3. From 1918 to 1923:
Completion and publication of Bayan-ul-Quran, Urdu translation
of the Holy Quran
Urdu translation and commentary
Immediately after the publication of the English translation and
commentary of the Holy Quran, Maulana Muhammad Ali started the Urdu
translation and commentary on a regular basis. The years from 1918
to 1923 is the period during which he produced his magnificent Urdu
commentary of the Holy Quran which was published in three volumes
under the title Bayan-ul-Quran. In Qadian at the time when
he was reading his English translation of the Quran and footnotes
to Maulana Nur-ud-Din, Mir Nasir Nawab{footnote
1} tried to get work started on an Urdu translation of
the Holy Quran but Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din stopped him and said
that the Urdu translation would also be done by Muhammad Ali. He
instructed Maulana Muhammad Ali to make a start on the Urdu translation
alongside doing the English version. Accordingly Maulana Muhammad
Ali translated six or seven parts which he read out to him for approval.
After the death of Maulana Nur-ud-Din a great transformation, namely
the Split, occurred in the Ahmadiyya Movement. Maulana Muhammad
Ali, having moved to Lahore, was busy in the formation of a new
community, starting from scratch in a state of the utmost destitution.
On top of that, due to increasing and urgent demand for the English
translation of the Holy Quran he had to stop work on the Urdu translation
and commentary. During this time the notes of his daily Quran classes
were published in newspapers, and the translation and commentary
up to chapter 4, Al-Nisa, was published in four volumes under
the title Nukat-ul-Quran. From May 1921 the publication of
Bayan-ul-Quran began one part (para) at a time,
the first six or seven parts being published in this series. Afterwards
the entire work was published in the form of volumes, with the third
and final volume appearing in November 1923.
In April 1923, on the completion of Bayan-ul-Quran, Maulana
Muhammad Ali wrote about it in Paigham Sulh, dated 7 April,
as follows:
Completion of the Quran
‘The favour of thy Lord, do proclaim’
“Monday, 2 April 1923 was a very auspicious day for me as
on this day Allah the Most High enabled me to reach the completion
of the Urdu translation of the Holy Quran, and it was merely by
the grace of the Almighty that, after the English translation,
the Urdu translation and commentary was finished. All praise is
due to Allah Who has enabled a helpless man of limited knowledge
like me to do work of this enormous magnitude. Praising Allah
for this achievement fills my heart with a delight that cannot
be described in words.
“It was in 1913, when much of the work on the English translation
still remained to be done, that Mir Nasir Nawab proposed the plan
to publish an Urdu translation of the Holy Quran and even got
as far as collecting funds from many members. Then he sought permission
from Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din to embark on this project but Hazrat
Maulvi sahib replied that in our Movement there would be only
one translation and that would be done by Muhammad Ali after the
completion of his English translation. At the same time he instructed
me to start the Urdu translation and show it to him little by
little. So I translated six or seven parts and showed them to
him — such a great lover of the Holy Quran like Hazrat Maulvi
sahib having so much confidence in a weak man like me. Then in
the last days of his life he told a large gathering that the English
translation had been accepted by Allah.
“The English translation took some three more years to complete
and due to some other important commitments the Urdu translation
remained in abeyance. On the other side, in 1914 the Qadiani
Jama‘at vigorously launched a plan on a grand scale for a
body of ten or twelve men jointly to produce an Urdu and an English
translation of the Quran. I started work on the Urdu translation
in 1918 but after completing Sura Al-Baqarah it was realized
that the manuscript for this one sura alone was five hundred
pages. So the work was started again with brevity. Finally, ten
years after it was first proposed, and after four to five years
of hard labour on the Urdu translation, this work is complete
merely by the grace of Allah. The foresight of Hazrat Maulvi sahib
proved to fulfil the hadith that a true believer sees the future
with the light of Allah.
“I am sure it is not only numerous friends of mine who feel the
same spiritual pleasure today as I do, but the departed souls
of Hazrat Maulvi Nur-ud-Din and also of that holy man who, by
writing that the English translation and commentary would be done
by him or by one ‘who is an offshoot of mine and thus is included
in me’, plainly declared me as his son — their souls today will
surely be happy at this work. May Allah shower His greatest blessings
on these two who set me on this path and made me capable of doing
this work.
