Ahmadiyyah (Part 1 of 3):
The Prophet, may God praise him, said: ‘I asked God for three things, He gave me two and didn’t give me one. I asked God to save my nation from being destroyed by natural calamities and He gave it to me. I asked God to protect my nation from defeat at the hands of a foreign enemy and He gave it to me. I asked God to save my nation from being destroyed from within, and He did not give it to me.’ (Ibn Khuzaimah)
Introduction
‘Dominion over palm and pine’; that’s how the British Empire was described by the historians. By the late 17th century it had colonized many parts of the world, including vast regions of the Muslim world.
Colonization was not only about exploiting natural resources; but also to indoctrinate the conquered peoples to uphold British ideology and faith. Missionaries worked feverishly in different areas of the British Empire to spread the message of Christianity. Schools were set up and different tactics were employed to reach their goals.
As the Muslims began to realize the danger of what they were facing, they united, mobilized and launched ‘freedom’ assaults to free their lands from the clutches of the ruthless Empire. Hand to hand combat and armed confrontations were nothing new to the British, but as the Muslim attacks grew relentless and deadlier, they adopted a new tactic, ‘divide and do-minate’. Instead of squaring off with the Muslims face to face, they in-cited individuals among the Muslims to form their own groups and to split away from Mainstream Sunni Islam. Ideological warfare was launched against the Muslims, as were the instructions of Louis IX, the so called “Lieutenant of God on Earth” who failed miserably in his Crusader attempts.
One of the groups that formed during that time was the Qadiyani group, also known as Ahmadis, which came into existence in the year 1889.
Fable Steps to Fame
Of course, not just anyone can come up and announce himself to be a ‘Prophet’ of God. Mirza Ghulam Ahmed understood this and took his mission one step at a time. Initially he claimed to be a Revivalist of Is-lam. He said: “We are Muslims. We believe in the One God without a partner and in the Testimony of Faith. We believe in the Book of God, the Quran, in His Messenger Muhammad, may God praise him. We believe in angels, the resurrection, Hell and Paradise. We observe the prescribed prayers and the fast. We turn to the Qibla for prayers and forbid ourselves what is forbidden by God and His Prophet and permit ourselves what is permitted. We add not a thing to the Islamic Law, nor subtract any thing from it. Islamic law is above change.”
With claims such as this and possessing powerful articulate skills, he was able to gain considerable ground with many Muslims. In the year 1891 he claimed to be the ‘Promised Messiah’ and the Mahdi.
Finally, in the year 1901 he took the plunge and announced that he was a Prophet of God.
The 31 flavors of Qadiyanism…
In order for Mirza to gain favor with all people, he incorporated into his faith elements of every religion that was present in his area; thus, his doctrine incorporated Indian, Sufi, Islamic, and Western elements.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmed had claimed so many things that it is difficult to chronologically arrange them.
A. He claimed to be God and the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. He has written, “I saw in my dreams that I AM ALLAH/God and I believed, no doubt I am The One Who created the Heavens.” [Aaina-e-Kamaalaat]
B. He claimed to be nine prophets. He said, “I am Adam. I am Noah. I am Abraham. I am Ishmael. I am Moses. I am Jesus and I am Muhammad.” [Roohaani Khazaaim]
C. He claimed to be the mother of Prophet Jesus and then he claimed to be Prophet Jesus himself. He said the ‘first God’ converted him into Mary. After two years, God made him pregnant for ten months, after which God converted him into Jesus. [Roohaani Khazaain]
D. He claimed that he was Muhammad, the Messenger of God. “Muhammad is the Messenger of God and those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful amongst themselves.”(Quran 48:29) He claimed that in this divine revelation, he himself was named Muham-mad and also the Messenger. [Roohaani Khazaain, vol. 18, page 207]
E. He claimed to be the Mahdi and the Promised Messiah, though he did not fulfill any of the conditions laid by Prophet Muhammad regarding the Mahdi and the Promised Messiah.
F. In a lecture given in Sialkot in 1904, he declared that God had in-formed him that Krishna who had appeared among the Aryas thousands of years ago was indeed a prophet of God upon whom the Holy Spirit descended from God, but that later his teachings were corrupted and he began to be worshipped. Here he claimed that he was the avatar whom the Hindus were awaiting in the latter days, and that he had appeared in the likeness of Krishna invested with the same qualities.
