Abdul Ghaffar
Janbah Sahib of Germany, the man who claims to be the Mujaddid of the Fifteenth Century and the Imam of the Age, has a disciple by the name of Mansoor Ahmed Sahib. In a recent article, the
latter has responded to the first part of my essay “In Defence of
Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra)- I& II”, published here at the Sahih Al Islam Blogspot, on May 02- 03, 2011.
From the response article [available at their
website: www.alghulam.com ], it is
absolutely clear: The entire claim of Janbah Sahib hangs precariously on a
string of a feeble, single argument: that Hadhrat Khalifa Sani (ra) completed only 22 years and six months after claiming to
be the Musleh Maoud and did not
complete 23 years as per the Qur’anic Law on the subject as perceived by him!
The term “satanic theory” was used in my
essay to describe Janbah Sahib’s theory to malign the reputation of Hadhrat
Khalifa Sani (ra). Now Mansoor Ahmed Sahib has taken righteous indignation at the use
of the term “satanic theory”. He seems to think, wrongly in my opinion, that
the term “satanic theory” has been used in the essay to describe the very
Qur’anic principle in this regard. Willful misrepresentation or deliberate
distortion cannot be the objective or the intention of a believer. So, I assume
that the writer is under a genuine misconception about the issue. Let me
explain it for him.
The description was
indeed based on my clear conviction that the attempt to apply the Qur’anic
principle regarding the punishment of false claimants of divine revelation in
the case of Khalifa Sani is a satanic idea. In the two-part essay, it is
precisely this point that I have sought to prove- by looking at the implications of applying the Qur’anic
principle’s interpretation given by the Janbah Sahib in the case of Khalifa
Sani. And especially the second part of my essay (which is yet to be responded to) seeks to point out
that any one who seeks to promote a satanic idea under the guise of this
Qur’anic principle will cut a sorry figure at the altar of objective assessment.
I did not and
cannot consider for a moment that the Qur’anic prescription of punishment for
false claimants of divine revelation is a satanic theory (God Forbid). The Holy
Qur’an is the Word of God. Naturally, satanic theories have absolutely no place
in it. On the contrary, I firmly believe that the Qur’anic principle is a
touchstone to test the fate of all fake claimants of all time and conversely, any attempt to malign the reputation of noble souls through
the prism of this Qur’anic principle will come back to haunt the accuser with
the charge of being under the influence of satanic inspirations, for the Qur’an will certainly uphold the dignity of the
righteous and noble souls.
Based on the
writings of Hadhrat Ahmad (as), the writer now insists that a claimant to
divine revelation has to complete not just more than twenty years but he has to
reach till 23 years just as the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa) did. While agreeing
that the Promised Massih (as) had indeed said that “more than 20 years” is sufficient to
close the case against a fake claimant, the writer explains it away by pointing
to the number of years Hadhrat Ahmad (as) had completed at that point of time
when the statements were made.
Are you now
suggesting that Hadhrat Ahmad (as) used the term “more than 20 years” as merely
out of expedient, self-serving considerations and that it has nothing to do
with the “actual standard”? The writer
swears by the thoughts of Hadhrat Ahmad (as) on the issue of 23 years. Yet, he
conveniently over looks the emphatic declaration of the Promised Massih (as)
that Allah never gives respite
to the false claimant to divine revelations for a period extending over twenty
years.
From now on, every
claimant to divine revelations will be a suspect in the eyes of people even if
they complete more than twenty years after the advent of revelations in them.
This is so because, for the first time after the revelation of the Holy Qur’an,
Allah has changed His practice, so argues the new theory. From now onwards,
Allah will allow a fake claimant to flourish over two decades with his criminal
enterprise, as the new theory would have us believe. According to the new
theory, a fake claimant can roam around freely till he reaches the midnight of
the last day of 23rd year! Are we to believe that Allah changes His
long-established practice for one fake claimant? And that too even when the
Holy Qur’an says that we shall never see changes in the enduring practice of
Allah?
I for one find
much Qur’anic wisdom behind the standard of “more than twenty years” as representing a sufficient period to test
the fate of a claimant to divine revelations. More than twenty years clearly
means at least 21 years and largely correspond to the length of the Holy
Prophet’s prophethood.
It is instructive
to note that the Holy Book uses the term “Bidh’a zineen” (30:5, 12:43) on several
occasions to refer to a short period of time- between 3 and 9 years. Thus, if
we go by the Holy Qur’an, a period of less than 3 years is not worthy of being
considered even a short period of time. Even closer to the point, the Holy
Qur’an did not consider a period of one year or less as worthy of being
projected as determinative. That is why
in Surah
Al Fatah, amidst an
apparent defeat of the Muslim cause, Allah describes the events as a great
victory.
Mansoor Ahmed
Sahib points out that the Promised Massih (as) wrote about the period of “more than 20 years” at a time when he
has completed 20 years of receiving divine revelations. The underlying
principle is discernible: only someone who has
completed the standard has the right to call the attention of others towards
it.
Unlike the Promised Massih (as), the new claimant of Imam of the Age Janbah Sahib does not consider “more than 20 years” as
sufficient to close the case against a false claimant. Even reaching the 23rd
year will not be sufficient. Even crossing the half way mark of the 23rd
year will not be enough. How can the new claimant
to Imam of the Age prescribe these
standards that he himself has not completed?