A Survey of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement

History, Beliefs, Aims and Work

by Dr. Zahid Aziz

Text of pages 38 to 47:

Split in the Ahmadiyya Movement:

The literary works of Maulana Muhammad Ali are not his only great achievement. Posterity will be ever indebted to him for having rescued the Ahmadiyya Movement from extremism and preserved the true ideals of the Founder, Hazrat Mirza. The Ahmadiyya Movement had not been created as just another sect of Islam which, like other sects and factions, would engage in sectarian bickering and denounce fellow-Muslims of other persuasions as being kafir and ‘expelled from Islam’, but it was created as a force for the presentation of true Islamic ideals. Hazrat Mirza, up to even the last few days of his life in May 1908, in his reported conversations with other Muslims while staying at Lahore, spoke of himself as a mujaddid1 and assured them that he did not regard Muslims outside his Movement as kafir; far from it, it was the other Ulama who were denouncing him and his followers as being outside the fold of Islam.2

After Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s death, his right-hand man and a highly-learned Islamic scholar, Maulana Nur-ud-Din, who was greatly respected by Muslims outside the Ahmadiyya Movement as well, was unanimously chosen as the Head of the Movement. However, certain members of the Founder’s family entertained the desire to establish a hereditary spiritual succession, but were not in a position to fulfill their ambitions as yet, especially since Hazrat Mirza’s eldest son, Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, who would be the contender, was too young at this time.

Some 3 years later Mirza Mahmud Ahmad and his supporters, in order to create a platform for a leadership campaign, began to promote the view that a person could not remain a Muslim by belief in the Kalima Shahada and the prophethood of the Holy Prophet Muhammad only, but had in addition to acknowledge that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet of God. The position taken was that, just as when the Holy Prophet Muhammad arose, the followers of earlier prophets were required to believe in him in order to become Muslims, similarly with the appearance now of the prophet Mirza Ghulam Ahmad belief in him must be acknowledged in order for anyone to be a Muslim. And belief in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, it was further asserted, is acknowledged by taking the pledge of entry (baiat) with the Head of the Ahmadiyya Movement who is the real and true head and khalifa [caliph] of all Muslims. In a book published a little later, Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad expressed this doctrine as quoted below. This extract is taken from the English translation, published by his own community, of one of his Urdu books:

“…all those so-called Muslims who have not entered into his baiat formally, wherever they may be, are Kafirs and outside the pale of Islam, even though they may not have heard the name of the Promised Messiah.”3

“I wrote that as we believed the Promised Messiah to be one of the prophets of God, we could not possibly regard his deniers as Muslims.”4

Maulana Muhammad Ali and other prominent members of the Movement repudiated these notions as being both contrary to basic Islamic teachings as well as against the expressed beliefs of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Maulana explains these events in an English tract published shortly afterwards in 1918 as follows:

“M. Mahmud [Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad], a son of the founder of the movement, who is the present head of the Qadian section of the community, began to drift away from the basic principles of the Islamic faith about three years after the death of the Promised Messiah, going so far as to declare plainly that the hundreds of millions of Muslims, living in the world, should be no more treated as Muslims. … A large number of the educated members of the community, who had the moral courage to dissent openly from the erroneous doctrines taught by him, perceived the great danger to the whole community, when after the death of the late Maulvi Nur-ud-Din a particular clique in the community succeeded in raising M. Mahmud to headship at Qadian without any general consultation. They at once rallied round the true doctrines of the Promised Messiah, and after in vain trying for over a month and a half to keep up the unity of the movement, formed themselves into a separate Society, known as the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam, on 2nd May 1914, which is now earnestly working for the propagation of Islam.”5

Thus came into being the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, with two characteristic beliefs:

  1. That the Holy Prophet Muhammad is the Last and Final Prophet, after whom no prophet whatsoever, new or old, can appear.
  2. That believers in the Holy Prophet Muhammad form a brotherhood, and so long as a person claims membership of the brotherhood of Islam by declaring the words “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”, he cannot be expelled from Islam or branded as a kafir by any power on earth.

Maulana Muhammad Ali wrote extensively on these two issues, particularly in Urdu, and it may be said without exaggeration that never before in the history of Islam had any Muslim scholar discussed these questions so comprehensively and established these beliefs with such conclusive arguments. The general body of Sunni Muslims would, no doubt, appear to subscribe to these beliefs; however, a close inspection shows that their acceptance of these beliefs is not absolute but is subject to some conditions. The Prophet Muhammad is believed to be the Last Prophet, but it is also asserted that Jesus, a prophet, shall appear after him. And while lip-service may be paid to the Kalima as defining the Muslim brotherhood, nonetheless perfectly good Muslims (not just Ahmadis) are being regularly denounced as kafir and murtadd (apostate) by edicts issued by religious leaders and sects.

Headship and Organisation of the Ahmadiyya Movement:

Another related belief promoted by the Qadiani leader, Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, was that every Head of the Ahmadiyya Movement, after Hazrat Mirza, is actually appointed by God, he acts by Divine authority, he should possess absolute power, and he must be obeyed unquestioningly. In fact, he is supposed to be the real ruler and khalifa of all the Muslims of the time.

