Mirza’s whole business was sheer politics. It had nothing to do with the revival of Islam. He was a British agent and an archenemy of the Unity of Muslims. The claims of Mujaddid, Mahdi, Promised Messiah, Nabi, Rasul, and Krishna Avatar - all carried political tags. We start by examining his claim of Mahdi in order to give the nature of his political business.
Mahdi:
According to the traditions, the Mahdi is a Guided person who will establish Caliphate after the pattern of the Prophethood and will fill the earth with justice after these had been disloged and disrupted. He will be a warrior and a great soldier of Islam. From time to time many religious adventurers made use of the title of Mahdi to further their political designs. The Babi Movement in Iran and the Qadiani movement in India made best use of it for the achievement of their political ends. The idea of the Mahdi found a high place at the time the Muslim political power decayed. It was used to restore confidence and keep hope alive. It is expected that the Mahdi would restore the past glory and lead the world of Islam to happy end.
The Mirza claimed to be a Mahdi in 1891. He announced that in his person the prophecies relating to Mahdi had been fulfilled. But warrior aspect of Mahdi made him termble with fear. He called himself pacifist Mahdi who had come to stop wars. He took pains to make it clear to the British and the Muslims of the world that the victories predicted of Mahdi were victories of peace and not as war. In his books, he accused the Muslims of nourishing hopes for a bloody Mahdi, a killer of non-Muslims, Jews and Christians1. No such Mahdi could come who would wage Jehad. He could only be a propagandist, not silkier. The fight against the British was out of question whether it be in India or elsewhere in the Muslim world.
At the close of 19th century the colonial powers had been scrambling for colonies in Asia and Africa. The French Imperialists occupied Tunisia, and the British took Egypt. British interference in the affairs of Egypt began in 1875 when Disraeli negotiated the purchase of shares in the Suez Canal. They continued peaceful penetration over the next decade. The Khediv Ismail of Egypt endeavoured to get rid of the colonial yoke but failed.
In 1879 a revolt in the Egyptian army was suppressed. Two years later Colonel Ahmed Arabi, with the support of some army officers and religious leaders, took arms against the British interference in Egyptian affairs. On 11-12 June there was rioting in Alexandria. A month after British Admiral Frederick Beauchamp began what Wolseley later called 'that silly and criminal bombardment of Alexanderia’. In London, Gladestone Ministry decided to send an army to destroy 'Arabi’s war of liberation'. In September 1882, Wolseley, the Adjutant General of the Army, met a tough resistance at the battle of Tal-el-Kabir, about halfway between the Suez canal and Cairo. However the British forces carried the day and Arabi was transported to Sychelles. In 1883 British secured control of Egypt and continued its colonial occupation despite the fact that it was part of the Turkish Empire.
During the Arabi’s anti-Imperialist uprising, there arose in Sudan a religious leader Al Mahdi (Mohammad Ahmad). He did what no one else before him had been able to do. He united the tribes and inflicted series of defeats on Egyptian troops sent to capture him. Soon the dervishes of the Mahdi of Sudan got complete control of all the Sudan West of Nile.2
In 1883 Hicks marched off into the desert to fight against the dervishes with his 10,000 men. Mahdi's forces, moved by the spirit of Jehad, completely wiped out the whole army of 10,000 men. British was horrified and astonished. Lord Fitzmaurice told the House of Lords that there had not been such a complete destruction of so large an army since pharaoh’s host perished the in the Red Sea3. A large number of Sudanese and Muslims of Arab countries believed him the real Mahdi whose advent was foretold by the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
The British Imperialists chose Charles Gordon to fight against the dervishes. Gordon had made a name in China where he crushed the Taiping Rebellion of a Chinese religious leader who claimed to be the Prophet of God, the son of God, the Tien Wang, the Celestial King and the younger brother of Jesus. He like the Mirza failed in his academic career and turned towards politics. In 1864 Gordon captured Nankin and crushed the Christ’s uprising.
In the face of mounting military pressure from the Mahdi's forces Gordon withdrew garrisons but himself held on in Khartoum against the British orders until in 1885 the city was conquered by the followers of the Mahdi of Sudan. He was killed by the dervishes. Queen Victoria had been insisting that Indian troops might be moved from Aden to save Gordon. The famous English poet Lord Tennyson wrote a poem about Gordon and the British press called him a 'soldier saint'. Redvers Buller however said the man was not worth the camels.4
The British forces could never conquer Muhammad Ahmad Al Mahdi of Sudan. In 1896, after a period of ten years, Kitchner started his expedition to forcibly bring the Sudan under the Imperialist control . The Mahdi’s Khalifa was defeated after a great bloodshed and was killed a year later. Kitchner destroyed the tomb of the Mahdi, his bones were thrown into the Nile and his skull was proposed to be sent to the Royal College of Surgeons to be exhibited with Napoleon’s intestines. Later on, the skull was secretly burried during the darkness of night at Wadi Halfa.
The Mahdi’s war of liberation in Sudan excited dangerous fomentation in Arabia and Syria. The Muslims of India also felt satisfied at the humiliating defeats of the British forces. They revered and respeated Mahdi of Sudan, sent him letters and looked to him as a saviour of nations. It was also a common belief in India that the Mahdi of Sudan might conquer the whole of Africa and ultimately India, liberating the Muslims from foreign clutches.5
At the time the movement of the Mahdi of Sudan was in full swing, Mirza was condemning Jehad and sending bulk of literature to Africa to portray British Imperialism in the brightest colours6. In his book, the Nature of Mahdi7, he sharply condemned a Ghazi and Bloody Mahdi and claimed that for the last 20 years 1879-1899) he preached against the concept of Jehad by disseminating anti-Jehad literature in Arab countries particularly in Turkey, Syria, Kabul etc., and exposed the idea of coming of a bloody mahdi and Messiah. By appending an 18-page supplement to his book in Arabic and Persian he called in the Muslims of Arab lands to accept his claim of Mahdi, stop waging wars in the name of Jehad and inculcate a deep sense of gratitude for the British Government8. In another book, 'A Gift to Queen Victoria' he mentions:
There were secret eccelestical funds at the disposal of British Intelligence agencies to support this vicious game of politics. Freemasons and Jews also provided money to him to compile and carry out propaganda campaign in support of the British in India and abroad. Mirza explains that he had been sending some gentle Arabs to Islamic countries with this literature11. Those trained spies of Qadian Intelligence Agency maintained close links with anti-Islamic forces and mostly worked in the garb of missionaries. Ghulam Nabi Qadiani, Abdul Rahman Misri, Abdul Hay Arab12 and Shah Waliullah were dispatched to Egypt at the close of 19th century for subversive purposes. Their services were placed at the disposal of British Intelligence at Cairo.
