The Light April 2020 04

ِ
April
2020
س ی ْ ِ الرَّح
ن
س
س ‏ْب سِ‏ اہللس الرَّْحْ‏ ٰ
I Shall Love All Mankind.
The Light
International Organ of the Centre for the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam
WE BELIEVE
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) is the Last Prophet. After him, no prophet, old or new, can ever come.
The Holy Quran is complete, and no verses are missing from it.
The Holy Quran is perfect and none of its verses are abrogated.
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Editor in Chief
Editors
Dr Zahid Aziz
Managing Editor Mr Shahid Aziz
Suriname
South Africa
The USA
Dr Robbert Bipat
Mr Ebrahim Mohamed
Mrs Zainab Ahmad
Mrs Faryal Abdoelbasier
Contents
The Call of the Messiah 2
Noah by Omar Raja 2
Forgiveness by Iain Dixon 7
Buddhah's Prophecy by Dr Zahid Aziz 9
Conquest of Europe NOW by The Clarion
Project 11
Broadcasts (UK time)
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he shall not have worldly kingship
and rule, nor would he fight or shed
blood or have an army, but that he
would re-establish faith in the hearts
by spirituality and power of the
heart, as is the hadith ‘There is no
Mahdi except Jesus’ recorded in the
Hadith book of Ibn Maja. ... This hadith
means that no Mahdi shall come
except the man who shall come with
the temperament and disposition of
Jesus, i.e., he shall be the Promised
Messiah as well as the Mahdi- Hazrat
Mirza Gulam of Qadian.

April 2020 The
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The Call of the
Messiah
by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad
The Promised Messiah and Mahdi
(Editor’s note: Any quotations from the Quran
are translated from the author’s explanations
and are not literal translations of the verse
quoted. This extract is from the book Nuzul-ul-
Masih, taken from the Lahore Ahmadiyya publication
‘Essence of Islam’, p. 131 - 133, where the
Promised Messiah puts forward arguments and
signs about his claim.)
The followers of earlier religions have fallen
into the mistake of thinking that their scripture
is sufficient, and that they have no need of the
Quran. The answer to such assertions is that the
object with which the Word of God comes to humans,
is the bringing about of certainty. Almighty
God reveals His word to people, so that
they may believe in His existence and attributes
and know the ways of His pleasure from the
ways which He disapproves of, so that with the
blessing of certainty, their faith in God may be
perfect and they may avoid every path of wickedness
and transgression and walk in the paths
of righteousness. But when the days are over
during which a prophet of God lives upon Earth
and the word of God revealed to him gradually
loses its force and attraction and becomes a
story of the past, it fails to fulfill the object with
which it was revealed, and the hearts of humans
are devoid of the certainty which it brought at
first.
Look at all the Jews who have the books of
the prophets in their hands and, as against their
teachings, deceit in their hearts. How many are
there among Christians who, being smitten on
the right cheek, turn the other cheek, and to him
who takes away their coat, give the cloak also,
and refrain their eyes from looking lustfully, and
do not judge other people, and have not
crooked, deceitful and greedy hearts? Such people
are rarely found.
In short, as you stand in need of fresh meals
every new morning, you require fresh revelation
to renew your faith. When the light of faith,
which is certainty, begins to diminish with the
lapse of time, people recite the Word of God, but
the recital does not extend beyond their lips.
The word of God remains far from them, and
does not even touch them, and therefore, they
cannot be affected with its good influence. It is
as if the word is taken away from among them
and, leaving but dead bones in their hands, it
rises to heaven. Then a new magnetiser is created
and the word of God draws him to itself
and with the strength of the word, he is granted
a certainty. The knowledge which had risen to
heaven is brought back by him to earth.
This is the Divine Law according to which
certainty is generated afresh in the hearts by
the fresh word of God. (Return to contents)
Noah
The moral and spiritual significance of
Noah’s prophetic history and his embarkment
on the Ark as related in the
Bible and Quran.
By Omar Raja
Proponent of the Lahore
Ahmadiyya Movement in
Islam
Prophet Noah is recognized as a prophet
and messenger of God in Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, as evidenced by the teachings of the
Quran and Bible with respect to his person.
However, a marked difference between the
Quran and Bible is that the latter does not cast
full light on the moral value to be garnered from
the life histories of Biblical prophets, including
the Prophet Noah. As noted by renowned author,
Maulana Muhammad Ali, in his brief yet
valuable treatise, History of the Prophets, the
Quran provides a far greater moral context and
preserves the righteousness of their character:
“It will be found that wherever previous
record has cast a slur on the character of a
I Shall Love All Mankind.

