Bodily relics and shirk
Can the preservation or historical display of a bodily relic lead to shirk? Hair, for example, once formed part of the body, whereas a garment or book only belonged to its owner. Does this closer physical connection make its preservation more liable to shirk?
At first sight, the words and actions of the Promised Messiah (as) might appear to support this concern. In an answer concerning postcards bearing his photograph, he warned that a practice could “lead to shirk” (munjarr bi-shirk).1 On another occasion, red drops appeared upon a kurta worn by the Promised Messiah (as) during a vision in which he saw divine decrees being signed with a pen dipped in red ink. Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) regarded the kurta as blessed and asked to preserve it. The Promised Messiah (as) granted the request only after Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) undertook to have the kurta buried with him, since people might otherwise worship the garment or turn it into an object of visitation.2
Relics can undoubtedly be misused, as can images, graves and places associated with holy persons. But did the Promised Messiah (as) prohibit the preservation and viewing of bodily relics? Did he regard their bodily origin as a separate danger? And did the condition attached to the kurta of Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) establish a general command to conceal or bury relics?
What it means to “lead to shirk”
The Arabic word for blessing is barakah. Ar-Raghib al-Isfahani explains it as thubut al-khayr al-ilahi fi sh-shay’, “the establishment of divine good in a thing”.3 Accordingly, seeking blessing (tabarruk) means talab thubut al-khayr al-ilahi fi sh-shay’, “seeking the establishment of divine good in a thing”.4 A believer who legitimately seeks blessing through an object holds that Allah has placed a particular good in something He created and seeks that good from Him. He does not attribute independent power to the object.
Shirk means attributing to another what belongs to Allah. When Hazrat Abdullah bin Mas‘ud (ra) asked the Messenger (sa) of Allah which sin was greatest before Allah, he replied, “That you set up a rival to Allah although He created you.”5 In another narration, the Messenger (sa) replied, “That you call upon a rival alongside Allah although He created you.”6 Calling upon a rival alongside Allah is an act of worship (‘ibadah), for the Messenger (sa) said, “Supplication is worship.”7 Worship directed to a created rival is shirk. To say that an act may lead to shirk is therefore to say that respect or tabarruk may be turned into worship of the object.
Whether respect or tabarruk is being turned into worship depends upon the use made of the object. Hair, cloth and paper do not acquire such a tendency merely by existing.
The intensity of an emotion does not by itself determine whether an act is worship. A Muslim may handle a copy of the Noble Quran with far greater care than an ordinary book, preserve a letter written by someone he loves or stand out of respect when an elder enters. None of these actions gives the book, letter or person a share in the divinity of Allah. Conversely, a quiet request addressed to an absent person, made in the belief that he independently controls the unseen, would remain objectionable even if made without ceremony. What matters is the religious meaning of the act and the belief expressed through it.
Intention matters without settling every case. A person may profess an innocent intention while performing an act which has acquired an unmistakably devotional meaning.
The possibility of later misuse does not make every present use impermissible. Otherwise, every grave, religious image and historical possession would have to be destroyed because almost anything can be misused through ignorance or excess. To say that a practice leads to shirk requires some reason to expect that people will invoke the object, seek powers from it, turn it into an object of devotion or gather around it in a manner resembling worship. Without such a connection, the phrase ceases to describe a tendency and becomes a suspicion which can be directed against every form of religious remembrance.
The postcards that were burnt
The expression “leading to shirk” (munjarr bi-shirk) occurs in an answer written by the Promised Messiah (as) in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part V. He had been asked how the severe warnings in the Hadith concerning images could be reconciled with the publication of his own photograph. His answer reads:
“I am strongly opposed to anyone taking my photograph and keeping it, or publishing it, in the manner of idolaters. I have never instructed anyone to do so, and no one can be a greater enemy of idolatry and image-worship than I. I have observed, however, that Europeans who wish to examine an author’s work first desire to see his portrait […]. For this purpose and within this limit, I have deemed it expedient to remain silent about the practice. ‘Actions are only by intentions.’ Nor is it my view that the prohibition of images is absolute. […] Islam has forbidden all futile acts and those which lend support to shirk, not acts which advance human knowledge […]. Even so, I do not at all approve of members of my Community, without compelling necessity, making the general dissemination of my photograph their trade or occupation, because this is how innovations gradually arise and reach shirk. […] I have seen cards belonging to some gentlemen with my image along the edge on the reverse. I strongly oppose such dissemination. […] To act for a sound and useful purpose is one thing. To behave like the Hindus who put images of their elders here and there on doors and walls is another. It has invariably been seen that such futile practices lead to shirk and produce grave evils.”8
The words “leading to shirk” (munjarr bi-shirk) describe a possible consequence of the practices which the Promised Messiah (as) proceeds to identify: publishing his portrait indiscriminately and without necessity, placing it on personal cards, making its general distribution a trade and imitating the custom of placing portraits of religious elders throughout the home. He expressly distinguishes all of this from photography employed for a sound and useful purpose.
