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Will Mujaddids come in future?

Mirza Tahir Ahmad rejects a basic teaching of Islam and the Promised Messiah

Mirza Tahir Ahmad says "No",

Promised Messiah says "Yes"

(The Light & Islamic Review: Vol.71, No. 6; November-December 1994; p. 17-19)

The head of the Qadianis, Mirza Tahir Ahmad, is reported in their organ as having stated in a Friday khutba, delivered on 27 August 1993, that:

"Since the imamat [i.e. Qadiani khilafat] is in existence, there is no need for the coming of a mujaddid. The supporting testimony of God has crushed this evil [fitna] for all time. The imamat shall not end till the Day of Judgment, so there is no need for a mujaddid till the Day of Judgment. . . . Only those can deny this fact whose hearts are devoid of the fear of God. . . . As God has indeed spoken the truth, and the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement has indeed spoken the truth, so those people are false who believe that imamat will now come to an end and now that the new century [Hijra] has started they must wait for a mujaddid. Thirteen years have already passed since the beginning of the fifteenth century and in this period no mujaddid has arisen outside the imamat of the Ahmadiyya Movement. This has exposed this false propaganda. Even if God makes them live for a hundred years they will not see another mujaddid." - Al-Fazl, 30 September 1993.

As so often before in their history, once again the Qadiani leadership is trampling under its feet the teachings of Islam and the beliefs of the Promised Messiah, for the sake of the defence of their khilafat. To set up their khilafat system in the first place, they violated the basic teachings of Islam by creating a prophet after the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and by branding other Muslims as kafir. Then, throughout their history, they have never hesitated to over-turn and oppose any Islamic belief or practice which was proving an obstacle to the absolute power and supremacy of their khalifa.

We give below the views expressed by the Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, on the famous hadith of the Holy Prophet Muhammad about mujaddids, which runs as follows: "Surely Allah will appoint for this Umma at the head of every century one who will renew for it its religion [i.e. a mujaddid]." It will be seen that Mirza Tahir Ahmad’s beliefs are the exact opposite of those held by the Promised Messiah.

1. A question put to the Promised Messiah and his reply to it are recorded as follows:

"29 September 1905, before noon. A man asked the question: ‘Will a mujaddid come after you?’ He [the Promised Messiah] replied:

"What is wrong with a mujaddid coming after me? The prophethood of Moses had come to an end, and that is why his chain of successors ended with Jesus. However, the dispensation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad will last till the Day of Judgment. Therefore, mujaddids will arise in it till Judgment Day. As long as the Day of Judgment withholds its destruction, it does not matter that someone else should come. We most certainly do not deny that good and righteous people will continue to come, and then all of a sudden the Day of Judgment will come." (Ruhani Khaza’in no. 2, vol. 8, p.119.)

The Promised Messiah says here that mujaddids will continue to come because "the dispensation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad will last till the Day of Judgment". As Mirza Tahir Ahmad believes that mujaddids only came in the first fourteen centuries of Islam, and will not come in future, we can only conclude that he believes that the dispensation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad has come to an end. He must hold the belief that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has replaced and displaced the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and this is why the system of the Qadiani khilafat has replaced and displaced for ever the previous system of mujaddids of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. May Allah save us from such misguided beliefs!

2. In his book Shahadat al-Qur'an, the Promised Messiah has argued long and vigorously that successors to the Holy Prophet Muhammad will always be arising. He writes:

"It should also be remembered that the conveying of the argument [of Islam] takes place in a different sense in every age, and the mujaddid of the time comes with the powers, faculties and qualities upon which depends the reformation of the prevalent evils. God will continue to do this forever, as long as He pleases that the signs of righteousness and reform remain in the world." (p. 46)

3. While Mirza Tahir Ahmad has said that "till the Day of Judgment" no mujaddid will come, the Promised Messiah commenting on a verse of the Holy Quran said the very opposite:

"Another point is that the letter ra in the word alif-lam-ra shows that this word refers to the permanent institution of mujaddids and the sent ones, which will continue till the Day of Judgment. . . . All these miraculous works and victories which took place at the hands of the mujaddids among the followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad after him, and will continue till the Day of Judgment, are really the achievements of the Holy Prophet." (Ruhani Khaza’in no. 2, vol. 2, p.63.)

