| Mirza Hairat
of Delhi |
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It is alleged by our opponents that Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has been universally considered by all
Muslims to be a kafir and outside the fold of Islam. This
is a totally false assertion. It is only the petty-minded
mosque preachers, the ignorant mullas, and political
aspirants seeking to exploit the ignorance of the masses,
who have condemned Hazrat Mirza as kafir. Eminent Muslim
religious scholars and leaders, especially those who were
his contemporaries, have not only regarded Hazrat Mirza
as a Muslim but have proclaimed him to be a great servant
and champion of Islam. In this Section we present
tributes to Hazrat Mirza by prominent Muslims of his time
and after. Many of these reviews are his obituaries which
appeared in well-known Muslim journals of the day. The opinions cited here are those
of Muslim journalists, theologians and religious leaders
whose scholarship is universally recognised in the
Islamic world till this day. Included among them are
contemporaries of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who had
observed him from close at hand. They had direct,
first-hand knowledge of him. Despite differing with him
in certain matters of belief, but remembering the Divine
command, `Fear not the censure of any censurer', they
showed great sincerity, honesty and broadmindedness in
making fair comment on his scholarship, virtue,
righteousness and service to Islam. They gave true
testimony which is preserved in the pages of history to
this day.
As against this learned
opinion, we have certain newspaper columnists, writers
and politicians of the present day who have no requisite
knowledge of the Holy Quran and Hadith, no familiarity
with Islamic literature, and who have neither read any of
Hazrat Mirza's books, nor do they know anything about the
Ahmadiyya Movement. They are not aware of those times or
the conditions prevailing then, when, according to
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hazrat Mirza carried out a
magnificent defence of Islam by conducting a jihad with
the pen from the front-line, and not only defeated the
opponents of Islam but went further to establish a
Jama`at whose objectives are to make Islam predominate in
the world, propagate and prove the truth of the Holy
Quran, and reform the condition of the Muslims
themselves. Thus was this grand Movement born.
The opponents of the
Ahmadiyya Movement, having read only the adverse
propaganda literature produced against the Movement,
level all sorts of false accusations against the Imam of
the Age, the Reformer of the 14th century Hijra, Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, may God have mercy on him. For the
sake of their material and political ends, they are
fanning the flames of hostility and ripping the unity of
Muslims to shreds.
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