March 2014

Editors:

Shahid Aziz

Mustaq Ali

Contents: Page

The Call of the Messiah 1

The Evolution of Species and Islam by Shahid Aziz 4

The First Convert at the Woking Muslim Mission 5

م می

حالر

ن

م

ح اہلل الر

م س

ب

The Call of the Messiah

by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi

Spiritual matters in physical form In short, it has been established conclusively

from primary evidence that the prophet Jesus

(pbuh) is dead. The truth has been demon-

strated. In contrasting fashion, the remaining

hadith [Traditions of the Holy Prophet Muham-

mad (s)], describing the Messiah’s descent, em-

body elusive and subtle metaphors and figures

of speech belonging to that class [of revelation

termed] ‘speaking from behind the curtain’ – وما

إله وحيا أو من وراء حجاب أو يرسل كان لبشر أن يكلمه للاه

إنهه علي حكيم رسول فيوحي بإذنه ما يشاء (Holy Quran,

42:51) – of which thousands of examples are

found in the Word of God, and it behoves not an

honest and just man to disregard and deny

them. The Holy Prophet’s seeing two false

prophets in the form of two bangles was a reve-

lation of this kind; the slaughter of cows, too,

was a revelation of this kind; the death of the

wife with the longer hands before other wives

was also a revelation of this kind; the second

coming of the prophet Elias, as indicated in the

revelation of the prophet Malachi, descending at

a certain place among the cities of the Jews was

again a revelation of this kind; the sight of the

epidemic of Medina in the form of a distracted

woman was another revelation of this kind; in

the same way, the dajjal – which is a group of

people who mislead and beguile – was seen in

the shape of a particular man, and that, too, is a

revelation of this kind. In the revelations of the

prophets there are thousands of examples in

which spiritual matters had been seen and

made visible in physical form, or a whole group

or class of people was seen in the shape of one

person. For the whole human race, including

prophets, the Divine custom is that, in visions

and revelations, metaphor often plays a domi-

nant role. For instance, gather together three or

four hundred people and listen to their dreams.

In them, there will be mostly metaphors and

figures of speech. Someone saw a snake; an-

other, a wolf; the third, a dreadful flood; the

fourth, a garden; another person saw a fruit,

and another, a fire. All these matters will need

interpretation. The Traditions tell us that

deeds, good as well as bad, are seen in human

form in the grave. This, then, is a point of fact

that will eliminate discrepancies, resolve and

remove contradictions and bring truth and re-

ality to light. Blessed are those who ponder

over it!

