Chapter 4
Extremist beliefs coined by Qadianis, and
the result
It was in such an enviable atmosphere of unity and harmony that the
task of the propagation of Islam was being conducted when, in March
1914, Maulana Nur-ud-Din passed away. Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, who up to
that time had had to restrain himself because of the towering personality
of Maulana Nur-ud-Din, now began to preach and propagate his extreme
beliefs regularly and freely. He announced plainly and blatantly that
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet in actual fact, and that anyone
who did not accept him was a kafir and expelled from the pale
of Islam.
With this announcement, all the mischief which had been dying down
came to life again, and the daily increasing popularity of the Movement
among the Muslims was replaced by a rising storm of disgust and
revulsion. Those very people who had been unfailingly praising the
knowledge produced by the Ahmadiyya Movement as well as its work
of propagating Islam, now looked upon its beliefs and objectives
with suspicion.
Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal himself, who only a short time earlier saw
in the Ahmadiyya community “a true model of Islamic life”, now had
to announce in guarded words:
"Any person who believes in the coming, after the Holy Prophet Muhammad,
of a prophet the rejection of whom makes one a kafir, is excluded
from the fold of Islam. If the Qadiani Jama'at holds this belief,
it too is excluded from the fold of Islam.”
(Al-Fazl, 11 April 1916)
This statement was couched in cautious words because Dr. Iqbal
knew that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had neither claimed to be a
prophet nor declared those who did not believe in him to be kafirs
and expelled from Islam. Therefore he made this statement in a hypothetical
form. In these words Dr. Iqbal completely exempted Hazrat Mirza
and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jama'at because he knew that these beliefs
were not held by them.
Thus the Ahmadiyya Movement was split in two upon the death of
Maulana Nur-ud-Din over the question of declaring Muslims as kafir.
At that juncture, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad made a very telling comment
in his newspaper, as follows:
“For some time, there had been two parties in this Movement over
the question of takfir. One party believed that non-Ahmadis
are Muslims even though they may not believe in Mirza sahib’s claims.
The other party, however, declared openly and clearly that those
people who do not believe in Mirza sahib are kafir absolutely
— inna li-llahi wa inna ilai-hi raji 'un. The head
of the latter party is Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, and this
faction has now made him khalifa but the first group does
not accept this. The writing published in this connection by Maulana
Muhammad Ali, and the wonderful and admirable courage he has shown
in expressing these views while staying in Qadian, where the heads
of the other party live, is truly an event which shall always be
regarded as a memorable event of this year.”
(Al-Hilal, 20 March 1914)
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