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prophet, the Holy Quran has invariably vindicated
it. The Holy Book has further brought out
facts which enhance the moral value of these
narratives and removed defects and contradictions
which have found way into sacred history
due to manipulation of facts or carelessness in
recording them. This affords the clearest evidence
that Divine Inspiration and not any previous
record or tradition was the source from
which the Prophet obtained information. By doing
away with the profanity of sacred history,
the Holy Quran has rendered immense service
to the Bible itself. This is in accordance with its
claim.” (Preface, p. 4).
Indeed, the Quran has affirmed the truth
and prophethood of many Biblical personages
while also relating many inspiring incidents in
their lives but without the error of misinformation.
Also, the Quran’s objective in relating
these events is to show they all delivered the
message of Unity of God, a message of doing
good to one’s fellow man, a message that called
for moral reformation and betterment of the
people to whom they were sent, a message that
the truth would ultimately prevail, even in the
face of heavy opposition, and that those that opposed
and persecuted the Prophet Muhammad,
even at the very height of their power, would
not prevail.
The following discussion will focus on the
details of Noah’s prophetic history, revealed to
the Prophet Muhammad during the early Makkan
period when he and his companions were
few and facing heavy opposition; a history
which in fact served as a great reminder and
comfort to them that the good end would be for
the dutiful.
Righteousness of Prophet Noah and
Marked Differences Between Biblical
and Quranic Narratives
I Shall Love All Mankind.
In the Quran Prophet Noah is revered as one
whom was blessed (11:25) and guided by Allah
to attain prophethood (57:26). Prophet Noah
was a “plain warner” (11:25), a “faithful messenger”
and a “messenger from the Lord of the
worlds” (7:61), and also referred to as a “believing
servant,” (37:81) a “righteous servant,”
(66:10) and a “grateful servant” (17:3) of
his Lord. The Bible too speaks of his righteousness,
referring to Prophet Noah as one whom
was favored by God and describing him as “a
righteous man, blameless among the people of
his time, and he walked faithfully with God”
(Genesis 6:9). Further, both the Quran and Bible
speak of the culminating event of God’s command
to Prophet Noah to build an ark before the
onset of the great flood.
This is where the similarities end. The Bible
is silent about Prophet Noah’s preaching, the
opposition he met with, and the chance for his
opposition to reform and avert Divine punishment.
Prophet Noah’s prayers for deliverance
and his answers to his prayers are also not mentioned
in the Biblical narrative. Instead, the Bible
states that man had to be punished outright
because they had lost their way and fell to corruption
on a grand scale:
“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of
the human race had become on the earth, and
that every inclination of the thoughts of the human
heart was only evil all the time. The Lord
regretted that he had made human beings on
the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So
the Lord said, I will wipe from the face of the
earth the human race I have created—and with
them the animals, the birds and the creatures
that move along the ground—for I regret that I
have made them.” (Genesis 6:5-7).
This is problematic because the Bible leads
one to believe that the flood, depicted in the
story of Genesis as worldwide, was premised on
God’s regret of having created humans in the
first place. This characterization thus presupposes
the notion that the entire earth was to be
flooded because all of mankind had come under
God’s wrath with the exception of Prophet Noah
and his family. The Biblical account also ends by
attributing an act of indecency and drunkenness
to Prophet Noah (God forbid), thereby
making the account lose all sense of morality.
Prophet Noah’s Preaching
In the Quranic account, Prophet Noah is

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shown to be “calling upon his people night and
day” (71:5) and offering nothing but “good advice”
(7:62) in hopes of bringing about a muchneeded
reformation in his people. He says:
“My people, serve Allah, you have no God
other than Him. Will you not guard against
evil?” (23:23).
Alluding to the story of Prophet Noah and
his preaching, the Prophet Muhammad addressed
his opponents, the Quraish, in the following
words:
“What is the matter with you that you do not
hope for greatness from Allah?” (Quran 71:13).
Noah, as all other Prophets, conveyed the
message that in order to win favor with God, it
was necessary to submit entirely to the One and
only God, to act justly towards others, and guard
against all wrongdoing as this was the sure path
to achieving moral greatness.
Opposition faced by Prophet Noah
Prophet Noah’s preaching, however, was
met with severe opposition. The Quran describes
his opponents as a transgressing people
who were big with pride and exceeded the limits.
