Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2014
Editors:
Shahid Aziz
Mustaq Ali
Contents: Page
The Call of the Messiah 1
Question and Answer
by Dr Zahid Aziz 3
Oral Traditions in Islam and
Judaism by JustStoppingBy 5
The Call of the Messiah
by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,
the Promised Messiah and Mahdi
Denial of Hadith
We are, however, inclined to acknowledge and
admit that some Muslim scholars in the inter-
vening time have imposed wrong interpreta-
tions upon these Traditions and thereby had a
very bad effect on
people, so that
those persons who
were rational and
reflective such as
the Mutazilah
(those who believe
that all good is from
God and all bad is
from man), shook
their heads in dis-
gust when they
heard these irra-
tional interpreta-
tions and denied
the validity of the
Traditions altogether. But since this denial was
not based on any historical investigation and
research, but merely on the assumption that the
subject matter was irrational and unacceptable,
the validity of the Traditions could not be im-
pugned or even diminished in any way; on the
contrary, despite their rejection and denial,
Traditions of this kind had such a highly ranked
chain of transmission that even these people
could not discount and discredit this continu-
ous repetition and remained hopelessly bewil-
dered and stupefied. If those interpretations
that are put forward and applied today had
been propounded at that time, there would not
have been a single school of Islamic thought to
say no and disagree. But it is regrettable indeed
that the imposition of a literal significance on
every metaphorical statement or figure of
speech made these Traditions such a perilous
path to tread that no rational seeker after truth
could keep his footing on it. There is, therefore,
no blame or censure upon the Traditions.
Rather, it is clearly the indiscretion of those
who misinterpreted them and threw people
into a sorry state of error. Even in the hands of
the sceptics of the modern age who refuse to
accept the validity of Traditions there is no
other argument besides finding the meanings
propounded by
c o n t e mp o r a r y
Muslim scholars
unacceptable to
reason and logic
and repugnant
alike to Divine
practice and to the
Law of Nature. But
they could be ex-
empted and ex-
cused only as long
as the true and
correct meanings
that are in com-
plete consonance
and consistency with the Law of God had not
been disclosed to them. It would, therefore, be
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the Holy Quran has, as it were, gone up to the
highest heaven, while externally, the opponents,
due to misunderstanding and misconceptions,
have raised thousands of objections against
Is lam, casting a dark shadow over millions of
minds. How can it, therefore, be denied that a
great Reformer is badly needed in order to re-
vive and restore the pristine spirituality of Islam
and beat back the invaders from outside? It may,
however, be remarked that these days for the
defence of the faith are not the days for wielding
the sword, for our opponents, too, have not
launched any attack with sword or shell in order
to propagate their faith, but it has been carried
out with pen, paper and platform. It is, there-
fore, necessary that our attacks should also be
limited and confined to pen and platform, just as
Islam in its early days made no attack with the
sword against any nation until that nation first
wielded the sword against Islam. So it is not
only unfair and unjust to take up the sword at
this time in defence of religion but it is tanta-
mount to admitting that we are incapable of de-
feating the enemy with pen, platform and irrefu-
a sheer injustice and a shame if now, in the face
of rational interpretations, a chain of transmis-
sion of the first rank and the consensus and con-
cord of Islam and Christianity on this point,
these Traditions were summarily dismissed and
rejected. It is a necessary requirement that
those who refuse to accept those Traditions that
foretell the advent of the Promised Messiah
should first acquaint themselves with the fact of
their continuous repetition, as well as every sort
of proof attached to these Traditions, and that
they should next ponder over the solid truth
that the announcement is found not only in the
books of Hadith but also in the sacred scriptures
of the Jews, the Gospel of the Christians and the
Holy Quran, then last of all in the Traditions of
the Holy Prophet where it has been dealt with in
full detail. It is, therefore, plainly evident that all
these three communities have been putting
their faith in this news with complete trust and
conviction. The Divine Law of Nature, too, which
has the aim in view that at every time of crisis
and corruption an inspired reformer qualified
and fit to deal with the situation should appear
on the scene, vouches for and verifies this an-
nouncement. The calamities and afflictions
which plunder and pillage faith and face us at
every turn, and before which all the innovations
and evils of the last 1,300 years put together
pale into insignificance, also require and de-
mand that God Most High should set His heav-
enly forces in motion in order to bring aid and
succour to the true faith. What obstacles could
there be then, other than prejudice and unjust
self-interest, that stand in the way of this proph-
ecys acceptance?
A Reformer urgently needed
Is it difficult to believe that if God truly is, and if
religion, too, amounts to anything, then the
Di vine sense of honour invested in both would
see to it that an attack is mounted from the side
of the Living God equal to or even more forceful
than the one launched from the other side for
the propagation of unbelief and falsehood, so
that people may be induced to believe that God
is and that His religion is indeed true? Has there
been no opportunity up to this time to notice
that Islam is, in fact, in an utterly helpless condi-
tion? Internally, practical experience shows that
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heretic and a dajjal (Antichrist), in the same way
the scholars of the Muslim community should con-
demn the Messiah of the Islamic dispensation as
an unbeliever, a heretic and a dajjal. Moreover, it is
also necessary for the complete resemblance be-
tween the two systems that, just as the Messiah of
the Mosaic khilafat came at a time when the Jews
had fallen into moral decline, when great confu-
sion and chaos had overtaken their honesty and
fair dealing, fear of God and piety, mutual good-
will and tolerance, and when their rule over the
very country in which the Messiah had appeared
for their good and guidance had passed out of their
hands, in the same way, the Promised Messiah of
Islam should make his appearance at a similar
time of trouble and adversity for the community.
*