“It was the benevolence of Allah the Most High that He enabled
me to perform this great service. I was not capable of doing it
but it was by His grace that such a high goal was accomplished,
for He granted me to live for fourteen years after starting this
work during which the holy word of God was the source of nourishment
for my soul day and night. Therefore today, after the completion
of this task, if on the one hand I am happy because of Allah’s
blessings bestowed upon me in the form of the service to the Quran,
at the same time I am afraid in case any errors I may have made,
due to human fallibility or because of lacking knowledge, may
cause others to stumble. Every single word of the Quran is a guiding
light and a conclusive argument for every Muslim. In my translation
and commentary I have tried, according to the best of my understanding,
to subject my views to the word of God, the hadith of the Holy
Prophet, and rules of the Arabic language. But still it is my
interpretation and not binding upon anyone else unless it conforms
with the word of God and the authentic hadith reports of the Messenger
of Allah. My attempt is only to make people study the knowledge
contained in the Quran and to turn their minds to its service.”
In the preface of Bayan-ul-Quran Maulana Muhammad Ali has referred
to the Promised Messiah and Maulana Nur-ud-Din in the following words:
“Finally, it is important to mention that, although in
this humble service of the Holy Quran I have had much benefit from
the work of the classical scholars, but the man who in my life inspired
me with the love of the Holy Quran and the desire to serve it was
the Mujaddid of this century, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib
of Qadian. Then the man who enabled me to understand the Quran was
my revered teacher Hazrat Maulvi Nur-ud-Din sahib. If anyone benefits
from my work and prays for me, he must also include these two righteous
men in his prayer. I am but dust; any fragrance anyone perceives
in this work is the spirit breathed by these others.”
As compared to the footnotes in the English translation, there
is much more detail and elucidation in the Urdu commentary. In addition
to a more detailed analysis of the meaning of Arabic words based
on lexicons, there are many more notes in exposition of the meaning
of the text. There are many special features of the translation.
It is usually restricted to following the original text closely,
but still adhering to Urdu idiom. Wherever additional words could
not be avoided they are inserted within parentheses. Within the
commentary, one part consists of explaining the dictionary meanings
of Arabic words, giving numerous references to comprehensive and
authentic works such as the Mufradat of Imam Raghib, Taj-ul-‘Urus
and Lisan-ul-‘Arab, and wherever required other reliable
lexicons are also referred to. Because words of the Arabic language
have a vast range of meanings, he lists all the meanings of a word
as given by the past commentators and lexicographers and then explains
why he has adopted a particular meaning. This enables the reader
to see all the different viewpoints, and makes available a summary
of these voluminous books for the benefit of future investigators.
The chief principle followed in the commentary is that the meaning
of any place in the Holy Quran should be sought by reference to
other places in the Holy Quran itself; this being the principle
laid down in this scripture itself. At whichever point the meaning
is not clear, explanation is sought from another place in the Quran.
The other principle kept in mind is that authentic Hadith reports
should be given preference over other sources, and for this reason
Imam Bukhari’s chapter on the commentary of the Quran, and the commentaries
of Ibn Jarir and Ibn Kathir are kept in view. However, reports which
relate stories and tales are only accepted with caution, and anything
conflicting with a clear statement in the Holy Quran or with the
principles of Islam is rejected. Another point much stressed is
the arrangement and sequence of the Holy Quran, and attention is
drawn to three types of arrangement: firstly, the connection between
successive verses, which he has clarified in the footnotes whenever
necessary; secondly, the connection between the sections (ruku‘)
of each chapter (sura); and thirdly the connection between
successive chapters. The summary of each section is given in the
footnotes below it, and the introductory note to each chapter shows
the link between its sections as well as explaining in detail the
inter-connection between successive chapters. In addition, many
classical commentaries are kept in view and referred to extensively,
for example Bahr-ul-Muhit, Tafsir Kabir of Imam Razi,
Badawi, Ghara’ib-ul-Quran, Fath-ul-Bayan and
Kashshaf of Zamakhshari, etc.
To sum up, it contains on the one hand the gist of the monumental
commentaries and lexicons of the classical scholars, and on the
other it is written with reference to the needs of the modern times
and in accordance with the knowledge he gained in the company of
the Promised Messiah and Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din. It keeps in
view the objections against Islam raised by other religions, especially
by the Christian critics of Islam, and by Western nations generally.
