contents june 2002, vol.97, no - review of religions...mansoora hyder-muneeb navida shahid sarah...

Special contributors:Amatul-Hadi AhmadFarina Qureshi

Proof-reader:Shaukia Mir

Design and layout:Tanveer Khokhar

Publisher:Al Shirkatul Islamiyyah

Distribution:Muhammad Hanif

Mansoor Ahmed Shah

Basit Ahmad

Bockarie Tommy Kallon

Daud Mahmood Khan

Fareed Ahmad

Fazal Ahmad

Fauzia Bajwa

Mansoor Saqi.

Mahmood Hanif

Mansoora Hyder-Muneeb

Navida Shahid

Sarah Waseem

Saleem Ahmad Malik

Tanveer Khokhar

Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the opinions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

All correspondence shouldbe forwarded directly to:

The EditorReview of Religions

The London Mosque16 Gressenhall RoadLondon, SW18 5QL

United Kingdom

© Islamic Publications, 2002ISSN No: 0034-6721

EditorialWords in Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Notes and CommentsPolitical Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Progress of Islam is Dependant Upon KhilafatBased on a speech given in Germany in 1989

Imam Ataul Mujeeb Rashed - London Mosque, UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Patience and SteadfastnessHardships and the attainment of spiritual progression – Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) . . . 30

QUESTION & ANSWER: Interpretation of Sharia – Part IQuestions relating to the interpretation of sharia – Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad . . . . . . . 33

The Bondage of Sin –Extract from an article that appeared in the January 1902 Review of Religions. . . . . . . . 39

The Blind Watchmaker who is also Deaf and DumbContinuing our serilisation of the book Revelation, Rationality Knowledge and Truth

Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Contents June 2002, Vol.97, No.6

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Chief Editor and Manager Chairman of the Management BoardNaseer Ahmad Qamar

Words In Print

[ We set out below the article writtenespecially for the readers at our requestby the former Editor in Chief of theReview of Religions (1984 to 1993) whopassed away on 8 July 2002. This wasthe last article from this famous author. ]

The Review of Religions h a sbeen serving the cause of truthfor one hundred years and therelies in its printed words awealth of spiritual knowledgeand guidance: a treasure houseof religious knowledge.

Many a life has been awakenedand inspired by the printedword and often more than bythe spoken word. Lives havebeen turned around completelythrough the reading of thebiography of a great man orwoman. Even a few lines, aquotation or a poem has stirredand revolutionised the life of aperson. Some people havedescribed a particular book orbooks as their best friend orfriends. Such can be the impactof the printed word.

No doubt the eloquent words ofa magnetic speaker can castetheir influence upon thelisteners but their impact ismore often than not onlytemporary during the durationof the speech. It wears offwhen all is over. It is said ofhim, ‘A great speaker’ ,‘magnificent speech’, etc. buthis message fails to take root.This is often the case and thelistener does not implement thegood advice to which heenjoyed listening. It fades fromhis memory in no time. This isnot necessarily so in all casesbut it is a common occurrence.

‘O men, how long will youkeep listening to sermonsand turning a deaf ear tothem?’ Hadhrat Ali

Surely Allah changes not thecondition of a people untilthey change that which is intheir hearts.(The Qur’an: Ch.13.v.12)

A moving, cheerful orinvigorating piece of music maycaptivate the listener at thetime it is being played but the

2 Review of Religions – June 2002

Editorial

inner emotions aroused fadeaway after it has ended. A tiredand exhausted column ofsoldiers will pull back theirshoulders and quicken their stepin time with the music when theband strikes up a lively march;but when finished their energysaps. Similar is the case oftenwith those who enjoy a goodspeech while it lasts. At thetime it sounded inspirationalbut its effects seem todisappear afterwards. On theother hand the printed word isalways there and can be readover and over again; but not soan oral speech from which it isnot usually possible toremember all the points,quotations and referencesmentioned. The printed word isa permanent record from whichone can constantly drawinspiration and guidance when-ever one chooses to do so.

The lives of scores of peoplehave been elevated in one wayor another through the readingof the printed word. The biog-raphy or autobiography of agreat personage has fired theambition of many a youngster toemulate him or her in characterand successful achievement. An

inspiring book has uplifted manya soul towards God. The godlesshave become God-fearing. Evildoers have become saints. Thisis why Hadhrat Mirza GhulamAhmad(as), the Promised Messiahand Holy Founder of theAhmadiyya community in Islam,peace be upon him, urged hisfollowers to read at least threetimes the eighty odd books ofvarious lengths which he wrotefor the glory of Islam. He knewthe power of the printed word.Accordingly, he also founded theReview of Religions a centuryago in 1902 which has doneyeoman service in the dissi-pation of religious knowledge.

Let it be our prayer that thismagazine may continue to be abeacon of light for its readers inthe years ahead.

By Bashir Ahmad Orchard

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Editorial

Review of Religions – June 2002

I was amused to discover that in mydictionary the word ‘politics’ laybetween ‘police’ and ‘pollute’,something that one could arguewas a definition rather than asetting! It is certainly not beyondbelief, especially when one looksat how the political machinery ofgovernment enforces its will onpeople. The impact of this hasramifications on the financial,social and environmental wellbeing of society - a society that hasoutgrown national boundaries andnow encompasses the entire globe.The end of the 20th century sawthe phenomenal rise in the wealthof certain nations accompanied byan ever-increasing poverty ofothers: a phenomenon that hasgripped many third worldeconomies across Africa, Asia andSouth America, and has beenslowly choking them to death.

When such issues are talked aboutthen mutterings about global-isation can often be heard, butwhat paved the way and createdthe opportunities for globalcorporate bulldozers to run amoknorth, south, east and west?

It is often noted that this is a post-colonial phenomenon and its rootslie in the way that imperial powersabandoned such fledgling countriesto fight for themselves in thegladiatorial arena of world trade. Ifthat were not enough it is now alsogenerally accepted that themeasures taken by the powerfulnations to assist the developingworld proved counter productive -the loans made and measurestaken by the World Bank and IMF toenable redevelopment were inessence the makings of a falsee c o n o m y. They tied down poornations to unbearable levels ofinterest repayments, whichresulted in a bizarre situation thatcountries were ending up worse offafter accepting the help from thefirst world! But this was not all.Realising that merely giving loanswould not solve the economic woesof the Third World, countries wereforced to adopt measures that theywere told would help theireconomies and markets performbetter on the international plat-form. However, the package ofeconomic structural reforms, thatwas inseparable from the loans,


Notes & Comments POLITICAL ECONOMICS – by Fareed Ahmad, UK

served to rationalise publicfinance, privatise state industriesand attract foreign investors (i.e.ownership). One unfortunate resulthas been that foreign firms haveestablished themselves there andsiphoned the profits back to thedeveloped world. This left theThird World economies withenormous loan repayments,depleted natural resources and noindigenous firms that couldfunction and compete nationally,let alone internationally.Additionally, the Third World hadto combat tariffs and overcometrade barriers and at the sametime develop the infrastructureand promote literacy.

This has considerably weakened, ifnot removed, any chance of suchcountries being able to tackle theirbiggest problem - the huge debtsthemselves - and this factor, whichis the crux of the problem, is rarelyreviewed.

However, it would be wrong toplace all the blame on thedeveloped world, for the situationin the developing countries has inmany cases been made worse bythe people in power there as well.Their domestic pool of capital wasoften in government hands. Centralbanks were often riddled withregulations. Their economies werealso the victims of cor-ruption.

Sometimes the capital was wastedon buildings that no one wanted.Rather than pro-moting thedomestic economy, there was adesire to acquire foreign imports:instead of fruit juice, it had to besome foreign drink. Indeed withsuch home-grown problems, theWest may well ask the question:what have you done to helpyourselves? There is some hopethat the Third World has nowwoken up to this. Many countrieshave begun to realise that theycannot look to other countries forhelp simply because it can comeand go at any time. They have tostrive to live within their meansand promote investment in thedomestic economy. This will helpto make their economies grow andhopefully reverse the flight ofintellectual capital and encouragetheir citizens to work for their owncountry and economy rather workabroad. However, whilst they canseek to address internal issues, thestranglehold of the enormous debtscan only be overcome with thegenuine help of the developedworld.

In respect of this the teachings ofIslam of not charging interest andof encouraging remittance of suchburdensome debts as charityaddress both the human andeconomic sides of this equation.For example:

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Notes & Comments


The alms are only for the poorand the needy, and for thoseemployed in connectiontherewith, and for those whosehearts are to be reconciled,and for the freeing of slaves,and for those in debt, and forthe cause of Allah, and for thewayfarer - an ordinance fromAllah. And Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.(Ch.9: v.60)

The forgiveness of debts in suchcircumstances nurtures nobilityand respect and the principle ofnot charging interest is also afactor that is slowly gainingrecognition in the west as apositive economic tool.

The advanced world also has itsshare of poverty, primarily in innercities and in areas where earlierindustries have either ceased orhave moved out. In such placescommercial lenders refuse to lendmoney for fear of the repaymentsnot being met, but from this bleakoutlook a 'new' methodology isemerging in the form of socialinvestment. The economists arerealising that to turn suchsituations around the role ofinterest has to be either minimisedor eliminated. Thus, theinvestments are targeted to assistsmall business get off the groundand expand. As they develop they

generate employment, skills andattract more investment - a resultof this is that more money iscirculated in the local economyallowing more people to benefit.Thus, in a nutshell, if interest iseffectively removed then theproblem areas are given a fightingchance to regenerate and develop,as the money circulates amongthose who need it most.

This concept is being piloted andpromoted by some westerncountries yet it is odd that this isnot promoted on a bigger scale inthe Third World as well. This issomething that prompts one tothink of other reasons why this maybe so - for if it is evident that debtforgiveness and interest-freefinancing works at home then whydo governments not encourage andadopt this abroad as well?

Until they do, it seems that for theThird World interest remains andany money earned by thosecountries will continue to be usedprimarily for loan repayments, sothat for the sake of a few dollarssome can enjoy themselves whilstthey live at the cost of the miseryof many others as they die.

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Notes & Comments


Allah has promised thoseamong you who believe anddo good works that He willsurely make themSuccessors in the earth, asHe made Successors fromamong those who werebefore them; and that Hewill surely establish forthem their religion whichHe has chosen for them;and that He will surely givethem in exchange securityand peace after their fear:They will worship Me, andthey will not associateanything with Me. Thenwhoso is ungrateful afterthat, they will be therebellious.(Surah Al-Nur 24:56)

1,500 years ago from today theheavens saw an astonishingsight to which no similitude can

be found in the history of theworld. No sooner had the sunof prophethood risen on thehorizon of the world that theearth that was steeped indense darkness dazzledinstantly with light. From theblessed appearance of the HolyProphet Muhammad (peace andblessings of Allah be on him)for whom this universe wascreated, humanity that wasonce lost in the abyss ofdeviation, found the way toprosperity. In the shape of thereligion of Islam the spring ofDivine Beneficence gushedforth that saturated the earthparched for centuries andbarren lands bloomed with theevergreen fields of spirituality.

A magnificent revolution wasbrought about in the entireuniverse by a mortal com-

7Review of Religions – June 2002

Progress of Islam is Dependant on Khilafat

Based on a speech by Imam Ata ul Mujeeb Rashed, Imam of the LondonMosque given at the Jalsa Salana (Annual Convention of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community) Germany 1989.

[Translated into English by Mrs Shermeen Butt]

pletely absorbed in God and bythe prayers he made in thedarkest of nights. Those deadof soul for centuries becamespiritually alive and thoseastray for generations weretinted in the Divine colour. Theblind became clear sighted andthe mute spoke words of Divineknowledge. At that time such arevolution came about in thisworld that no eye had seenbefore and no ear had heard of.

This beautiful splendour ofAllah the Almighty’s mostexcellent manifestation in theshape of a most perfect humanwas at its climax when ourbeloved master the HolyProphet Muhammad’s (peaceand blessings of Allah be onhim) time to pass away came.How melancholy must have thesincere Companions felt at hisdemise; it is not that straight-forward to conjecture theextent of their sadness! Howaccurately it has been said:

‘With the arrival, that hadinherent happiness, of theHoly Prophet (peace andblessings be on him) Medinailluminated like the moon,

and today with his passingaway our eyes have notseen a place as dark asthis’.

