The Promised Messiah as wrote over 80 books in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. Excerpts of his collected works have been translated into English and organised by topic.
The Review of Religions is pleased to present these excerpts as part of a monthly feature. In this issue, the Promised Messiah (as) explains the proofs of the Holy Prophet’s (as) prophethood, and his immense steadfastness.
This is the tenth part of a multipart series. Extracts from The Essence of Islam – Vol. I. pp. 296-306.
It is a clear proof of the prophethood of the Holy Prophet (sa) and of the truth of the Holy Qur’an, that the Holy Prophet (sa) was sent into the world when, by its circumstances, it was demanding a grand Reformer and that he did not die, nor was he killed, till he had established the truth upon the earth. When he appeared as a Prophet, he at once proved his need by the world and condemned every people for their paganism, unrighteousness and wrongdoing. The Holy Qur’an is full of such admonition, for instance:
1 تَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِي نَزَّلَ ٱلۡفُرۡقَانَ عَلَىٰ عَبۡدِهِۦ لِيَكُونَ لِلۡعَٰلَمِينَ نَذِيرًا
Blessed is He Who has sent down the Holy Qur’an to His servant that he may be a Warner to all the peoples; that is to say, he was to warn them of their false doctrines and their going astray.
This verse is proof, and the Qur’an claims, that the Holy Prophet (sa) appeared at a time when the whole world and all the people had been corrupted; and his opponents have accepted this claim not only by their silence, but also by their confession. It follows that the Holy Prophet (sa) had come at a time when a true and perfect prophet should have appeared. Then, when we consider the time at which he was called back, we find that the Qur’an is very explicit that he was called back when he had completed his task. He was called back after the verse was revealed that the code of teaching for the Muslims had been perfected, and all that had to be revealed in that context had been revealed. Not only this, but it was announced that the support of God Almighty had also been perfected and that people in large numbers had accepted Islam. It was also revealed that God had filled their hearts with faith and righteousness and had made them averse to disobedience and vice.
They had acquired good morals, and a great change had taken place in their morals, conduct and souls.
Then was revealed Surah al-Nasr, the purport of which is that all the purposes of prophethood had been fulfilled and Islam had achieved a victory over people’s hearts. The Holy Prophet (sa) announced that this Surah indicated the approach of his death. He then performed the Pilgrimage and called it the Farewell Pilgrimage, in which he delivered a long address from the back of a camel and called upon the people to bear witness that he had conveyed to them all the commandments which he had been commissioned to convey to them. Everyone confirmed in a loud voice that he had conveyed everything to them. The Holy Prophet (sa) then pointed to heaven and said three times: Bear witness, O Allah. He then said that he had admonished them at length, as he might not be with them in the following year. He then returned to Madinah and died the following year. Send down on him Thy blessings and peace, O Allah. All these indications are given in the Qur’an and are confirmed by the history of Islam.
Can any Christian, Jew or Arya put forward the instance of any of their Reformers whose advent was at the time of great need, and whose departing was after the fulfilment of that need, and whose opponents bore witness to their own unrighteousness and misconduct? I know that no one outside Islam can offer this proof. It is obvious that Moses was sent for the destruction of Pharaoh, and to rescue his people from his tyranny, and to guide them along the right path. He was not concerned with the corruption of the world. It is true that he rescued his people from the tyranny of Pharaoh, but could not rescue them from Satan, nor was he able to lead them into the Promised Land. The children of Israel were not able to purify themselves at his hands and repeatedly fell into disobedience, till Moses died while they were still in that condition.
So far as the disciples of Jesus are concerned, the Gospel bears witness to their condition; no further explanation is needed. Nor is it a matter unknown, as to how little Jesus was able to guide the Jews for whose guidance he had been sent as a prophet. If the prophethood of Jesus were to be judged by this measure, one would be compelled to affirm that it is in no way established by this standard.
—Nur al-Qur’an, No. I, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 9, pp. 358-369.
The Holy Prophet (sa) was raised at a time when the whole world was involved in paganism, misguidance and creature worship and all peoples had abandoned true doctrines and forgetting the straight path; every group was following its own innovations. Idol worship was rife in Arabia, Persia was committed to fire worship, and in India, in addition to idol worship, creature worship of diverse types was widespread. Many books had been written, whereby scores of human beings had been deified, and the foundation of Avatar worship had been laid. According to Rev. Mr Bourt and several English writers, no religion had been so corrupted as the Christian religion, and it had fallen into serious disrepute on account of the misconduct and wrong doctrines of its ministers of religion. In Christian doctrine, not one or two persons, but several objects had been deified.
The advent of the Holy Prophet (sa) at this time of general misguidance, when the circumstances demanded an exalted Reformer and there was great need of divine guidance, and his illumining a whole world with the unity of God and righteous conduct and his putting an end to paganism and creature worship, which is the mother of all ills, are clear proof that he was a true Messenger of God and was superior to all Messengers. His truth is established by the fact that in that age of general misguidance, the law of nature and the way of God demanded a true Guide.
