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The Evidence
Section 13:
Claim to be Messiah not against Islam
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Translator’s Note:
This Section quotes Muslim ulama of
modern times to show that a claim to be Promised Messiah or
Mahdi, as that made by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, is not disallowed
in Islam. It also gives his own views to the effect
that the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, and its interpretation
in any particular way, is not related to the fundamentals of Islam,
but is a secondary issue of the faith. |
13.1: Ulama on claim to be Messiah
or Mahdi
1. Maulana Abul Jamal Ahmad:
“If Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claims to be the Mahdi and the like
of the Messiah, this does not militate against the Shari‘ah.
Nor do we have any reason to deny it because the services he has rendered
to the religion of Islam can undoubtedly prove him true in the claim
to be Mahdi. As regards the saying that he was a prophet and messenger,
and recipient of revelation, and that the Holy Prophet Muhammad was
not the Khatam an-nabiyyin and prophethood did not end with
him — this cannot at all be accepted.”
(Hikmat Baligha, vol. ii, p. 4)
According to this statement, the claim to be Mahdi and the like of the
Messiah is permitted by Islamic Shari‘ah. What is objectionable is
to deny that the Holy Prophet was Khatam an-nabiyyin, and to claim
prophethood for oneself. We have already proved that Hazrat Mirza believed
the Holy Prophet to be Khatam an-nabiyyin and the Last Prophet,
and he held that no prophet could come after the Holy Prophet Muhammad,
neither new nor old. The revelation which he claimed to receive was wahy
wilayat (revelation received by saints in Islam), which, as shown
earlier, is recognised by Muslim theologians as continuing, and which
many Muslim saints in history claimed to receive.
2. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
In his well-known book Tazkira, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Indian
Muslim theologian and political leader, wrote:
“This shows how the Reformers among Muslims have always had
to face trickery, cheating and blood-thirsty verdicts from the Ulama.
And unlimited fraud and deception was employed against them in order
to incite the governments of the day against them. What has the question
of whether a certain individual was or was not the Mahdi to do with
the beliefs in Islam? It is not the basis of sin or goodness, nor
the criterion of faith and unbelief. If a person accepts as Mahdi
a man who calls to the law of Islam, enjoins good and forbids evil,
it does not corrupt his Islamic beliefs.”
(Tazkira, Lahore, first published 1919, p. 69)
3. Khawaja Ghulam Farid of Chachran (d. 1904)
This famous Sufi saint was a contemporary of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
Commenting upon the latter’s claim to be the Mahdi, he said:
“Mirza sahib has given many signs in support of his claim to
be Mahdi. Two of these signs which he has explained in his book provide
a high quality of evidence about his being the Mahdi ...”
(Isharat-i Faridi, Persian edition, p. 70)
When someone put to him the objection: If we do not find the characteristics
of the Messiah and Mahdi in Mirza sahib, how can we accept him as such?
The Khawaja replied:
“The characteristics of the Mahdi are secret, and not those
which people have in mind. Why is it surprising that this very Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad sahib could be the Mahdi? One hadith says that Messiah
and Mahdi is the same person. It is not necessary that all the signs
of the Mahdi should appear as people have them in mind in accordance
with their views and comprehension. If it had happened as people expected,
everyone would recognise the Mahdi and believe in him. In fact, when
we look at the prophets we find that only a few people in a prophet’s
nation would recognise the signs and believe in him. Others would
remain doubtful, and some would not recognise him at all. These people
would deny and be known as unbelievers. If the entire nation of every
prophet could recognise him, they would all become believers. Look
at the history of the Holy Prophet. His qualities and signs were prophesied
in the scriptures. When he appeared, people did not find some of the
signs to be as they had thought them to be. Those to whom these things
became clear, they became believers. Those to whom these things did
not become clear, they denied. The same applies to the Mahdi. So if
Mirza sahib is the Mahdi, what is the thing which prevents it?”
