Mirza as Champion of Islam

We have covered so far a part of the life of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, his life in his township in district Gurdaspur where we saw him immersed in the study of religious books. His works published after 1880 indicate that the main subjects of his study were different religions, particularly Christianity and Indian religions such as Sanatan Dharma and Arya Samaj.

This period is known for the religious polemics. The educated people of the time- had a relish for religious debates and controversies. We have already seen that Christian missionaries were busy propagating Christianity and refuting Islam. The British Government, which was officially the defender or the Christian Faith, patronised these activities, considering India a gift of Jesus Christ. On the other hand were the preachers of the Arya Samaj movement who were enthusiastically trying to undermine Islam. The British who were aware of the dangerous possibility of inter-communal concord in India, a manifestation of which was the struggle for Indian independence of 1857, found it expedient to encourage religious controversies. The British political interest was served by these controversies in so far as they led to mutual hatred, intellectual bewilderment and moral 'chaos in the country so that the religious communities of India might be disposed at least to tolerate a government which sought to protect all of them and under whose shadow all could carry on their holy debates. In such an atmosphere, anyone why rose to defend Islam and falsify other religions naturally attracted the attention of All Muslims.

The ambitious and far-sighted Mirza chose this field for his adventures. He undertook to produce a voluminous work to demonstrate, on the one hand, the truth of Islam, the Divine origin of the Qur'an, and the Prophethood 6f the Messenger of Allah by rational arguments, and to refute Christianity, Sangtan Dharma, Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj etc., on the other hand. He named this book Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah.

The Barghin and the Mirza's Challenge
The writing of Bardhin started in l879. (Sirat at-Mahd7, Vol. 11, p. 157.) The author under- took to put forward one hundred arguments in support of Islam. In this undertaking the Mirza also had correspondence with other learned people whom he requested to communicate to him their views in order to help, him in this venture. Those who complied with his request included Maulavi Chirdgh 'All who was a noted colleague of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan. The Mirza included some of his articles and researches in his work. At long last this work, which was anxiously awaited by hundreds of people, did break into print in four volumes. Along with this book, its author also published an announcement in Urdu and English and sent it to rulers and ministers of States, to Christian clergymen and to Hindu pandits. In this book the Mirza announced for the first time that he had been appointed by God to demonstrate the truth of Islam and that he was pre- pared to satisfy the followers of other religions about his religion. The announcement categorically stated: I

"This humble slave (the author of Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah) has been appointed by the Glorious Almighty to strive for the reform of God's creatures and to show to the ignorant the straight path (which leads to true salvation and by following which the light of heavenly existence And of Divine pleasure and graciousness can be experienced even in this world) in the manner of the Israelite Prophet of Nazareth (Messiah) with utmost humility and self-denial, self-abasement and gentleness. It is for this purpose that Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah has been written, of which thirty-seven is to be found in parts have been published. Its summary the announcement enclosed with this letter. But since the publication of the whole book would require a long time, it has been decided that this letter along with the English announcement should be published and one copy of each sent to the honourable priests of Punjab, India -and England and other-countries wherever possible." (Supplement to Barahn-i-Ahmadiyah, Vol. I by Merajuddin Umar, p. 82)

The Mirza challenged the world to come forward with any book parallel to this one, and invited the representatives of other religions to prove the truth of their religions by the same or even lesser number- of arguments than he had put forward. He wrote: I, the author of this book, Barah-sn-i-Ahmadiyah, make this announcement with the promise to make a reward of 10,000 rupees to the followers of all faiths and religions who deny the truth of the Glorious Qur'an and the Prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (God's benediction and salutation be on him) and in support of it I commit myself to a formal legal undertaking and a Sharei pledge that if any of these deniers can show that their scriptures have as many and as sound arguments as found in the Holy Qur'an and which we have mentioned herein to demonstrate the truth of the Glorious Message and the veracity of the Apostleship of the Khatim-al-Ambiya (God's benediction and salutation be upon him) which have been derived from the Sacred Book (Qur'an) itself; or if they cannot come forward with an equal number of arguments, then half, or a third, or a fourth, or fifth of the number of our arguments; or if they find that impossible, then at least to refute our arguments one by one- then, in either of these cases, provided three authors accepted by both the parties, unanimously express the view that the condition has been fulfilled in the manner it should have been fulfilled-the announcer (of this announcement) shall hand over to such a respondent without an excuse or hesitation the occupancy and ownership of his property valued at Rs. 10,000. (Barghzn-f-Ahmadiyah, Vol. 1, pp. 17-22.)

