What distinguishes Ahmadis from non-Ahmadis – Maulvi Sher Ali (RA)

The fundamental points of difference between Ahmadees and non-Ahmadees have been discussed at length in the pages of the Review of Religions from time to time. So it is not my object here to enter into a detailed discussion of the subject. What I mean is only to give the chief points of difference between Ahmadees and non-Ahmadees in as few words as possible, so that every man who wishes to know what distinguishes the former from the latter may see it at a glance. I will merely give the points of difference without entering into the arguments, for these have already been repeatedly given in these pages. I may here point out that by Ahmadees I mean the followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, and by non-Ahmadees all those people who call themselves Mussalmans, but who have not accepted Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Promised Mahdi and Messiah.

I-AHMAD’S BELIEFS IN HIS OWN WORDS.

Before stating the points of difference between Ahmadee and non-Ahmadees, I would like to give Ahmad’s creed in his own words. He says in Persian verse:-

II-CONDITIONS OF INITIATION INTO THE MOVEMENT.

I would now supplement the above confession of faith with the Ten Conditions which Ahmad laid down for those who desired to be admitted into his fold, so that the reader may see that it was the religion of Islam, and not any new creed, which Ahmad required his disciples to follow. He laid down that the man who accepts Baiat should firmly make up his mind :

Firstly, that up to the day of his death he will abstain from Shirk, i.e., setting up equals to God.

Secondly, that he will keep away from falsehood, adultery, looking at women other than near relatives, cruelty, dishonesty, riot and rebellion, and, in short, every kind of evil: and will not allow himself to be carried away by his passions, however strong they may be.

Thirdly, that he will pray five times a day without fail, according to the commands of Allah and His Apostle, and to the best of his ability will try to offer his Tahajjud prayers (prayer of the latter part of the night), to invoke the blessings of God (Darud) upon His prophet, to ask pardon for his sins and the help of God, and that remembering the blessings of God he will always praise Him.

Fourthly, that he will in no way harm God’s creatures generally and Moslems particulary under the influence of his passions-neither with his hands, nor with his tongue, nor by any other means.

Fifthly, that in every state of sorrow or plaesure, prosperity or adversity, felicity or misfortune, he will prove himself faithful to God, and that in every condition he will accept the decree of God and in this way he will be ready to bear every kind of insult and pain. At the time of any misfortune, he will never turn away from Him but rather he will advance further.

Sixthly, that he will not follow vulgar customs and will abstain from evil inclinations, and that he will completely submit to the authority of the Holy Quran, and that he will make the sayings of God and His Apostle the guiding principle of his life.

Seventhly, that he will fully give up pride and haughtiness and will pass his days with humility, lowliness, courtesy and meekness.

Eighthly, that he will consider religion, the dignity of religion and the well-being of Islam dearer than life, wealth and children, in short, dearer than everything else.

Ninthly, that he will be for God’s sake showing sympathy with the creatures of Allah, and to the best of his power he will use his natural abilities for the welfare of God’s creatures.

Tenthly, that he will establish a brotherhood with me (the Promised Messiah) on condition of obeying me in every thing good, and keep it up to the day of his death; and this relationship will be of such a high order that its example will not be found in any worldly relationship either of blood relations or of servant and master.

III-FUNDAMENTAL POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AHMADEES AND NON-AHMADEES

It may be asked when Ahmad followed and taught the same religion which the rest of the Moslems profess to follow, where lies the difference which distinguishes his followers from the other Mussalmans.” Is the difference confined only to the fact that the former have accepted Ahmad as the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, while the latter have not, or does it go beyond that? The answer to these questions is that if the difference had been confined to this fact alone, there would have been no need for the advent of Ahmad. Ahmad did not come merely to fulfil a prophecy. His advent was meant to serve a great purpose-a purpose which no one short of a prophet could fulfil. He was to appear to restore faith back to the earth after it had ascended to the Pleiades, as the prophecy said. He was to come as حكم and عدل (hakam and ‘adal), i.e., as an arbitrator and a judge. In this capacity, he was to point out the errors that had found their way into the beliefs and practices of men. Again, he was to demonstrate the truth of Islam to the nations of the earth by means of heavenly signs and arguments. Thus he had to accomplish a threefold work. He was to re-establish faith by means of heavenly signs; he, as a Divine arbitrator and judge, was to decide what was right and what was wrong in the beliefs and practices of men; and he was to make plain the truth of Islam by his personal example, unanswerable arguments and heavenly signs and take steps for the propagation of Islam throughout the world. The Ahmadees submitted themselves to his holy influence, witnessed the heavenly signs which God showed to re-establish faith, and had themselves purified by coming in contact with his magnetic, soul-elevating personality. Thus a great change was wrought in them. They were no longer mere lip-believers in God, His Messengers and His word. They witnessed so many signs of God and so many manifestations of His knowledge and power that their faith was immensely strengthened. They began, as it were, to see God. Through Ahmad, their faith in prophets and in revelation was also similarly strengthened. With the strengthening of their faith, their character was also transformed. They became, in fact, like the early Muslims, the Holy Companions of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of God be upon him). They came to have a living faith in Islam; they began to live Islam and to experience its blessings.

