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VoL. VI.] AUGUS'r, 1\)07. [No. 8.
r~.:i.. ;J 1 1:.1,6,~ ) 1 11.JJ 1 r-!
r~• J!J ) 11.J )"" ) 1_ _s1.c V'Laj j ll v.+,S\j The Mul1ammadans, tl1e Mahdi and the Ahmadiyya Movement. _.,~--~·--
An article _headed ' 1 Islam and J ehad'~ has appeared in the Civil a11 d Mi,lita1·y Gaietto of 19th July 1\)07, under the signature of ' 1 Abu Said }ifuhammacl Husain, Editor, Isha'at-us-Sunnat, Batala", which poses to contain the views of a disinterested person-1 'impartial ,vords" on the papers published under the heading of '·~f uhammadans a.nd Jehad" in the same paper under the signatures of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib of Qadian and Syed l\iuhammma leader. Strancre0 ironv• of fate that the man who thirsts for onr blood should come to sit in ju Coming now to the article itseH, the most important point raised hy Maulvi :VIuhammacl Husain is the expression of the views o.f "the learned Uuhammada,ns" as to t11e corning of the Mahdi and the :Messiah. He says: ''It is ah;o untrue to say tl1at the belie£ in the com ing of Messiah and J\Ial1di is dangcro11s, for the lrarnod l\fuhamrnad .. ms do not believe that the Promised l\fessiah and Mahdi will propagate Islam by" the sword. According to Sahih B11klw1·cc, a book unani mously believed to be an authority hy S111111i:-!, the Promised Messiah will put an cn trustworthy. He, however, did not express his own views, but promised to do so in a separate article, a promise which he has not beeu able to make good up to the present." (Italics in the above are mine). '1,his remark cautiously ad Khan which appeared in the Isha'at-us-Sunnat, vol. ix, No, 2, that tho belief expressed by the Nawab in the Iqtirab:us-Sa'at is exactly what is hold by the Muhammadans generally. 'l'lrns he wrote on pa.go 40 : " I£ the belief in the coming of the Promised Mahdi is an act of rebellion, then it is not easy to sec why the N awab should be singled out for blame. .All classes of Muhammadans, chiefs and ordinary people, including some of the Nawab's critics (with the exception of certain A.hl-i-Hadis of the past and present) hold such a belief. It follows from this that all the Muhammadans holding such a belief shoulll have been treated as rebels and hanged." .Again referring to the work oI the Mahdi whieh ~id :Maulvi Muhammad Husain did not deny Siddiq Hasan Khan's authorship of this work, and as ho had close and intimate relations with him and wrote this defoncc on his bclrnU, we may safely con clude that the real author of the work was Sidcli(l Hasan Khan, the great Jlujaddi(l and ·1cacle1· of the Ahl-i-lladis sect, and tliis was known to his intimate friends. I com now to the Iqtil'ab-11.'j-8a'at wliieh ,vas pul1lishecl in the year 1301 A.H. or 1884 CU~. In this book the doctrines relating to the ad vent of the Mahdi arc detailed at length. On pages 117 and 118 of this book, the translation of a letter l>y one of the followers of the l\Inhcli of Soudan is given. li1 this letter t.ho Chri.::it.ians are thus adclres e The only reply which in his dcienco oI Siddiq Hasan Khan, Maulvi Muhammad Husain has boon able to give to charges based on these dangerous doctrines is in the following words : " Delio£ in the coming of the .Mahdi is in no ease tantamount to rebellion unle8s it i::i coupled with the belief that ho will appear in the present regime an Now oven the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement did not say in the " Exhortation" which i::i made the basis of his article by Muhammad Husain that the orthodox belief in the Mahdi amounted to rebellion. All that he stated was that the doctrine was dangerous and any false claimant might at any time disturb the peace of the country by claiming to Lo such a Mahdi. He may not he accompanied 1907) TII8 MUIIHlMADAN'S, 'l'IU: MAHDI A~D TH~ ACHlADIYYA. ~fOVEMEN1', 281 by tho necessary signs but then the various claimants who like the Soudanoso Mah In fact Maulvi :Muhammad Husain has himself admitted the dangerous character of this Lelief. The only assurance he can give is that the :Mahdi is not expected in the present regime and that the Muslims are not bound to join him. Both these assertions are wrong. In 1898 when he published a list of curtain articles appear ing in the Isha'at-ns-Sunnat for the inf.orniation of the Goyernment 282 TIIE REVIEW OP UELIGIONS, (August and its officials, he himself explained that that list contained only those •· art~clos in t110 Islrn.'at-ns-Sunnat wherein the illegality of rebellion against, or opposition to, the Government and the trne nature 0£ Jehad is explained.'' Such was in fact the heading of that list. But. the perns:1l of: the list shows that " criticism of traditions regarding the 1\fah Such