us, the question of MirzaSahib’s prophethood is not suchthat it is included in the conditionsof the pledge (bai‘at), nor is itrequired to be acknowledged whentaking the pledge, nor do we goabout preaching it. Our belief iswhat we have explained above.”

— Badr, 27 October 1910, p. 9.Last days of Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad at Ahmadiyya Buildings,Lahore

At that time in 1908 the wife ofHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was notkeeping good health, so she expressedher wish to go to Lahore for a change ofclimate. When the holy Imam soughtAllah's guidance in this regard throughistikhara prayer, the following Persiancouplet was revealed to him on 26thApril 1908: "Do not feel secure against the vagar-ies of fortune."

He became very worried on receiv-ing this Divine warning. But since therewas no specific interdiction but only awarning about some future danger, andhis wife was insisting on visiting Lahore,so he left Qadian for Lahore on 27th

April 1908. After arrival in Lahore onthe 29th, he received still another rev-elation in Persian:"Do not count on this transitory life."

In Lahore he stayed first at the houseof Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. After somedays he decided to stay for a longer pe-riod. Therefore Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din, Maulana Muhammad AhsanAmrohi and some other friends alsocame to Lahore from Qadian. The staffand office of the newspaper Badr wasalso shifted to Lahore temporarily so thatlatest news about the Jama'at and reportsabout the activities of the holy Foundercould be published. After some days, theholy Founder's wife visited the house ofDr. Syed Muhammad Husain Shah andshe liked it very much. Due partly toher preference and partly to the insis-tence of Dr. Syed Muhammad HusainShah that they stay at his house, the holyFounder along with his family shiftedto this house.Friday congregational prayers

For holding congregational prayers,the arrangement at that time was thatthese were held at the open space onwhich the present Ahmadiyya Mosqueis now situated. A marquee was installedthere and thick cotton carpets with whitesheets over them were spread on theground. No one could have known at thattime that the place where the PromisedMessiah and Mahdi of Allah was offer-ing his Friday prayers would one daybe the Central Mosque of the LahoreAhmadiyya Movement which would bea centre for the propagation and dissemi-nation of the teachings of Islam in theworld.Mian Sir Fazl-i Husain, Bar-at-Law,meets the holy Founder

On 15th May at 10.00 a.m. two Bar-risters-at-Law came to see Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, one of them being MianFazl-i Husain (d. 1936), who later be-came an eminent and highly-regardedMuslim national leader in India and wasawarded a knighthood (the title Sir) bythe British Government. The holyFounder gave very fine replies to the




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questions asked by Mian Fazl-i Husain,which were published at that time in theAhmadiyya newspaper Badr. We quotefrom those reports below.

Mian Fazl-i Husain, Bar-at-Law, submitted: "If all non-Ahmadisare called as kafir (unbelievers), thennothing will remain of Islam."

The Founder replied: "We do notexpel anyone from Islam who acceptsthe Kalimah unless he calls us kafir,thereby making himself a kafir. Per-haps you don't know that when Iclaimed to have been sent by God,then Maulana Muhammad Husain ofBatala took great pains in obtaininga religious edict stating that I am akafir, Dajjal (anti-Christ) and mis-guided; that no funeral prayer shouldbe held for me, and that whoeveraccosts me with the Islamic greet-ings Assalamu Alaikum, or shakeshands with me, or considers me aMuslim, shall also become a kafir.Now it is an agreed principle thatanyone who calls a believer as a kafirbecomes a kafir himself. How canwe deny this principle? You shouldtell us what way is left for us in thesecircumstances? We did not issue anyedict against them first. Now thatthey are called kafir, it is only theresult of their declaring us as kafir.Once a man challenged me to enterinto a mubahilah (to invoke curse ofAllah on one who is the liar). I re-plied that a mubahilah between twoMuslims was not permitted. He re-plied: We consider you as a full-fledged kafir."

Mian Fazl-i Husain submitted:"If they call you kafir, let them do it.What is the harm if you do not callthem kafir? The holy Founder said:"He who does not brand us as kafirwe never call him kafir."

- Badr, 24th May 1908;Malfuzat, vol. 10, pp. 376, 377.

Dr. Syed Muhammad Husain Shahrelated that he was present at the meet-ing. Mian Fazl-i Husain also enquired:"If a Muslim is walking on the street,

about whom it is not known whether heconsiders you Muslim or kafir, what willyou consider him, a kafir or a Muslim?"The holy Founder replied: "A Muslim."Dars-i Quran by Hazrat MaulanaNur-ud-Din

At the same open ground in the cen-tre of the Ahmadiyya Buildings, wherenow stands the Ahmadiyya Mosque,Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din used todeliver Dars-i Quran every evening. Aswas his practice, he would start his ex-position right from the beginning of theQuran and continue it till its end.Behaviour of opponents of the holyFounder

Ever since the holy Founder came toLahore, the opponent mullahs had setup their camp in the lawns of IslamiaCollege, which was opposite toAhmadiyya Buildings, across BrandrethRoad. Every evening they would gatherthere to voice their opposition and makefoul-mouthed speeches against the holyFounder. It was a horrible scene ofrowdiness, indecency and calumny. Onthe other hand, the small band of AhmadiMuslims living across the road werebusy holding congregational prayers andmeetings where exposition of the Quranand plans to propagate the teachings ofIslam were being discussed. Among theuproar of shouting and hooliganism bythe mullahs and their crowd, HazratMaulana Nur-ud-Din would continue hisevening exposition of the Holy Quransolemnly and seriously, full of jewels ofknowledge and wisdom. He would noteven hint at the misbehaviour of the op-ponents. Inspite of all this opposition,people continued to join the movementin large numbers.Speech to leaders of the Muslim com-munity

It was the desire of the holy Imamthat the message of the AhmadiyyaMovement be conveyed to the leadersof the Muslim community of Lahore.So Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din sent out in-vitations to all prominent Muslim citi-zens of Lahore to lunch on 17th May1908. A big marquee was installed in

the courtyard of the house of Dr. SyedMuhammad Husain Shah, where all theguests gathered. Such was their eager-ness to meet the Founder that many ofthem arrived before time. KhwajaKamal-ud-Din briefly introduced themto the Founder. By then people wereimpatient to listen to the Imam himself,so he started his speech at about 11o'clock. What a speech! It was an oceanwhose waves were surging with knowl-edge and wisdom, and like a huge cloudof faith and spirituality pouring downits rain of mercy. This was his last mes-sage, and was delivered at AhmadiyyaBuildings to the citizens of Lahore. Thisspeech was reported in the newspaperBadr of 25 June 1908. Here are someextracts from it:

"Our God is the same as He wasin the past. If there is any one whoprefers a lifeless religion and a deadGod, let him do so. If he does notbelieve in the truth of the propheciesof the Holy Prophet Muhammad,peace and blessings of Allah be onhim, let him not believe it. What kindof a Muslim is he? When Allah haschosen the nation of Muslims forHimself and has promised to takethem to their destined goal, then doesit behove Him or is it worthy of Hisglory that He should leave them halfway along the road? … Man is likea blind person as regards findingGod, and it is with God's guidanceonly that he can reach the destina-tion, and (for this purpose) God willcontinue sending guides till the Dayof Judgement. This is why the HolyQuran says: "He will surely makethem successors (khalifas)" (24:55),which proves that Allah will raisesuccessors to the Holy ProphetMuhammad, peace and blessings ofAllah be on him, till the Day of Judg-ment.It is alleged that I have laid claim to

prophethood and that I am anxious toset up my own separate Qiblah and in-vent a new Shari'ah. In reply to thesecalumnies I can only say: May the curse




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of Allah be on the liars! My claim is onlythat as our religion is a living faith, there-fore in response to the corruption pre-vailing at the beginning of every cen-tury (of Hijrah) a Reformer is raisedwith whom Allah communicates. WhenAllah communicates with a person fre-quently and discloses to him His secretsabundantly, this is called 'prophethood'but it is not real prophethood.

Now I conclude my speech and wishto say only this, that Allah has raisedme for the reformation of the religion sothat with fresh signs I should infuse lifeinto the religion. If Allah had not sentme then this religion too would havebecome a religion of tales of the past,like other religions. Rest assured that theone who is sent by Allah can never beannihilated. I am sorry but what is theharm I have done to these people (i.e.,the mullahs calling him kafir)? I haveonly said that our Holy ProphetMuhammad, peace and blessings of Al-lah be on him, is the Living Prophet andthat his blessings shall continue till theDay of Judgement."Writing of Paigham-i Sulh ('Messageof Peace')

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in-tended to deliver a public speech on 31stMay, in the open ground at AhmadiyyaBuildings, in which he wished to con-vey to the Hindu community a messageof peace and reconciliation, explaininghow the two major communities of theIndian subcontinent could live togetherin peace and harmony. With this in mindhe started writing a lecture that was laterpublished in the form of a booklet en-titled Paigham-i Sulh (Message ofPeace).Evening walk

It being summer time, the holy Imamused to go out in a horse-drawn carriagefor outing in the evening with his wife.On 25th May he went out in the eveningas usual but he appeared to be sad.Someone said to him that he seemed tobe in a sorrowful mood. He replied: "Yes,my feelings are like those of a motherwhose child is still in its infancy and

cannot look after himself, but she is de-parting from him." This was a clear ref-erence to his death and the child that thisspiritual mother was leaving behind washis community of followers.Revelations regarding his death

The holy Imam had been receivingrevelations about his approaching deathwhich he had already mentioned in hisWill. These clearly informed him thathis death was approaching and that veryfew days were left; for instance, "On thatday sadness will envelope everyone", etc.It was due to these revelations that hewrote his booklet entitled Al-Wasiyyat(The Will), published in December 1905C.E.His illness

The holy Imam was busy day andnight exerting himself in hard intellec-tual work. That was why for severalyears he was suffering from immensenervous strain. This illness alwaysstruck when he was engaged in someextremely hard mental work. Thuswhenever he worked on some monumen-tal book or lecture this illness wouldstrike. Allah's laws are immutable andno one can escape them whether he is aprophet or saint, except as Allah mayprotect him. The holy Imam was ap-pointed by Allah to serve the cause ofreligion and therefore he was able tocontinue serving the cause with Hisgrace inspite of his ill health. However,the strain of mental exertion shows itseffect in the end.Illness leading to his death

Before coming to Lahore, the holyImam was already engaged in intenseintellectual work. During the last fewmonths he was busy writing a volumi-nous book, containing profound insightand wisdom, entitled Chashma-iMa'rifat which was published on 15thMay 1908. This effort affected his healthgreatly. Now he was in his seventies andless able to recover quickly. In Lahorehis engagements became more strenu-ous. From morning till evening there wasa constant stream of visitors asking allkinds of questions, to which he replied

with amazing patience and kindness. Atthe same time he wanted to present tothe public his views on how to bring rec-onciliation between Hindus and Mus-lims, and for this purpose he had startedwriting a booklet entitled Paigham-iSulh (Message of Peace). As he wouldcome inside from talking to people hewould start writing, without a moment'srest for the mind. Eventually this con-stant exertion caught up with him. Dur-ing his stay in Lahore he had some mildincidents of illness but the attack he hadon 25th May was very severe and provedfatal.

On 25th May, after spending thewhole day writing Paigham-i Sulh, hewent out for a walk as usual in theevening. When he returned he fell ill andhis digestive system was affected. Dr.Syed Muhammad Husain Shah was in-formed and he sent suitable medicine butit did not work. At about 11 o'clock, hehad a bowel motion which made himvery weak. Immediately both Dr. SyedMuhammad Hussain Shah and HazratMaulana Nur-ud-Din were called. Sometonics were administered, and as it wasbelieved that the illness was brought ondue to intense work, and sleep wouldbring relief, the physicians retired to theirresidences. But between 2 and 3 a.m. hepassed another big loose motion whichcaused so much weakness that no pulsecould be detected. Immediately Dr. SyedMuhammad Husain Shah, HazratMaulana Nur-ud-Din and KhwajaKamal-ud-Din were called. Dr. MirzaYaqub Beg was also called in. When hecame in, the holy Imam asked him tocome near, and said to him: "I had a bigloose motion so prescribe some medi-cine", and he added: "The right medi-cine comes by the will of God. Pleaseprescribe a medicine and also pray."Death of the holy Imam

Treatment was started immediately.As the condition was quite critical, ev-eryone stayed on. But the pulse did notrevive. Then Dr. Sutherland, a well-known physician who was also Princi-pal of the Medical College, Lahore, was




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called. But there is no treatment fordeath. Hafiz Fazal Ahmad was sittingbesides the holy Imam reciting the chap-ter Yasin of the Holy Quran. At last, atabout 10.15 a.m. on Tuesday 26th May1908, corresponding to 24th Rabi'-uth-Thani 1326 A.H., Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad of Qadian left this temporaryworld and went to his Beloved Creator -Inna lillahi wa inna ilai-hi raji'un. Hislast words were: "O my beloved Allah,O my Beloved, O my Beloved, O myBeloved Allah." He was uttering thesewords lovingly and when he heard thecall to the Fajr prayer, he asked: Is itFajr time now? Then inspite of extremeweakness, he got ready and said his Fajrprayer. Then he breathed his last andwent to his Beloved for the manifesta-tion of Whose glory he exerted himself,day and night.Preparations for burial

The rites of bathing the body andwrapping it in the funeral cloth werecomplete by 2.30 p.m. At about 3.00p.m. a large gathering joined his Janazaprayer. Afterwards, groups of both hisfollowers and non-members of theMovement came and paid their last re-spects to this holy personage. His facewas radiating spiritual lustre as it didwhen he was alive. At about 4.00 p.m.his body was carried on shoulders by alarge number of Ahmadis fromAhmadiyya Buildings to Lahore Rail-way Station where a train compartmenthad been reserved. It being summer time,as the body was to be taken to Qadian itwas kept in a box with heavy blocks ofice around it to preserve it from the ef-fects of the extreme heat.Shameful behaviour by opponents

Some inveterate opponents acted inan extremely shameful and disgracefulmanner rarely seen on such sad occa-sions. On hearing the news of his deaththese people went wild and marched inprocession on the house of Dr. SyedMuhammad Husain Shah while shout-ing abusive and obscene slogans. If thelatter had not contacted the police andhad the house guarded by them in order

to disperse this mob, there is little doubtthat they would have forced their wayinto the house and desecrated the body.When the agitated mob could not doanything due to the presence of the po-lice, they gathered in the grounds ofIslamia College across the road and wenton raising a storm of abuses, curses andfoul language from there. Throughoutthe day they were wild with jubilationand indulged in such degrading acts thatcannot be described in words. Theirspiritual leaders and religious scholarswere enjoying the whole scene, and in-stead of stopping them from this vulgarbehaviour they were actually encourag-ing them from behind the scenes to con-tinue it.

