Eclipses in Ramadan: A Great Sign

‘When eyes are dazzled;

And the moon eclipsed;

when the sun and the moon

are brought together’.

       - The Holy Qur'an, 75: 8-10 

One of the greatest signs in favour of the claims of Hazrat Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius as the Divinely-raised Reformer (Muhyi-ud-Din/Mujaddid) of this age is the total eclipse of the Sun and the Moon in the same Holy Month of Ramadan 1424, in November 2003.

According to the available scientific information on both total and partial eclipses over the millennium, the total eclipses of November 2003 are such a rare heavenly sign.  In the last 1400 years of the Islamic history, the total eclipses of the Sun and the Moon in the same Ramadan has occurred only very few occasions that they can be counted on our human fingers. In November 2003 when the total eclipses took place, it was occurring only the seventh time in 1400 years of Islamic history! And the next occasion is so distant that no one alive on the face of earth today will be around to witness the same astronomical phenomenon, when it occurs again in the second half of the next century!

On the other hand, partial eclipses of the Moon and the Sun can occur together in the same Holy Month at an interval of every 22 or 23 years, a fact confirmed by the great Ahmadi astronomer Dr. Saleh Muhammad Allahdin Sahib as well.  Leaving the whole millennium of Islam, in the 19th century itself, the partial eclipses of the Sun and the Moon have occurred together in the same Ramadan 9 times. It was one of such occurrences in 1894 that formed the backdrop of the claim of the Promised Massih Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian. The ‘rarity’ in that case was that there was a Divine claimant at that point of time and that such a heavenly phenomenon was visible from Qadian after many centuries. Regarding the significance of the Heavenly Signs in support of the claims of a Divine Reformer, the Promised Massih (as) was very clear about the scope and limits of the Prophecy of double eclipses in the same Ramadan and he states:

‘We are not concerned with how often solar and lunar eclipses have occurred in the month of Ramazan from the beginning of the world till today. Our aim is only to mention that from the time man has appeared in this world, solar and lunar eclipses have occurred as Signs only in my age for me. Prior to me, no one had this circumstances that on one hand he claimed to be Mahdi Maoud (The Promised Reformer) and on the other, in the month of Ramazan, on the appointed dates, lunar and solar eclipses occurred and he declared the eclipses as signs in his favour.

State of the World: Divine Signs

Divine Mission in an Age of Raw Passion

 

By the grace of Allah, throughout the years in which God dipped me in the fountain of His Divine Manifestation, He has taught me lots of things of which I never knew before. He taught me the languages of the birds and also of His beautiful creations of earth. All through the years, through His eyes, I have felt cherished in a special cocoon: Divine Love. He made me into an Adam (as) to reach out to people and make them understand the philosophy of life and living for a special purpose: the worship of one God.

 

Among the things He showed me is the need for peace, not only at our inner level, but also at world level. Through the inspirations He vouchsafed me, He taught me that the real cause of human strife and wars is due to selfishness, on one hand and the sacrilege of God’s remembrance and association to God in His Pure and Only Divinity, on the other. When people let go of the thread of unity, of sincerity and spirituality and preferred to indulge in self-interest, and when he forgot to act according to the divine laws, and forget to respect the rights of others, in the same go, he showed to himself the way down to hell; a hell of his very own creation. 

Gone are the harmony and concord he should have gotten had he held fast to the commandments of God and act decently in the best interest of one and all. The respect he should have had for his neighbours, friends, surroundings, and his very own family, had he acted upon this respect and defended the spiritual values bestowed to him since the creation of the heavens and earth, he should have been successful in opening the secret door leading him to God.

Ilham: “Diamond will cut diamond”

Future: Riches and people

In his testamentary will, known among the Ahmadis simply as the Al Wassiyat, the Promised Massih (as) indicated in profoundly subtle language, the future trajectories, his Jamaat, and especially the administrative mandarins within it, shall pass through in the ebb and flow of time when he wrote about the larger challenge awaiting it in the time of riches:  

“Where will the money come from? And how will such a community be born- a community of people willing to perform heroic feats for their faith? These are not the questions that worry me. I am more concerned that people coming after me may stumble when entrusted with such large amounts of wealth and that they may take to the love of this world”.  

     

  -Hadhrat Ahmad (as) [ Al Wassiyat,  p.28, Qadian: Nazarat Nashro Ishaat, (2003) ]

The Conditional Continuity

In 1939, the establishment of the Jamaat e-Ahmadiyya completed its 50^th anniversary, since the first Bai’at was initiated by the Promised Massih (as) in March 1889. Speaking at the Annual Jalsa at Qadian that year, Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra) famously observed:

“…O Community of believers, and O workers of righteousness, I say to you that Khilafat is a great bounty of God Almighty. Value it as such. So long as the majority of you continue established in faith and righteous conduct, God will continue to bestow this bounty upon you. But should a majority of you be deprived of faith and righteous conduct, then, it will be for the Divine will to determine whether to continue this bounty or to withdraw it. Thus, there is no question of the Khalifa going wrong. You will be deprived of the Khilafat when you yourselves become corrupt.”

