Vol 1 - The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam

996 Pages·2008·7.14 MB·English

T G
HE REAT
R
EFORMER

T G R
HE REAT EFORMER
Biography of
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian
Mujaddid (Reformer) of the Fourteenth Century Hijri,
Promised Messiah and Mahdi
Volume 1
Based on
Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s
Mujaddid Azam
Rendered in English by Hamid Rahman
It was the time for the Messiah to come, and of none else
If I had not come (as the Messiah), it would have been someone else
– Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, Mujaddid (Reformer) of Fourteenth
Century Hijri, The Promised Messiah and Mahdi (The Rightly Guided)
© 2007 by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam (Lahore) USA Inc.
P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, OH 43016-0176, U.S.A.
All Rights Reserved
The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, Lahore (Ahmadiyya Association
for the Propogation of Islam) was founded at Lahore, Pakistan, in 1914 by
the prominent followers of HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad. It exists to pro-
mote a liberal, tolerant and peaceful picture of Islam, as found in the Holy
Quran and the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. It has published a vast
quantity of highly acclaimed literature on Islam in various languages, and
has branches and members in several countries.
Information, books and free literature on Islam may be obtained by con-
tacting:
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam (Lahore) USA Inc.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Website: www.muslim.org
Printed in Turkey
ISBN: 0-913321-98-2
This translation is dedicated to
the memory of my mother,
Begum Hamida Rahman bint Basharat Ahmad.
Hamid Rahman
PUBLISHER’S FOREWORD
It is with a sense of profound gratitude to Almighty Allah that the
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, (Lahore) USA is publishing the
English translation of the first volume of Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s three
volume Urdu biography of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. This monumen-
talwork has been translated by Dr. Hamid Rahman, Professor of Finance
at Alliant University and grandson of Dr. Basharat Ahmad. Dr. Rahman
has performed this work ever so diligently and has produced a final product
worthy of bearing the title of the original. May Almighty Allah, the most
Merciful and most Gracious, bless Dr. Rahman and his family for their
sacrifices in this cause.
This book will, insha Allah,go a long way in removing the many mis-
conceptions Muslims harbor about Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It
should provide a source from which persons will be able to judge the
claims, work and teachings of this great figure in a fair and objective light.
Today, we see the general Muslim populations adopting positions on
jihad, apostasy, freedom of religion, etc. exactly in accordance with what
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad advocated. This work before you provides
detailed insight into the extraordinary personality that started this refor-
mation of thought over a century ago.
We end with the heartfelt supplication:
“O Allah, help those who help the religion of Muhammad
and make us of them…”
The Publishers,
Ahamdiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, (Lahore) USA
P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, Ohio 43016
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Email: [email protected]
Web: www.muslim.org
viii
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is perhaps one of the most controver-
sial religious personalities of recent times. To his followers, he is the
Mujaddid (Spiritual Reformer) of the fourteenth century hijri, the
Promised Messiah and the Mahdi (The Rightly Guided One), whose
advent had been predicted by the Holy Prophet Muhammad. To his
detractors, he is an imposter who fraudulently claimed to be a prophet,
and the recipient of revelations. His followers are convinced that he
removed the dross from the preaching and practice of Islam that had accu-
mulated through the centuries, and restored the religion of Allah to its
pristine purity. His detractors are equally adamant that he introduced dan-
gerous innovations in Islam - innovations so unorthodox that he and his
followers deserve to be excommunicated from Islam. A million or more
Muslims who revere him as a spiritual guide are to be found in every cor-
ner of the world, actively proselytizing and winning new adherents to
their Islamic faith. But millions of other Muslims abhor him, and fill the
airwaves and electronic space with their messages of hate. Frequently this
hateful propaganda results in acts of violence against the properties and
persons of Hazrat Mirza’s disciples. Almost a hundred years after his
death, the controversy about his personality and the Movement he started
has not died down, and it evokes the same kind of passion, perhaps even
more, as it did during his lifetime. It is obvious, that HazratMirza Ghulam
Ahmad is not the kind of person who will be confined to and forgotten in
the pages of history.
Although his severest critics have been the Muslims themselves, his
mission was not to disunite the Muslims by chalking out a turf for him-
self, but to rally and unite the Muslims against the onslaught of
Christianity, which threatened the very existence of Islam in the nine-
ix
x THE GREAT REFORMER
teenth-century world - a world in which ‘Britannia ruled the waves’ and
the ‘sun never set on the British Empire.’ Over six hundred years of
Muslim rule in India from Delhi came to an end when the British success-
fully quelled the Mutiny of 1857. Under the protection and active encour-
agement of the British government, thousands of missionaries landed in
India and other colonies with the express purpose of turning the natives
into believers in salvation through Christ. However, since the Trinity of
Christianity did not have much appeal against the strict monotheism of
Islam, the Christian missionaries adopted a two-pronged strategy. The
first prong of this strategy was the character assassination of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad, and the second prong was the exploitation of a wide-
ly held belief among the Muslims regarding the second coming of Jesus
and the eventual success of Islam under his leadership. Most Muslims
believed that the Israelite Jesus did not die on the Cross, but was bodily
elevated into heaven. From there, he would descend in a later time and in
the company of the then ruling Caliph, termed the Mahdi (the Rightly
Guided One), would wage a bloody war, kill the infidels and ensure a last-
ing victory for Islam. The Muslims were strengthened in this belief by
some references in the Books of Hadith about the second coming of the
Messiah. The Christian missionaries were quick to jump on this belief and
argue, “If the final success of Islam has to be at the hands of Jesus, why
wait for that time, and why not believe in him now?” This argument
proved effective against many simple minded Muslims, who were won
over to Christianity. The Muslim clerics, who for the most part had aban-
doned reasonableness, rationality, and application of their mind to matters
of religion, were unable to face the onslaught of the Christian missionar-
ies.
For the Muslims of India, this was a double tragedy. The loss of tem-
poral power was followed in short order by relentless attacks on their
faith, and they felt powerless to defend themselves. Encouraged by the
general malaise that gripped the Muslim nation, the Hindus too picked up
the courage to launch their own attacks under various movements such as
the Arya Samaj, Brahmu Samaj, Deo Samaj etc. Muslim intellectuals
bemoaned the helplessness of the Muslim nation and cried out for a sav-
ior. The situation of the Muslim world outside of India was no different.
The following verses by the poet Hali, who lived in that era, are represen-
tative of the state of the Muslims at the time:1
1 Mussadas Hali.English translation by Dr. A.K. Pasha Saeed