Thus the first great distinction between Ahmadees and non-Ahmadees is that the former have their faith in God, the Holy Prophet and the Holy Quran revived, and they follow their commandments with the same fervent zeal and burning enthusiasm with which the Holy Companions did in the early days of Islam. With them Islam is, as it were, born anew; it has for them the same freshness, the same inspiring power, and the same attraction as it had for the Holy Companions of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of God be upon him)

The second distinction between the followers of Ahmad and the non-Ahmadees is that they have responded to the call of Ahmad to serve Islam and are devoting all their energies to its propagation just in the same manner in which the Holy Companions had responded to the cail of the Holy Prophet and had devoted themselves to the service of Islam and to its propagation throughout the world, while the non-Ahmadees, forgetful of their duty to preach Islam to the nations of the earth, are engrossed with their worldly affairs and are aspiring after political greatness.

The third aspect of Ahmad’s work was to point out the errors that had found their way into the beliefs and practices of men owing to the lapse of time. He warned not only the Mussalmans, but also the followers of other religions of their errors, having been raised for the whole mankind; but here I am concerned with the Mussalmans only and therefore I will confine myself to the principal errors into which the Muslim people had fallen and which Ahmad sought to eradicate. The Ahmadees accepted what Ahmad taught on this subject, while the non-Ahmadees burned to him a deaf ear and refused to abandon their errors. Thus there has grown up a divergence in beliefs and practices between Ahmadees and non-Ahmadees, and the most important of these differences are the following:

The first difference between the beliefs of Ahmadees and those of non-Ahmadees pertains to one of the attributes of God. According to the Holy Quran, God also speaks just as He hears and sees. Both according to the Ahmadees and non Ahmadees, God has been speaking to His prophets and Messengers in the past, but according to the non-Ahmadees, the Holy Prophet of Arabia was the last prophet with whom He spoke and that since then this attribute of God has been in abeyance and shall continue to be so till the end of time. Ahmadees protest against such a belief and hold that no attribute of God can be supposed to be suspended. They believe that just as God used to hold communion with His holy servants in the past, so does He do even now and will continue to do up to the end of the world.

The second important difference between Ahmadees and non-Ahmadees pertains to the Holy Prophet of Arabia, (may peace and blessings of God be upon him). Both according to the non-Ahmadees and Ahmadees, the Holy Prophet of Arabia is Khatamun nabiyyin (the seal of prophets), but they differ as to the interpretation of this term. The term, according to the Ahmadees, means that no new prophet can appear after the Holy Prophet of Arabia except one who is a follower of his and bears his seal. Prophethood is still attainable, but only through the Holy Prophet. No prophet with a new book or having been appointed direct will ever come; for in this case it will be an insult to the perfect prophethood of our Master and Lord, the Holy Prophet of Arabis. All doors to prophethood are now closed, except the door of the Holy Prophet, and it is through this door alone that prophethood is now attainable. It was in this sense that the Holy Prophet said on the one hand, “There is no prophet, (ie., an independent prophet or a prophet with a new law) after me,” and on the other, he called the Promised Messiah, a Prophet of God. According to the non-Ahmadees, however, the door to prophethood is for ever closed and nobody can attain to prophethood either directly or through the Holy Prophet. The Ahmadees regard this view as derogatory to the Holy Prophet of Arabia, for it represents him as putting an end to the greatest gift of God, viz., prophethood. According to them, the Holy Quran describes the gift of prophethood as still attainable by the followers of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of God be upon him).