There is another important question that comes to our mind. The Mirza claimed that Jehad was not lawful in British India. But why did he declare it totally unlawful and forbidden for rest of the Islamic world where the Muslims were fighting a hard battle of existence against the European Imperialism. Was it not a calculated policy to sabotage the struggle movement of the Muslim world for the sake of Imperialist powers and their Jewish collaborators?
Messiah for Jew:
At the time of compiling the Braheene Ahmadiyya (1880), Mirza believed that Jesus was alive and would descend from heavens. For eleven years he professed the same belief, though he claimed to be the recipient of revelation, an Imam and a Muhaddith (Zilli or Apostolic Nabi). It is very interesting that for 11 years (1880-1891) he could not understand the meaning of his own revelations. Equally for another 11 years (1890-1901) he was not able to understand his claim of Prophethood. God spoke to him hundreds of times and revelations poured on him like incessant rain designating him a Nabi, a Rasool, as he claims, but he kept on calling himself only Muhaddith in utter disregard of God’s commandments. How stupid he was! Nay, political expediencies of his Imperialst-Jewish wire-pullers made him perform acrobatic feats of theology.
In 1891 he peoclaimed himself to be the Promised
Messiah through one of his revelations and announced the natural death
of Jesus Chtist in
his books Fateh Islam,13
Tauzih -e-Maram and Azala -e-Auham (1891) He argued that the second advent
of Jesus Chrisit was in fact a coming of another
person who sould have the spiritual characteristics of Jesus Chrst . He
held that Jesus did not die on the cross but escaped and came
to India in order to preach to the descendant of the lost ten Tribes in
Afghanistan and Kashmir Subsequently, he announced that the ‘tomb’
of Jesus had also been discovered in Srinagar, Kashmir.14
It is necessary to discuss here the belief of
the second coming of Jesus Christ the son of Mary in contrast to the idea
of Promised Messiah
which had a long and peculiar significance in
Judaism.
The word Messiah is of Hebrew origin which means
an anointed one It was applied to every king and high priest because before
entering upon
their office these men had been consecrated by
the oil poured upon their heads. When the Jews were under Persians, they
began to dream of the day when the descendants
of David would reappear and an anointed king would once more sit upon the
throne of Israel. Subsequently the
Jew changed the idea about a Messiah in two different
ways when they were ruled by the Romans. The majority of the Jewish people
looked
for the appearance of a mighty warrior who, though
he was not of the Davidic family, would lead them against their enemies,
destroy Rome,
free the Jews and establish a reign of justice,
plenty and peace. But there was another smaller group, who thought of the
Messiah as more
than a human being, unaided by ordinary weapons,
would conquer the pagans, and cause the Jews and Judaism to triumph. In
the Book of
Enoch, written during the first century AD, the
author speaks of a supernatural being who awaited a signal from God in
order to go down to
earth and free humanity from sin, injustice and
oppression.
God sent Jesus Christ to redeem the Jews from
the predicament they were in but they maneuvered to 'crucify' him with
the help of Pontius
Pilate, Roman Governor of Judea, and condemned
him as false messiah. They continued to cherish the hope of seeing the
Promised Messiah ruling over the world of
Israel even after the advent of Islam. In Holy Quran and the Traditions,
it is mentioned that God saved Jesus, the son of Mary,
from murder or crucifixion and raised him up towards Him. He would descend
in the Last Days as a living sign for Jews and Christians.
He will be a follower of Islam. There is no reference
to a Promised Messiah or a Maseel Messiah (Messiah-like man). It has been
made amply clear that Jesus, son of Mary,
and no one else would come in latter days.15
Mirza tried to prove from the Holy Quran that Jesus was dead.
On the contrary he claimed that the coming of Jesus Christ referred to
in the Hadith was only a Christ incarnate. It may be made clear
that it was not on the authority of Hadith that he
pushed the claim of his Messiahship, rather it was his own revelation which
forced him to proclaim this office. The Hadith
had a secondary position for him and he quoted it just in support of his
revelation, which was binding on him and his
followers.//////////
Anyhow, the advent of Jesus Christ and the claim
of Promised Messiahship are two different things. The former is a belief
supported by
traditions and the latter a Jewish doctrine completely
alien to Islamic beliefs, having its roots in the Jewish literature. Mirza
cleverly disguised
his true face i.e. a Promised Messiah designated
to work for the political motives of world Jewry and deceived the Muslims
by his false
posture of being an incarnate of Jesus Christ.
He shrewdly dragged the ulema into useless theological controversies and
carried out his
sinister plan to Judaize Islam.