Although the Promised Messiah (as) cites intention, he also considers necessity, benefit, public circulation, commercial use, existing habits of image veneration and the gradual creation of innovations. His distinction between the useful act and the futile one rests upon all these considerations, but he never suggests that an intention detached from the outward form and consequence of the practice can settle the question.
The Promised Messiah (as) permitted the photograph for a missionary purpose and condemned its use in a form associated with religious veneration. The physical image was the same in each case. If its mere existence or sight had constituted the danger, a useful purpose would have altered nothing. His answer turns upon the manner and purpose of the photograph’s use.
In 1906, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) addressed the allegation that Ahmadis kept the photograph of the Promised Messiah (as) in order to worship it. Huzoor (ra) replied that anyone who worshipped the portrait would certainly commit shirk. He then related that cards bearing the photograph had once reached Qadian and that the Promised Messiah (as) had ordered them to be burnt.9
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) had made the same distinction two years earlier. An Ahmadi asked whether he might purchase the photograph for daily ziyarah and tabarruk. Huzoor (ra) rejected the proposal as a futile innovation. The photograph had been taken to meet a particular missionary need, and those who could see the Promised Messiah (as) himself had no need of his photograph.10 The condemned practice was the one proposed in the question: repeated devotional viewing as ziyarah and tabarruk.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IV (rh) later advised that the photograph should not be displayed permanently or conspicuously in a manner which might create false ideas of veneration, while allowing it to be shown occasionally for recognition or in connection with a religious and historical subject.11 This is precisely the distinction made by the Promised Messiah (as). A useful and defined purpose is permitted, while a manner of display liable to foster devotional treatment is prohibited.
The words munjarr bi-shirk apply here to the indiscriminate circulation of cards bearing the photograph, since such circulation might foster religious veneration. A historical display of a bodily relic would fall under the same warning only if its manner of display created a comparable danger.
The kurta that was to be buried
The kurta of Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) is more directly relevant because it was itself a relic. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra) recorded the principal account as report number 100 in Sirat al-Mahdi, on the authority of Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra). Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) related the incident in the first person and believed that it had occurred in 1884.12
At the beginning of Sirat al-Mahdi, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra) warned that he could not guarantee the exact wording of every report: “I do not claim the accuracy of the words of the reports, nor can I undertake verbatim transmission in the full sense.”13 This caution does not deprive the account of Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) of its historical value, but it does mean that a sentence remembered years later cannot be cited as a verbatim ruling published by the Promised Messiah (as).
Before asking for the garment, Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) raised the general question:
“I then felt a desire to take this kurta as a blessed relic. Fearing that Huzoor (as) might refuse immediately, I first asked, ‘Is it permissible to take and preserve a blessed garment or other relic of a holy person?’ He replied, ‘Yes, it is permissible. The Companions preserved the relics of the Messenger (sa) of Allah.’ […] When I asked for this kurta, he declined and explained, ‘I do not give this kurta because, after you and I have died, shirk will spread through it. People will worship it and turn it into an object of visitation.’ […] He added that Companions who possessed relics of the Messenger (sa) of Allah left instructions that they be buried with their shrouds. When I undertook to have the kurta buried with my own shroud, he replied, ‘Yes, if you make this undertaking, then take it.’”14
Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) relates that the Promised Messiah (as) answered the general question by permitting the preservation of a garment or another relic of a holy person, since the Companions had preserved relics of the Messenger (sa) of Allah. The Promised Messiah (as) then imposed a condition upon this particular kurta because of what he foresaw would happen to it. Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) could keep it if he ensured that, after his death, nobody could worship it or make it an object of visitation.
Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) further relates that two or three guests later asked the Promised Messiah (as) for the kurta so that they might divide it among themselves. The Promised Messiah (as) permitted them to take it without requiring the undertaking made by Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra). When Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) pointed out that the garment had already been given to him, the Promised Messiah (as) smiled and left the decision to Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra).15
The same report which records the burial undertaking given by Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) also records that the Promised Messiah (as) subsequently permitted others to take portions of the kurta without imposing that undertaking upon them. Such an account cannot support a universal rule requiring every relic to be buried.
Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) also explains that he initially refrained from showing the kurta because he remembered the warning that it should not become an object of ziyarah. However, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) later explicitly instructed him to show it frequently so that a large number of people could bear witness to having seen it. Henceforth, Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) would show it to anyone who asked to see it.16 This instruction did not contradict the previous warning, since showing the kurta established its identity, whereas the warning concerned people worshipping the garment or making it an object of visitation.
Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) fulfilled the undertaking he had given. In his account of the funeral on 7 October 1927, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra) recorded that the kurta was placed upon the body of Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) and buried with him. Those present saw the garment upon his body while they awaited the funeral prayer. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) directed the men who had dressed the body to publish sworn testimony so that nobody could later introduce a counterfeit kurta.17 In 1945, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra) recalled that thousands of Ahmadis had seen the garment before it was placed in the shroud of Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra).18
The burial fulfilled a personal undertaking given in response to a danger foreseen for this kurta. It did not revoke the permission to preserve relics or prevent the garment from being shown. To cite only the burial is to leave most of the account unread.
Even the recollection that certain Companions had their relics placed in their shrouds does not establish that all Prophetic relics were treated in this manner. The undertaking of Hazrat Mian Abdullah Sanori (ra) tells us what was to happen to this kurta. It does not tell every Muslim in every age what must happen to every relic.
What the Companions did with prophetic relics
Hair provides an especially instructive example of a bodily relic. During the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Messenger (sa) of Allah had his head shaved, gave his hair to Abu Talha (ra) and instructed him:
“Distribute it among the people.”19
The renowned scholar an-Nawawi cited this narration in his famous hadith commentary as authority for preserving the hair of the Messenger (sa) of Allah and seeking blessing through it.20
This practice continued after his death. Al-Bukhari records in his Sahih that Umm Salamah (ra), the mother of the believers, kept hairs of the Messenger (sa) of Allah in a small container and that, when a person suffered from an ailment, a vessel was sent to her.21 Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani explains that she placed the hairs in water and washed them in it, after which the water was used by the sick person in the hope of recovery.22
Asma bint Abi Bakr (ra), the older half-sister of Hazrat Aisha (ra), acted in the same way with a cloak. She explained that the cloak had belonged to Hazrat Aisha (ra) until her death and that the Messenger (sa) of Allah had worn it. Asma (ra) then said:
“We wash it for the sick, seeking healing through it.”23
An-Nawawi understood this hadith to establish the desirability of seeking blessing through the traces and garments of the righteous.24
Umm Sulaym (ra), the mother of Anas bin Malik (ra), collected the perspiration of the Messenger (sa) of Allah in bottles. When the Messenger (sa) asked what she was doing, she replied, “We seek its blessing for our children.” He answered:
“You did well.”25
At Hudaybiyyah, Urwah bin Mas‘ud (ra), who had not yet accepted Islam and was then negotiating on behalf of Quraysh, watched the Companions catch the saliva of the Messenger (sa) of Allah in their hands and rub it upon their faces and skin, contend with one another for his ablution water, lower their voices before him and avoid staring at him “out of reverence for him” (ta‘ziman lahu). Urwah bin Mas‘ud (ra) then told the Quraysh that he had never seen any king honoured by his people as Muhammad (sa) was honoured by his Companions.26 The Companions thus combined physical tabarruk with intense reverence without treating either as worship.
Even ordinary possessions were preserved because of their connection with the Messenger (sa) of Allah. Sahl bin Sa‘d (ra) brought out the cup from which the Messenger (sa) had drunk, allowed later visitors to drink from it and eventually gave it to Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (rh).27 Anas (ra) kept another cup whose crack had been repaired with silver, and Asim bin Sulayman later saw it and drank from it.28 Ibn Hajar explains that al-Bukhari included these reports under his chapter on drinking from the cup of the Messenger (sa) of Allah for tabarruk.29 The Companions and those who came after them preserved, repaired, used and passed on these cups because they had belonged to him.
Burial was another accepted use. When a daughter of the Messenger (sa) of Allah had been washed for burial, he sent his own waist-wrapper and instructed the women:
“Place it next to her body.”30
An-Nawawi explains that the garment was placed against her body so that she might receive blessing through it.31 A relic could be buried with a person for tabarruk, while other relics could be retained and passed on. Burial did not signify that the garment itself was dangerous. The purpose of the burial depended upon the circumstances in which it was chosen.