He has thus rendered a unique service in the field of exegesis of
the Quran that will serve as a guiding light for the world for years
to come.
An idea of the tremendous labour that he devoted to writing the
Bayan-ul-Quran can be obtained by seeing his handwritten
manuscripts which are still preserved. For the whole book, there
are three voluminous manuscripts consisting of thousands of pages
hand written by him. After completing the first draft the explanatory
notes were amended so thoroughly that all the space on the pages
and their margins is full of writing. Then from this he wrote out
a neat second draft, copying each and every word of these thousands
of pages. To this again he made several changes to give it better
shape, and wrote it out afresh a third time for giving to the printer.
Today the outcome of this arduous labour exists in the form of the
monumental commentary Bayan-ul-Quran in three volumes of
two and a half thousand pages.{footnote
2}
The popularity, appeal and utility of this commentary can be judged
by the fact that many prominent non-Ahmadi scholars of Islam, including
opponents of the Ahmadiyya Movement, have been using it in their
Quran teaching.{footnote 3}
Many friends have even seen this commentary being used in teaching
the Quran in Makka and Madina, and some parts of it have been translated
into Arabic. It has also been observed that some maulvis who, for
some reason of their own, feel it necessary to call Ahmadis as kafir
keep this commentary in front of them while teaching the Quran,
having removed the cover and the title page as it bears the name
of Maulana Muhammad Ali and the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam.
Other publications from 1918 to 1923
During these years when Maulana Muhammad Ali was busy producing
this magnificient translation and commentary, he also wrote many
other books according to need. These are listed below chronologically.
In January 1918 his Urdu book Masih Mau‘ud (the Promised
Messiah) was published, in which the so-called second coming of
Jesus is explained in the light of the Quran and Hadith, and the
claims of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad are set forth. Besides this,
four booklets in English were published in a series entitled
The Ahmadiyya Movement between June 1917 and January 1918:
The Ahmadiyya Movement — I. The Founder
The Ahmadiyya Movement — II. The Doctrine
The Ahmadiyya Movement — III. Prophecy
The Ahmadiyya Movement — IV. The Split
In January 1919 his book Mir’at-ul-Haqiqat was published
in reply to Mirza Mahmud Ahmad’s book Haqiqat-ul-Amr.
In March 1919 Shanakhat-i Mamurin (Identifying those appointed
by God) was published, which discusses in detail the criteria for
determining the truth of those who claim to be sent by God.
During his stay in Simla in 1919 two other important books were
written: Sirat Khair-ul-Bashar, biography of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad in which the criticism of the opponents of Islam is also
answered, and Jam‘a Hadith, published in 1920, which throws
detailed light on the subject of the collection of Hadith.
In summer of 1920, during his stay in Simla, he wrote two pamphlets:
Zarurat-i Mujaddidiyya (Need of the institution of Reformership)
and ‘Isawiyyat ka Akhari Sahara (The last refuge of
Christianity). Another writing was Khilafat-i Islamia bi-ru’i
Quran wa Hadith (Islamic Khilafat according to the Quran
and Hadith).
In October 1921 an important English book Muhammad and Christ
was published, in which the Holy Prophet Muhammad and Jesus have
been compared according to the Quran as well as the life of Jesus
from the Bible. This book became very popular in various countries
and was subsequently translated in fifteen languages of the West
and Asia. A Christian missionary, Mr. Bevan Jones, has commented
on this book in the well-known Christian journal Muslim World
as follows:
“We must now refrain from using the Quran to prove the
truth of Christianity. For the last quarter of a century Christian
missionaries have been putting forward verses of the Quran to confirm
and support the truth of Christ. In 1918 or earlier an Urdu tract
Haqa’iq-i Quran was published from Ludhiana, whose first
edition consisted of two thousand copies. In 1919 four editions
were published in a quantity of nineteen thousand. In 1920 the sixth
edition of one hundred thousand copies was published by the Bible
Society. In this pamphlet verses of the Quran were cited to prove
the superiority of Jesus over the Arabian Prophet. In the Islamic
camp this pamphlet fell like a bombshell. Besides Christian missionaries,
the Arya Samaj preachers also used it to their advantage.