is the belief of the masses led by their Maulvis and most prominent in giving utterance to this belie£ in n most awkward manner are the members of the Ahl-i-Hadis sect. Maulvi Muham• mad Husain may not share that belie£ with Siddiq Hasan Khan, but 110 cannot I do not deny that there have been persons who have denied the coming of the Mahdi, but their views have never had any per ceptible effect upon the belief of the masses. The deniers may have belonged to the l\lota:t.alito, tlw J ehmia, tho Naichrce or the Ahl-i lladis sect, though among the last-mentioned even l\foulvi Muhammad Husain is unable to mention a single name besides that of lbn-i Khaldoon. Ilut what I insist upon is that the general belief in the coming of the Mahdi was never shaken by any expression of opinion on the part of such deniers. Somo of thorn may have expressed their opinions openly, bnt none of them ever set ont with earnestness to up root that belief. 'l'his is an important difierence which distinguishes such deniers of the l\fahdi from the Alnna acknowledge this and most unjm:t to continue to misrepresent this movement even after he has been convinced by its arguments. The Ahmadiyya movement has reason to congratulate itself upon its wonderful success for it has convinced its greatest opponent. The Sahih Ilukharee, no Joubt, says that the Promised Messiah will put an end to all fighting but the whole :\fuliammaclan world including Muhammad Husain shut its eyes against this teaching until the truth was pointed out by the founder of the Ahmacliyya movement. There is another point in connection ,vith the attitude 0£ Mu hammad Husain towards the belie£ in the Mahdi to which I wish to draw the reader's attention. l\Ianlvi Muhammad Husain declares that '' the learned Muhammadans do not believe that the l)romised Messiah and Mahdi will propagate Islam by the sword" but that on the other hand an end will be put to fighting at that time. Will he kindly explain who those learnccl Muhammadans are? If he means the Maulvis or the Mullas learned in religious lore, will he give us the names 0£ any of them? It is his duty to obtain a f'atwa attesting the truth of what he has stated in the Oi,v,il and l,filitary Gazdte to be the belief of all learned Muhammadans, and to have such jLitwa attested with the seals and signatures 0£ the learned :Muhammadans who believe that the Messiah will put an encl to all fighting an Husain himself admitted on page 20 of A i·eply to the .J(ashf-ul Ghita that the Muslims ...... ·. at once signed a fatwa declaring that a person who did not believe in the coming of the Mahdi was an infidel.'' The fa,twa. referred to here by Muhammad Husain declared a denier of the Mahdi to he a hifir, heretic, impostor, liar, and dajjal, and was signed by the leading 'Maulvis of the country includ ing Muhammad Husain's own tutor and some very devoted followers from among the Ahl-i-Hadis sect. Thatfat"l.va was printed and pub lished at the time and filed in a judicial case and the 1\faul vi admitted its existence on more occasions than one in his reply to the Kashf-ul Ghita though he argue I shall now add a few words about the charges brought against the founder of the Ahmacliyya. movement by Maulvi Muhammad Husain in his article in the Oiv-il a1id ~Military Gaz·ette. That he and his followers are denounced to he heretics who are liable to be murdered is the result of their rejecting the orthodox doctrine has been shown above. It was due to such fatwas that two respectable members of the Ahmadiyya movement ·were executed at Kabul, But the Maulvi denies this, and rcfers to certain writings in Alha./carn 0£ the 10th November 1901 and the Da_fi-iil-Bala, published in 1902, as the real cause of the founder and members of the Ahmadiyya movement being declared to be heretics who were liable to be murdered. This is an afterthought on the part of the Maulvj, for the fatwa had actually been published and circulated ten years previous to the date of these writings. It is, therefore, quite pre posterous on the p~rt of the Maulvi to assert that the founder and members of the Alunadiyya movement were declared to be liable to be murdered by the :Muhammadans because of certain writings ~ppearing ten years after the date of the fatwa. As to the allegations that we abu~e the prophets of God and Jesus Christ, it is a pure 1907) THE MUIIAMMADANS, THE MAHDI AND THE .AilMAl)lfY.A. :MOVEMENT. 