This went so far that when theAhmadis left for the railway station,carrying the body of the holy Imam ontheir shoulders, these crude and heart-less people staged a mock funeral pro-cession of their own behind them. Theylaid down one of their own fellows on acot, his face blackened to symbolise adisgraced person, and carried the cot likea funeral bier, with most of their crowdfollowing this mock coffin pretending tobe Ahmadi mourners grieving at theirloss. It is evident that at such a time ofpain and grief for Ahmadis, this ridiculeand derision would have been extremelyshocking for them, and would have con-siderably exacerbated their sorrow andanguish. Nonetheless, Ahmadis showedremarkable restraint and self-control,otherwise at such an occasion if they hadlost patience in the slightest there wouldhave been a riot and probably bloodshed.

Not content with this display of ju-bilation at his death, these opponents ma-liciously reported to the railway authori-ties, in secret, that Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmad had died of cholera, a contagiousdisease, as it was prohibited to trans-port the body of such a deceased by railto another area. When information aboutthis reached Ahmadis, ShaikhRahmatullah, a leading businessman ofLahore and devoted follower of thePromised Messiah, hastened to Dr.

Sutherland, principal of the MedicalCollege, Lahore, who had attended theholy Founder close to the end, and ob-tained from him a medical certificate tothe effect that the death was due to diar-rhoea brought on by mental exertion, andnot cholera as alleged by the opponents.When the funeral procession reached therailway station, the officials raised theobjection that it had been reported tothem that the deceased had died of chol-era and unless a medical certificate tothe contrary could be produced the bodycould not board the train. Thereupon,Shaikh Rahmatullah forthwith producedDr. Sutherland's certificate. The officialsgave permission and the coffin wasplaced in the second-class railway com-partment reserved for this purpose.Coffin taken to Qadian

The train left Lahore at 5.45 p.m.and reached Batala at 10 p.m. The com-partment carrying his body was detachedfrom the train and the coffin remainedwithin it. At 2.00 a.m. the body wastaken out of the coffin and placed on abier, which was then carried on theshoulders of his devotees to Qadian. Forsecurity reasons they followed a lesserknown route to Qadian, and arrived thereat about 8.00 a.m. on 27th May 1908.Burial

The body was placed in the garden.At that very place, before the burial, thewhole Ahmadiyya community acceptedHazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din as theirnext leader and then Hazrat Maulana ledthe funeral prayer before Asr prayer. Itwas joined by a great number ofAhmadis from Sialkot, Wazirabad,Kapurthala and other parts of Punjab.After the Janaza prayer, HazratMaulana delivered a brief sermon andthe Asr prayer was offered in congrega-tion. Afterwards the body was placed inthe middle of the garden so that all thepeople could see the face of their de-parted Imam and pay their last respects.Approximately 1200 men and womenhad gathered on that occasion.

At last the body was taken to theBahishti graveyard and laid to rest in




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the ground - Inna lillahi wa inna ilai-hiraji'un (We belong to Allah and to Himwe shall eventually return). The gravewas not cemented but a tombstone waserected, upon which his office was de-scribed as Mujaddid of the fourteenthcentury and his title Promised Messiahwas also stated. The wording of theoriginal tombstone was as follows:

Janab Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib QadianiRa'is-i Qadian. Masih-i Mau'ud. Mahdi-i

Mas'ud.Mujaddid Sad Chahaar Dahum.

'alaihi wa 'alaa mutaa-'i-hi Muhammad, as-Salaatu was-Salaam

Tareekh-i Wafaat, 26 Mai 1908which may be translated as:

Respected Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of QadianChief of Qadian, Promised Messiah, Auspicious

Mahdi, Mujaddid of the 14th Century.Upon him and upon his Master, Muhammad,

be blessings and peace.Date of death, 26th May 1908 C.E.

HAJJ - 'AN INWARD VOYAGE'by Prof. Abdul Hakim Murad

Dean, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, UK."As the Muslim stands to pray,

rising above and beyond those whoare trapped in their own desires, hepushes behind him everything that hasmade him forget God's power andscrutiny and mercy. Sleep facing theQiblah; never relieve yourself facingthe Qiblah, die facing the Qiblah, liein your grave on your right side, fac-ing the Qiblah, awaiting the final call,which will raise you to life, just as theAdhan raised you from spiritual deathin the world."

"The culmination of Hajj, atArafat, is the simplest and most an-cient of rituals; simply standing'where tears fall and prayers rise,'with two million broken hearts."

Everything in existence has a cen-tre; and if what matters to Heaven is theworship of devoted Muslim souls, thenthe centre of this terrestrial universe issurely the Ka'bah. No other place onearth is the magnetic centre so much ofpiety, love and yearning. The Ka'bahrepresents, for the believing heart, theeternity of God, whom we worship andserve and adore - utterly unlike any cre-ated being. He is the final mystery, roundwhose unimaginable throne the unimag-inable angels turn. But as the pilgrimapproach the Ka'bah, the 'the ancientHouse', he knows through some myste-rious symbolic logic in his heart that thisis the truest representation of something- absolutely beyond representation orimagining.

Muslims are faithful to the secondcommandment: 'no graven images.'(Deutronomy 7:5). Abraham, who brokehis father's idols and was expelled intothe desert, came here to establish thepurest sanctuary of the worship of theOne true God. Later generations forgotthis simplest of all commandments, and300 (or 360) statues were set up aroundthe house that Abraham, together with

his eldest son (Ishmael), built in thislonely valley. When the Holy ProphetMuhammad entered the city after 30years in exile (which includes 13 years'persecution in Makkah and more than10 years of migration in Madinah), herode his camel around the shrine, andpointed with his staff to each ugly,shameful image. As he did so, each onefell forward on its face. And the HolyProphet raised his voice, reminding theworld: "Truth has come, and falsehoodhas vanished; truly falsehood must everpass away." (17:81)

Muslims, privileged heirs of thepurest monotheism, are honoured to bowtowards the Ancient House five times inevery day. The House thus becomes agreat vortex of prayer. If one were toview this from above, with a light vis-ible in the heart of every Muslim atprayer, one would see an endless seriesof luminous ripples and waves movingaround the globe. As the people of theWest are increasingly honoured by thepresence of Islam, formerly dark regionsare now filling up with points of light,as the absolute call of 'No god but God'is heard triumphantly in the spiritualruins of materialistic cities. Five timesa day and more, the Qiblah draws ourattention away from what matters somuch less. 'Allahu Akbar' God is theGreat, means: turn towards the symbolof His knowable, unfathomable, majes-tic Unity and Beauty.

As the Muslim stands to pray, ris-ing above and beyond those who aretrapped in their own desires, he pushesbehind him everything that has made himforget God's power and scrutiny andmercy. Sleep facing the Qiblah; neverrelieve yourself facing the Qiblah, diefacing the Qiblah, lie in your grave onyour right side, facing the Qiblah, await-ing the final call, which will raise youto life, just as the Adhan raised you from




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spiritual death in the world.Such a place is held in fear and awe.

But in our Abrahamic religion, we movetowards that place, through our fear andawe, to find love and stillness. Where thegreatest crowds on earth come together,we find peace. The faces of those who havejust returned from Hajj reawaken the de-sire for the House in all who see them.'And truly with hardship comesease.'(94:5) Abraham is told this: 'Andannounce the Hajj to mankind!'(3:97).They will come on foot, on everylean beast, from every narrow ra-vine.'(22:27) God commanded, and prom-ised; and the Hajj shows how He honouredHis promises. The 'valley without crops'(14:37) is sterile and austere, ringed byjagged peaks: Uqhuwana, Khandama,Thaur and Hira.' The culmination of Hajj,at Arafat, is the simplest and most ancientof rituals; simply standing 'where tears falland prayers rise,' with two million brokenhearts. The beauty is in the rigorous an-cient austerity of the rites, but also in thefaces of a thousand races, all filled, as thesun sets, with the light of knowledge, andthe hope for forgiveness.

The City draws in these lovers ofGod each year, and then sends themhome, like a heart pumping bloodthrough the body. Most pilgrims havenot come before, and as they approachchanting the reply to God's command toAbraham: 'At Your service, here I am,'their hearts begin to melt at the unfa-miliar sights and rituals. Stripping awayall their pretensiousness, they wind onthe Ihram, as though ready for the graveand its questioning angels. At once,memories long suppressed bubble up tothe surface. The light of the Ka'bahmakes us see our sins, and as we lookwithin we are horrified by what we see.Forgetfulness, stupidity, laziness, cru-elty, and more, in sins repeated yearafter year. Wrongs never put right, heartsstill unhealed, come to mind painfully.The entry to the City is a time of fear,for there is no fear greater than that wemight go to our graves unforgiven. Theforms of Hajj must be obeyed; but ac-

ceptance is of God's alone and is not inour power.

'Here I am,' and the pilgrim standsbefore the House of God. The mood ofMadinah is Beauty (jamal); but themood of Makkah is Rigour (jalal). TheKa'bah seems like an optical illusion,growing vast and majestic as one ap-proaches, the eye disoriented by the vel-vet blackness of its coverings. Every-one seems to be talking - but the voicesare of men and women engrossed in pri-vate prayer. While walking around theHouse, there are no set formulas, onespeaks what comes to the heart -Qur'anic verses, prayers and litanies ofthe Holy Prophet, or words of contri-tion of own devising: all may be heard.Some pilgrims are in tears. And at themost highly-charged place of all, theMultazam, besides the golden door, theatmosphere of hope, fear and yearning,cannot be described.

'The accepted Hajj has no other re-ward than the Garden,' the hadith tellsus. The Hajj is a purgation: uncomfort-

able and physically exhausting. Follow-ing the rules crushes the ego. Once roundthe Ka'bah can take an hour, but the pil-grim must circle it seven times. Thecrowds are immense, the heat stagger-ing, the accommodation basic. Manywho find a scrap of cardboard on whichto sleep consider themselves fortunate.But at the end: a new birth, as the suc-cessful pilgrim 'leaves his sins behindlike a new born child.'

Part of the spiritual power of theHajj lies in its inculcation of wisdom.We may return to many of our ugly hab-its. But the memory of a sudden encoun-ter with the 'clear signs of God,' and ofthe power of repentance, stays with thepilgrim, as a reminder of the urgency ofour need to remain pure of heart, andclose to our Lord. Often, decades later,a memory of the Hajj can pull a sinfulman or a woman out of apparently hope-less vice. In that sense, the Hajj nevercomes to an end.

- (Courtesy, the Monthly EMEL,December, 2008, London, UK)

SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SLAUGHTERING OF COWFriday Khutbah at Darus Salaam, London, 26th December 2008

by Dr. Zahid Aziz, UK

“This Book, there is no doubtin it, is a guide to those whokeep their duty.” — 2:2The first chapter of the Holy Quran,

the Surah Fatihah, contains the prayer:“Guide us on the right path”. The secondchapter, entitled Al-Baqarah, meaning‘The Cow’, begins by telling us that theQuran is the book that will guide us.Thus it is a very logical opening andapt beginning for the second chapter.Even without linking it with the prayer“guide us on the right path”, it is a verylogical opening for it tells the readerwhat the purpose of the book is, whichis to guide people. This refutes thecommon objection raised against theQuran that it has no organisedarrangement. It is a most fit tingbeginning to a book, after its ‘preface’,

for it to open with the statement: “ThisBook…”.Title The CowWhat is the significance of the title ofthis chapter The Cow? Why is the cowso important that the 2nd chapter of theQuran, its longest chapter, which startsso near to the commencement of thebook, is called by this title?

This name is said to refer to theincident in its verses 67-71, in whichthe Israelites were told by Moses tosacrifice a certain cow but they werehesitant and reluctant to obey thiscommand. They only sacrificed the cowafter trying to avoid it by claiming theycould not identify which cow was meant.The reason they were told to sacrifice itwas that they had started to worship it.Cow-worship was prevalent in many




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cultures and religions at the time. Mostfamously, it is in the Hindu religion thatthe cow is regarded as sacred.

