Romaan Basit, Ahmadiyya Archive and Research Centre
For well over a century, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat has faced fierce opposition at every step. Throughout this time, voices have risen, confidently declaring the Jamaat’s imminent end. These opponents dreamed of being the ‘conquerors’ of Ahmadiyyat and waited for the downfall so they could rejoice.
From the Ahrar declaring they would destroy Qadian “brick by brick” to the point that nobody would ever remember its name, to Bhutto and Zia claiming, with all their political power, to have put a stop to the Qadiani problem forever.
Yet, despite all these empty claims, the Jamaat stands stronger than ever.
In the social media era, Ahmadiyyat has reached the ‘corners of the earth’ as per the revelation of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas (which he received in the small town of Qadian in Punjab). The Jamaat is active in over 200 countries and is well-known across all hemispheres. And still, opponents emerge, believing they will be the ones to finally end the community – once and for all.
They say the Ahmadiyya Jamaat’s years are numbered; that it will perish soon, right before the eyes of the Muslim ummah. A mere “few years” is the time they have always estimated for their wishful predictions.
So, let’s take a journey through history to remind such opponents that they really aren’t the first to believe they will end Ahmadiyyat.
Rumours to spread panic
During the life of the Promised Messiahas, different tactics were used to spread panic and fear in the ranks of the believers, as was done in the history of early Islam. When arguments failed, and the Jamaat increased exponentially despite all their efforts, false rumours were concocted and spread.
Since such ill-wishers of the Jamaat always imagined the death of the Jamaat to take place with the demise of its founder, they tried and tested spreading rumours of his death to see how much panic such a news could cause. One such attempted rumour was that the founder of the community had passed away in the plague, when in reality he was alive and well. This created such anxiety and concern in the hearts of Ahmadis that they flocked to Qadian to see if the news was true.
Of course the news was fabricated. But as newspapers were the medium of spreading information and there was no social media to challenge it as we have now, once a story was published, it was thought to be true.
The lie was spread by Muhammad Bakhsh, a student of the famous Ahl-e-Hadith leader, Muhammad Hussain Batalvi. He was the founding editor of the newspaper Ja’far Zattali, which was devoted to mocking the Promised Messiahas. Aside from the vile language, he would also concoct such false stories against the Promised Messiahas and his family. This incident has been recorded in history as such:
“Muhammad Bakhsh published an article titled Afsosnak Hadsa (A sad incident), which claimed the Promised Messiah had died in the plague. This news spread rapidly across the country, due to which a special issue of Al Hakam newspaper had to be published to correct this news on 3 April 1898.” (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol.2, p. 9)
Panic it did spread, but the rumour was seen as a futile attempt, as the only result was people losing credibility in such sources which damaged their reputation.
Then started post-dated predictions that bought them time and gave their evil wishes a certain level of satisfaction.
“What will be left of the Mirzais now?”
When the Promised Messiahas did actually pass away, an entire decade later, a prominent newspaper called Curzon Gazette (Delhi) ran a report about his passing and boldly declared:
“What will be left of the Mirzais now? The head has been chopped off.” (Badr Newspaper, 7 January 1909, p. 5)
These words were reported in 1908. It is now 2024; has the head really been chopped off?
Just as Khilafat continued after Prophet Muhammad’ssa demise, the first Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat was elected on 27 May 1908, turning the state of fear into peace. Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya has since continued, all whilst Muslims desperately crave unity and have been calling for a caliphate. Allah the Almighty proved that the foundation of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was built on more than just one man – it was built on divine truth.
The same newspaper also wrote about Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira, claiming:
“The man who has now become their Imam (Khalifa) will not be able to do anything. All he is capable of is reading the Quran for you in a mosque”.
To this, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira remarked: “May Allah make these words of theirs come true, that I read and teach the Quran to you”.
More than a hundred years on, we have a great deal of evidence to prove that the Ahmadiyya caliphate has left no stone unturned in propagating the message of the Holy Quran across the globe.
“Owls will hoot in Qadian – it will soon be deserted!”
The Lahoris parted ways with Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya in 1914 and left Qadian, going on to establish its own Jamaat in Lahore. Their basic difference with the mainstream Jamaat was the issue of Khilafat which they strongly opposed. The founders of the Lahori Jamaat were people of high influence and esteem within the Ahmadiyya Jamaat and took almost all resources with them when they left.
Whilst leaving, they pointed at the buildings of Qadian, and said ab yahan ullu bolein gai (literally translated as ‘now owls will hoot here’), meaning the place will soon be desolate.
“When these people were leaving Qadian, at the time their various construction projects had completely drained the finances of the Sadr Anjuman and there were only a few aanay (pennies) left. These people were so self-possessed that they thought that by us leaving, the entire administration will collapse. And after us no person will be able to run this administration.
“Hence their leader, whilst leaving Qadian, pointed to the buildings of the Jamaat and said ab yahan ullu bolein gai, that this place will soon be desolate and deserted.” (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol.4, p. 125)
One of these ‘influential’ people was Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig. As he was leaving, he pointed at the buildings and said:
“You will see that in ten years’ time, these places will be occupied by Christians and all these properties will be taken from the hands of Ahmadis.” (Mein hi Musleh-e-Maud ki Peshgoi ka Misdaaq hun, Anwar-ul-Ulum, Vol. 17, pp. 206)
So, how truthful were such words of our opponents?
