Mir ‘Abbas ‘Ali Sahib of Ludhiana

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Mir Sahib is the same gentleman, who is mentioned on page 790 of Izala’-e-Auham, as one of those who took the oath of allegiance [at my hand]. Sadly, he was seriously tried by the whisperings of the whisperers and went to the extent of joining the opponents. Some might wonder how this could have happened when he had been the subject of the revelation:

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The answer is that the revelation merely means that his root is firm and his branches touch the sky; it does not specify what he is firm upon by virtue of his true nature. There can be no doubt that every person is endowed with some innate virtue to which he sticks constantly and steadfastly. When a kafir embraces Islam, he brings that virtue with him and, should he again turn away from Islam, he would take it back with him. This happens because there is no alteration or mutation in Allah’s nature and in His creation. Human beings are like mines—some of gold, some of silver and some of brass, therefore, if the revelation mentions some innate and unalterable virtue of Mir Sahib, it is nothing to marvel at, nor is it anything to object to. Let alone Muslims, non-believers, too, possess innate virtues and they too are naturally endowed with some moral qualities. God has not created anything which is totally devoid of good. It is true, of course, that an innate virtue cannot of itself lead to eternal salvation unless one treads the right path, which, in other words, is called Islam. Faith, cognition of God, righteousness and fear of God are the highest virtues without which all other virtues are worthless. What is more, this revelation pertains to the time when Mir Sahib possessed the quality of steadfastness and had tremendous capacity for sincerity, and he too believed that he would remain steadfast forever. The news given by God Almighty pertained to his condition at that point in time. It is well known regarding Divine revelations that God gives tidings according to a person’s obtaining condition; when one is a kafir, He calls him a kafir; when one is a believer and steadfast, He calls him a believer, sincere and steadfast. There are many such examples in Divine revelations. There is no doubt that for ten years Mir Sahib was one of my sincerer, devoted and loyal companions. Such was his effusive sincerity that, at the time of pledging allegiance to me, he also brought some of his relatives, friends and acquaintances into this Jama‘at. During this ten year period he sent me so many letters full of love and devotion that I cannot estimate their number. I believe I still have nearly two hundred of them in which he describes his devotion and attachment with extreme humility and modesty. Some of them contain his dreams which seemed to confirm his belief that I was from God and that my opponents were false. Based on these dreams, he expressed his everlasting devotion to me, as if he would be with me in this world and in the hereafter. He gave wide publicity to these dreams and narrated them to his followers and friends. If a person proclaims his loyalty with such fervour and Allah reveals that he is steadfast and not wavering, can such a revelation be called contrary to the facts? Many revelations reflect only on the present circumstances and are not related to events that follow. It is also true that, while a man still lives, we cannot pass judgement that his end will be an evil one, for a man’s heart lies in the hand of Allah, the Glorious. Mir Sahib is no big deal. If God so wills, He can turn the most callous and hard-hearted person to the truth.