The poet of Islam, HadhratHassaan bin Thabit (may Allahbe pleased with him) had losthis sight for quite sometime.However this was the day whenhe first realised that he hadindeed lost the light of hiseyes! How much grief andsorrow is veiled in the versesthat he uttered then:

‘O Muhammad (peace andblessings be on him), youwere [like] the pupil of myeye that I am blinded oftoday. Whosoever may dienow, I feared your deathalone.’

This anguished condition wasnot just Hassaan’s (may Allahbe pleased with him) rather allthe Companions were insanewith grief. Their one grief wasthat of losing a beloved beingwhose love was greater thanmother’s love and the otheranguish confounding them was:who was going to be thedefender of their beloved’s

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sacred trust, what was tobecome of the sapling of Islam?Who was to irrigate it? It wasonly in the stage of sowing,who was going to nurture itwith blood and life? And whoindeed was going to concludethis mission? The anxiety ofdefending, propagating andpromoting Islam was breakingup their souls; how would theDivine promise of the universaltriumph, victory and advance-ment of Islam be fulfilled? Atthis critical juncture in thehistory of Islam, completelyvanquished by these anxietiesthe revered Companions wereenduring extreme distresswhen True to His promise Godsupported His beloved’s peopleand His benevolent hand heldthe wounded hearts throughthe medium of Khilafat.

This tranquil hand of Allah theAlmighty came forth in theform of Khilafat and filled thetremulous and fearful heartswith calm and serenity. Thepallid hearts were revived thatthe Living, Self-Subsisting andAll-Sustaining God had placedthe coronet of Khilafat on thehead of a bereft and dying

ummah [people], granted thema leader who was a successor oftheir beloved master andthrough that affinity wasdeclared their beloved master.The Companions faces beamedwith happiness. The body hadfound a head; the convoy hadfound a leader who wore thegarland of Divine victory. Thiswas the appearance of theSecond Manifestation; thereward of the Rightly GuidedKhilafat and it was thecompletion of that Divinepromise that God had made tothe believers regarding theexaltation and victory of Islam.

Listen to the details of thisDivine promise and its grandmanifestation from thePromised Messiah (on whom bepeace), who says:

‘It has always been the wayof God, a way which He hasdemonstrated since the dayHe created mankind, that Hecomes to the aid of HisApostles and Messengers andgrants them predom-inance.He has stated in the HolyQur’an:

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Allah has decreed: ‘Mostsurely I will prevail, I andmy Messengers.’(Surah Al-Mujadilah. Ch. 58: V.22).

‘ Prevalence’ or ‘predom-inance’ in this context canbe explained as follows: It isthe fervent desire of allProphets that arguments infavour of God become firmlyestablished on the Earth insuch a manner that noneshould be able to refutethem. So with mighty signs,God makes manifest theirtruth and at their hands Hesows the seed of therighteousness which theywish to spread. However, Hedoes not complete thismission at their hands.Instead He causes them todie in such circumstancesand at such a time when itwould seen as if they hadfailed in their mission. Thisgives the opponents theopportunity to heap ridiculeon them. But once thesepeople have had their laugh,He shows another mani-festation of His power andcreates a set of circum-

stances that eventually leadto the fulfilment of thosepartially achieved aims. Inshort, His power ismanifested twice:

During the lifetime of HisApostles and through theirworks He shows the power ofHis Hand.

After the demise of Hisapostles when their followersare subjected to varioushardships. The enemy gainsforce and begins to thinkthat the mission of theProphet has been fatallyinjured. They even begin tobelieve that the communityof his followers will bedestroyed. Even members ofthe Movement fall prey todoubt (as if their backs hadbeen broken). Someunfortunate ones take to thepath of apostasy. Then, onceagain, God shows His Powerand His Might and He savesthe faltering community. Sohe who is steadfast to thelast witnesses the miracle ofGod Almighty.

This is similar to what

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happened at the time ofHadhrat Abu Bakr ( r a ). Thedeath of the Holy Prophet(sa)

was considered untimely andmany ignorant Bedouinsturned apostate. Thecompanions of the HolyPr o p h e t( s a ) were consumedwith grief. At that criticalhour Allah made Hadhrat AbuB a k r(ra) stand firm andthrough him He once againshowed a manifestation ofHis Power. Islam was thussaved from annihilation andHis following promise wasfulfilled, which said:

And that He will surelyestablish for them theirreligion which He haschosen for them; and thatHe will surely give them inexchange security andpeace after their fear.Surah Al-Nur (Ch. 24: V.56)

(A l - Waseeyat – RoohaniKhiza’een, Vol. 20 pp.304-305

This tremendous Power of Allahthe Exalted, the SecondManifestation, is that spiri-tually blessed system ofKhilafat, after prophethood, onwhich depends Islam’sadvancement, and its victory isreliant on it as well. Thisblessed system, is a represen-tative of prophet hood and isthe definite guarantee ofadvancements of all kinds. Thisindeed is the Promised Divinesystem of guidance that hasbeen promised to the believersin Ayah Istikhlaaf (Al-Nur V.56).

Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad(may Allah be pleased withhim) has given a most splendidelucidation on the significanceof Khilafat. He says: It isinferred from the study of theHoly Qur’an and the history ofprophethood that when Allahthe Exalted sends a prophet ora messenger in the world, themotive is not for one individual

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...WHEN ALLAH THE EXALTED SENDS A PROPHET OR A MESSENGER IN

THE WORLD, THE MOTIVE IS NOT FOR ONE INDIVIDUAL TO COME IN THIS

WORLD, TO GIVE OUT A CALL AND THEN RETURN. RATHER AT THE TIME

OF EACH PROPHET AND MESSENGER, IT IS THE DESIGN OF ALLAH THE

EXALTED TO BRING ABOUT A CHANGE AND A REVOLUTION.

to come in this world, to giveout a call and then return.Rather at the time of eachprophet and messenger, it isthe design of Allah the Exaltedto bring about a change and arevolution. Subject to theapparent means and motives ofthis, an extensive system andcontinuous endeavour isneeded. As man’s age isnevertheless limited, he is onlyemployed to do the ‘sowing’.To take this process of sowingto its conclusion, after thedeath of a prophet, He makesworthy people from among hiscommunity his continuoussuccessors and thus finalises hiswork. In Islamic idiom, thesesuccessors are called Khalifa. Monthly Khalid, Rabwah May1960.

The Promised Messiah (onwhom be peace) writes aboutthe greatness of the system ofKhilafat, its wisdom andblessing, in his bookShahadatul Qur’an:

‘A khalifa is in actual fact ap r o p h e t ’s shadow. As nohuman has eternal life,therefore Allah the Exalted

willed to everlastinglyestablish the prophet’sbeings, which are moreeminent and superior to allbeings in the world, till theDay of Judgment in ashadow-like manner. Hencefor this motive Allah theExalted planned Khilafat sothat the world may never, inany age be deprived of theblessings of prophet hood’.(Shahadatul Qur’ a n –Roohani Khiza’een Vol. 6,p.353).

A study of the Ayah Istikhlaaf ofthe Holy Qur’an tells us thatthe system of Khilafat, which isgranted to the believers as areward is a most blessed andmagnificent system of lead-ership. Allah the ExaltedHimself establishes this systemin that community of believersthat is adorned with faith andgood deeds. Khilafat is anappendix of prophethood and isthe perfect shadow of thatlight alone. In this respect thecomplete image of theblessings and the light ofprophet hood can be seen inthis reflection of prophet hood.

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This is a system that changeseach fear of the Muslim ummahin peace. It establishes theworship of the One and OnlyGod with such splendour that itbecomes the death knell forthe idolatrous way of life. It isindeed Khilafat that becomes atestimonial of the faith and thegood deeds of the communityof believers thus gives them alesson in unity and harmony.Khilafat is that cord of Allahthat threads the entire ummahin the link of unison and love,transforming it into a firm,solid base.

The most magnificent grace ofthe blessings of Khilafat thatAllah the Most Holy the Exaltedmentions first of all in AyahIstikhlaaf is the stability ofIslam and the honour of thefaith. The noble verse reads:

And that He will surelyestablish for them theirreligion which He haschosen for them(Ch.24:v.56)

That is to say that Allah the Al-Mighty and Incomparable,promises and makes a definite

announcement that Islam shallbe granted strength and honourthrough the system of Khilafatand the Divine destiny of theglobal victory of Islam shall bemanifested with full splendourand glory through Khilafat. Thewarning that in isolation fromthe system of Khilafat, thepossibility of any blessing, anyadvancement and any successcannot be envisaged isincluded in this challenging andperfectly clear declaration.

Success and prosperity willcurtsy to those who will bewithin the sphere of Khilafatand those who will turn awayfrom this grace will always belost in the void of failure andmisfortune.

The 1,400-year-old history ofIslam bears witness that up tillthe time when the correctsystem of Khilafat, that is, theRightly Guided Khilafat wasestablished, Islam hadadvancement and victory. Thesun of their successes andprosperity declined when theMuslims, as a requital of theirbad deeds were deprived ofthis Divine reward. At the

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passing away of our guide andmaster the Holy Pr o p h e tMuhammad (peace andblessings of Allah be on him)when Allah the Exalted grantedthe Muslims with Khilafataccording to His promise, thenduring the blessed era of theRightly Guided Khilafat, whichonly encompassed 30 years,Islam’s glory was establishednot only in Arabia but thelength and breath of thisworld. Allah the Exalted hadpromised the community of thebelievers that ‘You shallcertainly have the upper handif you are believers’ (Ch.3:V.140). In accordance with thispromise the Muslims weregranted success and victory ineach field and each direction.While the situation at the timeof the death of the HolyPr o p h e t( s a ) of Islam was very

critical for Islam, soon afterthe system of Khilafat wasestablished, the Islamic flagflew in the East in Afghanistanup to the borders of China, upto Tripoli and the verges ofNorth Africa in the West, in theNorth up to the Caspian seaand up to Ethiopia in the South.This victory and advancementof the Rightly Guided Khilafatstuns the world even today.

This was that age of theadvancement and climax ofIslam that even the colossalopponents were powerless tocontend with. Such was thestate of the grandeur of Islamand the awe of the Muslimsthat the great empires of kingsand emperors would tremble attheir name and would bowdown to them. The truth is thatduring this golden era of the

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....SOON AFTER THE SYSTEM OF KHILAFAT WAS ESTABLISHED, THE

ISLAMIC FLAG FLEW IN THE EAST IN AFGHANISTAN UP TO THE

BORDERS OF CHINA, UP TO TRIPOLI AND THE VERGES OF NORTH

AFRICA IN THE WEST, IN THE NORTH UP TO THE CASPIAN SEA AND

UP TO ETHIOPIA IN THE SOUTH. THIS VICTORY AND ADVANCEMENT

OF THE RIGHTLY GUIDED KHILAFAT STUNS THE WORLD EVEN TODAY.

Rightly Guided Khilafat Islamattained such glory andeminence that even todaywhen an impartial historiancasts his eyes on this era he iswonder personified. He fails tounderstand as to how theinhabitants of the desert ofArabia became the conquerorsof the world. He does notrealise that it was all the fruitsof the Rightly Guided Khilafat.That Rightly Guided Khilafatwith which the destiny of thetriumph of Islam is linked.

This brief mention of theadvancement and eminence ofIslam in the blessed period ofthe Rightly Guided Khilafatcannot be complete without alittle account of the problemsand seditions that arose oneafter the other, in particularduring the beginning of theRightly Guided Khilafat andwere vanquished by thegreatness of the Khilafat. Thetumult of apostasy arose,protestors of Zakat raised arevolt, the hypocrites tried tostop the organization of theMuslim ummah, false claimantsto prophet hood tried to scalethe walls of the palace of

Islam. It seemed as if theseheadstrong seditions wouldruin the greatness of Islam.However the God Who hadgranted the Muslims with thereward of Khilafat according toHis promise and Who had madethis promise:

And that He will surelyestablish for them theirreligion which He haschosen for them.(Ch.24: v.56)

The God of these true promisesgranted the Khalifa of thetime, Hadhrat Abu Bakr Sadeeq(may Allah be pleased withhim) with such resolve,courage and iron nerve to takemeasures that before theirvery eyes all these revolts weresubjugated and the harvest ofIslam was completely safe andsecure from these whirlwinds.

