|
Was
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib of Qadian the Mujaddid
(Renovator or Reformer) of the 14th Century?:
Mujaddid
(Renovator, Reformer):
As it is accepted by Muslims
that prophethood has come to an end with the advent of the
Holy Prophet Muhammad, it is also agreed that mujaddids will
be raised after him from time to time for the reformation
and regeneration of Muslim Nation (Ummah). Abu Da'ud,
regarded to be the most authentic work of traditions from
among ‘Sihah Sitta’ after
‘Bukhari’ and ‘Muslim’, mentions the
following report from the Holy Prophet:
"... Most surely Allah will
raise from this Ummah at the commencement of every
century one who will bring about the revival of their
religion."
Such a person is known as a
mujaddid. ‘Tajdid’ (renovation)
signifies purging Islam of all alien conceptions that have
entered into it with the passage of time, and resetting the
picture of Islam in its original splendour. Time affects
everything. It does not spare even religion. Interested
persons do associate such practices and doctrines with
religion as are detrimental to its cause. Islam had suffered
the same fate. The task of a mujaddid, under these
circumstances, is to revive and reveal the real beauty of
the face of Islam to the world.
Mujaddid is
Appointed by God:
It must also be borne in mind
that the term (God will raise or appoint) has occurred in
tradition for the advent of a mujaddid, and appointment of
anybody from human beings signifies only his appointment
from God. The same term has been used in the Holy Qur'an
for appointing messengers. This means that the
appointment of a mujaddid indicates the raising of a
particular person who has been bestowed with the gift of
Divine revelation and communication for a special purpose.
Ulama and leaders, no doubt, have always been present among
Muslims and they too serve Islam in their own way but a
mujaddid is a servant of Islam with whom Almighty God
communicates and whom He appoints for a specific purpose,
i.e., for the eradication of errors in religion that have
weakened and distorted the original form of Islam. Such
mujaddids have been appearing at the head of every
century.
Authenticity
of the Hadith of Mujaddid:
Imam Sayuti writes in
‘Mirqat al-Sa'ud’ that all the preservers
of Hadith agree on the authenticity of this tradition, and
fore-runners like Hakim and Baihaqui and their successors
like Abdul Fazal Iraqi and Ibn-Hajar all approve of its
genuineness. Ibni-Asakir too, after accepting the truth of
this tradition writes that this proves the coming of
mujaddid at the beginning of every century. Shah Wali Ullah
of Delhi in his book ‘Izalat al-Khifa’ and
‘Tafhimat-i-Ilahiyya’ also admits the
authenticity of this report.
Another argument for its genuineness
is that other authentic traditions collaborate with it. In
fact the basis of this tradition lies in the Holy Qur'an.
The fundamental principle is that in spite of bringing
prophethood to an end God will continue to communicate with
the sages of this ummah for the eradication of errors
that may find place in Islam from time to time. He would
himself guide this nation, by raising mujaddids at
different intervals. Free Communication of God with
non-prophets has been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an. The
mother of Moses, for instance, was not a prophetess, but the
Holy Qur'an clearly says:
"And We revealed to the
mother of Moses" (XXVIII:7).
At another place we
observe:
"When We revealed to your
mother what was revealed" (XX:38).
In both these verses Moses' mother has
been referred to as the recipient of Divine revelation and
this revelation was positive to such an extent that she put
her son Moses in the river without any fear. Mother of Jesus
was also spoken to by angels and she too was not a
prophetess. Companions of Jesus were also not prophets, but
the Holy Qur'an says:
"And when I revealed to the
disciples" (V:111). About the saints of this
'ummah' we find:
"Angels descend upon them" (XI.
30).
And again:
"They shall have good news in
this world's life." (X : 64).
These ‘mubasharat’ in
authentic traditions of the Holy Prophet have been called a
part of prophethood:
"Nothing is left of
prophethood except
‘mubashsharat’."
Moreover, in reports that have been
agreed upon by all it has been mentioned that "as God spoke
with non-prophets from among other nations, so shall He
address to persons of this ‘Ummah’. Umar
the Great was one of them." (Bukhari).
