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Lahore Ahmadiyya support for Pakistan
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The Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman under the leadership of Maulana
Muhammad Ali (d. 1951) gave full, active and vigorous support to the
movement for the creation of Pakistan throughout the years preceding
its creation in 1947.
In its English organ, The Light, for 8 February 1946, on
page 4, a short item appears as follows:
Lahore Ahmadis to vote
for League
Maulana Muhammad Ali issues instructions
"In the course of his Friday Khutba on February
1, Maulana Muhammad Ali, Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, has
called upon the members of this Movement that throughout India in the
forthcoming elections to the Provincial legislatures, they must vote
for the Muslim League candidate. Muslim League, he emphasized, has at
the present time become a symbol of Islamic unity and solidarity. All
members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya community must therefore stand by the
League in this momentous struggle which involves the very survival of
Islam in this country. Anyone failing to abide by this verdict of the
community will be guilty of a betrayal of the community."
In The Light of 8 May 1946, the main item on the front
page is headed:
Maulana Muhammad Ali Urges
Special Prayers Every Friday.
For the last three weeks Maulana
Muhammad Ali, Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, has been offering
special prayers at the Friday congregational prayer for the success
of Mr. Jinnah's talks with the Cabinet Mission.
The following are some extracts from this item:
"Exhorting the congregation last Friday, May 3,
to humbly beseech the Almighty to protect the Muslims of India at this
critical juncture in the history of Islam in this country, the Maulana
made it plain that Pakistan is a life and death issue, not only for
the existence of Muslims but at the same time for the survival of Islam
itself as a faith and culture. Of all the world of Islam, said the Maulana,
the Indian Muslims were the only people who yet believed in the possibilities
of Islam as a religion to play a role in the re-shaping of the world.
In every other Muslim land, including Egypt, the cultural centre of
Islam, and Turkey and Afghanistan, the politically independent States
of Islam, the very idea of tabligh or the propagation of faith was extinct.
"'Pakistan or Perish' was no mere political slogan,
observed the Maulana. It was a real and grave danger. If the Muslims
failed to survive as a free people, they perish and along with them
perishes the idea of Islam as a vital force of life."
Maulana's message at creation
of Pakistan
On the day after the creation of Pakistan, a special Pakistan number of
The Light was issued (15 August 1947) which carried
on the front page a message of congratulations by Maulana Muhammad Ali
around a central photograph of Mr. Jinnah. In his message, the Maulana
said:
"I offer my felicitations, first of all, to Quaid-i-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, for whose trust in God, untiring efforts, unwavering
resolution, far-sightedness, unbending power of resistance and breadth
of vision, God Almighty has blessed the Muslims with a magnificent boon
and has vouchsafed them rulership over a part of India. May God grant
this soldier of Islam a long lease of life and sustain him in health
and energy, and may He enable him and us all to be grateful servants
of His, our heads always bowing before His will!
"I offer my felicitations to the whole of the Muslim nation,
especially the masses of the Muslims whose sacrifices have won Pakistan,
the greatest of these sacrifices being the united front which they
displayed in the struggle. It is my humble prayer that God may sustain
their hearts in unity, free from all kinds of mutual jealousies and
ill-will. May God grant all Muslims the sense to realize that in this
unity and solidarity lies the secret of their strength, especially
to those of them who are yet outside this Islamic solidarity.
"I offer felicitations to those unknown Muslims whose
nightly supplications before God to save the bark of Islam at this
critical hour have been the cause of bringing us His blessings and
mercy, and who keep the torch of this Heavenly light, which is the
soul of Pakistan, aflame.
"In this hour, my fervent prayers also go out towards
those saintly personages who sowed the seeds of tabligh in
this land of ours, the fruit of which we are enjoying today in the
shape of Pakistan. In grateful memory let us recall that but for their
efforts to propagate the light of Islam in India, far from achieving
any sovereign status for Islam in this country today, millions of
our people now constituting the Muslim nation would have themselves
been wallowing in polytheism, idol-worship and darkness. May He bless
their souls with His unbounded mercy and exalt their ranks in their
heavenly abode! May He enable us of this age to follow in their footsteps
and try in our own humble way to disseminate the light of the last
message of God, the Holy Quran, not only in this subcontinent but
over the length and breadth of the whole world; and, while departing
from this world, may we leave behind to the coming generations the
same heritage that these saintly souls left to us, so that just as
we today are reaping the harvest of their sacrifices and labours in
the form of Pakistan, our coming generations may be blessed with the
reward of our efforts and sacrifices in the shape of converting the
whole of India, nay, the whole of the world, into a Pakistan in which
man may be reunited to man, in which fellow-feeling may bind man to
man, irrespective of caste or creed, a Pakistan free from injustice,
tyranny and oppression, in which the whole of mankind may dwell as
a single family.
"In the end, it is my humble prayer to God Almighty that
now that He has blessed us with rulership, He may also fill our hearts
with the passion to serve fellow-men and enable us to walk in the
footsteps of those who, while wielding regal sceptre, lived the lives
of darweshes, those who looked upon themselves, not as rulers, but
as servants of the people. O Almighty Allah! Make this Islamic state
an ideal State which may serve other nations of the world as an object
lesson in equity and justice, in mutual goodwill and toleration, in
honesty and integrity and above all in a passion for the service of
fellowmen. O God, grant that the heads of the officials of this State
may ever remain bowed before Thy commandments and their hearts filled
with compassion for Thy creatures!"
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