In the Name of Allah the Glorious, a Plea to Maulavi Sayyed Nadhir Hussain, for a Debate on the Life or Death of Jesus Son of Mary — Essence of Islam Vol. 3
Introduction
In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 3), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon In the Name of Allah the Glorious, a Plea to Maulavi Sayyed Nadhir Hussain, for a Debate on the Life or Death of Jesus Son of Mary, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 13: Repeated Challenges
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Knowledge of Arabic and the Holy Qur’an as Signs of Divine Support | Next: A Misguided Assertion of Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Challenged »
Repeated Challenges 371 tor in the city and am an object of abuse and vilification at the hands of my Muslim brethren…. 2. The debate should be conducted in writing. Each party should draw up and sign its question or answer, as the case may be, in the meeting and deliver it to the other party, as oral statements cannot be preserved accurately…. 3. The subject of the debate shall be the life and death of Jesus and neither party shall rely on any authority other than the Holy Qur’an and the books of Hadith; but Bukhari and Muslim shall have priority over other compilations, and Bukhari shall have priority over Muslim, since it has been accounted the most accurate book after the Book of God.
[Majmu‘ah Ishtiharat, vol. 1, pp. 234-235]
I promise that if, through this method, it is proved that Jesus son of Mary is still alive, I shall give up my claim of being a recipient of revelation as I realize that no revelation that is opposed to the Holy Qur’an can be true.
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 371]
243 Maulavi Sayyed Muhammad Nadhir Hussain Sahib! You and your disciples have raised a clamour that my claim of being the Promised Messiah is against the Holy Qur’an and Hadith, and that I have invented a new relig- 243 Nobody will have anything to do with what you have said not; Until you produce an argument for what you have said. [Publisher] ion and a new doctrine which are altogether opposed to the teachings of God and the Holy Prophetsa and are obviously false, since, according to you, the Holy Qur’an and the Ahadith proclaim that Jesus (peace be upon him) was raised bodily to heaven and will descend on earth some later time, and that the notion that he had died a natural death is opposed to the clear authority of the Holy Qur’an and Hadith. As you have, in your affirmations, described my claim as opposed to the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith, as a consequence of which thousands of Muslims have been deeply agitated against me, it is incumbent upon you to settle with me whether in holding such a view I have departed from the authority of the Qur’an and Hadith, or whether you are guilty of such departure in professing the opposite view…. If, in a meeting held for the purpose, you refute my arguments, which I shall set forth from the Holy Qur’an and from the true Ahadith, and present better arguments from these two sources in support of the doctrine that Jesus son of Mary was raised bodily up to heaven and continues there alive, I shall repent at your hand and burn all my books which deal with this question and which are in my possession. I shall publish my recantation publicly. May the curse of Allah be upon him who conceals in his heart that which is opposed to what he professes with his tongue. But keep in mind that if you are vanquished and fail to cite a conclusive verse or authentic Hadith in support of the doctrine that you profess, you will also have to publicly withdraw from your false belief. Allah loves those who repent. Dear Sir! I put you under oath in the name of God, the Holy and Glorious, Who created you and has bestowed countless favours upon you, that if you truly believe that Repeated Challenges 373 the Holy Qur’an contains clear and categorical verses which prove conclusively that Jesus son of Mary is still alive, and that the verses are supported by true Ahadith, on account of which you have been compelled to emphatically deny my claim of being the recipient of Divine revelation, then out of the fear of God in Whose name I call upon you, come forward and debate the question with me….I invite you again, dear sir, in the name of Allah the Glorious, to this debate. I will present myself for this purpose wherever you may wish…. If you do not come forward and try to evade my challenge by relying upon the mischievous clerics, then remember that you will be humiliated and defamed throughout India and the Punjab and will altogether lose the glory of being called the versatile religious scholar…. I wish to add that if you are not prepared to debate this question with me then, in a meeting, listen to all my arguments in support of the death of Jesusas and then proclaim three times on oath in the name of Allah the Glorious, that my arguments are not well-founded and that the true and certain argument is that Jesus son of Mary was raised bodily to heaven and that this indeed is your belief which is supported by clear and conclusive verses of the Holy Qur’an and true Ahadith. Thereupon I shall have recourse to humble and earnest prayer for Divine decree in respect of your daring dishonesty, impertinence and bearing false witness. As God has assured me: 244
I have also been assured that if you abandon the way of righteousness and commit this impertinence and ignore
the verse: 245
then, within one year, you will be so sorely affected by the consequences of this impertinence that it will be a sign for others. I therefore request you, that if you are not inclined to hold a debate, then at least try to seek a decision in the manner I have suggested so that those who go on calling for a sign may be shown a sign by God Almighty. He has power to do all that He wills. And our last pronouncement is: All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
[Majmu‘ah Ishtiharat, vol. 1, pp. 241-249]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 371]