The Second Coming Now, when it has been decided after a thorough

April

2014

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Hagia Sophia

2

March 2014

erwise, to impose a literal interpretation on the

prophecy, as did the Jews, will be to deny the

very prophethood of Jesus. This is because, if

the second coming of a person had been allowed

by Divine Law, the objection put forward by the

Jews as to why Elias did not come back to this

world again – as prophesied by the prophet

Malachi – prior the advent of the Messiah, would

have been quite valid and correct. And if the sec-

ond coming to this world of a person who had

passed away had been

permitted and allowed

by the Law of God, then

God Most High obvi-

ously – God forbid –

held Jesus up to ridi-

cule and shame before

the Jews deliberately,

for He did not send

Elias into the world

before him and left the

door open for different

interpretations. The

objection of the Jews,

going by the words as they stood, would be

quite reasonable, that is to say: when it had

been laid down as a condition for the appear-

ance of the true Messiah that Elias would first

descend upon this earth for a second visit, how

could it be that the Messiah, Son of Mary made

his appearance in the absence of Elias? Now,

since the Jews received the reply from Jesus that

by the second coming of Elias was meant the

advent of John the Baptist, no reasonable and

rational person would hesitate to acknowledge

that the prophecy of the second coming of Jesus

would also be fulfilled in the same way, for such

is the Divine rule that had previously applied,

and the Laws of God certainly do not change: ولن

تبديا تجد لسنهۃ . للاہ

The Quranic verdict In the way of the second coming of Jesus son of

Mary there is yet another insurmountable bar-

rier. It is the verse , کن خاتم النهبين ورسول للاہ ولہ i.e.,

“Muhammad is the Apostle of God and the Last

of the Prophets”, and also the hadith ل نبی بعدی ,

i.e, “No prophet after me”. How can it be permis-

sible as well as possible that in spite of the fact

that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the

investigation that Jesus is, in fact, dead, and the

fact of his death has been established from

every point of view, and when it is stated in an

authentic hadith that he lived to the good old

age of 120 years and remained on this earth for

87 years after the crucifixion event, the question

naturally arises: “What, then, is the meaning of

those Traditions implying that Jesus, Son of

Mary will descend in the last age?” To this ques-

tion we have just now given the reply that these

Traditions certainly

cannot be given a literal

interpretation. It is

clearly stated in the

Holy Quran that it is not

the practice of God

Most High to allow a

person to go up to

heaven in this material

body, then come back

down again to earth;

nor has it ever been the

practice of God Most

High to permit a man

who has departed this world ever to return to it

afterwards; and ever since the world began up

to this day, not a single instance of such a return

has ever been discovered or come to light. On

the other hand, an instance is found in earlier

scriptures to this effect, that the promise of a

given person’s second coming had been fulfilled

in this way: that someone else came in his

power and spirit. Accordingly, the promise that

Elias would come to this earth for a second visit

had been given to the Jews, and it was written in

scripture that before Jesus’ advent, Elias would

certainly return to this earth, yet the promise

has not, to this day, been literally fulfilled, al-

though Jesus, the Messiah who was to came,

came to and has also departed from this world.

There is, therefore, no doubt that the promise, in

accordance with Jesus’ interpretation of the

prophecy, was fulfilled in a spiritual sense and

that John the Baptist [Yahya] came into the

world in the power and spirit of Elias; it was

Elias, as it were, who had come. According to

this precedent we shall have necessarily to ad-

mit that the promise of the second coming of

Jesus might be fulfilled in the same manner as

the promise of the second coming of Elias. Oth-

Süleymaniye Mosque (exterior)

March 2014

3

the Great Unseen – which are evidently outside

human control – have been mentioned in the

prophecies and then fulfilled? Take, for instance,

the Holy Prophet’s prophecy, reported by Ya‘la and

Hakam that in the Last Age, i.e., in the time of the

Promised Messiah, people will be stopped from

going on the pilgrimage. How clearly has this

prophecy been ful-

filled at this time!

Every kingdom, on

account of the

plague, has

stopped intending

pilgrims from go-

ing to the holy city

of Makkah.* Has

such an event ever

occurred before?

And here is an-

other prophecy to

the effect that in

the time of the

Promised Mahdi

there will be a dou-

ble eclipse in the month of Ramadan. The moon

will be eclipsed on the first of its appointed nights,

and the sun in the middle of its appointed days.

What an important prophecy, which was recorded

in Dar Qutni eleven hundred years ago and pub-

lished for the world’s information! And now it has

been most clearly and manifestly fulfilled.

In the same way, it is written in Hadith that in

those days a new type of conveyance will be in-

vented. It will run hundreds of miles at a stretch

and people undertaking journeys will ride on it

day and night, while camels, in those days, will be

abandoned. What a splendid and superb prophecy

relating to the time of the Promised Messiah! Is it

within the power of man to have fabricated and

forged these prophecies and committed them to

writing hundreds of years ago?