The reason for cow worship wasthat this animal played a central role inthe establishment of human civilization.When human beings settled down on theland and formed habitations and cities,the cow or bull fulfilled their crucialneeds. It gave them milk, a vital part ofdiet, it ploughed the land so that foodcould be grown, it provided fuel by itsdung, and its skin could be used toproduce leather which, along with wood,formed the basis of much ancienttechnology. The cow was absolutelyindispensable to the physical life ofpeople living in a settled, civilizedsociety. This is why it came to berevered.

The cow is a symbol of thefulfilment of the physical and materialneeds of civilized man. The Quranrelates that a king of Egypt saw in adream that seven lean cows ate sevenfat cows (and he saw also seven greenears and seven dry ones). The prophetJoseph, on being called to interpret thisdream, said that the seven fat cowsrepresented seven years of good harvestand the seven lean cows representedseven years of famine. They should storesurplus food in the seven good years, tobe consumed in the seven lean years.See 12:43-49. The cow was a symbolof material prosperity.Spritual aspect of sacrificing the cow

By giving this important chapter thetitle The Cow, the Quran is conveyingthe message that just as man needed thecow for his physical needs in hiscivilized state, similarly he needsspiritual and moral guidance given byrevelation in order to live in that civilsociety. In settled societies, people hadto deal with each other in many different,complex ways, much more so than whenhuman beings lived as nomads andhunters in caves or forests previously.For this, they required increasinglyadvanced guidance, as given by theQuran.

By mentioning the incident aboutthe Israelites being required to sacrificea cow, and their hesitation andvacillation, the Quran teaches us not toworship the things that we need for thesatisfaction of our material needs of thisworld, and that we must be prepared tosacrifice them from time to time to avoidbecoming so attached to them that theyrule us, rather than we ruling them.Hence the Quran says in the samechapter that while some people pray“Our Lord, give us (things) in thisworld” (2:200), what people should prayfor is as follows:

“Our Lord, grant us good in thisworld and good in the Hereafter,and save us from the punishmentof the fire” (2:201).

The cow is the symbol of “good inthis world”. But man also requires“good in the Hereafter”, i.e. his moraland spiritual good, which is supplied bythe Holy Quran.“This Book, there is no doubt in it”Turning to the verse quoted at thebeginning, the Holy Quran is the onlyscripture that speaks of itself as a book,introduces itself, and tells the readermuch about itself as a book. Thus evenjust its two words “This Book” showthe uniqueness of the Quran among allworld scriptures.

The word translated as ‘this’ isdhālika which literally means ‘that’(something remote) rather than ‘this’(something near). However, it is alsoused instead of ‘this’ when speaking ofsomething which is honoured. Itindicates that the Quran will be greatlyhonoured and held in high estimation.

As to the statement that “there isno doubt in it”, one meaning of it is thatit leaves no doubt about what it claimsto be. A person might not accept itsclaims but no one can be in any doubtas to what its claims are. The Qurantells us that it is revealed by God to theProphet Muhammad (47:2), its name isthe Quran (15:1), its revelation beganin the month of Ramadan (2:185), it isin Arabic (12:2; 20:113), it was revealed

to the Holy Prophet’s heart through theangel Gabriel (26:192–195), it wasrevealed gradually, not all at once(25:32; 75:16), it has scribes (80:11–16), it will be collected in book formaccording to the will of God (75:17). Ittells us how it should be read (73:4),when it should be read (17:78), how itshould be listened to (7:204), and howit should be interpreted (3:7, 4:82).(Note that the references given here areonly to some selected verses. There areother verses that can be cited in supportof these statements.)

In each one of these characteristicsthe Quran is unique among worldscriptures. Questions have been raisedregarding other scriptures, as to whatthey are, whether they are revelationsor human writings, who composed themin book form and when, what was theiroriginal language, etc. These questionscreate doubts about these books, but nosuch doubts exist about the Quran. Asto the content of the Quran, no one hasany doubt, not even the most hostilecritics of Islam, that it came from thelips of the Prophet Muhammad.“Guide to those who keep theirduty”The word for “those who keep theirduty” is muttaqīn (singular: muttaqī).It may be considered equivalent to Godfearing, pious, or righteous. In this con-nection two related questions are oftenasked. Firstly, Does this mean that theQuran is only a guide for the very pi-ous, and not for the ordinary person whois a sinner? Secondly, if someone is al-ready pious and righteous, why does heneed the guidance of the Quran? It isargued that the words of this verse seemto suggest that the Quran cannot guidethose who actually need guidance, butis a guide for those who are alreadyguided!

The answer is that in the wordmuttaqīn the Quran is including thosewho wish to find guidance, however lowor high a degree of piety they may pos-sess. Being a muttaqī is a matter of de-gree. It is not the case that a person is




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either a muttaqī or he is not. The Quranhas here dignified all those who havethe sincere desire to be guided, even theymay be ordinary sinners, by calling themwhat they wish to become, that is, Godfearing or righteous.

Christian preachers are often de-claring that they welcome sinners to jointhem, that Jesus came for sinners andnot for the perfect, and that we are allsinners. No doubt the Quran provides

guidance for sinners to lift them out ofsin, but to keep on calling them as sin-ners is discouraging for them and it sug-gests that they can never rise above thatlevel. So the Quran here is emphasizingthe positive side of such people, by de-scribing them as what they wish to be-come.

On the other hand, the wordmuttaqīn here also indicates that thereis no end or limit to the stage of righ-

teousness that a person may rise to, andhowever high someone may have risenthe Quran will continue to be a guide tohim for further progress. From the spiri-tual novice to the wali of the highestorder, all have a path before them alongwhich to advance, and the Quran pro-vides them with the light and guidanceto proceed along it. May Allah grant allof us the yearning, strength and oppor-tunity to progress along this road, Amin!

MANAGEMENT OF ANGERby Miss Habiba Anwar LL.M. (UK)

(Talk given at Darus Salaam, Wembley, London on 2nd November, 2008.)

“Those who spend in ease as well asin adversity and those who restrain(their) anger and pardon men… Allahloves the doers of good (to others).” –(The Holy Qur’an 3:133)“He is not strong or powerful whothrows people down, but he is strongwho masters his anger.” – The HolyProphet Muhammad.“Anybody can become angry, that iseasy; but to be angry with the rightperson, and to the right degree, andat the right time, and for the rightpurpose, and in the right way, that isnot within everybody’s power, that isnot easy.” – Aristotle.

---------------------What is Anger?Through the research that I have doneto put together this talk on the topic of‘Anger Management’, I have learnt somuch myself, and hope I can sharesomething new with you today. At thestart, I want to say that anger — orindeed most emotions — are somethingwe all experience, so I hope we can allbenefit from the extracts I have puttogether today.

To start with, let us define anger. Adictionary, any dictionary, is likely to tellyou that “anger” is a strong feeling ofdispleasure; a strong emotion; a feelingthat is oriented towards some grievance.But this is not a phenomenon that needs

defining for most of us. We know of andunderstand anger in more real terms.When we think of anger, we think ofraised voices, shouting,misunderstanding, arguing, maybe inextreme cases even violence. Whetheron a small level or a grand level, wealmost always associate anger with somesort of destruction: destruction ofrelationships, destruction of trust,destruction of love.

It is no wonder that every religioncondemns anger. Before we focus onIslam and Muslim perspectives, it isworth noting what some of the otherworld religions have to say.

Take Hinduism for example. Angeris linked in Hinduism to desire, and isconsidered a response to desire — aresponse even more deadly than desireitself. One group that I identified as ThePeetham writes: If we throw a rubberagainst the wall, it bounces, in otherwords it returns to us. The ball thrownis desire and it is the same ball thatbecomes anger as it bounces.

If we look at Christianity, MatthewGeorge Easton’s Bible dictionarypublished in 1897 defines anger as:

The emotion of instant displeasureon account of something evil thatpresents itself to our view. In itself,it is an original susceptibility of ournature, just as love is, and is not

necessarily sinful. It may, however,become sinful when causeless, orexcessive, or protracted.

The seven deadly sins denounced inChristianity also include anger,alongside lust, gluttony, greed, sloth,envy and pride.

Buddhism states a similar set ofnegative mental states that are supposedto be suppressed in order to attainenlightenment. Anger is placed alongsidesensual desire, boredom, restlessnessand doubt. There is also a Buddhistsaying that you may have heard:“Holding on to anger is like grasping ahot coal with the intent of throwing it atsomeone else; you are the one who getsburned.”

For something that is so widelycondemned, so universally recognizedfor its negative effects, yet still witnessedon a global scale, you may wonder whatthe causes of anger are in the first place,why it even exists. Psychologists havedivided the causes of anger into twocategories: internal causes and externalcauses. Internal causes of anger includethe following:

• Emotionally reasoning orinterpreting that an event hashappened in a particular way thatcauses a person to become irritatedand angry; or

• Having a low frustration tolerance




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threshold; or• Having unreasonable expectations;

or• Rating people in negative and

dehumanizing ways, thus making iteasier to be angry at them.

External causes of anger include:• People making personal attacks

against us;• People attacking our ideas; and• People threatening our needs.

The internal causes I identified areso multifaceted and involve so manydeep psychological issues that I am inno way knowledgeable enough to talkabout these. Each one of us is so differentthat we can’t possibly generalize aboutwhy we react a certain way in a certainsituation. This will always varydepending on our individual thresholds,our individual expectations, individualpriorities and emotions. But what I cantalk about is external causes of angerand how we can and should deal withthem, which will be the area topic of mytalk today.

It should be noted that not everyonenecessarily views anger as negative.There are people that will ask whyshould we “manage” our anger, whenit’s not a negative thing that needs to becontrolled? Modern psychology inparticular encourages the expression ofanger in a number of contexts; forexample, whilst negotiating. Experi-ments conducted at the University ofAmsterdam on “The InterpersonalEffects of Anger and Happiness inNegotiations” concluded that anger onthe part of an opponent during nego-tiations is more likely to result incompliance by the negotiator, whereashappiness on the part of the opponentusually leads to exploitation. I foundeven more details on the positive side ofanger in Stress Management forDummies, from which I will quote toyou now:

• Anger is activating and mobilizing.When you are angry, you feel as ifyou are doing something about whatis triggering your stress. You feel

there is a response you can make, away of expending energy towardresolving the distressing situation.It can get you to take action and dosomething about the problem.

• Anger makes you feel powerful.Anger can make you feel like youare in charge, even when you aren’t.When you tell someone off or givethem a tongue-lashing, you feelstronger and in control. Angerenables you to express yourself ina forceful way.

• Anger often gets results. Bybecoming angry, as opposed toremaining calm and pleasant, youmay get what you want. Many peopleare intimidated by anger and are moreobliging when confronted with it thanthey normally would be.

• Anger is often a respected response.We often interpret anger as standingup for ourselves and not lettingothers take advantage of us. Andother people may see it the sameway. Our anger may be labelled asassertive, strong, and confident.So why does religion insist in

restraining something that can clearlyhave so many positive psychological andemotional gains? Well, first of all, didyou notice how all of those supposedlypositive aspects of anger are beneficialto you. You feel powerful; you feelstronger; you are in control, confidentand getting results. What about theperson on the receiving end of youranger?The Qur’an and the Holy Prophet onAnger

In Islam, humanity and love for yourfellow man is so important. Specificallyon the topic of anger, it is reported thata man said to the Holy Prophet, “Giveme some advice”. The Holy Prophetsaid: “Do not become angry andfurious”. The man asked (the same)again and again, and the Holy Prophetsaid in each case, “do not become angryand furious”.

In another hadith, the Holy Prophethas said: “He is not strong or powerful

who throws people down, but he isstrong who masters his anger.” In yetanother hadith, he said: “One whosubdues anger is really a courageousman. A man of strength is not one whooverpowers an opponent; but it is hewho, in a moment of intenseprovocation, exercises restraint”.

If you, as a Muslim, were notcontent with this inner satisfaction ofrestraining your anger, and were lookingfor some sort of incentive, there arecountless; perhaps the greatest one ofall is that Allah is pleased with those whodo so, and those that Allah is pleasedwith are granted the greatest reward ofall: the promise of heaven. Chapter 3,verse 133, states:

“Those who spend in ease as well asin adversity and those and those whorestrain (their) anger and pardonmen… Allah loves the doers of good(to others).”In the footnote to this verse in the

translation by Maulana Muhammad Ali,he writes:

“Restraining of anger, pardoning anddoing good to each other besidesbeing great moral qualities,strengthen the bond of union whichis so necessary for success. Thisverse has on many occasions inspiredthe noblest thoughts of toleration andcharitableness. Hasan’s servanthaving on one occasion upset aboiling hot dish on his masterobtained his liberty, along withmonetary help by reciting this verse.Thinking that he would be punishedfor his fault, he repeated the words:“those who restrain their anger.”Hasan said he was not angry. “Andpardon men,” added the servant.Hasan said: “I pardon you.” “AndAllah loves the doers of good,”concluded the offending slave. “Igive you liberty and 400 pieces ofsilver,” was the response.”Dr Zahid Aziz also offered some

excellent commentary of this verse in hisbook Islam, Peace and Tolerance. Hewrites:




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“The words translated as ‘those whosuppress anger and pardon people’mean literally: ‘suppressors of angerand pardoners of people’, and theword used for ‘people’ here meansmankind in general. This, then, ishow Muslims ought to appear in theworld, as suppressors of their angerand pardoners of mankind. As thebeginning of this passage tellsMuslims to rush to seek forgivenessfrom God, these words indicate thatto gain that forgiveness we mustsuppress our rage against others,forgive them and in fact do good tothem. Have we not done things whichwould make God angry; so do wewant Him to display His angertowards us? If not, then we mustsimilarly restrain our anger towardsthose who have wronged us.This passage teaches three degreesof response towards those who havewronged us, and we should rise tothe level that is most effective in thecircumstances: The least which isrequired is for us to restrain ouranger, and that is the minimum thatwe must do. Any reaction based onanger is bound to be excessive andunjust, and damaging even to theaggrieved party. Therefore ourresponse must be limited to beingproportionate and rational. Beyondsuppressing anger, we may forgivethose who wrong us rather than seektheir punishment, if that would makethem recognise their injustices andmend their ways. Finally, we mayeven proceed to returning good forevil, again if it would turn them awayfrom their wrongdoing.According to this passage, the wayto heaven is only through suppressingyour anger and forgiving otherpeople.”Despite knowing that the greatest of

all rewards is honoured by Allah to thosethat successfully suppress their anger,why do we still get angry almosteveryday in some way or another? TheHoly Prophet is reported to have said:

“He who withholds his anger, Allah willwithhold His punishment from him onthe Day of Judgment”.

