“And it is not for a man that
Allah should speak to him except
by revelation or from behind a veil or by
sending a Messenger
to reveal by His command what He pleases.
Surely, He is High, Wise.”
- [Holy Qur’an, 42:52]
Allah
the Almighty raises His Elects in every era. The sublime purpose
is to guide and lead the people in the Straight Path of Divine Favour. To teach them wisdom and judgement, Allah (swt),
thus, reveals His Messages to His chosen servants and the miraculous power of
the Lord Almighty is experienced by the people in countless
ways. The great blessing of Divine
revelations and guidance with which the Messengers are invariably blessed with,
point to their Divine nearness, help and succour. The shadow of Divine Mercy and Grace protects the Messengers from harm in the complex contingencies of their everyday lives. Truth
seekers know that the Promised Massih Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian had left
a graphic portrait of aspects of Divine revelations as he experienced it. Indeed
it would be spiritually uplifting and intellectually enlightening for common
folks like us to look for similarities in the experiences of Divine revelation
by claimants to this august office. Today, we have thus an extraordinary
opportunity: to see and bear witness to the magnificent, living reality of Divine
revelations! For, we are living in the times of a Messenger of Allah in the
person of Hadhrat
Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius
who is a recipient of this uncommon and precious privilege of Divine
Mercy. Alhamdulillah Rabbul Aalameen!
It is astonishing to note that there are remarkable similarities between the
Promised Massih Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian and his spiritual
progeny, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat
Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius, although their times are separated
by a century or so. In this article, we discuss one such similarity.
Mukarram Zafrullah Domun Sahib, who at one point of time in his life led the Jamaat-e-
Ahmadiyya Mauritius as its National Amir for almost a decade, had written
a personal, comprehensive and scholarly testimonial to the truthfulness and
veracity of Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim
Sahib (atba) and his claims. This document is an authentic, living testimonial/record
of an intimate witness to the phenomena of Divine revelations descending upon a man who claims for over a decade now on the basis of the Divine Mandate that he is indeed the Imam of the Age. This testimonial touches upon, and captures the essence of, the
experience of Divine revelations descending upon Hadhrat Khalifatullah Sahib (atba)
in the early days of the Divine Manifestation. We reproduce below extracts from
this document and also, place before you, similar extracts from the writings of
the Promised Massih (as) pertaining to the experience of Divine revelations. It
is, of course, for the discerning readers to read and reflect upon and derive
appropriate conclusions from here.
Zafrullah Domun Sahib records in
his official Declaration: “During
the course of those conversations I understood that he was receiving several
revelations and that through the dreams, visions and revelations we were being
told about matters of which we knew not. Our attention
was being drawn to several verses of the Holy Quran, to known and unknown ahadiths , to several prayers of
the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), to prayers, the source of which we
were unaware of, and also to extracts from the Promised Messiah's books or from
his malfoozaaat. At the
same time we received long texts on particular topics pertinent to spiritual
understanding and elevation: what is Islam, what is the meaning of God being
close to man, zikr , tawhid , the condition of
humanity, international current affairs, religious reform, the necessity of
revelation, and many others. I
have to confess here that later on we became aware that many of the texts
received already existed in one form or other in some books or articles but we
were not aware of them when they were being received. As far as we are concerned many of these materials were new to us and
they were spiritual delights.
These revelations were
sometimes received in English or in French or in Urdu or even in Arabic or
Persian or sometimes even in our local dialect Créole but most of them were in
French or English. Whatever was received in Urdu or
Arabic or Persian was followed by a translation so that we might understand the
message….”
Now, it
would be interesting to observe the experience of the Promised Massih Hadhrat Ahmad (as) on
the matter of Divine revelations descending upon him:
“During the process
of writing Arabic, hundreds of complete sentences descend upon my heart, either
in the form of verbal revelation or in the form of a writing on a paper which
is shown to me by an angel. Some of these sentences are verses of the Holy Qur’an,
or similar to them with minor modification. Sometimes I only find out later
that a certain Arabic sentence that had been revealed to me by God was in fact
present in a certain book. God, being the Lord of everything, has the authority
to reveal to my heart a fine sentence from some book, or an exquisite verse
from some book of poetry. So much for Arabic, but even more surprising is the
fact that I receive revelations in languages like English, Sanskrit or Hebrew,
with which I have no familiarity whatsoever. Some specimens of these were
included in Baraheen-e- Ahmadiyya. God, in Whose hand is my life, is my witness
that this is how He has been dealing with me. This is one of the signs pertaining
to matters of the unseen that continue to be revealed to me in various forms.
My God cares not if any phrase that is revealed to me happens to figure in some
Arabic, Sanskrit or English book, because for me it is a matter of the unseen…” -[ Nuzul-ul Masih, Ruhani Khasa’in, vol. 18,
pp. 434-436; Essence of Islam, vol.
V, p.157]
From
the long and great history of the arrival of Divine Messengers in the world, believers have
numerous lessons and insights to keep in mind. Every Messenger has to go through
countless trials- his own people will turn back on him and boycott him. His own
people, who may have received countless signs and blessings, may desert him in
the hour of need. Countless years may pass by, before the world begins to take notice
of the Divine Message in full measure, just as it happened in the time of Jesus
(as). It may also happen that those who desert the Messenger may later realise
their mistakes. They might return to the path of rectitude eventually, as did
the brethren of Yusuf (as) in another time and space. 
It
is instructive for Ahmadis to understand that the emergence of the Divine
Manifestation in Mauritius coincided with the decline in physical health,
spiritual faculties and eventual death of the Fourth Khalifa of the Jamaat-e- Ahmadiyya, Hadhrat Mirza
Tahir Ahmad Sahib. In his last years, the ageing Khalifa was already in a zone
of his own, where he was in constant need of sound advice for prudent
governance of Jamaat affairs. Yet, as it happened, he was badly advised regarding
the nature and character of the Divine Manifestation then emerging in the
horizon of Mauritius. Unscrupulous and scheming people, who worked behind the
corridors of influence, suggested vanity of office and pride of legacy. Instead
of showing humility and open heart to understand the lofty claims and spiritual
verities on offer, the Khalifa chose the other road. May Allah forgive him for
his blurred vision in his last days, Ameen.
