presenting Islam as peaceful, tolerant, rational, inspiring
After completing the manuscript of the third part of Mujaddid-i-A‘zam, its author, the late Dr. Basharat Ahmad, wanted its publication to be started immediately. However, since there was a shortage of paper due to the Second World War, the work was temporarily delayed. Meanwhile in the January of 1943 he went to stay with his son Naseer Ahmad Faruqui, who was the ICS (Indian Civil Service) Collector at Bombay, so that in his spare time he could illumine the heart of this faithful young man with the knowledge of the Holy Quran. Dr. Basharat Ahmad had been unwell for quite some time and was bearing it with remarkable patience, but he had not been in Bombay for long when the illness took a critical turn. Finally he succumbed to it and met with his Creator in the afternoon of April 19th, 1943. We belong to Allah and to Him shall be our return. His body was taken the same day from Bombay to Lahore on the Frontier Mail railway. On April 21st, after the Friday prayer, he was laid to eternal rest in the Miyani Sahib graveyard of Lahore. O Allah! forgive him and have mercy on him, pardon him and overlook his faults. O Allah! honour him just as a guest is honoured and widen his grave for him and elevate his status in Paradise! Dr. Basharat Ahmad retired in 1931 after a long period of government service. I think it was sometime in 1932 when he was offered a job in one of the princely states. He wrote a letter to me asking my advice; I wrote in reply one of Hazrat Mirza Sahib's verses which, translated, means that, 'life has passed by and only a few days are left. It is better if these few days are devoted in the memory or service of Allah'. His heart had always been inclined towards Allah. Now he gave up all his worldly engagements and firmly resolved to serve Islam. He had the above verse framed and hung on the wall in front of him; from that time onward he devoted his entire time to the writing of articles based on his vast knowledge. He had already written a series of articles for the newspaper 'Paigham-i-Sulh'. Now he broadened the scope of his writings. His articles were so brilliant that they were a spiritual sustenance for his readers, who would eagerly look for his article in the Paigham-i-Sulh before reading anything else out of it. He also wrote a number of booklets in those days. These were entitled 'Al-Ruh', 'Tanasakh', 'Taqdir', 'Quran ka Alamgir Paigham Hurriyat', 'Wiladat-i-Masih' etc. In 1943 he wrote a detailed explanation of the 30th part of the Holy Quran, by the name of 'Anwaar-ul-Quran'. It is a remarkable book. The style of explanation is so lucid that the reader feels that he is actually experiencing faith at first hand. One senses the awakening of one's spirit while reading it and belief in the Divine Presence and in the consequences of ones actions is strengthened. A second part of 'Anwaar-ul-Quran', comprising the explanation of the 27th part of the Holy Quran, was also published after a while. Dr. Basharat Ahmad had tremendous love for the Holy Quran and he used to inspire other people with this love by teaching the Holy Quran (dars) wherever he was posted during the duration of his service. The last time he delivered Dars was on the occasion of the annual convention of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam Lahore. He had such deep knowledge and insight of the Holy Quran that I found myself wishing that he had been the one to write 'Bayan-ul-Quran' and I even said so in the convention. Dr. Basharat Ahmad's great love for the Holy Quran was rapidly drawing him towards another significant service of Islam. He had learnt to love and understand the Holy Quran from the Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani, and held him in the highest reverence and esteem. Unfortunately, however, Hazrat Mirza Sahib was not universally popular and well loved. This was partly due to the prejudice of his enemies who, failing to recognise his true status, presented a distorted picture of his person before the public and hence their false propaganda prevented the masses from seeing the true face of Hazrat Mirza Sahib. In addition, a group of his followers had turned the public intensely against him by raising him to the level of a prophet after his death. This state of affairs deeply troubled Dr. Basharat Ahmad and robbed him of his peace of mind. He resolved to write the biography of Hazrat Mirza Sahib although his old age and delicate health made the task seem almost impossible. He was not daunted, however, and began embarked upon this important project in 1936, with Allah as his Supporter and Guide, saying, like the Prophet Noah, " … in the name of Allah be its sailing and its anchoring." His work was often interrupted by bouts of severe illness but it seemed as if the Mighty Hand of Allah was behind him. Some of the attacks of Neurasthenia were so severe that they left him incapacitated for months on end. However, he soon regained his strength, by the Grace of Allah, and continued the work that demanded the patience and perseverance he alone possessed for its completion. I have witnessed the untiring work of Dr. Basharat Ahmad with my own eyes. We were very close in the last year of his life and met as often as twice or thrice daily. I have also been writing since the age of 25, and have thousands of pages to my credit, but even so, the sheer volume of work of the author of Mujaddid-i-A‘zam left me astounded. He laboured like a candidate in an examination hall, who saw the time running out and knew that he had to complete his paper before it did. The paper he was working on was finally completed and his Examiner was so pleased with him that He lost no time in summoning him to His Presence to give him a great reward. The first part of Mujaddid-i-A‘zam was published in December 1939 and the second part in December 1941. The entire manuscript comprised of 1400 pages and Dr. Basharat Ahmad himself arranged for its publication and went through the text and the proofs although this exertion affected his health adversely. He sometimes thought that most of the material of the third volume had been covered in the first two, but since he had already announced that there would be a third part, Allah helped him to its completion. It would probably have come out in December 1942, if paper had been available. The Anjuman assigned to Maulvi Dost Muhammad Sahib the task of reading the copies and proofs of the third part, and he did this to the best of his abilities, may Allah give him great reward. Even so, no one could do the same as the author himself would have done; the arrangements made were not quite up to his standards. We would be very grateful if the readers inform us of any errors or omissions so that corrections are made for the next edition. Thank you. Muhammad Ali |
Top