The Inevitable Victory of Prophets

Throughout the recorded history of the world, we observe that whenever those who believe in God have been defied by those who deny God (in doctrine or practically), the former have always triumphed. This demonstrates that some hidden power helps the believers. I do not mean to say that a believer triumphs against a disbeliever in every contest under all circumstances, as ordinarily, victory or defeat follows the laws of nature, and there is no reason why a disbeliever who follows the path of success should not triumph against a believer who does not. Ordinarily, success belongs to one who treads along the path of success. I do not have in mind ordinary worldly differences and contests, but I mean that whenever someone proclaims that he has been commissioned by God to establish faith in the world, he certainly succeeds in his mission and no worldly power can block his path to success. The Holy Quran says:

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That is, Allah has decreed that He and His Messengers will always prevail.

Accordingly, we observe that a Messenger takes the field all alone. In material terms, he is absolutely helpless, whereas his adversaries, on account of their numbers and provisions, appear as if they will crush him in no time. But gradually his powerful message is accepted by the people and ultimately he triumphs and his opponents are thoroughly humiliated. The world has witnessed this scenario not once, not twice, not tens of times, not hundreds of times, but thousands of times. There is not a single example recorded in the history of the world where an atheist triumphed in such a dispute (by atheist I mean one who either denies God or believes in Him ritually but not in reality).

My dear ones! A battle [of ideas] takes place in different parts of the world, in different nations, at different times, under different circumstances, not tens of times, not hundreds of times, but thousands of times. On each occasion, a helpless and ill-equipped man of God takes a stand in the name of God against a large, well- equipped army of disbelievers. The battle starts and the man of God emerges triumphant and the army of atheism is taken prisoner and has to join his disciples. Is this all by chance? Give just one example wherein the host of disbelievers emerged victorious and the man of God was humiliated in such a battle. Does this scenario not provide convincing evidence that those who stand in the name of God are supported by the hand of an Omnipotent Being against whom material means amount to nothing at all?

See the exploits of Krishan [Krishna] and Ram Chandra Ji in India. What did these great men stand for and how did the ungrateful people of India treat them? What was the result? Do the Aryas not bow down to these holy personages in submission today?

Look at the life history of the Patriarch Prophet Ibrahim(as) [Abraham], the Friend of Allah. This man of God stood up all alone proclaiming God in the dark valleys of Syria. The stalwarts of atheism responded by casting him into a burning fire. However, that apparently helpless man felt no fear and continued to sing the praises of God as if he were lying on a bed of roses. Why? Because Ibrahim(as) could hear the Divine voice reverberating in his ears: ‘O Ibrahim! Look at the sky; can you count those stars?’ Ibrahim(as) replied: ‘My Lord, who can count your hosts?’ God said: ‘O Ibrahim! You have made a covenant of love and loyalty with Us; We do now swear in Our own Name that your progeny will become, and shine as, stars of the sky of [divine] guidance and no one will be able to count them’. Look around! Today, the followers of Ibrahim(as) outnumber those of any other Prophet, but where are those who threw him in the fire?

Take Musa(as) [Moses] next. A child was born to a poor family. His household, for fear of Pharaoh, placed him in a basket and cast him into the river. He was picked up by Pharaoh’s people and, out of mercy or some other reason, he was brought up in Pharaoh’s house by his command. When he grew up, he had to flee the country, fearing punishment for violating the law of the land on one occasion. Wandering around in the wilderness, he ended up serving a pious man for ten years, after which he married. Then, after being Divinely enlightened, he returned to Pharaoh’s court and told him face-to-face, ‘I am a Messenger of the God who created you and me and all others; send the Israelites with me or your end will not be good’. Pharaoh, who was intoxicated with power, frowned and said, ‘O Musa! You dare speak to me in this manner, having grown up on the leftovers of my household; come to your senses and then speak!’ Musa(as) realised that the intoxicated goliath would not come to his senses. He planned to escape tactfully with the Israelites under the cover of secrecy, whatever the consequences. Pharaoh learnt about this and was outraged. He pursued the escapees in the wilderness, accompanied by his large armies, and quickly caught up with them. The Israelites, rendered cowardly after years of enslavement, got frightened seeing Pharaoh’s armies behind them and the dreadful sea in front. ‘What will happen next?’, they asked. Musa(as) was unmoved like a rock; he looked at those frightened faces and said:

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That is: Nay, there is nothing to worry about, my Lord is with me. He will find some way out for us.