[1939 Dec 28-29-Proceedings of the Annual Conference at Qadian, quoted in “Fazl-e Umar”: The Life of Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad Khalifatul Masih II , p. 234, by Mujeebur Rahman, London: Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya, UK (2012).

The ‘Deconstruction’ of Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya

The noted French philosopher Professor Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) famously argued that every philosophical, religious and social institution, no matter how framed and secure it seems, is never fully complete and self-sufficient by itself. Instead the system depends on non-systematisable elements that produce and sustain the system's very possibility. If we are to understand the true nature of power and authority being exercised by the institutional elites through privileged interpreations, the demystification and deconstruction of the ideas, values and meanings that are embedded in the system is inevitable and unavoidable.     

In the Islamic religious order, the idea of Divine revelations and the possibility of Divine Reformers appearing in every century is central to any discussion on the continuing vitality of Islam as an ethical way of living and being for individual believers. Against this backdrop, the description of the Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya as a complete way of institutional life for all times to come hangs on a precarious hope. The idea that the man-elected Khalifa will remain immune from injustice and that the Ahmadis may not stumble in course of time and that they will protect themselves against the onslaught of moral corruption had been belied by the experience of history and the incidents of our own times.   

The Restatement of Islam for Our Times

Angels and Divine Revelations

Angels are a part of Allah’s creation, they do what they are commanded, they depend on Allah in the same way as men or His other creatures. Allah is not dependent on them for the manifestation of His power. Had He willed, He would have created the universe without angels, but His perfect wisdom willed their creation. So angels came into being. Allah created light for the eye and bread for hunger. He created light and bread not because He was in need of them but because man was in need of them. The angels only manifest the will and wisdom of Allah. 

Divine Revelations are words and instructions from Allah and Allah speaks to His chosen servants and reveals to them His purpose. The recipient provides neither the meaning nor the words of revelation. Both come from Allah. Revelation provides real sustenance for man. Man lives by it and through it, man comes to have contact with Allah. The words, which embody a revelation of God, are unique in their power and majesty. No man can coin such words. They carry treasures of knowledge and wisdom, and they are very deep in meaning. They are like a mine the stone of which is the more valuable the deeper you dig. Indeed, a mine is nothing compared with divine revelation. A mine can be exhausted, but not the wisdom of divine revelation.

Divine Revelation is like a sea with a scented surface and a bed strewn with the most precious pearls. Those, who turn to the surface, enjoy the fragrance of the surface, and those, who dive deep, find the pearls below. Revelation is of many kinds, sometimes it consists of ordinances and laws, sometimes of exhortations. Sometimes it brings knowledge of the unseen, sometimes knowledge of spiritual truths. Sometimes it conveys the goodwill and approval of Allah, sometimes His disapproval and displeasure, sometimes His love and regard, sometimes warnings and rebukes. Sometimes it teaches points in morals, sometimes His insight into secret evils. In short, our belief is that God communicates His will to His servants. These communications vary with circumstance and the spiritual status of the recipient.

Spiritual Darkness and the Mahdis (the Guided Ones)

When darkness prevails in the world and human beings sink deep in sin and evil, when without the help of God it becomes difficult for them to release themselves from the hold of Satan, then out of His mercy and beneficence, Allah chooses from out of His own loving and loyal servants, those whom He charges with the duty to guide the world.

Sexual Allegations on Khalifa Sani

Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra) (1889-1965), as the second Khalifa of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya, had a long period of service at the helm of affairs. It was at the death of the first Khalifa Hadhrat Hakkim Nur-ud-Din Sahib (ra) (b.1841; k. 1908-1914), that he was elected as the head of the spiritual community. It was a difficult historical moment, especially with the Great Split of 1914, leading to the separation of the LAM and the shaking it entailed for the entire community. As the young Khalifa was uniquely positioned to provide the interpretive guidance so necessary for the spiritual community, in the course of several decades, he played a significant role in shaping and defining the ideological and administrative contours of the Community in the last century or so.

The uniqueness of his special authority emerged not just from the fact that he was elected by the companions of the Promised Massih (as). For the common members as well, the second Khalifa was the pious, biological son of the Founder of the community. Given the fact that the prophecies of the Promised Massih (as) included the prophecy Musleh Maoud- regarding the arrival of a righteous progeny for the service of Islam, for many of the companions of the Promised Massih (as) and others, he represented the hope and expectation of a bright future of the Jamaat. For them, he was the personality in whom and through whose times, many of the Divine revelations and sacred prophecies were to be redeemed in the fullness of time.