I shall only relate one incidentto establish the facts: Beforehis demise the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings of Allahbe on him) had directed tosend an army of Muslims in theleadership of Hadhrat Usamabin Zaid (may Allah be pleased

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with him) towards Syria. Thearmy had not yet left that theHoly Prophet (peace andblessings of Allah be on him)passed away. This instantlyaltered the circumstances. Inthe changed circumstances itseemed expedient by allaccounts to apparently stop thisa r m y. Hadhrat Umer Farooq(may Allah be pleased with him)whose political insight andcourage is widely acknow-ledged, presented himself inthe court of the Khilafat andsubmitted, ‘O Khalifa of theProphet! The circumstancesdemand that some changes aremade regarding this army. Inconsideration of the defense ofthe Centre this army should behalted.’

Reflect on the blessing and thegreatness of Khilafat, that theone who was considered kind-hearted and thus weak, the verysame Abu Bakr, who was nowgranted with the status ofKhilafat by Allah the Exaltedanswered, ‘Stopping the armyaside, by God! Even if birdsstart scavenging my flesh I shallnot commence my Khilafat bystopping something that was

commanded by the HolyProphet (peace and blessings ofAllah be on him) in his lifetime.What the prophet of God hassaid is final and absolute. Thisarmy shall leave and shalldefinitely leave and there is noway that this army should bestopped’.

The Companions submittedrespectfully to at least delaythe departure of the army alittle. Hadhrat Abu Bakr Sadeeq(may Allah be pleased withhim) said, ‘this is alsoimpossible. I swear by theBeing save Who there is noneworthy of worship, even if thedead bodies of the women ofMedina are ravaged by dogsand cats in the streets ofMedina, I would still never everstop this army that the HolyProphet (peace and blessings ofAllah be on him) had preparedhimself. This army shall leaveand shall leave immediately.’

The Companions tried onceagain and most respectfullysubmitted their advice that ifnothing else was possible, thenanother experienced personshould replace the young and

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in-experienced Usama as theleader of the army. HadhratAbu Bakr replied ‘certainly not,Ibn Abi Fahaqa would not darechange whoever has beenappointed by the Prophet ofGod. This army will leave in theleadership of Usama and willcertainly leave’.

Therefore the world saw thatdespite extremely unfavourablecircumstances the Khalifa ofthe Prophet, Hadhrat Abu BakrSadeeq (may Allah be pleasedwith him) fulfilled word forword what the Prophet ofGod(sa) had uttered from hisblessed lips. How faith arousingwas the sight when HadhratAbu Bakr (may Allah be pleasedwith him) went outside Medinato bid farewell to the army. Heasked Hadhrat Usama (mayAllah be pleased with him) tomount the horse and walkedalong side. Hadhrat Usama(may Allah be pleased withhim) repeatedly requested that‘O Khalifa of the Prophet ofGod, either mount yourself orallow me to dismount. Thereply was ‘ No, none of this willbe, neither I shall mount noryou shall walk on foot’.

Therefore Hadhrat Usama’s(may Allah be pleased withhim) army departed Medinawith glory. The circumstancesthat followed proved that thedecision of the Khalifa of thetime was most blessed and itbecame the source of Islam’seminence. The enemy was sobrowbeaten that they did notdare to attack Medina and thisa r m y, having achieved theirobjective, returned victorious. This magnificent episode in thevery beginning of the Khilafatestablished its greatness and itwas evident to all that Islam’shonour, the triumph of the truefaith and its stability isdependent on Khilafat.

After this magnificent era ofthe Rightly Guided Khilafat,due to the ingratitude of theMuslims the reward of Khilafatcould not maintain its originalform. Monarchy and sover-eignty became the norm inplace of Khilafat and alongwith this, the curtain camedown on all the blessings thatare associated with Khilafat.During this era of tyranny andsovereignty the advancementand triumph that was gained in

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the corners of the worldthrough Khilafat began towane. The prominence of theMuslims bid farewell to them.Their magnificence turnedaway and left them. Dissensionand discord grew to such anextent among the ranks of theMuslims that they completelydisregarded unity and accordand started fighting amongstthemselves. As a result thenation that had beenilluminated by the sun ofprophet hood and the moon ofKhilafat and had trodden thepinnacles of advancement andexaltation fell into theignominious abyss of declineand degradation. Each day andeach night of this period borewitness to the fact that theMuslims had achieved all thatthey had accomplished only bymeans of Khilafat. Once theyabandoned that Khilafat theirfortune ran out.

After being deprived of theRightly Guided Khilafat, thelengthy night of abjectness forthe Muslims lasted more or lessa thousand years. In exactaccordance to the prophecy ofthe embodiment of truth,

Muhammad (peace andblessings be on him) in thisperiod of dense darkness thestate of Islam became unspeak-able. Faith had reached thePleiades and the condition wassuch that:

Neither faith nor Islam remainsJust the name of Islam remains(Maulana Hali)

At long last the God of truepromises, according to Hispromise laid the foundation ofthe revival of Islam in the timeof the Latter-Days through adivine reformer. Allah theExalted sent Hadhrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad of Qadian (onwhom be peace) as the SecondManifestation of the HolyProphet (peace and blessingsbe upon him) and granted himthe high station of the ImamMahdi and the Pr o m i s e dMessiah. The objective of hisadvent was described as therevival of Islam, and estab-lishment of the Shariah and totake the work of thecompletion of the propagationof Islam to such an extent thatultimately results in Islam’striumph. Without exception all

18



commentators of the HolyQ u r’an agree regarding thefollowing noble verse:

He it is Who sent HisMessenger with guidanceand the religion of truth,that He may make it prevailover every other religion,even though the idolatersmay dislike it. (Ch.9:v.33)

that the triumph of Islam overthe false religions that is beingprophesized will be manifestedin all its glory and splendourduring the time of Imam Mahdi(on whom be peace).

Hadhrat Syed MuhammadIsmaeel Shaheed (may Allahhave mercy on him) writes inhis book Munsab e Imamat:

‘The manifestation of faithcommenced in the time ofthe Holy Prophet (peace andblessings be upon him) and itwill be concluded with thehands of the Hadhrat ImamMahdi (on whom be peace).’(Munsab e Imamat. p 76)

The Promised Messiah(as) h a shimself written:

‘It is God’s wish that allpeople of pious natureliving in various parts of theworld-regardless of whetherthey belong to Europe orAsia-be brought togetherunder the banner ofTawheeed (The Unity ofGod). It is His intention thatal His servants be gatheredinto one religion and it is forthe fulfilment of that goalthat I have been sent intothis world.’(A l - Wassiyyat RoohaniK h a z a ’ i n , Vol. 20, p.306-307).

We are witnesses to this thatthe foundation of this globaltriumph was laid with thesacred hands of the PromisedMessiah (on whom be peace)and that he sacrificed eachmoment of his pure life for thisobjective. May thousands uponthousands of Allah theExalted’s blessings and gracebe on this most belovedspiritual son of the HolyProphet (peace and blessingsbe upon him) who rendered thedues of service to faith. This isnot the occasion for a detailedmention of his services to the

19



faith. However, I must say thatthis champion of Allah theExalted rendered such magnif-icent services in Islam’sdefence and for its exaltationand advancement that eventhe most extreme opponentsopenly acknowledged this fact.He was declared as thevictorious general of Islam andit was affirmed that he hadstrengthened extremely solidfoundations for the globaltriumph of Islam.

Eventually that day arrived inhis life that comes in the life ofeach mortal. However, beforehis demise he gave the gladtiding that the Mighty andPowerful God would neverabandon the mission that hadstarted through him and thatthe divine operation of thetriumph of Islam will blossomand will continue to thrive inthe shelter of Khilafat. He said:

‘Most definitely consider ita sapling planted by God’shands, God will never let itdissipate. He will not bepleased until it has beentaken to an excellent stage.He will irrigate it and shall

encompass it and will give itastonishing advancements.’ (Anjaam Aatham, RoohaniKhaza’in’. Vol. 11, p.64)

27th May 1908 was the historicday when Allah the Exaltedbestowed the Ahmadiyyacommunity - established by theblessed hands of the Pr o m i s e dMessiah (on whom be peace) –with the reward of Khilafat andbestowed them with thatmeans of victory and successwith which the advancementand triumph of Islam isassociated. Today this divinereward completes its 90 years.God is our witness that, whilstprostrating before Him withutter gratitude, we acknow-ledge that every single day ofthese 90 years bears testimonythat through the bona fideIslamic Khilafat Ahmadiyya,Allah the Exalted has grantedthe Islamic faith with such gloryand dignity and such globaladvancement that it has theauthority of a continuous,living, luminous miracle.

By means of the AhmadiyyaKhilafat, the tale of the triumphof Islam, alongside being heart-

20



warming and faith arousing is sosplendid and glorious that thepen falters chronicling it andwords fail me as I endeavour tobring the ever-increasing globaladvancements of Islam throughthe Ahmadiyya Khilafat to thetip of my pen. The truth is thatthe seed of service andpropagation of Islam that thesacred hands of the Pr o m i s e dMessiah (on whom be peace)had planted has todaydeveloped into a magnificenttree growing in the shelter ofthe Khilafat Ahmadiyya. Likethe holy K a l i m a the roots of thistree are firmly established inthe corners of this world and itsbranches have filled thebreadth of atmosphere. Theestablishment of missionsoutside of India started in theera of Khilafat Ahmadiyya andnow with the Grace of Allah theExalted, the Ahmadiyya

community is established inmore than 170 countries. Theconvoy that started with fortydevotees has now reached inaccess of 40 million and is ever-increasing. The voice that rosein the obscure town of Qadian isnow echoing in the corners ofthis world. Allah the Exaltedhas granted this voice so muchacceptance and greatness that,in light of its significance andusefulness the intellectuals ofaround the farthest corners ofthe world listen to it with careand acknowledge its truth.

The truth is that in theauspices of Khilafat, theAhmadiyya Movement hasattained such a global personathat today no area of this worldis deprived of its blessings andit can be said in the literalsense of the word and withoutany fear of repudiation that

21



THE TRUTH IS THAT IN THE AUSPICES OF KHILAFAT, THE

AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT HAS ATTAINED SUCH A GLOBAL PERSONA

THAT TODAY NO AREA OF THIS WORLD IS DEPRIVED OF ITS

BLESSINGS AND IT CAN BE SAID IN THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE

WORD AND WITHOUT ANY FEAR OF REPUDIATION THAT THE SUN

NEVER SETS ON THE WORLD OF AHMADIYYAT.

the sun never sets on the worldof Ahmadiyyat. Rather itshould be articulated that ateach moment and in each placeAllah that Exalted lets the sunof His support and triumphcontinuously shine on the worldof Ahmadiyyat and in theshelter of Divine successes thispromised morning of the globalvictory of Islam is gettingbrighter by the moment.

Along with spreading a networkof centers to propagate Islamworldwide, under the auspicesof Khilafat Ahmadiyya thepublication of Islamic liter-ature in numerous languages ofthis world is a feat on its own.In the area of literature themost significant are thetranslations of the Holy Qur’an.Is it not short of a miracle thatduring the last few years of thefourth Khilafat Ahmadiyya, theAhmadiyya community has hadthe privilege to presentQur’anic translations in twiceas many world languages thanthe translations of the HolyQ u r’an done in variouslanguages by the Muslimsworldwide in the last 1,300years! Selected verses of the

Holy Qur’an, Ahadith andexcerpts from the writings ofthe Promised Messiah (onwhom be peace) have beenpublished in more than ahundred different languages.Islamic literature is beingpublished and distributed withextraordinary profusion. Anextensive scheme of ‘bookexhibitions’ is playing animportant role in the propa-gation of Islam.

The Ahmadiyya communityholds a distinction in buildingmosques around the corners ofthe world. The credit ofbuilding mosques in thethousands goes to thecommunity. Application of theIslamic teachings in the shapeof establishment of educa-tional and health institutions inEast and West Africa and theconsequential unconditionalservice of humanity is winningthe hearts of the people ofthese areas towards Islam. Inthis age of plunder and loot, inrendering selfless service toorphans and widows theAhmadiyya community has hadthe privilege of presentingthem with living accommo-

22



dations under the housingproject of ‘Baiyoot Al-Hamd’.