287 and simple calumny. The founder of the Ahmacliyya movement claims to be the liko of Jesus Christ, and it is utterly absurd to suppose that we would abuse that very prophet, The assertion is only made by the Maulvi to enlist the sympathy of the Christian roaders of the paper. Ho cannot deny that Christian writers have abused the Holy Prophet so much so that the Anjuman•i-Himayat-i• Islam, Lahore, felt the need of submitting a memorial to the Govern ment on the point, but was a fatwa eve~· obtained against the Chris· tian writers that they deserved to be murdered ? As regards the deniers of the Mahdi we can show fatwas given by the Maulvis against them that they were heretics. This shows clearly the base• lessness of the charge against the Ahmadiyya movement, The l\,ords quoted from the supplement. to the Anjam-i-A tham were only used as an argument against the abusers of the founder of Islam, and were meant t0 show that if charges were to be laid against the Holy prophets of God in the manner adopted by the Christian missionaries against the Holy Prophet of Arabia, no better case could be made out for J asus on the basis of the stories related in the Gospels than that which the missionaries were making out for the founder of Islam. It is an argument of the same type as many Sunnis have used against the 6hiahs though the former honor Ali and accept him as one of the rightful caliphs. This is made clear on page 8 of the book where the following explanation is given: '' At the end we write that we had no concern with Jesus as represented by the Padris, but they have quite unjustly abused our Holy Prophet, and thus compelled us to write something about Jesus as represented by them.'' After this the letter 0£ Fateh Masih, a native Christian, is referred to as speaking of our Holy Prophet as an adulterer. As regards the statement of the Afghan official that Maulvi Abdul Latif was stoned to death at Kabul for abusing J osus Christ, it is absolutely false. No one for the last four years suggested this though the circumstances attending the execution were published broadcast. There aro thousands of .Alnnadis in the Punjab and no one has ever heard that they abuse Jesus Christ. The Maulvi says further that the course chalked out by the Mirza is dangerous. He gives no reason except this that he thinks that the Ahmadiyya movement resembles that set on foot by the Suda- 288 THE REVIEW 01" RELIGIONS, August anese Mahdi. He also says that with an increase in the nnmbers the movement will become clangorous. Both those assertions are unattended with any argument, and a_s such deserve to he con demned as mischievomi assertions made through spite. 'rhe Ahmacliyya movement has nothing in common with the movement started by the Sudanese 1\[ahdi. The latter claimed to he the Mahdi as expected by the orthodox Muslims and took up the sword to fight with the Christians and other ·non-Muslims and the masses at once flocked to his banner. But the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement lrns·strenuously combated the orthodox doctrine of the :Mahdi until he has convinced his bitterest opponents that the Mahdi was to propagate Islam by peaceful means. The Sudanese Mahdi fulfilled the ardent hopes of the orthodox but the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement has dealt them a death blow. It was for this reason that while the former was hailed by the orthodox, the latter has been denounced as a heretic, who with all his followers des011ves to be murdered. As regards the other mischievous allegation that with an inc1·easo in the numbers the Ahmadiyya movement would beoome dangerous, the writer had perhaps in view tho case of the Ahl-i-Hadis sect, But ho must romombor that the .Ahmadiyya move• ment is directly opposed to all orthodox doctrines which are political ly dnngerous. It can ah·eady count its adherents by lacs, but the public as well as the Government knows that it is one of the most peaceful, law-abiding and loyal communities in India. It has preached its doctrines of the denial 0£ the Fatimite Mahdi and J ehad in the face of all opposition. The future career of the move ment can be judged from its present and from the doctrines and principles on which it is based, but unable to point out any blemish in these, the Maulvi gives vent to his spite by making a mischievous allegation £or which ho has not a Again, the Maulvi quotes a ce)'tain passage from one 0£ the writ ings of the Mirza Sahib, the Aina-i-Kamdlcit-i-Isldm, as a proof that the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement is preaching against the Government. It is to be regretted that the Maulvi has been so far carried away by his enmity that he disregards all rules of fairness in dealing with the movement, He is distorting the sense of one 1907) TIJE MfJUMHIIAV.AN8, TJrn MAHD1 ANll '1'1m AIIMAVIYYA MOVEMENT, !Sg passago to make it contra contains nothing but that which has been taught by all the prophets of God. Even an enemy may somtimes be honored but one who bends down upon such mean weapons and baso stratagems deserves no