Glory be to Allah! It is the same Musa(as), who had fled from Egypt for fear of the authorities a few years earlier, now facing the Pharaoh’s army and remains absolutely unruffled. What happened next? The sea parted to make way for Musa(as) while Pharaoh and his army, with all its armament, were engulfed by the dreadful sea waves. And it did not end there; like Ibrahim(as), the followers of Musa(as) are beyond count, while no one cares for Pharaoh, though his mummified remains serve as a constant warning to the people. Let us now look at Masih(as) [the Messiah] of Nazareth. He was born to a poor unmarried Israelite woman; this lead to much gossip among the evil-minded Jews—she was unmarried, whence did the boy come? They forgot that the birth was in fulfilment of an old prophecy.3 They also forgot that this boy at least had a mother, whereas according to them, Adam had neither a mother nor a father. However, this fatherless boy grew up and with the support of the Holy Spirit proclaimed what Krishna(as) had asserted in India, Ibrahim(as) in Syria, and Musa(as) in Egypt. The Jews who were already weary about him became furious and ultimately he was put on the cross as a result of their intrigues. The Jews were happy to have carried the day. But Masih(as) had the backing of One who came to his assistance, saved him from a humiliating death, and comforted him, saying: ‘It was expedient to give temporary dominance to the Jews but I am your faithful Lord and your disciples will hold sway over the Jews till the end of the days; the world will witness that it is you who really prevailed and not the Jews’. What does the world see today? Have not the disciples of Masih(as) overwhelmed the whole world? In what state are the Jews? Those same Jews who once crowned Masih(as) [the Messiah] with thorns and ridiculed him, saying, look at him, he is our ‘king’; today, the servants of Masih(as), out of mercy, want to crown the Jews with the kingdom of the Holy Land, but no one is allowing it;4 the whole nation of Israelites has been on the cross, as it were, for nineteen centuries, for having put Masih(as) on the cross for a few hours. Glory be to Allah! What an exemplary retribution!

Then, look at the Chief of them all: Muhammad Mustafa [the Chosen One], peace and blessings of Allah be on him (and may my life be sacrificed for him). A youth from a respectable but poor Quraish family is married to a virtuous woman. Husband and wife live together for only a short period when she loses her husband. She is pregnant and distressed at her dreadful loss. The child is born, prompting mixed emotions of intense pain of missing her husband and the feeling of joy of holding a baby who will keep her husband’s name alive. In keeping with Quraish traditions she wants to hand him over to a Bedouin wet nurse, but who will accept an orphan? After a prolonged search, at last, they find a wet nurse willing to take the child with her, and thus does the Chief of all the Prophets spend the early days of his life in a desert hut. When he grows a bit older, he returns to his mother. But not long afterwards, she reunites in the Hereafter with her deceased husband, and this boy is left without a mother or a father. He is brought up by some of his relatives till he becomes a young man, and, like rest of the Quraish, he takes up trading as his career, and thus the years pass by. He is illiterate and unlettered, but respected for his high morals—and people address him with the title of Amin [the Trustworthy]. As he approaches forty, he becomes inclined to solitude and his virtuous nature despises the customs and beliefs of the Quraish. He searches for a high moral code and truly satisfying faith. He chooses a desolate cave in a desolate mountain near Makkah for his solitude. He spends his days and nights there, in remembrance of an unknown being who would provide bliss to his anxious heart. He has no one to confide in except his aging wife, who lives in Makkah, and becomes concerned about the state of her worried husband. Thus it proceeds till one day, the brilliant rays of that Unknown Being, for whom he had been searching, reaches out to his pure heart and the expansive scenario of the spiritual world starts unfolding before him.

Not long afterwards, he emerges from this veil of secrecy and declares his God-given station to the Quraish and calls them to God, who is the Creator and Master of this universe, besides whom there is no God. They laugh at this and do not take him seriously. However, he perseveres and some sensible, faithful people gather around him, believe in him, and help him in his cause. The people soon realise that they cannot just laugh this call off, and, if not controlled, it will divide their nation and cause dissension. This starts a magnificent war, unparalleled in world history, that rocks and ravages the Arab world for twenty years, and kindles a fire from one end of the country to the other that is not extinguished until the whole country gathers under the banner of the One God. At first, the Quraish of Makkah tried to coerce the handful of Muslims back to their old faith, and subjected them to tyrannies, the accounts of which make one’s hair stand on end. Bilal(ra) was an Abyssinian slave, of righteous nature, who accepted Islam immediately. His master, Umayyah bin Khalf, tortured him most brutally. This evil one laid him stripped naked on the sand under the hot midday sun, when the earth was scorching hot, placed large stones on his chest, mounted them, and said: part with Muhammad(saw), stop worshipping [one] God and prostrate to the idols, or else I will torture you like this until death. Bilal(ra) was not well-versed in Arabic; he would look to the heavens and say: Ahad! Ahad! This meant: God is One; God is One; I cannot leave Him. Then the tyrant would tie him up with a rope and hand him over to street hooligans, who would drag him along the stony streets of Makkah, whereby his unclothed body was wounded and bled profusely. Umayyah would ask him again: what do you say now? Bilal(ra) would utter the same words again: Ahad! Ahad! That is: God is One; God is One. The street boys, with a nod from Umayyah, would drag him over the scorching stones again.