It is the eternal law of the Lord of the worlds that when some type of suffering reaches its climax in the world, divine mercy addresses itself to its removal. When, through a prolonged drought, people are faced with extinction through famine, God, the Compassionate, sends down rain. When hundreds and thousands of people begin to die of an epidemic, the air is cleansed by some means, or some remedy becomes available. When a people is caught in the wiles of a tyrant, a just and compassionate ruler appears. In the same way, when people forget the way of God and abandon His unity and worship, God Almighty, having bestowed perfect insight upon a servant and having honoured him with His word, sends him for the guidance of mankind so that he should reform the corruption that had set in.
The truth of the matter is that Providence, Who sustains the world and supports its existence, does not hold back or suspend any of His attributes of beneficence. Every one of His attributes manifests itself on its proper occasion. As it is established by sane reason, that to overcome every calamity, the relevant attribute of God Almighty manifests itself and it has been established by history, and by the confession of opponents, and by the clear affirmation of the Holy Qur’an, that at the time of the advent of the Holy Prophet (sa) this calamity was at its height, that all the peoples of the world had abandoned the straight path of the unity of God and all sincerity, and of divine worship, and it is known to everyone that it was the Holy Prophet (sa) alone and no one else, who reformed that corruption and rescuing a world from the darkness of paganism and creature worship, established it on the unity of God, then it follows inevitably that he was a true Guide from God. Almighty. Almighty Allah has set forth this argument in. His holy book in the following verses:
2 تَٱللَّهِ لَقَدۡ أَرۡسَلۡنَآ إِلَىٰٓ أُمَمٖ مِّن قَبۡلِكَ فَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنُ أَعۡمَٰلَهُمۡ فَهُوَ وَلِيُّهُمُٱلۡيَوۡمَ وَلَهُمۡ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٞ * وَمَآ أَنزَلۡنَا عَلَيۡكَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ إِلَّا لِتُبَيِّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلَّذِي ٱخۡتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ وَهُدٗى وَرَحۡمَةٗ لِّقَوۡمٖيُؤۡمِنُونَ * وَٱللَّهُ أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءٗ فَأَحۡيَا بِهِ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ بَعۡدَ مَوۡتِهَآ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَأٓيَةٗ لِّقَوۡمٖيَسۡمَعُونَ
We call attention to the fact that the three elements that we had mentioned which lead to the conclusion that the. Holy Prophet (sa) was a true guide, are mentioned in an excellent manner in these verses. First, the hearts of the misguided ones, who had been caught in error over centuries, are likened to a dry and dead land, and the divine word is described as the rain which comes from heaven, and an indication is given of the eternal law that in case of drought, divine mercy always rescues mankind from destruction. It is indicated that this law of nature is not confined to material water, but that spiritual water also certainly descends at a time of hardship, that is to say, when misguidance becomes general. In such circumstances, divine mercy comes into play for certain to overcome the calamity that affects the hearts.
Then these verses point to the second element that the whole earth had been corrupted before the advent of the Holy Prophet (sa) and finally a reference is made to the fact that those spiritually dead had been revived through this Holy Word of God. The conclusion is that this is a sign of the truth of this book and seekers after truth are invited to conclude that the Holy Qur’an is the Book of God.
As this argument establishes the truth of the Holy Prophet (sa) it also establishes his superiority over the other prophets, inasmuch as the Holy Prophet (sa) had to contend against the whole world and the task that was committed to him was in truth the work of a thousand or two thousand prophets.
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1 pp. 112-116, footnote 10.
The time of the advent of the Holy Prophet (sa) needed a grand Divine Reformer and heavenly guide, and the teaching that he set forth was true and was greatly needed and comprised everything that fulfilled the needs of the time. That teaching was so effective that it pulled hundreds of thousands of hearts to the truth and impressed on hundreds of thousands of minds that:
3 لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ
He fulfilled the ultimate purpose of prophethood, that is to say, teaching the principles of salvation so perfectly that no other prophet was able to fulfil it to such perfection in any age. These facts compel one to bear eager witness that the Holy Prophet (sa) was a true guide from God.
There is no remedy for a person who denies out of bigotry and obstinacy. Such a person could even deny the existence of God; otherwise, all these signs of righteousness and truth which are combined so perfectly in the. Holy Prophet (sa) cannot be established in the case of any other prophet. Let him who dares come forward to show them to us.
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1 pp. 112-114.