credit. rrhat Maulvi Muhammad Husain is now only actuated by hostile motives and his only object is to misrepresent tho Ahmadiyya movement is abundantly clear from his own statements made in the Isha'at us Sunnat at a previous time. vVhen reviewing the Barahin i-Ahmadiyya, the first work of the founder of the Ahmadiyya move· ment, the Maulvi remarked:- HThe idea of the opposition of English Government has never so much as approached the author (of the Barahin-i-Alunadiyya.) Nay, there is not a single man· in his family who has ever entertained such an idea. His father Min~a Ghulam Murtaza practically proved him self to be faithful.and loyal to Government in the mutiny of 1857. \Vhen the mutineers assembled at the Timmo Ghat near Gurdaspur, his father supplied fifty horses and fifty sowars all at his own expense under the command of his own son, Mirza Ghulam Qadir, though he had no great J agir , .. , , .• , Although the author of the book, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, has not rendered any sorvico of that kind because he leads a retired life, yet such service of the Government as is in consonance with the retired lifo which a learned man leads has not been spared by him so far as it lay in his power. The sword of the learned man is his pen and the weapon of the/aqir is his prayer, and tho author has assisted the Government with both these weapons. Many times he has written with his pen and in this book whose circulation he is bringing about day and night, he has plainly stated that' the English Government is a blessing from among the blessings of God. It is a great mercy. ':L1his Government is for the Muhamad ans a heavenly blessing and Almighty God has sent it as a rain of mercy from heaven, Fighting and J ehad with such a Government is absolute1y unlawful'." 1907) 'i'm: l'Ultl'l'Y Or' THE TBX1' Or' TUI!: lloLY QURAN, 291 The Purity of the Text of the Holy Quran. 8. Were any passages abrogated? The theory of the abrogation of certain passages 1n the Holy Quran is recognised by the great majority oi later Muhammadan theologians, especially the commentators of the Holy Quran, and accordingly I shall deal with this subject from two different points of view, Dy explaining the position of those, however, who havo recognised abrogation in the Quran, I do not recognise its truth or consider my own position to bo in any way weak. My object in giving this ex· planation is to show that, even if the theory of abrogation is admitted, the question of the purity of the text of the Holy Quran is not in any way affected. The question of abrogation shall therefore be discussed simply on its merits, and not in relation to any effect upon the purity of the Quranic text, for whether abrogation of passages in the Quran is demonstrated to be true or untrue, the purity of the text as the Holy Prophet left it at his death is not impaired· in the least, As I have said abovo, tho majority of later Muhammadan theolo gians have admitted the theory of abrogation, but none of them ever considered it as destroying the purity of the Quranic text. The same commentators who treat many passages of the Quran as abrogated uphold the purity of the text of the Holy Quran in the most forcible words. vVhen we examine their position closely, we do not find any inconsistency in it. The purity of the text of the Holy Quran is clearly established if it is proved that the text as the Holy Prophet left it at his death has not in any way been tampered with. Now the theory of abrogation recognises only that certain changes were made by the Holy Prophet in his life-time, and not that any change was made in the Holy Book after the Prophet's death. The question of abrogation does not, therefore, in any way interfere with the question of the purity of the text 0£ the Holy Quran. We have clearly and conclusively shown that the text as left by the Holy Prophet was complete and anallged on.d that it was safe in the memo- 'flW llEV1EW OP HELIU10NS, (August ries of the companions of the Holy Prophet, and that the same was afterwards collected in a volume by orders 0£ the Holy Prophet's immediate successor. Bu,t it is sometimes asserted that passages might have been abrogated while the fact might not have been brought to the notice of Zaid at the time of the collection, or that Zaid might have been wrongly informed 0£ the abrogation of certain passages which might not havo been really aurogatc 0£ these three classes of abrogated passages, we have 110 concern with the second, for we do not know nor do we need to know any thing about passages abrogated both in sense and in the letter, Such passages if there were any are admittedly not to be found .in the Holy Quran and they contain no commandments which uiay be binding 1907) THE PURITY OF THE TEXT OF THE HOLY QURAN. 