Likewise, it is also predicted in Hadith that a

plague will break out in those days. Now, just open

Last of the Prophets, another prophet will appear

at some stage and prophetic revelation will begin

again? Do not all these factors justify the view that

for the elucidation of this hadith the apparent and

literal sense of the words will have to be given an-

other interpretation? Moreover, there is yet an-

other proof that the Promised Messiah is not the

same as the first

Messiah who has

passed away and

died, which is the

fact of their differ-

ent appearances. In

Bukhari, which is

the most authentic

and reliable book

next to the Book of

God, the appear-

ance of Jesus, Son

of Mary is de-

scribed as of red-

dish colour, like the

colour of the peo-

ple of Syria and as

painted in the pictures, with curly hair, whereas

the appearance of the Promised Messiah who is to

come to this ummah is said to be of wheatish col-

our, with straight hair. Besides this, it has also been

stated that he will be from among this ummah. The

actual words in Bukhari are امامکم منکم, imamukum

minkum, whereas Muslim has کم کم فامہ من , fa-

imakum minkum, so that both statements show

clearly that the coming Messiah will be a man from

among the followers of the Holy Prophet. Now if it

were argued that all these Traditions are arbitrary

matters of supposition and should, therefore, be

rejected, and that no one will come, then I would

say in reply that to hold this view is also unwar-

ranted, as these Traditions have achieved such a

highly rated chain of transmission that it is unwise

and unreasonable to brush them aside; such con-

tinued repetitions assume the colour of self-

evident truths.

The signs have come to pass Furthermore, these Traditions contain important

prophecies relating to matters of the Great Unseen,

which have been fulfilled in our time. If these

prophecies had been mere fabrications of the hu-

man brain, how could it be possible that matters of

Süleymaniye Mosque (interior)

* The Sultan of Turkey has stopped the performance of

Hajj this year. The Punjab Government has notified that no

ship will go to Makkah during this season; hence, no pil-

grimage. The Russian Government has also forbidden going

on Hajj this year. (Akhbar-i-Aam, 4th April, 1898.)

4

March 2014

your eyes and see that

these, in fact, are the

very days, and the

plague epidemic has

been raging and accel-

erating in a virulent

form.

It was also foretold

in Hadith that a sign

would appear in the

sun in those days, and

it is well known to all

how perfectly and

wonderfully the sun has been recently eclipsed,

so that people came from Europe and America

to behold this strange sight. Are all these heav-

enly matters of the Unseen under human con-

trol?

Yet another sign was foretold that in those

days there would also rise the same star, Zul-

sanin, that had previously risen in the time of

Jesus the Messiah, and before that, in the time of

the prophet Noah. That star, too, as everyone

knows, has appeared in the sky, and the news

has been published widely in the English and

Urdu papers. Again, a hadith tells of the breaking

out of a big fire in Java in the time of the Prom-

ised Messiah. That fire, too, the fact cannot be

gainsaid, has actually taken place. Traditions

refer to an outbreak of plague in Eden. All these

things have now been fulfilled. How, then, can

such Traditions containing so many important

matters of the Unseen which have actually come

to pass in their appointed time be set aside and

rejected as false and spurious?

The Evolution of Species

and Islam

by Shahid Aziz

“And when your Lord said to the angels, I am go-

ing to place a khalifa in the earth, they said: Will

you place in it such as make mischief in it and

shed blood? And we celebrate Your praise and

extol Your holiness. He said: Surely I know what

you know not.” (The Holy Quran, 2:30)

This verse of the Holy Quran is used to argue

that, as Allah has created humankind, the theory

of evolution is un-

Islamic. Some even go

so far as to say that it

should be banned, and

indeed even in a liberal

country like Turkey all

sites on the web which

refer to evolution have

been banned.

In this small note, I

want to look at two

commentaries on the

Holy Quran, one Sunni

and the other Shi‘a, to

see what they say. The Sunni commentary is by

the highly respected classical commentator

Imam Ibn Kathir. In his commentary on this

verse he asks how is it that the angels knew that

the creation proposed by Allah would create

mischief and shed blood on earth. He then an-

swers this himself and puts forward four possi-

bilities. He states:

“Either they learned this by some special

means, or they would have decided it by looking

at Nature – for it is stated that he shall be created

from dust – or else from the meaning of the word

khalifa they would have understood that he

would stop injustice and would be one who stops

(people from) what is unlawful and what is sinful.

Otherwise, because they had seen the previous

creation placed on earth, they extrapolated from

their (actions).” (Tafsir of Ibn-i Kathir [Urdu],

vol, 1, p. 105.)

Here it can be seen that the fourth reason

advanced by Imam ibn-i Kathir for the angels’

asking Allah is that they had seen a previous

creation cause bloodshed and mischief on earth.

