His claim misunderstood / Denial
of prophethood /
His claim misunderstood
Every great man has been misunderstood to a certain extent, and so
has Ahmad. The most serious of these misunderstandings is that which
states that he claimed to be a prophet. This charge was laid against
him by his opponents when he first claimed to be the Promised Messiah,
and a section of his followers, the Qadianis, have now joined hands
with them in bringing discredit upon his movement. We have already noted,
while discussing his claims, that he claimed to be a mujaddid
in 1882, and that his claim to Promised Messiahship was advanced in
1891. It was on the occasion of the latter claim that he was charged
by his opponents with laying claim to prophethood, and he forthwith
denounced that as a false charge, declaring definitely and unmistakenly
that he had never claimed to be a prophet, that he believed in the Holy
Prophet Muhammad as the final Prophet, and that he looked upon any claimant
to prophethood after him as a liar. A few quotations from his writings
have already been given. After reading those statements, no one can
honestly attribute to him a claim to prophethood.
How then did the misunderstanding arise? When Ahmad laid claim to Promised
Messiahship on the ground of his being the like of Jesus Christ, an
objection was brought forward that Jesus Christ was a prophet and that
none but a prophet could be his like. The following answer to this objection
is met with in the first book in which a claim to Promised Messiahship
is advanced:
"Here, if it be objected that the like of Christ must also be a
prophet because Christ was a prophet, the reply to this in the first
place is that our Lord and Master has not laid it down that the coming
Messiah shall be a prophet; nay, he has made it clear that he shall
be a Muslim and shall be bound by the law of Islam like ordinary Muslims
. . . Besides this, there is no doubt that I have come as a muhaddath
from God, and muhaddath is, in one sense, a prophet, though he
does not possess perfect prophethood; but still he is partially a prophet,
for he is endowed with the gift of being spoken to by God, matters relating
to the unseen are revealed to him, and, like the revelation of prophets
and apostles, his revelation is kept free from the interference of the
devil, and the kernel of the law is disclosed to him, and he is commissioned
just like the prophets, and like prophets it is incumbent on him that
he should announce his claim at the top of his voice." (Tauzih Maram,
pp. 9-10)
Denial of prophethood
It should be borne in mind that in the terminology of the Islamic law
a muhaddath is a righteous person who is not a prophet but who
is spoken to by God. When confronted with the objection that he claimed
to be the like of Christ but that Christ was a prophet, and therefore
his like must also be a prophet, Ahmad offered the above explanation,
the gist of which is that he was a muhaddath and that the muhaddath
was, in one sense, a prophet, though his prophethood was partial and
not perfect. It was this statement which was misinterpreted by his opponents
as a claim to prophethood, and, on this basis, he was denounced as a
kafir or heretic. To remove the misunderstanding, he emphatically
denied again and again that he was a claimant to prophethood and emphasised
that he claimed to be only a muhaddath:
"I make a public declaration in this house of God, the mosque, that
I believe in the finality of prophethood of the Last of the Prophets
(may peace and the blessings of God be upon him), and that I consider
the person who denies the finality of prophethood to be a faithless
man and one outside the pale of Islam." (Manifesto, copied in Din
al-Haq, p.29)
"I have laid no claim to prophethood; my claim is to be a muhaddath,
and this I have made by Divine command. There is no doubt that muhaddathiyya
also contains a strong part of prophethood . . .
"If, then, this be called prophethood metaphorically, or be regarded
as a strong part of prophethood, does it amount to claim to prophethood?"
(Izala Auham, pp. 421-422)
"Be it known to all Muslims that all such words as occur in my writings
. . . to this effect, that the muhaddath is, in one sense,
a prophet, or that muhaddathiyya is a partial prophethood or
imperfect prophethood, all these words are not to be taken in their
proper (technical) sense, but they have been used merely in their
literal significance . . . Therefore, I have not the least hesitation
in stating my meaning in another form for the conciliation of my Muslim
brethren, and that other form is that, wherever the word nabi
(prophet) is used in my writings, it should be taken as meaning muhaddath,
and the word nabi (prophet) should be regarded as having been
blotted out." (Manifesto, dated 3rd February, 1892)
"One of the objections of those who call me a kafir is that
I lay claim to prophethood and say that I am a prophet. The reply
to this is that it should be known that I have not laid claim to prophethood,
nor have I said that I am a prophet, but these people have made haste
to make a mistake in understanding my words . . . I have said naught
to these people except what I have written in my books, that I am
a muhaddath and that God speaks to me as He speaks to a muhaddath
. . . and what right have I that I should lay claim to prophethood
and get out of the pale of Islam?" (Hamamat al-Bushra, p. 81)
"These people have not understood my words and they say that I am
a claimant to prophethood, and this allegation of theirs is a clear
lie." (Ibid)
These are only a few of the numerous statements made by Hazrat Ahmad
clearly denying any claim to prophethood. It is further explained in
these statements that, when he called the muhaddath "in one sense
a prophet", he was using the word "prophet" in a literal sense, not
in its proper or technical sense, and this is also called a metaphorical
use of the word. It was the height of folly on the part of his opponents,
and no less is it on the part of his followers belonging to the Qadian
section, to take the word in a real sense when the person who uses it
expressly states it to have been used in a metaphorical sense. This
position he maintained to the last. Thus, in one of his last writings,
the Haqiqat al-Wahy, published less than a year before his death,
he wrote:
"This servant does not say aught by what the Holy Prophet said,
and he does not go a single step out of his guidance; and he says that
God has called him a prophet by His revelation, and I have been called
so by the tongue of our Messenger, Mustafa; and he means naught by prophethood
but that he is frequently spoken to by God . . . and we do not mean
by prophethood what is meant by it in the former Scriptures." (Haqiqat
al-Wahy, Supplement, p. 16)
"And God does not mean by my prophethood anything but being frequently
spoken to by Him, and the curse of God is on him who intends aught
more than this . . . and our Messenger is the last of the prophets
and the chain of messengers has come to an end in him . . . and nothing
remains after him but being frequently spoken to by God, and that,
too, on condition of being a follower of his . . . and I have been
called a prophet of God in a metaphorical sense, not in the real sense."
(Ibid., pp. 64-65)
These few quotations should set all doubts at rest with regard to Ahmad’s
alleged claim to prophethood. He claimed to be only a muhaddath,
but, as the word nabi (prophet) occurred in some of his revelations,
as also in a hadith of the Holy Prophet in relation to the coming Messiah,
he explained that it was used metaphorically, not in the real sense
of the word, and that metaphorically a muhaddath could be called
a prophet because he was spoken to by God. Therefore, wherever he used
the word "prophet" regarding himself, it was in a metaphorical sense.
Never did he mean by it that he was a prophet in the real sense of the
word, but only that he was spoken to by God; and that God speaks to
His servants in this umma is a fact generally admitted by all
Muslims.
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