They argued that they could not possibly accept
a man who had a following that was comprised
of the weak and those whom they regarded
as inferior to them. With disdain, they
addressed Noah:
“Shall we believe in you when the lowest
(people) follow you?” (26:111).
“We do not see you but (as) a mortal like us,
nor do we see that any follow you but those who
are the lowest of us at first thought. Nor do we
see in you any superiority over us; no, we think
you to be liars” (11:27).
The opponents of the Prophet Muhammad
too rejected him on account of him not possessing
high rank and wealth, putting forth the
argument:
of importance in the two towns?” (43:31).
To them he could not possibly be a “man of
importance” when he was preaching against
those who were consumed in the love of power
and wealth. In their eyes, importance was only
attached to the rich and powerful; moral greatness
meant little or nothing. And so the opponents
of Prophet Noah did not take heed of his
warning and cared not for reforming their ways.
They even called for Divine chastisement to befall
on themselves if Prophet Noah was truly
among the truthful:
“Noah… bring upon us what you threaten us
with, if you are truthful” (11:32).
At last, the fierce opposition he was met
with was even bent on taking his life and devised
plans to do so:
“And they have planned a mighty plan”
(71:22).
“If you do not give up, Noah, you will certainly
be stoned to death” (26:116).
Prayers of Prophet Noah
In face of this bitter persecution, Prophet
Noah supplicated:
“I am overcome, so do Thou help (54:10),
“My Lord, help me against their calling me a
liar” (23:26), and
“… judge between me and them openly, and deliver
me and the believers who are with me”
(26:118).
He had also prayed:
“My Lord, forgive (igh-fir) me and my parents
and him who enters my house believing,
and the believing men and the believing
women. And increase not the wrongdoers in
aught but destruction!” (71:28).
“Why was not this Quran revealed to a man
I Shall Love All Mankind.
Here, the word “forgive,” with respect to the

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prayer of Noah for himself and the believers, in
its wider significance denotes divine protection
against the commission of sins and a path toward
spiritual progression. In this connection,
Maulana Muhammad Ali writes:
“Istighfar or the prayer for protection
(ghafr) is in fact a prayer for divine help in the
advancement to higher and higher stages of
spiritual perfection.” (The Religion of Islam, p.
177).
significance and mere blood relationship with
Prophet Noah counted for nothing in the sight
of God. Ultimately, it was the wrongdoers who
were rendered the lowest of the low. Further, it
was not the ark in and of itself that would save
his followers; it was their unwavering, deeprooted
faith and trust in the Almighty God that
He would safeguard the ship and allow it to sail
safely to its final destination. And so those that
stood firm for the cause of the Truth embarked
on the ark and prayed:
Building of the Ark
God heard the prayers of Prophet Noah and
instructed him to build an ark.
“And Noah certainly called upon Us, and excellent
Answerer of prayers are We!” (37:75).
“Make the ark under Our eyes and according
to Our revelation… take into it two of all
things, a pair, and your own people” (11:37).
The Good End for the Doers of Good
and Dutiful
The Bible states the entire household of
Noah embarked on the ark:
“Go into the ark, you and all your household,
for I have seen that you are righteous before me
in this generation” (Genesis 7:1).
“Go forth from the ark, you and your wife,
and your sons and your sons’ wives with you”
(Genesis 8:16).
According to the Quran, however, not everyone
that was a part of Prophet Noah’s household
embarked on the ark and found deliverance
before the arrival of the great deluge.
Prophet Noah’s own son refused and perished.
The wrongdoers, including his son, brought
ruin upon themselves as a result of their own
increasing misdeeds. When Noah cried out, “My
Lord, surely my son is of my family,” God said in
turn, “O Noah, he is not of your family; he is (an
embodiment of) unrighteous conduct” (11:46).
This house thus had a moral and spiritual
I Shall Love All Mankind.
“In the name of Allah be its sailing and its
anchoring. Surely my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful”
(11:41).
“Praise be to Allah, Who delivered us from the
unjust people! And say: My Lord, cause me to
land a blessed landing and You are the Best of
those who bring to land” (23:28–29).
The details of the history of Prophet Noah
with regard to his preaching, the opposition he
met with, his deliverance, the ultimate fate of
the wrongdoers was revealed to the Prophet
Muhammad at a time when he and his own followers
in Makkah were facing intense persecution,
at a time when they were weak and
thought to be of little importance. But the Almighty
God comforted and assured them that as
was the case of Prophet Noah and his people, in
their case too, the good end would be for the
steadfast and dutiful. The doers of good would
prevail. In this connection, the Quran says:
“And We bore him on that which was made
of planks and nails, floating on, before Our eyes
— a reward for him who was denied. And certainly
We left it as a sign, but is there any that
will mind?” (54:13-15).
