بسم الله الرحمـن الرحيم
Did Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad Claim to be a Prophet?
(Covenant of the Prophets: Surah 3:81)
In the previous entry I touched
upon the phenomenon of ‘Qadianis’ citing Verses of the Quran and Hadith of the
Prophet ﷺ to prove
the general continuation and possibility of Prophets after Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. I mentioned that this is something in which the Qadianis
actually oppose Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who repeatedly affirmed that sayyidina
Muhammad ﷺ is the ‘Seal
of Prophets’ after whom there is no prophet, and emphatically denied any claim
to prophecy for himself despite malicious accusations by the Ulema to the
contrary. Among the Verses of the Holy Quraan which the ‘Qadianis’ zealously quote
is the Verse of the Covenant of the Prophets:
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّـهُ مِيثَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ لَمَا
آتَيْتُكُم مِّن كِتَابٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مُّصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا
مَعَكُمْ لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهِ وَلَتَنصُرُنَّهُ ۚ قَالَ أَأَقْرَرْتُمْ وَأَخَذْتُمْ
عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكُمْ إِصْرِي ۖ قَالُوا أَقْرَرْنَا ۚ قَالَ فَاشْهَدُوا وَأَنَا
مَعَكُم مِّنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ
And when Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets
[saying]: “Whatever I give you of the Scripture and Wisdom, then comes to you an
Apostle, confirming what is with you, you [must] believe in him and help him.”
[Allah] said: “Have you acknowledged [this] and have you taken upon that My
commitment?” They said: “We have acknowledged [it].” [Allah] said: “So bear witness,
and I am with you, among the witnesses.”
(Surah 3:81)
Universally, all of the
exegetes and every single scholar of Islam in history identify the ‘Apostle’
spoken of in this Ayah as being the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. ‘Qadiani’ missionaries and polemicists, however, argue that
the ‘Apostle’ spoken of in this Verse is not the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ but rather Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Ansar Reza, a contemporary ‘Qadiani’
polemicist, frequently cites this Ayah to prove the ‘Prophethood’ of Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad from the Holy Quran itself. Their line of reasoning is that the
function of the Apostle spoken of in this Verse is merely to confirm what was
already sent of the Scripture and Wisdom from before him, and not to bring any
new Scripture or divine Law. Therefore, the Apostle whose glad tidings have
been given in this Verse cannot possibly by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Furthermore, the ‘Qadianis’ cite another Verse (Surah 33:7)
which speaks of Allah taking a Covenant from the Prophets including Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ himself, and claim that it is
the same Covenant of the Prophets mentioned in Surah 3:81. Of course, taken in
context, the subsequent Verse (Surah 33:8) makes explicitly clear that this is
an entirely different Covenant to the one mentioned in Surah 3:81. As for the ‘Qadiani’
argument that the function of the Apostle of Surah 3:81 is only to confirm what
was previously revealed to the Prophets before him, throughout the Holy Quran
this is one of the purposes Allah describes for which He sent the Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ and
revealed the Holy Quran. There are numerous Verses in the Holy Quran to this
effect. But for the purpose of this entry, I shall quote Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s
own interpretation and understanding of this Verse which clearly contradicts the
‘Qadiani’ one, for Ghulam Ahmad affirmed explicitly that the Apostle of Surah
3:81 is none other than Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:
اس آیت سے بنصّ صریح ثابت ہؤا کہ تمام انبیاء جن میں
حضرت مسیح بھی شامل ہیں مامور تھے کہ آنحضرت صلے اللہ علیہ وسلم پر ایمان لاویں
اور انہوں نے اقرار کیا کہ ہم ایمان لائے
Translation: “It is proven, by
a decisive text, from this Verse that all of the Prophets, in which the Messiah
is also included, were sent to believe in the Holy Prophet [Muhammad] ﷺ, and they acknowledged that ‘we have believed’” (Review of
Religions (Urdu): v. 1, no. 5, p. 191)
To be continued, in sha Allah.
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