AL-HAQ MUBAHATHA DELHI BY HADHRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD OF QADIAN

Ahmadiyya Mosque, Uganda

Through Ramadan, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have published a series of articles in which we have chronologically gone through the early books of The Promised Messiah and discussed them in detail. Today, we present our review of Al-Haq Mubahatha Delhi. The original Urdu of this book is available to read free online at alislam.org. This review was written by our team member, Don Vito. 

Social and Historical Context of AHMD
In the late 1800s, the city of Delhi was considered to be the home of some of the most learned Muslim scholars in the whole of India or even the region. There seem to have been over half a million Muslims living in that city at the time, which was a huge figure for that day and age. 

The Author of AHMD
Following a debate in Ludhiana, in 1891 The Promised Messiah (as) went to Delhi and challenged some of the most respected scholars of Delhi to debate with him regarding the life of Hadhrat Jesus (as). One such scholar, Maulwi Abdul Haq Sahib personally came to the Promised Messiah (as) and declined the challenge. Others amongst the challenged scholars found more mischievous means of avoiding such an open and honest debate.

Anyhow, the non-Ahmadi Muslims of Delhi then resorted to the Maulwi of Bhopal - Maulwi Bashir Ahmad Sahib- to take up the challenge of the Promised Messiah (as). One of the conditions of the debate was that only the Holy Quran and the Hadith were to be cited in support of the claim. The book Al Haq Mubahihta Delhi or the Delhi Debate, is an account of the debate that took place between The Promised Messiah (as) and Maulwi Bashir Ahmad Bhopali Sahib. 

The Contents of AHMD

Maulwi Sahib stated that he would provide verses which were ‘Qatiyud Dalalat’ which can roughly be translated to water tight evidence of the life of Hadhrat Jesus (as). Maulwi Sahib provided 4 verses of the Holy Quran but then declared only one to be a ‘Qatti’. At the introduction of every other verse in proof of the life of Hadhrat Jesus (as), he himself stated that this isnt a ‘qatti daleel’ but merely a weak support of the argument. 

The verse Maulwi sahib presented and on which he based the whole of his argument is of Surah An-Nisa, verse 160 (Verse 159 for those who do not count Bismillah) which states; 

And there is none among the People of the Book but will believe in it before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection, he (Jesus) shall be a witness against them. (The Holy Qu'ran, 4:159/160). 

Specifically Maulwi Sahib emphasized on the word “la-yu`minanna” stating that inclusion of the letters ‘Lam’ and ‘Noon’ have bound the meaning only to include the future which proves that sometime in the future, all the ‘People of the Book’ will believe in Islam before the death of Hadhrat Jesus (as) - which proves that he is still alive.

The arguments presented by the Promised Messiah (as) were that, 1. The law of the Arabic language presented by Maulwi Sahib regarding the ‘Lam’ and ‘Noon’ were not necessarily correct. He presented various verses of the Holy Quran with similar wordings but which were applicable to the past, present and future and if those verses were restricted exclusively to the future, the resulting translation would not be appropriate. The Promised Messiah (as) also considered the hypothesis that the verse only referred to the future, but then presented two alternate translations of this verse which would not prove the continued life of Jesus (as).

Secondly, the Promised Messiah (as) stated that Maulwi Sahib was to provide a ‘Qatti Daleel’ but presented a verse regarding which translations varied greatly. Many scholars had translated this verse differently, some even stating that this verse was not even about Hadhrat Jesus (as) but regarding the Holy Prophet (saw). How could one call such a verse a ‘Qatti Daleel’ while numerous renowned scholars were divided over its meaning?

The Promised Messiah (as) also questioned Maulwi Sahib on his muddled beliefs where on the one hand, his belief that all the ahle kitab would accept Hazrat Issa (as) upon his return conflicted with the idea of the great jihad against all the Kuffar (which includes the Ahle Kitab) upon his return. 

Regarding the wording of the Hadith, where the word Nuzool had been used regarding Hazrat Issa (as), the Promised Messiah (as) reminded Maulwi sahib upon the same use of this word in the Holy Quran for other things, including the Holy Prophet (saw)- and noone believes The Holy Prophet (saw) is to descend physically from the heavens. 

Discussion of Selected Passages from AHMD

The soul is not something in space. The nature of its relationships cannot be determined. After death the soul has a relationship with the grave which is revealed to those who possess the faculty of seeing vision. They can see the dwellers of the graves sitting in their graves and can hold converse with them. This is established by true Ahadith. 

A well known hadith mentions Salat in a grave, it is also mentioned in the Ahadith that the dead can hear the sound of footsteps and respond to the greeting of peace. They also have a relationship with heaven. There are different degrees of their heavenly exaltation. Some arrives at the first heaven, others reach the second or the third heaven, but all righteous souls are exalted as is mentioned in true Ahadith and is also indicated by the verse: For those who reject Our signs and turn away from them in disdain, the gates of heaven will not be opened (7:41); but the nature of their relationship to heaven or to the graves cannot be determined (Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Al-Haq Mubahatha Delhi)

The above passage discusses the nature of souls.

Next Edition of the Series: Asmani Faislah, Friday the 17th of August, 2012

This weekend, being the last weekend of Ramadan, we are excited to be publishing reviews of not one, but three books of The Promised Messiah, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. All three have their full English translations available to read online for free and the links to these translation are available in the table on This Link Page. The three upcoming titles are 'Asmani Faisalah', 'Nishan-e-Asmani' and 'Eik Esai Kay Theen Sawal or Un kay Jawabat' AKA 'The Heavenly Decree,' The Heavenly Sign' and 'Three Questions by a Christian and their Answers'. All three books are less than 100 pages of large text, so are relatively short