The Ahmadiyya Community hasalways played a leading andexemplary role in the defenceof the honour and reputation ofIslam. As far as sacrifices andindeed continuous sacrificesfor the glory and advancementof Islam are concerned, eachera of the history of theAhmadiyya community isabound with faith-inspiringincidents. This indeed is thecommunity that makessacrifices of life, time andhonour for the propagation ofIslam and with these sacrificeshas refreshed the memory ofthe Companions of the earliertimes. Who does not love life?To devote this very dear life forthe cause of beloved Islam, topresent the life of one’s unbornchildren for devotion to Islam,to migrate from one’s countryin order to propagate Islam andeventually give one’s life forIslam and be buried in thosestrange lands, to be beaten forthe sake of the glory of theKalima Ta y y a b a, to wearshackles and kiss them lovingly,to be imprisoned for the crime

of the love of Islam and spendyears upon years of one’s life indarkened cells, to bear painand to give away one’s life intime of need and thus write thetale of devotion with one’ssacred blood – these are allmanifestations of the samedevotion.

In short there is no turn on theroad to the advancement ofIslam where the Ahmadiyyacommunity is not engaged invarious operations. There is nohigh station along this roadwhere the footprints of thezealous Ahmadis who holdIslam dearer than life cannotbe found. The truth is thatAllah the Exalted has bestowed

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TH I S I N D E E D I S T H E

C O M M U N I T Y T H AT M A K E S

SACRIFICES OF LIFE, TIME AND

H O N O U R F O R T H E P R O PA-GATION OF ISLAM AND WITH

T H E S E S A C R I F I C E S H A S

REFRESHED THE MEMORY OF

T H E C O M PA N I O N S O F T H E

EARLIER TIMES.

this exclusive honour andprivilege on the Ahmadis forthe reason that this day on theface of the earth theirs is theonly community that trulyvalidates and presents a verystrong foundation under theauspices of a venerable Imamwho is accorded full obedience.

This is the only community thatis facilitated with the blessingof Khilafat; who knows to riseat the voice of a spiritualleader and to be seated at hissignal. Yes indeed, this is thevery same community whoseImam’s love for the people ofthe community is greater thanm o t h e r’s love and all thepeople of the community adoretheir Imam. The blessing ofKhilafat, having assembledthem under one hand, hasgranted them this miracle thatthese 40 million Ahmadidevotees have performed suchprominent actions in theservice and propagation ofIslam that those who callthemselves Muslims andnumber well in access of onehundred million, have not hadthe power to do. The reasonbehind this honour and good

fortune is nothing else but thefact that Allah the Exalted hasgranted the Ahmadiyyacommunity with the greatblessing of Khilafat with whichthe advancement of Islam islinked. In fact the truth of thematter is that to be grantedthe opportunity to strive andsacrifice in the cause of Islamis also associated with Khilafat.

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II(may Allah be pleased withhim) says:

‘Look, we are propagatingIslam all over the world buthave you ever reflected asto how this propagation istaking place? There is acenter under which allthose who have the love ofIslam in their hearts areassembling and are jointlyendeavouring for thetriumph and revival ofIslam. Apparently these arejust a few people, howeverthey have developed suchstrength that they canperform enormous, signif-icant tasks. Just as watercomes down from the sky indrops and these drops turn

24



into a trickle and this verytrickle takes the shape of aflowing river, similarly wekeep on getting greaterstrength and dignity. Thereason for this is simplybecause Allah the Exaltedhas granted you with theblessing of Khilafat.’

(Daily Al-Fazl, Rabwah 25thMarch 1951)

He also said:

‘Islam cannot prosper unlessthere is Khilafat. Islam hasalways prospered throughthe Khalifas and in futurewill also advance throughthis means.’

(Dars ul Qur’an by HadhratMusleh Maud (may Allah bepleased with him). PublishedNovember 1921)

The century old history of theAhmadiyya community, thestandard bearer for the dignityof Islam, is a history ofhardships, difficulties andDivine Graces. During thisperiod there have been ragingstorms of opposition, theopponents have ‘tried all thearrows in their case’, colossal

personalities have collidedwith Ahmadiyyat but accordingto the Divine promise the truthhas always prevailed and falsitydisgraced. At the passing awayof the Promised Messiah (onwhom be peace) suspicion anddoubt about Khilafat raised itshead, this was crushed byHadhrat Khalifatul Masih the1st (may Allah be pleased withhim) with the resolve anddignity of the kind thatHadhrat Abu Bakr Sadeeq (mayAllah be pleased with him) had.

At the beginning of the 2ndKhilafat the rejecters ofKhilafat once again raised ahuge upheaval and havingseparated themselves, took toLahore. Despite his relativeyouth at the time of this revolt,Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih the2nd (may Allah be pleased withhim) led the community sosupremely that all the tricks ofthe hypocrites were unsuc-c e s s f u l .

During the second Khilafat thedisturbance of Misri arose,Mistaris’ raised a tumult. TheAhrar started a country-widemovement to obliterate the

25



community. The tremor of thepartition of the country tookplace that forced thecommunity to move away fromits permanent center and makea new center. The communityhad barely found its feet whenin 1953 a national uproaragainst the community arose.The Haqiqat Pasand Party tookadvantage of the situation andtried to internally disperse andmislead the community. Thesecommotions raised their headsone after the other, however,each time a revolt collided withthe great rock that Khilafat is,it was crushed to smithereens!The Ahrar were staggered andthe defiled plans of thehypocrites bit the dust. ThePowerful hand of God grantedadvancement and triumph toIslam through Khilafat.

In the era of the 3rd Khilafat,during the uproar of 1974 theopponents once again triedtheir utmost to blot out thecommunity, but as always theywere unsuccessful anddisgraced. Many fortunateAhmadis gave their lives away,their properties were plun-dered, their houses were burnt

down but no one could takeaway their resolve and thesmile from their countenances.

At the commencement of the4th Khilafat, the opponentswere stunned by the swift-footed charismatic personalityof the Khalifa of the time andtook their opposing attempts tothe highest point when in 1984an all-time infamous ordinancewas issued and they tried theirlevel best to obstruct theadvancement of Ahmadiyyat.There is no doubt that as aresult of this a few virtuouspeople gave their lives andwere martyrs and numerouscaptives in the way of Allah arestill illuminating dark and dingyprison cells, but God be ourwitness that the progressive sunthat rose on the horizon ofAhmadiyyat, each day seals theattempts of the opponents withfailure. The Mighty Po w e r f u lGod blew those who wereimpudent in the presumption toblot out Ahmadiyyat to bits.Where is that tyrant who saidthat his power was very strongand that he would ensure thatthe Ahmadis ended up with ab e g g a r’s bowl? Where is that

26



tyrant, who in the footsteps ofthe Pharaoh, had declared thathe would erase the cancer ofAhmadiyyat? Observe, our Godhas obliterated these enemiesof Islam from the face of theearth. The prayers of thechampions of truth, theAhmadiyya Khalifas crushedtyrannous arrogance. One wasseen on the hangman’s scaffoldand the others’ body was blownto dust and dispersed in thedesert. Such has always beenthe fate of the opponents ofAhmadiyyat in each era andtheir future destiny is not muchdifferent either. One afteranother triumph is awaiting theAhmadiyya community underthe blessing and auspices ofKhilafat and our opponents aredestined to face failure afterf a i l u r e .

Listen to the one who speakswith the support of God, theone who has God’s shelter

above him, the one who isappointed by God as thedefender of the vessel of Islamand leader of the believers inthis age. Listen and pay heed towhat he says! Our beloved ImamHadhrat Khalifatul Masih IVs a y s :

‘There will be definiteopposition in the future,there is no denying itbecause it is in the destinyof the community that itwill go through manydifficulties and then enterstage upon stage ofadvancement. It is thesedifficulties that equip thecommunity for life. Afterthis opposition the nextextensive opposition that Ican see is not a tale of oneor two governments. Manypowerful governments willget together and conspire toblot out the community.The bigger the conspiracy,

27



SUCH GOOD FORTUNE AND PRIVILEGE IS OURS THAT TODAY IT

IS ONLY AHMADIYYAT ON THE SURFACE OF THIS EARTH THAT

HAS BEEN GRANTED THE BLESSED SYSTEM OF KHILAFAT.VARIOUS TYPES OF LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS CAN BE SEEN BUT

THERE IS NO LEADER APPOINTED BY GOD.

the bigger the failure willbe their fate.

The Khalifas before me gavecourage to the futureKhalifas and told them toput their trust in God andnot to fear any opponent. Iswear upon God and say tothe future Khalifas to havecourage and exhibitpatience and determinationlike I have done and not tofear any power of thisworld. The God who hasblotted out lowly opposi-tions before shall alsoshatter greater and strongerpowers and shall obliteratethem from the face of thisearth. The Ahmadiyyacommunity is, in any case,going to enter stage uponstage of triumph. Noworldly power can changethis destiny in any way.’(Speech by HadhratKhalifatul Masih 1Vdelivered on 29th July 1984at the European Ijtema ofKhuddam ul Ahmadiyya)

Such good fortune and privilegeis ours that today it is onlyAhmadiyyat on the surface of

this earth that has beengranted the blessed system ofKhilafat. Various types ofleadership systems can be seenbut there is no leaderappointed by God. There is nomanager who has God’s shelterover him; there is no one whohas been granted theknowledge of Divine help andvictory. There is but no one inwhose feet triumphs are laidout with Divine consent.

It is a further favour and Graceof God, who is the Source of allBeneficence, that we have hadthe honour to be servants ofthis Khilafat. Allah the Exaltedhas made us the trustees of agreat trust and has bestowed amagnificent reward on us.However, be mindful that thisprivilege brings great respon-sibilities with it. This rewardinvites us to obedience. Anobedience in which nothingremains one’s own and eachmotion and quietude is everready to be forfeited at thegesture of the master. Thisreward summons us to thefields of sacrifice anduprightness – the fields wherethe tales of the sacrifices of

28



the earlier times and thecompanions of this era ofLatter-Days are recorded. It isour obligation to revive thosetales today.

Today, it is our obligation toreplicate Hadhrat Bilal’s (mayAllah be pleased with him)resounding sound of Ahad Ahadthat echoed in the valleys ofMecca. Watch and listen, thespirits of the martyrs of Ahadare calling out that just as theyvaliantly presented the homageof their lives and did not darelet the torch of prophet hoodf l i c k e r, we too should befearlessly reverential towardsKhilafat and if the time andneed arise everyone of usshould be ready to offer thegreatest sacrifice.

Finally, I would like to concludeby presenting a very beautifuland comprehensive quotationfrom the writings of HadhratMirza Bashiruddin MahmoodAhmad, Khalifatul Masih II (mayAllah be pleased with him) thatsummarizes the whole subjectvery nicely. He says:

‘Friends! My last counsel is

that all these are indeedthe blessings of Khilafat.Prophet hood sows a seed;later Khilafat spreads itseffect in the world. Hold onfirmly to the bona-fideKhilafat and warn the worldabout its blessings so thatGod has mercy on you andraises you high in this worldand raises you high in theother world as well. Keepfulfilling your promises tilldeath over takes you andkeep reminding my progenyand also the progeny of thePromised Messiah (on whombe peace) about thepromises of their family.May the missionaries ofAhmadiyyat prove to betrue soldiers of Islam andmay they become workersof the Holy God in thisworld.’ (Daily Al-Fazl, Rabwah 20thMay 1950)

29



[Translator’s Note: All references toverses of the Holy Qur’an are givenin Arabic as they occur in the text.The English translation, presented inItalics, is taken from the translationof the Holy Qur’an by Hadhrat MaulviSher Ali Sahib ( r a ). Where thePromised Messiah( a s ) has himselfstated a certain interpretation of theArabic verse, this is incorporated inthe main body of the text].

Compiled and translated by AmatulHadi Ahmad

All the Prophets faceddifficulties and experiencedgreat tribulation – none has beenwithout it. That is why there aregreat rewards for the peoplewho bear all ordeals andafflictions with patience. In theHoly Qur’an God addresses theHoly Pr o p h e t( s a ) stating that heshould give glad tidings to thosewho are patient and to thosewho, when faced with an ordeal,say that there was a time whenwe did not exist - God createdus and we are his trust and to


Patience and SteadfastnessPresented below is a compilation, in translation, of excerpts taken fromtwo volumes of Malfoozat which is the title of the ten volumes containingthe collection of discourses, speeches and addresses of Hadhrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi (may peace andblessings of Allah be upon him).