293 upon us. With one exception tradition gives us no instance of any such passage and this I shall deal with when considering the other passages which are alleged to have been abrogated in sense but not in the letter, As regards the third class of abrogated passages, passages whose s~nse was retained, but the letter abrogated, no passage can be accepted as such unless we have for it the authority 0£ the Holy Prophet and the unanimous testimony of the companions. In fact, if there were any passages belonging to this class; the com panions should have preserved them with as much care as they preserved the text of the Holy Quran, for the commandments con, tained in them were as binding as those contained in the Quran. But since there is no such testimony of there being any passage belonging to this class, we have no need to enter into any discussion about them. Thus the only passages alleged to have been abrogated which it is necessary for us to enter into a detailed discussion upon are passages belonging to the first class; that is to say, passages which are said to be contained in the Holy Quran, but the commandments contained in which are said to be no more binding, because they are n.Ueged to have been abrogated in sense. The following considera tions while applying generatly to all kinds of alleged abrogated :passages apply in particular to this class, and the discussion of the question of abrogation will henceforth centre chiefly round passages belonging to this class, The most important consideration which settles the question 0£ abrogation is whether the abrogation 0£ passages, to whatever class they may belong, rests on the authority 0£ the Holy Prophet or any body else. Every word of the Holy Quran has come down to us froi:µ the Holy Prophet: the companions heard it recited by him and the scl'ibes had it dictated to them by him. Not a single word can be or was ever accepted as part of the Quran which could not be traced to the Holy Prophet as having been recited and dictated by him. Hence not a single word could be abrogated except by the authority of the Holy Prophet. If such authority is wanting1 we are bound to declare the abrogation itself as null and void. As we can notaccept any word to be part of the Quran unless we have for it the authority of the Holy THE REVIEW OF RELIGIONS, (August 294------Prophet, so we cannot take any word to have been abrogated unless we have the authority of the Holy Prophet himself for its abrogation. This shall be our first and foremost consideration in discussing the question of abrogation. The second consideration which settles the question of abrogation is, whether the abrogated verses can be pointed out with the same cer tainty as those which form part of the Holy Quran. That which forms part of the Quran is known to be such by the whole Muslim world, and upon it there has been an agreement of all the Muhammadans of every generation. Now whether a verse is abrogated in the letter or in sense only, there ought to be an agreement similar to the agre ment with which it is accepted as Divine revelation. If the whole body of companions declared a verse to be part of the Holy Quran, and their unanimous voice does not declare it to have been abroga ted in the letter or in sense, the dissentient voice of one or two companions that it was abrogated cannot be accepted, for abrogation of a verse ought to stand on as high and reliable an authority as its acceptance as part of the Divine revelation, Accordingly with respect to every verse which is alleged to have been abrogated, we shall have to see whether the alleged abrogation is based on t.he unani mous testimony of the companions simibr to the testimony which we have £or its inclusion in the Quran. The third consideration to decide whether a verse was abrogated or not is whether its abrogation was as widely promulgated as its revelation in the first instance. It is recognised by the upholders 0£ the theory 0£ abrogation that only those verses could be abrogated which contained an order or prohibition. Now every such verse was made public at the time of its revelation. Hence if the verse was ever afterwards abrogated and thus the order or prohibition which it contained was revoked, it was necessary that the order relat ing to abrogation or revocation should have been published as widely as the verse itself, so that all the Muslims might come to know that the order or prohibition in the verse was no more binding. Appa rently all the orders and prohibitions contained in the Holy Quran are binding unless in a particular instance the Holy Prophet himself declared to the contrary and unless such declaration was made known HJUi.) 11u;· 1'UIU1T ore nm 'l'K\T OF