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Tributes
Paid to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib of
Qadian:
(Part 1 of 4)
Introduction:
This section will illustrate
the point that the allegations of the opponents of Hazrat
Mirza Sahib, that he was a kafir (non-Muslim), are
false. Eminent Muslim religious scholars and leaders,
especially those who were his contemporaries, have not only
regarded Hazrat Mirza Sahib as a Muslim but have proclaimed
him to be a great servant and champion of Islam. Presented
here are tributes to Hazrat Mirza Sahib by prominent Muslims
of his time and after. Many of these reviews are his
obituaries which appeared in well-known Muslim journals of
the day.
1.
Mirza
Hairat of Delhi:
He was editor of the Curzon
Gazette. In his obituary of Hazrat Mirza Sahib, he
wrote:
"The services of the
deceased, which he rendered to Islam in confrontation
with the Christians and the Arya Samajists, deserve the
highest praise. He completely changed the flow of the
debate, and laid the foundations of a new literature in
India.
"We admit, not because of
our being Muslims but being seekers after truth, that the
top most Arya Samaj leader or Christian missionary could
not dare open his mouth to confront the late Mirza Sahib.
The incomparable books which he wrote in refutation of
the Arya Samaj and Christian creeds, and the shattering
replies he gave to the opponents of Islam, we have not
seen any rational refutation of these except that the
Aryas have been hurling abuse at the Founder and the
teachings of Islam in an uncouth manner, without being
able to give a sensible reply. Although the deceased was
a Punjabi, yet his pen was so powerful that today in the
whole of the Punjab, even in the whole of India, there is
no author of such power. . . . and it is true that, on
reading some of his writings, one goes into a state of
ecstasy. Although he did not receive any regular
education in Arabic language, literature or grammar, he
gained such a proficiency in Arabic by his God-given
intellect and nature that he could write it quite
naturally. . . .
"His followers are not only
common and unlearned people, but include able and bright
graduates, viz., B.A., M.A., and very learned Ulama. It
is a matter of no small pride for a religious leader of
this day that persons educated on traditional lines as
well as persons educated on modern lines, both types,
should become his followers. Surviving the heat of
predictions of his death, opposition, and criticism, he
cleared his way to reach the highest pinnacle of
progress."
(Curzon Gazette,
Delhi, 1st June 1908)
2.
Maulavi
Bashir-ud-Din:
The editor of
Sadiq-ul-Akhbar, Rewari (U.P., India), wrote as
follows in his obituary:
"As Mirza Sahib, with his
forceful speeches and magnificent writings, shattered
the foul criticism of the opponents of Islam, silencing
them forever and proving that truth is after all the
truth, and as he left no stone unturned in the service
of Islam by championing its cause to the full,
justice requires that one should condole the sudden and
untimely death of such a resolute defender of Islam,
helper of the Muslims, and an eminent and irreplaceable
scholar."
(Sadiq-ul-Akhbar,
May 1908)
3.
Maulavi
Sayyid Waheed-ud-Din:
The editor of Aligarh
Institute Gazette wrote:
"The deceased was an
acknowledged author and founder of the Ahmadiyya Sect. .
. . He has left eighty writings, twenty of which are in
Arabic. Undoubtedly, the deceased was a great fighter
for Islam."
(Aligarh Institute
Gazette, June 1908)
4.
Lahore
Municipal Gazette:
The editor wrote:
"The Mirza Sahib was
specially renowned for his knowledge and scholarship. His
writings were also eloquent. In any case, we are grieved
by his death for the reason that he was a Muslim.
We believe that a scholar has been taken from the
world."
(Municipal Gazette,
Lahore, 1908)
5.
Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad:
He was a very famous Islamic
scholar, author and journalist in India this century. He was
also President of the Indian National Congress before
independence, and after the independence of India he held
high posts in the federal cabinet of the Indian Republic. At
the time of the death of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, he was
acting as the editor of a well-known Muslim newspaper, the
Wakeel of Amritsar. We give below extracts from the
lengthy obituary of Hazrat Mirza Sahib that Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad wrote in it:
"That man, that very great
man, whose pen was a magic wand and whose tongue
spell-binding; that man whose brain was a complex of
wonders, whose eye could revive the dying and whose call
aroused those in the graves, whose fingers held the wires
of revolution and whose fists were electrical batteries;
that man who for thirty years was an earth-quake and
typhoon for the religious world, who, like the trumpet of
Doomsday, awakened those lost in the slumber of life, he
has left the world empty-handed. This bitter death, this
cup of poison, which entrusted the deceased to dust, will
remain on thousands, nay millions of tongues, as words of
bitter disappointment and regret. The stroke of death
which slaughtered, along with one who was very much
alive, the hopes and longings of many, and the wails it
raises of lament, will remain in memories for a long time
to come.
"The demise of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Sahib of Qadian is not such an event that a lesson should
not be learnt from it, nor should it be consigned to the
passage of time to efface. Such people who produce a
religious or intellectual revolution are not born
often. These sons of history, in whom it rightly
takes pride, appear but rarely on the world scene, and
when they do they bring about a revolution for all to
see.
"In spite of our strong differences
with Mirza Sahib in respect of some of his claims and
beliefs, his separation for ever has convinced the
educated and enlightened Muslims that one of their very
great personages has left them. And with him the
mighty defence of Islam against its opponents,
which was linked with his person, has come to an end. His
special characteristic, that he acted against the
enemies of Islam as a victorious general, compels us
to express openly our feeling that the grand movement
which for so long defeated and trod over our opponents
should be continued in the future also.
"Mirza Sahib appeared in the
front line of devotees who, for the cause of
Islam, accepted the dedication to sacrifice their time
from the cradle, through the springs and autumns, to
their graves in fulfilling the pledge of loyalty to
their beautiful beloved Islam. . . .
"The literature produced by
Mirza Sahib in his confrontation with the Christians
and the Aryas has received the seal of general approval,
and for this distinction he needs no introduction. We
have to acknowledge the value and greatness of this
literature from the bottom of our hearts, now that it
has done its work. This is because that time
cannot be forgotten nor effaced from the mind when Islam
was besieged by attacks on all sides, and the Muslims,
who had been entrusted with the defence of Islam by the
Real Defender, as the means of defence in this world of
causes and means, were lying flat sobbing in the
aftermath of their shortcomings, doing nothing for Islam
or not being able to do anything for it. . . .
"Then began that counter-attack
from the side of the Muslims in which Mirza Sahib had a
part. That defence not only shattered to bits the
initial influence of Christianity, which it really had
due to support from the government, and saved thousands,
nay millions, of Muslims from this dangerous attack which
would have succeeded, but the talisman of Christianity
itself was blown away like smoke. . . .
"So, this service rendered by
Mirza Sahib will place the coming generations under a
debt of gratitude, in that he fulfilled his duty of the
defence of Islam by joining the front rank of those
engaged in the jihad by the pen, and he left
behind him as a memorial such literature as will last so
long as Muslims have blood flowing in their veins and the
urge to support Islam remains their prominent national
characteristic. Besides this, Mirza Sahib performed a
very special service for Islam by crushing the
poisonous fangs of the Arya Samaj. . . . His writings
against the Arya Samaj shed clear light on the claim
that, however much the scope of our defence may be
widened in the future, it is impossible that these
writings could ever be overlooked.
"Natural intelligence, application
and dexterity, and continuous debates, had lent Mirza
Sahib a special splendour. He had vast knowledge,
not only of his own religion, but also of other
religions. And he was able to use his vast knowledge with
great finesse. In the art of preaching and teaching, he
had acquired the accomplishment that the person whom he
addressed, of whatever understanding or religion, was
thrown into deep thought by his spontaneous reply. India
today is an exhibition house of religions, and the number
of great and small faiths found here, along with their
mutual struggles which announce their existence, cannot
be matched anywhere else in the world. Mirza Sahib’s
claim was that he was the arbiter and judge for them all,
but there is no doubt that he possessed a special
talent to make Islam pre-eminent among all these
religions. This was due to his natural ability, taste
for study, and hard work. It is not likely that a man
of this grandeur will be born again in the religious
world of the Indian sub-continent, who would devote his
highest desires in this way to the study of
religions."
(Wakeel,
Amritsar)
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> Tributes Paid to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib of
Qadian (Part 1 of 4)
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