I‘Jaz-e-Ahmadi

The Miracle of Ahmad

Background

Stating the raison d’etre of this book, why the Promised Messiah(as) wrote this book, Hazrat Jalal-ud-Din Shams(ra) provided this background of the projected debate. He describes that Mudd is a village in the District of Amritsar. It was the home town of the brother of a Companion of the Promised Messiah(as), Mian Muhammad Yusuf. When Mian Sahib’s brother, Mian Muhammad Ya‘qub, became Ahmadi, it caused an uproar in the whole village of Mudd, he faced an opposition and it went to the extent of boycotting him. Mian Muhammad Yusuf came from Mardan to help his brother and it was eventually settled that a debate be held between the Ahmadis and Maulavi Sanaullah Amritsari who was fanning a lot of agitation against the Promised Messiah(as) in the District. This debate was to be held on October 29, 30, 1902. Syed Muhammad Sarwar Shah and Maulavi Abdullah Kashmiri were to represent the Ahmadis at the debate, and Maulavi Sanaullah the other party. The debate was held in the open under a banyan tree. There were only three Ahmadis at the debate and over 600 non-Ahmadis were present. Maulavi Sanaullah Amritsari fanned the feelings of the villagers by asserting that the Ahmadis were afraid of debates. As the tide had turned against him, he tried to spread this poison in a clever manner, so that after the Maghrib prayer, there would be a full-scale riot instead of a debate, because he found there were only three or four Ahmadis against overwhelming majority of non-Ahmadis. A tension had built up and everybody felt the situation had become very explosive. When the terms were being settled Maulavi Sanaullah insisted that nobody should speak for more than 20 minutes despite the protest by Syed Sarwar Shah that the time fixed (20 minutes) was woefully inadequate.

The debate began on the issue whether Jesus Christ had died or was he alive in heaven. This debate continued for two days—October 29 and 30. The forceful speech of Syed Muhammad Sarwar Shah on the fact that Jesus died like other human beings, created such an impact on the gathering that the man elected to be the chairman, stood up on the spot and declared that the arguments advanced by Syed Muhammad Sarwar Shah were so convincing that to believe that Jesus was alive was nothing but a blasphemous idea. Syed Muhammad Sarwar Shah spoke next on the truth of the claim of the Promised Messiah(as) in the light of the Holy Quran. Maulavi Sanaullah sought shelter under Ahadith, the veracity of which were of doubtful character. When he felt he was completely cornered, he started openly abusing the Promised Messiah(as) and began using filthy language of which he was an undoubted master and Syed Muhammad Sarwar Shah could not compete with him in the use of vile language. The audience consisted mainly of villagers and it was easier for them to enjoy the filthy language than to relish a speech made on intellectual plank; however, the biographer of Maulavi Sanaullah completely omitted to mention the occurrence of this debate where the Maulavi was humiliated and cornered.

When Syed Muhammad Sarwar Shah returned to Qadian with his colleagues after two days and narrated the whole story, the Promised Messiah(as) was happy to learn that his nominee had ably presented the arguments.

The Book

The reason of writing this book by the Promised Messiah(as) was to provide an answer to the assertions made by Maulavi Sanaullah. The Promised Messiah(as) took note of three assertions made by Maulavi Sanaullah at the debate:

1. All the prophecies of the Promised Messiah(as) proved false.

2. He was ready for a Mubahalah with the Promised Messiah(as).

3. The I‘jazul-Masih—one of the outstanding Arabic contributions of the Promised Messiah(as)—was an ordinary book, and he (Maulavi Sanaullah) could write a book whenever he would like.

The Promised Messiah(as) took up these three points and started writing the book on November 8, completed it on November 12, and it was printed on November 15. The Promised Messiah(as) has forcefully rebutted the three assertions made by Maulavi Sanaullah by providing cogent arguments.

The original edition consisted of 87 pages, of which 38 were in Urdu and 39 pages in Arabic, which was a qasidah of high literary merit, unequalled in eloquence and brilliance of 532 verses with Urdu translation running under it. The qasidah very vividly depicted the details of ‘Mudd’ Mubahathah (Debate) and quoted numerous signs and proofs in support of his claim and ended with the expression of his sole and cherished desire that the Cross be rent asunder.

On the front page of the book, a resounding challenge was made to expose the hypocrisy of Maulavi Sanaullah. The Promised Messiah(as) offered a tempting reward of Rs. 10,000 to him and his accomplices if they could produce a qasidah of the same quality in five days (the days the Promised Messiah(as) spent in writing it) and a reply to the assertion made by him in prose. He said that he would readily proffer the prize without a moment’s hesitation. He went to the extent of enlarging the period to a week, even 12 days to bring a book comparable to it. The Promised Messiah(as) declares with a divine call:

Let the heaven and earth be a witness over what I declare today that if I am true and the mission is divinely inspired as it is, Maulavi Sanaullah and his Companions would never be able to write a book like it, for God has informed me that their pens would be broken and their hearts would become dull.1

And what could be a greater sign than this! Despite this open challenge with a tempting reward and with a margin of 12 days, none of them had the courage to come forward to do the bidding as demanded. It was a grand fulfilment of a great sign, and it was clear that God had broken their pens, and their hearts had become dull.

Within six months of the debate, a great sign appeared in favour of the Promised Messiah(as). Mudd came in grip of a severe plague and half the population of the village was decimated by plague and the women folk of the village came out loudly lamenting and cursing Maulvi Sanaullah Sahib.

The Maulavi played another trick and that too after 21 years of the challenge by the Promised Messiah in 1923 he sneaked a publication, Shahadat-e-Mirza, by putting simply October without mentioning any year and offered a prize of Rs. 1000 for a rebuttal within six months. Hazrat Jalal-ud-Din Shams(ra) when writing the introduction of Huzoor’s book says:

I came to know in December 1923 about the existence of this book, and when I came to Qadian I inquired whether anyone had received a copy of this book. As no one knew about it, I had to trace this book and wrote a strong rebuttal that appeared in the issue of April 1924 of the Review of Religions. Qadi Muhammed Zahooruddin Akmal, the editor of Review of Religions, in an introductory remarks to the rebuttal, said that he received the manuscript on January 31, 1924. The daily al-Fadl in its issue of April 8, 1924, carried the news that a copy of the issue containing the rebuttal of the book was sent to Maulavi Sanaullah under registered cover.2

In a 3-day conference held in Qadian on April 1-3, 1924, by non-Ahmadis, Maulavi Sanaullah boasted about his challenge and his book and claimed that no one had written a rebuttal. Mir Qasim ‘Ali Sahib, who was present in this conference stood up and waved the receipt of the registry that was sent to Maulavi Sanaullah and said that the rebuttal has been sent to you. Maulavi Sahib was dumbfounded.