Till~ HoL\' ()UIUN. to all the Muslims, because the knowledge of it concerned them all. It wouhl verhaps be alleged as against this criterion of the ahroga· tion of a verse that, puhlic anno11ncc111ent of abrogation was not necessary when the order or prohibit.ion given iu a later verso con• t.rndicted the order or prohibition contained in a previous verse, for the former abrogated the latter by implication. But this is absurd. In the first place the Holy Qnran was not being arranged in the order of revelation so that it may be known with certainty which verse was revealed first ancl which afterwards and thus which was the ndstldi (the one that abrogated) aml which 1ncmsookl. (the one that was abrogated). l[ abrogation was only to be known by impli cation, then all the facts whose knowledge was necessary to "\Ve will now read the traditions speaking of abrogated versos in the light 0£ the above considerations. Do low itl gi vcn a list of such (Augu::;t traditions as accepted by Bukharee- 1. &_;, _,....,.l,-c 1b J l, 1.:1~(-"° l,tb &~. 0,_; ,\j J ..o) J,,,_~ 1.:1~ ) l.:II:. 0 1 I ;' ( ;~-~:;.J 1 ~ US • 1....5) lS'n '·It is reported from Ibn-i-Ornar that he recited the verse in which occttL' tlie ,vords fi1Zyatun la'am-o-mii,/cccn (Ch. H, ver. 180), and said it was m,ansoukh.''" ~. J t:; rl- ) 6-~lI:. ~u l 0 Lo 6-U l J J"' ) ~ t.~•.,.o J 1.:1"° J7'" J 1.:1~ ~~- » J l~~~-j J t:; b .,~S':;) ) ('(-~j l 1....5_; lr0 l) 0,~j· l.:J J ) 1 ,,,_~ 1.:1~ J 6-~-.:.. J (J~-~'.i.J 1 ~ l:i.( • 1....5 J l~U l.il> J-.,_~ 0 :i.J 1 "lt is reported by one of the couqmnions o[ t.lw ~foSSGt1gor o[ God, may poaeo and the blessing::; of God be npon him, (and the reporter aLlcls, J think it was Ibn-i Omar) about tlw verso, ·and whether you disclose what is in your minds or cu11coal it., Gocl will reckon with you for it' ([I : 28:1) that it was ahrugato 3. ',V~• J.JJ ;LI ;{_~,.., ;J J ~j K ) J.J ;U J loJ l 0 ls J t:; i...r t~~ c.!i J '-V~ J,-.7'" J 1.:1~:~•lj » J G.:.. Jl"" J( ~U J~.'.l:"-' ~.::.. l t,.., JJ l .) 1.:1"° J.lJ J ,t····j_; (} J)) \!J<>lJ ) ~ J o.U J,.7'" ; ~ l:,J l) ...... r· u--l lii,., ~.:.. ) ) i.:.1~ _,~ 11.J 1 1 J J- •1. '..:\.ta, a disciple of llm-i-Al>bas, stated tl1at the verse appoint ing shares of the property of the dec:eased for his licirn abrogated w much of the verse ~~..o J l7'" J) ) J I,!))) J~) rG."" I,!);_; y"j,~ 1.:1!, j.) l J [ );di.. l;~.c J JS\J J ~) ) t~ l:i.~ ('\'7'" J _, ) ~ as relatecl to the giving of abode to the widow for one year. *The wor I..J') l..aj » )iJ J~ lt-0.J J 6 ;~ ll'.~. 0.0.J J J :;-~ 0:; l.t,.J ~ _, J~ lt.o.J J ~ It iG l.o.J. J ~.l- _., &~.I.J: &.I.J l Lo ~lJ J ;, 1J J ~ ;.;, llJ &.o..:lo J j ~ _, ~ 0 0 0 i 0 v _, (;~-ii.1J ) y l1{ • !J J l.s:1? ) l.!:.-'.s:1 ..... j J ) ;"' lH,.,~ J.CJ _, l.!:.-'J jj l.o.l_; "'l~! 0 1 "lbn-i-Abbas said (when commenting upon iv: 37) the ,vorcl m,awcili in, 'and for every one we have appointed rnawclU,' means heirs : (and commenting upon the latter portion of the same verse), 'and those with whom you have joined right hands' (said), that when the Refugees settled at Medina, one of the Rofngees used to be an heir to one of the Helpers c,n account 0£ the brotl1erhoocl that the Holy Prophet, may peace and the blessings of Goel be upon him, had established between them, bnt when it was revealed,• 'and for every one We have appointed Muwcll·i (heirs), that practice became rnan sookh.'' 6, lJ.,., :;' U.J: J :;i.l~ r:_; J JJ j ~ J ~:, U l} ~\'~_; U , J .J.ii.; V"'j J J l, ( t~~ )J ) i ) jc '-:-"" l! • !J ) ls-\! ) U l..; ) } ) UJ: u'"' ;; ll! ) ll~.ii.J 0, U } Anas said (speaking of the seventy reciters of the Quran who were murdered at the Bi'l·-i-Mn'{oia), ''and we read about them a reading which was aft0nvarcls taken away, hear the news to onr people that ' verily vrn have founcl access to the presence of onr Lord, and He is pleased with us and has given us cause to be pleased with Him.'' So far as the Dukharoe is concerned, those arc the few traditions speaking of particnlr versos ahrogatocl by others. Besides them, there is a saying of Omar reported by Ilm-i-Abbas which runs as follows:- U La, 1 _, 0! J U j ;' J 6.lJ: 6-lJ J u'"' J ;~!: J l, i.J"' l~J: ',;./~ l \;/~ &1.~...... llt..Z CJ J » J ;.ii~. l~! 1 1,;.1 J J 1 j _, 0 ! J J ,:; \;},,, c. J._;J U J _, 0 1J: l:.I,. !JJ J &lJ J t .... lj l,,, t~:; 6.lJ J l, 0, _, ~L ... _, .,_~Le i!-lJ ( 0 l..o J :;- ) \;/,. lt .... lj _, ) i~. }•~Ibn-i-Abbas rcportocl tl1aL Oma!' said, 'verily O bayy is the best reciter among us and verily we give np a reading of Obayy. The reason of this is that Ouayy says lw would not give up anything which he heard from the ]\fosscnger of God, may peace and the blessings of Goel be upon him, and verily God Almighty says, what eYer ayat we abrogate or came it to be forgotten, ,ve bring one better than it or one like it," referring to II-100. 