As far as the Imams go, were they well-received by the people in their time? They were all ill-treated. So, goodness is what hurts people. Any man who is good for human beings, a true, honest leader, is most undesirable for Sana not Greta, for a society which has gone too far away from human well-being. So, number one, the phenomena should be understood in the context of what the Holy Quran tells us about this attitude of human beings. The Holy Quran declares in two places that people before you had made this erroneous concept that there will be no prophet after you, so and so.
So, in Surah Jinn, for instance, Allah Ta’ala tells us that when a tribe which is called Jinn, whatever the nature of the people may be, they came and accepted Islam in the hands of Prophet Muhammad Mustafa, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. While they were going back to their people, they were talking between themselves and talking of their stupidities, of their stupidity and their arrogance. One of the stupid things they mentioned there was that look here, we thought Allah would not create another prophet. And here it is. So, the concept of finality of prophethood, as understood by the opponents of Ahmadiyyat, according to the Holy Quran, is not a new phenomena. It is a very old phenomena. Again, and the Holy Quran could not have mentioned it without any meaning or without any inherent message.
The Holy Quran tells us that about Hazrat Yusuf, they had also created this wrong notion. They told him that first of all, when Yusuf came, they ill-treated him. After he died, they said Allah would never create another prophet. And how many prophets came between Hazrat Yusuf and now with Hazrat Yusuf? So, why this? This was a message to the Muslims. That we are all to you. Even before you, we were misled and faltered in this path. And be warned. Don’t follow such old people. Some of them, ultimately, repented. They looked at what they thought and what happened. So, that is as far as the positive, clear declaration of the Holy Quran goes. Holy Quran tells us that this concept of not being any other prophet in time after somebody is an erroneous concept which has been held previously by other people as well. Which was falsified quite well.
That is one thing. Secondly, Allah Ta’ala tells us in the Holy Quran that the very coming of a prophet is a phenomenon which is most loathsome to the people to whom a prophet is sent. It is just an excuse that we are opposing so and so because he has started the concept of a new prophethood and so on. The previous prophets, all of them, did not have that blame in their account because this phenomenon was not repeated at the time of the prophet. This allegation was not raised against every prophet that you have become a prophet after so and so while you were not expecting anybody.
Other excuses came to bear to oppose a prophet. But without fail, every prophet was hated and so intensely hated that except for the prophets, no other office bearer from Allah has ever been hated so strongly and intensely. So the most loathsome thing to the people is the concept of prophethood. And this is why it is not easy to claim to be a prophet. The hatred works in two ways. In the first place, the strong, very strong opposition tries its best to root out the claimant and all the paraphernalia along with it.
Now unless he is rooted deeply in Allah’s mercy and Allah’s favour, this strong opposition is so strong and so powerful and overwhelming that it is impossible for an ordinary person to remain intact and to save him or his followers from that opposition. With the result that his people are destroyed. Either they are killed or their movement is destroyed and wiped out and nothing is left of such movements. This is why Allah Ta’ala tells us in the Holy Quran, But that will come later on. Now the second part is that this opposition and strong hostility works in another way. If that person who claims to be a prophet is not treated with such hostility and then he prospers, it will be very difficult for human beings to judge him to be a righteous man from Allah and true believer.
Because chances happen he made his way and by chance he became prosperous. It is a good thing. But if you feed into the computer all the factors against him and almost no factor in his favour to win against the entire people, and if still he prospers, that is the sign of his truth. So the real solid truth of the prophet’s claim lies mainly in this direction. If despite very strong hostile opposition, he not only survives, he becomes prosperous at every opposition, that is a sign that there is some superhuman power here.
So it serves as a true proof and it discourages false claimants as well. Because what happens to such prophets or claimants is a very strong discouragement to false claims. So once in Australia, two years ago, last year, when I spoke at the University of Edinburgh, the question and answer session was quite lengthened out so much so that in fact we started trespassing on others’ time and we were told to leave, to forget all ultimately. But some students became very interested and one of them followed me up to the car and the last thing he mentioned to me was that look here, now I fully agree with you that whatever we have been told about the Biblical concept that Jesus Christ is wrong, we have proved it according to the Bible that he was not a God, he never claimed to be a God, all is accepted.
I also accept that he was liberated from the cross and he survived. But if God has to create someone among us to be the Messiah, as I understand your notion is, then why should I be that Messiah? Why should Allah pick me up as a Messiah? I said, there is no reason why, but you know what happened to you? I said, I have accepted one Messiah, under the precept of the Messiah of Islam and what happened to him was this and what is happening to us even after 100 years from that time is this. He said, I am not going to become a Messiah. Even if I am not going to become a Messiah, it is too hard for me. So the claim in itself is a claim which cannot be falsely made by any man in his personality unless one of the two things happen.
Number one, either he has the backing and support of a strong tribe and a political motivation is there which supports him all in all or such a person is mad. There is no third possibility. Now you look back at the history of false claimants, in each case they will be distinct from the rest of the prophets in this verse that when they claimed, a strong tribe was always behind them. A strong group of people was supporting them right from the start. While in the true prophethood phenomena, exactly the opposite happens. Previous to that claim, they are very popular. But the moment they make that claim, they are the most hated person suddenly and left entirely alone by the entire world. Overnight, they lose their entire popularity and remain alone.
