بسم الله الرحمـن الرحيم
Did Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad Claim to be a Prophet?
In the first part of this
series, I introduced the reader to the controversy surrounding the person of
Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, specifically, whether he actually claimed to be a
prophet or not. It is my contention that Ghulam Ahmad did not claim to be a
prophet literally and therefore deserves the benefit of the doubt from
the perspective of Islamic law with regard to the question of Takfir. Any
statement of apparent kufr which can be explained or interpreted in such
a way as to remove the understanding of kufr is to be afforded to the one who
made such a statement, provided he asserts himself as a Muslim. According to
this firm principle of the orthodox Ahlus Sunnati wal-Jama’ah, I believe
that the Ulema of Islam should revisit their fatawa of kufr that were pronounced
on Ghulam Ahmad in the interest of justice and fairness, and out of utmost
caution from making Takfir of anyone who claims to be a Muslim. The issue of
Takfir is a very sensitive and dangerous one. The traditionalist, Sunni Ulema
have always been extremely cautious and wary of exercising Takfir on
individuals claiming to be Muslims. The recent relative laxity among the
commercially produced so-called ‘Muftis’ and ‘Alims’ in pronouncing Takfir on
individuals at the drop of the hat is surely a dangerous and tragic trend. It
has resulted in casual violence among rival Muslim sects and emergence of Takfiri/Kharijite
terrorists who have outright murdered thousands and thousands of Muslims,
bombed Mosques and even slaughtered worshipers at prayer in suicide attacks.
The ill-advised and hasty fatawa of kufr against Ghulam Ahmad in the late 19th
century by the Ulema of British India set a bad precedent which resulted in
increased sectarianism and bigotry. So in the previous entry, I cited a
quotation from Ghulam Ahmad’s book Haqiqat-ul-Wahi published in May
1907, approximately one year before his death, in which he explicitly stated
that the institution of Prophecy ceased after our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. In this entry, I shall present a few more quotes from that
very book, so that the reader is not under the impression that it is an
isolated statement. As I have reminded the readers in the previous entry, there
are literally hundreds of quotes from the writings of Ghulam Ahmad in
which he flatly denies being a Prophet and reinforces the fundamental doctrine
of Finality of Prophethood in Islam. But in order to answer the doubt that
Ghulam Ahmad amended his position in the last years of his life, in which he
allegedly openly proclaimed himself a prophet, I have restricted myself to
quoting from Ghulam Ahmad’s last writings, particularly the book Haqiqat-ul-Wahi.
So Ghulam Ahmad writes:
اور سب کے
آخر حضرت محمد مصطفے صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کو پیدا کیا جو خاتم الانبیاء اور خیر الرسل
ہے۔
Translation:
“And at the end of everyone [Prophets] Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ was born, who is Khaatam-al-Anbiyaa [Seal of the Prophets] and
the Best of the Apostles.” (Ruhani Khaza’in v.22 p.145)
ہمارے نبی صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم کو سب نبیوں کے آخر میں بھیجا۔
Translation: “Our Prophet ﷺ was sent at
the end of all the prophets.” (Ruhani Khaza’in v.22 p.477; Titmah
Haqiqat-ul-Wahi p.44)
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