Itmamul-Hujjah

The Final Argument

Background

In 1894, a Maulavi of Amritsar, Maulavi Rosol Baba, wrote a book entitled Hayatul-Masih, in which he contended that Jesus Christ is alive and sitting in heaven. This Maulavi was among those nine bad Maulavis who had been mentioned in another book, Anjam-e-Atham (End of Atham). This Maulavi issued a challenge to the Promised Messiah(as) in this pamphlet to demolish his arguments about the fact that Jesus Christ is alive.

The Book

The Promised Messiah(as) wrote another of his epoch-making books, in which he demolished point by point the arguments advanced by Maulavi Rosol Baba in the book Hayatul-Masih. The Promised Messiah(as) extensively quoted from the Holy Quran, the hadith and the Sayings of the respected scholars and divines to support his contention that Jesus Christ died a natural death and did not die on the Cross and is not sitting in heaven as believed by most Muslims. Maulavi Rosol Baba had the audacity of offering a prize of Rs. 1,000 to the Promised Messiah(as) for writing a book in refutation of his own. The Promised Messiah(as) accepted the challenge promptly and observed that he was prepared to accept Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi—his sworn enemy—as a judge in this contest and asked Maulavi Rosol Baba to deposit the money (Rs.1,000) with a third party but he failed to do so. He said that the only condition he proposed for winning this prize was that Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi and Maulavi Rosol Baba read his book from the first page to the last, and then they should take an oath at a public meeting that they believe that Jesus Christ was alive and that the book written by the Promised Messiah(as) did not convincingly demolish the arguments advanced by Maulavi Rusul Baba.

Furthermore, these Maulavis while taking an oath, should also state that “if what I have stated is a lie, then I pray that I might die as a leper or become blind and people attending the meeting should say “Amin, Amin” on this prayer. If, on the expiry of one year, neither of these people die, then the amount announced by Maulavi Rusul Baba would be refunded to him and the Promised Messiah(as) would be open to any penalty.”

Specimen of Writing

Though the booklet Nurul-Haqq has been written as a challenge to the Christians who claim to be divines yet Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi and those who follow in his footsteps, like Mian Rosol Baba, who have declared me a disbeliever and who reviled me, are not excluded from this challenge. The revelation received by me shows that none of the disbelievers, or of those who have declared me a disbeliever, will be able to write a refutation of the booklet Nurul-Haqq, because they are false and impostors, ignorant and stupid.1

… The man who in his being and his attributes and his actions and through his spiritual and holy faculties set an example of perfection, in knowledge and action and in sincerity and steadfastness, and was called the perfect man was Muhammad, peace be on him The man who was most perfect as man and as Prophet, and came with full blessings, and who through a spiritual revival and resurrection manifested the first judgment in the world and revived the dead world, that blessed Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, the leader of the righteous ones, the pride of the Prophets, was Muhammad, the chosen one, peace be on him. Our Lord, send down on that beloved Prophet that mercy and blessing that Thou hast not sent down on anyone since the beginning of the world. Had that grand Prophet not appeared in the world then we would have no proof of the truth of lesser Prophets like Jonah, Job, Jesus son of Mary, Malachi, John, Zakaria, etc. Though they were favourites and honoured and were beloved ones of Almighty God, they are under obligation to this Prophet that they were accepted in the world as true Prophets. O Allah, send down Thy blessings on him and on his people and on his companions, all of them. Our last word is that all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds.2

Impact

On publication of this book, the Promised Messiah(as)’s challenge was sent by registered post to both the Maulavis (Maulavi Rusul Baba and Maulavi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi), but none had the courage to accept such an open challenge and both of them kept mum over the challenge.

It is noteworthy that Maulavi Rusul Baba died on December 8, 1902, as a victim of plague in Amritsar.