Hazrat Sahibzada Mirza Bashir Ahmadra was asked by a newspaper, Azad Nau Jawan (which started publication in 1929) to write an article for them on Eid-ul-Adha. One of the editors also asked about a tabligh tour in South India carried out by Sahibzada Mirza Wasim Ahmad Sahib, son of Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra. This short piece was published by the newspaper on 9 July 1957. The English rendering of the article is presented below:
My respected and honourable Nau Jawan readers, assalamo alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu.
I have received your letter. The tabligh tour of Mirza Wasim Ahmad, may Allah keep him in His protection, and his colleagues was truly very successful, and it produced fruits that were sweeter than expected. As you were part of the tour too, you have also – by the grace of God – partaken of their fruits and blessings.
According to some narrations, it is said that Hazrat Adam, peace be on him, also reached South India. In fact, [it is reported] that after visiting South India, he went to the Ceylon [Sri Lanka] area too.
Whether this narration is true or not, the current situation certainly shows that for the acceptance of the Second Adam, i.e. the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, angels are busy in sprinkling holy seeds across South India.
May God enable these crops to fully grow and flourish and produce such fruits that are a means of eternal mercy for this country.
This tour has proven the Quranic teaching of:
لَاۤ اِكۡرَاهَ فِي الدِّيۡنِ ۟ۙ قَدۡ تَّبَيَّنَ الرُّشۡدُ مِنَ الۡغَيِّ
Meaning, “There should be no compulsion with regard to religion and faith, and human conscience should be given the free choice to decide between truth and faslehood.”
Those who do not have the truth are the ones who compel and force [others to believe] and instead of arguments, they want to make others believe through physical force. However, Islam is pure truth and whoever, with a level mind and with sincerity, studies its teachings can never be left without being impressed by its truth.
The world has done a great injustice by attributing the early history of Islam with forceful conversions and violence even though all the wars fought by the Holy Prophetsa and his Khulafa-e-Rashideen were defensive, or they were to create freedom of conscience and peaceful passages for tabligh in those countries that were oppressive and cruel.
Therefore, in this age, through the advent of the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, Allah the Almighty desired to prove that if a servant and slave of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, can prove the truth of Islam through arguments, then attributing compulsion and force towards the Promised Messiah’s master and chief is severely unjust.
It is the result of this [divine desire] that right now, in lots of countries of the world, Ahmadi missionaries are successfully preaching Islam with love and the beacon of peace. And the world is returning to the truth of Islam with great force. This very picture can be seen in your recent tour of South India [for preaching] – hundreds of people accepted only through the power of truth. They decorated themselves with the flowers of belief at the feet of Ahmadiyyat.
[The Promised Messiahas said:] “I came only to sow the seed. That seed has been sown by my hands. It will now grow and blossom forth and none dare retard its growth.”
Wasalam,
Humbly yours,
Mirza Bashir Ahmad
(Translated by Al Hakam from the original Urdu)