Breakout
The Ahmadiyah group split into two individual groups. This occurred after the death of Hakim Noor-ud-Din, the first successor of Mirza Ghu-lam Ahmed.
The first group is known as ‘Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’ and the second, the smaller one, is known as ‘Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam’.
The differences between the two can be summarized in two points. The first point is their belief regarding the Prophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed.
The Lahore Ahmadiyya group considers Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a Prophet in the metaphorical sense of the word; whereas, the Ahmadiyyah Muslim Community holds that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a Prophet, holding all necessary qualities a Prophet should have.
The second difference is how they view mainstream Sunni Muslims. The Lahore Ahmadiyya group believes that any person who professes the Testimony of Faith to be a Muslim, and cannot be called a non-Muslim.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believes that any Muslim who has not accepted Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s claim is a non-Muslim, even if the person has not even heard the name of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in his life.
Ahmadiyyah (Part 2 of 3):
Mirza Ghulam Ahmed claimed to be a true ‘Muslim’ in some of his works and speeches; but, at the same instance, many of his blasphemous statements can be found ‘scattered’ in his books. He said, while openly degrading Islam: “We believe that a religion which does not have the continuity of Prophethood (as in Islam) is a dead religion. We call the religions of the Jews, the Christians and the Hindus dead only because now there are no prophets in them. If this were the position in Islam too, we would be no more than mere storytellers! Why do we regard it superior to other religions?” (Malfoozat-e-Mirza, Vol. 10, page 127)
He also said: “How absurd and false it is to believe that after the Holy Prophet (Muhammad) the door of the divine revelation has been closed forever and that there is no hope of it in the future till the Day of Resurrection! Can a religion having no direct trace of Almighty God be called a religion? say, by Almighty God, that in this age there is no one more fed up than myself with such a religion! I name such a religion as ‘Satanic’ religion and not a divine one. I believe that such a religion guides towards Hell and keeps one blind in life.” (Zamima Braheen-e-Qadianism, Part V, Roohani Khazain, Vol.21, p354)
From these quotes it is quite clear that Mirza Ghulam Ahmed despises the religion of Islam and claims it to be a ‘dead’ religion because the ‘chain’ of Prophethood has ended. Conveniently enough, he was chosen to be a Prophet of God to ‘complete’ Islam and keep it alive!
As Muslims, we believe that the Message of Islam was completed before the death of Prophet Muhammad. God says: “This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have ap-proved for you Islam as religion.” (Quran 5:3)
We believe that no Prophet will come after Prophet Muhammad. He is the final Prophet of God to mankind. God says: “Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of God and the last of the Prophets.” (Quran 33:40)
The Prophet prophesized that a number of ‘quacks’ would emerge, each claiming to be a Prophet. He said: “Indeed, there will be in my nation thirty liars; each claiming to be a prophet. I am the last of the Prophets; no prophet will come after me.” (Tirmidthi)
The Prophet said: “The tribe of Israel was guided by prophets. When a prophet passed away, another prophet succeeded him. But no prophet will come after me; only caliphs will succeed me.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
The Prophet foretold that every one hundred years, God would send a person who would revive the religion of Islam. He said: “Indeed God will send a revivalist at the head of every one hundred years to revive the religion of Islam.” (Abu Dawood)
These revivalists have no ‘divine’ connections. They carry the traits of a true, believing Muslim. They would work strenuously to bring people back to the texts of the Quran and Prophet Way.
Quran
Mirza Ghulam Ahmed said: “Quran is God’s Book and words of my mouth.” (Advertisement dated 15th March 1897, Roohani Khazain vol.22 p.87)
After this blasphemous claim, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed began to interpret the Quran as he liked and felt necessary. Each time a verse of the Quran seemed to pose a ‘threat’ to his claim, he simply reinterpreted the meaning to suit his whims.
Prior to his claim of being a Prophet, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed strictly adhered to the proper understanding of textual proofs. He even viewed the verse of the Quran which stated that Prophet Muhammad was the last of the Prophets to be exactly that, clear evidence that Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet to mankind.
After his claim of Prophethood, he revisited this text and reinterpreted it to mean that Prophet Muhammad was not the final Prophet to mankind; but, that his Prophethood signified a ‘seal of approval’, i.e. that he was the beauty of the Prophets and Messengers and their best, but not the last!