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, in his well known article on Qadianism, stresses that Ahmadiyya movement had been swiftly drifting towards Judiasm.16 Some Arab scholars have also discussed in detail the pro-Imperialist, Pro-Jewish orientations of Qadiani Movement. Abbas Mahmud-ul-Iqad, Shiekh Abu Zohra Misri, Al-Shiekh Mohib-ud-din Al Khatib, and Al-Sheikh Muhammad al-Madni have specially dwelt upon this theme. Allama Muhammad al-Swaf in his famous work, Al-Mukhtalat -Istama'aria Lay Makafteh-ul-Islam, proved that Qadiani movement is a branch of Imperialism. Dr. Abdul Karim Ghulab, a research scholar of Morocco, has given a scholarly treatment to this subject. He has established that the Ahmadiyya movement was a byproduct of Judaism and its basic beliefs bore striking similarity with neo-Judaism of the 19th century.17 The way Qadianis presented the concepts of Jehad, revelation, prophethood etc. was the favourite subject of bigoted Jewish scholars of 19th century. Jews always showed a keen interest in development and growth of Qadianism. Shod, a group of Jewish Intellegisia working in Jerusalem University and headed by Dr Magesen, conducted research on the proposed synthesis of Ahmadiyya beliefs with modern Jewish philosophy as enunciated by Jewish Cabalist philosophers of the 19th century. In 1927, Alexander Waldheim an Austrian Judge wrote an interesting article entitled 'A Modern Zionist Way to Islam and Ahmadiyya Movement'. It was published in the Review of Religions, a leading Qadiani Journal in its issue of March 1927. Also in 1946 Mrs. Aishy Romel, a Jew Scholar of Jerusalem University wrote a series of articles on Ahmadiyya Movement,18 highlighting some of its salient features in relation to Jewish philosophical ideas.
Pro-Jewish orientation of Qadiani movement can
also be seen in the writings of the Mirza. He repeated all those absurd
allegations against
the person of Hazrat Eisa AS (Jesus), which Jewish
writers19
had been leveling since the advent of Christianity. Mirza called Jesus'
miracles a series of tricks and mesmerism.
In the name of smashing the cross, he criticized Christian beliefs and
miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. He
(Jesus) is charged with drunkenness, vulgar abuse
of Jews, cowardice, disrespectful attitude to his mother, friendliness
with women of ill
repute and even blasphemy. Mirza cast aspersions
on the life of Mary also. After leveling allegations and making attempts
to under rate the
status of the Christ, he called himself superior
to Jesus in all respects. He claimed to have performed such a stupendous
task, which Jesus
could never have taken. A few extracts from his
books will help understand the nature of his attacks on Christianity and
Jesus Christ:
Messianic Uprisings
We further discuss different aspects of the Mirza‘s claim of Messiahship to elaborate the nature of his claim in a historical perspective.
The Cabalist -Jewish idea of the Promised Messiah
had been a political instrument in the hands of the Jews. In the 19th century,
with the rise
and growth of Zionism, the cult gradually eclipsed.
From the 1st century AD to the emergence of Zionism (1897), many self-styled
Messiahs
appeared. The appearance of a Messiah was often
accompanied by some revolt or uprising. The claimant aspired for power
and declared to
restore to the wandering Jews to the Holy Land.
Under the Muslim rule many self-appointed Messiahs
launched strong political movement to topple the Muslim states. About the
year 700
AD, Abu Isa of Isphahaan claimed to be the Messiah.
He gathered an army of Jews to throw off the 'yoke of Muslim Caliphate'
and led the
Jews to Palestine. A battle was finally fought
and the Jews were badly defeated and scattered. Abu Isa took his own life.
But this did not
discourage others from following his example.
A man by the name of Judghan-al-Rai, a shepherd attempted the same thing
and in the end
was also defeated and killed. Almost at the same
time in Syria, a man named Serenus called upon the Jews to follow his leadership
in the
re-conquest of Palestine. Jews flocked to him
by thousands only to be deeply disappointed when his promise came to naught.
The period of Crusades gave a peculiar colour
to the office of Messiahship. A Spanish Jew, Abulafa, claimed to be a Messiah
and went to
Rome in 1281 to convince the pope and offer Jewish
help in the War. The most interesting Jewish Redeemer was Shabbeti Zevi.
In the year
1648 a lot of misfortunes and political crises
came to Central and Eastern Europe. These events served as a proof of the
coming of a
Messiah. Jewish-Cabalists believed that Messiah’s
arrival was to be preceded by war and pestilence and eagerly waited for
his advent.
Shabatti Zevi, a Spanish Jew, announced in 1648
that he was the Promised Messiah. Jews welcomed him wherever he went. He
traveled from Symerna to Salonika and in the
presence of learned men, he produced a marriage canopy and a scroll of
the Torah and went through a
marriage ceremony with the Torah as his bride.
From Salonika he moved to Cairo where he found an environment fitted for
his purpose.
A wealthy Jew, Raphael Joseph Chelebi, sent him
to Jerusalem for the purpose of distributing charity where he met Nathan
of Gaza who also
claimed to be a prophet and messiah. He undertook
to announce himself Promised Elijah and spread the propaganda of Zevi as
the Promised
Messiah.
Zevi married Sarah who claimed to be the bride
of the Promised Messiah. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp at
the home of
Chelebi at Cairo. this event had a great similarity
with that to Musalima Kazzab, the impostor’s marriage with Sajah. Mirza
also aspired to
marry Muhammadi Begum, but her parents refused
to succumb to his blackmail carried out in the name of God.
Zevi was greeted with a frenzy of enthusiasm.
Many Jews disposed of their possessions and marched to Palestine. Emboldened
by his
success, he declared that he was going to Constantinople
where, at the mere sight of him, the Sultan of Turkey would give up the
throne and
Zevi would be the King of Kings. But when his
ship arrived at the Turkish port, he was arrested and placed in the fortress
of Abydas. From his
prison he issued proclamations and sent messages
to Polish Jews and ordered them to send him Nehemiah Cohen, who himself
claimed
Messiahship. Cohen held talks with Zevi and announced
that Zevi was not Messiah. The Polish prophet after his announcement, could
save
himself only be running away to some safe place.
Zevi was brought to the Sultan’s Court for trial.
King placed him against the wall and said: 'I heard that you perform miracles.