Muslim Ulama did not write anything in reply to this pamphlet,
and probably they had no answer to it. At last Maulana Muhammad
Ali, who is the head of the Lahore Ahmadis, replied to it in 1921
by a book entitled Muhammad and Christ. This book consists
of 159 pages and in it all the objections have been removed one
by one and the superficiality of the pamphlet mentioned above
has been fully exposed.” (Muslim World, July 1940)
This shows how bold and audacious Christian missionaries had become,
that ignoring their own scriptures they were trying to prove the
superiority of Jesus on the basis of the Quran, and how low had
sunk the morale of the Muslim Ulama that they had not the
strength to repudiate their criticism. At this critical juncture
this writing of Maulana Muhammad Ali was so effective that the Christian
missionaries were forced to change their style of preaching and
argumentation.
Also in 1921 the second edition of the English translation of the
Quran was published in England in a quantity of 10,750.
In June 1922 his book Haqiqat-i Ikhtilaf was published,
in reply to Mirza Mahmud Ahmad’s book A’inah-i Sadaqat. These
books were in connection with the split in the Ahmadiyya Movement.
Mirza Mahmud Ahmad in his book had presented the events in a highly
distorted form and alleged that Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and Maulana
Muhammad Ali were both hypocrites from the very beginning and had
been giving trouble even to Hazrat Mirza sahib himself. In Haqiqat-i
Ikhtilaf Maulana Muhammad Ali has not only refuted these false
allegations but also explained the real causes of the split and
the events of that time (which have been mentioned earlier in this
biography).{footnote
4}
In the summer of 1922 the third edition of his booklet Radd-i
Takfir Ahl-i Qiblah was published, which refutes the dangerous
Qadiani doctrine that those Muslims who do not believe in Hazrat
Mirza sahib are kafir and excluded from the fold of Islam.
To this day the Qadian community has not been able to answer this
booklet in which it has been proved from the Holy Quran, Hadith
and the writings of the Promised Messiah as well as his practice
that all those who profess the Kalima are Muslims. The issue
of the holding of funeral prayers for deceased non-Ahmadis by Ahmadis
has also been clarified, this being the topic that Mirza Mahmud
Ahmad always avoided to discuss as it most plainly showed the falsity
of his belief that all other Muslims are kafir.
In 1923 two English tracts, Back to Islam and Back to
the Quran, and an Urdu tract Mazhab Ki Gharaz (Aim of
Religion) were published.
Quran teaching classes (Dars-i Quran)
During all these years Maulana Muhammad Ali continued with his
daily classes in teaching the meanings of the Holy Quran. In December
1917 one phase of this teaching ended, and following that he started
another phase in January 1918. This time he taught a quarter of
one part (para) everyday in order to cover the entire Quran
in four months. In this phase many members from outside Lahore came
and stayed in Lahore to benefit from the teaching. This phase ended
in April 1918.
In the summer of 1918 these classes were held in Simla during his
stay there, continuing again at Ahmadiyya Buildings after his return
to Lahore. Along with these he also started classes in Hadith. This
became his practice every year. In the winter of 1921–22, in
addition to his regular Quran teaching after the maghrib
prayer, he also started a new series of classes in the Holy Quran
and Hadith specifically for school teachers and missionaries who
were to be sent abroad.
In Lahore in 1922 and 1923 he adopted a new style of delivering
the Quran teaching. In addition to the translation he would give
only the essential commentary and explanation, without going too
deeply into the finer points, so that people from every background
would be able to understand. He also set a written examination for
those who attended regularly.
He thus made it a part of his life to conduct these classes, using
a variety of methods and approaches. In his Friday sermons and through
other means, while he would stress upon the need for spreading the
Holy Quran and propagating Islam, he also made clear that it is
absolutely essential for the members of a Movement which seeks to
spread the Quran that they themselves study the Quran and act upon
its teachings.
Touring branches and other trips
The importance Maulana Muhammad Ali gave to the organization of
the Jama‘at is clear from the fact that, despite all his
literary commitments of producing such monumental books and his
other multifarious duties, he would always find time to visit the
various branches of the Movement and stay with them for a day or
two, and frequently attend their annual meetings. Thus every year
he would visit in person some ten or twelve branches, and in addition
to other matters he would stress in particular the importance of
paying the monthly subscriptions, holding Holy Quran study classes
and gathering for the Friday congregational service.
