This verse that I have previously also I think spoken on this subject a little while, not much but I have referred to it in one of my earlier question and answer sessions. The fact is that the verses of the Holy Quran have different meanings and many underlying threads of meanings which are taken up by this following verse and carried on in the same strain at the same level. So this is why our Huzoor ﷺ said that there are seven linings to the Holy Quran, seven undercurrents of meaning and the word seven does not mean seven exactly, it means a large number of because the word seven is used in Arabic for a perfect number so it does not literally mean seven in English because the Arabic seven stands for perfection like the seven verses of Surah Fatiha they also stand for perfection.
So the verses of the Holy Quran like these not only refer to the future but also to definite incidents of the past so when you translate them or interpret them applying to the future it is not at the cost of this past reference that must be understood first because these incidents which have been referred to have occurred in the past and different interpreters of the Holy Quran in the past have been trying to guess who these were. But according to the Ahmadiyya approach which has been taught to us by Hazrat Masih Maud as who of course was ultimately taught by Allah himself all the major events which have been discussed in the Holy Quran apply either directly to the life of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa as and the events of his time or to the events of the future which are going to play some important role in the final victory of Islam and of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa as of course.
So although indirectly but still they are relative to Islam and the Prophet of Islam Huzoor-e-Akbar ﷺ. So in this context this verse is interpreted by Hazrat Masih Maud as and the Ahmadis of course in general to have a meaning and a connotation about the future of Islam. Now here if you read Ahazrat ﷺ is mentioned and suddenly a different strain enters apparently but it’s not a different strain it is talking of someone but through reference applying that what happened before to the previous subject. So when you read a verse or two before then the whole thing would become immediately clear to you whatever confusion you are entertaining would be removed. The Holy Quran is mentioned right from the start first Yasin that is interpreted differently but everybody agrees that it is Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ who is mentioned in this Yasin Ya Sayyid, Sayyidul Anbiya or whatever meaning you attribute to it but it is Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ himself and then Walquranil Hakeem this book Innakal Aminul Mursaleen Ala Suratul Mustaqeem so this is the subject matter of the surah.
So if a past reference is made it is obviously made in connection with proving this whatever is being said and in connection with Huzoor-e-Akram ﷺ that is Sardar Sayyid and second in connection with the Holy Quran and the teachings of the Holy Quran. So because it was ordained by Allah that Islam would ultimately become victorious in the latter days and in the second coming of the Messiah ﷺ the full culmination of Islam’s victory would reach so when it is said in plural is Jahumul Mursaleen that plural is in fact solved in another verse of the Holy Quran which refers to the future of Islam and says when prophets would be raised while apparently the Muslims believe that not even a single prophet can come but the Holy Quran referring to the future says so these are the Mursaleen which are mentioned in future but in one person not in plural physically but only in essence so by Al-Mursaleen the same Rasul are mentioned as Ar-Rasul-u-Iqtad when prophets would be raised.
Now you come to one of the revelations of the Messiah ﷺ and the whole problem is suddenly solved. He is addressed by Allah and told that Allah’s tall word has appeared in the garbs of many prophets that means the person would remain the same a single person but he would represent many prophets. Now you read Dura-e-Sameen and it is further solved the whole problem when he says May kabhi Moosa kabhi Isa kabhi Apoob hoon Niz Ibraheem hoon Naslihain meri weshbaar Ik shajar hoon jisko Dawoodi sifat ke phal lage Aage kya hai? May hua Dawood aur Jaloot hai mera shikar So the non-Ahmadis don’t understand this because they don’t understand the Holy Quran and the future predictions about the future of Islam.
Now I’ll further explain to make the whole story clear and connected. So far it is not complete. Why if a person representing Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ’s cause and his servant, a complete subordinate to him, is referred to as many prophets? What is the significance? The significance lies in an event which is called Miraj and which is mentioned in the Holy Quran. In that event, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ was shown that all the prophets are saying prayer behind you. So who are these prophets and what was the significance of their saying prayer behind him? The non-Ahmadis just take pride in this simple fact that prophets came and said prayer behind him because Ahmadis understand the Holy Quran deeply and in its widest significance.
We don’t just leave it at that, an apparent claim of boastfulness as far as the rest of the religions are concerned. For the Muslims it’s alright to believe that Hazrat Rasul-e-Karim ﷺ led the prayer to all the prophets but what does it mean to a non-Muslim who doesn’t believe in him? There has to be some proof and that proof would be established when the followers of all the prophets would start following Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ. That was the prediction made in that, that a time must come when all the prophets, that is their nations, their peoples, they would follow you. You would be the head of all the prophets and all the religions because this was to happen in the latter days so the representative of Hazrat Rasul-e-Karim ﷺ who was to launch a movement for the final victory of Islam over all other religions was given different names of different prophets. This is why he was referred to as in plural rather than singular.