This is nothing but a part of the theory of evolu-

tion of species as it is currently understood. In-

deed, on page 106, the Imam attributes to Haz-

rat ibn-i Abbas a statement that the jinn ruled

the earth before the creation of mankind. Re-

member, jinn is a word of Arabic and means

something that cannot be seen or known.

Tafsir-i namuna is a standard Farsi commen-

tary on the Holy Quran which was translated

into Urdu by Maulana Syed Safdar Hussain Na-

jafi at the recommendation of Iranian scholars

for the Shi‘a communities of Pakistan and India.

The Blue Mosque (interior)

March 2014

5

In it, in the commentary on the same verse and

regarding the question asked by the angels, it is

said:

“Some say that Allah had told them in sum-

mary humankind’s situation. Some consider that

the angels themselves understood this from the

words ‘in the earth’ for they knew that man shall

be created from dust and matter, because its limi-

tation will not be able to satisfy man’s nature

which craves for more; so that even if the whole

world is given to one person, even then it is possi-

ble that he will not be satisfied. If there is not suf-

ficient sense of responsibility then such condition

causes mischief and bloodshed.

“Other commentators believe that the

an gels’ prophecy was because mankind was not

the first creation on earth. On the contrary, be-

fore them there were other creatures who

caused dispute, argument and bloodshed. The

poor record of the previous creatures led the

angels to mistrust Adam.” (Op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 150

–151.)

Here, an authentic Shi‘a commentator is us-

ing classical sources to show that before

Adam was put on earth there had been

Adam-like creatures on earth. So two au-

thentic Sunni and Shi‘a scholars state, on

the basis of old, classical sources, that some

people believe that Adam was not the first

creation on earth but that similar creatures

had existed on earth before Adam.

There is also some discussion in the Shi‘a

commentary of what the word khalifa

means in the verse quoted above. Literally,

it means ‘successor’. This leads to another

question: “Whose successor is human-

kind?” The commentary says:

“Some say successor of humans or of others

who lived on earth before (Adam)” (p 150).

Here again is the possibility mentioned that

perhaps human-like creatures inhabited

and roamed the earth before human beings

as we know them were created and popu-

lated it.

I am not arguing in favour of the theory of

the evolution of species or against it, for

that matter. I am merely pointing out that

this is not something new. I am saying that,

even if we ignore the scientific context, the pos-

sibility of creatures which roamed in the earth

and had human-like characteristics was dis-

cussed by classical Muslim religious scholars in

a religious context to try and understand the

Holy Quran and answer some of the questions

which were raised by people about creation.

The First Convert at the Woking Muslim Mission:

Mrs Violet Ebrahim

The first person to accept Islam at the hand of

Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din was a Mrs Violet Ebra him.

The following is his report of this conversion as

it appeared in the Ahmadiyya newspaper Badr.

“Brethren, assalamu alaikum. Time is very short.

I have not yet even filed the accompanying arti-

cle which is about Woking. It is to be published

in the paper. It must be read out to Hazrat

[Maulana Nur-ud-Din] either in summary or in

its entirety.

6

March 2014

“Today God made it a very blessed Friday.

Among the Englishwomen in my circle of meet-

ing here is a Mrs Ebrahim, a native of Scotland

and daughter of a colonel. I continued preaching

to her in a slow process in my own way. Today

she was present at the Friday khutba. God had

put into my mind a fine topic on the special

characteristics of the

Quran, which made a deep

impression on her. In my

letter to Hazrat [Maulana

Nur-ud-Din] yesterday,

which will be received with

this letter, I mentioned a

European woman who was

getting close to Islam.

“After the khutba she

joined the prayer of her

own will and pleasure.

Praying in the manner in

which we do, she showed

herself as a Muslim. Mil-

lions of thanks to God for

this. All brethren and the

Hazrat sahib should pray

that she remains steadfast.

This should not be consid-

ered as a complete fulfil-

ment of the prophecy. God

the Most High will, shortly,

fulfil that dream of the late

Hazrat [Mirza Ghulam Ahmad]. However, by way

of a good omen I mention the following strange

thing.