My archers are
going to shoot at your chest, I want you to show
the miracle of protecting your chest as if you are wearing an armour and
if you do not want to perform the miracle,
then that is also okay with me'. He abandoned all his claims and accepted
a petty post in the Sultan’s Court and
consented to become a Muslim. Zevi’s followers,
although disillusioned yet argued that Muslim Zevi was but a human image
and he himself
had ascended to heaven to wait for a more opportune
time.26 He had atoned
for the sins of Jewish people and would come back soon. Those
Jews who hypocritically converted to Islam along
with Zevi, for the cause of Judaism and waited for the return of their
Messiah, organized
themselves in a cryto-Jewish sect like Qadiani,
and are known as Donmeh.
In 18th century Britain, Richard Brothers, an
Anglo-Israelite, claimed to be a Messiah, the Prince and Restorer of Jews.
Jonna Southcoatte
announced to give birth to the Promised Messiah
after miraculous conception.27
She could not do so. However many Jews of England paid
great respect to her. John Alexander Dowie (America)
and J.H. Piggot (Britain) who were the claimants of the Promised Messiahship
were
contemporaries of Mirza. All these persons were
either secret Jews or their henchmen. Their main aim was to give shape
and fillip to Jewish
nationalism and create a favourable climate in
support of them in the hostile European societies. Freemasonry played very
important role in
the context of Jewish nationalism in a subtle
way. The decay of the Christian church and emergence of Jewish power in
America had also
great bearings on the European opinion.
'Tomb’ of Jesus
The Mirza not only announced the natural death
of Jesus Christ but also discovered his tomb.28
At first in Gallilee (Palestine) then in Tripoli,
afterwards in Syria and ultimately through prophetic
revelation in Srinagar Kashmir.29
It was a startling discovery. Hundreds of people went to
Khanyar Street of Srinagar to see that tomb.
But whoever went there laughed at the Mirza’s trickery.30
Qadianis regard it as an unparalleled
event in the history of their movement. The Mirza
advised one of his trusted followers, Molvi Abdullah Vakil to collect evidences
in support of
tomb of Jesus at Srinagar in his book Raz-i-Haqiqat,
the Mirza gives a letter from Molvi Vakil to prove that Jesus was burried
there. Molvi Vakil afterwards became a Bahai
preacher and renounced Qadiani creed it was one of the factors responsible
of the change of his belief. He vividly
exposed this fraud which also carried the authentication
of the mirza’s revelation. He could not understand how the Mirza affixed
his
revelationary stamp this myth which was the creation
of Molvi Noordin and Khalifa Nuruddin of Jammu.
How did Jesus come to India? Mirza argued that
Jesus was nailed on the cross but did not die on it. (Muslims believe he
was not nailed on
the cross at all) He was said to have been taken
down by his disciples in a swoon and was healed within 40 days by an ointment
called
Marham-i-Isa. He then travelled to the East via
Persia and Afghania and reached India with disciple St. Thomas. Why did
he undertake his
journey? In order to preach those Jews who had
been exlied by King Sargon of Assria in 721 BC when he attacked the city
of Sumaria. He
also referred to the Second Captivity of Jews
when Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon stormed Jerusalem and is said to have carried
off some of the
inhabitants as prisoners to Babylon. It was claim
that Kashmiris and Afghans were the descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes
of Israel31.
Jesus
had to preach to those 'lost sheep'. He traveled
to India under the name of Yuz Asaf or Jesus, the gatherer. Khawaja Nazir
Ahmad. a member
of Lahore group of Qadiani community claimed
that Mary also traveled with Jesus to India.32
She died in Murree, a hill station some 40
kilometer from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.
The word Murree is said to be the corruption of Mary and is famous for
her tomb. After her death, Jesus migrated
to Kashmir and died at the age of 120. His tomb is situated Khanyar Street
Srinagar, Kashmir. St Thomas went to South India and
there he founded a church.
The main thrust of the whole theory is on the
assumption that in 721 BC Ten Tribes of Israel were lost and settled in
Eastern countries,
specially in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Had there
been no ‘colonization’ of Jews in those countries, Jesus would not have
taken such a long
journey from Palestine to India. Here lies the
crux of the matter. The stress placed on the dispersion of the Tribes of
Israel and their
conversion to Islamic and other faiths was meant
to provide a feed-back to the Jewish nationalist movement, ‘Anglo-Israelism'
which swept the world before the emergence
of Zionism.
As stated earlier, Anglo-Israelism was a movement
launched by Jews and their agents on the presumption that the Ten Tribes
of Assyrian
captivity (721 BC) on leaving the land of their
sojourn wandered towards the West while those of the Babylon captivity
(586 BC) passed
easwards to Afghanistan and India. Under the
oppressive rules of Gentiles, they were lost to the world of civilization.
An appeal was made to
the European nations (said to have belonged to
lost Tribes of Israel) to help their brethren acquire a separate homeland
in accordance with the prophecies of the Holy
Book. P.K. Hitti has however proved that the Ten Tribes were never lost
and it is a historical myth.33
The earliest suggestion of an Israelitish ancestry
of the English is to found in John Sadler’s work, 'Rights of the Kingdom'
(1649). He drew a
series of parallel between English Law and customs
and those of the Herbrews and Jews. Richard Brothers (1757-1832), a half
pay officer of
eccentric habits in the English Navy, prophecised
imminent restoration to Israel of the Holy Land and elevation of himself
as the Prince of Jew. In 1840, John Wilson
adopted the theory and wrote widely on it. His work 'Our Israelitish
Orgin' is the first coherent exposition of the theory.