Our Holy Prophet (sa) was a great Reformer for the proclamation of truth, and restored to the world the truth that had been lost. No prophet shares with him the pride that he found the whole world in darkness and by his appearance that darkness was converted into light. He did not die till the people among whom he had appeared had cast aside the garment of paganism and had put on the robe of the. unity of God. Not only this, but also they achieved high grades of faith and performed such works of righteousness, fidelity and certainty which are not matched in any part of the world. Such success was not achieved by any prophet other than the Holy Prophet (sa).
It is a strong argument in support of the truth of the Holy Prophet (sa) that he was raised in an age when the world had fallen into deep darkness and called for a grand Reformer. He departed the world at a time when hundreds of thousands of people had abandoned paganism and idol worship and had adopted the unity of God and the straight path. Such perfect reform was particular to him that he taught a people who were at the level of animals, the ways of humanity. In other words, he converted wild beasts into men, and then turned them into educated men, and then made them men of God, and breathed spirituality into them and created a relationship between them and the. True God. They were slaughtered like sheep in the cause of God and were trodden underfoot like ants, but they did not abandon their faith and marched forward in the face of every calamity.
Doubtless, the Holy Prophet (sa) was a second Adam and indeed was the true Adam for the establishment of spirituality through whom all human excellences arrived at their perfection, and all good faculties were devoted to their proper task and no branch of human nature was left barren. Prophethood ended with him not only because he was the last prophet in point of time, but also because all the excellences of prophethood reached their climax in him. As he was a perfect manifestation of divine attributes, his law had the qualities of both majesty and beauty. That is why he was named both Muhammad (sa) and Ahmad (sa). And there was no miserliness in his prophethood; Indeed, it was destined for the benefit of the whole world since the beginning of time.
—Lecture Sialkot, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 20, pp. 206-207.
Steadfastness of the Holy Prophetsa
That Prophet is superior to all other prophets, who is the great Instructor of the world, that is to say, he at whose hands the great corruption of the world was reformed and who re-established on the earth the unity of God which had been lost and had disappeared. He overcame all false religions by proof and argument and removed the doubts of every misguided one. He provided the true means of salvation by teaching the right principles for which it was not necessary to crucify an innocent person, or to remove. God from His true and eternal station and to put Him in the womb of a woman. Thus, his beneficence and his grace exceed those of everyone else, and his rank is higher than all. History points out, and the heavenly book is a witness, and those who have eyes are able to observe, that the prophet who is thus established as superior to all other prophets is Muhammad (sa), the chosen one.
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, p. 97, footnote 6.
It is worthy of note how steadfastly the Holy Prophet (sa) adhered to his claim of prophethood right till the end, despite thousands of dangers and hundreds of thousands of opponents and obstructers and threateners. For years, he endured misfortunes and hardships which increased daily and rendered success apparently hopeless, and by enduring which patiently, he had not in mind the achievement of any worldly purpose. On the contrary, by putting forward his claim of prophethood, he lost what he had and purchased a hundred thousand contentions and invited a thousand calamities to overtake him. He was expelled from his home, was pursued by slayers, lost his home and all it contained and was poisoned several times. Those who were his well-wishers began to wish him ill, and those who were his friends turned into enemies. For a long period, he had to bear hardships, to be steadfast under which was not possible for a cunning impostor.
When, after a long time, Islam became supreme, the Holy Prophet (sa) collected no wealth for himself, nor did he raise any structure, nor did he seek any means of comfort or luxury, nor did he derive any personal benefit from anything. Whatever came to hand was spent in taking care of the poor, the orphans, the widows and those burdened with debt. He never ate his fill. He was so straightforward that by his plain speaking and his preaching of the unity of God, he made enemies of all the peoples of the world who were sunk in paganism. He converted his own people into enemies first of all by forbidding them idol worship. He upset the Jews, for he stopped them from indulging in diverse types of creature worship and exaltation of their divines and from misconduct. He stopped them from denying and insulting Jesus, which caused them great heart burning, and they became his bitter enemies and began to cast about for means of destroying him. In the same way, he annoyed the Christians for he denied the godhead of Jesus and his being the son of God, and denied his being the crucified saviour. The fire worshippers and the star worshippers were also annoyed with him, for they were also forbidden to worship their deities. The unity of God was proclaimed as the sole means of attaining salvation. Were these the ways of winning the world?
—Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1 pp. 108-109.
ENDNOTES
1. The Holy Qur’an, 25:2.
2. Allah, Who is the Fountainhead of grace, guidance and providence bears witness: We did send Messengers to the tribes and nations before thee; but they were corrupted because of the misguidance of Satan; so the same Satan is their partner this day. This book has been revealed so that it may settle their differences and the truth may be declared manifestly. The fact is that the whole earth had died; Allah sent down water from heaven and brought this dead to life. This is a sign of the truthfulness of the book, but it will benefit only those who would listen, i.e., are seekers after truth.’ – The Holy Qur’an, 16:64-66.
3. There is no one worthy of worship except Allah. [Publisher]
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