“These are announcements relating to the
unseen which We reveal to you (O Muhammad);
you did not know them — (neither) you nor
your people — before this. So be patient. Surely
the (good) end is for the dutiful.” (11:49).
“But they rejected him, so We delivered him
and those with him in the ark, and We made
them rulers and drowned those who rejected
Our messages. See, then, what was the end of

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those who were warned.” (10:73).
“And We delivered him and his people from
the great distress; And made his offspring the
survivors and left for him (praise) among the
later generations, Peace be to Noah among the
nations! Thus, indeed do We reward the doers
of good” (37:76-80).
So, the life histories of the previous prophets
contained a prophetic allusion to the
Prophet Muhammad’s life and ultimate success
even at a time of utter helplessness and great
despair. Indeed, in the story of Prophet Noah lay
a great message of comfort and hope for the
persecuted that stood firm in the face of all opposition
and acted aright. Additionally, there
was a message of hope for greatness and for becoming
rulers of a great nation, but only by first
making themselves morally and spiritually
great by acting on the Divine guidance in its true
letter and spirit. And certainly, none of this
could have been achieved without the mercy,
love and grace of the Almighty God, the Most
Merciful, Gracious, Loving, High and Great.
The Spiritual Ark of Today
In today’s time, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,
Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in
Islam, who was raised by God as the great Mujaddid
(Divine Reformer), inspired saint and
spiritual khalifa of the Prophet Muhammad, has
extended an invitation to all to enter into his
spiritual house or community, which he has
been likened to Noah’s Ark.
In his book, Fath-i Islam (Victory of Islam),
he writes that at the time of the founding this
Movement, God informed him saying:
“There is a storm of misguidance raging on
the earth, so build this ark at the time of this deluge.
Whoever enters this ark will be saved from
drowning, but he who denies will perish.”
As he came to rekindle the light of Islam,
show man the ways of the love of God and revive
the true spirit of the faith in the hearts of people,
those who embark in this spiritual ark,
firmly pledge to pursue a path of moral and
I Shall Love All Mankind.
spiritual greatness. In his book, Kishti-Nuh (Ark
of Noah), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad explains
that God who is our paradise and our greatest
treasure makes apparent His extraordinary
power and greatness to us only when we pursue
the difficult path of reforming ourselves for the
better, heart and soul, in extraordinary ways,
even in the face of stormy opposition. This
reformation and purification of the soul requires
us to make God a reality in our lives, to
pray with full conviction, concentration and sincerity
of heart and heartfelt humility of spirit.
We must also control our lower base desires
and inculcate within ourselves all the best qualities,
including those of forgiveness, patience,
perseverance, truthfulness, and humility. And
even in times of distress and tribulation, he explains
that we must continue to tread upon this
noble path and work for the good of mankind
and never oppress anyone, for that is the path
that leads to success.
Further, he writes that the Quran is to be
honored and given precedence over everything,
and not treated as something forsaken; otherwise
certain traditions and reports in the hadith
are liable to being interpreted in a manner that
goes against the true spirit and teachings of Islam
and the practice of the Prophet Muhammad:
the popular notion, for example, that the
Promised Messiah and Mahdi would come to
forcefully impose Islam on others only brings
disgrace to our religion and runs contrary to
teachings of the Quran. In another book,
Haqiqat-ul-Mahdi, he has explained, that the
Mahdi who is the Promised Messiah would
spread the message of Islam, never by means of
war, but by way of example and good morals. He
writes:
“…he shall not have worldly kingship and
rule, nor would he fight or shed blood or have
an army, but that he would re-establish faith in
the hearts by spirituality and power of the
heart, as is the hadith ‘There is no Mahdi except
Jesus’ recorded in the Hadith book of Ibn Maja.
... This hadith means that no Mahdi shall come
except the man who shall come with the temperament
and disposition of Jesus, i.e., he shall
be the Promised Messiah as well as the Mahdi.
He shall come with the temperament of Jesus,

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following his technique of teaching, i.e., he shall
not return evil for evil, nor shall he fight; rather,
he shall spread guidance by means of a pure example
and heavenly signs. ... His teaching shall
be, do not fight for the faith, but spread it by
means of the light of truth, and the miracles of
good morals and Divine nearness. I say truly
that he who now fights for the religion ... he disobeys
God and His Prophet, and goes outside
the instructions, limits and duties set by them. I
wish to inform our benevolent government that
the Promised Messiah who has received guidance
from God, and who follows the path of Jesus,
is myself.” (Haqiqat al-Mahdi, pages i – iii,
quotation taken from The Ahmadiyya Case).