Mirza claimed that a number of the verses of the Quran were revealed to him to signify his grandeur. He claimed that the following verses were among many that were revealed to him again.
A. “Say, if you really love Allah, then follow me.” (Quran 3:31)
B. “And We have not sent you as a Mercy for All the Worlds.” (Quran 21:107)
C. “He is the one who has sent His Messenger with guidance.” (Quran 9:33)
In this manner, his followers became ‘companions’, his family became ‘Ahlul-Bait’ (i.e. the members of the respected family) and his wife became ‘Mother of the Believers.’
In order to protect himself, he said: “Yes, in support (of our claims) we also present those Prophet Traditions which are according to Quran and do not contradict my ‘divine revelation’. As for the rest of the Prophetic Traditions, I toss them aside like wastepaper.” (Roohani Khazain vol.19 p.140)
Muslims believe that the Quran are the words of God, they were revealed to Prophet Muhammad through the Arch-Angel Gabriel, may God praise him. God says: “Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.” (Quran 15:9)
Interpreting the Quran is not left up to just anyone; there are levels of the interpretation of the Quran, the highest of which is interpreting the Quran with the Quran. The second level is interpreting the Quran with authentic prophetic narrations. The third level, is interpreting the Quran with the Companions’ statements. The fourth level, which is a weaker level, is to interpret the Quran through language (like a translation of the meanings of the Quran). One cannot interpret any verse the way they fancy!
Prophet Muhammad
The followers of Mirza claim that Mirza was superior to Prophet Muhammad. They claim: “The mental development of the Promised Messiah (i.e. the Mirza Qadiani) was higher than that of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. And this is only a part of the superiority which the Prom-ised Messiah has over the Holy Prophet. The mental faculties of the Holy Prophet could not manifest fully owing to the deficiency of civilization; although the ability existed. They have now manifested themselves fully through the Promised Messiah by virtue of the advancement of civilization.” (Review of Religions, May 1929, Qadiani Mazhab, p.266, 9th Ed. Lahore)
Mirza further degraded Prophet Muhammad stating that part of his revelation was false, and that he misunderstood parts of the revelation given to him by God! (Roohani Khazain vol.3 pp.166-167)
He even ridiculed God Almighty and the Prophet, saying: “And God chose such a despicable place to bury the Holy Prophet which is extremely smelly, dark and cramped!” (Roohani Khazain vol.17 p.205)
As Muslims we love and respect Prophet Muhammad. We do not ascribe to him divine attributes. God says: “Say (O Muhammad), “I am only a man like you, to whom has been revealed that your god is one God.” (Quran 18:110)
The claims of Mirza need no response, but it is noteworthy to mention how Mirza died! He died in a shameful way, in a public toilet in Lahore while having been stricken with cholera!
Jihad
One of the fundamentals that we are taught in Islam is self-defense. When someone harms us, we don’t simply ‘turn our cheek’. We defend ourselves. Defending yourself and protecting yourself from a foreign invader is something that no human being will dispute. One cannot simply cancel out Jihad by some ill perceived notion that he is receiving a ‘command from God’!
Mirza Ghulam Ahmed was truly the ideal British Agent! He openly said: “For the sake of British Government, I have published and distributed 50,000 leaflets in this country (i.e. India) and other Islamic countries, the result of which was that hundreds of thousands of people have given up their ‘filthy’ ideas about Jihad.” (Roohani Khazain vol. 15 p.114)
He also said: “From my early age till now when I am 65 years of age, I have been engaged, with my pen and tongue, in an important task to turn the hearts of Muslims towards the true love and goodwill and sympathy for the British Government, and to obliterate the idea of Jihad from the hearts of stupid Muslims.” (Kitab-ul-Bariyah, Roohani Khazain vol. 13 p.350)
Mirza supposedly, and quite conveniently, ‘received’ divine revelation from God that ‘Jihad’ was abrogated and no longer a part of Islam! He said: “From today human Jihad which is done by sword, is being abrogated by the order of God. From now on, anyone who lifts a sword on a Kafir/non-Muslim and calls himself a Ghazi/fighter for the sake of God, is disobeying that Messenger (i.e. Muhammad). After my arrival, there is no Jihad with the sword. We have raised the flag of Peace