Surely, there can’t be any biggerincentive than that, yet we still findourselves in an angry state of mind morethan often. In the famous words ofAristotle:

“Anybody can become angry, that iseasy; but to be angry with the rightperson, and to the right degree, and atthe right time, and for the rightpurpose, and in the right way, that isnot within everybody’s power, that isnot easy.”In the Holy Quran, even prophets

that are Allah’s chosen ones, even theyare said to have experienced anger. TakeProphet Moses, and the incident of thegolden calf. When the Prophet visitedMount Sinai, a man claimed that he haddisappeared, and thus the Israelites wereto find a new God. So a golden calf wasconstructed and was being worshipedwhen Moses returned, and it is said inchapter 20 verse 86:

“so Moses returned to his people,angry, sorrowing.”So unfortunately, unlike perhaps

other sins, it is really not quite as easyto restrain anger. In The Message ofIslam by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, hesays:

“Lust and anger, the Quran says, areroot passions in their natural condition.They should not be killed, as suggestedby some other religious systems, for theyare the bedrock of spiritual edifice. The[Quran] lays down rules whereby, outof them, may be evolved such ethics andreligion as shall clothe us in the Divinegarb. Anger, the [Quran] says has itsrighteous use, and so has lust, when theyare refined so as to assume their nobleform. Anger, when reformed, becomesjustice, forgiveness and chastisement,bravery, courage, high-mindedness,seriousness and serenity of mind,tolerance, meekness, magnanimity,patience, perseverance, pertinacity ofcharacter, while the same passion in itsmean form becomes malice, hatred,

enmity, revenge, hot temper, hastiness,pride, rashness, recklessness,foolhardiness, stubbornness, timidity,cowardice and so forth…”

So the impossible is not expectedof us; that is, to never get angry again.Rather, we have to manage anger, dealwith it and express it in the right way,which doesn’t seem so impossible afteryou hear examples from the life of theHoly Prophet and his Companions.When you hear about real situations thatthey encountered and experienced with-out resorting to anger, suddenly thesituations that we do get angry it seemso small. In The Ideal Prophet byKhwaja Kamal-ud-Din, he recounts thefollowing story:

Umair ibn Wahab was a bitterenemy of the Holy Prophet. He was sentto Medina by Safwan ibn Umayya onpromise of a great reward if he shouldsucceed in killing the Holy Prophet andthus taking revenge for those Quraishwho had fallen in the battle of Badr.Umair, having given his sword a temperof poison, went to Medina; but guessinghis intention, Hazrat Umar wanted topunish him. The Holy Prophet stoppedhim from doing so, but made Umair sitnear him, and, in the course of conversa-tion, disclosed to him the purpose of hisshameful mission; on hearing whichUmair was thunderstruck that the HolyProphet did not even chide him. Hestraightaway embraced Islam, and on hisreturn to Makkah became a missionaryfor Islam — an utterly transformed man.

What is demonstrated here is insituations where your anger can very easilybe justified, if you hold back, you neverknow how great the results can be.

Once, someone accosted the HolyProphet Muhammad by distorting thegreeting as-salamu alaikum (“peace beupon you”) and saying it as as-saamualaikum, which means “death be uponyou”. His wife, Ayesha, retorted: “andupon you be death and curse”. The HolyProphet told her: “Be calm Ayesha, Allahloves that one should be kind and lenientin all matters”, or according to another




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version he said: “Be calm Ayesha. Youshould be kind and lenient, and bewareof using harsh and bad language”.

From his companions, there weremany times that during his caliphate,Hazrat Umar was spoken to harshly.One time, a certain man kept saying“Fear God, O Umar” and others wantedto stop him. However, Hazrat Umarsaid: “Let him say so; of what use arethese people if they should not tell mesuch things?”

Here is a ruler who could easily haveused his position and his power torestrain someone from addressing himin such a way. But his response showsus that when someone says somethingthat we may not like, may even findinsulting, it’s important not to react withanger. Many times when we are in sucha situation, we become so blinded withfury at the guts of somebody to say suchand such to us, that naturally we don’tactually listen to what the person is infact saying. But, like Hazrat Umar, ifwe take the criticism objectively, webenefit from being able to judge if thereis any truth in what someone iscomplaining of, and can therefore dealwith it accordingly, detached from ouremotions. This is not advice from anordinary man. This was the man whoestablished a state and public treasury,he’s known as the pioneer of Islamicdemocracy, during the 10 years he rulesas caliph, the Persians, Romans andmany others were defeated. He is surelya man whose character is worthemulating.The Holy Prophet on how to manage anger

The Holy Prophet has even toldus what to do when we feel angerrising inside us. His advice rangesfrom the simple to the detailed. In onehadith, he said: “Much silence and agood disposition; there are no twoworks better than these”. In otherwords, when you feel angry, hold yourtongue and resist from saying anythingat all. In another, he explained that“Satan was created from fire. Fire isextinguished only with water. Thus,

when one of you finds yourself angry,perform the ablution”. Ablution (orwudu) is the simple ritual of washingyour hands, face, arms, and feet. Thewater cools down your body andimmediately tackles the heat of feelingenraged. I couldn’t help but thinkwhen I read this that as wudu is a pre-requisite to our five daily prayersanyway, if we are observant of thoseand thus perform wudu five times aday, surely we would be constantlycool.

The Holy Prophet also said that ifone is not in proximity of clean water toperform the ablution, or should tempersflare in threat of a quick-blow up, aneasy way to calm down would be to takea seat upon the onset of rage; should thisnot help, it is advisable to lie down.

Even though there are huge rewardsin the afterlife for suppressing youranger, there are immediate rewards forus here and now as well. I read you anincident of Stress Management forslaves earlier about the positive aspectsof anger; well, here is another extractfrom the same book:Anger can make you sick and breakyour heartWhen you are angry, your body reactsmuch the same way it does when youare experiencing any other stressreaction. Your anger triggers your bodyto take a defensive stance, readyingyourself for any danger that may comeyour way. When your anger is intenseand frequent, the physiological effectscan be harmful. Your health is at risk,and any or all of those nasty stress-related illnesses and disorders canbecome linked to excessive anger.Recent research now indicates that yourheart (or more accurately, yourcardiovascular system) is particularlyvulnerable to your anger and its negativeeffects. In his book, Anger Kills, publi-shed by Harper Perennial, DukeUniversity researcher Redford Williamsdescribes a number of possible wayshostility can negatively affect yourcardiovascular system.

Following are a few of the studyfindings:

• When potentially hostileindividuals were angry, they hadlarger than normal increases in theflow of blood to their muscles(suggesting an exaggerated fight-or-flight response). They alsoexperienced an increase in theirlevels of important stresshormones, such as adrenaline andcortisol, which can have negativeeffects on the cardiovascularsystem as well.

• Potentially hostile individuals withhigher levels of blood cholesterolwere found to secrete moreadrenaline than those individualswith lower levels of cholesterol.For these individuals, the linkagebetween higher adrenalinesecretions and higher cholesterollevels means they have a greaterlikelihood of arterioscleroticplaque build-up.

• People who scored high onmeasures of hostility tend to havefewer friends. This lack of strongfriendships means a weakenedsocial support system. Being ableto talk to someone about what’sstressing you can lower your bloodpressure — and having no one totalk to certainly doesn’t doanything to help you.

• Research has shown that sociallyisolated individuals excretedhigher levels of stress hormones intheir urine than those who hadstrong support systems.

• Hostile individuals typically don’ttake good care of themselves. Theytend to engage in a number ofdestructive health behaviours,including smoking, drinking andovereating. All of these behaviourscan have negative effects on thecardiovascular system.

Although I am not qualified to talkabout the medical effects of any emotion,from my very basic research I can tellyou that one of the effects of anger is




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the increased production of hormones.Your heart has to work harder, andtherefore, not surprisingly, yourheartbeat increases. For this reason,people with heart problems are activelyendangering their health when theybecome angry. People put themselves atrisk of heart attacks. Your blood pressuregoes up, which is of course anotherhealth hazard. Diabetics are also advisedto control their temper, as increasedadrenaline can raise blood sugar.

To close, I would like to read you ashort story:

There was a little boy with a badtemper. His father gave him a bag ofnails and told him that every time he losthis temper he must hammer a nail in theback fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37nails into the fence. Then it graduallydwindled down. He discovered it waseasier to hold his temper than to drivethose nails into the fence. Finally the daycame when the boy didn’t lose his temperat all. He told his father about it and thefather suggested that the boy now pullout one nail for each day that he was

able to hold his temper.The days passed and the young

boy was finally able to tell his fatherthat all the nails were gone. The fathertook his son by the hand and led himto the fence. He said: “You have donewell, my son, but look at the holes inthe fence. The fence will never be thesame. When you say things in anger,they leave a scar just like this one. Youcan put a knife in a man and draw itout. It won’t matter how many timesyou say ‘I am sorry’, the wound is stillthere.”

Prophet Abraham—A life of Supreme Dedication,Submission and Sacrifice

Id-ul-Adha Khutba at Darus Salaam, Wembley, London, 8th December 2008

by Dr Jawad Ahmad (UK)“I sat on the steps looking at theKa‘bah. Its beauty lies within itssimplicity and I think the samecan be said of the whole ofIslam…“We had participated in the ritesas ancient as humanity itself, yetit was absolutely current in ourexperience. The rites wereancient, but their purposes weretimeless; as is the call to self-surrender oneself unto God. Andso I prayed: ‘Make our faith aliving faith, not somethinginherited or passively acquired,but lived and felt in the realityof today. As Makkah overflowswith history, may our heartsoverflow with faith to beexperienced in this life and in thelife hereafter’.” – Sarah Joseph,editor, EMEL, Nov. 2008.London)“My Lord, grant me a doer of gooddeeds. So We gave him the goodnews of a forbearing son. But whenthe son became of age to work withhis father, he said: O my son, I haveseen a dream that I should sacrifice

you, so consider what you see. Hesaid: O my father, do as you arecommanded. If Allah please, youwill find me patient. So when theyboth submitted and Abraham hadthrown him down upon hisforehead, We called out to him,saying, O Abraham, you haveindeed fulfilled the vision. Thus doWe reward the doers of good.Surely this is a manifest trial. AndWe ransomed him with a greatsacrifice. And We granted himamong the later generations (thesalutation): Peace be to Abraham!Thus do We reward the doers ofgood.” — The Qur’an, 37:100–110.Id-ul-Adha is the second important

festival of Muslims after Id-ul-Fitr.One unique aspect of the annualpilgrimage called Hajj, and the minorpilgrimage called ‘Umra, is that in thishigh point of worship, no memorableevent relating to the life of the Founderof Islam, the Holy ProphetMuhammad, peace and blessings ofAllah be upon him, has been includedin the ritual of the pilgrimage. The

sacrifice of an animal offered is atribute to the spirit of sacrifice shownby Prophet Abraham when he wasready to sacrifice his son Ishmael inobedience to the Divine command. Thecircuits around the Ka‘bah are madeas a tribute to Abraham and Ishmaelfor re-building the Ka‘bah. The sa’i(running) between the two hillocks ofSafa and Marwa is a tribute to thepatience and fortitude shown by LadyHagar (Hajirah), the mother ofIshmael. The throwing of pebbles atSatan is a tribute to the resistanceoffered by Prophet Abraham to theattempts of Satan to dissuade him fromsacrificing his son, while he was takinghim to the place of sacrifice. Byenjoining Hajj, Almighty Allah hasgiven ever-lasting recognition toProphet Abraham’s struggle againstpolytheism, his profound devotion toworshipping Allah and unqualifiedsubmission to the Divine commands.