As such, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the
particular Mujaddid of the Age that fulfills the
prophecies relating to Mahdi and Messiah, came
at a critical time to revive key principles of Islam
that had become neglected over time by Muslims;
the neglect of which had lent the faith to a
great deal of misunderstanding and misrepresentation
and damage to the prestige of Islam in
the world. In painting the true beautiful picture
of Islam, by way of example and literary means,
he would captivate hearts and minds, and plant
the spiritually life-giving seeds to set in motion
a moral and spiritual revolution in the world.
Those who continue this most important work,
even in the face of heavy opposition, will help
bring about the much-needed Islamic renaissance
in the world.
In conclusion, the Quran provides us with a
brief history of Prophet Noah, replete with
moral and spiritual lessons, that is left wanting
in the Biblical narrative. The physical ark of
Prophet Noah alone did not save him and his
true followers; it was their complete trust and
reliance in the Unseen God that He would sail
them to a place of refuge amidst the onset of a
great deluge; moreover, they acted upon Prophet
Noah’s teachings and endeavored to
achieve moral and spiritual greatness; an endeavor
which would carry them forward
through every trial and tribulation that came
their way. Similarly, in this age, the true followers
of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who have
taken the ba’iat (pledge) and sincerely pledged
heart and soul to act upon the true letter and
I Shall Love All Mankind.
spirit of Islamic teachings and thereby render
practical service to God and humanity, find
themselves in his spiritual ark. And today, it is
the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam,
which keeps afloat the true principled teachings
of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and continues
his great mission of reform work and in presenting
to the world a true picture of the peaceful,
tolerant, liberal, rational, non-sectarian,
heart-inspiring Islam; the Islam of the Quran
and the teachings of which are exemplified in
the life example of the Prophet Muhammad.
This heavenly ship is essentially the ship of
Islam that leads to renewed spiritual life and
the grand ‘home of the hereafter’ (Quran
29:64). (Return to contents)
Forgiveness (Part 3)
By Iain Dixon
“When you see the blood
... your life will never be the
same.”
A couple of years ago I was invited to look
around a Shia mosque, and had a very kind lady
give me a one-to-one ‘mini-tour’ of the facilities.
It was very different from any mosque I had
seen before. Inside it had mini replicas of holy
shrines, and there were banners written in Arabic,
and beautiful wall tapestries. What I found
very interesting though (and what really stuck
in my mind), was when she placed a small, flat,
clay stone in my hand. Apparently, it is called a
‘turbah.’ She explained that Shia Muslims place
their foreheads on the stone when they prostrate
in prayer. She then went on to explain
about the vicious martyrdom of Imam Hussain
in Karbala, Iraq. During the month of Muharram
(when Imam Hussain was martyred), she explained
that in modern times it has been known
for turbahs to spontaneously begin to bleed,
with blood trickling out. Whether or not that really
happens, I cannot comment. But what really
struck me, was what she said next - “When you
see the blood ... your life will never be the same.”
When You See the Blood
I remember when I was at college two students
were laughing and joking about how

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drunk they were going to get that Friday night.
It was the weekend, and they were going to get
“blind drunk”. My Maths teacher overheard
what they said and rebuked them. She said:
“You don’t know what you are talking about. Do
not laugh about drunkenness. In one moment, I
lost my uncle, my aunt, and my two cousins;
killed in a car crash because a drunk driver
smashed head on into the car they were travelling
in. People like you killed my family.” They
were stunned. They were shocked. They were
apologetic. They were changed.
“When you see the blood ... your life will
never be the same.”
The Horror of War
Back in the late 80’s I remember meeting an
ex-soldier who served in Northern Ireland. He
told me about the horrors of serving there, and
how some of his fellow soldiers and friends had
their limbs blown off in front of his eyes, and
how one close friend had half his face shot away
whilst they were travelling in the same people
carrier. Seeing violence like that, gave him recurring
nightmares. When he saw the blood, his
life was never the same.