The founder of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community was Hadhrat

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

In 1891, he claimed, on the basisof Divine revelation, that he wasthe Promised Messiah and Mahdiwhose advent had been foretoldby the Holy Prophet of Islam(peace be upon him) and by thescriptures of other faiths.

His claim constitutes the basis ofthe beliefs of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community.

Him is the final return. Thereare glad tidings, indeed for suchpeople. Through their [patiencein the face of ordeals] theyattain many blessings. One doesnot become deserving of thespecial tidings given by Godsimply through observingprayers, fasting and the pay-ment of Zakat. If prayers areoffered with all the relevantrequirements – that is anexcellent thing but the directaim towards God [throughvarious trials] hits the target andis the best [means of spiritualprogress]. It is through this thatone gains guidance and support.

The people of my Communityshould listen carefully andunderstand this point well thatGod has intended both types ofordeals for you. The first type isone relating to the practice ofreligious commandments, thatis the Shari’a and you shouldendure these. The second typeis the tribulation meted out by‘fate’ that one has to suffer andbear. Most people wriggle out ofsome aspects of the rules ofreligious practice but who canrun away from the decree offate! Man has no discretion overthis.

Re m e m b e r, for man there is notjust the world [here on earth].There is another world afterthis. Life here is very briefindeed. One person may dieafter fifty or sixty years,another may add a further tenor twelve years to that. Thetroubles of this world end withdeath but there is no end to theother world. When the event ofthe Q a y a m a h, the finalreckoning, is a truth and a beliefin it is part of faith then what isso difficult about patientlyenduring the troubles of this lifethat will last only for a briefperiod. One should make aneffort for that other world whichis eternal. What ‘provisions’ cana person gather [for that eternalworld] if he does not face anyhardship [in this world]?

The distinguishing sign of abeliever is that he should notonly be one who shows patiencebut that he should go further andcheerfully accept his situationeven during times of hardship.His pleasure and God’s pleasureshould become as one. This stateis the best. At times of trouble itis God’s pleasure that should begiven priority – the Bestower ofBounties [that is God] should be

31

Patience and Steadfastness


given precedence over thebounties. There are many thatstart complaining when they arefaced with a difficulty and that isas if they break their relation-ship with God. Some womenstart grumbling and cursing.Some men too are weak in theirfaith.

This is an important piece ofadvice and it should be remem-bered that if a person is facingdifficulties he should be fearfulof the possibility of an evengreater hardship befalling him.This world is a place of trials andto live in it in a state of oblivionis not a good thing. Mostdifficulties come as a warning. Inthe beginning it is light inappearance and a person doesnot consider it to be a hardshipbut then it turns into a mostdistressing ordeal. The fact isthat if someone is gently pressedwith the hand, he would find thisquite soothing but if the samehand is used to slap hard, itwould become a source of pain.Yet another type of tribulationmay become a threat to lifeitself. The Holy Qur’an hasmentioned both types oftribulation (mild as well ass e v e r e ) .

Trial and tribulation are therefor the achievement of higherstates. The Prophet Abraham(as)

did not bemoan the fact thatGod had asked him for his son.Instead, he was grateful to bepresented with the opportunityof serving God. The son’smother gave her agreement andthe son himself also agreed [tohis own sacrifice]. It is relatedthat once the minaret of amosque collapsed and the Kingof the land fell down inprostration, thanking God, thathe too had been granted theopportunity to serve themosque that had been the noblework of his predecessors.

Time passes in any case.Ultimately, even those who areused to eating delicious andwell prepared food [thewealthier people] also die buthe who is patient in the face ofhardship finds his reward. Onehundred and twenty fourthousand Prophets bear witnessto the fact that patience iscertainly rewarded. [Malfoozat, Vol. 10, pp.86- 89]

32

Patience and Steadfastness


What are the humanrights of non-Muslims inan Islamic society?

Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:This is a very pertinentquestion in view of currentaffairs and I am grateful to youfor raising it. The fact is thatMuslim opinion is, unfor-tunately, divided on this issue.Those who hold the ‘orthodox’view believe that Islam doesnot give equal rights to non-Muslims. By ‘orthodox’ I meanthe views that belong to the

‘medieval’ period of Islamichistory when there appearedmany scholars who began tointerpret Islam according totheir own wisdom and theirown views – views that are atvariance from the Islam thatwas practiced by the Holyprophet Muhammad of Islam.The ‘orthodox’ scholars,u n f o r t u n a t e l y, believe thatIslam does not give equalrights to the non-Muslims inMuslim states and sometimesthey define the unequal rightsas to what they should be andin what way they should beinferior. Even to the extent


Interpretationof Sharia - Part One

During his visit to Nigeria in 1988,H a d h rat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, theFourth Head of the AhmadiyyaMovement in Islam was invited byBTV, a Nigerian television company,to take part in a series of televisedinterviews in which a number of questions regarding Islam and Ahmadiyyatwere raised. Presented below are answers to some questions that wereraised by the BTV presenter in some of these sessions. Prepared by Amatul Hadi Ahmad

QUESTIONER

that some of the religiousclerics of this class wouldclaim that the non-Muslims donot have the right to choosetheir own dress - the form oftheir dress should also bedecided by the so-calledMuslim government and theyshould be forced to wear thatdress so that they may notappear like the rest of theMuslims. Hence, they shouldbe kept distinctly apart. The‘orthodox’ scholars hold thatthere are many aspects inwhich the non-Muslims haveinferior rights. I will giveexample of one. They holdthat the non-Muslims, living ina Muslim society, have everyright to become Muslims butthey have no right to preachtheir faith to Muslims.Furthermore, having becomeMuslims, should they laterdecide that they made thewrong decision and wish torevert back to their faith,according to the ‘orthodox’v i e w, they will not bepermitted to do so – they willbe killed. This is thepunishment. In short, thereexits in Islam only one way

traffic according to theirinterpretation of Islam withwhich we totally disagree. Wereject it entirely, not simplybecause we do not like it butbecause we know that the HolyQ u r’an specifically andcategorically rejects thisbarbarism and declares ‘war’against such an attitude.

The Holy Qur’an is full ofincidents of the past religioushistory and goes on con-demning one incident afteranother where the opponentsof truth took exactly this sameattitude [of attempting todestroy the Prophets of Godwho rejected their beliefs].The Holy Qur’an declares suchpeople to be with Satan andbound for hell. Re c o u n t i n gthese events, the Holy Quranreminds us that the ProphetNoah was told by such peoplethat you have no right ofbelieve in whatever youdecide and because you haveabandoned our religion, wewill either make you return tothat religion with force or wewill turn you out of our land,or we shall kill you. The same

34

Interpretation of Sharia – Part I


happened to Prophet Sho’aiband other Prophets after him.The Holy Qur’an repeats thishistory and mentions ProphetAbraham, Prophet Moses andmany others. The same situ-ation is faced by all of themand the Holy Qur’an condemnsall the people who opposedthe Prophets in this manner.We may well ask as to why itshould be the case that withthe appearance of the HolyProphet of Islam, the Leader ofthe Prophets, the very best,the Seal of the Prophets, thesituation should be completedreversed? It is absurd even toimagine this – it is totallyuntenable.

The Holy Qur’an categoricallydeclares: La ikraha fiddeen,that is, there is no compulsionwhatsoever in any faith, in anyreligion in any ‘ism’. Deen is aterm that has a very wideapplication [and includes suchgroupings as different schoolsof thought]. Not only, the HolyQur’an tells us that if anyonechooses to be a Muslim andreverts back to his old faith,denying Islam, and then

becomes a Muslim again, andreverts yet again to his oldfaith, even after all this theHoly Qur’an does not statethat such a person should bekilled – it tells us that the caseof such a person should be leftto God.

Is there anything in theQur’an that says thatadulterers must bestoned?

Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:One thing that needs to bebrought into focus as far as theShari’a law is concerned isthat the opinion of expertsdiffer on fundamental points.In view of this, it mustnecessarily be the case thatsome of them would be rightand some of them would bewrong. Consequently, we needto ask whether it could in factbe the case that those whotake a lenient interpretationof the Shari’a law may beright. Scholars who hold themore lenient view, base theirargument on the same versesof the Holy Qur’an as used by

35



QUESTIONER

those who use a more sterninterpretation of the versesregarding punishment. Thelogical question that ariseshere is to ask whether it is notpossible that those who takethe lenient view may be right.If the answer to this questionis in the affirmative, thenwould it not the case thatthose who enact an incorrectinterpretation of Islam, in thename of Islam, would beresponsible for those cruelacts? Suppose further that thegovernment change andanother government comes ora sect that was prevalent in anarea is reduced in number andanother sect becomes themajority. Should the interpre-tation of the Shari’a used bythe majority be different fromthe previous sect, would thatbe Islam changing its positionover fundamental issues?Certainly not. One should,therefore, be very careful andcautious in assessing Islamicpractice.

The accepted principle ofjustice is always this thatwhen deciding upon punish-

ment, the criminal should begiven the benefit of doubt.Even if the guilt of a criminal isfully proven, the benefit ofdoubt that should be exercisedin such a case would be thatthe minimum punishmentshould be enforced, not themaximum.

As far as the punishment ofstoning to death is concerned,the Holy Qur’an declares thatthose who indulge in forni-cation or adultery, (the sameArabic word zana is used forboth), should be flogged onehundred times. Here in thisverse there is no mention ofstoning at all anywhere.M o r e o v e r, it is also statedimmediately after this thatthose who indulge infornication or adultery shouldmarry amongst themselves andshould not marry the innocentMuslims so that they may notdestroy the social and culturalvalues of Islam. In otherwords, those who indulge insuch immoral acts shouldmarry amongst themselves.The point to note here is thatif the adulterers are killed, if

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they are stoned to death, howcan they marry. If they are tobe killed, why is the HolyQur’an raising the question oftheir marriage immediatelyafter prescribing this punish-ment?

The Holy Qur’an describes thepunishment to be one hundredfloggings. This flogging is notto be with something like thearmy hunter or the whip – it isdefinitely not like that.

The nature of the ‘flog’ to beused in enforcing thispunishment is, again, a pointof difference. In someSheikhdoms in some states ofthe Gulf, they still maintainthat the manner of floggingthat was carried out in thetime of the Holy Prophet hascome down to them throughcenturies. They maintain thatthe ‘flog’ is a piece of somehide of a relatively small sizeand that is all. The fact is thatthe ‘flog’ has not beendescribed or defined in theHoly Qur’an. This is somethingwe need to find out fromhistory - we need to know

what the Holy Qur’an meansand what the Arabs of theearly days of Islam used for thepurpose of ‘flogging’. Withoutdetermining such facts, thesecond issue will not bedetermined at all.

I have made investigations andhave come to the positiveconclusion that the presentday whip as introduced to usthrough the army or throughsome other ways of torturewas not at all the instrumentof ‘flogging’ used by the Arabsof the early Islamic period.Jaldatan is the Arabic wordused in the Holy Qur’an [wherereference is made to thepunishment of flogging]. TheArabic word J a l d a m e a n sanimal skin or hide - it doesnot mean a cane of some sort.It should be noted here thatJalda , that is, a hide of somesort, is incapable of killing.M o r e o v e r, it is believed bymany Muslim scholars thatduring the ‘flogging’ oneshould not raise one’s arm tothe extent that the white ofthe arm is revealed, that is tosay that the arm should not be

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raised very high. In short, it isimpossible for a person to bekilled as a result of ‘flogging’where a small piece of hide iswith the arm not fully raised.However, even this is not thewhole story. It is importantthat this aspect of Islamicteaching should be studiedtogether with its relevantbackground.

The Islamic teaching ofchastity is of such a high levelthat it produces an atmos-phere of chastity in the wholes o c i e t y. With its variousinjunctions, it creates a senseof chastity that pervades thewhole society. It engenders aculture and a set of values thatis different from that found inwestern societies or in Africansociety today. There you findthat generally a promiscuousattitude is prevalent while inIslamic Societies with all theappropriate application of theIslamic way of life it becomesa very different type ofsociety. In that society therewould be a very smalllikelihood of such mattersarising. Moreover, should an

accusation of adultery bemade, Islam enjoins upon thelaw enforcing agencies todemand four witnesses to thisact. Given this injunction, it isnot difficult to appreciate howremote the possibility of suchpunishment would become. Itis a threatening posture but inreality its application would bevery rare indeed.