Accordingly, in these five or six years he continued this practice.
His tours were usually to places in the Punjab and the North West
Frontier, that is to say, ranging from Peshawar to Delhi. In 1920
he embarked upon his first long journey and went to Bombay and Madras
in the company of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din. In the middle of February
they went first to Bombay and after a few days’ stay there, during
which they delivered speeches, they reached Madras where the Muslim
public gave them a grand welcome. They stayed at the house of Seth
Malang Ahmad Badshah. No sooner had they arrived in Madras that
Maulana Muhammad Ali was taken ill and could not make any public
speeches. However, the Khwaja sahib delivered many speeches. During
this tour of Bombay and Madras they addressed the Muslim public
and emphasised upon them the importance and need of the propagation
of Islam and appealed for donations for the Anjuman. During this
tour not only were reasonable funds raised for the Anjuman and the
Woking Mission but many supporters were also gained who appreciated
the work done by this Movement.
At that time, due to the publication of the English translation
of the Holy Quran and other literature and the work of the propagation
of Islam in Europe, the educated Muslims of India, leaving aside
the bigoted Maulvis, were beginning to value the services of the
Lahore Ahmadiyya Jama‘at and of Maulana Muhammad Ali. He
always used to be invited to meetings of the Anjuman Islamia of
Punjab which were held in different cities, and he attended many
meetings of such outside bodies. In addition to that, in April 1920
he made a speech at the annual meeting of the Anjuman Himayat-i
Islam Lahore entitled ‘Our problems and their solution’ and put
before all the Muslims the work of the propagation of Islam and
invited them to help his Jama‘at.
Stay in Simla, 1918–1921
As has been mentioned before, till 1917 Maulana Muhammad Ali used
to go to Abbottabad in summer. At that time Simla was the summer
capital of the British Government of India and quite a few members
of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jama‘at used to be there. In 1918
they invited him to spend summer in Simla. So on 31 May that year
he and his family went to Simla for four months and stayed in a
residence named Eva Lodge. As during his stay in the hilly regions
he used to be joined by many other senior figures of the Jama‘at,
especially to attend the Quran classes in the month of Ramadan,
so he allocated half of his residence for the guests and also had
to rent a small cottage nearby. Master Faqirullah, a melodious reciter
of the Holy Quran, was there with him and everyday he would recite
one part of the Holy Quran before the gathering and the Maulana
would explain its meanings. They would all come together to offer
tahajjud prayers in Ramadan. The fame of his daily Quran
classes had spread in Simla and a large number of Muslims who were
not Ahmadis also used to attend them.
The same year, in September 1918, at the close of the First World
War, the virulent epidemic of influenza raging in the outside world
broke out in India as well. Thousands of people were dying daily,
big cities like Lahore being particularly affected.{footnote 5}
Some friends tried to stop the Maulana from returning to Lahore
but he left his family in Khanpur with Dr. Basharat Ahmad, who was
on medical duty there, and came to Lahore by himself.
At the end of May 1919 he again went to Simla and occupied the
residence known as Hari Villa in ‘smaller’ Simla. This year Khwaja
Kamal-ud-Din, who had returned from England in May 1919, also came
to Simla with him and stayed in a cottage known as Hari cottage
which was next to Hari Villa. Shaikh Maula Bakhsh of Lyallpur also
stayed in Hari Villa that summer. Another house was acquired that
year in Simla where Maulana Muhammad Ali started a missionary class
for certain educated men of the Jama‘at. He gave lectures
to the class for two hours everyday. This class continued to be
held in Simla for two years during the summer. In addition to that,
Quran teaching (dars) was conducted daily as usual.
He thus spent the summer during four years in Simla in this way.
This was the time when he was busy working on Bayan-ul Quran.
He also wrote the books Sirat Khair-ul-Bashar (Biography
of the Holy Prophet Muhammad), Jam‘a Hadith (Collection of
the Hadith reports of the Holy Prophet), and Muhammad and Christ,
and several pamphlets and tracts which have been mentioned earlier.
Other events, 1918–1923
In 1918 Maulana Yaqub Khan relinquished his prestigious post to
dedicate his life to the service of Islam and settled in Lahore.
Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din returned from England in May 1919. In his place
Maulana Sadr-ud-Din was sent again to Woking in July 1919 and he
stayed there till April 1920. The Khwaja sahib left in October 1921
for his third visit to Woking. Earlier, in September 1921, Maulana
Yaqub Khan was sent to Woking because the work had increased.
The Jama‘at did not have any journal in English so far and
the need for it was very keenly felt. So in January 1922 The
Light was launched. This magazine gradually made good
progress, especially when Maulana Yaqub Khan returned from Woking
and became its editor. During his editorship The Light not
only came to be appreciated by the English-reading public within
India but it also acquired international fame and began to be sent
abroad in large numbers.
Stay in Dalhousie, 1922–23
In April 1922, sometime before Ramadan, Maulana Muhammad Ali went
to Dalhousie, a town in the mountains, to seek solitude for the
spiritual devotion of worship and prayer. This hill station was
not as busy and full of activity as Abbottabad, Murree or Simla,
but was a very peaceful and quiet place. He liked its serenity and
tranquillity so much that he decided to spend the next summer there.
In this connection he wrote the following statement for members
of the Jama‘at in the organ Paigham Sulh:
My absence and our work
Brothers of the Jama‘at,
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.
Two years even before coming to Lahore I used to go to the hills
for my literary activities. After the establishment of the Anjuman
in Lahore it has become even more important because in Lahore
there are so many other responsibilities of my office that keep
interfering in my writing work. Literary composition, especially
that which demands much mental exertion such as the commentary
of the Holy Quran, needs undisturbed attention which cannot be
found in Lahore. This year in seven months in Lahore I could not
translate more than three quarters of one part (para) of
the Holy Quran, even though by the grace of Allah I still have
the habit of working as hard as I did when I was a student preparing
for examinations — and in reality the most important test is still
to be taken. Because of my stay in Simla a Jama‘at has
been well established there. But this time I have turned away
even from there and taken up residence in Dalhousie in order to
devote my whole time to the translation work.
(Paigham Sulh, 10 May 1922)
In the first year he occupied the residence ‘Mall House’ in lower
Dalhousie. However, he was soon followed by his admirers, longing
to be with the one who was their light, and so Shaikh Rahmatullah,
Mian Ghulam Rasul, Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig and some other friends also
joined him in Dalhousie. Though Mall House was spacious and half
of it was used to accommodate the guests but another residence next
to it, Mall Cottage, was also acquired for this purpose. So the
quiet, lush green, beautiful mountains of Dalhousie echoed with
the call to prayer, recitation of the Holy Quran and the sounds
of tahajjud prayers. From then on, the Maulana spent every
summer there and other friends also went to join him there most
times.
German Mission
During these years another foundation was laid for the propagation
of Islam in Europe. The Anjuman founded a mission in Germany. The
first person to call for the opening of a mission in Germany was
one Abdul Jabbar Khairi, who wrote to the Woking Mission in 1921
urging that a similar Islamic mission be established there. This
proposal was referred to the Anjuman in Lahore which decided the
same year to open a mission in Berlin. In June 1922, Maulvi Abdul
Majid (who later on became editor of The Islamic Review,
Woking) was sent there and a mission was formally opened in July
1922. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din also reached Berlin from Woking in July,
and after studying the situation there, advised the Anjuman of the
necessity of building a mosque there in order to do propagation
work. After this beginning, arrangements were gradually made to
buy land in Berlin and construct the mosque, as will be discussed
later, and during this time Maulana Muhammad Ali started to make
special appeals for funds for the Berlin mosque. The Anjuman decided
to send Maulana Sadr-ud-Din there, who left Lahore at the end of
December 1922 for Germany.
Royalty and how it began
Since April 1914, when he came to Lahore, Maulana Muhammad Ali
had faced much personal financial hardship. For a period of more
than five years he had no means of income. During this time many
of his books were published, including the first edition of the
English Translation of the Holy Quran which then spread in the world.