'I1hese are all the traditions relating to rnaslch which I have been able to find in the Bukh:i.reo, and as the.y are contained i11 a trust- 208 TIU: REVIEW OF HELTGTONS, (Angnst worthy collection of traditions, we have no need to enter into a dis cussion on thoir reliability. All that wo have to soo here is what are the conclusions to which these traditions give rise when read in the light of the considerations suggested above. The first question is, is any one of the traditions traced to the Holy Prophet '? The re:-1.(lcr will see that. snch is not the case. Ilm-i-Abbas and Ibn-i Omar are the two per;.;ons on whose a1Lthorit.y these traditions rest, with one exception (the sixth) which is an entirely different case ac;; it is apparently tlio case of a verse abrogated both in sense and in tho lottor. In none of tho tr,i In reading the following opinions expressed by some of the American newspapers on the prophecy relating to Dowie's death as published by tho Promised i\fossiah, the reader is requested to keep in mind that these are the opinions of persons whose racial and religious feelings are entirely different from, if not opposed to, ours. \Ve are indeed indebted to such papers for the moral courage which they have shown in commenting npon the prophecy, though we do not complain about others who for reasons better known to themselves have ignored these circumstances altogether. The Truth Seeker of Now York refers to this prophecy under the heading 0£ ''The War of the Prophets" in its issue of 15th June 1907 in the following words :- " \Ve have proYiously alluded to the propher.y named in the above tittle. The late Dowie looked upon J\f nhamnrnd as the prince 0£ impostors: he not only prophesied that Muhammadanism would be destroyed by Zion, but from day to day prn,yod Goel for tho time when the crescent should disappear. This coming to the knowledge ()£ the Indian Messiah, he spread broadcast a challenge to Elijah II to meet him and 'pray to God that of ns two whoever is the liar may perish first.' The Qadian man predicted that jf Dowie accepted the challenge 'he shall leave the world before my eyes with great sorrow and torment.' If Dowie declined, the :Mirza said, the end would only be deferred; death awaited him just the same, and 'calamity will soon overtake Zion.' rrirnt was the Grand Prophecy: Zion shonld fall, and Dowio dio boforo Ahmad. '' It appoarocl to ho a ri8ky stop for the Promised Messiah to defy the Restored Elijah to an endurance test, because the challenger was by fifteen years the older man of the two, and probabilities, in a land of plagues and fanatics, were against him as a survivor; but he won out: • * ''The W[lr of the prophets dates from the remote past and will 1907) 301 beyond doubt go on as long as there arc two of them in the field. In the times treated of by the Bible writers, rniradc competitions were hold. Aaron, the s11cccs:-;m· o[ J\fo:-;cs, cntcrocl sud1 a contest, arrang ed by Pharaoh. He cast The Dwrnvilfo Guzel/(! writes in its i::;suc of 7th J unc under the hoaL1ing "A Messiah in India":- ' All the way from Qadian, Uurdaspur, lu the world before him in great sorrow and torment. Dowie at that time was at the height of his power, controlling vast wealth, possess ing the unbounded confidence of thousands of followers, apparently enjoying perfect health, and several years younger than Ahmad, so that the latter and his adherents may he pardoned for taking some credit for the accuracy with which the prophecy was fulfilled a few months ago. '' llut Alnnad Joos not atik people to accept him as the Promised Messiah on the strength or the accurate fulfilment of his prediction regarding Dowie alone. The marvellous claim he makes. is thus set forth in his own words: 'I am the true Messiah who was to come in the last ages, thus has Almighty God spoken to. me. I do not claim to be the Promised Messiah simply by my own assertion, but Almigty God. who made the earth and heaven has borne witness to the truth of my claim. The evidence of God has been manifosted in hundreds of heavenly signs :shown in my support. I say it truly that Almigh ty God has poured His grace upon me in far greater abundance than upon the Messiah who has gone before me. In the looking-glass of my person the face of God is revealed to a far greater extent than in that of Jesus' person. H these are simply my own assertions, and there is no other authority for them, I am a liar, but if Almighty God bears witness to my truth, no one can give the lie to me. Thousands of times, I should say times without number, has he borne witness to the truth of my claims.' " It would be interesting to have some I may ad beyond the power of a mortal. , Ve all know that earthquakes are always occmriug, and the person who simply wants to build up his reputation ,is seer would sock tlio sl10ltor of general statements like those that are found in the Gospels, and would not run the risk of forestat.ing Lliillgs wl1ieh arc 011!::-;ide l1is own knowledge and the knowledge of all other men. Tlie demand for details of tlw evidence of beiug from Goel is, 1w clo11lJt, reasonable and, I hope to be able to satisfy it by gi ,·ing it in portio113 in these pages or in a separate volume. rl'he Jl.