Quite contrary to this, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had revived the true Islamic principle of ‘rule by consultation’ in the governing of the Ahmadiyya Movement. Some 2 to 3 years before his death, he had published his ‘Will’ and in this testament he created a body called Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya (Chief Ahmadiyya Association) as the supreme executive of the Movement and he designated it as his “successor”. He appointed fourteen men to be the executive council of this Anjuman. Later he expressly stipulated in writing that the majority decisions of this body would be final and binding after his death. No individual head was to wield absolute, autocratic power. It was, in fact, such systems of absolute religious authority that had brought previous Muslim spiritual movements to corruption and ruin. The executive body created by Hazrat Mirza was set into operation by him immediately, more than two years before his death.

After the Split in 1914, the Qadiani Movement under Mirza Mahmud Ahmad’s leadership discarded the system established by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement and replaced it by absolute rule of the khalifa. As time went on, the office of the khalifa appropriated more and more power, reducing the followers to a position of the most servile submission and blind obedience.

As stated earlier, a separate body was created at Lahore in May 1914, called Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam. This is the successor, in spirit and principle, to the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya created by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It has a council of trustees, an elected body, which is the supreme executive of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. The Head (Amir) of the Movement works within the framework of the constitution and the decisions of this executive body. Maulana Muhammad Ali writes that, in the governance of the movement, after different views have been discussed

“whatever is the decision of the Anjuman arrived at by a majority, that shall be followed, and no individual shall be able to override such a decision”.

Everyone should have the right to express their opinion, but then the majority view of the decision-making body

“is decreed to be the consultative decision or the will of the community. It is then binding upon every member of the movement to obey that decision.”6

Opposition to Movement:

The Ahmadiyya Movement had from the beginning faced severe opposition, especially from the common Ulama and religious leaders. The extreme doctrines adopted by the Qadianis from 1914 onwards gave further ammunition to the opponents, who were able to point to Qadiani beliefs in support of their allegation that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had claimed to be a prophet. Moreover, the Qadiani claim that their khalifa is the real head of the Muslim Ummah, their portrayal of themselves as a kind of Muslim government-in-waiting, and their formation inside Pakistan of almost their own state within the state, caused much resentment among the general Muslim community and suspicion in the eyes of the government. This has enabled the politically-ambitious Muslim religious leaders (now known as Muslim fundamentalists) to start large-scale anti-Ahmadiyya campaigns whenever they wished to gain prominence or to demonstrate their strength.

Ahmadis declared as non-Muslim in Pakistan:

In 1974, a campaign of this kind by the religious political parties in Pakistan forced the secular government of Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to concede to their demands and insert articles in the Constitution categorising all members of the Ahmadiyya Movement, whether Qadianis or those of Lahore, as being non-Muslims. In 1984, building on this foundation, President Zia-ul-Haq issued an Ordinance which prohibits Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims or representing themselves as Muslims in any manner, or from performing certain Muslim rites and using certain Islamic terms, and stipulates criminal penalties for breaching these prohibitions. The forms issued by the Pakistan government for applying for an identity card (a compulsory requirement for every citizen) or for a passport require the applicant to state his or her religion, and in that column ‘Ahmadi’ is listed as a religion alongside ‘Muslim’, ‘Christian’ or ‘Hindu’. Anyone describing himself as ‘Muslim’ is required to sign a statement declaring that he (or she) is not an Ahmadi, that he considers Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

“to be an imposter”

and his followers to be non-Muslims. Thus every Muslim adult in Pakistan, a large majority being illiterate, and many not even knowing who Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was or what Ahmadis are, finds himself having to declare that he believes the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement to be an imposter and all Ahmadis to be non-Muslim.

The legal and social repercussions of these repressive measures in Pakistan have been widely reported. In the wider world too, these measures and associated false propaganda have encouraged and provoked opposition to and harassment of Ahmadis in other Muslim countries, as well as among Muslim communities living in other countries, including the West.

Legal Definition of ‘Muslim’:

It must be noted that Islam has given clear and simple definitions of who is a ‘Muslim’ for the purposes of law; for example, one who professes the Kalima Shahada by word of mouth or one who prays in the Muslim manner facing the qibla in Makkah. To alter these definitions is entirely contrary to Islamic teachings and sets a very dangerous precedent. Thus our view is that these particular laws of Pakistan have no validity in Islam whatsoever. Most well-informed Muslims in Pakistan consider these laws to be a mockery and travesty of both justice and Islamic teachings, and some of them have been courageous enough to say so publicly.