The third difference between Ahmadees and non-Ahmadees pertains to prophets in general. The Ahmadees in conformity with the teachings of the Holy Quran revere as prophets all those great men whom a large section of humanity has accepted as heavenly messengers or avatars. Accordingly, they include Krishna and Rama Chandra among prophets and honour them as such. The non-Ahmadees, however, denounce this attitude of the Ahmadees to the Hindu avatars and refuse to acknowledge them as prophets. According to the followers of Ahmad, Zoroaster, Buddha, Krishna and Rama Chandra were all Divine Messengers who guided their peoples to the right path. Their teachings may have been tampered with or they may be misinterpreted, but, according to the Ahmadees, the teachings which these holy men gave according to the need of their times and the require- ments of their respective peoples were based on Divine revelation. Needless to say that this attitude of Ahmadees to the spiritual leaders of other communities is immensely calculated to promote good will and harmony between Muslim and non-Muslim people.

Again, Ahmadees regard it as the sacred and bounden duty of every Muslim to believe in all the prophets of God, whether they be new or old. The Holy Quran requires its followers to make no distinction between the Messengers of God, and in compliance with this commandment the Ahmadees hold it to be as imperative to believe in any new prophet that comes after the Holy Prophet of Arabia (may peace and blessings of God be upon him) as in those that have gone before. Ahmad, according to them, was a Prophet of God in the same sense in which Jesus Christ was a Prophet of God, with the only difference that the latter got his prophethood independently of any previous prophet, while the former obtained it through the Holy Prophet of Arabia (may peace and blessings of God be upon him). Ан to the prophethood itself there is no difference; only the ways of obtaining it are different in the two cases. And this difference is due to the fact that God has conferred on the Holy Prophet of Arabia a distinction which He had conferred on none before him and which lies in the fact that now no man can attain to prophethood except through him. Every prophet must come with the seal of the Holy Prophet of Arabia (may peace and blessings of God be upon him), for he is the seal of prophets. In other words, he is not only a great prophet but also a prophet-maker. Now, Ahmad being a prophet of God in the sense in which Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Zoroaster, Buddha and Krishna and others were prophets, it is as necessary, in the opinion of Akmadees, to believe in Ahmad as it is necessary to believe in the former prophets, for the Holy Quran forbids the Muslims to make distinction between the prophets of God by accepting some and rejecting others, and it commands them to believe in all the prophets of God without any distinction. Hence, according to Ahmadees, those Mussalmans who reject Ahmad, who established his prophethood by powerful heavenly signs and to whose truth both the Holy Quran and the sayings of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of God be upon him) bear witness, to say nothing of other scriptures and an overwhelming mass of other evidence, are guilty of as great a sin as the Jews who rejected Jesus Christ.

The fourth important difference between Ahmadees and non-Ahmadees pertains to Jesus Christ. The non-Ahmadees hold that when the Jews tried to lay hold of him in order to hang him on the cross, God changed the appearance of another man and made him look exactly like Jesus Christ. This change deceived the Jews who seized the transfigured person and crucified him, while God lifted up Jesus to heaven in order to put him beyond the reach of the Jews, and that Jesus has since then lived in the second heaven with his body of clay and would come back to the earth in the latter days to fulfill the prophecy relating to his second advent. The Ahmadees reject all these statements as utterly unfounded and absurd. They hold that it was Jesus who was hung on the cross, but he being a righteous man God delivered him from the accursed death of the cross. Jesus did not expire on the cross, but fell into a swoon and looked like one dead. He was alive when he was laid in the sepulcher and came out of it alive on the third day. Then he met his disciples in secret and assured them of his being alive. Thereafter he came to Afghanistan and Kashmir, where a portion of his sheep-the lost tribes of Israel, were settled. He died in Kashmir and visitors to Srinagar may still see his tomb in the Khan Yar street. This tomb is still known as that of lsa Sahib and Nabi Sahib, ie, the tomb of Jesus the Prophet. After his death his soul rose to God like those of righteous men. The promise of God انی متوفیک “I will cause thee to die a natural death and raise thee to myself,” only meant this that God would not allow him to die the accursed death of the cross, but would cause him to die a natural death and would raise his soul to Himself like those of all righteous men, and would not allow it to be subjected to curse. Tae Atmadees interpret the prophecy of the second advent of Jesus in the same way in which Jescs interpreted the prophecy of the second advent of Elijah. Jesus was not to come back in person, but another man was to come in the spirit and character of Jesus, just as the prophecy of the second advent of Elijah was fulfilled by the appearance of John the Baptist. The prophecy of the second advent of Jesus, they believe, has been fulfilled by the advent of Ahmad, who came in the spirit and power of Jesus as John had come in the spirit and power of Elijah.