The Mirza called upon the Muslims to make monetary contributions to this great service which he wanted to render to the cause of Islam and to participate in it generously. (See litimis-i-Zarari in Brdhfn, Vol. 1.) It seems that, the response of Muslims to this call was not as enthusiastic as the Mirza had expected. In the later volumes of Barahin he has mourned their lack of enthusiasms. The announcements which formed the preface of the book are significant. In them we find some indications of the driving forces of the Mirza's personality. In them we notice his habit of boastfulness and self-adulation and his confidence in 'heavenly signs' as means of establishing his claims and persuading people. Along with all that, the statements unmistakably smack of his commercial mentality. (Arz-i-Zurrarl ba Halat-i-Majbnri. Brahin, Vol. 1.)

Preaching and Politics
In the third and fourth volumes of Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah, the Mirza openly praised the British government and enumerated at length its acts of benevolence towards Muslims in 'the sections entitled, 'An Important Appeal to Islamic Associations: The Precarious Condition of Muslims and the English Government.' In this appeal he, urged all Islamic Associations to prepare a joint memorandum and send it to the government with signatures from all prominent Muslims. He also reiterated the services rendered by his family to the British and stressed the impermissibility of jihad.

Thus we find that even the first work of the Mirza was not free from panegyrics to the British government, or from political admonitions to the Muslims to remain loyal to the British.

The Magnunx Opus
The Mirza worked on this book from 1880 to 1884. After the publication of the fourth volume there came a long period of gap and the fifth and the last volume appeared in 1905, that is, full twenty-five years after the commencement of the work. In the fifth volume the author mentioned that the publication of the last volume had remained in suspension for twenty-three years. During this period a large number of people who had paid in advance for all the five volumes but had received only four volumes had passed away. Several other people who had paid in advance had expressed their disapproval and resentment at not receiving the promised volume for which the Mirza apologized in the fifth volume. In this volume he has also mentioned that previously he had in mind to bring forward 300 arguments to prove the truth of Islam, but later he gave up the idea. In the same way, instead of fifty, be would bring out only five volumes. The reason for this change of mind was that the difference between the two figures was merely that of a zero. in his- own words:

"Earlier I had thought of writing 50 volumes, but now I have confined myself to writing five since the difference between the figures fifty and five is just that of one dot (that is zero). Thus the promise has been fulfilled by the publication of five volumes." (Preface of Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah, Vol. V, P. 7.)

In Sirat al-Mahdi, Mirza Bashir Ahmad writes:
"Now that four volumes of Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah have come out in print, its preface and notes all relate to the time of publication and it contains very little of the original work, that is, not more than a few pages. This can be gauged from the fact that out of the 300 arguments which he had written the Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah contains only one argument and that too not in a complete form." (Sirat al-Mahdi, Vol. 1, p.7.)

Anyone who studies Bardhin-i-Ahmadiyah is bound to be impressed by the author's prolificity, perseverance and diligence. These virtues, at best, could stand him in good stead as a successful debater and an able writer on religious polemics with Christians and Arya Samajis. In this huge work, however, one does not find any worthwhile research. Nor does one find that familiarity with the sources of Christianity, its ancient literature, its doctrines and history, and that grasp of its funda- mental concepts as one finds, for example, in the works of Maulana Rahmatuilah Kayranwi (d. 1309 A.H. / 1891 A.D.), the author of lzhar al-Haqq and Izalat al-Awham. Nor does one find that sweetness and elegance of expression, and that origina- lity and brilliance of argument that one finds in works such as those of Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanawatwi's (d. 1297 A.H./ 1879 A.D.) Taqrlr Dilpizir and -Hujjat al-IsiFim.

Inspirations and Bragging
The reader also frequently encounters in the Mirza's book references to his Divinely inspired revelations, to miracles and to Divine communications and prophecies, and last but not the least, his boastfulness. 'All this leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth and transforms the book which claims to embody a sober academic discussion and a dignified religious debate, into a work of personal bragging-a work in which, again and again, the author stoops to self-advertisement and self-glorification.

The central theme of the book -is that Divine inspiration had not ceased and should not cease. This inspiration itself is the most powerful proof of the validity of, any claim and the truth of religion and faith. Whoever will follow the Holy Prophet perfectly will be endowed with the external and internal knowledge which had been granted originally to the Prophets, and the person will, therefore, become possessed of sure, categorical knowledge. The intuitive knowledge of such people would resemble the knowledge of the Prophets. It is these people who have been called Amthat in Hadith and Siddiq in the Qur'an. The time of their advent would resemble the time of the advent of the Prophets. It is such people who will establish the truth of Islam and their inspiration will be of a categorical nature. ( Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah, Vol. 111, 231 and 244.)

