The Promised Messiah and Mahdi, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, was granted various signs and miracles by Allah the Almighty to establish his truthfulness and silence his opponents. The divine sign of Khutba Ilhamiyah [the Revealed Sermon] was also given to the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat.
It is a unique and extraordinary sign, wherein God Almighty caused a profound speech in Arabic to extemporaneously flow from the mouth of His Messiah.
The opponents say that Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Nuruddin, Khalifatul Masih Ira wrote the Arabic books of the Promised Messiahas. However, if they had only reflected upon the details of the event of Khutba Ilhamiyah, they would have easily understood that it is not just an ordinary incident, but a proof that if anyone helped the Promised Messiahas in Arabic works, it was the Supreme Being of Allah the Almighty.
After the Eid-ul-Adha prayer on 11 April 1900, the Promised Messiahas delivered an extempore sermon in very articulate and expressive Arabic, known as Khutba Ilhamiyah. This sermon is recorded in the first chapter of the Promised Messiah’sas book, Khutba Ilhamiyah, which begins with the words
یَا عِبَادَ اللهِ فَکِّرُوْا
[O servants of God! Reflect] and ends with
وَسَوْفَ یُنَبِئُھُمْ خَبِیْر
[And He Who is All-Aware of their situation will soon let them know]. This sermon starts from the first page of the first edition and ends on page 38 and then the second chapter] begins.
The very first report of Khutba Ilhamiyah that was published in Al Hakam is as follows:
“Manifestation of a great sign
“After the Promised Messiahas, complying with the request of Maulana Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib Sialkoti, completed his speech on the subject of mutual harmony and brotherhood, Huzooras expressed his intention to deliver a sermon in Arabic according to the revelation and direction of Allah the Almighty.
“Since this sermon is one of the great signs of Allah and a matchless sign that was fulfilled not only before our eyes, but in front of a large gathering of people, we swear by God Almighty that this great sign was indeed a miracle. The Promised Messiahas rose to deliver the Arabic sermon and ordered Hazrat Maulana Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib and Hazrat Maulana Maulvi Nuruddin Sahib to come closer and write this sermon. When both of them were ready, he started the Arabic sermon with the words ‘Ya ibaadallah’ [O servants of God]. Our pen does not have the power to capture the image of his manner and speech in words. There was an electrifying effect in his words that was cleaning the filthy evils of man’s nature.
“It seemed from his appearance and accent that that person was not present in the world at that time and his tongue was not in his control. The half-open eyes were telling that his condition was close to unconsciousness. The Promised Messiahas had stood up to speak a few Arabic phrases as per the Divine command, but he delivered a two hour comprehensive and eloquent sermon, which was full of wisdom and divine insight and a curative prescription for self-reformation and spiritual elevation. The divine secrets of wisdom that were explained in that sermon were such that by God, nobody was ever acquainted with them in the past and had never seen anyone narrate them. The Promised Messiahas also instructed during the sermon to ‘write them down now for these words may be missed.’ Ultimately, this great sign was fulfilled according to the promise of God Almighty.
“What is in the sermon?
“A separate article is needed to explain this [question]. When the Arabic sermon will be printed and published, everyone will find out what is in it. In short, we want to express that first of all, the real purpose of sacrifice is explained in this Arabic sermon. Then, the question as to who is khalifatullah [successor of Allah] is discussed. Lastly, [the Promised Messiahas] has mentioned his claim and status and substantiated itmam-e-hujjat [completion of proof] against the opponents.
“Maulvi Abdul Karim presents the translation “When the Promised Messiahas completed the sermon and sat down, Hazrat Maulana Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib stood up to present the [Urdu] translation upon the request of the majority. Before Maulana Sahib could start the translation, the Promised Messiahas said, ‘This sermon was marked as the sign of fulfilment of the prayers that I had made on the day of Arafah [ninth day of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah] and on the night of Eid, that if this sermon was delivered extempore in Arabic, all those prayers would be accepted. Alhamdolillah, all those prayers were accepted in accordance with the promise of Allah.’
“The excellence and expressiveness with which Hazrat Maulana Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib translated it was a sign in itself. It is not an easy feat to translate a subject and narrate it from another language into one’s own language and especially bearing in mind that it is not easy to translate divine pearls of wisdom. However, the clarity with which Maulvi Sahib carried out the translation, it seemed as though he was speaking with the support of Ruhul Qudus [Gabriel]. Word to word, idiomatic, concise and consistent; in fact, all the qualities that a translation should have, were present in it.