Brick by brick: “Not a trace of Qadian’s name will remain”
In the 1930s, during the Khilafat of Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra, the Ahrar agitation against the Ahmadiyya Jamaat was at an all-time high. A strong jealousy had been growing in the hearts of the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam ever since the days of the All India Kashmir Committee; when they had seen that if anyone, it was only the Ahmadiyya Jamaat which had the capability of leading Muslims.
This jealousy took an ugly shape in the form of persecution, and that is where we can say the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat became institutionalised.
Like opponents of the Jamaat from the past, the Ahrar too said that the Qadiani movement would soon be forgotten. Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh, reminiscing this episode, mentioned:
“The Tahrik-e-Jadid movement was initiated in Qadian in 1934. These were the days when the air was still echoing with the claims of the Ahrar that they would demolish the Minarat-ul-Masih brick by brick and destroy Qadian in such a way that not even a trace of Qadian’s name would remain, and there would not be a single person left who would even mention the Promised Messiah’sas name.” (Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Friday Sermon, 5 November 1982)
“The Qadiani problem has been solved forever”
In 1974, during the Khilafat of Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmadrh, Khalifatul Masih III, the anti-Ahmadi opponents thought that they were done with us once and for all. After a long history of persecution and pressure on political officials, the decision was made by the Pakistan National Assembly to declare Ahmadis as “non-Muslims”.
The following headline was run by the Musawaat newspaper of Karachi: “The Qadiani problem has been solved forever.”
In ONE YEAR, the Qadianis will be finished
In 1988, Manzur Chinioti, an ardent opponent of the Jamaat, boldly predicted in Daily Jang Lahore that in one year, the Ahmadiyya Community would cease to exist. That date came and went, and the results are before your eyes. He wrote:
“I accept the Mubahala Challenge (of Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh) and predict that I would be alive a year from today i.e. 15th September 1989, but the Qadiani community would disappear from the face of the earth. (Daily Jang Lahore, 17 October 1988)
In reply to his boasts, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh replied:
“We will see, by next September, God willing, Ahmadiyyat will not only be alive but will be prospering in every way, and if Maulvi Chinioti happens to be alive, he will not find a single country where Ahmadiyyat has vanished”. (Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Friday Sermon, 25 November 1988)
Ordinance XX: Zia-ul-Haq’s attempt to destroy backfires
President Zia-ul-Haq, with all his power, declared he would destroy our community. Instead, his own regime crumbled and he, quite literally, vanished in thin air.
On 26 April 1984, he issued Ordinance XX, which made it unlawful for Ahmadis to engage in any Islamic practice, which included having a Muslim name, saying salam, wearing Muslim articles of clothing, calling a mosque a mosque and partaking in Islamic holidays. Doing so could result in jail time or even death. The situation escalated and became too hostile, leading to the migration of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh. He left Pakistan and travelled to England.
Zia-ul-Haq continued, ignoring all warnings from Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh to stop the persecution. On 10 June, Huzoorrh issued a Mubahala challenge to him, which invoked Allah’s curse and wrath upon the false party within a year. Then, on 12 August 1988, Huzoorrh declared that by disregarding the pleas and persisting, Zia-ul-Haq had sealed his fate.
A few days after Huzoor’srh sermon, on 17 August 1988, President Zia-ul-Haq and many of his associates died in a plane crash which was found to be an inexplicable accident.
On the other hand, the era that followed the migration of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh brought huge success in the mission of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. It saw the community expand globally, establishing missions in countries where it never before had a presence, all while facing continued opposition and false prophecies of its downfall.
MTA was established, which fulfilled and took the prophetic words of “I shall cause thy message to reach the corners of the earth” to a whole new level.
Present day: The same repeated, recycled claims continue
Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya continued to lead the Jamaat from one phase of success and prosperity to another. Now that we are living in the time of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V, we have a glorious past, magnificent present and, under his guidance, we march towards a bright future.
The opponents are chanting, or recycling I would say, the same claims today, with the same vigour as they were throughout the history of the Jamaat. Every so often, a person stands up who thinks they are different – that somehow, they will change the course of the history of Ahmadiyyat. But, the reality is that many great powers and influential people have tried in the past and failed miserably.
The people we see making such claims today will also fail miserably, as it is the promise of Allah the Almighty to always protect His divine community.
The following words of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa sum up the situation in the best manner:
“Allah the Almighty’s communities constantly remain in a state of battle. Some from among the younger generation become worried too quickly. Those who have experienced similar challenging situations in the past, or who have studied even a bit of history do not feel anxious in such conditions.
“On such a battleground, one must stay alert rather than worry. The enemy gets irritated by anything we say. In fact, they get even more agitated by our silence.” (https://www.alhakam.org/reporting-the-insightful-words-of-huzoor/)
A history of progress
To those who claim the days of the Jamaat are numbered: look to history. For over a century, opponents have predicted its downfall. Every time, their words and their beings have turned to dust while the community has grown stronger.
The Jamaat does not stand by human power but by divine decree.
We will continue to thrive – not for one year, ten years, or even another hundred years – but until the end of days. This too is not an emotional claim, but a fact backed by history.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community isn’t ending. We’re just getting started, insha-Allah