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In the following pages wepropose to point out theremedy for the devouring evilof the times. It is plain that themarvellous mate-rial progressof the world is more thancounterbalanced by itsdeplorable spiritual decline.The souls of men have so farfallen away from their naturalnobility that they eschew puretruths and shun their verycontact. It seems as if someforcible energy were draggingthen down with an acceleratedmotion into the sink of iniquityand the lowest depths of vice.Such an entire change haspassed over the intellects ofmen that what is spirituallyugliest and most detestable isadmired for the dazzlingbeauty of its polish. Te n d e rconscience, that inwardmonitor to man, feels that it isfalling off from its naturalpurity under the demoralizinginfluence of some unseenp o w e r. The poison is so gen-erally spread that it has

destroyed almost a wholeworld. Pure and noble truthsare laughed at and trifled with,and a turning to God and totalresignation to His will is lookedupon as an absurdity. Every soulupon earth seems to be bentupon earthly cares andadvantages, as if some hiddenpower had constrained it tothat course.

Such is the evil attraction ofvice, and the truth is, as wehave already pointed out, thatthere are attractions workingin the world. The efficiency orinefficiency of an attractiondepends upon the certainty oruncertainty of our views withregard to any matter; and ifthe certainty is greater, theattraction too is more power-ful. It is a principle the truthof which is no lessunquestionable in the spiritualthan in the material world,that an attraction can only becounterbalanced by its oppo-site, if the latter is more


How to Get Rid of the Bondage of SinThis article appeared in the Review of Religions, January 2002.

powerful than the former. Sincethe world in its present state isbeing dragged down under theinfluence of an evil attraction,it can never raise itself up thelevel and soar into higherregions, unless an opposite andmore powerful attraction fromheaven overpoises the existingearthly tendencies and bringsabout a greater certainty in theopposite direction. To make itmore clear, no change for thebetter can be brought aboutuntil people begin to see withcertainty that there are realand more substantial andlasting advantages and delightsin submission to thecommandments of God thancan be felt by indulging incarnal passions and evildesires, that these advantagesand delights can be palpablyfelt in a virtuous life, and thattransgression is not only equalto but worse than death. Thisc e r t a i n t y, when it has an entirecontrol overt the mind, canalone be a safe protectoragainst sin.

It is further necessary thatthere should reign in the heart

the absolute conviction thatthe light is granted to manfrom heaven only through thesun who is the I m a m ( t h espiritual head) of his time.Hence it is that ignorance withregard to such a spiritual headis followed by a death ofignorance. The person whothinks he can do without thatreal source of light is deluded,for he sets himself inopposition to the unchange-able laws of God. The eyeshave a light, yet to availthemselves of it they mustborrow the light of the sun.The Imam resembles the sun inbeing the true source of alllight; he comes from heavenand illumines the world, andthe eye is blind that does notborrow light from him. On theother hand, the person who,with the aid of this light,stands on a firm footing ofcertainty is attracted towardsvirtue. Between the earthlyand heavenly attractions astruggle would naturally followand each will try to overcomethe other. The one shall bedrawing a man to virtue, theother to vice, the one to the

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How to Get Rid of the Bondage of Sin


East and the other to theWest. The more powerful theopposite attractions grow, themore fearful shall the strugglebe. It is a necessary conse-quence of great materialprogress that these twoattractions should display theirhighest powers. When theworld has attained the higheststage of material advancementthe days of heavenly advance-ments are not far. It is certainthat upon the heavens alsopreparations are, then, beingmade for a spiritual refor-mation. An attraction isproduced upon heavens andthe two contend with eachother for supremacy.

Dreadful is the day whenneglect and vanity reignsupreme upon earth, for it isthe day of vengeance and thepromised day of the greatspiritual struggle. That terriblestruggle has been described inmetaphorical language by theholy prophets of God. Somehave represented it as thefinal struggle between theangels of heaven and thedevils of the bottomless pit, at

the close of which comes theend of the world; while othershave from crass ignorancetaken it to be a physicalstruggle which shall be carriedon with steel and gunpowder.The latter view is, no doubt,the result of misjudgementand superficial notions, andmetaphorical words describinga spiritual contest have beenmisconstrued as meaning aphysical war.

In short, a hard struggle is nowgoing on between the darknessof earth and the light ofheaven. The prophets of Godfrom Adam to Muhammad,may the peace and blessings ofGod be upon then, foretold ofthis mighty struggle. It hasleaders on both sides, theconcealer of truths on the sideof darkness, and the revealerof truths on the side of light.The one comes from heavenwith a host of angels and ismanifestation of Michael, andthe other enters the lists withthe powers of darkness and isan incarnation of the Devil.Now, when the inhabitants ofPandemonium are standing

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fully equipped in a battle-array, and have either done orare engaged in doing theirwicked deeds, we arenaturally led to hope that theheavenly host is also makingpreparations for crushing theevil ones, and good judgementenables us to draw theconclusion that the host ofheaven is not negligent of itsduties. But the heavenlygovernment is averse tohubbub and clattering andcarries on its operations insolemn silence. Superficialobservers can hardly be awareof its doings until a signappears in the heavens, and am i n a r e t (light-house) iserected upon earth, silverywhite and shining with light.The heavenly light descendsupon this minaret which thenenlightens the whole world.

The closing remarks of the lastparagraph require to beexplained. The spiritual sys-tem notwithstanding itscoincidence in all prominentpoints with the physical world,displays certain peculiar markswhich a superficial observer

cannot detect in the latter. Aninstance of this is to be foundin the way in which the earthlyattraction becomes thepremium mobile of heavenlyattraction, although the twoare directly opposed to eachother. It is therefore reason-able to assert that at a timewhen both these attractionsshall act in their full force – inthe last days of the world’sh i s t o r y, when materialprogress shall have attainedthe highest stage – the twoattractions shall contend witheach other for supremacy, fortrue success is not attainedunless the enemy is destroyed.Where therefore the two rivalsare equally thriving andpowerful, the contest mustnecessarily be a hard one, foreach one of the rivals has atheart the destruction of theother. Reason therefore alsosupports the prophetic utter-ings of all the great patriarchsand prophets in as much as thestruggle between good andevil is the necessary conse-quence of the collision of thetwo rival forces, of whicheither one must overcome the

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other, or both be annihilatedin the contest.

According to the propheticutterances this final contestbetween good and evil may bethus described that after thelapse of a thousand years fromJesus which was themillennium of the Devil’simprisonment, an evilattraction gained ground uponearth. This was the time in thew o r l d ’s history when theMuslims had renounced thetrue and noble principles ofIslam, and therefore thatreligion was in a decliningstate. Its spiritual progress hadat that time been hamperedand its conquests had come toan end. It was born in the dayswhen the author of evil lay inchains in the bottomless pit.Its rise and decline at thesetwo periods was necessarythat what the prophets andlast of all St. John had spoken,might be fulfilled. It wastherefore in fulfilment ofthese predictions that thereligion of Islam began todecline after a thousand yearsfrom Jesus, and its further

progress was then and therechecked. Satanic movementsand operations thenceforthassumed different shapes andappeared in many-colouredgarments. The tree of evil tookroot in the ground andramified to an enormousextent. Some of its branchesspread into the East, othersreached the uttermostsettlements of the West, andnot a few shaded the Northand the South. No corner ofthe world was spared the evil.But the time during which theDevil had been let loose waslike the time of hisimprisonment limited to athousand years, and theprophets of God bore testi-mony to the same effect. Withthe close of the thirteenthcentury, […after Hijra…], theperiod of Satan’s freedomcame to an end. For it must benoticed that in thecomputation of periods ofprophecies we must start withthe lunar year as our basis,this system of reckoning theprophetic periods being taughtby Almighty God to both Jewsand Muhammadans. The solar

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year is an innovation of man,and therefore being againstthe sacred Scriptures of thesetwo religions, cannot beapplied in reckoning prophetictimes. In short, the days inwhich we are living mark thetermination of the respitegranted to Satan. The periodfor which he was set at libertyhas come to an end ; but as hedoes not like that his freedombe restrained and his authoritytaken away, a strugglebetween the good and evilattractions must naturally bethe result. It had been soordained from the beginningand the Words of God cannotpass away.

Other facts also uphold thesame view, v i z., that thethousand years of Satan’ssupremacy have come to anend, and we are now living inthe millennium of God’s reignand the dawn of it has alreadyappeared. The sixth thousandfrom the appearance of Adamhas come to a close, and theseventh, in which the secondAdam should have appeared,has begun. God made Adam on

the sixth day, and the sacredScriptures further beartestimony to the fact that aday is equal to a thousandyears with the Lord. Thepromises of God, therefore,make it absolutely necessarythat the second Adam musthave been born already,although not recognized as yetby the world. We cannotfurther avoid the conclusionthat the place fixed by God forthe appearance of the secondAdam must be in the East andnot in the West, for fromgenesis II:8 we learn that Godhad put the first Adam in agarden e a s t w o r d. It istherefore necessary that thesecond Adam should appear inthe east, in order to have aresemblance with the first inrespect of his locality. Thisconclusion is equally bindingupon the Christians and theMuhammadans, if they admitthe authority of theirScriptures and are not of anatheistic turn of mind.

The way has been smoothedfor a clear understanding ofthe true facts. The spiritual

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atmosphere of the world isovercast with dense clouds ofdarkness and the time hascome when light should shootout its beams and dispel theoverhanging gloom. But it isvain to expect that the dimtorches lighted by earthlyhands should penetrate thedarkness visible. Only clearand radiant heavenly light candrive it away. Pitchy darknesshas overshadowed the world,and the faint and flickeringlamp of righteousness is readyto die out. Traditional beliefs,unfruitful knowledge andformal prayers cannot bringback the light. The blindcannot lead the blind, nor is itpossible that darkness shoulddispel darkness. A newminaret is now needed whichshould raise its head far abovethe low huts made by earthlyhands, so that heavenly lightmay descend upon it and thecelestial lamp enlighten its topand thence shed its pure lustreupon the whole world. Thehigher the minaret is, thefarther shall the light reachand thus illuminate distantcorners of the world.

It remains to be explainedwhat a m i n a r (minaret) is.Minaret is the name given tothe pure, hallowed, noble andmagnanimous spirit granted byGod to the perfect man byreason of which he gets hisl i g h t from heaven-an ideaexisting in the literalsignification of the word. Theloftiness of the minaretrepresents the magnanimity ofthe soul of the perfect man,its firmness stands for theconstancy and determinationwhich he shows at the time ofthe greatest trials, and itswhiteness is a symbol of hisguiltlessness which isultimately establishes. Whenthe perfect man has passedthrough all these stages andundergone all these trails,when his magnanimity, con-s t a n c y, patience and deter-mination shine forth in theirfull glory and his innocence isestablished with conclusivearguments, then is the time ofhis advent in glory, and theperiod of his first advent,which was a time of trials andpersecutions, comes to anend. Then does the holy spirit

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invested with the glory of Goddescend upon his person, andthe Divine attribute of glory ismanifested in him. All thistakes place in his secondappearance.

