British Government: ‘A Source of Pride’

Now let’s look at the views of Maulawi Muhammad Hussain Batalwi about the British rule. He wrote:

‘The Sultan of Rome1 is a Muslim monarch but, as far as [the prevalence of] public peace and security and excellence of public administration is concerned, (apart from religion), the British government is no less a source of pride for us Muslims. And specially, for the people of Ahl-e-Hadith sect. This [British] regime is far more a source of pride as compared to all the contemporary Muslim governments [Rome, Iran, Khurasan] in respect of peace and liberty.’2

That’s how these people were expressing themselves not too long ago!

He continues:

‘In view of this general peace and freedom as well as the excellence of public administration on the part of the British government, the Ahl-e-Hadith people in India very much cherish this regime, and much prefer to remain its subjects as compared to living under any of the Islamic regimes.’3

Our opponents are alleging today that since the Ahmadis did not like Islamic rule, they lived and blossomed under the British Raj and wished that rule to continue forever. But their own forefathers had declared at that time that they ‘much preferred to remain its subjects, compared to living under any of the Islamic regimes.’

Now, you can see for yourself that the foregoing excerpts make absolutely no mention of the fact that they were praising the British government because it saved them from the persecution of the Sikhs and granted them freedom of religion—the reason explicitly given by the Promised Messiah (as) for thanking and praising the British. Rather these people perceived the British regime at that time to be superior to all the Islamic regimes regardless of any of the above-mentioned reasons. No matter where the Ahl-e-Hadith went and settled—whether it was Turkey or Arabia or any other country—they did not desire to become the subjects of any other regime except that of the British.

As for the Shiites, their elders continued to publish a similar viewpoint in their writings. An excerpt from ‘Allama ‘Ali al-Ha’iri, published in Mau‘izah-e-Tahrif-e-Quran, (April, 1923, pp.57-58), discusses the subject in the same vein.