| Hazrat
Mirza never instructed his followers
that they must refrain from saying the Islamic funeral
prayers for a deceased Muslim who did not belong to the
Ahmadiyya Movement. To the contrary, on all the occasions
when this question was put to him, Hazrat Mirza clearly
and unequivocally permitted his followers to hold funeral
services for non-Ahmadi Muslims in general. This also
constitutes conclusive proof that he regarded the general
non-Ahmadi Muslim population as being Muslims and not kafir,
because holding the Islamic funeral service for any
person implies recognition of the deceased as a Muslim.
And moreover, the proof is of a plain, practical and easy
to understand nature. Given below are four clear rulings of Hazrat
Mirza on this issue:
[1.] "The
question was raised as to whether it was permissible
to say the funeral prayers for a man who was not in
the Movement. The Promised Messiah said:
" 'If the
deceased was an opponent of this Movement and
spoke ill of us and regarded us as bad, do not
say funeral prayers for him. If he did not speak
against us, and was neutral, it is permissible to
say his funeral prayers, provided the imam is one
of you; otherwise there is no need. If the
deceased did not call us kafir and liar,
his funeral prayers may be said. There is nothing
wrong with that, for only God knows hidden
matters.' "
(Statement
made on 18 April 1902; newspaper Al-Hakam, 30
April 1902)
[2.] About a year before
his death, Hazrat Mirza received a letter from a
follower, Ghulam Qadir of Jeonjal (district Gujrat),
asking for guidance on some points, one of which related
to saying funeral prayers for non-Ahmadi Muslims. Hazrat
Mirza instructed one of his assistants, Mufti Muhammad
Sadiq (later a prominent Qadiani), to write the following
reply:
"It is
permissible to say funeral prayers for an opponent if
he did not abuse us. The imam [of the service] must
be an Ahmadi."
(Letter
dated 12 May 1907; facsimile of original available.)
In the two rulings given
above, the condition that the imam of the prayer service
must be from among Ahmadis does not detract from our
argument. The crucial point is that the deceased is not
an Ahmadi, and funeral prayers for him are allowed by
Hazrat Mirza, showing that he is being regarded as a
Muslim. As to the reason for the condition regarding the
imam of the prayer, see the following section: Saying
prayers behind non-Ahmadi Imam.
[3.] In 1908, Ahmadis and
other Muslims in a place called Bhudyar, in the district
of Amritsar, made an agreement in which one clause
proposed by the Ahmadis was as follows: "We will say
funeral prayers for those non-Ahmadi relatives who are
neutral" (i.e. not opponents of the Ahmadiyya
Movement). Hazrat Mirza wrote the following note on it in
his own hand:
``What has been
written is very good and blessed.''
(See
newspaper Badr, dated 13 May 1909)
[4.] In reply to one
Muhammad Ismail, a short letter was written at the
direction of Hazrat Mirza, by the hand of Mufti Muhammad
Sadiq, bearing the date 19 April 1907, which runs as
follows:
"Your letter was
received. The janaza (funeral) of a
non-Ahmadi, his taghseel (washing of the dead
body), and takfeen (shrouding the body), are
allowed. Eating the animal slaughtered by a
non-Ahmadi is also allowed. Hazrat sahib prays for
you.''
(letter
published in Paigham Sulh, 30 January 1921)
Certain prominent Ahmadis
have also testified that when some of their near
relations died, who were not members of the Ahmadiyya
Movement, they requested Hazrat Mirza to say funeral
prayers for them, and he did so.
Mir Abid Ali of
Badomalhi testified to the following effect. His
mother strongly disapproved of his having become an
Ahmadi. When she died, unchanged, he informed Hazrat
Mirza by letter, requesting him to pray for her and to
personally lead the funeral prayers. In his reply, Hazrat
Mirza wrote that they would hold the funeral prayers on
Friday.
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A renowned scholar of the
Movement, Mirza Khuda Bakhsh also made a
sworn statement declaring that: "The Promised
Messiah said the funeral prayers for my mother. She had
not taken the bai`at. She always believed that he
was a saintly man, but did not accept the claim of the
Promised Messiah''. This was in late 1901 or early 1902.
He added that in early 1904, his uncle died, holding the
same view as his mother. He explained his late uncle's
beliefs to Hazrat Mirza, informing him that he had not
taken the bai`at. Having heard him, Hazrat Mirza
personally led the funeral prayer.
Khawaja Ghulam
Farid of Chachran was a famous saint who spoke
out against the accusations leveled at Hazrat Mirza by
his opponents, and called him a truthful man. But he did
not take bai'at or become Ahmadi. Praising the Khawaja
after his death, Hazrat Mirza writes:
"To sum up, God
had granted Khawaja Ghulam Farid a spiritual light by
which he could distinguish between a truthful one and
a liar at one glance. May God envelope him in mercy,
and grant him a place near Him --- Ameen."
(Haqiqat
al-Wahy, p. 209)
This prayer is only
allowed for a deceased who is Muslim, and prohibited for
one who is a kafir.
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