The same reality underlies thepeculiar manner of the adventof the Promised Messiah. TheMuslims hold that he shalldescend near a minaret. Thedescent spoken of in thattradition really stands for hisadvent in glory which shall beaccompanied with amanifestation of the Divinepower and attributes. It doesnot exclude the idea of hisprevious presence upon theearth, but it is necessary thatthe heavens should hold him solong as the appointed time ofGod does not arrive. It is alsoan unchangeable Divine lawthat spiritual realities aresymbolized by physicalemblems. The temple atJerusalem and the Ca’ba atMecca are illustrations of thesame law and represent themanifestations of Divine glory.The same explanation holdsgood in the case of the

tradition which describes thedescent of the Pr o m i s e dMessiah upon or about aminaret in a country to theeast of Damascus. The word‘east’ should be especiallynoted, for Adam also had beenput in a garden east-ward. Theobject of the prophecy is in noway interfered with so long asthe minaret is built before theglorious advent of thepromised one, for it appearsfrom the prophetic utterancesthat the minaret is to be a signthat shall indicate his adventin full glory. It had beenordained that the Pr o m i s e dMessiah should appear in theworld in two characters. Atfirst he shall come as anordinary person sufferingunder trials and persecutionsof every sort. When the daysof suffering are over, thenshall be the time of his adventin full glory. It is before thattime that the minaret must becompleted, for it appears fromthe traditions that a minaretmust stand as a symbol of ther e a l i t y, and it shall be aphysical picture of thespiritual minaret to which we

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have before referred. Theworld shall not recognise himbefore his glorious advent forhe is not of the world. Norshall the world love him, forhe comes from God whom theworld does not love. It istherefore necessary that heshould be abused, persecutedand charged with all manner ofcrime. The Islamic propheciestestify that the Pr o m i s e dMessiah shall not be acceptedin the beginning. On the otherhand, he shall be subjected tomalignant and bitter treat-ment from the ignorant and tooppression and outrage fromthe mischief-makers. A manshall do violence to him andthink that he has done a deedof virtue, another shall do himinjury and regard his deed asmost pleasing in the sight ofGod. Thus shall he suffer andundergo every trail and faceevery difficulty till the comingof the appointed time of Godand the fulfilment of theDivine law of persecutionagainst prophets. Then shallcome the time of his glory.Capable hearts shall have theireyes opened and they shall

begin to think of him withunprejudiced minds. ‘Can thisbe a liar’, they shall say, ‘whocannot be subdued andcrushed.’ What is the reason,”they shall reason withthemselves ‘“that Divineassistance is withoutintermission granted to himand never to us.’ The inspiringangel of God shall thendescend upon their hearts andadmonish them that every oneof the circumstances relatedin the traditions which hadbeen a hindrance in the way oftheir acceptance, need notoccur to the very letter. It waspossible – nay highly probable –that some of those traditionswere errors and fabricationsand others were couched inmetaphorical language andcould not be fulfilled literally.What was the cause of themisfortune of the Jews inrejecting Jesus? Nothing butthat they waited till everyword of prophecy should havebeen fulfilled in a literalsense, and exactly accordingto their own notions of it. Buttheir expectation was vain andtheir hope a delusion. With

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that Divine law before themand with the God of theirfathers above their heads, theopponents of God’s messen-gers should consider lest theywere tried by God in the samemanner as the rejecters of theprophets before them. Inshort, such considerations,when duly weighed, shall atlast turn their minds to acceptthe rejected and sufferingmessenger of heaven, as wasthe case with the prophets ofby gone times.

There is not the least truth inthe assertion that it is the timefor resorting to the sword andgun for spreading the truereligion and righteousness.The sword, far from revealingthe beauties and excellencesof truth, makes them dubiousand throws them into thebackground. Those who holdsuch views are not the friendsof Islam but its deadly foes.They have low motives, meannatures, poor spirits, narrowminds, dull brains and shortsight. It is they who open theway to an objection againstIslam, the validity of which

cannot be questioned. Theyhold that Islam needs thesword for its advancement andthus brand its purity and cast aslur upon its holy name. Thereligion that can easilyestablish its truth andsuperiority by sound intellec-tual arguments, heavenly signsor other reliable testimony,does not need the sword tothreaten men and force aconfession of its truth fromthem. Religion is worth thename only so long as it is inconsonance with reason. If itfails to satisfy that requisite, ifit has to make up for itsdiscomfiture in argument byhandling the sword, it needsno other argument for itsfalsification. The sword itwields cuts its own throatbefore reaching others’.

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In keeping with the promise made in our introductory remarks wenow turn to the book entitled The Blind Watchmaker1 by RichardDawkins - now Professor Dawkins.

At first it was rather discomforting to read through the said bookbecause Professor Dawkins seems to avoid confronting the realproblems of life despite knowing them and admitting theirexistence. He loses no time in hiding his, theories behind asmokescreen of grandiose confusion of his own creation. It isimpossible to take up all the points he has made because most ofthem are irrelevant and unrelated. However, when he writes ofreal life and the mysteries it possesses, he does so purely as ascientist and, does not interfere with realities to gain any ulteriormotive.

Here Dawkins is at his best. But the problem is that when he is athis best, he is at his worst in relation to the cause of naturalselection. No honest treatment of the realities of life can lead tothe idea of life having been created with all its complexitieswithout a preceding conscious creator, which natural selection isnot. It is to avoid this inevitable logical conclusion that he hastensto escape into an unreal phantom world of his own creation - aland of computer games and biomorphs. Then, he attempts to

The ‘Blind Watchmaker’Who is also Deaf and Dumb

This is an extract taken from the bookRevelation, Rationality, Knowledge and Truth,written by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad.


The ‘Blind Watchmaker Who is also Deaf and Dumb

draw a line between the complexities of man-made machines andthe apparent Complexities of nature. He attempts to mislead thereader by claiming that the complexities of man-made wondersare real, purposeful and well-designed but the complexities ofnature, though they far exceed in the element of wonder theycontain, lack purpose and design. He would have the readerbelieve that it is only his impression that they are complex andpre-designed with a goal to achieve. Here he confuses the mind ofthe unwary reader by taking him to and fro, from hindsight toforesight, from foresight to hindsight - an amazing attempt atdeceit. He would have the world believe that all man-madeproducts are made with foresight, thus they must have purpose,design and complexity which are the work of a conscious mind.When turning to nature, he has to admit that in the products ofnature the element of wonder is greater by thousands of factorsthan in the man-made products. Yet he insists that because we areaccustomed to attribute design to human products, our hindsight,when we look at natural products, creates in us an illusion ofpurpose and design. Thus we are tricked into believing that theytoo must also have a conscious designer. Evidently, he has noargument to support this illusion theory except his authoritativeword for it. On the contrary, whatever illustrations he choosesfrom real life most powerfully contradict his conclusion and provethe converse.

Take for instance his scholarly work on bats. As we have alreadydiscussed bats and some of the wonders related to them, we shallonly refer to some of the observations made by Dawkins on thissubject and remind him of his promise made on the first page ofthe preface of his book that:

‘...having built up the mystery, my other main aim is to removeit again by explaining the solution.’2

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Regrettably, this is a promise he does not keep. To bats he devotesthe better part of the chapter Good Design. He writes:

‘Their brains are delicately tuned packages of miniaturizedelectronic wizardry, programmed with the elaborate softwarenecessary to decode a world of echoes in real time. Their facesare often distorted into gargoyle shapes that appear hideous tous until we see them for what they are, exquisitely fashionedinstruments for beaming ultrasound in desired directions.’ 3

So ably does he sum up the mystery. Further enlarging upon it, hepays the unique compliment to the bat’s ability of being a pastmaster on sonar. He states:

‘When a little brown bat detects an insect and starts to movein on an interception course, its click rate goes up. Faster thana machine gun, it can reach peak rates of 200 pulses persecond as the bat finally closes in on the moving target’. 4

Having raised the questions,

‘If bats are capable of boosting their sampling rates to 200pulses per second, why don’t they keep this up all the time?Since they evidently have a rate control ‘knob’ on their‘stroboscope’, why don’t they turn it permanently tomaximum, thereby keeping their perception of the world at itsmost acute, all the time, to meet any emergency?’4

he answers, informing the readers,

‘One reason is that these high rates are suitable only for neartargets. If a pulse follows too hard on the heels of itspredecessor it gets mixed up with the echo of its predecessorreturning from a distant target.’5



He goes on to speak of amazing wonders about bats’ aeronauticaland sonar potentials, and concludes by affirming:

‘we can only understand it at a level of artificialinstrumentation, and mathematical calculations on paper, wefind it hard to imagine a little animal doing it in its head.’6

Speaking of the complexities of similar but less complex man-made machines, he observes:

‘Of course, a sophisticated conscious brain did the wiring up(or at least designed the wiring diagram), but no consciousbrain is involved in the moment-tomoment working of thebox.’7

‘....our experience of technology also prepares us to see themind of a conscious and purposeful designer in the genesis ofsophisticated machinery.’8

From here the conclusive absurdity begins because he claims thatthe designer is the unconscious natural selection, the blindwatchmaker. Regarding the impossibility of a blind know-nothingDarwinian principle having created the living wonder of the bats’auditory system, he addresses the question:

‘How could an organ so complex evolve?’

The answer he gives is:

‘This is not an argument, it is simply an affirmation ofincredulity.’9

If Dawkins is told that the 64 kilobyte computer he claims to haveworked upon is not the creation of a conscious mind nor does ithave any design whatsoever, will he readily agree with the

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suggestion? He will certainly not, despite the fact that. hiselementary computer is far less complicated than a bats’’auditory system.

If he refuses to agree with the suggestion that any computer couldhave been built without a competent conscious designer, he musthonestly examine himself to discover the reason for his refusal tobelieve in a creator of life. The only answer he can find will bethat he does so because of the computer’s Complicated design andorderly construction which could not have happened by itself. Yetwhen it comes to life, he completely transforms his attitude, asthough he had undergone a metamorphosis. Being a biologist hemust realize that, as against a computer, life is far more complex.The figure of a trillion raised to the power of a trillion is a merenothing by comparison. If the enormous complexity of life is anillusion then a computer has a far greater right to be dismissed asone. How can Dawkins forget, even for a moment, that if hisverdict is correct, his own mind with all its intricacies must itselfbe described as an illusion. We do not want to be impolite to him,so let him speak for himself Which of the two will he choose? Willhe prefer his mind to be described as a mere illusion of adisorganized mass of grey cells, or will he rather dismiss his owntheories as hallucinations of a healthy mind. However much wemay desire, we see no third option for him. If the human mind isan illusion then all its products must also be an illusion multipliedby itself, like a profusion of dreams created by the dreams of amadman, or hallucinations giving birth to hallucinations. Thegreat scholar that he is, with a perfectly organized intellect, weare loathed to refer to his mind as an illusion. It is here thatDawkins begins to display his jugglery with words. Life is notcomplex, will be his simple answer. It is the illusion of those whobehold it to be so. Hence, not being complex, it can be createdby itself. To call the complexity of life an illusion and themechanism of a computer a complexity is tantamount to turningreason upside down. To call the day night, and the night day, is



less bereft of sense than Dawkins’ somersault. Incredulity is thecrux of the matter. Evidently it is incredible for Dawkins to believethe construction of a mere Boeing 747 by itself yet it is notincredible for him that far greater complexities in nature haveerupted into being without a creator. To dismiss this dilemma andto hide his prejudice against God he refers to the complexities ofnature as illusions of an over-credulous religious people. Butbefore this, he has to dismiss the existence of the builders of theBoeing 747 as an illusion of his own mind. The same arguments heuses against the believers in God can apply with even greaterforce to him. If a simple computer cannot be justified to havebeen built by itself, the building of a Boeing 747 becomes far moreimpossible. Yet Dawkins believes in these impossibilities. He onlybelieves in them because he insists that they present complexityof design which demand the pre-existence of a conscious mind.When it comes to nature, to escape belief in a pre-existing mind,he simply dismisses nature’s complexities as an illusion. If thecoming into being of a Boeing 747 by itself is incredulous forDawkins to believe, the creation of life by itself should have beenfar more impossible. This attitude only exposes hispredetermination not to believe in God.

Dawkins has to explain and differentiate between his assertionand that of others who confront him with the type of logic heemploys to suit himself. The only argument he builds in hisdefence comprises the following:

‘.....we have no intuitive grasp of the immensities of timeavailable for evolutionary change.’9

By this he means that we do possess the intuitive grasp of thechanges during the time taken for the building of a Boeing 747.But we can demonstrate that his argument of time is irrelevant.The shortness or longevity of time simply does not apply. In thecase of a Boeing 747 he knows that a conscious human mind was

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at work prior to its construction. That is the only reason why hebelieves in pre-design and purpose. Hypothetically, it can beproved that time is absolutely irrelevant to his argument. If anypart of this machine was discovered from the archives of nature,to have been buried there for half a billion years, would he thenbelieve that time could have shaped it? Most certainly not! Hewould have to believe in an unknown creator with a consciousmind. Dawkins may extend the time to any impossible number buthe cannot himself believe that even the wheel of a Boeing 747could have been created bit by bit. Life or no life is irrelevant tothe issue. Complexity, design and mechanical wonder are theissues involved.

Again to insist that the bat was created by the unconscious blindforces of nature is only an attempt to replace an unknownconscious creator with an unconscious blind principle ofDarwinism. Only those scholars can agree with this propositionwho, despite their great knowledge and dedication to rationality,set them aside momentarily to escape the reality of God.