“This is the first European woman who said

Friday prayers behind me. Her dress today, by a

happy coincidence, was a khaki satin. Could this

not be the first of those white birds whose

wings, that is to say dress, the Hazrat [Mirza

Ghulam Ahmad] saw as khaki in his vision? The

wings of a bird are its dress as they cover its

body. Congratulations, congratulations, con-

gratulations!

“Kamal-ud-Din.”

(Badr, 6 March 1913, p. 5.)

“This humble servant has been shown in a

vision that the rising of the sun from the West

signifies that the Western world which has been

involved of old in the darkness of disbelief and er-

ror shall be illuminated with the sun of Truth, and

those people shall have the light of Islam. I saw that

I was standing on a pulpit in the city of London and

explaining the truth of Islam in a well reasoned ad-

dress in the English language, and after this, I

caught a large number of birds that were sitting on

small trees and in colour

they were white and their

size was probably the size of

the partridge. So I inter-

preted this dream as mean-

ing that, though I may not

personally go there, yet my

writings would spread

among these people and

many righteous English men

would fall a prey to the

truth.” (Izala Auham, pp.

515–516.)

[The wings being

of khaki colour is not in this

published version of the

vision and must have been a

detail known by word of

mouth at that time.]

Maulana Nur-ud-Din’s reply In the next issue of Badr, the

reply by Maulana Nur-ud-

Din is published as follows:

“Hazrat Khalifat-ul-Masih says: I want to give

you good news, and it is such a congratulation that,

at least in my view, no one would have given you.

And it is that when the Holy Prophet, may peace

and the blessings of Allah be upon him, was called

to his mission the first person to accept Islam on

his hand was a woman. On your hand too, in Lon-

don, it is a woman who is the first to accept Islam.

This is tremendous good news. You must prostrate

before Allah the Most High, and I do so too. The sec-

ond happiness and congratulation I convey to you

is that the people of England worship the son of a

woman, and it is a woman that you have made a

Muslim there first of all.”

Later report in the Review of Religions In the Review of Religions of Qadian, the Ahmadiyya

monthly edited by Maulana Muhammad Ali till

March 2014

7

1914, in the issue for December 1913, there is a

report containing a letter by Violet Ebrahim. It is

as follows:

“ONE MORE CONVERT AND A NOBLE APPEAL

“One of the signs of the latter days which were

to see the advent of the Promised Messiah was

the rising of the sun from the

West. This sun was the sun of

Islam and we are glad to say

that the dawn has already be-

gun to break from the Western

horizon. There has begun an

awakening to Islam in the

West. The gloom which Chris-

tian misrepresentation had

spread over the West has be-

gun to disappear and people

are becoming more and more

alive to the truth of Islam.

Christianity is also waning and

preparing the way for the

spread of the Muslim faith. The

signs are very hopeful. Our

readers have already learnt of

the conversion of Lord

Headley. There are others,

both ladies and gentlemen,

who have privately informed

our Missionary, Khwaja Kamal-

ud-Din, of their acceptance of

Islam and it is hoped that like

Lord Headley they will soon

publicly announce their con-

version.

“A lady that has already

announced her conversion to

Islam writes to Mrs. Khadev

Jung:

“‘My dear sister Mrs. Khadev Jung. I was

greatly pleased at your sending your regards to

me in your letter to Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din and I

thank you for the same. He told us how inter-

ested you were in his monthly paper called

the Islamic Review and in the work he was do-

ing: really he deserves all the encouragement

we could give him. Last year when Khwaja Ka-

mal-ud-Din had recently arrived in London, my

husband met him at some meeting and invited

him in company with Mr. Zafar Ali Khan, Editor

of Zamindar, at our house. Since that day he was

our frequent visitor and he used to talk about

Islam: he used to invite us at his house on every

Friday when after praying he used to preach.

