Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian, the man who claimed under Divine revelations that he is the long- awaited Messiah of the Latter Days and the Mujaddid and ‘Imam Mahdi’ of the 14th century of Islam, lived his life at a very significant period in world history (1835-1908 AD; 1250-1326 AH). The times witnessed a great political transition in India and elsewhere, with the decline and fall of the mighty Mughal Empire (1526-1857) and the simultaneous rise and rise of the British colonial suzerainty over the whole subcontinent (1857-1947) as well as other regions/nations around the world. As it happened, the Christian-missionary activities among the Muslim peoples became yet another front in the larger battle of the European imperial powers in Asia and Africa for land, riches and souls. Hence, the world of religious debates also became a battle field, with Islam coming under relentless attack at the hands of an ascendant Christianity. Hence, along with the political flux, also came profound questions of spiritual doctrine and of practical significance for the Muslims of the day.
The debate around the doctrine of Jihad in Islam is fairly representative
of the kind of issues and concerns that characterized the
Muslim-Christian encounter in the colonial era in India. Against the
backdrop of the anti-Muslim rhetoric by the Christian missionaries
in India, there were incidents of violence involving such preachers,
and those who attacked them were apparently motivated by religious
hate. There are searing ironies in the whole episode: the Christian
missionaries, in their zeal for tarnishing the fair name and image of
Islam, propagated a false doctrine of Jihad among the ignorant
masses, whereby they claimed that it is obligatory for Muslims to
kill disbelievers/enemies. Certain Muslim divines, without a deeper
examination of all issues, also agreed with this false notion of
Jihad that legitimated extreme intolerance and indiscriminate
violence against all non-Muslims. The expressions of bigotry and
senseless acts of violence against innocent victims is often directly
linked to the myth-making around Jihad.
Several
learned Muslim scholars during the period wrote treatises against the
widespread distortions and grave misunderstandings that characterized
the popular concept of ‘Jihad’. For instance, Maulvi Chiragh Ali
of Hyderabad (1844-1895) wrote the classic ‘A
Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad’, setting
forth the historic/persecuted circumstances of the early Muslim
community forming the actual context of the Qur’anic verses
concerning Jihad. He wrote:
‘...A
cruel or revengeful tyrant may not be justified in taking up arms in
his own defence, or in seeking to redress his personal wrongs and
private injuries; but the whole Muslim community at Makkah was
outraged, persecuted and expelled- and the entire Muhammadan
commonwealth at Madina was attacked, injured and wronged- their
natural rights and privileges were disregarded- after such miseries
the Muslims took up arms to protect themselves from the hostilities
of their enemies and to repel force by force; and were justified by
every law and justice’. (A
Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad, p.
xxiv-xxv, Delhi: Idarah-i-Adabiyati Dilli, written in 1885; reprint 1984)
Likewise,
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898), the illustrious founder of the
Aligarh Muslim University and a towering Muslim personality of the
age, also wrote extensively to elucidate the true concept of Jihad in
Islam. He emphatically asserted that ‘as long as the Muslims can
affirm their faith in One God and preach it in peace, the religion
does not permit them to rise against the rulers irrespective of their
faith or race’.
Further,
he avers that ‘Islam admits
no
scope for mischief, treachery, mutiny or rebellion. In fact,
whosoever guarantees peace and security, he be a believer or
disbeliever, is entitled to Muslim gratitude and obedience’.