If we study the Bible and theQuran we come across someamazing performances done byProphet Abraham. For instance theHoly Quran says:




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“And when his Lord tried Abrahamwith certain commands he fulfilledthem. Then Allah said: Surely I willmake you, O Abraham, a leader ofmen.” — 2:124The Bible says somewhat similar

to what is mentioned in the Quran butit also contains some prophecies whichhave been fulfilled by the advent ofHoly Prophet Muhammad (saw) andhis followers:

“And I will make you a great nation,and I will bless you, and make yourname great, and you shall be ablessing. And I will bless them thatbless you, and curse him that curseyou, and in you shall all families ofthe earth be blessed.” (Genesis17:2,3)Please note the words “I will bless

them, that bless you.” Here the word“them” stands for Muslims and theword “you” stands for ProphetAbraham.Prophet Abraham - Father ofProphets

Jews and Christians both regardProphet Abraham as the GreatPatriarch. But the question arises asto who fulfils the prophecies conveyedto Abraham by Allah andcommemorates the sacrifices madeand trials faced and constantly invokessalutations and blessings as promisedto him by Allah. No doubt the Jewsbelieve Prophet Moses to be thegreatest of the prophets and exalt andglorify him. Similarly the Christiansbelieve that Prophet Jesus died on theCross atoning for the sins of believersand regard him as the son of God andestablish his glory by raising him tothe position of a partner of the DivineBeing. But it is only the followers ofthe Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw)who not only believe Prophet Abrahamas the “Father of Prophets” asnumerous prophets were raised amongthe Children of Israel but invokesalutations and blessings to exalt and

glorify him along with the HolyProphet Muhammad who came infulfilment of his intense supplicationsmade to Allah while rebuilding theKa‘bah. That is why at the end of eachcycle of an individual or congregationalMuslim prayer the followingsalutations are recited:

“O Allah! Exalt Muhammad andthe true followers of Muhammadas You exalted Abraham and truefollowers of Abraham. And You areMighty and highly praised.O Allah! Bless Muhammad and thetrue followers of Muhammad asYou blessed Abraham and the truefollowers of Abraham. CertainlyYou are praised and Mighty.”And the Holy Prophet Muhammad

(saw) has said that any supplicationmade after reciting the salutations ismost likely to receive Divine accep-tance.

The Holy Quran records thesupplications of Prophet Abraham inthe following words:

“And when Abraham said: MyLord, make this city secure, andsave me and my sons fromworshipping idols. … Our Lord! Ihave settled a part of my offspringin a valley unproductive of fruitnear Your Sacred House, our Lord,that they may keep up prayer; somake the hearts of some peopleyearn towards them, and providethem with fruits; perhaps they maybe grateful.” — 14:35,37

Serial of Trials for ProphetAbraham

We must not forget that in order toearn ever-lasting blessings of Allah byProphet Abraham and his immediatefamily, they went through a series oftrials in which they remained steadfastand carried out what was commandedto them with utmost submission. Wefind the details in the Quran in thefollowing words:

“And when his Lord tried Abraham

with certain commands, he fulfilledthem… And We enjoined Abrahamand Ishmael, saying: Purify Myhouse for those who visit it andthose who abide in it for devotionand those who bow down and thosewho prostrate themselves.” —2:124,125 History tells us that Prophet

Abraham under Divine command lefthis native town with his wife Hajirahand the suckling Ishmael, and aftertrudging through rugged and sandyroutes reached the barren city ofMakkah. He then left both wife andthe child in the deserted vicinity of theKa‘bah, the first House of Allah, andreturned home.

But that was not the end of trials.Another bigger and most difficult trialwas yet to come. When the first-bornchild grew up into a righteous andsturdy young man, Prophet Abrahamsaw in a dream that he was sacrificinghis son. The very next morning heconsulted his young son about thecommand given to him in the dream.The obedient son without anyhesitation replied: My dear father, Doas you are commanded.Dream and visions needsinterpretation

We all know that a dream or avision always contains an innermessage and needs interpretation. TheQuran has mentioned several suchdreams and visions and has alsomentioned what ultimately their factualinterpretations turned out to be.

Let me quote some of themmentioned in the Quran:1. Prophet Joseph saw in a dream that

eleven stars and the sun and themoon were making obeisance tohim. (12:4)

2. The king of Egypt saw seven fatcows which seven lean onesdevoured. And seven green ears ofcorn and seven others dry. (12:43)

3. Two youths entered the prison




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along with Prophet Joseph. One ofthem said: I saw myself pressingwine. The other said: I saw myselfcarrying bread on my head, ofwhich birds were eating. (12:36)

4. Moses saw a vision whiletravelling with his family throughthe valley of Tuwa. “He perceiveda fire on the side of the mountain.He said to his family: Wait, I see afire. May be I will bring to youfrom it some news or a brand offire, so that you may warmyourselves.” (28:29). Let me quote now the

interpretations of these dreams andvisions mentioned in the Quran.

Firstly, regarding Prophet Joseph’sdream, his eleven brothers tried to getrid of him by throwing him into an oldwell. But by the help of Allah, he wastaken out of the well by a passingcravan, then after passing throughyears of slavery and for some yearsenjoying comforts of the royal palace,he landed into years of imprisonment.But finally he was honoured by theking and was assigned the highposition in the treasury. Then hewelcomed his parents with full honour.The eleven brothers who hatchedseveral conspiracies against him andhis real brother Benjamin, pleadedguilty and fell in prostration before himfor forgiveness. And Prophet Josephsaid: O my father, this is thesignificance of my vision of old — andmy Lord has made it true. (12:98–100)

Secondly, about the King’s dream,Prophet Joseph’s interpretation was:“You shall sow for seven years as usual,then that which you reap, leave it in itsear, except a little which you eat. Thenafter that will come seven years ofhardship, which will eat away all youhave beforehand stored for them, excepta little which you have preserved. Thenafter that will come a year in whichpeople will have rain in which they willpress grapes.” (12:45–49)

Thirdly, regarding dreams offellow prisoners, Prophet Joseph said:“O my two fellow-prisoners, as for oneof you, he will serve wine for his lordto drink (that is, he will be released).And as for the other, he will becrucified, so that the birds will eat fromhis head.” (12:41)

Fourthly, regarding vision ofProphet Moses, when he reached thedistant place where he was shownsome fire, he received the Divinemessage: “Surely I am your Lord, sotake off your shoes. Surely you are inthe sacred valley of Tuwa. And I havechosen you, so listen to what isrevealed: Surely I am Allah, there isno God but I, so serve Me, and keepup prayer for My remembrance.”(20:12–14).

I have just quoted four instancesfrom the Holy Quran. Now I will quotesome visions or dreams of the HolyProphet Muhammad (saw) from theSahih al-Bukhari in order to furtherexplain to you that these always needinterpretation or explanation. Most ofthe time during the dream or a visionAllah inspires in the heart of therecipient the meaning as well. Butsometimes if it relates to some futureevent and Allah wants to reveal itsfactual meaning at some future time,then even a prophet or an inspiredservant of Allah does not know whatis meant by it and he commits errorsin interpreting it.1. It relates to the migration of the

Holy Prophet of Muhammad(saw) to Madina. Abu Musarelated it from the Holy Prophet(saw) that he saw in a dream thathe was migrating from Makkah toa land where there were plenty ofpalm trees. He thought that itmeant either the city of Yamamaor Hijr. But finally it turned out tobe Madina. (Bukhari, 63:45).

2. Once the Holy Prophet saw in adream that he had two golden

bracelets in his hands. He becameworried about them. He wasinspired in the dream to blow overthem. When he blew over them,they disappeared. He was made tounderstand that it meant that twofalse prophets would appear afterhis death. And it turned out to betrue. Later on one was Aswad Ansiand the other was MusailimaKazzaab.” (Bukhari 61: 25)

3. The Holy Prophet Muhammad(saw) saw in a dream that hewielded his sword once and frontportion of its blade broke away. Ithinted to the injuries which werereceived by the Muslims duringthe Battle of Uhud. Again whenhe wielded it second time, itresumed its normal shape. Ithinted to the final victory Muslimsachieved when the fleeing groupsof Muslims suddenly gatheredaround the Holy ProphetMuhammad (saw) to protect him.This sudden return of the Muslimsto the battlefield and rallyingaround the Holy Prophet (saw)and offering unprecedentedsacrifices and putting up unifieddefence against the enemy attackstruck awe and bewilderment inthe hearts of the enemy and indesperation they abandoned thebattlefield. In the same dream hesaw some cows. It hinted at thatsome of the Muslims would bemartyred in the battle and it didhappen so.

(Bukhari, 61: 25)The purpose of this rather long

discussion about dreams and visionsis to emphasise the point that dreamsand visions are always subject to inter-pretation as these are intended to referto some events yet to come and thatcan only be done in a symbolic way.

In all these cases you will noticethat the first thought which came to theperson who saw the dream or vision




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was to find what could be its inter-pretation. But in the case of ProphetAbraham and his son, both of them,straightaway became ready to fulfil thedream literally as if it was a command.And it is this extreme sense ofobedience to carry on thecommandment of Allah and hissupreme submission to the extent ofsacrificing his dearest son Ishmael, thatdeserve the highest appreciation. Andso Allah highly appreciated this act ofProphet Abraham in these memorablewords in the Quran:

“O Abraham! Surely you haveindeed fulfilled the vision. Thus doWe reward the doers of good.” —37:105Here again you will find that even

Allah has regarded it as a vision andnot as a commandment and that is whyAllah honours him elsewhere in theQuran with the title of Hanif that is,the most upright person:

“And he was a most submissiveand upright person” (3:66).A little further, Allah also

appreciates the followers of ProphetMuhammad (saw) for following andbelieving in prophet Abraham’smessages in these words:

“The nearest of people to Abrahamare surely those who follow himand this Prophet (i.e. Holy ProphetMuhammad) and those whobelieve. And Allah is the Friend ofthose who believe.” (3:67)

Significance of Holy Ka’bahThe sacred House of Allah, the

Ka‘bah, re-built by prophet Abraham,forms the focal point in a Muslim’sdaily and voluntary prayers as well asduring the performance of Hajj.Apparently it is a simple cubicstructure but it has a tremendousspiritual heritage and historicalbackground attached to it. That is whyit has assumed so much importanceand veneration. It is a symbol of theUnity of Allah — a living monument

reminding people that Allah is All-powerful Who can preserve any thingwhich stands for its Unity inspite ofall human efforts to destroy it. Historytells us that prophets from ProphetAdam down to Prophet Muhammad(saw) put their lives at stake and boreextreme hardships along with theirdevout followers to uphold the Unityof Allah. Even at times Allah singularlyguarded the sanctity and safety of theKa‘bah, the first house built for Hisworship. And this reminds us of theattack of Abraha at the Ka‘bah, aChristian Governor of Yemen, with amighty army and elephants to destroyit but it was miraculously repulsed bythe pebbles of tiny birds.

About five years ago I went toperform ‘Umra along with my family.While sitting in one of the verandahsof the Sacred Masjid, I looked at thesimple structure of the Ka‘bah andtried to imagine thousands of yearsback, when this place was not soembellished, yet people from distantlands travelling for months came tovisit this shrine to pay their respect tothis symbol of the Unity of Allah andwhich has also retained the memoryof its early settlers — ProphetAbraham, his wife Hajirah and his sonIshmael.

Over the years the deserted placehas become one blooming withmillions of pilgrims of all nationalitiesand colours, from all over the world.And the once barren place is nowbooming with every conceivable itemproduced anywhere in the world. Justimagine how supreme must be thesacrifices and to what extent thesupplications were impregnated withfervent humility that Allah respondedto it with tremendous bounties,blessings and affluence. He also raisedaccordingly a great Prophet toperpetuate not only the memory ofthose who rebuilt it but established theKa‘bah as the greatest vibrant centre

of spiritual elevation and purification.Its living testimony also inspirestremendous faith in the hearts of itsdevotees that all those who worshipAllah, and submit their supplicationsto Him in all sincerity and devotion,and serve His creatures selflessly, willbe granted not only a graciousacceptance but ever-lasting blessings.

At this point I would like to quotea Christian writer, Chris Horrie, who,in his book, What is Islam? 1 paystribute to the historic role played bythe Ka‘bah in establishing the conceptof tauhid (Oneness of the DivineBeing) and in the struggle againstpolytheism in the following words:

“The Ka‘bah is a cube-shaped stonebuilding, believed to have been builtat the beginning of time by Adam forthe exclusive worship of Allah. Thefate of the shrine is symbolicallylinked to Islam’s battle againstmankind’s repeated reversion fromthe true religion of Allah-worship intopaganism.”(p. 38).Recently I was reading a beautiful

monthly, EMEL, published fromLondon, in which a British Muslim, Mrs.Sarah Joseph, who has been awardedOBE by the Queen, has given afascinating account and inspiring insightinto what she felt while looking at thesimple cubic structure of Ka‘bah.

She writes in her editorial note:“As I slowly walked round, I couldhear the hushed whispers of athousand prayers in a hundreddifferent tongues. Each was callingupon their Lord, praising Him andasking Him to respond to the call oftheir hearts. Beads of sweat ran intotears of worshippers as they broughtto God their troubles and theirdeepest wishes. I came with myprayers, my searching, my needs; andwith the strongest belief that Hewould hear me and He will answer…

1. Published by Virgin Books, London.




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“After the seven rotations of theKa‘bah, we moved to pray behindthe footprints of prophet Ibrahimwho had, with his son Ismail,rebuilt the ancient ruins left byAdam and dedicated them again tothe One True God…My thoughts turned to theconnection with history and thenour own place in it. As I followedritually in the footsteps of theprophets, one is forced to askquestions; What am I doing tofollow the example of the prophets,to act upon the messages of theprophets, to aspire towards thegoals of the prophets…I sat on the steps looking at theKa‘bah. Its beauty lies within itssimplicity and I think the same canbe said of the whole of Islam…We had participated in the rites asancient as humanity itself, yet it wasabsolutely current in our experience.The rites were ancient, but their pur-poses were timeless; as is the call toself-surrender oneself unto God. Andso I prayed: ‘Make our faith a livingfaith, not something inherited orpassively acquired, but lived and feltin the reality of today. As Makkahoverflows with history, may ourhearts overflow with faith to beexperienced in this life and in the lifehereafter’.” (November 2008 issue)Thus the Ka‘bah is a living

monument to the monotheistic conceptand the festival of ‘Id al-Adha is areminder to man to work continuouslyfor the inner and outer purification ofhis person through spiritual disciplineand training, so that he should be ableto lead a virtuous life. Further, he is toderive strength to empathise withothers and serve them.