Now when he makes the claim that I am Krishna and I am all that has been promised to various people, some non-Ahmadis and some non-Muslims don’t understand, they say how could it be possible for one person to be Muhammad, I mean in the form of a servant and a complete spiritual son and Ibrahim and so many others, they think they are just ghosts and the non-Ahmadis mock at it and laugh at all this and say this is all hocus-pocus, it’s something mad. The true significance is this, that the whole world is expecting prophets of old and the time mentioned in the earlier scriptures of various religions is the same as we are passing through. The age is described by Krishna and he speaks in detail of when he would appear and when you read the predictions of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ, you are surprised to find so many similarities in the time of which Krishna speaks that I would come again and in the time when Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ predicts that Messiah would appear or Mahdi would come, that significance cannot be lost to any sensible man.
Again when you read the prophecies of other prophets, specimens of which have been taken up by Hazrat Musleh Maud in his book Dawat-ul-Ameer, you can read in detail there, you’ll be surprised that this age has been described by many other prophets that they would come and the signs are being fulfilled before our eyes. So what would happen, does Allah want to create a chaos, does Allah want to raise a Krishna calling people to himself and telling them that you should believe in many gods as the Hindus believe and a Messiah among Christians would be raised, calling them to Trinity and some Confucius would come to China, calling them to his own path, is that the scheme of Allah’s things? It’s impossible. The only way it can be fulfilled is that someone should come to represent all of them and he should appear among the servants of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ.
So in his embodiment all those prophets would be represented who were shown to Huzoor-e-Akram ﷺ to have said prayer behind him. You follow this? So now it makes the whole picture clear that a person was to appear among the servants and he would say, he would claim, I am Messiah. So the Christians would find themselves in a very strange situation. They thought Messiah was even beyond all prophets, he was beyond human beings, supernatural, he was son of God. But when he reappears he rectifies himself, his concept and says no, I take pride not in being above but being under Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ.
So his being raised from among the servants has this significance. And so when Krishna comes, he says I have come but as a servant of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ, not beyond him, not over and above him. So all the religions will be purified and rectified in this one single incident. And this is how they will all be represented in one person and that one person would be made subservient to Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ, representing all these prophets. This is the significance why such verses where Rusul are mentioned in plural to appear in future, either through a reference to the past in the context where Islam and its future glory is mentioned, or directly bearing reference to the future.
Whenever they are mentioned, the Ahmadis, knowing this philosophy and knowing the significance of these verses, believe that they refer to the future event of Islam when these predictions will be fulfilled. Now in the light of this, when you again read these verses you have referred to, this verse you have referred to, and a few verses before that, then the picture will emerge as, you know, in full resolution and clearly. Awa lam yaseeru fil ardi, no I’m sorry, inna nahnu nuhiyil mu’ta wa naqtubu ma qadamu wa a’tarahum kulla shayin a’saynahu fi imamin mubeen, inna nahnu nuhiyil mu’ta, we shall raise the life from the dead, we’ll give, revive the dead, give them a new life.
Now normally people believe that just the ordinary dead corpses are mentioned. But here it says that the Holy Qur’an has come to revive the people of earth, spiritually. This is the true significance, because in another verse the Holy Qur’an tells us that Allah calls people to revive them, yad’ukum lima yuhikum, he doesn’t call the dead, physically dead people to revive them, he never did that. He called the spiritually dead and tells them that I’m going to revive you, yad’ukum lima yuhikum, literally means that.
So that hayat, which is the spiritual hayat, that life which is spiritual life, that is mentioned whenever Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa s.a.w. and the Holy Book is mentioned. Otherwise raising out the dead is just meaningless, I mean that is just a sort of plaything, it has no other significance deeper than that, but this has a deeper significance. So the Holy Prophet promised, being promised by Allah, that even if the Muslim ummah would reach the edges of grave, would almost die out spiritually, we have raised you, we have given you the lasting Holy Qur’an, we will not permit this to happen, through your quwwat-e-qudsiyah, through your spiritual powers and the powers of the Holy Qur’an, we will raise them from the dead, and a new ummah would come into being from a dying one.
That is the promise which is being made here. Now how this can be, this can happen? Now this refers to maqaddamu, mawta wa naqtubu maqaddamu wa asarahum, the previous people are mentioned here as illustrations. They should draw their lessons from our past behavior, how we have been raising the dead to life. Wa kulla shay’in aaswaynahu fee imaamim mubeen, wadrib lahum masalan ashaab al-qariyat-e-izzahahum al-mursaloom. A past event has been mentioned, no doubt, but in reference to the future of Islam.
As it happened before, so it will happen again. This is the significance of this, this verse and the following verses. But as I mentioned once before, if you have some difficulties in understanding certain verses of the Holy Quran, this is the right forum to have clarification. But for full treatment of commentary, this is not the right forum. It requires, for instance, these verses require a much larger treatment in many aspects, and I am not giving a discourse on full commentary of these passages, only I wanted to remove that little shadow of, not darkness, but you know, lack of knowledge. This is why I have answered your question. And what is the second reference you made, and what was the significance of that one?
