Someone wrote to Hazrat Amirul Momineen, Khalifatul Masih Vaa and asked, “Were Hazrat Yahyaas and Hazrat Zachariahas murdered, or does ‘murder’ denote the destruction of their message?”
Huzooraa, in a letter dated 11 August 2020, gave the following guidance:
“Just as there is a difference of opinion found in the books of history and sirah and among the views of the classical scholars regarding the murder of Hazrat Yahya and Hazrat Zachariah, peace be upon them, so is there also a difference of opinion in the Jamaat on this among the Khulafa-e-Ahmadiyyat in light of their reasoning from the verses of the Holy Quran and their interpretation of ahadith.
“My view in this regard concurs with the opinion of Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra. In light of the Holy Quran, the ahadith of the Holy Prophetsa and the guidance given by the Promised Messiahas, I hold the position that the first and last prophet of any dispensation or a prophet about whom Allah has promised that He would safeguard him from the reach of the people, cannot be killed. Apart from them, being killed is not a bad thing per se for the rest of the prophets and it does not tarnish the honour of a prophet because being killed is also one way of being martyred. However, being killed in a state of failure does not behove prophets. Hence, when a prophet has completed his work, then there is nothing wrong with him dying naturally or being martyred by someone else because no one is astounded at someone’s death in a state of success and neither does the enemy rejoice in such a death.
“Thus, Hazrat Yahyaas and Hazrat Zachariahas were not the first or the last prophets of any dispensation, nor is there any promise of God Almighty mentioned somewhere about them that He would certainly safeguard them from the hands of the enemy. Moreover, we believe that when these prophets were martyred, they certainly must have fulfilled their responsibilities which, Allah had entrusted to them, in the best possible manner.”