Forgiveness
Poet and writer George MacDonald said:
“Only good where evil was, is evil dead ... that
alone is the slaying of evil.” Unforgiveness is a
plague sweeping through this earth. It causes
hate and destruction. It causes wars. It wrecks
families and marriages. It wrecks churches and
jamaats. It can also destroy a person’s mind and
body. Unforgiveness is an evil within each one
of us that needs to be slain. It must be slain! Only
the goodness of forgiveness will slay the evil of
unforgiveness.”
letting go. The pain will destroy us. We need to
let the poker drop. We need to learn forgiveness.
Will you learn forgiveness?
The Beauty of Islam Ahmadiyya
Although not believing that Jesus died on
the cross, the Lahore Ahmadiyya movement
bravely announces that Jesus was truly nailed to
the cross. A hideous torture and punishment. A
pain beyond words. This Jesus who was
whipped and scourged and crowned with a
crown of thorns ... thorns that cut and pierced.
This Jesus who was spat upon ... mocked ... ridiculed.
This Jesus who was nailed to a cross and
lifted up ... lifted up with blood streaming from
the wounds in his hands and feet. This Jesus
who lived for Allah, lived to please him... lived to
serve others ... lived to bring love into the world.
This Jesus was hammered to the cross. This Jesus
was covered with blood, blood that dripped
like red tears from heaven, blood that spoke of
mankind’s hatred - blood that spoke of mankind’s
rebellion against Allah’s holy Law. Blood
that was shed because of mankind’s dishonour
towards Allah’s servant. “He is despised and rejected
of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief......he was despised and we esteemed
him not.”- Isaiah 53:3
When You See the Blood
With all that hatred that people were showing
towards Jesus, what was his reaction? Did he
curse them? Did he call out for justice to be
done? Did he order a legion of angels to destroy
them? No. We read: “Then said Jesus, “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.”-
Luke 23:34
“When you see the blood ... your life will
never be the same.”
When I was a teenager, I lived in a small cottage.
We had no central heating, only two coal
fires. I used to love leaving the poker in the fire
until it glowed red-hot. I would then take the
hot poker and burn patterns on the logs which
we had stored nearby. In many ways, harbouring
unforgiveness is like taking a red-hot poker
in our hand and holding the hot part without
I Shall Love All Mankind.
Can you forgive? Will you learn from Jesus?
Only good where evil was, is evil dead ... that
alone is the slaying of evil. Look at the blood of
Jesus. Learn from his example. Plead to Allah for
a forgiving heart. Do not destroy yourself. Do
not destroy others. Let the red-hot poker fall to
the ground.

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“Christ suffered for us, leaving an example
that we should follow his steps......when he was
reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered,
he threatened not.”- 1 Peter 2: 21, 23
When you see His blood ... you will never be
the same. Concluded (Return to contents)
Mughal general in 16th
century writes about
encountering Buddha’s
prophecy in Tibet
By Zahid Aziz
Writing in the Lahore Ahmadiyya English weekly
The Light in 1944, Dr Nazirul Islam, M.A., Ph.D., 1
begins an article as follows:
“Here is another useful addition of a reference
to Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi’s
book ‘Muhammad in World Scriptures’.
I am editing now-a-days a well
known work ‘Rashidī’ — a history of the
Mughals of Central Asia, written by
Mirza Haider (b. 905 A.H., d. 958 A.H.) —
a cousin of Emperor Baber. Mirza Haider
conquered Kashmir in 948 A.H. (1541
A.D.) and ruled this country for about
ten years. It was during this time (951
A.H.) that he wrote his book ‘Tarikh-i-
Rashidī’.
In 938 A.H. when Mirza Haider was in
the service of Sultan Sa‛id of Kāshghar he
led an expedition under the orders of
Sultan Sa‛id against Tibet. Mirza Haider
invaded that country and invited the inhabitants
to accept Islam. In his history
Mirza Haider relates an interesting story
about the religious beliefs of the ‛Ulamās
of Tibet at that time.”
In the rest of his article he quotes from Mirza
Haider’s book on what the Buddhist religious
leaders told him about their religion and that
Buddha had prophesied the appearance of the
Last Prophet, coming after a large number of
prophets, who would be an orphan. He also
shows some of the quotation in the original Persian
text.
Having read this article, I traced a complete
English translation of Tarikh-i Rashidi, published
in 1895. The translation was done by the orientalist
and linguist Denison Ross (d. 1940) at the
suggestion of the explorer, geographer and diplomat,
Ney Elias (d. 1897) who then edited Ross’
translation and added a commentary. (In 2009 it
was re-issued as an e-book by Karakoram Books
of Srinagar, Kashmir, to which the editor, Mohammed
Murad Butt, has added many images of
miniature paintings relating to the places and
scenes mentioned by the author.)
