19 July 1901

An Argument from the Quran in Support of Prophethood

There was mention of Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Sahib and some of his objections. The Promised Messiah (as) said: “He rejects everything entirely. The Holy Quran puts forth an argument to establish the truthfulness of the prophethood of Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in the verse لَوْ تَقَوَّلَ1,  but Hafiz Sahib rejects this. So what can be done? Allah the Exalted states: O Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), if you had forged a statement and announced it to the people, attributing it to Me, and claimed that they were the words of God, while they were not, you would be destroyed. This is the same argument that Maulvi Aal-e-Hasan Sahib and Maulvi Rahmatullah Sahib presented to the Christians in favour of the truthfulness of the prophethood of Muhammad (sas), and they were unable to refute this argument. And now, it is this very argument from the Quran which I present in support of the truthfulness of my own claim. Hafiz Sahib and his associates respond by giving the example of the Emperor Akbar, however, they are completely wrong in doing so. The Arabic word taqawwala means to present a fabricated statement. If the Emperor Akbar did make such a claim, then present a statement of his in which he has expressed that he received such and such revelations from God. Similarly, people make reference to Roshan Din of Jalandhar and others, but they cannot present the so-called false revelations that any of these people have published. If Hafiz Sahib or his associates are able to present categorical and reliable testimony that such and such person attributed any sayings to God, while these were not the words of God, and if after doing so, he lived as long as the Prophet of God, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—and that is to say, he lived for 23 years after making such a claim—then I will burn all of my books. These people have grown so excessive in their spite for me that they make a mockery of Islam and make assertions which are contrary to the Word of God. They will deny me even if it means that the Quran is proven false by their assertions. Prejudice is an evil thing. They make statements that make the Holy Quran a target. It makes me tremble to see that despite being Muslims, they act in this manner. On the one hand, there were those Muslims who would accept even such Hadith which were apparently weak if they found truth in them, and they would present these narrations as an argument against the opponents; and then there are those who refuse to accept an argument of the Holy Quran. I invite Hafiz Sahib to come here with decency, civility, and love, and stay for a few days. I am willing to cover the expense of his losses. He ought to listen to my arguments calmly and then put forth his criticism. He is most welcome to bring along Maulvi Ahmadullah Sahib as well.”

Babu Muhammad Sahib submitted that Hafiz Muhammad Yusuf Sahib raises the objection that Maulvi Abdul-Karim Sahib has blasphemed by writing in Al-Hakam that this man (the Promised Messiah (as)) is the Ahmad of Arabia (the Prophet Muhammad (sas)). The Promised Messiah (as) said: “Ask Hafiz Sahib that in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya it is recorded that I have been named Muhammad, and I have also been addressed as the Messiah. You read this and continued to praise this book and you wrote lengthy reviews stating the same. Now what has changed since then? In relation to this book, Maulvi Nazeer Husain of Delhi said himself in my presence that in support of Islam this book is such an excellent work that no other book like this has ever been written. At that time, Munshi Abdul-Haqq Sahib was also present and Babu Muhammad Sahib was there as well. During this era when Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya was written, you yourself accepted that it was free from any sort of fabrication and the like. If this was not the Word of God, how is it possible for a human being to make a seat for themselves and formulate such elaborate schemes so many years in advance? Now these people ought to answer for their hypocrisy and tell us why they viewed these very same statements in a positive light back then?

The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has said himself that when the Mahdi appears, the name of his father would be the same as my father, the name of his mother would be the same as my mother, and he would come with my nature. The purport of the Holy Prophet (sas) was that the Mahdi would be a manifestation of his very own person, just as the Prophet John (as) was a manifestation of the Prophet Elijah (as). The Sufis refer to this as a buruz (spiritual manifestation) and say that such and such person is a manifestation of Moses (as), or a manifestation of Jesus (as). Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan has also written in his book that اٰخَرِیْنَ مِنْھُمْ (others from among them) refers to those people who will be with the Mahdi, and these people will be like the companions of the Holy Prophet (sas), and their leader, that is the Mahdi, will be a representative of the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.”2