The rituals observed during thepilgrimage furnish us with living proofof the fact that hardships undergoneand sacrifices made for noble andvirtuous ideals and for setting a noble

example are always rewarded by God,the High. The greater the sacrifice, thegreater and more abiding shall be therecompense.

Apparently, the sacrifice of ananimal brings end to the spiritual journeyof Hajj. But do we think that sacrifice ofan animal is just symbolic or does it carrya positive message for every Muslim?Abdus Sattar Edhi of Karachi, Pakistan,is a world-renowned name for hishumanitarian services. Tehmina Durraniof Pakistan, a woman with a penetratingpen and an observant eye, has compiledand edited an autobiography of thissimple but courageous lover ofhumanity. In the book entitled A Mirrorto the Blind she translates Abdus SattarEdhi’s inner feelings while performingHajj about the significance of sacrificein these words:

“In keeping with Prophet Abraham’ssubmission to Divine command toslaughter his son Ishmael, on the dayafter Hajj, Muslims all over the worldcelebrate Eid, highlighting Allah’smercy towards that supreme sacrificeby replacing Ishmael with a sheep. Itis a sacrifice not of a goat, or a cowor a camel but of need, love, desire,habit, greed and a thousand otherobstacles in the way of submitting totruth. It represents the death of ego,whereas Muslims merely slaughteran animal.” 1

One important lesson we can learnfrom the shining example of the noblefamily of Abraham is how culture andcollectiveness as individuals and asmembers of a family can providetremendous impetus to achieve highobjectives in life. Each member of thisrighteous family exhibited a commen-dable sense of politeness, mutualrespect, unity of purpose and firmconviction in the Divine support. Forinstance, father addresses his son: yaa

bunayya, which means: O my dearson, and the son replies: yaa abatee:O my dear father. Again when ProphetAbraham was leaving his wife LadyHagar in that deserted place, she indesperation asked: Who will look afterus in this wilderness? And the replywas: I entrust you to the care of Allah.And the wife said: Then He will neverforsake us.

Here one can observe howindividual character as well ascollective coherence not only fostersstrength among the family membersbut provides immeasurable impetus toachieve great objectives. This is whatevery family needs, this is what everycommunity needs and this is what thewhole Muslim Ummah needs today.And in fact the great objective of themammoth gathering planned by Allahin that barren and vast stretch of landat Arafat, clad in one dress, recitingone set of praises to the AlmightyAllah, is to seek forgiveness for theirsins and beseech His mercy to makethem submissive and righteous, andabove all to foster bonds ofbrotherhood and commitment to actrighteously and to set example ofrighteousness for others.

Let us pray and make a solemnpromise today on this auspiciousoccasion that we will try our best tosacrifice our undue desires,selfishness, anger, greed, exploitingothers for one’s own benefit anddenying help and happiness to thosewho deserve it and submit sincerelyto the commandments of Allah and thepractice of the Holy ProphetMuhammad (saw). And let us alsomake a solemn commitment to fulfilthe objectives of sacrifice symbolisedin the festival of Sacrifices. In shortthe message of Id-ul-Adha is to purifyour inner selves, foster mutual love andrespect and uphold the cause of Islamwith devotion and serve fellow humanbeings with utmost sincerity.

1. A. Sattar Edhi Foundation, Mithadar, Karachi,Pakistan, 2001, p. 137.




57

MONUMENT OPEN DAYS AT THE BERLIN MOSQUEJoint venture with German Foundation for the

Conservation of Ancient Monuments

by Mr. Muhammad Ali

In Germany every year the OpenDay to visit all sorts of monuments iscelebrated on the second weekend ofSeptember. This year the last weekendwas on 13th and 14th of September,2008.

This year with the blessings ofAllah, these two days went extremely

successful. The events on these twodays were organized with thecooperation and coordination of a veryprestigious private German charitableorganization, Deutsche StiftungDebkmalschutz or briefly referred toas DSD (German Foundation for theConservation of Ancient Monuments).The President/Incharge for the Berlinsection of this organization is a youngand enthusiastic gentleman Mr.Gunther Paetz. This organizationworks for the restoration ofmonuments with private contributionsand voluntary work. The President ofthis organization in Germany is usuallyone of the members of the royal family

of Germany.Myself and Bro.Yahya Manfred

Backhousen worked together for morethan one year with Mr. Paetz preparingthe events to be included in the two-day programme. It included to chalkout the plans, discussion about ideas,have meetings with other sister

organizations and so on. And last butnot least to post the invitation lettersto prospective visitors. Invitations weresent to some 250 people. Mr. Paetztold us that how he prepared 150invitation envelopes and to completethe work in time had to remain awakequite late in the night. I highlyappreciate Mr. Paetz for his zeal andhard work to make this event a success.

The program for two days was 3lectures by me and Bro. Yahya onSaturday. On Sunday I gave onelecture mainly on Islam and 2 lecturestogether with Bro. Yahya. On each dayafter my introductory talk, Mr. Päetzexplained to the audience purpose and

work of the Organisation and alsomade an appeal to contributegenerously towards the renovation ofthis beautiful historic Mosque.

Then he took the children from theparents who came to attend the lecturesand assigned them a very interestingand interactive program. So parents

stayed with us and the children weretaken care of by Mr. Paetz and Mrs.Anika Probst. The latter Sister isequally a devoted and active memberof the Organisation. One thing whichimpressed us all was that Mr. Paetzconducted the programme for childrenin an extremely novel way. Theprogramme for children includedintroducing them where the holycities of Makkah and Madinah wereon the world map and were also toldwhy Muslims face a particulardirection in their formal worshipi.e.,towards Saudi Arabia. AnAnalogue between Christianity andIslam was also given to children




58

comparing Imam and Priest, ChurchBells and Azan and so on.

Children were taken to the backside of the Mission House and weregiven paper and ball-points to sketchthe wall of the House and to show thepatches made thereon which werecaused due to the gun shots exchangedduring World War II between Germanand Russian forces. They were alsoasked to express their opinion as towhether the patch work was donesatisfactorily or not and what wouldbe their suggestions in this regard.Then in the interval between the twosessions at the Mosque, Mr. Paetzbrought the children into it andexplained to them what the beliefs ofMuslims are about God whom theycall Allah. The children were also givensheets with the word Allah written onit and were asked to count the wordAllah written in beautiful calligraphyaround the dome of the mosque on itsinside. The counting was done whileMr. Paetz and the children were alllying in a circle under the dome.

Similar programme was arrangedfor children on Sunday with thedifference that children were givensheets with Holy Kalimah (The Islamicformula - (There is no god but Allahand Muhammad is His Messenger)written on them in big letters withtranslation and transliterationunderneath it in German. This time Iwas also asked to join them and to tellthem the significance of the formulaand also to recite it. At this point allthe children recited it after me. Thisgathering of Christian children sittingunder the dome and reciting in chorusthe Kalimah along with Mr. Paetz wasquite inspiring.

In my lectures I gave brief historyof the Ahmadiyya Movement and ourinterpretation of the teachings ofIslam. Bro. Yahya spoke about thehistory of Berlin Mosque and at the endof each session took the audience

outside and explained to themdistinctive features of its design. Healso told them how much damage wascaused to the building of the Mosqueand the residential house during theSecond World War and howcontributions of the members of theLahore Ahmadiyya Movement and theCity Monument Department helped inrestoring the Mosque to its originalposition. But still quite some repairsand renovation needs to be done andhow the DSD are planning to collectand supervise the renovation work. Inbetween the two sessions on both daysrecitation from Quran was done byBro. Nasir Ahmad from England. Bro.Yahya read out its translation inGerman. During the recitation of theQur'an people listened to it with intenseinterest, silence and concentration andthere was a serene hush prevailingduring these moments in the Mosque.Usually I spoke for 10-15 minutes. Itwas followed by 10-15 minutes of Bro.Yahya's lecture. Then we wereengaged by the audience in question-answer sessions till the next lecture.Each such session continued for almosthalf an hour to one hour.

The program also included therelease of a new and a comprehensivebook done by our learned Bro. YahyaManfred Backhousen on the history ofthe Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement inEurope specially in Germany. In thisbeautiful book with the blue cover Bro.Yahya has documented detailed anduptodate history of the Movement withsome rare documents, photographsand references. I must say that if itcontains comprehensive history of theMosque and the Movement in Europe,it also shows scholarship and hardworkput in by this worthy Muslim brother -done all on his own. It must bementioned that the formatting anddesigning was also done by himself.

I am pleased that Mr. Paetz and hiscolleague Mrs. Anika Probst

appreciated our inter-action with themand they found us open-minded,tolerant and understanding. He, duringhis introductory remarks, told thepeople that in the beginning he was notsure whether it would be feasible tohave a joint venture with us, but as hecame in contact with us more andmore, he found us quite different fromother Muslim organisations and moreopen to world outside the Mosque. Hevery much appreciated the bookcompiled by Bro. Yahya which openedto him various aspects of our way ofworking and our view of Islam. Thebook of Bro. Yahya was sold for 12Euros. 10 Euros as the printing costand 2 Euros will go to DSD bankaccount created for the renovation ofthe Mosque.

Visitors on both days were about900 and if late comers are also includedthen the figure goes to 1000approximately. This was also thebiggest event which I witnessed in mylast 8 years here at the Berlin Mosque.We have collected 440 Eurosdonations in the money boxes of theDSD, which were specially brought forthis day by the Organisation.

The visitors made some verypositive comments. Some of them saidthat after attending the lecturesfollowed by discussions their viewsabout Islam have totally changed. Theyalso appreciated our tolerant, rationaland peaceful interpretation of Islam.

DSD organisation has set-up aspecial bank account for the BerlinMosque. In this account people fromacross Germany can transfer theirdonations to the Mosque. DSD hasalso prepared a very big andbeautiful poster for Berlin Mosque.It contains a beautiful aerial view ofthe Mosque and its surrounding. Thisposter was displayed during the two-day sessions but is going to bedisplayed on all important events ofDSD and will be also sent to different




59

100 Years Later—His Teachings still Sorely Neededby Dr. Zahid Aziz, UK

As we mark the passage of a com-plete century since the departure fromthis world of the Founder of theAhmadiyya Movement, the PromisedMessiah and Mahdi, Hazrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad of Qadian, events andcircumstances around us plainly dem-onstrate that the key points of his teach-ings - his view of what Islam is and itsrole in the world and what Muslimsought to do - are all confirmed as ab-solutely correct and vitally needed. Letus consider some of these pointsBloodshed in the name of Religion.

Throughout his writings, HazratMirza Sahib sought to dissociate Is-lam from any connection whatsoeverwith the teaching of violence, blood-shed and coercion in the name of reli-gion. The Jihad taught by Islam was,according to him, not at all the wagingof a war of aggression and conquestas the common perception of Muslimsand non-Muslims held it to be. It hadnever been so, even in the time of theHoly Prophet Muhammad. The per-manent meaning of Jihad was thestruggle against one's own self to doright and refrain from wrong, and alsothe striving to take and present themessage of Islam to others, leaving itup to them whether to accept or rejectit. In the time of the Holy ProphetMuhammad, Jihad included thestruggle waged by him and his follow-ers to repel the armed attacks of theirenemies so that Muslims could con-tinue to practise and preach their reli-

gion in peace. Such a jihad was nolonger required in these times. Thearmy raised by Hazrat Mirza Sahibwas one of peace, as he wrote:

"Those who join my army, I orderthem to give up these ideas [of ajihad of war], and to purify theirhearts, develop and nurture theirfeelings of mercy towards all hu-mankind and be helpers of those indistress and suffering. They shouldspread peace on the earth, as thisis how their religion will spread."(Government Angrezi aur Jihad, p. 15)The evil fruits of acting upon the

wrong concept of Jihad are evident be-fore the world now. Both non-Muslimsand Muslims are suffering loss of in-nocent lives and injuries in the East andthe West, and the world at large hasdeveloped a detestation and aversiontowards the religion of Islam. Ortho-dox Muslim leaders are now startingto advocate exactly the same conceptof jihad as that presented by HazratMirza Sahib. Moreover, Muslims inthe West are pledging to be loyal citi-zens of the non-Muslim rule underwhich they live, just as he did. But heis denounced as kafir and traitor to Is-lam for his similar declarations. It isDivine recompense that anti-Ahmadiyya ulama in Britain are nowdeclaring themselves and their follow-ers to be loyal citizens of the Britishstate.