Thus if Divine communication is
indispensable to a ‘mujaddid’ both the
Qur'an and the genuine tradition confirm that God shall
always communicate with such persons in this
nation.
Claims of
other Mujaddids:
Another strong argument in
favour of the authenticity of this tradition is that many
renowned Muslim saints like Jalal-ud-Din Sayuti, Shah Wali
Ullah of Delhi, Mujaddid Alif Thani have openly declared
themselves, in accordance with the report, to be
‘mujaddids’ of respective centuries. To quote one
example I refer to Shaikh Ahmad of Sirhind who is very
well-known with the title of Mujaddid Alif Thani (Mujaddid
of the second thousand), and he is referred to as
‘Mujaddid Sahib’ among common people. His claim
can be found in the following words in one of his
letters:
"This knowledge has been
derived from illumination of the lamp of prophethood...
and the possessor of this knowledge and wisdom is the
mujaddid of this thousand years... and it must be
remembered that a ‘mujaddid’ has passed at the
head of each century but the ‘mujaddid’ of a
thousand years is different from the ‘mujaddid’
of the century."
This statement is true as the
popularity of Hazrat Shaikh Ahmad in this part of the world
has excelled all other previous
‘mujaddids’.
THE
MUJADDID OF THE 14th
CENTURY:
Thus when it has been
established from the Holy Qur'an, traditions, sayings and
claims of other ‘mujaddids’ that the coming of a
‘mujaddid’ at the beginning of each century is
essential, then exactly at the head of the
14th century Hijrah the claim of being a
‘mujaddid’ by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian was
just in accordance with the spirit and tradition of Islam.
Quite obviously, appearance of a ‘mujaddid’ at the
beginning of each century has been made essential; and if no
‘mujaddid’ had appeared at the head of the
14th century not only the Hadith had to be
falsified but also the principle of the Holy Qur'an.
Moreover, the truth of the claims of Muslim saints must have
also become doubtful. Strangely enough more than one
‘mujaddid’ had appeared during the past centuries,
but off the head of the 14th century
nobody claimed to be a ‘mujaddid’ except Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad.
If we ponder a little deeply his
position as a renovator becomes more established. He was
gifted with Divine communication even fourteen or fifteen
years before his claims. He was then a champion of the cause
of Islam; a great defender of Islam against the onslaughts
of other religions. He not only dealt with the old religions
like Christianity and Hinduism with all the argumentative
force at his command but also made a thorough analysis of
the new movements in India like Brahmo Samaj and
Arya Samaj. The example of no one else can be cited,
who stood so firm to defend Islam at such a critical moment,
and the Muslim world fully realised this fact. Years before
his actual claim, his piety, righteousness and devotion to
God were very well known to his intimate friends and
relatives. His scholarship was also admitted on all
hands.
While paying homage to a book by
Hazrat Mirza Sahib a person who turned to be the greatest
opponent of Ahmadiyya Movement said, "The like of it has not
appeared in Islam before." This is a very strong evidence
for truth-seekers. Even before his claim he was doing such a
splendid service to Islam that it could only be compared
with the activities of the mujaddids of the past.
After proclaiming his mission his work gathered strength, so
much so that the seed which was sown by him grew up into a
huge tree whose branches now spread in the East and
West.
Who Else is
the Mujaddid?
Every Muslim, every lover of
the Qur'an and Traditions [Hadith], and every lover
of the Saints of this nation must consider seriously that if
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is not the mujaddid, who else is
the mujaddid of the 14th Century
Hijrah. The basic principle of the Holy Quran cannot
be untrue, the Hadith of mujaddid cannot be a mere
fabrication, those who had already claimed to be
mujaddids according to this tradition cannot be
regarded as mere impostors. If all this is true, the truth
also is the fact that a mujaddid must have been
raised at the head of this century and who is that person
except Mirza Ghulam Ahmad? History to which we are ourselves
witnesses does not mention the name of a single person
except Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who claimed to be the mujaddid
of this century. The name of this or that person may be
cited in haste by some of us, but the point to be considered
is whether these persons declared it themselves that they
had been appointed by God as mujaddids of this
century. Again, is there any person other than the Great
Mirza, who at the end of the 13th
century and the beginning of the 14th
century did such a yeoman service to the cause of Islam?
