Al Fazl, 6 and 13 October 1921
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih in Qadian
After Zuhr prayer in Masjid Mubarak, on 29 September [1921], Maulvi Abdul Haye Sahib Hyderabadi recited his poem “Mubarakbad” before Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II[ra]. On the same day after sunset, Mian Nizamuddin Sahib Taylor recited his poem.
Mir Qasim Ali Sahib presented “Hidayat-e-Zarrin” [golden guidelines]. After listening to them, Huzoor[ra] said about the title that it would have been better if its title was “Hidayat-e-Muballighin” [guidelines for missionaries].
Thereafter, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih said that there is a rule of Babis that if a book is published then it should be beautiful, otherwise it should not be published at all.
After the Asr prayer on 1 October [1921], Huzoor[ra] mentioned Maulvi Muhammad Ali Sahib Lahori’s new two-page tract titled Itmam-ul-Hujjah and said that it was a great mistake to conclude from the writings of the Companions [of the Promised Messiahas] that they did not believe in the prophethood of the Promised Messiahas. If they [the Companions] initially said that the previous mujaddids [reformers] were also prophets and then expressed that they were not prophets because only the Promised Messiahas was granted abundant revelations about the unseen, then how can it be concluded that the Promised Messiahas was not a prophet according to them.
Huzoor[ra] then explained that the said matter was made clear by that reference of Haqiqatul-Wahi [The Philosophy of Divine Revelation by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas]which says that the previous saints and holy men did not deserve the status of prophethood because the unseen was not revealed to them in abundance.
After Asr prayer on 2 October [1921], Sheikh Muhammad Yusuf Sahib, the editor of Nur [newspaper], presented his new book Sat Updesh, which he wrote in response to the book Takzeeb Qadiani by the editor of Lyall[pur] Gazette.
4 October 1921
Health
Talking about his state of health upon the enquiry of Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad Sahib, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih[ra] said:
“At times, I do not feel as if I have a fever, but through a thermometer or when another person’s hand touches me, then I realise that my body is warm.”
Huzoor[ra] said:
“I had heard from people but now I have experienced myself about Kashmir, that after going there, one’s health restores, but when one comes back, it reverts. Consequently, most of our members of the caravans became ill when they returned. Hafiz Sahib and Dr Hashmatullah got the flu. Dr Mir Muhammad Ismail Sahib’s health deteriorated again, otherwise he had regained health [in Kashmir]. Before going to Kashmir, he had become very weak.”
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih then said:
“As far as I have seen mountains, Dalhousie is a very good place in terms of scenery and health. The health report shows that pure air reaches Dalhousie from hundreds of miles.”
Regarding Kashmir, Huzoor[ra] said:
“There are a lot of fleas [in Kashmir]. Sometimes you have to stay up all night. The fleas there are so strong that even after sprinkling about half a box of flea powder, they keep on doing their work. What the Kashmiri people say about their cure is even more strange: when someone lies in their bed and the fleas get into all the bedsheets, get up quickly and wrap all the clothes and throw them out and come and lie down, and if they bite again, repeat the same process.”
The vastness of God’s Supreme Being
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih[ra] said:
“As the sciences progress, the Supreme Being of God will be manifested in different ways. In fact, as new research in science progresses, researchers are realising that they have not yet learned much. Before the war, the speed of light was investigated and [based on its calculations], the size of the universe was estimated to be three thousand [light] years. But during the war, such situations occurred and the new investigations revealed that [the estimate of] three thousand years was wrong and [the size of the universe] is 36 thousand [light] years. Hence, they have progressed far beyond what they had achieved in the past.”
On this, Maulana Hafiz Roshan Ali Sahib recited this verse:
مَا يَعۡلَمُ جُنُوۡدَ رَبِّكَ اِلَّا هُوَ
[“And none knows the hosts of thy Lord but He.”]
Huzoor[ra] said, “This very verse was once sent to me as a revelation.”
The strength of Ahmadis
Thereafter, the overall number of Ahmadis was discussed, and with respect to a region of Punjab, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih said:
“Maulvi Nizamuddin Sahib went there [in that area of Punjab]. There he found Ahmadis in several villages who had converted to Ahmadiyyat in 1904. All they knew was that Prophet Jesusas had passed away and that Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas was the Promised Messiah. Apart from that, they did not know anything that there is a Jamaat or that it has a structure.”
Huzoor[ra] said:
“If investigated, there may be many areas in India in which Ahmadis are present in the same way, but in such a situation it is difficult to form a jamaat [there].”