So instead of going back after this first treatment, they go forward and make more claims which are still more loathsome to the people. For instance, when Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa s.a.w. made the first claim, his claim apparently was addressed to the background, particularly to his family members. And then he seemed to progress into wider circles and ultimately, in the end, he addressed the whole mankind, it seems, chronologically. This is the order. And this is exactly what the orientalists have objected against his claim. They say that his claims were the creation of humanity because we see a progress, a development, and a sort of evolution in those claims, as if they were designed by him. First, he made a small claim. When ultimately it got digested, he took it a step further and further and so on.
Then when he reached Medina, then he claimed to be the Prophet of the Jews as well and those of the Christians as well, that of the Christians as well, and then he said ultimately, OK, I am the Prophet of the whole world. This is exactly the allegation made against Zuhur-e-Ikram s.a.w. by the poets of Islam. And this is also, interestingly, is exactly the allegation made by the non-empty Mullah against Zuhur-e-Ikram s.a.w. What sort of Prophet is he? First he says he is just a Mahmud, then he says he is also a Mahmud, then he becomes a Haseen, and then he claims he is a Prophet.
He goes on and on adding things to it, whatever he is, we don’t know. Then he becomes a Krishna, and then he says I am Ibrahim, and then we are proof for everything. You see, this is the human design obviously. Why the similarity between the master and the slave? So clear, that if one is designed, the other has to be designed. If the other is not designed, then there is this competition.
But they miss the whole import of the situation. The fact is that this is the sign of truth, not the contrary. If you make a claim, and that claim is met with strong opposition, and you are punished for making that claim, then if you are a false man, you would rather retrieve your steps than go forward, and make a still more bitter claim. This is against human nature. If somebody is declaring that whoever did this, this is the price for that person, suddenly a whole crop of people would raise their hands and say we did it and we did it. But if somebody is declaring that some crime has been committed, and we are going to blacken such and such person’s face whenever he is caught, and we are going to beat him hollow, and put him backwards on the back of a donkey, and make a procession out of him, would a false claimant appear and say yes I did it? It’s impossible.
Wherever there is punishment, a false claimant has nothing to do there. Wherever there is reward, false claimants come. So the very first claim of the true prophets, deprived them of the whole popularity, and they are left alone with the entire world. So to make a further claim is not against them, it is in favour of them. Despite having tasted the suffering in the hands of the opposition, they made a further claim to further antagonise them. And after they were treated in the same manner, they made a further claim. So that shows that they are not doing it falsely. Either they are mad, because as I have made it very clear, false claimants can either be mad or they must have some support.
And this is exactly what is borne out by the history of the false claimants of true prophets. Either they were mad people and nobody paid any attention to them, or they had some support. The rest, to whom these two things do not apply, they are true prophets. And it’s so clear a distinction that any man who is not prejudiced can easily see that this is literally the proof of the prophethood of a prophet. Now I will further explain this situation. When a prophet makes such claims and he is ill-treated at the hands of the people, and yet he goes on making further claims, and does not mend his ways and claims, then people are left with only one choice.
Because those who know that there is no support behind him, even the support he had, has been withdrawn from another history. They have only one choice left, to declare him a mad man. Or if the society believed in sorcery, they would declare him to be a sorcerer. So these are the two reactions of the Arab society against Hazrat Muhammad Musa P.B.U.H. And these are exactly the two reactions of the Muslim society and the non-Muslim society of India against Hazrat Musa P.B.U.H. He was declared to be a mad man, and also a sort of sorcerer, who conjured up tricks, and nothing more. So this is the reaction of the society against Hazrat Muhammad Musa P.B.U.H, and the whole phenomenon is based on the animosity of the people. So apparently, a very bad thing is resulting into some good thing. The third benefit of this hostility, which is borne by the Prophet and his followers is this, that number one, like the master, no false claimant could have dared to face such opposition, just for nothing.
So no false adherents can come to him, when he has to pass through all this fire, and has to suffer at the hands of the people around him, just for being in him. So a system of purification is second notion. And that system of purification is the most important value in the eyes of Allah. If the believers and prophets were left alone, or if they were treated well at the hands of others, then more often than not, it would be the untrue people, the meaningless hooligans of the streets, who would rush to him first. Because wherever there is some benefit is to be gained, these people rush first, and the noble-minded and the gentle people are always left behind.
It’s happened everywhere in human society, even among children. If the teacher is to distribute sweetmeats, then those boys who are hooligan in nature, you know, or bullish, they will rush forward and occupy the first place, and come again and again and say, this is the first time we have come. And if they are to be punished, and some culprit is to be blamed, that somebody has committed this mistake, come forward and have your beating. So these people will be left behind. You know, it was that mischievous looking boy, that gentle looking boy, he did it, we didn’t do it. So this phenomena works everywhere in human nature.