“Sajda-e-Shukr Mubarak
“While Hazrat Maulana Sahib was reading out the translation, the Promised Messiahas fell into prostration in a fervent expression of gratitude to God and the entire gathering also fell into prostration with him. Rising from the prostration, the Promised Messiahas said, ‘I have just seen [in a vision] in red letters the word: مبارک [felicitation]. This means that the address has found acceptance.’ It is like a sign of acceptance.
“Thereafter, Maulana Sahib completed the translation and when he finished, it was time for Zuhr prayer. Thus, the Zuhr and Asr prayers were performed together.
“We are grateful to God Almighty that He gave us so much respite that we witnessed a glorious sign like the Holy Quran with our very own eyes. Now, we pray to God that He may cause us to die and depart this life while we follow that Imam, on whom His divine succour is showering down. May [Allah] grant this world the eyes to recognise the [truth] and the heart to understand. Amin.” (Al Hakam, 1 May 1900, pp. 5-6)
Around 200 people were present at this historical Eid sermon. If they had the slightest reservation against Khutba Ilhamiyah or they knew that it did not happen, they would have immediately abandoned the Ahmadiyya Jamaat after reading the above mentioned report.
On the contrary, people believed and recognised this sermon as a sign of God. Below we present some views and thoughts of the people who witnessed this impromptu Arabic sermon:
Hazrat Syed Mahmood Alamra states:
“Hazrat Maulvi Nuruddin Sahibra used to say that the Promised Messiahas delivered the Eid-ul-Adha sermon in Arabic, [which is stated at the beginning of the book, Khutba Ilhamiyah]. Later, he was asked as to what he experienced; he said, ‘The angels brought plaques having words written on them in bold letters. I would see and read them out. A plaque would appear and disappear after I had finish narrating it. Then, the next plaque would appear and so the series of plaques continued. When the scriber would ask [about a word], the disappeared plaque would come back and I would tell him after seeing it.” (Register Riwayat [unpublished], Reg. 4, p. 38, Riwayat Hazrat Syed Mahmood Alam Sahibra)
Hazrat Maulvi Sher Alira said:
“My brother, Hafiz Abdul Ali Sahib, asked Hazrat [Hakim] Maulvi [Nuruddin] Sahibra about this [revealed sermon]. Maulvi Sahibra replied, ‘I know that it is beyond the power of the Promised Messiahas.’ His answer meant that it was the word of God and not of the Promised Messiahas.” (Register Riwayat [unpublished], Reg. 10, pp. 303-304, Hazrat Maulvi Sher Ali Sahibra)
Hazrat Maulvi Abdullahra writes:
“Syed Abdul Hayy Arab Sahibra, who came from Arabia and stayed in Qadian for many days for the purpose of research and later took Bai‘at of the Promised Messiahas, described the incident of his Bai‘at to this humble one.
“He said, ‘After reading the expressive and eloquent books of the Promised Messiahas, I was convinced in my heart that no one can write such words without the support of God. However, I was not certain that those works were of the Promised Messiahas, even though Hazrat Maulvi Nuruddin Sahib and other scholars used to assure me of this and testify … I continued to stay in Qadian to examine this matter, so that I too could see for myself any incident of divine succour. Thus, the time of the revelation of Khutba Ilhamiyah came and I witnessed with my own eyes the revelation of this prophetic and miraculous sermon. I heard with my own ears that without the help of any other person, this man was delivering such a powerful and moving sermon before the entire gathering in broad daylight. Hence, after listening to this sermon, I took Bai‘at with full conviction of heart.’” (Ashab-e-Ahmad, Vol. 7, p. 188)
Hazrat Munshi Zafar Ahmadra of Kapurthala, narrates:
“The Promised Messiahas stood in Masjid Aqsa on the day of Eid-ul-Adha and said, ‘I would like to present a few words of revelation in Arabic as a sermon. Both Maulvi Nuruddin Sahib and Maulvi Abdul Karim Sahib should write the words down with perfect accuracy.’ Thereafter, he began to deliver the sermon in Arabic. He was saying words so quickly that it was becoming difficult for the [scribes’] pen to maintain a pace with what was being uttered. We witnessed the special effect of this sermon that all the listeners were in a state of charisma and the sermon was being understood. Every single person was influenced by it.” (Siratul-Mahdi, Vol. 2, pp. 117-118)
Hence, it is clear from the details of Khutba Ilhamiyah that divine succour and the hand of Allah the Almighty was continuously at work behind the Arabic writings and words of the Promised Messiahas. The opponents are openly invited to carry out research on the incident of Khutba Ilhamiyah so that they may recognise this sign of God Almighty and accept the Messiah of the age.