Service to Islam does not mean publication of a few books
and stirring the Muslims for some mundane and political
objects, but the real point is that who was the person who
staked his all for the glory of Islam in its grievous
struggle against other religions? Who was the person who
shielded Islam against the assaults of hostile forces? Who
was he who fought day and night to establish the superiority
of Islam over other faiths? Who put forth before the world
the real picture of Islam? Who stirred the religious
consciousness of general Muslims and created such a strong
movement among his followers that they became the
torch-bearers of Islam to different nations of the world?
Who gave the message of hope to the tottering world of
today?
On the one hand nobody has claimed to
be a mujaddid of this age, on the other we observe
that no one else has accomplished such a great task purely
for the cause of Islam, and it is only Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
who stands above all in his claims and mission. Therefore,
anybody who rejects him in fact rejects the clear saying of
the Holy Prophet Muhammad about the raising of mujaddids
at the commencement of each century.
Muslims
must Co-operate with the
Mujaddid:
As there is no way out except
to regard Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the mujaddid of the
14th century, it is also incumbent on us
to join hands with him in the struggle for Islam. To adopt
an attitude of indifference is in fact despising the Divine
Commandments and traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
[pbuh]. This should mean that according to the will
of God a mujaddid was raised for the defence and
support of Islam, but we do not recognise this need. Besides
this there is a clear direction of God in the Holy
Qur'an.
"O you who believe! be
careful of (your duty to) Allah and be with the true
ones" (IX:119).
Here special reference to the true
ones is not for those who do not tell lies, as every
Muslim is expected to abstain from it and in every country
thousands of Muslims are found who speak truth, but the
truthful ones are those who manifest the truth, in their
actions. They are the persons who stand firm, and face all
tribulations for the cause of the greatest truth in the
world, i.e., Islam. Obviously there is no better person than
a mujaddid to whom these words can apply.
Again we find in a
tradition:
"He who dies in a condition
that he has not recognised the lmam of his age, dies a
death of ignorance."
Here ignorance does not mean kufr
(infidelity) which results form denouncing a Prophet,
but the ignorance of wisdom and learning of the lmam. The
mujaddid is certainly the lmam of his age. He is
interested in religious reformation and renovation and for
this job he is especially enlightened by God and favourable
circumstances are created by God for the success of his
mission. Thus indifference to the mujaddid and
practical negligence to his mission is in fact doing great
harm to the cause of Islam. This is just putting obstacles
in the way of Divine Will.
Mujaddid's
Task:
Removal of vices that
have found place in the Muslim nation is the first
task of a mujaddid. The greatest of evils, which came
in trail of the materialistic civilisation and education of
Europe was the negligence of Muslims towards Islam. This
resulted in a total denial of Divine Revelation which shook
the very foundation of religion. Communication of God with
man is the real basis of religion. This engenders complete
faith in the existence of God. This inspires faith in
Divine knowledge. On this is based the relation of man with
God. But what was the effect of modern education on Muslim
mind. Most of them denied the existence of Divine
Revelation. The task before the mujaddid, therefore,
was to prove the authenticity of prophetic order for the
guidance of mankind and to show that God has been
communicating with his humble servants during all these
ages. This could not be proved unless special emphasis was
laid on the attribute of Divine communication with human
beings which is just like His other attributes of listening,
seeing and knowing. That is why in his book Barahin
Ahmadiyya, which is the first and his largest book, the
Founder has laid great stress on this aspect of the
question. The continuity of Divine revelation has been
proved not only by forceful arguments deduced from Islamic
Shariah, but also by the evidence of his own personal
experience. No doubt the mujaddid of past centuries
claimed to have Divine communication but the emphasis on
this point found in the works of the mujaddid of the
14th century cannot be traced in their
writings. This is only because the greatest evil of the
present time was this negation of Divine communication. The