Nothing in these Prophetic reports supports a prohibition peculiar to bodily relics. The Messenger (sa) of Allah ordered his hair to be distributed. His family and Companions preserved his hair, cloak, perspiration and drinking vessels. They also sought blessing through his ablution water and saliva without attributing independent power to any of these relics. If bodily hair were inherently more liable to shirk than a garment, the clearest precedent in the Hadith would be the first thing requiring explanation. Instead, it is among the clearest precedents for tabarruk.
What the Jamaat has preserved and why
The Promised Messiah (as) also described the blessing placed in the belongings of a perfected servant. In A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, while refuting the Christian claim that extraordinary divine favour makes a human being God or the son of God, he explained how Allah blesses His perfected servant:
“And just as He makes the person himself blessed, so does He place blessing in his words and deeds, his movements and rests, his food and clothing, his place and time, and all that belongs to him. Then everything that touches him becomes blessed, even without his offering a prayer for it.”32
The subject of the sentence is Allah, who places blessing in the perfected servant and in things connected with that servant. The blessing remains His gift to created things and cannot be reduced to the affection felt for a holy person. The clothing, surroundings and other belongings of a person close to Allah may therefore be blessed while remaining entirely dependent upon Him.
On 4 July 1903, the Promised Messiah (as) was asked about amulets and healing prayers. He asked Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) whether the hadith provided authority for either practice. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) cited the reports concerning the hair of the Messenger (sa) of Allah, its distribution among the Companions, the washing of his cloak for the sick and the collection of his perspiration. Having heard these reports, the Promised Messiah (as) stated:
“There is certainly something in this which is not devoid of benefit, and the basis of amulets and the like also emerges from it. What difference is there between suspending a hair and tying an amulet? My revelation says that kings will seek blessings from your garments. There must, after all, be something there for them to seek blessing from. However, in all these matters the demands of love also have a part.”33
The Promised Messiah (as) accepted that there was a benefit in the practices described in the Hadith, compared the suspension of a hair with the tying of an amulet and added that love also played a part.
In 1939, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) was asked how this very statement accorded with opposition to amulets. Huzoor (ra) answered:
“This is not an amulet. Tabarruk is one thing and an amulet another. Tabarruk is appointed by Allah, while an amulet is devised by a servant.”34
In his autobiography, Hazrat Maulvi Ghulam Rasul Rajeki (ra), a Companion of the Promised Messiah (as), listed “a silk handkerchief, a prayer mat and hairs of the Promised Messiah (as)” among the tabarrukat he had preserved and lamented that these objects were later lost.35
In a Friday sermon delivered in 1944, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) addressed the fear that ignorant people might begin to petition graves. He condemned taking soil from the grave of the Promised Messiah (as), placing flowers there and asking the deceased for favours.36 He nevertheless stated, “We cannot abandon a good because of another person’s wrongdoing”, and explained that surrendering something beneficial merely because ideas of shirk might spread “is not wisdom”.37 He then cited the revelation that kings would seek blessing from the garments of the Promised Messiah (as) and stated that Allah places blessings in things connected with the bodies of prophets.38
The Jamaat subsequently began to collect and preserve the relics of the Promised Messiah (as). In 1962, during the time of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra), a committee was established for a historical museum and the preparation of a register of the relics. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra) publicly asked members to assist, mentioned garments foremost among the objects sought and stressed that every object had to be accompanied by a correct and verifiable account of its history.39 The committee asked owners to state what they possessed, how it had reached them, what witnesses or documents established its identity and whether they were willing to lend or give the object to the Jamaat. It also made clear that nothing would be taken without their consent.40
The committee therefore sought authenticated relics of established provenance for preservation and display in a historical museum. Their owners were free to lend or donate them.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IV (rh) later referred to Jamaat museums in different countries which display relics of the Promised Messiah (as) as part of the history of the Community.41 He also explained that the Jamaat library certifies privately held relics after examining their provenance.42 In both cases, the Jamaat required an object’s identity to be established before it was preserved or displayed.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (aa) explained that the family custodians of a green coat of the Promised Messiah (as) initially lent it for use during the international bay‘ah and later presented it to Khilafat.43 On 3 July 2026, Huzoor (aa) also narrated that requests for the garments of the Promised Messiah (as) as tabarruk had sometimes been so frequent that the Promised Messiah (as) would give away the garment he was wearing and another had to be made for him.44
In a letter dated 27 August 2023, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (aa) answered how tabarruk works and when it may fall into shirk. Huzoor (aa) explained that Allah is the source of all blessing and goodness. He makes His prophets and chosen servants blessed and creates means of blessing in the things associated with them.45
Huzoor (aa) then referred to the ring of the Promised Messiah (as) and stated his conviction that Allah had placed blessing in the ring and in other belongings of the Promised Messiah (as). When people ask for prayers, Huzoor (aa) sometimes gives them an object as tabarruk or touches them for the sake of blessing. He touches the person or object with the ring while praying. Huzoor (aa) does not do this for everyone. He acts when Allah places the thought in his heart, although at times he also responds to an insistent request. Huzoor (aa) concluded: “So, my intention is not of any kind of shirk, nor should it be the intention of the one taking the tabarruk.”46
A bodily relic may be displayed for historical viewing without touching, supplication or any other devotional conduct. Such a display does not reproduce the practice against which the Promised Messiah (as) warned.