The extract in The Light is from chapter XCI
(91), Tibet and the customs of its people, in which
Mirza Haider relates his talks with the religious
leaders of Tibet through an interpreter. He notes
that on the finer points of religion the interpreter
was at a loss to understand and could not explain.
However, Mirza Haider was able to discover
their “tenets and rites”, and he sets them
out in this chapter. Towards the end of his description
of their faith, he writes as follows.
(Please note that in the extract below Buddha is
called Shakyamuni. That was his name. Buddha
was the title he acquired after his enlightenment.)
“Such are the tenets of the religion of
Shaká Muni. All Khitái is of this faith, and
they call it the religion of “Shakiá Muni”;
while in Tibet it is called “Shaká Tu Bá,”
and “Shaká Muni.” In histories it is written
“Shaká Muni.” In some histories,
Shaká Muni is reckoned among the
prophets of India, and some hold that he
was a teacher [hakim]. Also, it is maintained
that no one goes to Heaven by the
mere acceptance of the faith and religion,
but only in consequence of his
works. If a Musulmán performs good
acts, he goes to Heaven; if he do evil, he
goes to Hell. This also applies to [these]
1 Dr Nazirul Islam worked in the Department of
Education in Kashmir. While doing his Ph.D. in
Germany he briefly served in 1939 as Assistant
I Shall Love All Mankind.
Imam of the Berlin Mosque of the Lahore Ahmadiyya
Movement. In the late 1970s, after retirement,
he served as Imam of the Lahore Ahmadiyya
branch in the UK.

April 2020 The
Light 10
infidels. They hold the Prophet in high
esteem, but they do not consider it the
incumbent duty of the whole of mankind
to be of his religion. They say:
“Your religion is true, and so is ours. In
every religion one must conduct oneself
well. Shaká Muni has said: After
me there will arise 124,000 prophets,
the last of whom will be called Jána
Kasapa, an orphan, without father or
mother. All the world will comprehend
his religion. When he is sent, it will be
necessary for the whole world to submit
to him, and blessed will he be who
hastens to adopt his faith. I bequeath
my own religion in order that it may be
handed down from generation to generation
until the blessed time of his appearance.
The semblance of this
prophet will be in this wise”
— and therewith he gave an image
which the people were to remember, for
in this form the prophet would appear.
People should believe in him before all
other men.
At the present time, the chief idol (which
they place in the entrance of all the Idol
Temples) besides all their fables, have
reference to him. This idol is the figure
of Jána Kasapa. And they attribute most
of those qualities to Jána Kasapa, which
apply to our Prophet. I observed to
them: “What Shaká Muni said refers to
our Prophet.” They replied: “Shaká Muni
said he would come after 124,000
prophets, and after him would come no
other prophet. Now of those 124,000,
but few have appeared as yet.” I insisted
earnestly that they had all appeared, but
they would not admit it, and so remained
in their error.” 2
Comments on the above quotation
It appears from the statement at the beginning,
“In some histories, Shaká Muni is reckoned
among the prophets of India…” that Muslims
even earlier than when this book was written
around 1540 C.E. had recognized that prophets
had appeared in India and Buddha was among
them.
The appearance of a total of 124,000 prophets
is mentioned in Hadith by the Holy Prophet
Muhammad. It may, however, be noted that the
renowned 18th century theologian Shah Waliullah
of Delhi writes that this number refers not
only to prophets but includes Divinely-inspired
saints as well, such a one being known as a muhaddath.
Buddhist literature mentions the appearance
of a large number of Buddhas before
the Gautama Buddha, this number greatly varying
and going up even to millions. The belief of
these Buddhists of Tibet about 124,000 prophets
would be consistent with this, and the occurrence
of the same number in Islamic and Buddhist
tradition would be evidence of both religions
being revealed by God.
As to their statement that these prophets
would arise after Buddha, this may have been
miscommunicated by the interpreter who, as
Mirza Haidar has indicated, “was at a loss to understand
and could not explain” certain religious
points. The name given by them of the last
prophet, Jána Kasapa, is similar to that of the
Buddha who preceded the Gautama. Again, this
may be due to the same miscommunication that
the Coming Prophet has been confused with
Kasapa.
