Al-Balagh Ya Faryad-e-Dard

The Message or A Cry of Anguish

Background

According to Hazrat Maulana Jalal-ud-Din Shams(ra), this book was written in May 1898 in two parts, first part in Urdu and the other part in Arabic. However, its general publication took place with the permission of Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih II(ra).

In 1897, a renegade from Islam, Dr. Ahmad Shah Sha’iq (formerly Medical Officer of Ladakh, turned Christian and was living at Oxford), wrote a book Ummahatul Mu’minin, attacking the wives of the Holy Prophet, Muhammad(sa). It was printed at the R. P. Mission Gujranwala and published by a Christian, Parshotam Das, as the agent of the author in India. One thousand copies of this book were sent free to Muslims. The Promised Messiah(as) received a copy on February 15, 1898. The book wounded the hearts of Muslims deeply and caused considerable excitement among them. The Promised Messiah(as) saw that this agitation was going to produce a bad effect upon the peace of the country.1

The Book

In this book, Al-Balagh Ya Faryad-e-Dard, the Promised Messiah(as) said: “It has wounded the feelings of millions of Her Majesty’s Muslim subjects living in the Punjab and other provinces of India by its abusive, scurrilous and contemptuous tone and by using the most indecent and insolent epithets and grossly offensive language against our lord and master, the Seal of the Prophets, the holiest of the Holy, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa(sa) and has so severely affected Muslim hearts by its shameful and disgraceful falsehoods and fabrications that its harmful effects will extend to our posterity.”2

The Promised Messiah(as) rejected the idea of presenting a Memorial to the Government which he described as acknowledging the defeat and he laid down ten fine conditions for a person who could write a strong rejoinder rejecting point by point malicious allegations leveled against the holy wives of the Holy Prophet(sa).

However, the Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam, Lahore, prepared and sent a memorial on April 26, 1898, to the Government but the Promised Messiah(as) said that the step contemplated was not right. He inculcated patience and advised that a reasonable reply should be written. The Promised Messiah(as) refuted the stand of the Anjuman and pointed out that Ummahatul Mu’minin was not the only publication, which needed a reply. The Aryah Samajists and the Christian missionaries had been attacking Islam for the last 60 years. Therefore, it was necessary to make a joint effort to counter this mischievous propaganda. He suggested that one man should be elected and put in charge of the work. He should choose his own assistants. But care should be taken to elect a man who should be spiritually qualified and really competent to do the job well. Like Prophet Joseph, who offered to act as a treasurer in the days of the great famine, the Promised Messiah(as) offered his own service for this purpose if the people cared to avail themselves of it. At the end of the book, he also appealed to Muslims, both in Arabic and Persian, living outside India to assist him in this task.3