Other advocates in the 19th century were W. Carpenter
(Israelite Found), F. R. A. Glover (England, the Remnant of Juda)
and C. Piazzi
Symth, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, who
deduced from certain measurements of the Great Pyramid that the English
were the
descendants of the Lost Tribes.34
In 1871 Edward Hine published his Identification
of the British Native with the Lost Israel, of which a quarter of a
million copies were said to
have been sold. In the United States, the movement
was led by W. H. Pool and G.W.Greenwood.35
A vigorous Anglo-Israel propaganda
campaign was started by Major H. W. J. Senior
of 1st Bengal Infantry in India. In 1883 he wrote a book entitled, Are
the English Israelites?36
It was meant to prove that the English were
descendants of Israel and God has fulfilled his Covenant with Abraham and
will fulfil all his promises to Israel. A
bulk of Anglo-Israelite literature was published and distributed in India
by Messers Newman and Co. Calcutta. In his book, Senior states:
"God has declared that until the sun, stars and sea depart, Israel shall
not cease from being a Nation before him forever. They
have not yet departed therefore, Israel must be now one of the Nations
of the earth. The question therefore naturally arises, what
nation is Israel? The champions of Anglo-Israelism have logically maintained
that England alone, of all nations of earth,
possesses, all the blessings and promises, so far as they have been fulfilled,
which were made by God in favour of his people
Israel and that as God is true, faithful and covenant keeping, these promises
and blessings cannot be diverted to any Gentile
nation, therefore, it follows that England must be Israel. And in accepting
this truth, we also appropriate the unfulfilled promises
of the future glory of Israel. We find that all the Prophecies to the first
advent of Christ, the destruction of Jerusalem, Babylon,
Nienevah, Egypt, Moab, Judah etc, have been fulfilled literally and that
all the punishments inflicted on Israel were also literally
fulfilled, therefore the promise of blessings to Israel must be taken as
well in a literal sense, and we assent that this, in no way
interferes with the spiritual interpretation as applicable to the Church."37
Under the heading, To be restored to their
own land, Senior cites scriptural evidences (Isa xiii, Jer xxx3,
Zech viii, 12,13 etc) to prove that
scattered Israel will gather and sing in the
height of Zion.38
The hostility of the English to Napoleon and Russia,
and the sympathy aroused by the Dreyfus case are attributed to the Anglo-Israelite
ideas, It is also argued that the English must
be the representative of Israel, as otherwise many Divine Promises made
to that race would be
unfulfilled.39
Qadiani agents actively propagated Anglo-Israelite
ideas after invoking interest in the discovery of the 'tomb' of Jesus.
Qadiani methods of
argumentation and discussion bear extreme similarly
with that of Anglo-Israelites. If one happens to undertake a comparative
study of Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad’s Masih Hindustan Mein (Jesus
in India)40,
Sher Ali’s articles in the Review of Religions, Qadian (1902-1908),
Khawaja Nazir
Ahmad’s Jesus in Heaven on Earth, J. D.
Shams Where did Jesus Die?,41
Mufti Muhammad Sadiq’s Qabre-Masih,42
and Qazi Muhammad
Yusaf’s Isa Dar Kashmir,43
with that of Anglo-Israelite literature, he will find Jews and Qadianis
sailing in the same boat.
Notovitch Account
The quasi-historical sources quoted by the Mirza
and his disciples to prove that Jesus Christ fainted on the cross at the
time of his crucifixion
are based on Jewish fabricated accounts. An oft-quoted
source is a travelling account of Nicholas Notovich, a Russian by birth
and a
contemporary of the Mirza. Notovich claimed to
have found some ancient Buddhist scrolls at the monastery of Hims (Tibet)
in which it was
written that in his boyhood Isa (Jesus Christ)
secretly fled from his father’s house from Jerusalem and with a train of
merchants traveled
towards Sindh, and settled among the Aryas. He
frequented Jain Temples and studied their cult. He then went to Ceylon
and from there to
Jaggernaut. He learnt the use of herbs, medicines,
and mathematics. He also studied the religious doctrines of Brahmins and
acquired their
secret arts.
The book appeared in French44
and in English45
and made considerable stir in Europe and India for sometimes. In an article
in the Nineteenth Century,
London, October 1894, Prof. Max Muller, a famous German scholar who lived
in India, saw clearly that the tale was false and
suggested that Notovitch had been so persistent
in trying to get information that the Lamas, having nothing better to give
him, and invented
the story to satisfy him. Prof. J. Archibald
Douglas of the Government College, Agra, took a journey to Ladakh in 1895,
in the hope of finding
the MS but no such MS was found even in Tibet
anywhere. The whole story was described in Nineteenth Century April
1896 and M.
Nicholas Notovitch was recognized to be an unscrupulous
adventurer.46
Different versions of such false travelling accounts were prepared by
secret Jewish agencies to defame Jesus Christ.
It was a sinister attempt to convey on the basis of semi-historical records
that Jesus was a
false Messiah, who after his alleged travels
in the East, acquired the knowledge of herbs and magic tricks which he
subsequently exercised in Palestine to impose
his false claim of Messiahship on the Jew but was ultimately 'crucified
to death'.
Rosicrucian
The false account of life Jesus was also published
by a Freemason Organization - the Rosicrucian AMORC (USA). There
is an adhesion
between the higher degrees of Freemasonry and
the Rosicrucian Lodges, and also that the knowledge possessed by Rosicrucian
in regard to
the life of Jesus is shared by the Higher Degrees
of Freemasonry. The Organization claims to retain ancient traditions, teachings,
principles
and practical helpfulness of the ESSENE Brotherhood,
which existed in Palestine between 2nd Century B.C. and the 2nd Century
A.D, Dr Lewis Spencer, Imperator of the Rosicrucian
Order for North and South America, in his book, The Mystical life of
Jesus, gave an account of Jesus’ life between the twelve years and
his emergence as a preacher in Galilee. He says that Jesus did not die
on the cross but fell unconscious and regained
his senes in the tomb in which he was buried. He then secretly left for
a sheltered place at Galilee.47
He ascended to the Heavens not physically
or in His physical body but had a mystical and psychical experience. He
was buried at Mount Carmel (Palestine). His body
remained in a tomb for several centuries but was finally removed to a secret
sepulchre, guarded and protected by his (Essene) Brothers.48
Crucifixion By 'An Witness'
Another Freemason source often quoted by Qadiani
writers in their works is Crucifixion by An Eye Witness. In the introduction
and preface of
the book, it is stated:
It is an English translation of an ancient Latin copy of ‘a Letter written
seven years after the crucifixion by a personal friend of
Jesus in Jerusalem to an Essene49
Brother in Alexandria'.