However, the Maulana did not accept any income from the Anjuman
nor was he given any royalty for his books. During that time he
bore many difficulties upon his shoulders for subsistence. At one
stage he had to sell part of his furniture and copper utensils to
meet the household expenses. During the first year neither the Anjuman
nor any of its members gave a thought to the matter. After a year
some members made a proposal to him on their own that he should
accept a monthly stipend from the Anjuman but he refused. Then in
1917 and again in 1918 this matter was put before the Anjuman. Those
proposals were as follows:
Resolution No. 59/61, dated 29 April 1917, proposed
by Dr. Syed Muhammad Husain Shah: The Head of the Community,
Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali, did the English translation of the
Holy Quran after a constant labour of eight years, then he served
the Movement with great devotion during the tribulation of the Split,
all this adversely affecting his health. Even now, despite his weak
health, he is serving the Movement. He has to write articles, give
daily classes in the Holy Quran, go out of Lahore to deliver lectures,
carry on correspondence, meet people daily, take part in debates,
and on top of that since breaking away from Qadian he has to worry
about how to make his living. He has not taken any remuneration
from the Anjuman. If this situation continues the danger is that
his health will be badly damaged. As he is devoting all his time
for the work of the Anjuman, so to lighten his burden I put forward
the following proposal before the Anjuman for consideration:
First: He should be relieved of the burden of earning
a livelihood. Second: He should be provided with assistants
to help him.
Report of Secretary: I agree entirely with the proposal
of the Shah sahib. In my opinion the Anjuman should offer him
at least Rs. 200 per month for his maintenance.
Decision: The following members should consider the matter
and report back: Shaikh Rahmatullah, Dr. Muhammad Husain Shah,
Maulvi Sadr-ud-Din, Mian Ghulam Rasul — Secretary (Yaqub Baig).
Another proposal was as follows:
Resolution No. 277 of the Executive Committee, dated
13 January 1918, proposed by Hazrat Maulvi Sadr-ud-Din: The
Head of the Community has for the past four years somehow managed
to survive, but this sort of existence cuts life short. Such valued
and precious men, as he is, don’t appear in the world very often.
So the Anjuman should give some thought to it and request the Head
of the Community to accept Anjuman’s offer. The Holy Prophet Muhammad
and the righteous Khalifas accepted a stipend for religious
duties. He should not discard this Sunna. It is not possible
for him to write books on Islam, lead the Movement and at the same
time worry about earning a living. … We wish we possessed the means
to offer him much more, but for the time being he should accept
200 Rupees per month.
This proposal was again put forward by Resolution No. 19, dated
3 February 1918, and the following decision was taken:
Members of the Anjuman unanimously request the Head of
the Community to accept the offer, although it is meagre. However,
as he does not want to accept any monetary help, so for the time
being this proposal should be postponed.
Regarding his reasons for declining this financial support, Maulana
Muhammad Ali gave the following explanation in a writing which he
penned a few days before his death:
“I also want to make it clear that the reason why from
the beginning I did not like to accept any remuneration from the
Anjuman, even though I had no source of income, was that I did not
wish to burden the Anjuman as it had been newly founded just then
and I was afraid that this extra strain on it may cause it to falter.
The second reason was to belie a senior Qadiani who had declared,
on my departure from Qadian, that without getting any salary for
six months I would go back and bow my head before the khalifa
of Qadian.”
Besides this, in a letter dated 2 December 1930 addressed to Maulana
Ghulam Hasan Khan he wrote:
“The Anjuman came into being on 3 May 1914 and I was elected
its Amir (Head) but for one whole year neither the Anjuman
nor any of its members even discussed the matter of the Amir’s
subsistence nor was I asked by anyone about how I made a living.
After one year some members of the Anjuman, on their own behalf,
put to me a proposal according to which the Anjuman would pay me
some stipend. I did not accept the proposal, for which there were
many reasons. One was that the financial position of the Anjuman
was so precarious that this extra burden would have caused it severe
difficulties. Another was that I could see that just as on one side
[in the Qadiani Jama‘at] blind obedience to the head was
in vogue, on our side there was excessive freedom. So in my view
by accepting the stipend the prestige of the Amir would be
further lowered. There were some other reasons as well. But these
two were the main considerations in my mind. During this time all
my writings were published by the Anjuman and it made a profit on
them. In 1918 I started working on Bayan-ul-Quran and in
1919 I proposed to some members that I would get it printed myself.
After discussing the matter among themselves, they proposed to me
that the Anjuman should continue to print all my books and pay me
a part of the sale price as royalty. Among these friends were certainly
the Khwaja [Kamal-ud-Din] sahib, [Syed Muhammad Husain] Shah sahib
and Mirza [Yaqub Baig] sahib. Any one of them could be asked even
today to vouch under oath that I never indicated to anyone, even
indirectly, that the Anjuman should pay pay me any royalty. However,
when this proposal was put to me I approved it as the Anjuman was
to pay me a part of what it was earning itself. After settling this
with me, the matter was put formally before the Anjuman.”