4. Mirza Tahir Ahmad says there is no need for a mujaddid, but the Promised Messiah said that there is most definitely need for a mujaddid:

"After one week, clothes get dirty and it becomes necessary to have them washed. But even after the passing of a full century, is there not a need for a mujaddid? There is, most definitely there is. This is the reason why God established this institution that at the head of every century a mujaddid comes for the reform of the people." (Ruhani Khaza’in no. 2, vol. 3, p.225.)

5. Under the heading Coming of a mujaddid at the head of every century, the Promised Messiah is reported as having said in a discourse:

"What I wish to say now must not be treated lightly or superficially, but is a most important and magnificent affair. It is not something of my own devising, but it is what God Almighty has established. So whoever is daring and bold enough to deny it, is not denying me but is denying the words of God, and is being impertinent to deny the Holy Prophet Muhammad. . . .

"Every Muslim knows, and there probably cannot be anyone unaware of it, that the Holy Prophet Muhammad has said that Allah sends a mujaddid at the head of every century who revives that part of the religion which faces some trouble. The arrangement for sending mujaddids is in accordance with that promise of God which He revealed in the words: 'Surely We have revealed the Reminder and We are ever its Guardian.' Consequently, in accordance with this promise and in accordance with the prophecy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad which he made through revelation from God, it was necessary that at the head of this century, out of which nineteen years have passed, a mujaddid must be appointed for the reform of the religion and revival of the Muslims." (Ruhani Khaza’in no. 2, vol. 4, p.2.)

Let Mirza Tahir Ahmad ponder over the Promised Messiah's words that "whoever is daring and bold enough to deny" the coming of mujaddids "is denying the words of God, and is being impertinent to deny the Holy Prophet Muhammad."

6. When asked the question by a visitor, "Is it essential that a mujaddid comes in every century?", the Promised Messiah is reported as replying:

"Yes, it is essential that a mujaddid must come at the head of every century. Some people, on hearing this, say by way of objection that if a mujaddid comes in every century then tell us who were the mujaddids of the last thirteen centuries. My answer is that, firstly, it is not my work to give the names of those mujaddids. Put this question to the Holy Prophet Muhammad who said that a mujaddid comes in every century." (Ruhani Khaza’in no. 2, vol. 5, p.100.)

Similarly we say to Mirza Tahir Ahmad, when he asks us why a mujaddid of the present new century has not so far appeared, that his objection is directed against Allah Who raises mujaddids and against the Holy Prophet Muhammad who gave the promise of their coming.

We may also draw attention to the historical fact that many mujaddids did not come at the start of their centuries but much later. Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi, the mujaddid before the Promised Messiah, was even born one year after the start of his century, and Shah Wali-ullah, the mujaddid before him, was born 14 years after the start of the century of which he was the mujaddid. So we need not be so hasty about the present century.

In the extract from which we have quoted above, the Promised Messiah goes on to say:

"This hadith [about mujaddids] has been accepted by all the authorities. Shah Wali-ullah has also accepted that this hadith is from the Holy Prophet. It is contained in the books of Hadith. No one ever threw it out, nor said that it should be excluded. . . . I assure you that this hadith is not false, but true. It is commonly known that a mujaddid comes in every century. . . . Just as a century destroys the human body, similarly there also comes about a spiritual death. A new generation is born after a century. . . . In order to re-vitalise the new generation the law of God (sunnat Allah) is in force that a mujaddid comes in every century."

But the law of God, the prophecy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and the explanation of the Promised Messiah himself, that mujaddids shall always be coming till the Day of Judgment, has been condemned by Mirza Tahir Ahmad as "an evil (fitna) which has been crushed for all time."

We have not the least worry that Allah's promise shall be fulfilled in the future as in the past. It is the followers of Mirza Tahir Ahmad who need to ponder the question: How long can they continue to accept their khilafat system which only survives by falsifying and denouncing the established teachings of Islam as well as the Promised Messiah?