(ibid., pp. 123 – 124)
4. Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi (d. 1979)
He is the best known Sunni religious and political leader of this age
in Pakistan, and well-known all over the Muslim world. He wrote:
- “Whatever may be said about the Mahdi, everyone can see that
his position in Islam is not such that being a Muslim and receiving
salvation depends upon recognising and accepting him. If that had
been his position, he would have been explicitly mentioned in the
Quran, and the Holy Prophet would not have rested content with explaining
this to a couple of individuals, but would have conveyed it to the
whole nation in the way in which we find that Unity of God and the
Last Day have been preached. Anyone having even a little understanding
of religious matters cannot see for an instant why a question which
is so crucial to the faith could be left to a few isolated reports.
And these reports are of such a low order that compilers like Malik,
Bukhari and Muslim did not like to include them in their collections.”
(Rasa’il wa Masa’il, Maktaba Jamaat-i-Islami,
Lahore, 1951, Part I, p. 68)
- “The scholars of Hadith have criticised the reports about
the coming of the Mahdi so much so that one group does not believe
at all in the coming of the Mahdi. Criticism of the reporters shows
that most of these hadith were related by Shiahs. History shows that
every faction has used these reports for political and religious purposes,
and attempted to apply the signs contained in them to their own man.
For these reasons I have concluded that these reports are correct
so far as the basic fact of the coming of the Mahdi is concerned,
but the explanation of the detailed signs is probably not genuine.”
(ibid., p. 64)
13.2: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s
views
- “First, it should be known that belief in the descent of the
Messiah is not a belief which is one of our fundamentals of faith
or one of the pillars of the religion. In fact, it is a prophecy among
hundreds of prophecies, which has nothing to do with the basis of
Islam. Islam was not an incomplete religion till the time this prophecy
was explained, nor did it become more complete when this prophecy
was explained. It is not necessary that prophecies should be fulfilled
in the literal sense.” (Izala Auham, p. 140)
- “I do not claim that Messiahship has ended with me, and no
Messiah shall come in the future. Nay, I say repeatedly that, let
alone one, more than ten thousand Messiahs can come. It is possible
that one may come with worldly power and glory, and also possible
that he may first arise in Damascus [according to the prophecy literally].
But, my friends, excuse me from believing and accepting that the very
same Messiah, son of Mary, who died, shall descend from heaven with
his physical body.” (ibid., pp. 294 – 295)
- “My belief, and the belief of my followers, about Mahdi and
the Promised Messiah is that all the hadith of this sort about the
Mahdi are unreliable and untrustworthy. In my view these may be divided
into three classes, within which they all fall.
“Firstly, those hadith which are unsound and wrong. ... Secondly,
there are those hadith which are weak, and due to mutual contradiction
and conflict are removed from the level of reliability. ... Thirdly,
there are those hadith which are authentic, whose authenticity is
proved by repeated occurrence, and which have either been fulfilled
in some previous age ... or they are such that they do not speak
of physical rulership and warfare, but indicate and even state clearly
that he shall not have worldly kingship and rule, nor would he fight
or shed blood or have an army, but that he would re-establish faith
in the hearts by spirituality and power of the heart, as is the
hadith ‘There is no Mahdi except Jesus’ recorded
in the Hadith book of Ibn Maja. ... This hadith means that no Mahdi
shall come except the man who shall come with the temperament and
disposition of Jesus, i.e., he shall be the Promised Messiah as
well as the Mahdi. He shall come with the temperament of Jesus,
following his technique of teaching, i.e., he shall not return evil
for evil, nor shall he fight; rather, he shall spread guidance by
means of a pure example and heavenly signs. ... His teaching shall
be, do not fight for the faith, but spread it by means of the light
of truth, and the miracles of good morals and Divine nearness. I
say truly that he who now fights for the religion ... he disobeys
God and His Prophet, and goes outside the instructions, limits and
duties set by them. I wish to inform our benevolent government that
the Promised Messiah who has received guidance from God, and who
follows the path of Jesus, is myself.” (Haqiqat al-Mahdi,
pages i – iii)
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