In trying to prove the continuity of this inspiration, he cites his own inspirations and writes:

"We have several examples of this inspiration before us. But in the one which, took place just now at the time of writing these notes in March 1882 it has been revealed as a prophecy that through this book and on becoming informed of its contents, the opponents will ultimately be defeated; that seekers after Truth will find true guidance; perversion of belief will be uprooted; and people will help and turn their attention and come around (me) etc., since God will put this into their hearts and direct them to it. (Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah, Vol. III, p. 238.)

This has been followed by a more recent lengthy inspiration which is 'almost an entirely incoherent collection of different Quranic verses. This inspiration embraces about forty lines of the Barahin and contains about fifty-three or fifty-four Quranic verses, interspersed with a few Traditions of the Prophet. Besides', there are a few sentences by the Mirza himself which are an example of what might be termed as poor Indianized Arabic. The last lines of the inspiration which contain a comparatively smaller proportion of Quranic verses, read as follows:

"Live in the world like a stranger or traveller. Become one of the righteous and the truthful. Bid whatever is good and forbid whatever is bad and send your salutations- to Muhammad and his progeny. Prayer alone brings man up. Verity I will raise thee towards Myself and I have put love from Me (in the hearts of people). There is no god but Allah. So, write and let it be -published and sent to the world. Grasp Unity (of God), Unity (of God), O people of Iran and give glad tidings to those who believed that they have a standing with their Lord. And read out to them what has been revealed to thee from thy Lord And do not swell thy face for the creatures. of God and do not get tired of people. The people of al-Suffah? And who are the people of al-Suffah? Thou shalt see their eyes wet with tears and they will send their salutations to thee. O Lord of ours! We heard a herald calling towards belief, a sumrnon towards Allah, and a bright lamp. Be of hope! of"(Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah, Vol. 111, p. 242.)

In the same way, an inspiration has been reproduced in the fourth volume of the same book. This inspiration too is an incoherent conglomeration of Quranic verses and Quranic expressions. It also contains some very obvious errors of Arabic language and grammar (which have been indicated by us by question marks):

"And when it is said to them believe as men believed they say: Should we believe as they believe who are stupid? Beware! it is they who are stupid, but they know not, and wish that you should compromise with them (?) Say: Un-believers! I worship not that which you worship. It was said to you: turn to god but you turn not; and it was said to you, subdue your souls, but you subdue them not. Doest thou seek of them any reward that feel burdened (in accepting your message). No, we brought Truth to them (gratuitously) and it is Truth to which they are averse. God is pure and free from whatever they attribute to Him. Do people think that they would be left by merely saying: We believed, and they would not he Put to an trial ? These people love to be praised for deeds I y which they have not pet-formed, while nothing is hidden from God and nothing is good which God does not make good and no one can restore him to His favours who has fallen from His grace." (Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah, Vol. IV, P. 509.)

Apart from these revelations in the Arabic language there are two revelations in English as well. (Ibid, pp. 554 and 556.)

Mirza's beliefs in the Barahin
In the four volumes of Barahin (published 1880-1884), the Mirza expressed merely the view that ilham (Divine inspiration) had not ceased and would not cease, and that the legacy of the Prophets continues in respect of inspired comprehension o f things, in respect of the illumination of faith and categorical knowledge. In this book he has also frequently mentioned that be had been commissioned by God to reform the world and spread the message of Islam; that he was mujaddid (renovator) for the present age, and that he bore resemblance to Jesus (peace be on him)." (Sirat at-Mahdi, Vol. 1, p. 39. ) In this book he also adheres to the notion of the ascension of Jesus to the heaven and that be would return to the earth. In the appendix to his book, Nuzul al-Musih, published in 1902, and in volume V of Barahin, which came out in 1905, the Mirza has admitted that he used to subscribe to the above view and has even expressed his surprise at his having believed in the ascension and return of Jesus. In Barahin he had also strongly rejected the idea of any fresh revelation and of the advent of any new Prophet. The reason for this belief was that the Qur'an and its teachings were in no danger of being distorted nor was there any danger of Muslims reverting to pre-Islamic ignorance and paganism. On the contrary, he admitted that the attitude of the polytheists, owing to contact with the monotheists is gradually tending. towards monotheism.' This being the case-that the main dangers which revelation and prophethood seek to avert were no longer real-there was no need for any new Shari'ah, or any fresh ilham (inspiration). This also established the termination of prophethood with the advent of the Holy Prophet:

