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Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (February 13, 1835–May 26, 1908) was a Muslim religious figure and the founder of the Ahmadiyya religious movement in Islam.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad remains a controversial figure to this day because of his claims to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, as well as the movement he established.
Biography
Ahmad was born in Qadian Punjab in India on 13 February 1835 (or 14 Shawwal 1250), the surviving child of twins born to a well-off family. He was always interested in the people around him, often thinking of them instead of himself. He spent a lot of time in the mosque and with the study of the Quran and his religion, Islam. This did not lead him to fulfill his father's wishes of his son becoming a lawyer or civil servant. Still, Ahmad would be pulled into his father's preferred career path at times, but he would remain devoted to religious learning, and teaching. In his course of studying religious topics, he would often interact with many Muslims, and non-Muslims, even with Christian missionaries and having great debates with them just to learn what the arguments were from other religions.
On his fortieth birthday, Ahmad's father died. From here on out, Ahmad claimed that his life had changed, and that God had begun communicating with him, often through visions (Muhammad received his first revelation at the same age). Initially, Ahmad's writings from this time were intended to counter what he perceived to be anti-Islamic writings originating from various Christian missionary groups. He would also focus on countering the effects of various groups such as the Brahmo-samaj.
As time progressed, his writings would begin to exhibit his claims of being the mujaddid or reformer of his era. These writings were compiled in one of his most well-known works: Barahin Ahmadiyya, a work consiting of a number of volumes that were published as time went on. In later volumes, he would essentially claim to be the messiah of Islam. This proved and continues to be very controversial, as traditional Islamic thought holds that Jesus is the Messiah, and will return at the end of times. Ahmad countered this by claiming in his book Jesus in India that Jesus was dead, and had in fact escaped crucifixion and died in India. According to Ahmad, the promised Mahdi was a spiritual, not military leader as is believed by most Muslims. With this proclamation, he also began to step away from the idea of Jihad, and focused on spiritual change rather than physical change. In addition to these controversial claims, he would later claim that Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, was in fact a Muslim.
These writings began to turn the general ulema against him, and he was often branded as a heretic. Some of his followers would later claim him to be a prophet, while others maintained that he was a prophet in a metaphorical sense only.
Ahmad's death
Molvi Sanaullah Amratsari (1868-15th March 1948), an Imam, had been challenging him for years. Finally, Ahmad wrote to him that whoever was lying should die in the lifetime of the other of plague or cholera. On 26 May 1908, a year after he said this, Ahmad died in Lahore (Pakistan). His body was carried to, and buried at Qadian, where he was born.
But there is also another side to the story: Molvi Sanaullah Amratsari had said when Ahmad accepted the challenge that liars and deceivers are granted a long life according to the Quran. Ahmadis say this is the reason that Molvi Sanaullah Amratsari lived longer. It is also to be noted that Molvi Sanaullah Amratsari appeared afraid in his public writings about the challenge when Ahmad accepted it. Ahmadis also present the Hadith where it says that the Promised One will have two ilnesses: one in the upper part of the body, e.g. the head, and the other in the lower part. It is known that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad suffered from vertigo and diabetes.
Controversy
The teachings of Ahmad and the beliefs of his followers are a great source of controversy among Muslims, especially in Pakistan where most Ahmadis live. Many Islamic leaders have pushed the Pakistani government to label Ahmadis as non-Muslims, and have succeeded in recent years. Likewise, a good number of Islamic websites on the Internet are devoted to trying to prove that Ahmadis as heretics.
Among the most controversial claims that trouble other Muslims are:
- The belief of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's prophethood
- Believing that Ahmad was a Messiah rather than a returning Jesus
- Believing that Ahmad was the Mahdi
- Ahmad's reluctance towards Jehad
- He is accused of being a British Agent
- The belief that the Qur'an cannot be Abrogated
Prophethood?
A claim to prophethood is seen as contradictory to Islamic teachings by some Muslim clerics, as Muhammad is termed the Last Prophet. However, those who believe Ahmad to be a prophet hold that Muhammad was the last prophet to establish a religion, and Ahmad was just a renewer, as he often called himself in his own writings. They say there cannot be another prophet after Muhammad who brings a new religion, but there can certainly be prophets who are the followers of Muhammad. They say this is promised in the Quran and according to them the Hadith say that there can be prophets after Muhammad. One very famous one is that of Aisha, Muhammad's wife and a very great scholar of Islam, where she says that there can be prophets after him. Ahmadis see the term Seal of Prophets as perfection. They say that Muhammad was the perfect and greatest prophet ever and that is why he is called the Seal of Prophets in the Quran.
Among Ahmadi groups, many claim that Ahmad did not claim to be a prophet, but do affirm that he was a reformer, and a messiah. This group comprises the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. Some groups, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, do claim that Ahmad was a prophet, but differentiate him from Muhammad since Ahmad was seen to be reforming a religion, not creating a new one. However, this is troublesome to Muslims as Muhammad is seen as not only the last prophet, but not as founding a new religion, but restoring the religion of Abraham. But especially for those people and his followers who say he isn't a prophet Ahmad wrote a book called "The Removal of a Misunderstanding" wherein he removed this point of concern between his followers and said firmly and over and over again that he is a prophet and his followers must accept this to become and stay his followers.
Muslims believe that the Messiah will be Jesus, while Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed he was the Messiah and Mahdi. He supported this claim by presenting hadith. One of those is:
'the Mahdi is no other than the Messiah' [Ibn-e-Maja]
British agent?
The last point has led some to claim that Ahmad was working for the British who were trying to use him to remove the concept of Jihad from Indian Muslims, in order to quell any desires that they may have had for fighting against the British Rule of India. Ahmad's father had a close relationship with the British and was awarded land and wealth by them due to his support of the colonial regime during the Indian Mutiny. However, defenders of Ahmad justify this by claiming that Ahmad's father saw the British as protectors of Muslims from the Sikh regime that had previously ruled Punjab. It is also to be noted that a lot of other Muslim scholars who were not Ahmadi praised the British rule at that time, but they were not accused of working for the British. Another thing to be noted is that Ahmad invited Queen Victoria to Islam.
Qur'an cannot be Abrogated
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad objected to the belief among Muslims of his time that one verse of the Qur'an can supersede another, called Abrogation. He believed that the Qur'an was the revealed Word of God and contains no imperfections. Any apparent contradiction in the Qur'an is due to a misunderstanding and the reader's understanding. Lexical methods must be used to find the original meaning of particular words, as modern Arabic is slightly different in meaning than 1400 years ago. The Qur'an is protected by God, but common Arabic usage is not. By reconciling two apparently divergent verses, one comes to a better understanding of the Qur'an as the revealed Word of God.
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