The fifth difference between Ahmadees and non-Ah- madees pertains to the doctrines of Ghazi Mahdi and Jehad. The non-Ahmad ees are expecting a Mahdi who will wage war and spread Islam by means of sword. And it may also be pointed out here that those who are expecting a warlike Mahdi must also believe in the legality of Jehad with the sword; for what is believed to be the work the Promised Mahdi can by no means be supposed to be illegal. The Ahmadees repudiate both these doctrines and look upon them not only as a menac to the peace of the world but also as a slur on the holy religion of Islam. The Promised Mahdi, according to them, is no other than the Promised Messiah who was to come to spread Islam, not with the sword, but by heavenly signs and arguments. The Mahdi, they believe, has already appeared in the person of Ahmad of Qadian, and they are not looking forward, like the non-Ahmadees, to the advent of a Mahdi who should come to fill the earth with non-Moslim blood. What the views of non- Ahmadees are with regard to the Mahdi may be seen from the perusal of the following remarks of the late Siddiq Hasan Khan of Bhopal. He says in the Hujajul Karamah, page 374:- “After this, th whole earth shall come under the sway of the Mahdi, and Islam will be firmly established. All the kings of the earth shall submit to him. He will conquer India by sending a force to it, and the rulers of India shall be brought before him in chains.“

Again, in the Iqtirab-us-Sa’ah we have “He (the Mahdi) will invite men to God by means of sword. Those who will refuse will be put to death.” Again, “The Mahdi shall fight battles. he shall draw out treasures, shall take city after city and conquer the whole earth from east to west. The rulers of India shall be taken to him with chains about their necks. Their treasures shall serve as ornaments for Jerusalem.” Ahmad rendered an inestimable service not only to Islam, bat to humanity at large and particularly to the British Government, by his powerful refatation of these mischievous doctrines. It is for the repudiation of these doctrines that his followers have been, and are still being, subjected to severe persecution by ignorant Mullahs and their followers, both in India and other countries such as Afghanistan, Ceylon, Mauritius, etc. The intelligent Musralmans are, however, accepting Ahmad’s views. on this subject and his movement is spreading by leaps and bounds, not only in India, but in other Muslim countries, and his teachings are exerting a very wholesome influence in the North- Western Frontier provinces, and even in Afghanistan where the movement claims a very large following which is daily on the increase. Any man who will compare the teachings of the Ahmadiyya Movement with those of the non-Ahmadees will have no hesitation in declaring that the spread of the movement must prove a great blessing, not only for Islam, but also for the whole humanity, and it is to the interest of every Government and particularly the British Government to assist in the propagation of the doctrines of this movement throughout the world and protect it against persecution.

The list of differences between Ahmadees and non- Ahmadees will be incomplete without a reference to the attitude which these two communities respectively maintain to the Sultan of Turkey. It is a patent fact that non-Ahmadees do look upon the Sultan of Turkey as Khaleefatul Muslimin or the spiritual head of the whole Muslim world. The Ahmadees, however, regard the claim of the Sultan of Turkey to Caliphate to be false and refuse to acknowledge any sort of allegiance to him. When Hussain Kami, Sub-Consul of Turkey, paid a visit to Qadian in 1897, Ahmad told him in plain words that the Sultan had no title to Khilafat. This infuriated the Sub-Consul and many other non-Ahmadees, whereupon Ahmad published an shtihar wherein he wrote:-

“I have no need of the Sultan of Turkey and have no desire to see his cousul. For me, one Sultan is sufficient, who is the true King of heaven and earth… When the Sultan of Turkey is but a straw before my King, of what significance is his Consul? In my opinion great honour, obedienos, and grati tude are due to the British Government under the protection of which I am carrying on this heavenly propaganda with great safety. The Turkish Government is now a days full of darkness and is reaping what it sowed. For me it is never possible to spread any truth under its protection. I am afraid many people will be displeased at this Fatwa (opinion), but this is the truth. …I tried to impress this fact, in several ways, on the mind of the Consul who came to Qadian, that the Turkish Government stands blamed before God for several reasons…… But I looked to his heart and found that he took these words very ill, and this clearly shows that Turkey will have no more good days, and his remarks against me on his return from Qadian are clear indications of Turkey’s downfall… I told him that now it was the will of God that those among the Muslims who remained separate from me would be destroyed, be they kings or subjects and I think these words pierced him like arrows. I did not speak from myself, but said what God revealed to me.” In another notice Ahmad says: “The claim of the Sultan to be the caliph or spiritual head of the Muslims is only a word of mouth.“