Q. How would you yourself explain Ahmadiyyat to a Sunni Hadith Muslim with the support of the Koran? A. Well, this question requires a longish answer, in fact, because in so many ways this question can be addressed. And first of all, I should suggest to you that you should read such books as deal with this subject in detail. And it is very important for the new converts, new Muslims, to apprise themselves of this question, this subject well.
Because not only there are Pakistani Sunni Muslims or other Sunni Muslims from various countries, but also nowadays you may come across some Sufi, English Sufi Muslims and others who may enquire of you why you have accepted Ahmadiyyat, why not that and that and that sect. So it’s very essential to equip yourself with all the necessary material.
Now this question can be asked in various ways. I do not know how the questioner put this to you, because there are so many aspects of differences between Ahmadiyya views on so many important subjects and the non-Ahmadiyya views, on the other hand, that it’s difficult for me to pick one particular aspect of this question and start answering, because so many others would remain unattended then. I just quote, I just inform you of the nature of some differences, then I’ll ask you which particular one you’re interested in.
For instance, as far as the fundamentals of Islam are concerned, from the point of view of the Holy Quran, Allah is fundamental, because belief in God is the most important belief and his belief in his unity. Then Malaika, that is the angels, they come second in order. Then Qutub, that is the books which have been revealed by Allah to various Prophets, they are mentioned in the third in this order, as third in this order.
And then come the Prophets to whom the books are revealed. And what else, Yawm al-Akhirah, and then the Day of Resurrection or the question answered, final question answered day. Day of Reckoning it is also called. On all these matters, Ahmadiyya views differ from various other sects’ views. And the picture as created is not that Ahmadis versus all the rest of sects in these regards. The picture varies from sect to sect. When I speak of, for instance, Barelvi sect, their views on God, their views on angels, their views on Prophethood and so on and so forth, not only differ from Ahmadis, but also differ substantially from the Wahhabis.
And in some regards we are closer to Barelvis than Wahhabis. In others we are closer to Wahhabis than Barelvis. And in many others we stand single, alone, you know, we distinctly alone. We hold views which are not held by any of the other sects. So on this issue, various answers can be given according as the question is framed. Now I will further point out some illustrations. God according to us, according to Ahmadis, and this is the distinctive view of Ahmadis as against almost all other Muslim sects, can never be inoperative in any of his attributes.
God of the past is still the God of the present and would remain the God of the future vis-a-vis his relationship to mankind. If he has been ever speaking to mankind, he can speak and does speak even now, and will continue to speak. And according to us, some attributes of God cannot be relegated to the past alone. So that part of the God continues to live and come into relationship with mankind, and part of it remains a part of history. But most of the non-Ahmadi sects positively believe that God has ceased to come into communion with mankind.
In this regard, this attribute of his, that he speaks to mankind, he addresses them, he guides them, he answers their questions, and many a time in, you know, in broken terms, verbally he speaks to them. They do not agree with this. They believe that, no, this is all a matter of the past. So Ahmadiyya view, as based on the Holy Quran as you emphasised, is based on many verses of the Holy Quran which tell us that God speaks to mankind, speaks to his servants, and would continue to do so.
Whenever such situations are created, then God deems it fit to speak, to address his people. For instance, this has been mentioned among other verses. In the verse which I have been reciting in my Isha prayers many a time, Inna allatheena qaloo rabbunallahu thumma astaqamoo tatanazzaloo alayhimul malaikato allatakhaafoo wallatahzanoo waabshiroo biljannati allati kuntum tuwadoon Verily those, this is the translation, verily those who say, Allah is our Lord, and after making this claim, they remain steadfast against all the trials, that is understood, that is implied.
When you say, Allah is my Lord, you may say it without ever being put to a trial. You just say it and nobody bothers, nobody interferes with this claim of yours. But on the other hand, times may come when to make this claim invites difficulties and troubles and hostility from all sides, like it always happens in the time of prophets. If such thing happens and people who claim that Allah is our Lord and he alone is our Lord remain steadfast, then what happens?
