Frequently Asked Qadiani Questions:
More on Question 1
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A more detailed reply to the question why the Lahore Ahmadiyya
Founders did not accept Mirza Mahmud Ahmad as khalifa in
1914, while they had accepted Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din as khalifa
in 1908, is given below.
The khilafat established by Mirza Mahmud Ahmad in 1914 was
of a totally different nature from the headship or khilafat
of Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din that had existed before then. Firstly,
Maulana Nur-ud-Din held the same beliefs about the status of Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as those taught by Hazrat Mirza himself, in particular
that other Muslims are also Muslims and they do not become non-Muslims
by not believing in Hazrat Mirzas claims. Secondly, Maulana
Nur-ud-Din upheld the position of the Sadr Anjuman created by Hazrat
Mirza and said in a speech about Hazrat Mirzas booklet Al-Wasiyya
that:
It is indeed true that he has made fourteen men
the Khalifat-ul-Masih, and written that their decision arrived
at by majority opinion is final and binding.
Please see our detailed article.
So Maulana Muhammad Ali, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and their comrades
had no hesitation in fully accepting him as Head of the Movement.
However, Mirza Mahmud Ahmad on becoming the khalifa started
enforcing his belief on the Movement that all other Muslims must
be treated as if they were kafir, and he gave himself absolute
and autocratic powers as khalifa. Immediately upon becoming
khalifa M. Mahmud Ahmad had a resolution passed that:
in place of the words Promised Messiah
the words Hazrat Khalifat-ul-Masih Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud
Ahmad the second Khalifa shall be entered. Therefore, Rule
no. 18 shall now be as follows: In every matter, for the Majlis-i
Mutimidin and its subordinate branches if any, and for
the Sadr Anjuman and all its branches, the order of Hazrat Khalifat-ul-Masih
Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad the second Khalifa shall be absolute
and final.
The change of wording from Promised Messiah directly
to the second khalifa shows that when Maulana Nur-ud-Din
became head he had not substituted his name for that of the Promised
Messiah in this Rule, as Mirza Mahmud Ahmad did.
In our detailed article we have quoted
from a speech made by Mirza Mahmud Ahmad in 1925 when he further
changed the system of governing the Movement. He said, referring
to the above resolution:
The founding principle of the Council of Trustees
(Majlis-i Mutimidin) did not include the existence
of the khalifa of the time, which is the very fundamental
issue in Islam. A resolution has been passed during the second khilafat
to the effect that the Council must accept whatever the khalifa
says. But this is not a matter of principle. What it means is that
a body of members says that it would do so. However, the body which
is entitled to say this, can also say that it shall not do so. For,
the Anjuman which can pass the resolution that it shall obey the
khalifa in everything, if ten years later it says that it
shall not obey him, it is entitled to do so according to the rules
of the Anjuman. Or if the Anjuman says that it will obey this khalifa
in everything but will not obey another one, it has the right to
do so according to its rules.
Note his words: A resolution has been passed during the second
khilafat. He himself admits that before this resolution
(of April 1914) there was no such khilafat as that instituted
by him. He took the first step by that resolution in April 1914,
and then in 1925 he discovered that that was still insufficient
to make the khilafat as autocratic as he wanted, and that
his resolution was not a matter of principle. So the
kind of khilafat that he finally established in the Movement
had never ever existed till he became khalifa, so much so
that he himself had to take more than one step over a number of
years in order to establish it and achieve his purpose.
The headship or khilafat of Maulana Nur-ud-Din did not at
all violate the teachings of Islam or the instructions of the Promised
Messiah, while the khilafat set up by Mirza Mahmud Ahmad
in 1914 violates the very basic teachings of Islam (making the khalifa
into Gods spokesman on earth) and contradicts the clear instructions
of the Promised Messiah given in Al-Wasiyyat.
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