The postcard passage concerns indiscriminate circulation and devotional use. The kurta account begins with express permission to preserve relics and attaches the burial undertaking to a danger foreseen for that garment. The Prophetic precedent expressly includes hair: the Messenger (sa) of Allah ordered his own hair to be distributed, and the Promised Messiah (as) accepted that precedent when discussing tabarruk. The warning of the Promised Messiah (as) against shirk must be observed. It must not be enlarged into a prohibition of what he expressly allowed.
Endnotes
1. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part V, in Ruhani Khazain (Farnham: Islam International Publications, 2021), Vol. 21, pp. 366-367.
2. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), comp., Sirat al-Mahdi, collected ed. (Qadian: Nazarat Nashr-o-Isha‘at, 2008), Vol. 1, Part I, report no. 100, pp. 72-77, especially pp. 75-77.
3. Ar-Raghib al-Isfahani, Al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran, ed. Safwan ‘Adnan ad-Dawudi, 1st ed. (Damascus and Beirut: Dar al-Qalam and Ad-Dar ash-Shamiyyah, 1412 AH), p. 119.
4. Al-Mawsu‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaytiyyah, issued by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Kuwait, 2nd ed. (Kuwait: Dhat as-Salasil, 1407 AH/1987), Vol. 10, p. 69.
5. Muslim bin al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, ed. Muhammad Fu’ad ‘Abd al-Baqi (Cairo: ‘Isa al-Babi al-Halabi wa-Shurakah, 1374 AH/1955), Vol. 1, pp. 90-91, hadith 86.
6. Ibid.
7. Abu Dawud Sulayman bin al-Ash‘ath, Sunan Abi Dawud, ed. Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut and Muhammad Kamil Qarah Balali, 1st ed. (Damascus: Dar ar-Risalah al-‘Alamiyyah, 1430 AH/2009), hadith 1479.
8. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part V, in Ruhani Khazain, Vol. 21, pp. 366-367.
9. Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Noor-ud-Deen (ra), ‘Removal of a Misunderstanding Concerning Mirza Sahib’s Photograph’, Al Hakam, Qadian, Vol. 10, No. 24, 10 July 1906, p. 9. Reproduced in Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Noor-ud-Deen (ra), Irshadat-e-Noor, comp. Nazarat Isha‘at, Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya Pakistan (Rabwah: Nazarat Isha‘at, Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya Pakistan, n.d.), Vol. 1, p. 309.
10. Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Noor-ud-Deen (ra), answer published in Al Hakam, Qadian, Vol. 8, No. 40, 24 November 1904, p. 13.
11. Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (rh), Majlis-e-‘Irfan, 11 May 1994, published in Daily Al Fazl, Rabwah, 16 April 2003. Republished in Al Fazl International, London, 23 February 2018, under ‘Taswir banana’.
12. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), comp., Sirat al-Mahdi, Vol. 1, Part I, report no. 100, pp. 72-77.
13. Ibid., compiler’s methodological notice, p. 2.
14. Ibid., report no. 100, pp. 75-77.
15. Ibid., pp. 76-77.
16. Ibid., p. 77.
17. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), comp., Sirat al-Mahdi, Vol. 1, Part II, report no. 439, pp. 396-398.
18. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), ‘Hamari Masjid Mubarak’, Al Fazl, Qadian, 26 March 1945. Reproduced in Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), Mazameen-e-Bashir, comp. Mirza ‘Adil Ahmad, 1st ed. (Rabwah: Majlis Ansarullah Pakistan, 2007), Vol. 1, p. 631.