In short, this revelation describes the obtaining condition, not necessarily indicative of the final end, and the end is yet to come. Many there were who defected from the ranks of the righteous and became their sworn enemies, yet they later repented on witnessing some Divine miracles, wept bitterly, confessed their sins and returned to the fold. Man’s heart lies in God’s hand, and the tests and trials from that Supreme Sage are always close by. Mir Sahib fell into a trial due to some inherent weakness in him. As a consequence, his devotional zeal gave way to spiritual constriction which turned to coldness, and then to disrespect, leading to the sealing of his heart, open hostility and an intent to vilify and defame me. Herein is a lesson of a great downfall! Could anyone think or imagine that Mir ‘Abbas ‘Ali would come to such an end? The Lord of Sovereignty does as He pleases. My friends should pray for him and should not withhold their sympathy from their fallen and helpless brother. God-willing, I too shall pray for him. I would have liked to include some of his letters in this journal to show to the people the degree of Mir ‘Abbas ‘Ali’s devotion, the dreams he spoke of and the expressions of humility and reverence he used when writing to me, but, alas, this brief journal has little space for them. Nevertheless, if the Mighty God so wills, I shall do so at some appropriate time. This is a potent example of the changes a man can undergo; one whose heart was always full of devotion and reverence—who would write of me as God’s vicegerent on earth—has now come to such a sorry pass. Fear Allah, therefore, and always pray that He may keep your hearts on the right path and, out of His sheer grace, protect you against error. Do not rely upon your own steadfastness. Can anyone be more steadfast than ‘Umar(ra) who momentarily fell into trial. Only God knows what might have happened, if His own Hand had not held him. Although I was deeply grieved at Mir ‘Abbas ‘Ali Sahib’s faltering, yet even as I came in the image of the Messiah(as), so must some of those who claim devotion and loyalty to me reflect the corresponding image of the Messiah’s disciples. We all know how the Messiah’s closest friends—who wined and dined with him and were praised in Divine revelations—at last disowned him. One such was Judas Iscariot,3 who was so close a friend that he very often ate from same cup as the Messiah(as), and professed great love for him and was blessed with the tidings of the twelfth throne in heaven. And what a venerable disciple Peter was, of whom Jesus(as) had said that he possessed the keys of the heaven4 wherein he could admit whom he pleased and refuse whom he pleased. But the disgraceful conduct he finally showed is apparent to the readers of the Bible. He stood before the Messiah(as), pointed at him and said, I curse this man.5 Mir Sahib has not gone to such an extreme yet. Who knows what the morrow may bring. Although Mir Sahib was fated to make this error—and the feminine pronoun in was indicative of the same. It was the Batalawi’s instigative misconceptions that propelled him into error. Mir Sahib is a simple man with little knowledge of the finer points of religion and was, therefore, inflamed by Hazrat Batalawi’s mischievous instigations to the effect that such and such of my sayings were against Islam, and that such and such words were disrespectful to it. I hear that Shaikh Batalawi has sworn about my sincere friends that: 6 and so extreme is his exaggeration in this regard that he does not even make an exception of the righteous, as Satan did. Although Batalawi may be pleased because some of my renegade companions, he should remember that the drying of a twig does not mean the ruin of the garden. It is Allah Who dries up the branch that He chooses, and prunes it off and produces in its place other branches laden with fruits and flowers. Batalawi Sahib must remember that if one person leaves this Jama‘at, God will bring twenty in his stead. One should also ponder over the verse:

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Finally, I wish to inform my readers that Mir ‘Abbas ‘Ali Sahib has also published a hostile announcement on 12 December 1891, full of discourteous and derogatory words. His words are no concern of mine. When the heart is diseased, the tongue, too, becomes diseased. But it is necessary to answer the three points raised in the announcement:

First, Mir Sahib has completely misconstrued the picture of the Delhi debates. The present journal should suffice to remove this misconception, if he reads it with care.

Second, Mir Sahib entertains the false notion that I am a Naturalist, that I deny the existence of miracles, that I reject the Night of Decree, that I am a claimant to Prophethood, that I vilify the Prophets(as) and that I do not adhere to the tenets of Islam. I have already promised that I shall shortly publish a journal to remove these misconceptions. Should Mir Sahib read it attentively, and if Allah favours him, he will be ashamed of his baseless and unfounded misconceptions.

