Mahdawi Sect: Violation of Khatm un-Nubuwwah

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

Blessings and salutations of peace be upon you my Master, Apostle of Allah

It is vital that Muslims understand the true role and status of the Mahdi and the Messiah according to Islam so as not to be deluded by charlatans who lay claim to these roles in an attempt to violate the finality, perfection and immutability of the Din of Islam. The Mahdi is a great Imam who is promised to appear as someone who shall establish justice in the land and govern the Arab Muslims in accordance with the blessed Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم

He shall not establish a new religion, or a new law, or bring a new scripture. Nor is he an infallible and inerrant guide like the Prophets who possesses legislative authority. He will be a just and good Imam of the Muslims, from the progeny of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم through his daughter Fatimah رضى الله عنها

He shall bear the name of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and likewise his father shall be named with the name of the Prophet’s father (Abdullah). He will have a broad forehead and an aquiline nose, resembling the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم not in physical appearance but in personality and mannerism. Among his signs is that the people shall recognize him and give him the pledge of allegiance at the sacred Ka’bah, and then an army shall come up against him from the direction of the north, but it shall suffer an extraordinary destruction by being swallowed up in the Earth in a plain somewhere between Medina and Mecca. This latter sign is very critical as no Mahdi claimant to date has had it happen in his favor, including Juhayman’s brother-in-law.

We previously examined one of the most infamous false Mahdi claimants in the history of the Ummah, namely, Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri. This individual founded the so-called Mahdawi sect which persists till this day, being concentrated mostly in Hyderabad, India, and numbering in the hundreds of thousands. The current leader of this sect is Sayyid Mahmud Shahabuddin Kashif Miyan. The Mahdawis teach that their so-called Mahdi, Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri, was ma’sum ‘anil-khata, meaning infallible and inerrant. The implication of such a doctrine is that, like the Prophets, his every word is law. Practically speaking, based on this doctrine, the Mahdawis have added to the Islamic Shari’ah, for instance, by obligating the offering of a two rak’ah Salah on Lailat al-Qadr called “Doganah”. In this heresy, the Mahdawis are like the Imamiyah Shi’ah sects who claim their Imams are infallible and inerrant, and that their words are authoritative as Shari’ah, no different than the authority of a Prophet. This is how Iblis has tricked these heretics into denying the essence of Khatm an-Nubuwwah, or the Finality of Prophesy and the perfection and immutability of the Islamic Shari’ah.

Now I shall cite quotations from Mahdawi literature in which they openly teach rejection of the doctrine of Khatm an-Nubuwwah. Mahdawis believe Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri is a Prophet in the esoteric sense:

مہدی ظاہراً ولی اور باطناً نبی ہیں

Mahdi is outwardly a Wali (saint) and inwardly a Prophet (Majmu’ ul-Ayat wa Tasdiq ul-Ayat, p.10)

*This heresy of claiming that Muhammad Jaunpuri is a Prophet but in the esoteric sense باطنى نبى is no different than the heresy of the Qadianis who believe the founder of their religion, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, another false Mahdi claimant that appeared some four centuries after Muhammad Jaunpuri, was a ظلى نبى and a بروزى نبى (“shadow Prophet”). As a matter of fact, the Qadiani conception of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad bears a striking similarity to the Mahdawi conception of Muhammad Jaunpuri as we shall further explore. An undeniable similarity between these two heresies is that they both appeal to the Ayah in the Holy Quran:

وَّاٰخَرِیۡنَ مِنۡہُمۡ لَمَّا یَلۡحَقُوۡا بِہِمۡ

And others from among them who have not yet met them

(Surah 62, Ayah 3)

According to the Mahdawi followers of Jaunpuri:

اللہ تعالیٰ کے قول واٰخرین منھم لما یلحقوبھم کے تحت کہتا ہے کہ پس رسول آخر سے مراد مہدی ہے

And under Allah’s saying “and others from among them who have not yet met them” he says that the Mahdi is intended by last Messenger (Majmu’ ul-Ayat wa Tasdiq ul-Ayat, p.8)

*And like the Mahdawis, the Qadianis, coming four centuries later, derived from this Ayah (62:3) that a second Messenger shall appear among “others from among them who have not yet met them”. Hence, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani said:

واليه اشار سبحانه فى قوله واخرين منهم لما يلحقوبهم ففكر فى قوله اخرين وانزل الله على فيض هذا الرسول فاتمه واكمله وجذب الى لطفه ووجوده حتى صار وجودى وجوده فمن دخل فى جماعتى دخل فى صحابة سيدى خير المرسلين وهذا هو معنى واخرين منهم كما لا يخفى على المتدبرين ومن فرق بينى وبين المصطفى فما عرفنى وما رأى