Another Muslim, Khubab(ra) by name, not a slave, worked as a blacksmith in Makkah. The outraged wicked youth of Quraish would lay him on the burning coals of his furnace; one person would mount on his chest to prevent him turning to his side till the coals burned out under his back. However, this faithful servant did not give up God. Samiyyah(ra) was a poor Muslim woman. Abu Jahl intimidated her, [saying] give up Islam or else I will torture you to death, but she declined and held fast to Islam. Ultimately, the vicious man thrust a spear into her private parts and martyred her in the scorching fields of Makkah. These are but a few early narratives of the religious war waged by the Quraish of Makkah against the poor and helpless Muslims.

The master and leader of the Muslims (may my life be sacrificed for him) was himself stoned by the wicked people of Taif and extensively wounded from head to toe, till his shoes were filled with his own blood. He was socially boycotted in Makkah in an effort to kill him. When these atrocities reached their climax and the Quraish decided to assassinate Muhammad(saw) at all costs, to bring an end to it all, the Holy Prophet(saw), accompanied by some of his followers, migrated from Makkah to Madinah to cool off the Quraish, so that they may let the Muslims live in peace and they may continue their peaceful preaching unhindered. But this infuriated the Quraish even more, and their leaders went around the country stirring up the Arab tribes against the Muslims, leaving them, as it were, trapped in a bushfire without an escape route. The following historical narrative depicts the condition of the Muslims at the time:

When Muhammad(saw) and his followers arrived and were given asylum in Madinah, the whole of Arabia rose up united against them. Those days the Muslims slept with their weapons at the ready and carried their weapons during daytime for fear of an enemy attack at any time. Greatly distressed, they used to say: When shall we see the days wherein we shall live in peace and tranquillity and fear no one other than God. (Lubabun-naqul fi asbabun-nuzul)

At that time, the Muslims were no more than a handful—mostly poor, weak, and ill-equipped. They were confronted by the well-equipped, united forces of the whole country, surging against them like a great deluge to wipe them off the face of the earth.

The sacrifices that the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, and his(saw) Companions had to make and the hardships they had to endure during this unique struggle are recorded in every authentic history book and need not be repeated here. There is one incident, however, that I cannot leave out. The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, was passing through a valley in Hejaz, accompanied by a large party, when an enemy tribe suddenly unleashed a volley of arrows. The Muslim allies retreated in the face of this unexpected attack, creating panic in the Muslim army; the camels, horses, mules, and donkeys along with their riders turned back and fled helter-skelter. The enemy noticed this, roared forward and started raining arrows on the fleeing Muslims. The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, looked around and found the battlefield deserted—not the new converts of Makkah, nor the faithful Ansar [Helpers] of Madinah, nor the old Muhajirin [Emigrants] were to be seen. There was only the enemy surging forward like a great deluge and arrows rained incessantly; but he stood his ground like a mountain and very calmly told his frightened companion who was standing nearby to hold the rein of his horse lest it turn back in the face of arrows and spurred his horse forward towards the enemy shouting:

Meaning, I am the Prophet of God, not a liar.5

As if by magic, all the Muslims who heard this voice scrambled and fought their way back and gathered around their master and shattered the advancing columns of the enemy. In short, this war surely took place; nine years had not gone by since the recluse of the Cave of Hira took refuge in Madinah that the vast land of Arabia—nine hundred thousand square miles of it—was reverberating with the slogans of takbir [i.e. God’s greatness] from one end to the other.

One might say this was all due to the sword; I say, show me how you would achieve such a result with the sword! One man— all alone, poor, and powerless, weak and impoverished, stands up and, within a few years, transforms the whole country—a country laced with arms from head to toe against him. Is that the work of a sword or the miracle of a protective God?