Hazrat Mirza Sahib foresaw theworld coming together and becoming

more akin to one country and commu-nity due to modern inventions whichaccelerate the speed of communica-tions and travel to hitherto unimagin-able levels. This point is made by himin his books from the early workBarahin-i-Ahmadiyya to the last pub-lished in his lifetime, Chashma-iMa'rifat. According to him, Islam shallhave its greatest success in such an ageof fast communications between dis-tant countries. To continue the quota-tion given above:

"…For just as God has created themodern inventions of the presenttimes for the physical needs of man,similarly He will meet the spiritualneeds of mankind by causing thelight and the message of truth tospread widely and far by means ofthese very same ways of commu-nication and transport."Therefore he presented Islam in a

way which shows that only this reli-gion provides guidance for such a situ-ation. This is why he emphasised thatIslam requires its followers to ac-knowledge and believe in the proph-ets and founding religious sages ofeach and every nation. This beliefbroadens a Muslim's sympathies, mak-ing him look upon human beings ev-erywhere as equally the creation ofGod, and recipients of His guidance,mercy and favours. The strands of truthfound in different nations and religions,he taught, meet at last in Islam asbrought by the Holy Prophet

organizations. In this way theMosque and its history and work willget both publicity and donations. Theestimated cost of this poster is 30Euros. The money raised from thesale of this beautiful poster about theMosque will also go towards therenovation project. There was somuch demand for this poster that the

small number of copies of this posterwhich were free, went out of stockon the very first day. I am hopefulthat Inshallah this cooperation andcoordination with DSD will bringsome very good results in future andwill be able to organise meetings forcreating better understanding andawareness about Islam in various

religious and cultural groups in Berlin.In the end I would like to request

all brothers and sisters in the Jama'atto join me in my prayer that may Allahbless Mr. Paetz and his team whoworked so hard for organizing thisevent. And then also for the people whohelped from the mosque side to makethis event a success.




60

Muhammad.Gesture of Reconciliation

He also appealed to followers ofother faiths, and in particular the Hindureligion, to return the Muslim accep-tance of their religious scriptures andgreat figures by acknowledging thatthe Prophet Muhammad was at least atrue person and to cease vituperationsagainst him. The Muslims too, he of-fered in his Message of Peace, mustavoid offending Hindu religious senti-ments. To improve the relationshipbetween Muslims and Hindus in Indiawas critical to peace and harmony inthe land. In his Message of Peace heappears to forewarn of the terriblecommunal catastrophe that befell inIndia some forty years later. He wrotethat if either community, Muslim orHindu, fails to follow the liberal teach-ing of God to show sympathy to itsneighbours belonging to the other com-munity, then the consequences will bethat:

"…that nation shall soon be de-stroyed, and not only itself but willinvite destruction upon its unborngenerations as well.""Hindus and Muslims are two com-munities about whom it is impos-sible to imagine that either of themcan, at any time, turn the other outof the country."This is just what happened at the

partition of India in 1947. The Prom-ised Messiah must have been informedby God of those inter-communalatrocities and the slaughter to come,and wrote this booklet to avert them.Even though the Hindus and a largepart of the Muslims separated into twodifferent countries, the mutual hatred,suspicion and prejudice then led towars between these countries, as wellas the ever-present threat of war. Theprinciples laid down by Hazrat MirzaSahib in his Message of Peace can stillbe employed to lessen that hatred andreplace war by peace.Inter-faith Understanding

Hazrat Mirza Sahib proclaimed, onthe basis of the real teachings of Is-

lam, that everyone should be free toadopt whichever religion they wish.They should apply the test of reasonand evidence to decide which creed istrue. It is no good declaring your faithunless you believe it in your heart tobe true. It is of no avail performingthe formal duties of a religion unlessthese bring a change for the better inyour character and behaviour that otherpeople can recognise. More and morethinking people now agree with this,and those religious leaders who dis-play a false piety and a show of reli-giousness no longer impress people.

Hazrat Mirza Sahib informed themodern world that science and humandiscoveries in the physical world can-not lead man to the discovery of Godnor to his moral reform. That has beenconfirmed in the past 100 years, asmodern man has been unable to con-tain his base desires and has used theenormous power of technology for thegreatest destruction ever seen. He in-formed the Muslim world that the so-lution of its underlying problems layneither in secular politics, nor in set-ting up a so-called Islamic state, norin the observance of empty religiousrituals. It lay in bringing about a truechange within the heart of man by aliving contact with God, which shouldmake man give up his lower desiresand regard himself accountable beforeGod. The history of Muslim countriesover the past 100 years bears testi-mony that all systems tried in Muslimcountries, whether Capitalism, Social-ism, Communism, or so-called ortho-dox Islamic concepts, have failed be-cause the people operating them werecorrupt and self-seeking. In fact, es-tablishing an "Islamic" system hasbeen used merely as a cover to gainpolitical power and to manipulate theMuslim masses most cynically.Criticism against Islam and its HolyProphet

Vituperation and abusive writingsagainst the Holy Prophet of Islam wereat their notorious height and quite com-monplace in the time of Hazrat Mirza

Sahib. He undertook to refute all theallegations, but he was opposed toMuslim calls for banning such publi-cations. His view was as follows.Firstly, as such writings have alreadybeen circulated on a great scale it isimpossible to suppress their contents.Secondly, if a book is banned we losethe right of replying to it. Thirdly, andperhaps most importantly, the objec-tions against Islam that are expressedscurrilously in these books still remainwithin people's hearts and they causedoubts even in the hearts of Muslims.He also proposed ways in which reli-gious discussions and controversiescould be conducted, and objectionsraised against any religion, in a civiland polite way without recourse toabusive or offensive language. In thelight of recent events that occur withregularity, we need hardly say that hisapproach to this issue is more than everrelevant and required today.Inter-communal harmony

Hazrat Mirza Sahib greatly de-plored that a person should showprejudice and bigotry against anotheron the basis of religion. He requiredhis own followers to extend their sym-pathy to all human beings, regardlessof their religion, and, when fulfillingtheir worldly contractual obligations,to regard everyone equally withoutdistinction of belief or religion. In histime there was terrible religious big-otry all over the world, but in our timeevery decent person in the world re-jects such narrow mindedness. WhenDr Mirza Yaqub Baig qualified as amedical doctor, Hazrat Mirza Sahibgave him this advice: "You are a phy-sician of the body, not of the soul,so you must treat everyone equally,whether Muslim, Hindu or Chris-tian. To you, the man who prays fivetimes a day and the man whodoesn't believe in God should bothbe equal in your dealings".

Lastly, there is the greatest gift ofHazrat Mirza sahib to the Muslimworld, which is that he emphasisedthat the Holy Quran must be given pre-




61

cedence over all other authorities in Is-lam, such as Hadith reports and rul-ings of Fiqh. This principle clears upseveral misinterpretations of Islamicteachings, particularly relating to sub-jects on which there is much criticismof Islam, such as jihad, freedom of re-ligion, tolerance, punishments forapostasy and blasphemy, and the rightsof women. Muslim scholars are in-creasingly accepting this principle.Applying it, we find that jihad is not atall the same as a battle with weapons,Islam allows war only in self-defence,it grants complete freedom of religion,and it prescribes no punishment what-soever for apostasy or for committingso-called blasphemy.One Hundred Years ago

One hundred years ago, under-standing the Quran was generally con-sidered by Muslims as unnecessarysince its blessings were obtained, theybelieved, by reciting it in Arabic or byhonouring its printed pages and cop-ies as sacred. For understanding it,they believed it was sufficient simplyto look up its ancient commentaries,which were the final authority on theQuran. No pondering or reflection onthe Quran itself was required. Manyulama had declared it an unlawful actin Islam to translate the Quran intoother languages. The followers ofHazrat Mirza Sahib undertook this taska hundred years ago, and after the pub-lication of Maulana Muhammad Ali'sEnglish translation for the first time in1917, the door seemed to have openedto further translations by others. It isunimaginable now that any Muslimcould consider that translating theQuran is an unlawful act or that theknowledge of the Quran should begained solely from reading the ancientcommentaries.

According to the latest books ofHazrat Mirza Sahib, God has given theworld one Prophet and one Bookand one religion and they are ac-knowledged by accepting one kalima:

"God used to send a separateprophet and messenger for each

country, and did not regard justone book as sufficient. … Thenthe time came to remove nationaldivisiveness and to bring every-one under one book. Then Godsent only one Prophet for thewhole world that He may unite allnations on one faith…"1

The words printed in bold above arein bold in the original Urdu book. Inthe same book he writes:

"Then God sent one Book for allcountries and He commanded inthat Book that in whichever agethis Book reaches various coun-tries, it will be their duty to ac-cept it and to believe in it, and:That book is the Quran"2

Again, in the original Urdu bookthe words printed in bold above are inbold and the words "that book is theQuran" are laid out, as above, in a largebold size on a separate line.

In Haqiqat-ul-Wahy, he wrote:"If all the books of God the Most

1. Chashma-i Ma'rifat, published May1908, p. 136.

2 Chashma-i Ma'rifat, p. 67.

High are looked into closely, itwill be found that all prophetshave been teaching: believe Godthe Most High to be One withoutpartner and along with it also be-lieve in our risalat(messengership). It was for thisreason that the summary of theteachings of Islam was taught tothe entire Umma in these two sen-tences: La ilaha ill-Allah,Muhammad-ur Rasul-ullah(There is no god but Allah,Muhammad is the Messenger ofAllah)."3

Clearly, according to this statementpublished in May 1907, every prophetwho came required people to declarebelief in him, along with belief in God.But with the coming of the HolyProphet Muhammad, a permanentdeclaration in the form of the IslamicKalimah has been established, andthus no prophet can arise after him ashe would necessarily introduce a newkalimah.3. Haqiqat-ul-Wahy, published May

1907, p. 111.

Children's Page

The Glorious Muslim Spainby Mrs. Zaitun Toto, UK.

The little boy's teacher was greatlyimpressed. "I wish all Muslims werelike that," she said.

The father, on hearing about herremark's replied, "All real Muslimsare like that and tell your teacher thatshe should read what our HolyProphet has said about tolerance andknowledge."

Sadiq got on very well at school.He came home one day from schooland said, "Daddy, our school is go-ing to Spain. Can I go too?" Whatpart of Spain, my Son?"

"I think the South of Spain," an-swered Sadiq.

The father looked at his son andsaid, "Don't you think of anythingwhen you hear the South of Spainmentioned?"

"No," answered the boy. "I thinkof nothing except the nice sun and atschool I have seen fine buildings andfine gardens in a book."

"Did not your teacher tell you whobuilt those fine buildings?" asked thefather.

"No." answered the boy."That settles it. My son, you must

go to Spain and see for yourself whatwe Muslims have done in the past.Sit down, my boy, and hear about




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Southern Spain and our gloriouspast.

"Southern Spain," said the father,"was conquered by the Arabs and theBerbers, who both came from northAfrica - the part which today is calledMorocco. Spain would have resistedthe Arabs much longer that she did,had it not been for the fact that in-side Spain the people were oppressedand unhappy because their king wasbehaving in a very bad manner.

"It is said that an important mancalled Count Julian, who was theGovernor of Ceuta, was fed up withthe bad ways of his king and some ofhis countrymen. So he planned to askfor help from the Arabs and Berbersand as you can guess, the slaves inSpain certainly would not havefought hard for their masters, becausetheir Spanish masters had nevertreated them kindly. The rich gover-nors, indulging themselves in toomuch wine and luxury, would notcare to fight unless they were forcedto. Now this Count Julian, who wasvery angry and disgusted with theking whose name was KingRoderick, decided to call the Arabsand Berbers for help.

"Although count Julian beforehad been against these Muslims, heset out to hold a conference withthem. He visited Musa Ibn Nusayr,the Arab Governor to North Africa,who was the man who had attractedthe Berbers to Islam. Julian toldMusa how wonderful Spain was andoffered Musa the use of his ships andoffered to show him the way to con-quer Spain. Musa was both surprisedand suspicious. So he sent a messageto the Caliph at Damascus, Syria,asking him for advice and instruc-tions. In reply, the Caliph warnedMusa to be very careful. Accordingly,a small army of only 500 men wentin Julian's four ships to the coast of

Andalusia, which was in the Southof Spain. Their general was namedTarif. This happened in the year 710C.E. Tarif was very successful and tothis day the port which Tarif con-quered is called Tarifah.

"This satisfied the invaders thatJulian meant what he had said whenhe had offered to help them. ButMusa was still careful, as was theCaliph in Damascus. He gave ordersthat Muslim army must not be sacri-ficed.

"In the year 711 C.E. KingRoderick had to go and put down arevolt amongst some of his peoplein the north of Spain, who were verydissatisfied and had started to fight.Now here was Musa's chance and hedispatched a general called Tariq offto Spain. Such great success didTariq have that he was very pleasedwith himself. He landed at the Rockof the Lion, which now bears Tariq'sname and so it is called Jabal Tariq,or, as we say it today, Gibraltar, mean-ing the Rock of Tariq. Tariq then cap-tured a place called Carteya. KingRoderick heard all about this and wasamazed. He rushed back with hisarmy, which was a very large one, butmost of his men were fed up and hav-ing heard of Tariq's success, theymeant to go over to his side, becausethey knew that Tariq would be goodto them and not treat them as theirking did. And also in Roderick's armywere many ill-treated slaves, andmany others who thought that byhelping the Arabs, they would be freeand would be able to drive out theMoors. The word, 'Moor' should onlybe used for the Berbers of North Af-rica and Spain, but generally we useit for Arabs and all Muslims whowere in Spain, including the Berbers,and that is how I use this wordthroughout this talk.