Third, while revealing his wondrous powers in the announcement, Mir Sahib claims to have the power to show the Holy Prophet(sa) in a vision. He also says in this announcement that he did not compete with me in this respect. He says that he had proposed for both of us to sit in a mosque, and then either I should show the Holy Prophet(sa) to him in a vision and thus authenticate my claim, or else he would show me the vision and bring the matter to a conclusion. This writing has not only surprised me, but all those who are in the know of the matter wonder that if Mir Sahib really has the gift of being able to see the Holy Prophet(sa) whenever he wishes—and indeed, to enable others to see him as well—and to ask questions of him, why then did he pledge his allegiance to me without first getting confirmation from the Holy Prophet(sa), and why did he continue to be among my devotees for ten whole years? It is strange indeed, that not once did the Holy Prophet(sa) visit him in a dream and admonish him as to why he had pledged allegiance to a liar, an impostor and an apostate, and why he was leading himself astray? Can anyone in his right mind conceive that a person who is able to see the Holy Prophet(sa), as and when he wishes, and who consults him for advice and faithfully acts upon his instruction, would continue to be ensnared by an 'impostor' and a 'liar' for ten years? Is it conceivable that such a person should become the disciple of one who is an enemy of Allah and of His Prophet(sa), and slanders the Holy Prophet(sa) and is doomed to fall into the deepest pit of hell? Even more unbelievable is the fact that Mir Sahib spoke to some of his friends about his dreams in which the Holy Prophet(sa) had confirmed that this humble one was truly Allah’s Vicegerent and the Reformer of the faith. Likewise, Mir Sahib also wrote letters to me in which he mentioned his dreams and affirmed the truth of my claim. Now, a judicious person can see that if Mir Sahib can see the Holy Prophet(sa) in his dreams, then whatever he saw earlier should also be credible, but if it is not credible and falls into the category of confused dreams, then subsequent dreams should also be considered unreliable. Readers can see how hollow is his claim of being fully empowered to meet the Holy Prophet(sa). It is apparent from authentic Ahadith that when it comes to seeing the Holy Prophet(sa), only such dreams will be considered free from Satanic influence in which he(sa) is seen in his true form. For [the possibility of] Satan appearing in the form of a Prophet is not only an accepted phenomenon, but it has actually happened. When the accursed Satan can appear in the likeness of God and in the manifestation of His throne, it is but a small matter for him to appear in the form of Prophets(as). Even if we accept that a person did see the Holy Prophet(sa) in his dream, how are we to ascertain whether it was indeed the Holy Prophet(sa) himself whom he saw? Since people in this age are not informed about the true features of the Holy Prophet(sa), and it is possible for Satan to adopt the unreal form of a person, therefore, the true indication for the people of the present age to know that they have actually seen [the Holy Prophet(sa)] in a dream is that such a dream should be accompanied by some extraordinary and special features to prove that the dream is Divinely inspired. For example, if the Holy Prophet(sa) gives glad tidings of something before its occurrence, or gives news of some fated events before their actualisation, or tells in advance of the acceptance of certain prayers, or expounds such deeper meanings and subtleties of some verses of the Holy Quran as have not been written or published before, then no doubt such a dream be considered true. Otherwise, if a person were to claim that the Holy Prophet(sa) visited him in his dream and told him that such and such a person is undoubtedly a kafir and a Dajjal, who would judge whether these were the words of the Holy Prophet(sa) or those of Satan, or whether or not the dreamer has himself cunningly fabricated the dream? If Mir Sahib is really able to see the Holy Prophet(sa) in his dream, I would not like to put him to the trouble of showing the Holy Prophet(sa) to us; instead, if he can only prove that he has been visited by the Holy Prophet(sa) and furnishes an infallible proof thereof in accordance with the four signs stipulated above, I shall accept his claim. And if he is keen on the contest itself, then he should approach it in the forthright manner, as I have suggested in this journal. I do not believe that he sees the Holy Prophet(sa) in his dreams, let alone that he has the ability to show him(sa) to others. The first step in the trial is to determine whether Mir Sahib is right or wrong in his claim of being able to see the Holy Prophet(sa). If he is right, then he should publish some such dream or vision, and should state that he saw the Holy Prophet(sa) and— as a sign of his visitation—the Holy Prophet(sa) told him such and such a prophecy, or told him of the acceptance of such and such a prayer, or revealed to him some hidden truths and subtleties. Thereafter, he is welcome to extend invitations for the purpose of showing the Holy Prophet(sa) in dreams. I am willing— in the interest of the truth—that Mir Sahib should show this wonder of the Prophet’s(sa) visitation to me as well. He is welcome to Qadian. We have a mosque here and I shall bear all the expenses of his travel and lodging. I wish to disclose to the readers that his claim is a mere empty boast and that he has nothing to show, and if he comes here he will be completely exposed. Any wise person can understand whether this person—who pledged allegiance to me and entered the company of my companions and, for ten years, continued to call me Khalifatullah,8 Imam and Reformer of the faith, and narrated his dreams to the effect—is truthful in this claim.

Mir Sahib is in a sorry state—may God have mercy on him. Let him await the fulfilment of the prophecies. Let him look at page 855 of Izala-e- Auham and also read carefully pages 396 and 635 of the same book. Let him await the fulfilment of the prophecy mentioned in my announcement of 10th July, 1887, which also contains the revelation:

"They ask thee if this is true. Say, 'Yes, by my Lord, it is true and there is nothing you can do to stop it from coming to pass.' I have Myself tied thy nuptial knot with it. No one can change My Words. They will see the signs and turn away. They will not accept and they will say that this is indeed a deep deception and great magic."9

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The benevolent well-wisher,

Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian
27th December 1891