[This
is the third and final part of the series of articles answering the
questions raised by Mr. Shoukath
Ali, coordinator (Asia-Pacific) of the Ahmadiyya
Movement (Lahori Sect), Fiji Islands about the
Mujaddid claims of Khalifatullah Hadhrat
Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib and the Kerala Ahmadis who
recognized and accepted the Imam of the
Age. This part reflects on the
question why Ahmadis in Kerala accepted the new Massih. The
first and second parts of the series were published here on April
29-30, 2011].
7.
Did they (Kerala Ahmadis) accept him because they have seen and
believe in some special phenomena or is it only because they have
been expelled similar to the "Mujaddid" and his followers
in ?
At
the moment, only 2 of
the members belong to the expelled section. The
rest belong to the category of common Ahmadis who are convinced that
they have found the Sign of a living Islam through
the appearance of a Mujaddid in the new Century.
The
Holy Qur’an states:
“The
chief men of his people who were arrogant said to those who were
reckoned weak-those among them who believed- Do
you know for certain that Salih is one sent by his Lord?’ They
answered, ‘Surely,
we believe in that with which he has been sent’” (7:76).
“All
Praise belongs to Allah Who has guided us to this. And we could not
have found guidance, if Allah had not guided us. The Messengers of
our Lord did indeed bring the truth”. (7:44)
“And
when they hear what has been revealed to this Messenger,
you see their eyes overflow with tears, because of the truth which
they have recognized. They say, “Our
Lord, we believe, so write us down among the witnesses; And why
should we not believe in Allah and in the truth which has come to us,
while we earnestly wish that our Lord should include us among the
righteous people?” (5:84-85).
Unlike
most people in the world today, those
who joined all believe in a living Allah as taught in the Holy
Qur’an. They believe that every word written in the Holy Qur’an
is true. And unlike Ahmadis of
Qadiani group or the Lahoris of today, they do believe that the
Divine Attributes are unchangeable and timeless. In short, they
believe in Allah who sends a Messenger whenever corruption takes over
the Straight Path and in a Lord Almighty who answers prayers of
supplicants. They believe that the chain of Mujaddidin will continue
to appear till the Day of Judgement in fulfillment of the prophecies
of Hazrat Muhammad (sa) and Hazrat Ahmad (as). They joined because
they have full trust in Allah’s promise and judgement and words:
Surely
there will come to you guidance from Me, then whoever follows My
guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they
grieve. (2:39).
‘And
if he be a liar, on him will be sin of his lie; but if he is
truthful, then some of that which he threatens you with will surely
befall you’ (40:29).
Many
joined because they saw true dreams that convinced them that Allah
has indeed sent a Mujaddid as a Divine Manifestation of this Era. For
instance, about the dreams seen by one of them, Hadhrat
Khalifatullah mentioned the following in one of his recent Friday
sermons:
“Recently,
another of my close disciple related to me that in answer to his
duahs pertaining to my veracity, Allah
gave him three dreams.
Once he saw that my title Muhyi-ud-Din
/Mujaddid was
in the Qur’an (as
the title of a Surah) and
another time he dreamt such a
dream filled with divine light and spirituality whereby he saw a very
beautiful (spiritual) bird of unknown species and when he checked in
the book Interpretation of Dreams (by Ibn Sireen) he found out that
it represents an angel of Allah and Allah showed him such a passage
from the writings of the Promised Messiah (as) Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad where he was talking about the descent of angels in the times
of a Messenger of Allah… Like
this there are many other divine manifestations by the grace of
Allah”.
8. Please
ask your friend Dr. E. Tahir, if he had asked these sorts of
questions and received satisfactory answers or is it only because Q
Jamaat expelled him and others that they joined him. Please also tell
him that he will be answerable to Allah ta'ala when he leaves this
temporary abode and therefore he should be doing things with the fear
of Allah in his heart. He should not mislead others because of his
personal circumstance.
Dr.
Thahir Sahib, the current General Secretary of the Jamaat
Ul Sahih Al Islam, Kerala did
not really find the need to raise these sorts of questions. It is
instructive to note that the Holy
Book reminds everyone, including those who ask too many questions:
‘O
you who believe! Do not put questions about things which if revealed
to you may trouble you, and if you question about them when the Quran
is being revealed, they shall be unfold to you; Allah pardons this,
and Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing. People before you indeed asked
such questions, and then became disbelievers on account of them.’
(5: 102-103)
‘And
whoso does not respond to Allah’s Summoner, he cannot escape Him in
the earth, nor can he have any protector beside Him. Such are in
manifest error’. (46:33)
From
a Qur’anic perspective, these questions only reflect a tendency to
think ill of others and that too against a brother in faith who
claims that he is a recipient of Divine Revelations; both are sins
according to the Holy Book (24:13,
49:12-13). During
his lifetime, Hadhrat Ahmad, warned his followers against the
sin of arrogance and defined it in the following terms: "Everyone
who looks down upon a brother
because he esteems himself more learned, or wiser, or more proficient
than him is arrogant, in as much as he does not esteem God as the
Fountainhead of all intelligence and knowledge
and deems himself as something"(Nuzulul
Masih, pp. 24-25, quoted in The Essence
of Islam, Volume II).
Following
conventional wisdom and sticking to the path one inherited from the
past may be the general behaviour of people. But it is never a
defense on the Day of Judgement when questioned about one’s
response to the divinely appointed personage of the time. Since
Dr Thahir Sahib believes in answerability to Allah, he did not think
it prudent to spread canards against the claimant to an august
spiritual office without giving it a careful consideration and the
benefit of Divine prayers. After all, it is not among the
characteristics of true believers to deny a claim or an argument even
before due consideration, especially when it involves the Divine
Reality or manifestation in a new Age.
Hence,
Dr. Thahir Sahib was in prayers ever since he heard about the arrival
of a Mujaddid from Allah as suggested by Hazrat Ahmad (as) for a period of 40 days, to seek Allah’s guidance on the
matter. “Lord,
if this man who claims that God has sent him to establish the Divine
faith of Islam in the world, by presenting it in its true form and
thus inducing men to believe in it, has in truth been sent by Thee,
then I, who owing to my ignorance of real facts, am unable to arrive
at a correct decision concerning the Truth, pray Thee, O Truth, that
are the Fountain Head of all Truths, and O Guide, that are the Source
of all guidance, and O Merciful One, that loves not to see Thy
creatures troubled, make his Truth manifest unto me”.
Already,
as a life time member of the Ahmadiyya community, Dr
Thahir was convinced through his studies and observation that the
deteriorating spiritual environment within the Community would
necessitate the emergence of a spiritual reformer in the times to
come. The circumstances
surrounding his own expulsion through an utterly unjust process and
mechanism- He was not
even given any reason for his expulsion from the Jamaat- only
strengthened his conviction that the Ahmadiyya Community is on a
deviant path. For, the Holy
Qur’an says:
‘O
David, We have made you a Khalifa in the earth; so judge
between men with justice, and follow not vain desire, lest it should
lead you astray from the way of Allah. Surely
those who go astray from the way of Allah will have a severe
punishment, because they forgot the day of reckoning.” (38:27).