The army of Roderick was six

time larger than that of the Moors,and Tariq, not knowing that any ofthe enemy were going to come overto his side, felt a little disheartenedand cried out to his men, 'My men,before you is the enemy and the seais at your back ; there is no escapefor you save in valour and resolution.'But they shouted back, 'we will fol-low thee, O Tariq.' The Moor's thenrushed forward and fought; even thenthe battle lasted one whole week.King Roderick kept on shouting tohis army for support but in the endhe gave in. Little did he know thatthe Muslims would rule southernSpain, which, as I have said, wascalled Andalusia, and which is two-thirds of the Spanish peninsula, foreight hundred years.

"The Moors worked wonderswith a place called Cordova. It be-came the marvel of the Middle Agesat a time when Europe was steepedin nothing but ignorance and super-stition. Historians also admit thatcivilization and learning were at theirbest in Andalusia when under theMoors. Andalusia had had many rul-ers but never were there any thatruled as well far happier than theyhad been for years. For instance, theirlast conquerors (the Gothic rulers)had persecuted the Spaniards, hop-ing to make them join their faith. Itis openly admitted that no one wasever compelled to join Islam and that,amongst many other things, was whythey preferred the rule of the Moors.They never had any religious riotsand it is said that Musa, the Gover-nor, married the widow of Roderick.I am sure that she must have becomea Muslim. The slaves were now be-ing treated much better but no Chris-tian was compelled to free his slave.No Muslim owned a slave to use himjust as a slave; by this I mean that aslave was no longer a parcel belong-




63

ing to a master. The Muslims wouldgive land to these slaves; let themwork on it and ask for a share of thereturns of the produce. If a slave be-came a Muslim, the law was thatonce he had said, 'There is no godbut God and Muhammad is His Mes-senger', the slave must be freed.

"There were many ups and downsin the eight hundred years of theMuslim rule. At the beginning of thisrule many Moors came across intoSpain to compete in learning and inthe arts. By the years 912 to 961C.E.Moorish Spain had reached theheight of her glory and fame. Thecapital of Cordova was a great citywith more than 100,000 houses andits seventy libraries were filled withvery valuable books. There were alsonine hundred public baths built andmade to look very attractive. Hereand there were mosques and palacesof Moorish design with their court-yards. They also had bookshopswhere the best of books were sold.

"Southern Spain became thegreatest of countries for trade, art andlearning. Students flocked to it ; busi-nesses flourished. Looms sprang upfor weaving wool. The silkworm wasbrought from the East and estab-lished there and from the cocoons ofthe silkworm silk was woven intomaterial. Glasswork, leatherwork andstationery were made and designedin Cordova. The University ofCordova in the Great Mosque wasthe best in the world. It had Chris-tian and Muslim students from allover the world. In fact, the Moors hadmade this place and age a goldendream come true, never to be forgot-ten.

"For many years the Moors flour-ished and were happy through the re-sults of their toil. But, alas, as usualwhen people get mighty, they forgetthe main points of brotherhood and

a few years later some of the Moorswould turn against other Moors andconflict would arise. The enemy sawtheir chance and grabbed at it. Theythought that this wonderful reign hadgone on for so long and for so manyyears that if they got rid of the Moors,it would still remain the same andthat, having had eight hundred yearsof Moorish rule and education, theywould be able to carry on in the sameway on their own.

"The Spanish from the Northfought the Moors and managed todrive them out and so, once more,Cordova was in their hands. They setto work to crush Islam and its fol-lowers, of whom many were put todeath. For a while the Christian ruleseemed all right because of the Mus-lim foundations of learning, etc., butthen deterioration set in. The loomsalmost ceased to work; the bathswere not used; the arts and crafts ofleather-and glass-work suffered badlybecause there were no Moors to lookafter these crafts. It was not the greatcity it had been. The students nolonger flocked to Cordova; it was nolonger the centre of learning. Onlyaged Moors were left in Cordova andperhaps some widows and children.This was a black period for all andthe Moors suffered terribly at thehands of the fanatics.

"City after city fell. The smallMuslim state of Granada surviveduntil 1491 C.E., and then it surren-dered. Islam and its culture was leftbehind in the buildings and books,and many of these buildings can beseen today. The Spanish had a kingcalled Ferdinand to speed them on-wards. He hated the Moors and Is-lam. Already 200,000 Moors hadbeen killed but he meant to wipe ev-ery single one out. This he himselfdid not quite succeed in doing, foraltogether there were 500,000 Mus-

lims left. Seventy-five years after-wards the Spanish made up theirminds to finish the Moors off. Theysent the Moors out under escort ofthe army in the direction of Africa;many died on the way but some ofthem did reach it. There were still afew left, but since these Moors wouldnot become Christians, many weretortured and put to death. Decay wasfast setting into the land of Spain; theSpanish had killed the people whohad made them great.

"The people of Spain had becometheir own hangman. Spain sank intoa period of darkness . She busied her-self with the inquisition of the Mus-lims and anyone who was not aCatholic. Everyone who refused tobecome a Catholic was put to deathand so died the greatness of MoorishSpain through this Spanish narrow-mindedness. Many of the fine build-ings remain to this day and now theyprove a source of income to Spaintourists wishing to see these wonder-ful buildings of Moorish architectureand their gardens, all designed andmade by Muslims.

"Some of these fine places are.First, the Mosque at Cordova, whicheven today is the largest coveredMosque in the world; it has 999 pil-lars in Moorish style.

"The Alhambra is a wonderful pal-ace in Granada, It has a fascinatingcourtyard, with its stone lions andfountains, water coming out from themouth of every lion.

"Secondly the glorious garden inGranada, well planned with plantsand wonderful flowers. It is called theGeneraliffe Gardens.

"In Seville there are many build-ings built by the Moors. In manycases Mosques have been turned intochurches. Beautiful Muslim architec-ture in Toledo can be seen placed allover the South.




64

WHAT 'KINGDOM OF GOD' ON EARTH MEANS?Karen Armstrong in Islam - A Short History

"In the Gospels, Jesus often went out of his way to explain to his followers that hisKingdom was out of this world, but could only be found within the believer. The Kingdomwould not arrive with a great political fanfare, but would develop as quietly and impercep-tibly as a germinating mustard-seed.

In the modern West, we have made a point of separating religion from politics, thissecularization was originally seen by the philosophers of the Enlightenment as a means ofliberating religion from the corruption of state affairs, and allowing it to become more trulyitself.

But, however, spiritual their aspirations, religious people have to seek God or thesacred in this world. They often feel that they have a duty to bring ideals to bear uponsociety….

Religious people are trained to look beneath the unpromising surface to find the sa-cred within it. They have to use their creative imaginations. Jean-Paul Sarte (French Phi-losopher) defined the imagination as the ability to think of what is present. Human beingsare religious creatures because they are imaginative, they are so constituted that they arecompelled to search for hidden meaning and to achieve an ecstasy that makes them feelfully alive. Each tradition encourages the faithful to focus their attention on an earthlysymbol that is peculiarly its own, and to teach themselves to see the divine in it.

In Islam, Muslims have looked for God in history. Their sacred scripture, the Qur'an,gave them a historical mission. Their chief duty was to create a just community in which allmembers, even the most weak and vulnerable, were treated with absolute respect. Theexperience of building such a society and living in it would give them intimations of thedivine, because they would be living in accordance with God's will. A Muslim had to re-deem history, and that meant that state affairs were not a distraction from spirituality butthe stuff of religion itself. The political well-being of the Muslim community was a matter ofsupreme importance. Like any religious ideal, it was almost impossibly difficult to imple-ment in the flawed and tragic conditions of history, but after each failure Muslims had toget up and begin again.

Muslims developed their own rituals, mysticism, philosophy, doctrines, sacred texts,laws and shrines like everybody else. But all these religious pursuits sprang directly fromthe Muslims' frequently anguished contemplation of the political current affairs of Islamicsociety."

- ( Extracts from Preface, pp.ix-xi)




thGlimpses of 100 Death Anniversary of The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement at Lahore

Mian Umar-e Farooq, Senior Vice President,Lahore Central Ahmadiyya Anjuman

Mr. Amir Aziz Al-Azhari, General SecretaryCentral Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman, Lahore.

Mr. Shaukat A. Ali (Australia) Regional DirectorSouth East Asia.

Dr. Zahid Aziz, Nottingham, UK. Editor, monthlyThe Light, UK Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman, London.

Mr. A. Santoe (Rotterdam, Holland)Regional Director Europe.

Prof. Hamid Rahman (USA). He has translated into Englishfirst volume of Mujaddid-i Azam (Biography of Hazrat Mirza

Ghulam Ahmad) published recently by Columus Jamaat, USA.

Mr. Mansoor Bakhsh, Religious Head,Essequebo Coast Jama'at, Guyana

Dr. Mujahid Ahmad Saeed, Oxford, UK. Giving detailsof the new features being installed on

website of Lahore Central Anjuman, Pakistanwww.aaiil.org

Mr. Jalal-ud-Din Akbar (USA), editor, Hope Bulletin, USA Mr. Naeem Nasrullah, Rotterdam, Holland

Hazrat Ameer, Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed, Head Lahore AhmadiyyaMovement presenting a copy of the newly published Turkish

translation of the Qur'an to Mian Umar-e Farooq, seniorvice-president of Lahore Central Anjuman, recently published by

the USA Jama'at in Columbus Mrs. Sameena Malik is standing on the left

Mr. Sadr-ud-Din Sahu Khan (Australia)

Views of Audience at the Special Youth Sessions ofAtfaalul Ahmadiyya and Shubbaanul Ahmadiyya,

other general Sessions of the Three-Day CentenaryConvention at Lahore (Pakistan)

thViews of the Memorial Room where the Promised Messiah breathed his last on 26 May, 1908at 10.15 a.m., Ahmadiyya Buildings, Brandreth Road, Lahore (Pakistan)

Artistic calligraphy painted and designed by Mr. Abdul Ghafoor Saqib, Lahore (Pakistan)of the Qur'anic verse, Abraham14:34: “And He gives you all you ask of Him. And if you count Allah's

favours, you will not be able to number them. Surely man is very unjust, very ungrateful.”

Bookstall outside the Mosque with our publications and free brochures of DSD displayed.

Mr. Gunther Paetz, president of DSD introducing aims and objects of the Organizationand making an appeal for contributions towards the Fund for the repairs of the Mosque.

Mr. Muhammad Ali, acting Imam standing next to him.

Bro. Yahya Manfred Backhausen from Cologne and Mr. Muhammad Alidelivering talks and answering questions from the audience.

A view of the audience on the Open Days at the Berlin Mosque.

Big poster designed and published by DSD. It can be seen displayed at the frontdoor of the Mission House next to the Mosque, Wilmersdorf, Berlin (Germany).

Mr. Gunther Paetz, president of DSD, Berlin with A-4 size calligraphy of word “Allah” holding in his hand lying with other children under the dome of the Mosque pointing

towards the words Allah written all around the inside of the dome.

A view of the audience outside the Mosque listening toBro. Yahya Manfred telling them history and repairs work done to the Mosque.

Lt. to Rt. Bro. Yahya Manfred, Mr. Muhammad Ali, Mr. Gunther Paetz and Mrs. Anika Probst(an equally enthusiastic voluntary worker of DSD) standing outside the

Mosque at the end of two-day Open Day sessions.

You are bound to face the God one day

Your time on earth will soon be done

With firmness bide your time out here

Then filled with hope, go meet your God

No mortal man can sate your need

W i p e o f f f r o m h e a r t d u a l i t y

He is the Master, He is the Boss

If vice you hate, and virtue you love

The truth will always triumph a lie

You are bound to face the God one day

Your time on earth will soon be done

With firmness bide your time out here

Then filled with hope, go meet your God

No mortal man can sate your need

W i p e o f f f r o m h e a r t d u a l i t y

He is the Master, He is the Boss

If vice you hate, and virtue you love

The truth will always triumph a lie

From death no one can shy away.

What God decrees, nobody can shun.

All tortures that this life must bear.

For He and on ly He i s Lord .

Just pray to God, and He shall heed.

Bow down to One, The Almighty.

Of Heaven and earth, the whole Cosmos.

You're ready to meet your God above.

A stone with a gem can never vie.

From death no one can shy away.

What God decrees, nobody can shun.

All tortures that this life must bear.

For He and on ly He i s Lord .

Just pray to God, and He shall heed.

Bow down to One, The Almighty.

Of Heaven and earth, the whole Cosmos.

You're ready to meet your God above.

A stone with a gem can never vie.

That Day Will Come

Rendered into English by Hadi RizviRendered into English by Hadi Rizvi

Quarterly

Editors Imam Kalamazad Mohammed B.A., Dip. Ed.

Nasir Ahmad B.A., LL.B

June - December, 2008

Special issue dedicated to the 100th Death Anniversary of

Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in IslamHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad





Mr. Jalal-ud-Din Akbar (USA), editor of news bulletin“Hope” is receiving the Centenary Memorial Shield

from Hazrat Ameer Dr. Abdul Karim Saeed.

Mr. Mahboob Raza of Fiji receiving Centenary Memorial Shield from

Hazrat Ameer Dr. Abul Karim Saeed.

Ahmadiyya Mosque, Ahmadiyya Buildings, Brandreth Road, Lahore where the Promised Messiahoffered his congregational prayers during the last days of his life

@ A Lahore Ahmadiyya Publication

the message — june–december 2008 issue —

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