Did Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (A.S) call those who reject him “Children of Prostitutes?”

Introduction

Non-Ahmadis make allegations that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (A.S) used a lot of vile language in his writings and that he cursed those who rejected him by calling them “Children of Prostitutes”.

To prove this, they quote the following passage in which they claim that the term “dhurrīyyatu’l-baghāyā” means “children of prostitutes”. They also claim that this word has no meaning but this and is always used to mean prostitutes.

تلک كتب ينظر اليها كل مسلم بـعـيـن الـمـحبة و المودة و يـنـتـفـع مـن مـعـارفـهـا و يقبلني و يصدق دعوتى. الا ذرية البغايا الذين ختم ا الله . على قلوبهم فهم لا يقبلون

“…every Muslim will accept me and will testify to my claim, except the dhurrīyyatu’l-baghāyā whose hearts have been sealed by Allāh and [who] thus will not accept.”

[Aina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol.5, pp. 547-548]

Explanation

Firstly, Ahmad (A.S) has used this word in other places and translated it to mean rebellious/transgressor.

The Arabic word for transgression is baghi, which connotes excessive rain which ruins crops.

[The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, pp. 64-65]

Moroever, he translates “Ibn bagha” as “sarkash insaan” in Urdu which means rebellious again. Urdu dictionary here

آذَيتَنى خبثًا فلَسْتُ بصادق إنْ لم تَمُتْ بالخزي يا ابنَ بغاءِ

اے سرکش انسان

You have given me grief by your wickdness; If now you are not destroyed in disgrace, I am false in my claim O rebellious man!

[Malfuzat, Vol. 5, pp. 155]

When the author himself has translated this verse to mean transgressors or rebellious, then who are these non-Ahmadis to claim otherwise?

Secondly, the context of the passage also refutes the non-Ahmadis which they won’t mention.

“…every Muslim will accept me and will testify to my claim, except the dhurrīyyatu’l-baghāyā whose hearts have been sealed by Allāh and [who] thus will not accept.”

The following sentence contextualizes the term that precedes it. Thus, there is no way the term can be translated to prostitutes at all.

Thirdly, this word has been used in the Holy Quran in the same context as the Ahmad (A.S) used in the reference mentioned above. He is explaining how the followers of rebellious/transgressors won’t accept the message of Islam from him. It is an Arabic idiom to describe the spiritual conditions of certain people. This is the following verse:

اِنَّ اللّٰہَ یَاۡمُرُ بِالۡعَدۡلِ وَالۡاِحۡسَانِ وَاِیۡتَآیِٔ ذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی وَیَنۡہٰی عَنِ الۡفَحۡشَآءِ وَالۡمُنۡکَرِ وَالۡبَغۡیِ ۚ یَعِظُکُمۡ لَعَلَّکُمۡ تَذَکَّرُوۡنَ

Verily, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others; and giving like kindred; and forbids indecency, and manifest evil, and wrongful transgression. He admonished you that you may take heed.

[Quran 16:90]

This verse is recited in every single Friday sermon by all the Muslims around the globe and to claim that this also means prostitution is a sign of dishonesty.

Fourthly, a similar word is used by the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) which translates to rebellious.

“فَمَرَّ بِهِ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَمَسَحَ عَنْ رَأْسِهِ الْغُبَارَ وَقَالَ ‏ “‏ وَيْحَ عَمَّارٍ، تَقْتُلُهُ الْفِئَةُ الْبَاغِيَةُ، عَمَّارٌ يَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَيَدْعُونَهُ إِلَى النَّارِ

The Prophet (ﷺ) passed by `Ammar and removed the dust off his head and said, “May Allah be merciful to `Ammar. He will be killed by a rebellious aggressive group. `Ammar will invite them to (obey) Allah and they will invite him to the (Hell) fire.”

[Sahih al-Bukhari 2812]

Fifthly, such words are used by Allah and his prophets as metaphors to describe the spiritual conditions of certain people. They are not meant as curses. We see many such examples from the ahadith as well. For example, in the Holy Qur’an, evil people are likened to apes and swine (7:166); backbiters are likened to cannibals (49:12); disbelievers who don’t use their faculties are said to be more astray than cattle (7:179).

Sixthly, non-Ahmadi scholars have used the same phrase in their books and explained that it means corrupt and evil person. For example, Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi says the same in Malfuzat Ala Hazrat, part 4, page 450.

Conclusion

This is yet another example of the deception of non-Ahmadis where they purposefully mistranslate words while ignoring all the cues from the context of the passage. They not only mistranslate but also attempt to be All-Knowing (Astagfirullah!) by claiming that Ahmad (A.S) meant the usage in the same vile manner as they are alleging while knowing there are multiple meanings of the term.

May Allah guide such people and save them from the transgressions they are committing.