Ahmadiyyat in Arabia
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih[ra] said:
“May God establish the Jamaat in Arabia. It will be like a death for the enemies. Pir Jamaat Ali Shah in his sermons says, ‘Ahmadis cannot enter Mecca; either they will be destroyed or they will not be granted the strength because they are Dajjal.’ However, now a ‘jamaat of Dajjal’ has been formed near the Ka‘bah which will be a cause of their humiliation, insha-Allah.
Concern of negligence in actions
When there was a mention of the current and future situation of the Jamaat, Huzoor[ra] said:
“Today I was thinking about it that naturally one wants distinction but there is practically no difference between us and non-Ahmadis. There is only a difference of opinion, so [members] of the Jamaat in future might experience this difficulty that they may become negligent in their actions.”
Hafiz Roshan Ali Sahib said that there was no difference between Jews and Christians. The Christians were also bound by the same divine law as the Jews, but the Jews persecuted Jesus and the Christians. Therefore, it was natural for Christians to hate them. Under the said hostility, they [Jews] did not even consider it necessary to observe that divine law and the end result is obvious to all. Likewise, our Shariah [divine law] is the same as that of non-Ahmadis. Our Salat, Fasting, Hajj, Zakat etc. are the same rules and duties that are theirs. Thus far, the difference between us and them is that of a don’t, i.e. not praying behind them and not marrying in them [because they consider us disbelievers]. As there is no existential form of a don’t, so in future, people may conclude that even though offering Salat behind them [non-Ahmadis] is not permissible, their Salat is the same, so one can consider Salat as not necessary. If such an idea arises, then God-forbid, the Jamaat might either become negligent of the Shariah or will become absorbed in them. We read about the friends of the Promised Messiahas in his books, but now many of them do not exist, nor do their relatives exist. This means that since people have no differences with respect to practices, it is difficult to distinguish themselves from others.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih said:
“The way in which the Promised Messiahas led the Jamaat [in his age] was right and appropriate for that time. Its example is as that of Lord Curzon, who investigated viceroyalty in his time and found that only around three per cent of government employees were Muslims and the rest were Hindus. What he wrote about the reasons for that, it was correct that after the mutiny of 1857, the British adopted a policy of weakening the Muslims. They wanted to strengthen the Hindus against them, so that they may help the government in time of need. Since the term of a viceroy is five years, whoever understood that and introduced that system was right, but the future [viceroys] could not understand the purpose of that policy, so the result was that the said practice continued in the same way. Consequently, the Hindus now have gained so much power that they themselves have become a threat. The government is not hostile towards them but it only wants to strengthen its foothold. Thus, there should be a rule now that first Englishmen, then Christians, then Muslims, then Sikhs and then Hindus should be employed in government service. This practice should continue until a balance is achieved [in government offices] according to the ratio of population.
“In the same way, the Promised Messiahas considered the bai‘at of repentance to be sufficient. Hence, it is also proved by a testimony that when Maulvi (Nuruddinra) Sahib asked, the Promised Messiahas said, ‘I take the bai‘at of repentance and I will tell God that they repented of their previous sins on my hand and promised to abide by the Shariah in future.’ This method was right, but people might say in the future that when the Promised Messiahas did not burden us, then who are you to burden us?
“I have looked into the Holy Quran, ahadith and the Bible along the lines that if there is any precedent in them that the Jamaat of any prophet did not do difficult feats. [I found] in them that one would take bai‘at and everything was sacrificed in the way of God. Then nothing of that person would be his. If a cultivated land would be ready and it was needed for religion, then no excuse would be heard and it had to be sacrificed. A man like Prophet Jesusas, who teaches that if someone slaps on one cheek, then turn to him the other as well, he also says that, ‘If one comes to me, then they should leave their wealth.’
“After five to six years of deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that perfect reformation and improvement can only be achieved if this very method [i.e. sacrificing everything in the way of God] is adopted, which will now be called a brutal method by people.”
The initial state of the Jamaat
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih said:
“The Promised Messiahas used to lay great emphasis on this verse:
كَزَرۡعٍ اَخۡرَجَ شَطۡـَٔهٗ فَاٰزَرَهٗ فَاسۡتَغۡلَظَ فَاسۡتَوٰي عَلٰي سُوۡقِهٖ يُعۡجِبُ الزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغِيۡظَ بِهِمُ الۡكُفَّارَ
“[Their description in the Gospel] is like unto a seed-produce that sends forth its sprout, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and stands firm on its stem and delights the landlords. This progress was granted that the disbelievers may burn with rage at the sight of that progress.
“The state of our Jamaat is similar to كَزَرۡعٍ اَخۡرَجَ شَطۡـَٔهٗ. All the rest exist to show the progress of our Jamaat.”
(Translated by Al Hakam from the original in the 6 and 13 October 1921 issue of Al Fazl)