First of all, it is a fact that the Promised Messiah (as) praised the British and praised them more than once. However, whenever he praised them he said that he praised them for the reason that the plight of Muslims of India, especially those of Panjab, had become so desperate that there were no rights left to them and the then Sikh government had subjected them to such cruelty as the example of which is found nowhere. The British government came and delivered the Muslims from that blazing inferno and restored all their rights; and that was the sole reason why he felt compelled to praise the British government. It is not only the precept of the Prophets (as) but is also the dictate of common human decency to requite beneficence with beneficence. The Muslims had been living under grave danger under the Sikh rule. These were the observations of the Promised Messiah (as). But despite the fact that the Hindus have a much greater social affinity with the Sikhs than with Muslims, the Hindu researchers have conceded exactly the same facts. In this regard, I have selected two excerpts—one from a non-Muslim and the other from a non-Ahmadi Muslim which portray the condition of Muslims when the British came and delivered the Muslims from this persecution.
Tulsi Ram wrote in his book, Sher-e-Punjab, (published in 1872)
“In the beginning the Sikh practice was to devastate and plunder. They used to plunder whatever they came upon and distribute it among their own people. The Sikhs had great enmity towards Muslims. They would not let Adhan1 to be called out loudly. They used to forcibly occupy mosques and start recitals of Garanth in them—calling this practice ‘maut kara’. They were given to heavy drinking. According to eyewitness accounts, when they would come upon an earthen pot, which had evidently been in use of somebody of [non-Sikh] faith, they would lash it five times with their footwear and then use it for cooking their food. In other words, they thought that by hitting it five times with their shoes they had rendered it purified.”
These were the Sikh rulers from whose clutches the British delivered the Muslims. Various historical records contain detailed and very painful accounts of their dreadful atrocities against Muslims.
Muhammad Ja‘far Thanisari’s book, Sawanih-e-Ahmadi, contains a published account of Hazrat Sayyed Ahmed Barailawi (who was the mujaddid, or reformer, preceding the Promised Messiah (as)) in which he states:
“During our journey through the state of Punjab, we approached a water-well to drink water. We saw a few Sikh women who were drawing water from this well. Since we were not conversant with the local dialect, [we used sign language, and] by placing our cupped hands near our mouths we indicated to them that we were thirsty and requested them for drinking water. At this, those women cautiously looked around and then addressed us in Pashto, saying: ‘We are Muslim women, of Afghan origin and were residents of such and such country and village. The local Sikhs have forcibly brought us here.’”
This is just one incident which is mentioned in the above book. However, the details of atrocities committed by the Sikhs, contained in the Encyclopaedia of Sikh Literature, are heart-rending.
These include accounts of numerous acts of defilement of Muslim women, destruction of mosques and converting them into stables of donkeys, carrying out massacre of Muslims, killing Muslims for giving the call to prayer, i.e., Adhan, etc. etc.
1 Call for prayers. [Publisher]