Tatanazzaloo alayhimul malaikato. Angels descend upon them. And that happens not once or twice. Tatanazzaloo is an expression in Arabic which is used for a repeated phenomenon, which occurs so many times, numerous times. So not only once or twice, but repeatedly angels descend upon these peoples. And they are not dumb angels, according to the Holy Quran. This verse continues to describe the situation further. They are speaking angels.
They address them and say, la takhaafoo wa la tahzanoo. Because you have been opposed, because hostility has been shown to you just for the crime that you claim Allah is yours. So we are with you. La takhaafoo wa la tahzanoo. Do not be afraid. Do not be sorry or do not regret what you have lost in this way. We are going to be your friends and your companions in this world here, in this life, and in the life hereafter as well.
So it categorically declares that such people who love God, who claim that he is our Lord, who are tried because of this, put to some grave trial, remain steadfast, to them angels do speak and carry the message of God. And this process of revelation through angels is now totally denied by most of the non-Ahmadi sects. In this verse, two fundamentals have been discussed, God and angels as well. Neither God is made inoperative according to the Holy Quran, nor the angels are.
But in both these regards, their concept of God differs from that of Ahmadis, as based on the Holy Quran, and their concept of angels also differs. But that is not all. According to some Muslim sects, God is incapable of telling lies. He is incapable of committing certain acts which are considered to be infamous acts according to human standards. And he can do this, and he can do that, and even he can commit suicide if he so desires.
On the contrary, according to some other sects, all this is blasphemy. And whoever even considers this possibility is outside the veil of Islam. In this regard, we agree with the second and totally disagree with the first part. And Wahhabis, for instance, have been discussing this matter with Barelvis. And Wahhabis, the sect which is found in abundance in Saudi Arabia, and which is the favourite sect of the present government of Pakistan, they or I have written so many books on this subject. And so many debates have been held on this issue.
They say that it is logically possible for God to tell lies. And Barelvis, on the other hand, categorically deny that. In this regard, we agree with Barelvis and disagree with Wahhabis, of course. But in another regard, on the same fundamentals, we agree with Wahhabis and disagree with Barelvis. According to the Holy Quran, it can be proved beyond doubt that there are certain attributes of God which cannot be shared by anyone, be he angel or prophet.
For instance, his omniscience and omnipresent, his knowledge knows no bounds. He is unlimited knowledge. And also he is omnipresent, that wherever there is something, everywhere which you can conceive of, there is God. The Barelvis, in this regard, believe that Ahazrat Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the Holy Prophet of Islam, shares these two characteristics of God as personal attributes. According to them, he is omniscient as well as omnipresent. He is everywhere and he knows everything. And Wahhabis, on the other hand, have taken a very dogmatic stance on this issue, even beyond normalcy.
They cross the barriers to the other side. They say that Ahazrat Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is not only that he is not omniscient, but in some respects, according to them, his knowledge is even less than Satan. And his knowledge is even less than some animals. So here, partly we agree with Barelvis and partly with Wahhabis, and partly we oppose Barelvis and partly we oppose Wahhabis. We agree with Wahhabis inasmuch as they claim that Allah does not share his boundless knowledge with any other person, any other being.
And it is not for a human being to claim to be omniscient, nor can he be present everywhere. It is only God and God alone. So we fully agree. But we disagree with them when they say, God forbid, that the knowledge of Ahazrat Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in some regards is less than that of Satan. This claim in itself is Satanic according to us, because he is the person whom Allah gave knowledge above angels.
He is the person who is addressed in the Holy Qur’an as the first caliph, as the first Adam, who was taught the attributes of God and the names of everything by God himself. So that when compared with the knowledge of angels, who are not such things in detail, the knowledge of that caliph, that resurgent of Allah, which according to us is Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is just nothing as compared to that knowledge which Allah imparted to him.