O naive ones! Who raised the sword? Is there any among you who can prove that Muslims were the first to use the sword? Again, is there any among you who can prove that, when Muslims did use the sword to defend themselves and establish peace, they converted a single person to Islam with the sword? O unfortunate sons of darkness! How can I convince you that it was the Arabs who unsheathed the sword against the Muslims and that they did not sheathe it until they realised that Muhammad(saw) had the backing of a powerful Being, against whom these material means do not matter as much as the wing of a gnat. Indeed, they accepted Islam out of fear—not that of the sword, but of God. Indeed, they broke their idols with their own hands, not because they were afraid of Muslim power but because they observed the idols humiliated and helpless. History tells us that, after the fall of Makkah, when the idols were broken, some of the chiefs of Makkah looked at the idols contemptuously and said: If these idols had any power, the stiff-necked Arabs would not bow down to Muhammad(saw) today.6 This is what was said by those in the thick of it and you—more than thirteen centuries later, living thousands of miles away from Arabia, and absolutely ignorant of Islamic history—claim that the Arabs accepted Islam for fear of the sword of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him)! Woe be to prejudice! Is there no limit to unfairness?

In short this phenomenal success of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, is clear proof of the fact that there was a powerful Being working in support of him, and He is the very Being whom we call God. Now, thirteen-and-a-half centuries after his death, four hundred million people take pride in his servitude and the number is ever increasing.7 That day is not far off when, by the grace of God, this incomparable king of the spiritual realm will rule the hearts of the whole world with his God-given splendour, and the heads of the Arabs and the non-Arabs will bow down in servitude of love before this man, who was a veritable zill-ullah [reflection of Allah]. [O Allah, bless Muhammad and his people and bestow peace on him. O ye who believe! Invoke blessings on him and salute him with the salutation of peace].

After the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him (may my life be sacrificed for him), his servant, perfect zill [shadow], and beautiful buruz [reflection], the person of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, peace be upon him, with sublime qualities, is also a holy link in this chain [of Prophets]. A child is born in a backward village in India which had poor facilities of communication—train or postal services. He grew under the loving care of his parents but, being inclined to solitude, distanced himself even from the limited social circle of the village. The father, out of his paternal kindness, tries to arrange a good job for him and sends a message to him: a certain high official is a good friend of mine and he is in charge these days; I could speak to him and arrange a reasonable job for you. He gets the reply: Do not worry about me; I have found employment at the place I am meant to be. That is to say: I am in service to God; I do not need any worldly employment. With this begins the tale of the sacred mission that has created upheaval in the religious world today.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) claimed to be a Mujaddid [Reformer] in 1884. There was nothing in the claim that would startle the Muslims as there had been many mujaddids in the Islamic world. Therefore, the claim was met with silent acceptance, or at least was not rejected. He continued to serve Islam in accordance with His God-given mandate and the sensible among the Muslims looked upon his services with gratitude. They realised that he was the only one among the Muslims who had the ability to stand up to the enemies successfully and respectably. However, it stirred up a dangerous fervour of animosity and opposition among anti-Islamic factions—i.e. the Hindus and the Christians—and they resolved to hurt him and bring him down by every possible means. Not long afterwards, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as), on Divine command, proclaimed that he was the fulfilment of prophecies concerning the Latter-Day Messiah and Imam Mahdi, and that Masih(as) [the Messiah] of Nazareth, whose second advent was being awaited, had died. He further claimed that he was the Promised Reformer of the Latter Days, as mentioned in the prophecies of different religions. His task was to confront and overcome falsehood and bring about the supremacy of truth. He claimed to be the Promised One foretold by all religions, through whom the final and worldwide victory of Islam is decreed.

This claim caused a great commotion and all faiths became united in an unprecedented manner in opposition to him. The other Muslims, the Christians, the Hindus, the Aryas, the Jains, the Sikhs, the Brahmus, the Dev Samajists, etc. took to the field with all their might against an ill-equipped person, all on his own. Most of the Muslim ulama declared him to be an infidel, heretic, himself misled and misguiding others; and, in fact, they called him Dajjal [the antichrist]. An edict was issued and circulated throughout the Islamic world to the effect that this man was an infidel and outside the pale of Islam—in fact, the worst enemy of Islam. Anyone dealing with him in anyway would also become labelled as being out of the pale of Islam. And it was widely publicized that hurting him in any way was not only justified but in fact a good deed worthy of great merit; some even went as far as declaring that the Islamic Shariah prescribed the penalty of death for him and the one who brings about his death would merit Divine reward. In addition to this vocal opposition, which was not merely vocal as it kindled a veritable and dangerous firestorm of opposition in the country, practically all legal and illegal means were used in an effort to suppress and humiliate him. All of the Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and others attacked him with full force.

