Generally, people accept the true Islam when they comprehend the reasonable and rational explanations of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat about the signs of Judgement day, death of Jesusas, freedom of religion and naskh [abrogation] in the Holy Quran etc.
However, those few who abandon the Jamaat, mostly overlook and knowingly close their eyes to the inspirations which persuaded them to join the Ahmadiyya Jamaat in the first place. Rather than proving that they were wrong in believing those sound interpretations of the Holy Quran and ahadith, they persist on levelling allegations against the personage of the Messiah and Mahdi, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas.
Their silence on the primary stimulations of their conversion to Islam Ahmadiyyat give rise to an array of questions. Above all, it indicates that they believe those explanations to be true and deliberately ignore them.
Secondly, if the signs of the Messiah of the latter days present in the Holy Quran and ahadith have come to pass and the apostates believe that the Founderas of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat was not the Promised Messiah, then they should either specify which sect of the Muslim Ummah believes in the true Messiah or fall in the category mentioned in the following saying of the Holy Prophetsa:
خَیْرُھذِهِ الْاُمَّةِ أوَّلُهَا وَآخِرُهَا، أوَّلُهَا فِيْهِمْ رَسُوْلُ اللہِ وَآخِرُهَا فِيْهِمْ عِیْسَی ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَبَيْنَ ذٰلِكَ ثَبَجٌ أعْوَجُ لَيْسَ مِنْکَ وَلَسْتَ مِنْھُم
“The golden period of this Ummah is the first and the last age. In the first era, the Prophet [Muhammadsa] of Allah is present in it, and in the last age, Isa ibn Maryam [the Promised Messiahas] will be among them. And the middle age will be that of the crooked group, who are not from among you [i.e. the true Ummah of the Holy Prophetsa] and you are not from among them.” (Hilyatul Auliya, Imam Abu Nuaym Ahmad bin Abdullah Al-Shafi)
Now that the age of the Holy Prophetsa has passed and according to the deserters of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya, it is not the age of the Promised Messiah, then in their view, it is certainly the time of crooked groups. This means that abandoning the true Islam would leave them no choice but to enter a group which is crooked according to the Holy Prophetsa and regarding whom the Prophetsa of God said that they are not from the Ummah of Islam.
Then there is a hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari in which Hazrat Huzayfara asked, “O Messenger of Allah, will the time of evil ever come upon our Ummah again?” The Holy Prophetsa said, “Yes!” He was very upset when he heard the news of discord and asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what should we do when the time of evil comes on our Ummah?” The Holy Prophetsa advised them:
تَلْزَمُ جَمَاعَةَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَإِمَامَهُمْ
“Adhere to the Jamaat of Muslims and their Imam when the time of evil comes.”
He asked again:
فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُمْ جَمَاعَةٌ وَلاَ إِمَامٌ
“But if there is neither a Jamaat, nor an Imam [what shall we do]?”
The Prophetsa of Allah replied that if there was evil in his Ummah but there was no Jamaat or Imam, then:
فَاعْتَزِلْ تِلْكَ الْفِرَقَ كُلَّهَا، وَلَوْ أَنْ تَعَضَّ بِأَصْلِ شَجَرَةٍ حَتَّى يُدْرِكَكَ الْمَوْتُ
“Stay away from all other sects, even if you have to bite [i.e. eat] the root of a tree, till you embrace death.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Fitan)
In this hadith, the imam does not mean the imam of Salat or any maulvi because in reply, the Holy Prophetsa said that if the Imam [of the latter days] is not present, then “stay away from all other sects” and these sects already possess imams for Salat and maulvis. So here, imam means an Imam who is appointed by God Almighty.
Today, there is no person in any country of the world save the Founderas of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya, who says, “O people, God has appointed me as your Imam in this time of evil, so join me in accordance with this prophetic advice.”
Moreover, no sect or group on the face of the earth says, “O people, in this time of evil, God Almighty has appointed such and such person as an Imam among us in such and such city, so be associated with him.”
Subsequently, there are only two options: either accept the Ahmadiyya Jamaat, which has an Imam appointed by God and become associated with it, or if someone’s heart is not satisfied, then live by eating the roots of trees.