This book was withdrawn from circulation the moment
it was published. It was published in 1873 in America. All the Plates were
destroyed,
and it was supposed that all the published copies
of the book were likewise disposed of. The official copies, which were
deposited with the
Librarian of the Congress, in compliance with
the laws of copyright also disappeared. Fortunately one copy escaped this
fate.50
TK, the author of The Great Work, in
the introduction to the book says that the book found its way into the
possession of a prominent Freemason in the State
of Massachusetts, USA. There it remained securely until accidentally discovered
by his daughter, sometime during the summer of the present
year (1907). The lady, knowing my (TK) interest in things masonic, kindly
sent me the copy for examination. I at once, recognized its remarkably
nature and supreme value and importance.51
Then we are told that it was re-published in 1907, after having been compared
with the Latin MS which still exists in the hands of the Masonic fraternity
in Germany. No doubt, it will remain secretly guarded from Anti-Masonic
vandalism.52
It is asserted that Jesus was a member of Essene Brotherhood. He was taken
from the cross in a swoon and his Essene Brothers
took his body to a safe place. Nicudemus, the physician, applied a special
balm and his wounds healed in a few days. Later Jesus left
the capital for the White Lodge atop the Mount of Olives in disguise. Finally,
the letter says, he died in solitude after 6 months in
Palestine.
The Mirza’s contribution to the Jewish-masonic
theory is the addition of Marham-i-Isa (Jesus’ ointment) in place
of Nicudemus balm, said to
have been applied to the body of Jesus which
had promptly healed up wounds inflicted during ‘crucifixion’. In Greek-Islamic
system of
medicine, different names53
are given to this ointment only because of its fast curing characteristics
and no Hakim had ever called it ointment
meant specifically for Jesus’ wounds.
Yuz Asaf
Mirza further claims that Jesus assumed the name
of Yuz Asaf during his tour in India. It is still an interesting aspect
of the theory and very
cunning exploitation of the name of Yuz Asaf.
Yuz Asaf, or Yod Asaf, whom he calls Jesus, is no one else except Gautama
Buddha. When
Buddha attained perfect knowledge and enlightenment,
he then according to Buddist traditions of Lalitavastara, became
a Bodhistava
(enlightened one). Bod Asaf is a corruption of
Bodhistava. The story of Budha’s miraculous birth and his attainment of
the status of Bodhistava made its way from
India to Central Asia in around 2nd Century A.D. Subsequently during the
reign of Abassid Caliph AlMansur, Arab scholars of
Al Mukafah school translated many Pali Sanskrit and Persian works into
Arabic, The story of Buddha (Bod or Yod Asaf) made its way into
numerous Arabic works. Ibnul-Nadim, in his Alfahrist
refers to three books where this story had been narrated with slight variations.54
With the passage of time, the story Budhas’
attainment of perfect knowledge, which originated in India, came back to
India in a different shape. The names being
Arabacized and the events slightly changed.
Qadiani writers had also tried to explore the
Sanskrit sources to support this myth. They quote an extract from the Bhavishya
Maha Purana
by Sutta. It may be stated here that the Puranas
are eighteen in number. They are purely mythical in nature and are characterized
as popular
sectarian compilation of mythology, philosophy,
history and law. The earliest Purana was probably compiled around 4th Century
A.D.
Bhavishya Purana was printed for the first
time in Bombay in 1910 under the order of Maharaja Partap Singh of Kashmir.
In this Purana a mythical story of a meeting of
Shalwahin Chief of Saka with a white complexion man in the land of the
Huns somewhere in a
height of the Himalaya has been narrated. When
Shalwahin met him he asked him about his religious principles. He replied:
O King! The goddess of the savages (dasyu) manely Ihamasi ( the
goddess Masi) manifested herself in terrifying disguise and I,
having reached her in the infidel fashion, attained the status of Masya.
O King! Listen to that religion (of hers) which I impressed
upon the infidel. Having cleansed the mind and purified the impure body,
and having recourse to the prayer of naigama, man
must worship the pure eternal. By justice, truth, unity of mind and meditation
man must worship in Sun’s heaven
(Suryamandala, which could also mean Sun’ disk). That Lord, himself as
immovable (from his course) as the Sun, always at
last attracts the essence of all erring creatures. With this (message)
O King! Masya vanished and the blissful image of Lord, the
bliss giving being ever in my heart name has been established as Ihamasiya,55
Having hear these words the King removed that
infidel priest and established him in pitiless land of infidels.56
Dr D.D. Kosamby, a learned Sanskrit scholar of
Tata Research Institute, Bombay, says the goddess Masi is a fiction and
the holy book
Naigama has no existence in the Hindu
Scriptures. The infidel priest attained the status of Ihamasiya
by following the goddess Masi and
preached the Sun worship.
Qadiani scholars call the infidel Ihamasiya, Isa
Masih and the goddess Masi is stated to be the angel Gabriel.57
By neglecting all
inconsistencies of the legendary story, it is
claimed that Raja Shalwahin met Jesus Christ when the latter visited India.
Khawaja Nazir Ahmad
got the said Bhavishya Purana’s extract translated
from Dr Shiv Nath Shashtri and calls the white complexion infidel priest
Yousaphat.58
The story is purely mythical in nature and is
about a Sun Worshipper who is a follower of the goddess Masi probably
a Bodhisatva. The story
seems to have been fabricated in around 5th century
AD and had no connection whatsoever in any way with Jesus Christ who lived
in early
1st Century AD in Jerusalem.