So to claim that, even to compare his knowledge with beastly things and animals and Satan, that is blasphemous, outright blasphemy. So here we sit in a position of partly agreeing with one section and partly with the other, partly condemning and rejecting the views of one and partly rejecting and condemning the views of the other. So this is the whole picture created in every regard.
Angels, for instance again, are considered to be limited beings like human beings, having limited shapes and almost the same nature as we see in the animal kingdom. I mean this view is held by most of the non-Ahmadi sects. And what Allah has taught to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, regarding angels is completely different. A totally, entirely different picture is created and held by us. For instance, they believe that angels have real wings with which they fly, you know, like birds.
And they fly very fast. And they fly in a universe which is the scientific universe which man observes, in the space, four-dimensional space which is known to us. So according to them, height, the concept of height and the flight of angels is just material. When they consider angels descending, they mean some angels who are shaped like human beings, plus have the added character of some birds. Some have two wings and some four and some more.
They fly like birds. And they descend from the heaven which according to them is that direction, in which direction the head of the speaker happens to be situated. When you discuss this matter with them and tell them what is height and where do they descend from, they raise their fingers upward and say this is height and they come from there. And when you tell them, some ulama, that this earth is round and there are people sitting exactly, standing head downwards on the opposite side. So from their point of view, height would be exactly where your feet are pointing. So what do you mean by this being height and why not that height?
Because people who are situated halfway between us and the other side of the earth are pointing to another direction in the space. Their heads are not diametrically opposed to us, but transversely opposed. So people on the other side, and if you consider the world to be the round, then millions and billions of sides would be created. And head of each man would be pointing in different direction. So what do you mean by height? How do they descend and where from? So they say, no, you don’t know. The earth is not round like you think it is. They tell us the earth is round like a plate.
We are all standing on one side of the plate and the other side is below and this side is above and God is in that direction and not below. All that can be rejected on the authority of the Holy Quran, which repeatedly tells us there is no such thing as Allah being in one direction and not in the other direction. So it says, God is the light of everything, heavens and earth and everything. In another verse it says, whichever direction you face, there you would find the face of Allah. Another verse tells us that his seat is the whole universe.
So we believe in a God which is most beautifully described by the Holy Quran, against whose concept no scientific objection can be raised, who is not limited according to the knowledge of medieval people, who is unlimited. Because the Holy Quran is not a book of the medieval times, it is a book for all times and it is revealed by Allah the all-knowing. So this is the Ahmadiyya view and we do not believe that angels have a limited shape like human beings or like some beasts or they are crossed between birds and man.
We believe that when Allah refers to them as having wings, it only means their characters, their capabilities and their potentials are referred to as wings. And when we say that, it is not that we put words into the mouth of the Holy Quran. We base our view on specific verses of the Holy Quran which have themselves solved this mystery for us. Of course we agree that the wings are attributed to angels in the Holy Quran, having two wings, four wings and more. But the word wing itself has been described by the Holy Quran elsewhere in relation to mankind.
So the Holy Quran tells us that when your parents reach the ripe old age, when they have become weak, you lower your wing of mercy over them and bring them under the wing of your mercy. That solves the problem for us. The word wing here means a certain characteristic and a good character for that matter. Otherwise we do not have any wing under which we bring our parents, not to my knowledge anyway. So the word wing has been explained by the Holy Quran itself.
And there are such strange stories about angels and what they do and what their powers are, believed and told so often by the non-Ahmadis that if you agree with them in this regard, the whole religion will become hocus-pocus and an old woman’s tale. So it will not survive the modern times. It will not survive the censure of an enlightened person of the modern age. But this is the beauty of Ahmadiyyat. Although all our beliefs are not innovated or invented later on, but they are based entirely on the authority of the Holy Quran, yet they remain timeless and modern.