“‘His logical arguments in favour of Islam

and his comparisons of Islam and Christianity

were most interesting and convincing. When I

was with my parents I used

to go to Church with them

every Sunday and used to

hear the preacher who failed

to rouse in me any interest

for religion, and I used to

take everything for granted

— without giving any seri-

ous thought. Khwaja Kamal-

ud-Din has studied Christi-

anity and therefore he is bet-

ter able to make compari-

sons as to what is said in the

Bible on different subjects

and how Al-Koran treats the

same subject, thereby prov-

ing how superior Islam was

to Christianity. My eyes were

beginning to open in favour

of Islam and gradually I

found that I was Moslem at

heart. My heart went to Is-

lam all the more by my read-

ing every day in newspapers

about the butchery and

atrocities committed by the

Christians of Balkan on the

noble Turks whom now I

consider my brothers in

faith. I openly declared to be

Moslem. The Islamic Re-

view has done wonders. It has been my text-

book, Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din has a great talent

for writing which must be a gift from God. I can

never thank him enough for the change he had

brought in my soul; we consider him as a mem-

ber of our family; whenever he comes to London

from Woking, he stays with us.

“‘He has made another conquest which will

have far-reaching consequences in favour of

Is lam. Lord Headley, an Irish peer and member

of the House of Lords, has accepted Islam, so

8

March 2014

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore (UK)

The first Islamic Mission in the UK, established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission

Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, UK, HA0 4JQ

Centre: 020 8903 2689 President: 020 8529 0898 Secretary: 01753 575313 E-mail: aaiiLahore@gmail.com

Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk

Donations: www.virtualmosque.co.uk/donations

much so that he has commenced to contribute

articles in favour of Islam in the Islamic Re-

view. We have intimate knowledge of Khwaja

Kamal-ud-Din’s doings from the time he came to

London. He started the Islamic Review at his

own expense. He had about nine thousand ru-

pees when he came to London and he spent it all

in his work, publishing the Islamic Review and

distributing it broadcast. Living in London is

also expensive. But now he has no money and he

is worried as to how to continue. At present he

is circulating only a thousand copies in the

Western world whereas at least a hundred thou-

sand copies should be given out. It would be a

thousand pities and great shame for us Moslems

if his Islamic Review was to stop for lack of fi-

nancial help. I have been to the Woking mosque

with my husband and have prayed there on one

Friday. Khwaja sahib lives in the adjoining house

belonging to the Mosque, and he is living there

very poorly, almost like a hermit. Moslems of

India should rise to this occasion and you will

please convey my message to my sisters in India

for helping him in this great work. This work

should grow to gigantic proportions and should

spread through the whole world. I shall be

pleased to hear from you and I shall also keep

on writing to you. With true sisterly love.’

“Mrs. Khadev Jung sends this letter to

the Comrade (Delhi) for publication to-

gether with a sum of Rs. 250 as her first

installment towards the help of Khwaja

Kamal-ud-Din. She has made an appeal to

the Mussalmans of India to assist the

Khwaja in his noble work and we are glad

to learn that her appeal has been an-

swered by others. The Comrade proposes

to open a Fund in aid of Islamic Re-

view. We heartily thank those ladies and

gentlemen who have given a practical

proof of their sympathy for the noble

work which our Missionary is doing in

Europe and we hope that their example will be

followed by others. Ladies and gentlemen desir-

ing to be subscribers to the Islamic Review may

send their subscription money to Shaikh Rah-

matullah, Proprietor, English Warehouse, The

Mall Road, La hore, or to the Secretary Sadr An-

juman-i-Ahmadiyya, Qadian.”

In the next issue of Badr, the reply by Mau-

lana Nur-ud-Din is published as follows:

“Hazrat Khalifat-ul-Masih says: ‘I want to give

you good news, and it is such a congratulation

that, at least in my view, no one would have

given you. And it is that when the Holy Prophet,

may peace and the blessings of Allah be upon

him, was called to his mission the first person to

accept Islam on his hand was a woman. On your

hand too, in London, it is a woman who is the

first to accept Islam. This is tremendous good

news. You must prostrate before Allah the Most

High, and I do so too. The second happiness and

congratulation I convey to you is that the people

of England worship the son of a woman, and it is

a woman that you have made a Muslim there

first of all.’”

(Reproduced with minor editing from the

Wok ing Muslim Mission website at http://

www.wokingmuslim.org/)

Niagara Falls (frozen)