Mirza Qadiani and his disciples have also picked
up the names of mythical Bodhistavas from the Buddhist record and call
them Jesus. A
Bodhistava Mettaya is called Messiah,
ML-Shi Lo named in the Chinese Buddhist record is termed Messiah,
and Buddha’s prophecy of a
Bagwa Mitya or white-faced Bodhistava
is said to have been meant for Jesus because he was white in complexion.59
There is no historical proof either to support
the contention that St. Thomas came to India.60
Churches founded in Malabar are after his name
but not founded by him. Archaeological evidences
clearly belie all such claims. It also absurd to say, as Khawaja Nazir
claims, that Mary the
mother of Jesus came to India and died in Murree
where her tomb still exists.61
It will be interesting to give the story of Buddha (Boddhasaf) as narrated in Arabic and Persian sources62 to prove that Yuz Asaf is Buddha:
"To the long childless King of Janaysar, a pagan ruler of Sulabat (i.e.Kapal
Vastu) in India, a son is born by miraculous means.
The King names him Yudasaf (better, Budhasaf-Budhistiva). As astrologer
predicts that the prince’s greatness will not be of this
world, the King therefore, confines the child in a city set apart to keep
him from the knowledge of human misery. Growing up,
Yudasaf frets at his confinement and insists on being allowed out. Riding
forth he sees two infirm men and later a decrepit old
man and learns of human frailty and death. The holy hermit Bilawhar63
of Sarnath (Ceylon) then appears in distress and preaches
to Yudasaf in parables, convincing him of the vanity of human existence
and the superiority of ascetic way. Bilawhar spurns
renown and riches, indulgence in food and drink and sexual pleasure and
all fleshy delights.
King Jaynasar is hostile to Bilawhar and opposes Yudasaf's conversion.
In spite of the efforts of the astrologer, Radis and the
pagan ascetic Al-Bahwan, Janaysar is overcome in a mock debate on the faith
and is himself won over. Yudasaf renounces his
royal estate and embarks on missionary journeys. After various adventures,
he reaches Kashmir (Kusinara) where he entrusts
the future of his religion to his diciple Anabud (Ananda) and dies".64
There is no reference whatsoever to Jesus Christ.
It is a story of an Indian prince Buddha (Bodasaf) who died at Kusinara
(Gorakhpur, India)
and his disciple was Ababud (Ananda). In Ibne
Babway’s Ikmal-ud-din (10th century AD) and Allama Majlisi’s Ainul-Hayat,
similar version of
the story appears with the addition that at the
time of his death Bodhasaf erected a house (stupa) where he was laid.
In all authentic Arabic sources and works on history
like AlMasudi’s Marooj-ul-Zahab (956-AD)2 Ibn Nadim's AlFahrist
(988AD),3 Al
Bullazoris' Friq Bain ul Fariq ( 1023AD)4
and Al Khawarzamis’ Mufatih -ul-Aloom5, the Buddha’s name is Arabicized
as Bodasaf, Yud Asab
etc. He had been called an Indian Prince/Prophet
sent by God to preach them righteousness. His place of burial was Kushangar
in
Gorakhpur, India. The word Kushangar was Arzbacized
as Qashmir or Kashmir. Some later historians ascribed it to the Valley
of Kashmir.
Perhaps Muslim historians of Kashmir6 picked
up this story from these sources. However no one dared to call Bodhasaf,
Jesus Christ.
In some quasi-historical sources of Indian history,
mostly 16th century works, it has been said that Bod Asaf was ordained
in the remote past towards the people of Kashmir.
However no authentic source on India or Kashmir history even refers to
the arrival of Jesus in Kashmir.
Khawaja Ahmad has quoted a passage from Mullah
Nadri’s History of Kashmir to prove his historical myth of Jesus'
visit to India.7 Mullah
was a religious scholar in the court of Zain-ul-Abdin
(1420-1470), King of Kashmir, commonly called Badshah. It is mentioned
in the history
book of Kashmir that the Mullah did compile a
book on Kashmir history but no one had ever confirmed is existence. It
is an exitinct
document. Khawaja claims to have seen in Srinagar
in 1946 and got a photo copy of the page where the 'arrival of Jesus in
Kashmir' was
mentioned. He did not buy that book from G. M.
Mohyuddin Wancho who possessed it and was willing to sell it at a high
price. Despite
repeated requests and challenges, Qadiani writers
have not been able to produce the original manuscript to enable the scholars
to determine
its position. It is nothing but pure Ahmadiyya
fraud. 1 ( Italics add)
Prior to the Mirza’s discovery, Hasan Shah, an
eminent Kashmir historian, wrote that adjoining the tomb of Khawaja Nasiruddin
in Khan Yar
street, Srinagar was the tomb of Yus Asap who
came to Kashmir as an envoy from Egypt during the reign of Zainul Abdin
(15th century).2 He
died and was buried in Kashmir. His tomb was
built in 15th century. Historical and archaeological evidences, particularly
the inscriptions on
Takht-e-Suleman and the style of Persian writings
(Khat-e-Thulth), belie all claims made by Qadiani theorists in connection
with the said tomb
located in Khanyar street, Srinagar.