On the other hand, if anyone joins any other sect, they will be considered disobedient to the command of the Holy Prophetsa.
On another occasion, the Holy Prophetsa said:
“My Ummah will go through the same stages as did the Bani [children of] Israel. The similarities will be very striking, like one shoe of a pair has to the other, so much so that if a person from among the Bani Israel committed an offence against his mother, a similar unfortunate one would also be found in my Ummah. Bani Israel split into 72 sects; my people will split into 73 sects; with the exception of one sect, all others will be bound for Hell.’ It was asked, ‘O prophet of Allah, who will be these righteous people?’ [The Holy Prophetsa] replied, ‘They will be the people who truly follow me and my Companions.’” (Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Iman)
Now pondering over the sunnah of the Prophetsa and his Companionsra, we find that in the life of the Holy Prophetsa, the head of the Companionsra was the Prophetsa of God and they lived their lives under the leadership of that Prophet. After the demise of the Holy Prophetsa, the leader of those Companionsra was the Khalifa of the Prophet of God and they lived their lives under his command.
Another hadith of the Holy Prophetsa says:
وھی الجماعۃ
“[The rightful sect of the latter days] will be a jamaat.” (Sunan Abu Dawood, Kitab-us-Sunnah)
The existence of a jamaat is impossible without an imam. For instance, a jamaat of worshippers even in the smallest of mosques cannot perform congregational prayers without an imam.
Currently, no sect, except for Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya, proclaims that they are subordinate to an imam and their leader is a khalifa for the Muslims. The Promised Messiahas claimed that God informed him through revelation that the Messiah, who was to appear in the latter days was him.
Now, only two cases are possible; either God informed him through revelation or God did not inform him and he made false claims in the name of God. We look at the Holy Quran and see what it says about those whom God informs through divine revelation and how God deals with them, and on other hand, how does God deal with those who falsely claim to be recipient of divine revelation.
For example, the Holy Prophetsa claimed that God spoke to him and He granted him the status of prophethood, so people should accept him; Allah the Almighty commanded him to announce that claim. He climbed the hill of Safa and called everyone there and asked whether they would believe him if he said that there was an army hidden behind the hill. They replied that they would believe him. Then the Holy Prophetsa said that he had been commissioned as the prophet of God. Every step of the Holy Prophetsa was taken in light of the Holy Quran and God Almighty commanded him to present the first proof of the truth of his claim that as he had never lied to anyone in the past and so, how could he forge a lie against Allah now.
Hence, this argument is stated in the Holy Quran as follows:
فَقَدۡ لَبِثۡتُ فِیۡکُمۡ عُمُرًا مِّنۡ قَبۡلِہٖ ؕ اَفَلَا تَعۡقِلُوۡنَ
“I have indeed lived among you a whole lifetime before this. Will you not then understand?” (Surah Yunus, Ch.10: V.17)
After the Holy Prophetsa claimed to be the Messenger of God, the same people who used to call the Holy Prophetsa sadiq [truthful] and amin [trustworthy] started abusing him.
The Holy Quran refers to them as:
وَ قَالَ الۡکٰفِرُوۡنَ ہٰذَا سٰحِرٌ کَذَّابٌ
“The disbelievers say, ‘This is a magician, a great liar.’” (Surah Saad, Ch.38: V.5)
The Promised Messiahas also presented this argument and said:
“People regard and have faith in the exhortations of men according to the measure of their piety and righteousness. Now ponder over how God has furnished thousands of signs in support of my claim so that you may determine and judge the truth and the calibre of he who is inviting you to this Jamaat and that you may weigh his spiritual worth and weigh his arguments.