The prophecy Musleh Maoud

Consider this instance from the first Khilafat. An old, venerable Companion of the Promised Messiah, Pir Manzur Muhammad Sahib, made a study of the works of the Promised Messiah. It led him to the conclusion that Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad combined in himself all qualities and circumstances which marked him out, very clearly, as the Muslih Mau'ud. Pir Manzur Muhammad, wrote a paper on this prophecy. He deduced 14 points, and applied the Prophecy to Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, and he put it before Hazrat Maulvi Nurruddin Khalifatul Masih I whose reaction was: "I have known it for a long time. Have you never noticed that in my attitude towards him, on a personal level, there is an inner shade of deference." 

Pir Manzur Mohammad, then, wrote the gist of this talk and put it before Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I, requesting his signature in confirmation. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih wrote the following on that Paper, and signed it:

"We have known this for a long time. Haven't you noticed that in our personal attitude towards him there is a deep inner shade of deference? I confirm that I said this in the course of a talk with brother Pir Manzur Muhammad."

(Signature bears the date December 10)  (Tashhizul Azhan, 1914, and Tarikh-i-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. IV, page 369)  which carries a photographic reproduction of the original. (quoted in “Truth Prevails” by Qazi Muhammad Nazir, p.90-91)

Khalifa Sani and the limits of Social Boycott

In a previous article in the Blog we have noted some of the outstanding allegations against Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra) (click here) from his critics– including the imposition of social boycott against rebels in Qadian and even a murder case involving  an Ahmadi alleged to have been “ordered” by the second Khalifa. From our examination of some of the public records and court judgements, what is apparent is that there was a religious, social and political context in which the unfortunate events have occurred in the 1930’s in Qadian under Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra).

As we have shown in the article, while the towering Majlis-i-Ahrar leader Maulana Ataullah Shah Bukhari was prosecuted and punished by the Lahore High Court for his hate speech and incitement to violence against the Ahmadis in a single public sermon in Qadian, the same High Court in the same period absolved the second Khalifa of the allegation of incitement to murder his “Muslim” enemies/ Ahmadi rebels, even after examining several of his speeches printed and published in the Ahmadi Press, including the “AL FAZL” of the 1930’s. The Hon’ble High Court had before it those very sermons and it reached its conclusions after forensically analysing the contents thereof and that too in the context of a murder case which took place in Qadian itself.

Flawed Perception of a Complex Legacy

Let truth be told. It is not just the Lahori-fellow travellers who are guilty of a flawed perception of a complex legacy of the past. Put differently, members of both the mainstream Jamaats- Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Qadian and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement are wrong in their ‘blames’ and ‘accusations’ against Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra). If there is visceral hatred on the part of the enemies of Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra) to implicate and consider that he “ordered” murders and violence against his opponents, the people who claim they are his followers in the “mainstream” Jamaat are equally guilty of the sin of deification, unexamined adulation and uncritical implementation of his policies even for a new age.

'Muhyi-ud-Din': Testimonial of Time and History

Rebellion against the Divine Manifestation

At such a critical time, in this era, Allah (swt) had enabled one of the believers of Hazrat Muhammad (saw) and Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) to be raised with such a Jamaat, Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam to defend Islam, fight injustice and answer satisfactory the questions of the non-Muslims I come across concerning my claim as Muhyi-ud-Din, Khalifatullah etc. My enemies and the hypocrites got furious and in their rage which was quite out of proportion, they hurled abuses on me and dubbed me a drug addict, sorcerer, mischief-maker, dog, pig, liar and all sorts of names. My enemies even prepared a fatwa (religious decree to declare me a Kafir and false prophet). Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah.

I do not see anything strange in it because that is what has always been done to godly people. It is only after some time has passed that their true position is recognized. I do not mind the fatwas of kufr and all sorts of names that are being issued against me, because through all these kinds of hardships, the people are only wronging their own souls, not the elect of Allah. The more they try to afflict me with their evil intents and deeds, the more Allah (swt) uses me to serve His religion and through this humble self He is able to establish the excellence of the Holy Prophet (saw), the Promised Messiah (as), and that of the Holy Quran.

I am of course only a like recipient in the hands of Allah. He does whatever He likes with this humble self, for when Allah chooses someone for His mission, then that being is wholly for Allah, and acts as per the will of Allah and everything that he does is through the permission and instruction of Allah. Everything has its measure with Allah. Every being has certain specific works to accomplish, as with the human messengers of Allah and also the angel messengers of Allah.

How to become good Muslims?