Sabahat Ali, Canada reporting from London
Part and Parcel of Prophethood
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community witnesses divine promises fulfilled even today. One of the most compelling proofs of this is the phenomenon of migration in the face of overwhelming persecution from those who not only seek to kill prophets, but to eliminate their entire community and everything that they stand for.
History bears witness to this. From the unrelenting cruelties of Egyptian Pharaonic dynasties upon the people of Mosesas and the brutal barbarities meted out to Jesusas of Nazareth by Caesar, to the malicious mauling and mutilation by the Holy Prophet Muhammad’ssa own kith and kin against him and his followers, the sands of time tell a tale of turmoil endured with astonishing grace by the followers of prophets in every era.
That is, until the heavens cast open for them a way out. This is the phenomenon of migration, an affair which sometimes appears to the onlookers as defeat, but in reality is a grand victory. It is the genius of God’s elect that in their humility, despite being the chosen ones of God, they choose to avoid conflict to the extent that they leave everything they hold dear – their homes, their towns, their people, their heritage, and migrate in the way of Allah.
God Almighty states,
‘And whoso emigrates from his country in the way of Allah will find in the earth an abundant place of refuge and plentifulness.’[1]
The Blessings of Migration Unravel with Time
And so, the Holy Qur’an has forever enshrined this golden secret for future generations to know that migrations are in fact victories, where the pain and agony of the emigrant is like the one endured by a farmer who tills the heaviest of soils. Yet, the harvests of coming seasons are unprecedented.
Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmadra, the second Khalifah (Caliph) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, while addressing thousands one Eid morning, made this very point. He explained,
‘Ever since the prophets of God began to appear in the world, it has been the way of God that the trees planted by divine hands always progress and advance in the midst of torrential floods and storms…Hence, those torrential storms and floods which apparently seem to fall upon the work of God are in reality only falling upon the people, not the work and intention of God. This is only a trick of the eyes. Just like you must have observed while travelling on a train that even though it is the train that’s moving, it appears as though the trees passing by are moving. Similarly, when cyclones and deluges of trials fall upon divine communities, the followers think that these storms are descending upon the divine institutions, whereas the truth is that they are not falling upon the divine scheme of things, but upon individuals – those individuals who have believed in this divine scheme…’[2]
While the desperate conditions which compel divine communities to migrate sometimes look like defeat, it is in fact a vital turning point in the era of the prophet and his followers.
A Prophecy of Migration to the Promised Messiahas
And so it was to happen with the community of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiahas and founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. While the persecution that he faced from Muslim, Hindu, and Christian factions during his lifetime was unrelenting – from death-threats to attempts on his and his followers’ lives – it was at least not supported by the government. Yet he announced that God has informed him that this persecution would reach such an extent that migration would become a mandate. To this effect, he wrote in 1885:
‘I once saw in a dream that an individual was writing my name. He wrote it half in Arabic and half in English. The phenomenon of migration is attached to prophets. However, whereas certain visions find fulfilment in the time of the prophet, others are fulfilled through his progeny or a follower of his. For example, the royal keys to the thrones of Caesar and Khosrow were given to the Holy Prophetsa. Yet, the physical territories of the two were conquered in the time of Umarra.’[3]
The Promised Messiahas also received other revelations elaborating the details of this prophecy, recorded in his magnum opus, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya and also in his Arabic work, ‘Dafi’ul Balaa’. He writes, ‘The Christian people shall plot to inflict damage [upon you]. In response, God too shall plan and those days will be days of tests and trials*; and say, ‘O My Lord! Do Thou Grant me safe haven in a pure land. This [shall be] a spiritual variety of migration.’[4]
After his demise in May of 1908, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas was succeeded by his sincerest follower and adherent, Hazrat Maulvi Nooruddinra, the first Khalifah of the Ahmadiyya Community. After his demise in 1914, Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmadra, the son of the Promised Messiahas, became the second Khalifah, during whose blessed time the first migration of the community was to occur.
The Reality of ‘Hijrat’ & a Sinister Plot
Explaining what constitutes a migration, he explained, ‘After studying the revelations vouchsafed to the Promised Messiahas, it dawned upon me that there is a hijrat (migration) destined for us, and (that) the word hijrat is in fact intrinsically connected with the leader. Otherwise, people move from one place to another all the time, but no one calls th