Now, this is, again, one thing I forgot to tell you, that the Holy Quran refers to somebody who would follow Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, bearing witness of his truth. And he is called shahid, and Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is referred to as mashhood in that regard. When Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is referred to as shahid, then Allah is mashhood. So the relationship between the person who is to come is very similar to the relationship between God and Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in that regard.
So that shahid which has been promised, and it is mentioned in the Holy Quran, that how can you deny or reject a person who has the holy book of Torah before him, imaman, to give him protection, and speaking of his coming, and also someone who would follow him, to bear witness to his truth, there the Holy Quran very clearly speaks, also in singular. So the doubt about so many is solved by the Holy Quran itself, when it speaks in singular terms of the person who is to come as the witness of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam’s truth. Now he will be witness, not like people bear witness before a court of law, and many a time that witness is rejected.
Here it is mentioned as a successful witness, whose testimony would finally be accepted by the whole world, that is to say, a movement of the victory for Islam would be launched, and through that movement, ultimately everybody would be convinced that Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was true, was the khatam al-anbiya, and a prophet sent by Allah. Only in this sense, Hazrat Naseem is referred to as witness of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Not in the sense that he would bear witness and go away and nothing would happen. That sort of witness can be made by anybody, anyone.
Every Muslim says, ashadu an la ilaha illallah, wa ashadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu, that he is bearing witness, but they are not referred to by the Holy Qur’an as shahideen. That shahid, that must be an outstanding witness. Someone who stands high above everybody else, whose witness would be listened to, would be accepted by the rest of the world. So Hazrat Naseem sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, being witness and true witness, can only be proved if Ahmadis become active in their preaching, and make Islam victorious all over the rest of the religion. If that happens, then this verse and all these verses will be fulfilled. And people who have no way out of this, they will be left with no argument. Somebody claimed to be a witness and he proved that he was a witness.
Because through his witness, all the world was won over to the cause of Islam and testified to the truth of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Again in Surah Buruj, the same subject is mentioned, wa samayi zatil burujay, wal yaumil ma’uday, wa shahidin wa mashhood, who is mashhood here, and who is shahid? And which is the time to come, wa samayi zatil burujay, is obviously a prediction about the future.
Because Allah calls to witness the heaven zatil buruj, now those buruj which are the buruj of astronomy, it is not that which are mentioned here. Buruj means when the sky, as in other places the Holy Quran makes it very clear, the sky would be occupied by mentions floating in the sky. A time was to come when the sky of our earth, closer sky, was to be filled by floating mentions, because buruj means a mention, a watching place. So all these satellites which you see in the air, in the heavens, nowadays man-made satellites, they are fulfilling these verses of the Holy Quran, because they are the places of observation. And the buruj in fact is the place of observation in a castle, where people sit and watch what is happening.
So this is exactly, literally being fulfilled in the form of the present day satellites. This is the age. Wa samayi zatil burujay wal yawmil ma’uday, ma’ud is the one who is to come, who has been promised. So obviously it refers to the future of Islam, when that prophet who is promised to you, that Masih and Mahdi who is promised to you, he would appear, in his age something is to be fulfilled. Wa shahidin wa mashud, and at that time mashud would obtain one shahid, that is Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa s.a.w. will gain that shahid which has been promised to him, as a witness. Then what would happen?
Then you read that surah, and then you know that all the persecution against Ahmadis as being committed in Pakistan nowadays, is being mentioned in this, in the following verses. And this is not what I am saying today, after it has happened. This was mentioned in detail in the commentary written by Hazrat Musleh Maud in 1945. Speaking on surah buruj, he started describing events of the future which were to happen in a Muslim country, where government would aid those who persecute Ahmadis, and the persecutors would have no fear, they would sit and watch and enjoy what is happening to them. They would burn the properties of the Ahmadi, and enjoy that situation. And they would repeat that. They would do once, and then they will repeat that action cruelly again. Then Allah promises them a very grave punishment. They will be given a chance to seek pardon of Allah, to mend their ways, but they will not.
So the movement which was started in 1974, has come to a culmination in the time of Zia ul Haqq. Because now you see, they have not repented at all in any way, they are insisting. So because they have repeated their folly, two punishments are in wait for them. Not one. walahum azaabu jahannama walahum azaabu al-hareek. And again the holy Quran says that we begin and we repeat. Like you began, and you repeat it. wa huwal ghufoorul wadood, ha innahu huwa yubdehu wa yu’id. As you have started a phenomena, and you are repeating it. Allah also knows this. He it is who started everything in the first place, and He repeats His creation.
So He knows such people and how to handle them. That is the significance of this, that innahu huwa yubdehu wa yu’id, wa huwal ghufoorul wadood, zul arshil majeed, fa’alun lima yurid, halataaka hadithul junoodi fir’auna wa samood. Again they are referred to the old people. While talking of the future, of the time of the maood, of the time when shahid would come to bear witness to mashood, suddenly the holy Quran refers to the past. The same style, to draw references from the past, He refers to the past.