The early history of Ahmadiyyat is a tragic story that makes your hair stand on end. On one side was a single person, all alone, apparently without any backing, lacking means, without funds, and without any claim to fame; and on the other hand, it seemed as if there were entire armies of the world, laced with all possible means, surging upon him from all sides like a deluge, yet the man was neither scared nor alarmed but stood his ground like a firm rock. He had no sword to wield, no apparent money to distribute, no worldly knowledge to impress the people with, and no power to intimidate them with—all he had was a spiritual flag with the following words, inscribed with an ink not of this earth:

A Warner came unto the world, but the world accepted him not; yet God shall accept him and demonstrate his truthfulness with mighty assaults. (Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part IV, Urdu ed. Ruhani Khaza’in, p. 655)

As the enemy offensive intensified to dangerous levels, he raised this heavenly flag higher and higher in his hands. There seemed to be some magic in these words: on seeing them, the soldiers of the opposing army began deserting their ranks and instead began to gather around this flag. The opponents harassed these people in every way—punished them socially, snatched their wealth and belongings, split up their families, assaulted them, and even killed some of them. They prevented them from burying their dead in their [Muslim] cemeteries. But such was the effect upon these people that they were readily drawn towards this flag. They were eager to relinquish their apparent freedom in exchange for servitude to this helpless, unknown villager.

Glory be to God! What a spectacle! The opponents said that this was a gnat bothering them with its buzz. If it did not stop buzzing, they would crush it between their fingers. But today the followers of that ‘buzzing’ are attacking every citadel in the world, and even the enemies admit that if there is any force worth mentioning in the religious world today, this alone is it. Can this be the work of a human being? No, never. Man’s work is dependent upon resources and circumstances. In this case, all of the resources were with the enemy, and the Promised Messiah(as) had nothing with him. But despite the enemy’s utmost efforts, the Promised Messiah’s strong message attracts the hearts of the people. At the time of his passing in 1908, he had 400,000 faithful devotees under his banner. Now, seventeen years after his passing,8 his followers have spread to all countries of the world to preach Islam, and are baffling the world with their unprecedented sacrifices in the cause of God. This is not fiction, but fact. Even the enemy cannot hide under the veil of enmity and prejudice. An unknown villager, without resources, stood up and declared that he had been ordained by God to establish His Majesty. The world rejected him and people of all faiths and nations opposed him with all their might and, intoxicated with their power, believed that in no time they would wipe him off the face of the earth. There were enemies all around—bloodthirsty enemies who had put their differences aside to unite, each one eager to be the first to strike. On the other hand, the one whom they regarded a ‘buzzing gnat’ or a water bubble was like a drawn sword in the hands of a protective God, killing whomsoever it fell upon and whosoever fell upon it was annihilated. Many strong men challenged the champion of God, but, like kernels of corn crackling in the oven, they were destroyed in no time.

Why, after all, did this happen? Look at the early condition of the Ahmadiyya Community, look at the opposition it faced, study its present condition, and then be fair: was this extraordinary success possible without the support of some Unseen Power? A lone, helpless, and totally ill-equipped figure stands up in the Name of God and, despite intense opposition from the whole world, establishes his authority all over the world within a short period of thirty to forty years, as if he alone rules the religious world. There are Ahmadiyya missions in India, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka], Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, England, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Trinidad, North America, South America, East Africa, West Africa, Mauritius, Malaya [Malay Peninsula], Java, Sumatra, and Borneo.9 These are not missions that are breaking down and tamed by the attacks of the enemies, but each is a force to be reckoned with, the mettle of which has been recognized by the world at large. O ye, looking crookedly at the Ahmadiyya Community and shedding tears of blood with outrage at this astonishing success and bemoaning the progress of Islam, listen:

Why cry, sir, it is but the beginning of love;
Wait and see what is yet to come!

In short, the success that the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, and his community is having in the face of adverse circumstances, and the rapidity and astonishing manner in which it is taking place, is manifest evidence of the fact that an Unseen Force that dominates and rules all worldly powers is working in his support, and it is He whom we call God.

To summarise, throughout the recorded history of the world, whenever a righteous person ordained by God stood up in His Name, regardless of what kind of circumstances he encountered, he ultimately prevailed and achieved his purpose; and his enemies, despite their enormous power and materials, were always humiliated. This phenomenon, as I said before, has been observed not once or twice, not tens of times, but thousands of times, and never the other way round, not even once. Therefore, this predominance is definite and positive proof that those who stand in the Name of God benefit from the support of a great Unseen Force against which all worldly powers and means pale into insignificance; that force we call God. The whole of humanity needs to submit to Him. May the people understand! How beautifully the Promised Messiah(as) has put it:

God provides evidence of His existence with His omnipotence;
For the invisible One that, indeed, is the only way of showing His countenance.

When He says that He will certainly do something,
That becomes inevitable; that indeed is Godhood.