~·mld, Duston, dwells at groat length upon the prophecy in its issue of 2:h-d Juno. It writes:- ,, Twenty-thrco were the days of August in Hl03 when Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India, foretold the death of Alexander Dowie, yclept Elijah III, which took place last March, and now cometh the aforcrnitl l\:firza G lrnlam Ahmad of Qadian, India, on June 23rd, and saith; "'The turn oE this conntry is drawing near.'' '' 'Earthquakes ·will be unparalleled in the worlJ.'s history, and will remind men of the destruction of the ju n 'In li:urope and oLher Christian countries a kind of plagne will make its appearance which will be vary severe.' • • • # • * • * * " Ilis claim is that he is t.hc true Messiah who was to come in ~he last ages, and that God has showered him wiLh grace. Ho first came to the attention oI the United et.ates in Hl03, on account of a controversy with Elijah III. Since the death of Dowie, the Indian Prophet's reputation has soared, for did he not tell of the cleat.h of Dowie that it should take place within his (the Uossiah's) lifetime, should take place 'with great sorrow and torment.''' Long quotations a.re thou given from the writing which contain ed the original prophecy, and then it is added:- " Dowie at lirst paid 110 public attention direcLly to the challenge from the far east. llnt on the 27 th of Septemb ,, 'People sometimes say to me, why do yon not reply to this, that .in The fulfilment of the prophecy is thus described:- ,, Dowie died with his friends fallen away from him and his for tune dwindled. He suffered from paralysis and insanity. He died a misArable. death, with Zion city torn and frayed by internal dissen· SlOtlS, ".Mirza comes forward frankly and states that he has won his challenge, or 'prediction.' And he asks every seeker after truth to accept the truth as he announced it. Ile regards the misfortunes which befell his traducer in America, as evidences of divine venge ance commingled with Divine~jndgment.'' Arya San1aj and Politics. The Vedil' Mar1azi1w 1 a new monthly, started by the Arya Sarnaj, has some very harsh words for those who exposed certain dangerous teachings contained in the Sotyal'l,h Pa1·alw,.<;h which is the Bible of the Arya Sarnaj. \\Tc arc Rorry to note this as we were assured. in the prospectus that the new magaz.ine ''will he conducted on broad ancl catholic lines.'' ,v e think it is narrow mindedness of the worst kind to answer arguments ancl reasonmg with abuse and contumely. It says :- "Some b.nsy bodies, who arc ready and willing to sell their birth-right for less than a mess of pottage, and who do not feel the least compunction in sacrificing their honour and conscience for the sake of anquiring the inestimable privelege of basking in the sunshine of official favour, lrnve been working immense mischief by using the colnmns of tho Civil anil J1/ilita1·y Gazilte-the high priest of Jingoism in onr province-for spr~a 4. That no man suoulcl abide by a law made by men who are ignorant of the knowledge of tho Fcdas (page 187.) 5. That any one who disparages the teachings of the Ve.da.9 should be excluded from good society and oven expelled out of the country (puge 56.) The general answer given to all those objections is that Daya Nand took all these passages from Manu or the Vedas. The conclu· sions drawn from this are that Daya Nand ,vas only quoting the opinion. of some body else as the Civil and .Military Gazette may quote the opinion of some other paper, that the principles being taught long before "the ancestors of our rulers emerged from a state of barbarism," cannot, inculcate The fourth objection is considered not to be worth refuting. The original passage runs thns: ''Let 1~0 man abide by tl~e law lai THE ISLA1\tlIO vVORLD, a 1nonthly jonrnal clevoterl to the interests of Isla1n thro11gho11t the globe. Monthly oc1., post free 7<1.; or half-yearly 4s., yearly 7R. THE REVIEW OF RELICIONS. -~~)~'-1-· - TUE IlFlVIE\V OF' RELIGIONR i-; pnblishe Annual fin hscri pt.ion for rn Speci llH'l1 Copy, f reH. Advertise1nents are published at 4 annas per line Spec·ial rate~ on ripplicuJion. 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