“You cannot point out any moral slips and weakness in my life, nor have I ever indulged in fraud or deceit so that you may have cause to suspect my integrity. Is there anyone among you who can point out shortcomings and weaknesses in my life? It was the blessing of God that made me tread the path of righteousness from the very beginning. This is a sign for those who contemplate.” (Tadhkira-tul-Shahadatain, Ruhani Khazain, Vol. 20, p. 64)
After Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’sas claim of being the Promised Messiah, those people who considered him the helper of Islam started issuing fatwas of kufr [disbelief] against him. For instance, prior to the Promised Messiah’sas claim, Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi wrote a review on his book, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya and stated:
“In our view, this book [Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya], at this time and considering the present circumstances, is such that so far, the like of it cannot be found in [the history of] Islam. Nothing can be said of the future:
لَعَلَّ اللّٰہَ یُحۡدِثُ بَعۡدَ ذٰلِکَ اَمۡرًا
“[‘It may be that thereafter, Allah will bring something new to pass.’ (Surah al-Talaq, Ch.65: V.2)]
“The author has also been so persistent in the service of Islam, with his money, life, writings, speeches and personal actions, that very few parallels can be drawn among Muslims.” (Ishaat-us-Sunnah, Vol. 7, pp. 169-170)
However, soon after the claim of the Promised Messiahas, Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi was the first to issue a fatwa of disbelief against him. The second argument that was frequently presented by the Promised Messiahas to prove his truthfulness is mentioned in the following verses of the Holy Quran:
وَ لَوۡ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَیۡنَا بَعۡضَ الۡاَقَاوِیۡلِ
لَاَخَذۡنَا مِنۡہُ بِالۡیَمِیۡنِ
ثُمَّ لَقَطَعۡنَا مِنۡہُ الۡوَتِیۡنَ
“And if he had falsely [attributed] even a trivial statement to Us, We would surely have seized him by the right hand, and then surely We would have severed his jugular vein.” (Surah al-Haqqah, Ch.69: V.45-47)
God Almighty commanded the Holy Prophetsa to present the above argument to the people of Mecca. These verses show that the proof of the Holy Prophet’ssa revelations being from God was the fact that had they not been from God and had he fabricated them, God would not have given such ample time for him to spread his message far and wide. Regarding the revelation of the aforementioned verses, Hazrat Umarra said:
“These verses had been revealed before my accepting Islam. Once, the thought crossed my mind that the Holy Prophetsa would go to the Ka‘bah at night to worship, so I should go and kill him. Thus, I went there and hid in the dark. After some time had elapsed, the Prophetsa arrived and began offering Tahajud prayers. At first I intended to immediately attack him, but then I thought to listen to what he was saying. Upon hearing this, I found that he was reciting these very verses of Surah al-Haqqah. These verses had such an impact on me that it kept me from attacking him.” (Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Umar bin alKhattabra)
Hazrat Umarra accepted the Holy Prophetsa in the sixth year of prophethood. In other words, these verses were revealed six years after being commissioned as a prophet, and the five-to six-year period that had elapsed was proof of the truthfulness of his prophethood and his claim of being a recipient of divine revelation. The Holy Prophetsa claimed to be the Prophet of God at the age of 40 and passed away at 63. Hence, Allah blessed him with 23 years of life to propagate his claim and message. The Promised Messiahas presented this argument in support of his claim saying that if God had bestowed upon him so much time to propagate his mission as He had done to the Holy Prophetsa, then how could his claim be false?
The Promised Messiahas stated:
“The Holy Quran repeatedly proclaims that God Almighty does not spare one who fabricates a lie against Allah. He punishes such a one in this very life and destroys him; Allah the Exalted refers to it in the verse:
وَ قَدۡ خَابَ مَنِ افۡتَرٰی
“That is, ‘He who fabricates a lie shall perish.’ [Surah Ta Ha, Ch.20: V.62]
“At another place it is said:
وَ مَنۡ اَظۡلَمُ مِمَّنِ افۡتَرٰی عَلَی اللّٰہِ کَذِبًا اَوۡ کَذَّبَ بِاٰیٰتِہٖ
‘Who is guilty of greater wrong than one who fabricates a lie against God or gives the lie to His signs?’ [Surah al-Anaam, Ch.6: V.22]
“It is thus clear that those who gave the lie to the word of God on the occasion of the advent of God’s Prophets were not spared by God and were destroyed by diverse types of torments. Observe the end of the people of Noah and of ‘Ad and Thamud and the people of Lot and of Pharaoh and the Meccan enemies of the Holy Prophetsa.