This proposal, which was the beginning of royalty being paid to
Maulana Muhammad Ali, was put before the Anjuman on 30 July 1919
by Dr. Mirza Yaqub Baig, who was General Secretary of the Anjuman
at that time, as follows:
No. 191, 30 July 1919, Report of Secretary: Hazrat
Amir Maulana Muhammad Ali is busy in the work of the Anjuman
day and night but he does not wish to accept any remuneration for
it from the Anjuman. It had been tried several times that either
the Anjuman or some members should do something for him financially
but he has always refused to accept any help. As the cost of living
has risen in present times, so some members being mindful of these
difficulties, which he himself being a godly and selfless person
does not care about, requested him to accept for his needs a part
of the profits from the writings which he does for the Anjuman.
After much insistence he has agreed that in future the sale price
of his books will be set as follows. If, for example, the cost of
publishing a book is 4 Rupees, then 1 Rupee shall be added as administrative
expenses, 4 Rupees as profit and 3 Rupees as the author’s royalty.
Royalty will be paid to Hazrat Amir on every copy sold, an
account being prepared monthly. Accordingly, this proposal is put
before the meeting for approval.
Decision: To pay royalty for the books written by Hazrat
Amir Maulana Muhammad Ali the following system shall be adopted.
New books written in future shall be priced at three times their
cost and one fourth of the sale price per copy shall be paid to
Hazrat Amir Maulvi Muhammad Ali. As to the books that are
already in existence, including the translation of the Holy Quran,
one sixth of the sale price per copy shall be paid to Hazrat
Amir from today. An account shall be prepared monthly and
the calculated amount paid to Hazrat Amir as royalty.
Accordingly, this began to be acted upon from August 1919 and continued
in the same way subsequently: the Anjuman printed, published and
sold his books and a share of the profits, according to the set
rate, was paid to him from time to time in the form of royalty,
as is the generally recognised and standard practice of compensating
authors. This was a most appropriate and proper means by which he
made his living. He never burdened the Anjuman with having to pay
him a salary, nor did he, like the common practice of religious
leaders, take offerings and donations from followers. He only took
his rightful due for his labour and even that was from the income
earned by the Anjuman by publishing his books.
Relations with the Qadian community
Ever since the Split in 1914 Maulana Muhammad Ali continued to
address the Qadiani community on the issues under dispute by writing
extensively in Paigham Sulh. Again and again he wrote in
refutation of the wrong beliefs of Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, i.e., ascribing
a claim of prophethood to the Promised Messiah, considering him
as the one who fulfilled the prophecy about the coming Ahmad given
in the Holy Quran, and declaring all non-Ahmadi Muslims to be outside
the fold of Islam. The Maulana always tried to get a written, decisive
debate held between himself and Mirza Mahmud Ahmad which would then
be printed and circulated among both the communities to enable every
one to decide for himself. But for some reason or other Mirza Mahmud
Ahmad never agreed to it. It has been mentioned before that seventy
Ahmadis from the Lahore Jama‘at, who had taken the bai‘at
before November 1901 at the Promised Messiah’s hand, had issued
sworn testimony that the Promised Messiah did not make any change
whatsoever in his claim in 1901. But Mirza Mahmud Ahmad could not
produce a single witness to testify to the opposite effect.
During this period Maulana Muhammad Ali produced the following
tracts{footnote 6} addressing the Qadian Jama‘at:
- Invitation to Mirza Mahmud Ahmad for exchange of views at the
Annual Gathering (Jalsa).
- Prophet or Mujaddid.
- Claim to Prophethood.
- Denial of Prophethood and the year 1901.
- The Last Prophet.
- The Promised Messiah’s sworn statement.
Go to Addendum to
Chapter 3: Reviews of Bayan-ul-Quran
by modern Pakistani scholars
Footnotes
(To return to the referring text for any footnote,
click on the footnote number.)
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