And no age can find them to have been left in the past and have become obsolete. On all these matters, our views are most scientific and most modern. Angels have been described by Hazrat Masih Maud, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community, as powers, conscious powers created by Allah, which have no four-dimensional space to occupy. They are things which we cannot understand, but their presence can be felt and sometimes we see them in visions as personified. But that does not mean that this is their shape.
And to prove this point, Hazrat Masih Maud, a.s., among other things, refers to the apparition of the Archangel Jibril, that is the spirit, the Holy Spirit, to Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, and his apparition to the founder of Islam. If that was to be considered his real shape, then he was like a goblin changing shapes all the time, because he appeared to Jesus Christ in the shape of a dove. But he appeared to the Holy Prophet of Islam, peace be upon him, like a full-grown man.
The two shapes are so different. And then at one time, he appears to him like an ordinary person walking the streets of Mecca or Medina, and appearing before him and sitting before him like a student, asking questions and so on. At another time, he was shown in such grandeur that he occupied the whole space of horizons, from end to end. It was a grand apparition. So that shows all these various observations are just from the vantage point of the one who observes. They are not realities on the other side.
What reality is, is unknown to us. Only we see some reality expressed differently at different times to different people. But the non-Ahmadi Muslims, as I have said, carry the point so far that the whole concept of angels become sheer absurdity. For instance, when they read the narration of Joseph, peace be upon him, when he was thrown into the well by his brothers, you know that incident. It has also been described in the Bible. The non-Ahmadi Ulemas have written, and have they also speak of this in their sermons with such pride, you know, and emphasizing the point so much, that they say that when he was thrown, the Prophet Joseph, was thrown into this well by his brothers, they say the well was not very deep.
The distance between the surface of the earth and the bottom of the well was just a few hands or a few yards, and that was all. Yet, Allah wanted him to be saved from that fall, and did not want him to be hurt when he touches the floor of the well. So he ordered Angel Jibril, who at that time happened to be on the 7th heaven, to fly down and shoot down and hold him on his wing before he touches the ground.
So they say, imagine the speed of Angel Jibril. He was on the 7th heaven, he shot down beyond the concept of human beings, you know, as fast as that. Millions and millions of times that of the speed of light. And before he fell on the floor, he had extended his wing under his feet, and this is how he was cushioned, and he escaped injury. This is their view of the angels. And also according to them, prophets have committed sins, they have told lies, like the biblical accounts in so many places.
On that too we differ very strongly. For instance, the narration of Lot, what happened to Lot, and particularly Hazrat Ibrahim, the Prophet Ibrahim, who is entitled Siddiq in the Holy Quran, a prophet who is not only true, not only righteous, but he is extremely true to the very ultimate limitation of the truth. You know, that is the description of Ibrahim. About him, the non-Ahmadis, many non-Ahmadis scholars believe and emphatically believe that he told lies three times in his life. So we argue that if not an ordinary person, even prophets lie a few times, and the chief among them, who is the paragon of virtue vis-à-vis the truth, who is described as an extremely righteous and truthful person, he speaks, tells lies three times, what about the ordinary people like us, you know, who are insignificant as compared to the prophets?
So if we speak three thousand times, we tell lies three thousand times or more, that should be forgivable in the sight of Allah. So they have distorted the whole picture of God, of angels, of books, of prophets, and in that regard, they have committed errors, sometimes jointly, as against Ahmadis, sometimes severally. Some sects have committed error here, and some there, and some at another place, some about God, some about angels, some about books, and some about the day of resurrection, and so on and so forth.
So on these heads alone, the picture of difference is created, is so large, that it is impossible for me to exhaust the subject, here and now, again on the authority of the Holy Qur’an alone. Then when you extend the argument to the realm of Hadith, that is the tradition, then it will be still widened. And there are so many other issues on which we differ, fundamentally, on the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an. And when you discuss this subject in detail, then you’ll be surprised at the b