More particularly so, when a claim to profit is made, and some people begin to follow. So this works as a seed, a system of purification and criteria, for the good people, only to come and get around the true planet. So, regularly they pay for it. So the third, or the fourth, result of this phenomena is this, that if this progress goes on, and at every stage of austerity, instead of getting less in number, and in strength, and in influence, they become larger at every encounter. That is a further proof, of their having the support of other people. Because, not only that they are not destroyed by this opposition, while they should have always been destroyed, they gain, quite the contrary happens, they gain in strength in every direction, from which they are attempting to be suppressed.
So this is this phenomena, all these phenomena have been discussed in the Holy Quran, very, very specifically. Number one, the Holy Quran prepares, Arabic That whenever a claimant comes, claiming to be a disbeliever, claiming to be a believer in Allah, people get annoyed about it. And Allah tells them that look here, this is not your business to get annoyed, it is my business. This is the message of this verse. He is saying something about us, and attributing things to us, and you have no means to judge whether he is right or wrong. So instead of you all getting annoyed, it is we who should get annoyed, and we who should destroy. And this is exactly what we do.
So Allah tells, so Allah tells them that look, in the case of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa, you say, Arabic He has attributed to us, one or two things, wrongly and justifiably, by whom he has said that. One or two things. Arabic Which means, from God. When you are making a thing up which is not true, then you call it, Arabic Like, Arabic When you are doing something artificially. So this is exactly the meaning of Arabic If he had attributed things to us, erroneously, wrongly. Arabic We should have caught him by the right hand. By the right hand, is applicable both to the one who is caught, and the one who is catching. This is the beauty of the Arabic language. Arabic That we could have caught him with our right hand, with good force that means. And we could have deprived him from all sources of support. Right hand means, in his case, that if he had caught him by the right hand, he couldn’t have been caught in any way. Arabic Then we would have cut his jugular vein. And the life artery.
The vein is in fact the life artery. And, Arabic Not only this, that even all of you, instead of opposing him, that would have tried to save him from our wrath. You would have failed positively. You would not have been able to defend him. So the phenomena is turned exactly the opposite way. The message here is, that you are opposing him, because he has made a claim about us. And you think that you are more sensitive about this possible to whom claims are attributed. You are not in a position to judge while we are in a position to judge. So as if we are not acting, we are not sensitive to this, and you are sensitive while you have no reason to be sensitive about it, you don’t know anything.
But, if that were the case, what you say, then it is not your animosity that would have destroyed him. It would have been our wrath that would have destroyed him. Even if you had become friendly towards him, and supported him with all your might, you would have failed positively. This is the phenomena. In another verse, the Holy Quran tells us about a person from the people of faith, who had accepted Moses’ faith, Moses’ claim, secretly, quite honestly. Now, he was not, he did not belong to a very high order of those who believed because he was hiding his faith. That was the maximum standard he had. Yet he said something addressing his people, which appeared so beautiful to Allah, that he kept it in store for to be revealed to Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam at the time of the revelation of the Holy Quran.
This is the beauty of what he said. He said to his people, when they were planning to murder Moses and his followers and put them to all sorts of atrocities, at that time he appeared and he addressed his people. And this is what Allah tells us, he said. He said, وَإِن يَكُون كَاظِمًا فَعَلَيْهِن تِسْكُون وَإِن يَكُون قَاظِمًا يَوْسِبْهُمْ بَعْضُلُهُمْ Yet, that O my people, in vain, without any rhyme or reason, you are trying to oppose him. إِن يَكُون كَاظِمًا You are opposing him, considering him to be a liar, that is all. But if he is lying, you will not suffer for his lies. What have you to do with him? Leave him alone. If somebody lies, he suffers. Not those to whom he is lying. You just have nothing to do, no drug with him, that’s all. That should be your reaction.
So how can you suffer for his lies? But I get to one thing. إِن يَكُون صَادِحًا If he is right, يَوْسِبْكُمْ بَعْضُلُهِن Then, positively, definitely, definitely, that which he is threatening you with, that will coerte you. So, in vain, you are doing something which is not your concern. But, you are opening up the possibility of danger for him. If he is right, then you must be punished by him. Keep him. That is the correct attitude towards the Prophet. So, the possibility of course is there. Allah does not approve of that hostility. Even against false claimants.
So, these Mullahs who say because Hazrat Qasim-ul-Islam according to them is a false claimant, so we have every right to approve Ahmadiyyas and everyone who follows him. That claim is totally falsified, by the way. If it was good at the time of Moses, it is still good. If it was not good at the time of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa, Allah would not have preserved that saying and related it to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam because it did not apply to him. It did apply to him. To Muhammad Mustafa. If anybody is making his claim and somebody thinks he is a false claimant, according to the verse of the Holy Quran, they have no concern with them. With such a claimant. All they are due reasonably and within their rights is that they should have no trouble with such a person. But they must not oppose him because the moment they oppose, they run the risk of being destroyed by Allah if he happens to be right.
And that is the case. Because whenever Allah speaks to some servant of his, he does not follow any other human being as a witness. It is only between him and Allah. That is all. So nobody in fact has any possibility of being a witness. If I tell you something in private and send you to this session for instance with a message and you say that I have been told and you tell them that I was alone with Allah. I mean with me, I am sorry. And he has sent this message. Now, do.