“Thus when those who rejected the truth were chastised in this world, how can such a one escape, who fabricates a lie against Allah and who is mentioned in the first place in the verse just cited. Would God treat the righteous and the false alike and is there no punishment in this life from God Almighty for impostors?
مَا لَکُمۡ ٝ کَیۡفَ تَحۡکُمُوۡنَ
[‘What is the matter with you? How judge ye!’ (Surah al-Qalam, Ch.68: V.37)]
“At another place, God Almighty has said:
وَ اِنۡ یَّکُ کَاذِبًا فَعَلَیۡہِ کَذِبُہٗ ۚ وَ اِنۡ یَّکُ صَادِقًا یُّصِبۡکُمۡ بَعۡضُ الَّذِیۡ یَعِدُکُمۡ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ لَا یَہۡدِیۡ مَنۡ ہُوَ مُسۡرِفٌ کَذَّابٌ
“‘If this Prophet is an impostor, he will perish because of his imposture, but if he is truthful, then it is a must that you too will taste some punishment, because the transgressors, whether they are guilty of imposture or rejection, shall receive no help from Allah.’ [Surah al-Mu’min, Ch.40: V.29]
“What could be more explicit than the fact that in the Holy Quran God Almighty warns again and again that an impostor is bound to perish in this very world.” (Essence of Islam, Vol. 2, pp. 375-376; Arba‘in, No. 4, Ruhani Khazain, Vol. 17, pp. 433-434])
Clarifying that the same argument can be used for anyone who claims to be a Prophet of God or the recipient of divine revelation, the Promised Messiahas said:
“Although this verse has been revealed regarding the Holy Prophetsa, it is of general application, quite like the idiom of the entire Holy Quran, where most of the commands and prohibitions are apparently addressed to the Holy Prophetsa, but others are also addressed in these commandments, or such commandments are exclusively meant for others …
“After this short digression, let me turn to the main subject. God says about the Holy Prophetsa that had he lied against Him, He would have destroyed him. This does not mean that God has expressed His jealousy only with reference to the Holy Prophetsa in that were he an impostor, God would have destroyed him, but His jealousy is not roused in the case of others, no matter how much they lie against God or concoct false revelations and ascribe them to God. Such a concept is as irrational as it is against all of God’s scriptures. “The Torah still contains the sentence that whoever lied against God and makes a false claim to prophethood would be destroyed. Besides, Muslim scholars have long been quoting the verse
وَ لَوۡ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَیۡنَا
‘[and if he had falsely attributed to us …]’ before the Christians and the Jews as evidence of the veracity of the Holy Prophetsa. It is obvious that an argument is of no use unless it has a general application.
“How can this be an argument that had the Holy Prophetsa fabricated [against God], he would have been destroyed and the whole undertaking would have come to naught, but God is not offended if someone else fabricates [against Him]; rather, He loves such a person and grants him respite more than He did to the Holy Prophetsa and even helps and supports him! This should not be called an argument, rather it is a claim which itself stands in need of an argument.
“Alas! In opposing me, they have stooped so low as to attack even the Signs of the veracity of the Holy Prophetsa. Since these people know that more than 25 years have elapsed since my claim of being a recipient of divine revelation and inspiration, which exceeds even the tenure of ministry of the Holy Prophetsa as that was 23 years; while, in my case, it is close to 30 years and I do not know how long the extent of my period of call is in the knowledge of God.
“This is why these people, despite being hailed as maulvis, assert that one who lies against God and is a false claimant of revelation can even survive for as long as 30 years from the beginning of his fabrication and that God can help and support him, and yet they do not produce any precedent for it.” (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation, pp. 259-261 [Translation of Haqiqatul Wahi])
Hence, the handful of individuals who abandon Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya can cause no harm to the mission of the Promised Messiahas of Muhammadsa, which was established by God Almighty Himself!
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community continues to soar in spreading the message of Islam to the corners of earth under the blessed guidance of Khilafat. No worldly power has the strength to stop the works of the Omnipotent God!