I have written to him246 several times that I do not question any of his beliefs, except that I do not believe, as he does, that Jesus (peace be upon him) is still physically alive. I believe, both as a doctrine and as a fact, that Jesusas died a natural death, and why should I not believe so, because in His Mighty Book, the Holy Qur’an, my Lord and Master has mentioned him among the dead and there is no mention at all of the extraordinary phenomenon of him being physically alive or of his expected return to earth. The Holy Qur’an concludes merely with the announcement of his death. Therefore if my statement is vain, false and blasphemous, then he should come and debate the matter with me. If he succeeds in establishing the continuation of the physical life of Jesus (peace be on him) from the Holy Qur’an and the Ahadith I shall discard my belief and shall burn all my books that deal with 245 ‘Follow not that of which thou hast no knowledge.’—Bani Isra’il, 17:37. [Publisher]
Repeated Challenges 375 this question. I have also suggested that if he is unwilling to debate the question, he should affirm on oath that there is no mention in the Holy Qur’an of the death of Jesusas but only of his continuous physical life; or that there exists some true Hadith in which the expression Tawaffi has been differently interpreted in the case of Jesusas as connoting his physical life. If within one year God Almighty manifests no clear sign to prove that Maulavi Sahib had taken a false oath, that is to say, if he is not afflicted with some great calamity, I will repent immediately at his hand. Alas, despite my repeated requests, Miań Sahib was prepared neither to debate the question nor to make the required affirmation on oath; nor did he restrain himself from denouncing me as a disbeliever…. It was only for this purpose that I bore all the expense and inconvenience of staying in Delhi for a whole month, and if Miań Sahib had been ready for a debate why should I have evaded it? As the saying goes, truth has nothing to fear. I am still as ready for a debate on the subject of the death of Jesusas as I was then. If Miań Sahib would agree to come to Lahore for this purpose, I would defray the expenses of his journey and can even make payment in advance….If he is not willing to attend the debate in person, the debate can be held in writing and he won’t have to take undertake the journey. In short, I am willing to agree to whatever might be convenient to him and I await his reply….But remember my prediction that he will never agree to a debate, and if he does, he will be so humiliated that he will not be able to show his face anywhere.
[Asmani Faislah, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 4 , pp. 315-316]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 374]
Let it be understood by all Muslims that it has been established beyond any doubt, according to the Holy Qur’an and Hadith, that Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) died on earth after fulfilling the span of his life in accordance with the verse: 247
It is further clear on the authority of sixteen verses of the Holy Qur’an, and a number of Ahadith contained in Bukhari, Muslim and other authentic compilations, that those who die are never sent back to dwell in this world, nor is anyone subjected to death twice, nor does the Holy Qur’an lay down any law of inheritance for anyone who might return to earth after death. Yet some of the divines insist that Jesus son of Mary has not died but was raised bodily to heaven, and is alive in his physical body. They dare to suggest that the expression Tawaffi, which has been applied to Jesusas in the Holy Qur’an, does not connote death, rather it means taking full possession of both body and soul. But this interpretation is utterly false. In the idiom of the Holy Qur’an, this expression is consistently employed to connote taking possession of the soul and the death of the body. The same idiom is employed in all the Ahadith and sayings of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.) Ever since the Arabian peninsula has been populated and the Arabic language has come into use, there is not a single ancient or modern instance of the expression Tawaffi being employed taking possession of the body. Whenever this expression has been employed for the description of the action of God Almighty in relation to a human being, it has always connoted death and taking 247 ‘Therein shall you live, and therein shall you die.’—Al-A‘raf, 7:26 [Publisher] Repeated Challenges 377 possession of the soul. No lexicon and no Arabic saying contradicts this. There is not the slightest room for any different interpretation. If anyone should cite a single instance from the Holy Qur’an or from the Ahadith or from ancient or modern poetry, or ode, or prose of the Arabs, wherein the expression Tawaffi has been employed when indicating the action of God Almighty concerning a human being, as connoting anything beyond death and taking possession of the soul, that is to say, as connoting the taking possession of the body also, I call God to witness that I shall hand over to such a person one thousand rupees in cash and also acknowledge that he possesses expert knowledge of Hadith and the Holy Qur’an.
[Izala-e-Auham, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 3, pp. 602-603]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 375]
A Misguided Assertion of Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Challenged In Lahore, Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Sahib, Dila‘dar of Canals, under the false doctrines of ignorant and misguided clerics, … has stated confidently that if anyone falsely claims to be a Prophet or a Messenger or a commissioned one by God, and thus seeks to mislead people, he can survive such imposture for twenty-three years and even more. What he means to say is that the survival of such an impostor for more than twenty-three years cannot be a proof of his truth. He also stated that he can cite the names of many people who made such false claims and continued to assert for more than twenty-three years that they were recipients of God’s word…. Through this announcement, I demand from Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Sahib to cite such an instance as promised in his signed document. I know for certain that this principle, which is set out in the Holy Qur’an by God
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 377]
Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 13: Repeated Challenges
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Knowledge of Arabic and the Holy Qur’an as Signs of Divine Support | Next: A Misguided Assertion of Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Challenged »