It is also interesting to know that the story
of Bilahwar and Yud Asaf migrated to Europe and furnished the protoype
for the Christian legend of
Barlam and Josaphat. They were called Christian
saints and were held in high esteem.3 A church was founded in memory of
Barlam in
Pamerlov (Sicley). Mirza has admitted the establishment
of this church in the name of Barlam.4 It is very strange that in the course
of early
Middle Ages of Europe, the legendary theme of
Barlam and Josaphat appeared again the again. In Greek, in Latin, in Provencal,
in French,
Italian, Portugese, Catalan, in Spanish, English
and German. The story was known in Christian North Africa and Middle East
and in the
Tunisian province of Georgia. There were also
Ethiopian, Armenian, Church Slavonic and Rumanian versions as well as non-Christian
ones in
Arabic and Hebrew. The reason why this legend
and its literary versions are so popular was that from the very start,
it would seem, this novel
or romance in verse-form was instructive and
entertaining, it told of unknown exotic lands, it was a thoughtful adventure
story and a conversion
report - always welcome at that time, edifying,
colourful, exciting and statisfying fairy tale, all at the same time. The
framework of the
expansive narrative allowed additions or contractions,
philosophical discourses, theological reasoning and exhortations, and poetic
fineness in
the form of gnomic verse similes and parables.
It appealed to all strata of medieval society both to the learned and the
less-learned. The story
of Barlam amd Josaphat had at that time become
a genuine price of World Literature.5
D.M. Lang in his book the Wisdom of Balahvar,
A Christian Legend of Buddha, says that the whole Ahmadiyya story of Yuz
Asaf is simply
based on an extract from the familiar Arabic
version of the Barlam and Josaphat romance. 6
Holy Shroud and Grail
It is also asserted that Jesus did not die on
the cross but was taken down alive in a state of swoon and was wrapped
up in a winding sheet,
The Holy Shroud. This Holy Shroud exists and
proves that Jesus did not go to the Heaven.1 It was found in Turin, Italy.
The alleged old
manuscripts, which narrate the story of the Shroud
are said to be in possession of a Freemason Society in America.2
Equally interesting is a book The Blood and Holy
Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln3 featured in
the top ten of
non-fiction book sales chart in London as it
said to have 'a shattering secret of more than 2000 years relating to the
life of Jesus'. Henry
Lincoln in the discovery of the national riches
of small French Church in Rennes-le-Chateau at the foot of Pyrenees, South
France, found
cryptically cooled parchments treasures of secret
societies, the Knights Templar, a dynasty of obscure French King, freemasons
etc. He
concluded that Jesus married and his bloodline
still existed. He was alive in 45 AD but no indication of the place has
been given.
Qadianis are also referring to this Judeo-masonic
study on the life of Jesus. It is said to have shaken the established edifice
of the Church. It
has been regarded as the last evidence in support
of the claims made Ahmadiyyat.4
In short the claim of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to Promised
Messiahship had Jewish connotation. It has nothing to do with the second
coming of
Jesus, son of Mary. Through this claim he took
active part in providing assistance to Jewish nationalism and attempted
to Judaize Islam. He
used filthy language to underrate Jesus position
and repeated Jewish charges against him. The myth of Jesus' journey and
his death in
Kashmir are supported from Jewish-masonic writings.
The network of mythical stories was created in 19th century to provide
fillip and spur to
Anglo-Israelism, a Jewish-backed movement. Qadianis
are still drawing upon Jewish sources to support their theories about the
alleged death
of Jesus.
Equally absurd is the Mirza’s contention that
Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism was a Muslim.5 This has been vehemently
denied by
the scholars. His much-trumpeted theory that
Arabic is the mother6 of all languages is simply unacceptable to linguists.
They, on the basis of
archaeological evidences, designate Arabic a
much recent language. The discovery of various scripts is dated like this:
Sumerian (4000BC),
Chinese (1500BC), Sanskrit (1200BC) and Arabic
(328BC). The late discovery of written Arabic inclined the etymologists
to the view that
Arabic could not be considered for a study determining
primal language.7
Separate Religion
By 1901 Mirza Qadiani planned to give a separate
entity to his heretical sect. He slowly moved to carve out a new Ummah
from Islamic
Community of India through his absurd claims
and prophetic utterances and looked to the British for its due recognition.
At the same time he
continued to serve the British Imperialist interests
both in India and abroad, through a vicious propaganda campaign.
According to the Census of India Report of1901,
1331 people embraced this new belief in Punjab.1 Mirza entered the name
of his sect as
Musalman Sect of Ahmadiyya in the Census Report,
He claimed that his sect was the only Islamic sect existed not only in
India but in the
whole world of Islam as all other Muslims sects
were Kafir and outside the pale of Islam. He called Ahmadiyya Community
fresh milk and all
other believers in Islam rotten milk infested
with bacteria. He cleverly organized his followers into a separate Ummah
on the basis if his false
prophethood. His open claim to prophethood came
in November 1901 when he wrote a tract to clarify his claim of prophethood
and Risalat. It
was a dangerous attempt to sabotage and undermine
the Muslim unity. Before that he ingeniously concealed his real claim in
sufistic jargons
like zill or brooz although he moved fast to
full-fledged prophethood. The ulema had a good knowledge of his elusive
strategy and realized his
evil intentions. They condemned him as Kafir
even in 1891 on the basis of his claim of Messiahship.
The malicious intention of Mirza in forming a
separate community by disintegrating the solidarity of Muslim Ummah through
his prophetic
claims, can be seen in his petition which he
sent to MacWorth Young, Lt, Governor of the Punjab in January 1901. In
his petition he prays
that he may be granted permission to send a deputation
consisting of 12 of his followers to wait on the Lt. Governor for the purpose
of
submitting a memorial praying that the sect of
Mohammadan, to which they belonged, may be officially recognized.2
On the basis of his past family record of loyalty
and the meritorious services he rendered for the Imperialism, he aspired
to be recognized
officially, the founder of a separate religious
entity so that he could exclusively reap socio-economic benefits for his
community which mostly
comprised lower middle class. Earlier he suggested
to the Government to arrange a World Religious Conference under his auspices
and allow
him to show a heavenly sign in proof of his claim.3
The Government ignored this proposal despite all
of his humble requests. He was informed that 'the Lt. Governor is unable
to receive the
deputation proposed to be sent by Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad of Kadian'.4