The question whether Lahore Ahmadis are legally Muslims has been tested in the civil courts of South Africa. In the early 1980s, a member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in Cape Town filed a suit against a body of Muslim clerics (known as the Muslim Judicial Council), claiming that it was defaming Lahore Ahmadis by calling them as kafir, and depriving them of their rights to enter mosques and to be buried in a Muslim cemetery. The local anti-Ahmadiyya Ulama received full support from the very top-most Ulama, official Islamic law experts and religious court judges of Pakistan in the preparation of their defence of calling Ahmadis as kafir. Most of these experts held high posts in the state institutions of Pakistan. The defendants were reluctant to allow the courts to consider from Islamic sources the question of who was entitled to be known as a ‘Muslim’, and in the final stages of the case in 1985 they chose not to defend the suit. The judgment was thus pronounced that the Ahmadi plaintiff

“is declared to be a Muslim and as such to be entitled to all such rights and privileges as pertain to Muslims”.

The Lahore Ahmadis believe that this oppression and persecution they face is part of the hardships that a Muslim must bear in the struggle to spread the truth. They consider their Movement to be fulfilling the function laid down in the Quran where it addresses the believers as follows:

وَلۡتَکُنۡ مِّنۡکُمۡ اُمَّۃٌ یَّدۡعُوۡنَ اِلَی الۡخَیۡرِ وَ یَاۡمُرُوۡنَ بِالۡمَعۡرُوۡفِ وَ یَنۡہَوۡنَ عَنِ الۡمُنۡکَرِ ؕ وَ اُولٰٓئِکَ ہُمُ الۡمُفۡلِحُوۡنَ ﴿۱۰۴﴾

“There should be from among you a party who invite to good and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, and these are they who are successful.” (The Holy Quran, 3:104)

The Lahore Ahmadis believe that they are presenting the pristine picture of Islam as found in the Quran and the life and example of the Holy Prophet Muhammad; and it is the picture which meets the needs of all mankind in these modern times.

Ahmadiyya Views increasingly influencing other Muslims:

It is a fact that much of the knowledge and interpretation of Islam produced by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, which was originally condemned as “unorthodox” and even un-Islamic, has gradually been accepted by other Muslims. A work such as Muhammad Asad’s English translation and commentary of the Holy Quran, on almost every key point of difference of interpretation between the Sunnis and the Lahore Ahmadiyya, has given the same view as that held by us. Yet this was a work originally published by the Muslim World League of Makkah.

In the general Muslim books today, one often finds not only the influence of Lahore Ahmadiyya ideas but wholesale passages taken from its literature, reproduced without acknowledgement of the sources. Indeed some publishers have produced reprint editions of complete books of the Movement, removing all indications of the original publisher (though not the author). Even in Pakistan such reprints of some books of Maulana Muhammad Ali, with the author’s name on them, can be found in well-known book stores for sale, while exactly the same books as published by the genuine publisher (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore) are strictly prohibited for distribution or sale by law as constituting “preaching of Ahmadiyya beliefs to Muslims”! All this gives confidence to the Movement that, despite the most powerful attempts at suppression and ostracism, its view of Islam is continuing to spread among Muslims.

Summary:

To summarise, there are several facets to the beliefs and work of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.

It is a spiritual movement in that it believes spiritual experiences to be actual, objective realities, and it stresses the necessity of man attaining nearness to God. Yet it is also a rational movement which applies the test of reason in understanding belief. It does not accept blind, unthinking belief nor accounts of ‘miracles’ and supernatural occurrences when these are mere stories without evidence and any deeper lesson.

It is a liberal movement in the interpretation of Islamic teachings and law, but it derives its liberal stance from the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet Muhammad themselves and firmly believes in totally adhering to their injunctions.

It is a modern movement in that it believes that Muslims must accept all the good that the modern world has to offer and adjust to the new times, not retreat into a closed world of their own. Yet it also preaches most emphatically that the modern world cannot survive unless it accepts Islamic principles for its moral and spiritual development.

It is a peaceful movement which proclaims that violence in the name of religion is prohibited by Islam. It believes passionately in refuting the false portrayal of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and Islam by their anti-Islamic critics, but it equally believes that this must be done only by word and argument, not by rage and threats of violence.

It is a tolerant movement, which believes that Islam allows full freedom of thought, belief, religion and expression to all, to non-Muslims as well as to those within its fold; and it believes in developing dialogue, understanding and co-operation both between Muslims and others, and among Muslim sects. At the same time, the Movement strives to the utmost to convince others that the truth, in its whole form, is to be found in Islam only, and that the mission of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the most effective and appropriate way for the progress of Islam in this age.

Today, one full century after the death of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a Muslim movement with these qualities is exactly what is required for the right progress of Muslims in the world and for establishing peace and harmony on earth between Muslims and people of other faiths and nations.

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Footnotes:

  1. Statement on 25 May 1908. Malfuzat, vol. 10, pp. 451–452, under title ‘Need for a Mujaddid’. ↩︎
  2. Statement on 15 May 1908. Malfuzat, vol. 10, pp. 376–378. ↩︎
  3. The Truth about the Split, first edition, 1924; 3rd edition, 1965, pp. 55–56. ↩︎
  4. The Truth about the Split, page 135. ↩︎
  5. The Split in the Ahmadiyya Movement, Preface. ↩︎
  6. Instructions and Guidance for the Ahmadiyya Jamaat, p. 15. ↩︎

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