The main service Dawkins has done to Darwinism lies in hisingenious device to rebut a common objection against theprinciple of natural selection which rejects the proposition thatnatural selection has any role to play in the internal intricateworkings of genes. This in fact is the main thrust of his approachto biology. He proposes a completely new idea of theinterrelationship between natural selection and genes. He doesnot deny attributing the role of development and mutativechanges to genes at all. He does not apparently claim that thesechanges are directly subservient to natural selection. All he claimsis simply that whatever bodily changes are brought about by genesare governed by natural selection. When natural selectionapproves of such changes in bodies as are worthy of survival, thisapproval is also automatically extended to the genes whichbrought them about. But that is what he has already done with the



help of the science of chance. Referring to the possibility of thehaemoglobin’s creation, merely by factors of chance, he mostemphatically declares that it is impossible. On page 45 he furtherelaborates this improbability. He writes of four chains of aminoacids twisted together comprising 146 amino acids in a singlehaemoglobin cell. From here he starts a rather complicatedmathematical calculation and concludes that for a haemoglobin tohave been created merely by a game of chance is next toimpossible. In his own words:

‘This is a staggeringly large number. A million is a 1 with 6noughts after it. A billion (1,000 million) is a 1 with 9 noughtsafter it. The number we seek, the ‘haemoglobin number’, is(near enough) a 1 with 190 noughts after it! This is thechance against happening to hit upon haemoglobin by luck.And a haemoglobin molecule has only a minute fraction ofthe complexity of a living body.’10

It is an ingenious argument which for him is mainly responsible forsolving the riddle of life by the application of Darwinianprinciples, which evidently it does not. The genes along with thehaemoglobin which contain them are in this way dismissed by theabove argument as impossible to exist. This is what we haveunderstood from our in-depth study of Dawkins’ relevant chapter.In fact, it is this brainwave of his which is largely responsible forinfluencing the younger generation of natural scientists today. Butwe shall presently demonstrate that this is only an illusion createdby him because the realities of nature do not support his theory.

We draw the attention of the reader to the fact that approval ordisapproval of environmental factors do not in any way alter,command, or influence the activities of genes, despite the factthat the bodies which contain them themselves lie at the mercyof environmental factors.

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As we are convinced that this is the most important argumentwhich Dawkins has managed to contrive, we should explain ourposition more elaborately. In fact we have already discussed theevolutionary processes in our book in a pre-emptive manner sothat Darwinian principles cannot be misapplied. We hope that thestudents of natural science will find this work helpful in their re-evaluation of the concept of evolution. Our approach is radicallydifferent from that of other religious and scientific scholars whohave specifically written against Darwinism. The present work isbased entirely on our study of general scientific literature.Despite the fact that we have not read the books written againstDarwinism, how can we claim that our work to be radicallydifferent from theirs? It is so because throughout this work wehave been taking our guidance from the Holy Qur’an which theyunfortunately could not have done.

Returning to Dawkins’ revolutionary approach, it should beremembered that the activities of genes are governed by lawsinbred into them by forces unknown to him. Genes work withoutany reference to environmental changes. When the principle ofnatural selection approves some bodily features of the living, itstill does not command and direct the activities of genes withinthose bodies. Again when natural selection disapproves of certainbodily features, with reference to their quality of survival in acompetitive world, it still has no influence on their genes. This isabsolutely evident from the study of evolution from beginning toend. The primitive organisms, like the amoebas and otherelementary species of life which followed them on the risingladder of evolution, were created by cellular activitiescommanded by genes. All these apparently inadequately equippedorganisms and animals have survived the entire span of evolutionalong with the genes they contain.

Finally, man appeared at the pinnacle of evolution. Between theanimal kingdom and man the difference is so vast and varied that



no scientist in truth can envision any bit by bit progressivechanges which can fill this vastness. We are not talking of simplephysical similarities of which Darwin has taken note of Theevolutionists talk of a missing link which may have been achimpanzee according to some or a gorilla according to others. Ofcourse a tail is missing in some species of apes, but for a tail tobe or not to be is not the question. The question is how the greatvoid can be explained between man and animals in theirbehavioural patterns and mental potentials? Which animal haslearnt to read and write, and to express himself in languages assophisticated as human languages? A comparison between humansand animals in all these fields will show that human potential ismany billion times greater than that of the animals. This is aconservative estimate when we turn to the realities. Look at allthe libraries of the world and what they contain. Can a scientistshow even a tiny library of the most elementary things in the caveof a gorilla or the private home of a chimpanzee? Show us a pageauthored by either of the two, dearly preserved upon their libraryshelves and we shall admit that our statement was ratherexaggerated. They talk of animal languages of course but theyalso talk of those languages as expressions not consciouslycreated. They even talk of dolphins mimicking human language,even uttering a word or two, but nowhere in the animal kingdomcan they demonstrate such languages as humans have coined withsuch immense variety.

Perhaps Dawkins’ imaginary monkey could write a line ofShakespeare on Dawkins’ computer by randomly pressing any keyson the board but the time needed for that chance single sentenceof Shakespeare’s drama is not only remote, it is impossible. It isincom-prehensible why Dawkins should have employed ahypothetical monkey while real monkeys were easily available. Heshould have employed a real monkey for the task without traininghim to press the keys. All he should have done was to tie a monkeyin the vicinity of the computer. Next morning if he had returned

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to watch what the computer had produced with the help of thatmonkey he would be far more likely to see the computershattered into pieces instead of discovering a single word ofShakespeare. But we know the time is too short. Each day a newcomputer should have to be bought and left at his disposal, andon the day the monkey breathes his last, the room would havebeen turned into a junkyard of shattered computers with not atrace of Shakespeare to be found anywhere, not even over thebody of the deceased. Still, time may be far too short if measuredby Darwinian standards. But did the apes not exist and evolve for5-8 million years before man? Is it not enough time for the bit bybit building of a Shakespeare among them? After all, thedifference in brain between them and man is just a single, thoughlong, leap.

Turning to the question of haemoglobin once again, if godhead wereto be attributed to anyone other than God, it must have beenattributed to haemoglobin and not to the blind, dumb and deafprinciple of natural selection. Whatever follows in the making oflife up to the creation of the human body - which according to himis far more impossible to be created by chance - must be accreditedto haemoglobin and not to Darwinism. Thus Professor Dawkinsseems to identify his god, yet denies him. He must admit thathaemoglobin is the god of all creation, yet there has to be a God ofhaemoglobin. That god according to him is a fabulous number ofchances, a number which certainly does not exist.

The sum total of his argument therefore, is that haemoglobincould not exist because the number of chances needed to createit are impossible. The next logical step for him should have beento explain why haemoglobin exists while it just could not haveexisted. The only inevitable answer to this dilemma is that its veryexistence rules out the game of chance being its creator. However,its immense intricacies and complexities of design cry out foranother Creator to replace chance. Professor Dawkins has simply



no third option. Either he should put his foot in the boat whichcannot exist, or in the boat which will willy-nilly carry him to thepresence of God the Creator. This is when he may have comenearest to God. But the moment he realizes his unavoidable folly,he immediately flies away, from Him in the direction ofDarwinism, his pseudo-god, which he knows full well had no handto play in the creation of haemoglobin. He has no rightwhatsoever to attribute the cellular wonders created in thehuman body to Darwinism without first explaining how theircreator, the haemoglobin itself, came into being. What factors,other than chance, must have shaped the basic cells of life is thereal question he must answer. Hence all his clever contrivances tosubjugate genes to environmental factors are absolutelymeaningless and as we have shown they are in factcounterproductive. This is the main problem of Professor Dawkins- avoiding the real issues and diverting the attention of the readerto issues that are imaginary.

In the light of this analysis, all his attempts of employingcomputers and his theory of bit by bit cumulative factors arerendered useless. The shortage of time or its longevity has neverbeen a problem. He himself informs us that the time needed forthe cumulative bit by bit creation of even the first bricks of life istrillions into trillions of times greater than the real available time.When he again informs us that the time needed for the creationof living bodies is far greater by comparison, he is left with noright whatsoever to discuss his cumulative bit by bit theories. It isabsolutely a sheer waste of his time and that of his readersbecause what he wants to pack into a mere one billion years - 1with 9 noughts written on its right side if taken as an Americanbillion, or 1 with 12 noughts as the British write it - could not havebeen packed by nature in a much larger number of years. In truth,the figure which has to be available for life with its cumulative bitby bit production could be as great as 1 with 1000 noughts writtenon its right side which in reality amounts to a total denial of

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existence. The reality of existence must therefore be dismissed byProfessor Dawkins as a mere illusion.

The final analysis Professor Dawkins has made in his concludingchapter relates to a choice between the belief in a deity and abelief in natural selection. Who is the creator, that is to beidentified. Whether he can discover Him or not, he certainly hasno right to replace God with natural selection. Natural selectioncannot be referred to as a creator, because it does not create butonly works on whatever has already been created. It isexasperating to find Professor Dawkins pointing his finger at amere principle, without a personal identity, to be the deity - aprinciple which is deaf, dumb and blind, and has no physical orspiritual existence. That most certainly is not the creator. IfProfessor Dawkins persists in denying the existence of any Creator,while he has no right to replace him with a principle, he onceagain has only two logical options. Either he should admit thatcreation exists, yet he has failed to identify the creator; or heshould proclaim that there is no Creator yet the creation exists.This would be tantamount to saying that there is the book TheBlind Watchmaker but there has never been a Professor Dawkinswho penned it!

In our previous chapter we have described the anatomy of an eyeand the whole optic system. When we read Professor Dawkins’remarks on the creation of the eye, they appeared so trivial anddeficient in a sense that we are deeply disappointed. He hasdepended entirely on his cumulative bit by bit theory to be atwork, a theory which we have roundly rejected in accordancewith his own admissions. Still we should like to draw his attentionto the fact that to treat the eyeball as an independent organ iswrong. It is an interdependent part of a full optic systemotherwise it ceases to play any role in the faculty of sight. Just toindulge in the futile exercise of proving that a small percentageof vision is better than no vision at all does not serve any purpose.



To prove that vision is possible even without a lens is just asmeaningless. We have described the human optic system withscientific details provided by scientists. It is to this system that hisbit by bit theory should be attempted to be applied - an exercisewhich he manages to avoid.

Let him begin for instance with the retina and inform the worldhow the rods and cones it contains evolved bit by bit andnanometre by nanometre to ultimately begin to recognizecolours, light and darkness. Their recognition, if confined tothemselves, could not have served any purpose. He should beginto apply his bit by bit theory to all the components of the systemwhich play a collective role in realizing what rods and cones haveachieved. A rudimentary weak eye with a mere 1 % vision is still aweak eye but half an eye is no eye at all. Retina, rods, cones, theganglia and the sequence in which they are placed, are essentialfor conveying the pulses to the brain. Many more such thingsabout their complexities defy the wisdom of Professor Dawkins’theory. We have every right to request Professor Dawkins tosuggest how, and for how long, the retina waited for itscompletion? If cones were not predesigned with all their amazingpotential, if rods were not preconceived with the fascinatingscientific know-how which is visible in them, how could they haveever created themselves falling into step with each other inperfect harmony far more exquisitely than the best orchestralsymphony ever conceived by man? Even the minutest constituentsof this grand organ require an in-depth study in their own right.How they developed slowly and gradually into meaningfulcomponents, completely synchronized to become an eyeball, tobegin to perform the functions which are bred into them isincomprehensible. These are just a few questions but there arehundreds and hundreds of questions which have to be answered bygodless naturalists. The entire eyeball, including all the delicateand complex features it contains has to be explained in the lightof his bit by bit theory. The optic system is far more complex and

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harmonized than any layman can ever understand. Even ProfessorDawkins, a great naturalist that he is, is only hovering above itssurface. But to cover the surfaces alone is a supreme task. So hehas a lot more work to do in the same field. There are so manyother illustrations from the sensory systems in animal life, whichdespite being hundreds of million years remote from us, presentthe same fundamental structural design. The differences are onlyperipheral but they too are precisely designed for the specificrequirements of the animals which possess them.

References1 DAWKINS, R. (1986) The Blind Watchmaker. Penguin Books Ltd, England.

2. DAWKINS, R. (1986) The Blind Watchmaker. Penguin Books Ltd, England, p.xiii.

3. DAWKINS, R. (1986) The Blind Watchmaker. Penguin Books Ltd, England, p.24.


5. DAWKINS, R. (1986) The Blind Watchmaker. Penguin Books Ltd, England, pp.25-26.






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