"Now, since it is rationally impossible and inconceivable that the true teachings of the Glorious Furqan will be distorded or changed, or the darkness of polytheism and worship of God's creatures would predominate again it is also rationally inconceivable that there should be a new Shari'ah, or the sending down of a new inspiration (ilham), For, that which leads to impossibility is itself also impossible. Thus, it is proved, that the Holy Prophet was in reality the last of the prophets (Khalim-I-Rusul). (Bard-hen, V'ol. IV, p. III n.) Reception of the book
It seems that the book was enthusiastically welcomed in the religious and academic circles of the country. Indeed the publication of this work was very well-timed and the Mirza as well as his friends publicised it With great zest. The secret of the success of the book seems to lie in the fact that it challenged other religions and instead of apologising on behalf of Islam it took the offensive against them. Noted among those who appreciated and enthusiastically supported this book was Maulana Muhammad Husain Batalawi. In his magazine Isha at al- Sunnah, he wrote a long review eulogising the book in six issues of the magazine. (Vol.Vlll 684nos., 6-11. ) In this review the book was lavishly praised and commended as a great academic achievement of the time, a masterpiece of research and authorship. Not much later, the Maulana felt alarmed at the big claims and 'inspiration' of the Mirza and, subsequently, became one of his staunch opponents. On the other hand, there were many who were alarmed even by his first book and who began to feel that its author had set himself on a path which would lead him, in the near future, to claim prophethood for himself. Among these far-sighted people were the, two sons of the late Maulana Abdul Qadir Ludbianawi, Maulana Muhammad and Maulana Abdul 'Aziz. The Ahi-i-Hidith 'ulama of Amritsar and some ulama of the Ghaznawi family opposed him from the very beginning and denounced his inspirations as fantasies." (Set isha at al-Sunnah, June, 1884. Vol. Vil, No. 6)

This book brought the Mirza out of obscurity and put him on the stage of public renown so that countless eyes were turned towards him. In Sirat at-Mahdi, Mirza Bashir Ahmad has aptly observed how this book brought the Mirza to the limelight:

"Before writing Barahin, the Promised Messiah spent a life of anonyirnity and in this isolation his was the life of a darwish. Before Barahin he had become known to some extent as a result of his having written a series of articles in some newspapers but all this was very meagre. In fact, it is the announcement of Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah which, for the first time and for good, placed him before the country and introduced him to those interested in academic and religious matters. The eyes of the people began to turn in amazement, towards this anonymous villager who had promised to write a great book about the truth of Islam in such a challenging manner and with-the promise of a huge sum of money as reward (to any one who could refuse his arguments). Thus the sun of guidance which bad already appeared on the horizon, now began to -rise higher. Later the publication of Barahin-i-Ahmadiyah created an extraordinary stir in the religious circles of the country. In general, the Muslims welcomed him as a great 'Mujaddid'. As for the opponents of Islam, this book came to them as a bomb- shell and created great turbulence in their camp. (Sirat al-Mohdi, VoL 1, pp. 103-104.)

The Mirza himself says the following about his life before the publication of Barahin:

"This was the -time when nobody knew me; when nobody was either in favour of or opposed to me, for, at that time, I was a non-entity; I was just one among the people, hidden in the corner of anonymity. (Tatimmah Haqtqat al-Wahy, pp. 27-28.)

He adds:
"All the people of this town (i.e. Qadian) and thousands of other people are aware that at this period of time I wasp in fact, like a dead body which had been buried in the grave for centuries and no one even knew whose grave it was. (lbid, p. 28. )

Debates with Arya Samajis
In 1886, the Mirza had a debate with Murli Dhar of Arya Samij in Hoshiarpur. He has written a full-fledged book about this debate, Surmah-i-Chashm-i-Arya (Kohl for the eye of the Arya). This is the second of his polemics on religions and religious sects.

The topic of the first day's debate was the rational and historical proof of the miracle of cleaving the moon. The-Mirza not only strongly affirmed this miracle but the miracles of other prophets as well. He showed that the occurrence of miracles and supernatural incidents was rationally possible.. He took the position that because of the inherent limitations of man's intellect, knowledge and experience, he bad no right to deny miracles and thus make the claim to comprehend this vast universe in its entirety. He repeatedly stressed that the knowledge of man was very limited and the range of possibilities very wide. (Surma-i-Chashm-i-Arva pp. 557,) (so that the notion that man's knowledge could be comprehensive was untenable). He also stressed that in religious matters faith in the unseen was essential and that this was not in conflict with reason, for the latter could not be all comprehensive in its range. In fact, whatever rational objections the Mirza pointed out to the belief regarding the ascension of Jesus to the heavens and his descent in future and his stay in the heaven for several centuries and the so-called 'rationalist' trend in his later writings can best be refuted by the arguments that he himself advanced in this book. The personality of the author in this book is quite different from the one in his later writings.

These two books made the Mirza excessively self-appreciative; he became aware of his ability as a writer and debater and became confident that he was capable of initiating a new movement and influencing his environment. It seems that this discovery proved to be the turning-point in his life. Hence- forth, instead of debating with Christians and Arya Samajis he turned towards Muslims and began to challenge them to debate with him.

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