Tuhfa-e-Baghdad

A Gift for Baghdad

Background

After A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, the Promised Messiah(as) produced three other books in Arabic. The Promised Messiah(as), who had only an elementary education in Arabic in his early age, demonstrated a power and mastery of Arabic language which amazed even the Arabs. The uniqueness and the miraculous character of the Arabic writings of the Promised Messiah(as) are to be understood in a relative sense, and relative to other human productions. The uniqueness of the Holy Quran is absolute. It is superior to any human writings even that of the Promised Messiah including his revealed sermon, which possessed only relative uniqueness, while the Holy Quran possesses absolute uniqueness.

It may be pointed out here (as already stated) that Hazrat Ahmad, the Promised Messiah(as), had received only elementary education. But when he claimed to be the Messiah, his enemies taunted him on his lack of education and of ignorance and said that God could never make such a man the Mahdi and the Messiah. At that point of time, God granted him a vast knowledge of, and mastery over, the Arabic language and in one night he was taught 40,000 roots of Arabic words.

He challenged all his opponents, which included scholars and so-called authorities on the Arabic language, but none dared to accept his challenge. However, several of his opponents alleged that he had hired the services of a learned Arabic scholar to write these books for him, as he himself was an ignorant man. Thereupon, he extended his challenge to the whole world to produce the like of his books in Arabic and, in order to demonstrate that these books were no ordinary compositions, he also proclaimed that if the books written by other scholars were judged to be superior compositions to his own, then they would be at liberty to impose upon him any penalty they pleased. The Promised Messiah(as) even gave leave to them to write books individually or collectively and even to call to their aid the divines of Arabia and Syria whose mother tongue was Arabic.

The magnitude of this challenge may be judged from this aspect that if a Russian who had never visited England or America or any other English-speaking country and had not lived in the society of English-speaking people, nor had studied English at any university, were to write books in excellent English and to challenge English-speaking people to produce the like thereof, either individually or collectively, and no one came forward to take up the challenge, would it not be a matter of wonder or a marvel?

Yet, this was the case with the Promised Messiah(as). He repeatedly challenged the divines of Arabia, Egypt, Syria and India but no one dared to take up his challenge. Some of them, instead of writing books themselves, started to find faults with his books and while doing so, they committed such glaring blunders that they earned everlasting disgrace.

The Promised Messiah(as) even offered large rewards, sometimes as much as ten thousand rupees, to those who could write books in Arabic as pure and chaste as his, and appointed a very fair and easy mode of winning these rewards but none came forward to claim them, although we find people daily undertake arduous and hazardous tasks for the sake of earning rewards of smaller values. It was all Divine grace as God had taken away their courage and they had lost the fluency of their tongues and the charm of their pens.

This miracle of nobody accepting his challenge served as a sign for seekers after truth and a condemnation of the Promised Messiah(as)’s enemies. He showed many more miracles of the same kind on different occasions.

The magnitude of this miracle is further enhanced by the fact that the Arabic works of the Promised Messiah(as) were not merely literary gymnastics. They were all full of meaning and each one of them fulfilled a specific purpose in consonance with his true mission. He addressed the Arabic speaking world as a Reformer and brought home to the Muslims and Christians, the errors of their ways and beliefs and appealed to them in prose and poetry to believe in the One and the True God and obey Him in every respect.1

The Book

An Arab by the name of Syed ‘Abdur Razzaq of Baghdad wrote a letter to the Promised Messiah(as) in Arabic from Hyderabad (Deccan) where he was on a short visit. He also sent a leaflet which he had issued in Arabic against the Promised Messiah(as). He called the Promised Messiah(as) the Anti-Christ, worthy to be killed with a sword in this world and put into the fire in the next. He declared that he would write a refutation of Hazrat Ahmad’s A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam. His letter was dated 25th of Hajj, 1310 A.H. The Promised Messiah(as) sent a reply to him in Arabic and invited the Baghdadi visitor to come to Qadian and study his Community. In answer to his abusive letter, the Promised Messiah(as) wrote: “If you like you can abuse me, reject me, kill me and my only answer will be that I shall pray for your welfare and safety. O’ man from the land of the Holy Prophet(sa), may God have mercy on you in this and the next world.

He again invited Syed ‘Abdur Razzaq to visit Qadian and spend some time in his company and witness some Divine signs and if he could not come to Qadian, he was told of another method of testing his truth. He could have a recourse to God, by having an Istikharah for a week. He also told him the way he could have this Istikharah. After ‘Isha’ prayer, he should offer two Rak‘at of prayer, in the first Rak‘at, he should read Surah Ya Sin and in the second, Surah al-Ikhlas should be recited 21 times and after this, the seeker after truth should repeat Darud 300 times and Istighfar 300 times. God would reveal to him the truth. He also advised him to inform him if he was to undertake Istikharah, so that he could pray for him.

This was a method which brings man right to the source of the truth. The Promised Messiah(as) in this book also took the opportunity of explaining his Divine mission in Arabic and thus discharged his duty towards the whole Arabic speaking world.2

At the end of the book, he wrote two ornate and quality qasidahs (a poetic composition extolling the virtues) of high literary merit in honour of his mentor and master, Holy Prophet Muhammad(sa), in Arabic.

Specimen of Writing

(Arabic): I shall humiliate him who designs to humiliate you. We shall suffice against your scoffers. O Ahmad, God has blessed you. You did not let loose but it was Allah who let loose so that you should warn a people whose ancestors have not been warned and that the way of the guilty ones might become manifest. Say: I have been commissioned and I am the first of believers. Proclaim: The truth has arrived and falsehood has vanished, falsehood always vanishes away. Every blessing is from Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, then blessed is he who taught and he who has been taught. Say: If I have invented it, the sin of it is on me. They plan and Allah plans and Allah is the Best of planners. He it is who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth so as to make it prevail over every religion. There is no changing the words of Allah. I am with you so be you with Me wherever you might be. Be with Allah wherever you might be. Whatever direction might face there is the countenance of Allah. You are the best people raised for the good of mankind and a source of pride for the believers. Despair not of the mercy of Allah. Hearken, the mercy of Allah is near. Hearken, the help of Allah is near. It will come to you from every distant track. Allah will help you from Himself. Men will help you whom We shall direct from heaven. There is no changing the words of Allah. Today you are in a position of high standing and trust with Us. They will say: ‘This is all his own invention’. Say: Allah is the Source of all this; and then leave them being beguiled by their sport. And who is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah? My mercy is on you in matters of the world as well as of faith. You are of those who are helped.3