اور خدا تعالی کا یہ قول کہ واخرین منھم لما یلحقوبھم اسی بات کی طرف اشارہ کرتا ہےپس اخرین کے لفظ میں فکر کرو اور خدا نے مجھ پر اس رسول کریم کا فیض نازل فرمایا اور اس کو کامل بنایا اور اس نبی کریم کے لطف اور جود کو میری طرف کھینچا یہاں تک کہ میرا وجود اس کا وجود ہوگیا۔ پس وہ جو میری جماعت میں داخل ہؤا در حقیقت میری سردار خیر المرسلین کے صحابہ میں داخل ہؤا اور یہی معنے اخرین منھم کے لفظ کے بھی ہیں جیسا کہ سوچنے والوں پر پوشیدہ نہیں اور جو شخص مجھ میں اور مصطفے میں تفریق کرتا ہے اس نے مجھے نہیں دیکھا ہے اور نہیں پہچانا ہے

And God’s saying “and others among them who have not yet met them” (62:3) points to this. So reflect on His saying “and others” and God sent down the Faid [emanation] of this Messenger [Muhammad] upon me and made it perfect, and put his subtlety in my being, until my being became his being. So whoever enters my group has in entered into the Companions of my master, the Best of Apostles. And this is the meaning of “and others among them” (62:3) as is not hidden from those who ponder. And whoever differentiates between me and Mustafa [the Prophet] has neither recognized me nor seen me. (Khutbah Ilhamiyah, pp.170-171)

*And Mirza’s blasphemous statement of being the wujud or being of the Holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is identical to the blasphemy of the Mahdawis who believe the being of Jaunpuri is synonymous with the being of the Holy Prophet Muhammadصلى الله عليه وسلم

حضرات محمدین یعنے نبی اور مہدی کے درمیان کوئی فرق نہیں ہے

There is no difference between the two Muhammads, meaning, the Prophet and the Mahdi (Shawahid ul-Wilayat, p.275)

حضرات خاتمین ذات و صفات میں موت و حیات میں بہر حالت ایک وجود تھے

The two seals [Prophet Muhammad and Muhammad Jaunpuri], in essence and attributes, in death and life, are but a single being (ibid, p.315)

تمام کلام اللہ میں جہاں کہیں محمد رسول اللہ کے نام مبارک کا ذکر آیا ہےحقیقت میں وہی نام حضرت محمد مہدی علیہ السلام کا ہےاس لۓ کہ آنحضرت نے مہدی کا نام میرا ہوگا فرمایا ہےاور صفات و ذات میں قطعاً اور یقیناً ہر دو ایک ہوۓ ہیں

In the entire Speech of Allah [Quran] wherever the name of Muhammad, Messenger of Allah, is mentioned in reality it is the name of the Mahdi, peace be upon him, because the Prophet said “Mahdi’s name is my name”, and in essence and attributes they are one (ibid, p.334)

*The Mahdawi heretics admit that their conception of the Mahdi is that of a Prophet, so in reality, like the Qadianis, the so-called Mahdawis are deniers of Khatm an-Nubuwwah:

مہدویت اور نبوت میں نام کا فرق ہے کام اور مقصود دونو کا ایک ہی ہے

The difference between Mahdawiyat and Nubuwwat is in nomenclature, but in function and purpose the two are one (ibid, p.112)

Muhammad Jaunpuri is himself quoted as having said:

نحن معاشر الانبياء لا نرث ولا نورث

آنحضرت نے فرمایا ہم انبیاء کے گروہ میں ہیں

We [Muhammad Jaunpuri] are from the category of the Prophets, we do not inherit nor are we inherited from (ibid, p.316)

*And this statement of Jaunpuri that he is from the category of the Prophets is not interpreted figuratively or as a poetic exaggeration by his followers. Rather, they literally applied the rules exclusive to the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to Jaunpuri with regard to inheritance, so that which Jaunpuri left behind when he died of a robe and some swords were not distributed to any of his family members.

The Mahdawi heretics have gone even further and have dared to claim that their so-called Mahdi, the Jaunpuri, is in fact equal to the Holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم (God forbid!)

اکثر امور میں صورتاً اور سیرتاً آپ نبی کے برابر ہیں

In most matters he (Jaunpuri), in appearance and in character, is equal to the Prophet (ibid, p.15)

The Mahdawis have gone further in heresy and blasphemy and claim that Jaunpuri is in fact superior to the Prophets!

نبیوں پر فضل اُسکو خدا نے عطا کیا ہو

God has granted him [Jaunpuri] excellence over the Prophets (ibid, p.324)