rejection was sometimes made in the form that Almighty God
spoke with His servants in the past but has ceased doing so
now, and sometimes in the form that Revelation from God was
simply a subjective experience and it did not descend on
man's heart from outside. The foundation of religion was
shaken both ways. If Almighty God used to speak before, why
should He be deprived of this attribute now? If He spoke
before He must speak now. And if Revelation is considered
just an inner voice, then the existence of God, faith in Him
and His knowledge are nothing but mere tales and the whole
prophetic order reduces itself to nought. To institute the
truth of prophetic order it was however essential that a
true faith in the existence of God be established and this
could not be achieved unless Divine communion with God was
properly substantiated. To clarify this point the Founder
put forth his own visions and inspirations in which future
events were foretold and he mentioned his own evidence for
their verification. These prophecies were in fact advanced
by him just to establish, in a way, the veracity of
prophethood, and for this reason alone the word
‘prophet’ too was used by him. The literal meaning
of his word is one who informs of the unseen matters or one
who makes prophecies. The real object of the use of this
word in its dictionary sense (and not in the terminology of
shariah) was, to make people know that the faith in
the Holy Prophet Muhammad and other prophets could not be
maintained unless communication with God was definitely
proved. If continuity of Divine communication is rejected,
all matters relating to prophethood become dubious. The real
faith in the existence of God too depends on this great fact
of Revelation. Influence of the materialistic education of
the West had shaken such a belief to its core. The first
object before the Mujaddid of this age, therefore,
was to create a real faith in God so that man may develop a
genuine association with his Creator. The result of
religious outlook on life is a complete and living faith
in God. This could not be revived unless the phenomenon of
Divine Revelation was established as a living
reality.
His Second
Task:
The second great mistake in
which most of the Muslims were involved was about the right
place of the Holy Qur'an in their life. It was the real
strength of the Holy Qur'an that had made them once a
powerful nation in the world. The Holy Qur'an was the
fountain-head of Islamic Shariah. Through the Qur'an
and the practice of the Holy Prophet, Muslim leaders of
Ijtihad derived the solution of existing problems.
But, unfortunately, the knowledge of the Holy Qur'an among
Muslims had dwindled away gradually. In Islamic institutions
all sorts of lessons were taught, but the Holy Qur'an was
relegated to a backward position. Muslim Ulama and
masses read commentaries of the Holy Qur'an for grammatical
knowledge of orthography, etymology, syntax, etc., and
Muslims in general recited it for future reward (thawab).
The indifference of Muslims towards properly educating
themselves in the Holy Qur'an made them lethargic in all
spheres of life. One prominent aspect of the life of the
Mujaddid of the 14th century was
his deep knowledge and love of the Holy Qur'an. Whatever
time he could spare, even when he was engaged in worldly
pursuits in fulfilment of his father's wishes, he spent it
in reading and pondering over the pages of the Holy Qur'an.
During his stay at Sialkot and later at Qadian the Holy
Qur'an was always his guide and companion in solitary
moments. What was after all the object of his book
Barahin-i-Ahmadiyya? Its very name i.e., "Arguments
in support of the reality of the Holy Qur'an and the
prophethood of Muhammad" suggests that it was full of
conclusive proofs for the truth of the Holy Qur'an. It was
his habit to go through the whole of the Qur'an when
writing on any important subject. He held this Book above
everything else. The three sources of Islamic Shariah
were put by him in the following order:
(1) Holy Qur'an, (2)
Sunnah (3) Hadith, and (4) Fiqh
(Jurisprudence).
Top
Accusations
Answered Section
> Was Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib of Qadian the
Mujaddid (Renovator or Reformer) of the 14th Century?
footer
|
'E-mail'
this page to a friend!
|
E-mail
Us!
This website is designed,
developed and maintained by the members of:
The Lahore
Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of
Islam
(Ahmadiyya
Anjuman Isha'at-e-Islam, Lahore
-- A.A.I.I.L.)
and is being managed in the Netherlands.
The responsibility of the content
of this website lies with the respective
authors
You may print-out and spread this
literature for the propagation of Islam provided our website
[aaiil.org]
is acknowledged
|