19. Muslim bin al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 2, p. 948, hadith 1305.
20. Yahya bin Sharaf an-Nawawi, Al-Minhaj Sharh Sahih Muslim b. al-Hajjaj, 2nd ed. (Beirut: Dar Ihya’ at-Turath al-‘Arabi, 1392 AH), Vol. 9, p. 54.
21. Muhammad bin Isma‘il al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, ed. Mustafa Dib al-Bugha, 5th ed. (Damascus: Dar Ibn Kathir and Dar al-Yamamah, 1414 AH/1993), Vol. 5, p. 2210, hadith 5557.
22. Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Fath al-Bari bi-Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith numbering by Muhammad Fu’ad ‘Abd al-Baqi, prepared by Muhibb ad-Din al-Khatib, 1st ed. (Cairo: Al-Maktabah as-Salafiyyah, 1380-1390 AH), Vol. 10, pp. 352-353.
23. Muslim bin al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 3, p. 1641, hadith 2069.
24. An-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, Vol. 14, p. 44.
25. Muslim bin al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 4, pp. 1815-1816, hadith 2331.
26. Al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 2, p. 974, hadith 2581.
27. Al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 5, pp. 2134-2135, hadith 5314.
28. Ibid., Vol. 5, pp. 2134-2135, hadith 5315, and Vol. 3, pp. 1131-1132, hadith 2942.
29. Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, Vol. 10, p. 99.
30. Muslim bin al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 2, pp. 646-647, hadith 939.
31. An-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, Vol. 7, p. 3.
32. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, in Ruhani Khazain (Farnham: Islam International Publications, 2021), Vol. 5, pp. 67-70, especially p. 69.
33. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Malfuzat, rev. ed. (Farnham: Islam International Publications, 2022), Vol. 5, pp. 189-190. Originally reported in Al Badr, Qadian, Vol. 2, No. 26, 17 July 1903, p. 201.
34. Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra), answer published in Daily Al Fazl, Qadian, 11 November 1939, p. 3.
35. Hazrat Maulvi Ghulam Rasul Rajeki (ra), Hayat-e-Qudsi ma‘a Barakat-e-Ahmadiyya, Part I (Hyderabad Deccan: Rafiq Machine Press, 1951), pp. 79-81, especially p. 80.
36. Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra), ‘Chand Nihayat Hi Aham Batein’, Friday sermon delivered 10 March 1944, in Khutbat-e-Mahmud (Rabwah: Fazl-e-Umar Foundation, n.d.), Vol. 25, pp. 178-187, especially pp. 179-182.
37. Ibid., pp. 182-184.
38. Ibid., pp. 184-186.
39. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), opening address to the Majlis Ansarullah annual gathering, 26 October 1962, in Mazameen-e-Bashir, 1st ed. (Rabwah: Majlis Ansarullah Pakistan, [2015]), Vol. 4, pp. 423-427, especially p. 425.
40. Dost Muhammad Shahid, comp., Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat (Qadian: Nazarat Nashr-o-Isha‘at, [2011]), Vol. 21, pp. 527-530, especially pp. 528-530. Compare the contemporary committee notice in Al Fazl, Rabwah, No. 245, 23 October 1962, p. 4.
41. Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (rh), Majlis-e-‘Irfan, 12 May 2000.
42. Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (rh), Majlis-e-‘Irfan, 9 August 2002.
43. Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (aa), ‘Huquq Allah ke Sath Huquq al-‘Ibad’, Friday sermon delivered 10 August 2007, published in Al Fazl International, London, 31 August-6 September 2007, pp. 5-8.
44. Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (aa), Friday sermon delivered 3 July 2026 at Masjid Mubarak, Islamabad, Tilford, Surrey, published in Al Fazl International, 22 July 2026. The underlying report appears in Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), comp., Sirat al-Mahdi, Vol. 1, Part II, report no. 447, p. 416.
45. ‘Answers to Everyday Issues, Part 96: Tabarruk, Satan, angels, Eid al-Adha rituals and reciting the names of Surahs, ta‘awwuz and basmalah’, Al Hakam, 26 November 2025, under ‘What is “tabarruk”? How are blessings understood to be transmitted and why isn’t it considered “shirk”?’, English translation by Al Hakam, reproducing a letter of Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (aa) dated 27 August 2023.
46. Ibid.