In any case, Mirza Haidar recording this exchange
does show that Muslims, many centuries
ago, realized that Buddha was a prophet
like the prophets that appeared in various lands
according to the teachings of Islam, and that he
prophesied the coming of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
More of life of the Buddha
Mahatma Buddha, the eminent teacher and
preacher of morals, otherwise known as the
“Light of Asia”, which dispelled all darkness of
ignorance and cured spiritual ills from the surface
of India, was born in the town Kapilavastu
in Nepal about 2,400 years ago. According to the
2 See p. 415–416 of the 1895 edition.
I Shall Love All Mankind.

April 2020 The
Light 11
Buddhist creed he was the last of a galaxy of religious
reformers, as many preachers had
emerged on particular occasions before him.
His father Suddhodana of the Shakya dynasty
was king, and his mother’s name was Maya
Devi. His genealogy reached back to the famous
Kshatriya Rishi Gautama, hence Buddha was
called Shakyamuni Gautama or Shakya Singha.
Buddha is a Sanskrit word and it means
aroused one, awakened, intelligent, clever, wise,
enlightened, etc., or it connotes a perfect man
who has attained the knowledge of truth and
righteousness and one having come out of
worldly darkness into light. In fact, the origin of
this word is the Arabic word ba‛atha, meaning
he roused him, excited him, or put him in motion
or action. Ba‛ith-un and ba‛th-un mean a man
whose anxieties or griefs awake him from sleep.
The Holy Quran says about the Holy Prophet
Muhammad:
“He it is Who raised (ba‛atha) among the illiterates
a Messenger from among themselves,
who recites to them His messages and purifies
them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom
— although they were before certainly in
manifest error.” — 62:2
According to Buddhist terminology, it is not
a name but a title which is vouchsafed to one
who has come out of darkness into light and
who calls others out of this abyss. There have
been Buddhas even before Shakyamuni Gautama
and there exists the prophecy of the advent
of a Buddha after him. So the first similarity
of the Prophet Muhammad to the Buddha is
in his title and in his mission. In the verse
quoted above, the Prophet Muhammad is spoken
of as having been “raised” (ba‛atha) or
awakened to life. (Return to contents)
French President Emmanuel Macron is taking heat
after a woman wearing a full-face veil (niqab) approached
him ahead of a speech announcing new
measures to fight Islamic “separatism” in France.
France was the first European country to ban the wearing
of niqabs in public (Photo: SEBASTIEN BO-
ZON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
An Islamic scholar and grand imam in Egypt
was demoted from his senior status and banned
from giving lectures or Friday sermons for daring
to question the legitimacy of the concept of
Islamic conquest.
As reported by The Arab Weekly, Nashaat
Zarraa contends that Islam does not call for attacking
others because of their differing religious
beliefs and that the Quran sanctions religious
freedom.
Zarraa pointed to the consequence of promoting
the concept of Islamic conquest:
“The risk with sanctifying Islamic conquests
in such an absolute way is implicitly condoning
the approach by that terrorist organisations
that use conquests as justification for jihad
against all those who disagree with them in
thought and belief, despite the fact that Islam
restricts jihad to self-defense and does not justify
the use of intimidation, killing and enslaving
women to spread the faith.”
Today’s Islamic Conquest of
the West
https://bit.ly/39TkF1q
This article was originally published by Clarion
Project.org and reprinted with permission.
I Shall Love All Mankind.
“When [the Islamic State] ISIS entered Syria
and Iraq, it applied the same approach about
the history of Islamic conquests,” Zarraa added.
“Some jurisprudence books say that, when an
imam conquers a country, he has the right to kill
the men and capture the women.
“The extremists’ claims cannot therefore be
rejected without first critiquing and revising

April 2020 The
Light 12
the heritage associated with the conquests and
debunking the fallacies surrounding them that
have been used against humanity.”
For bringing up this issue, Zarraa was subject
to a “vicious campaign” by scholars at al-
Azhar, an institution considered to be the
worldwide authority of Sunni Islam.
Yet, Zarraa’s point opens a huge question:
Outside of al-Azhar, are Muslims – or non-Muslims
— even allowed to bring up this issue in
our day and age?
Hundreds of years ago, brutal conquest was
a way of life in the world. From the Byzantines
to the Romans, the Crusaders and the Mongols,
invasions were how ruling empires dealt with
each other.
In tribal societies like Arabia where Islam
was born, barbaric tribesmen would draw a
sword and kill if a camel from one village
crossed over to another. It was the way things
were done.
We can’t change history, but we can certainly
learn from it. And theoretically we have:
Today, any kind of war of conquest is seen as
brutal and barbaric.
Yet, what Muslims have done over a period
of 1,400 years is still glorified in their history
books and sermons — even their most heinous
crimes. No criticism is allowed.
If you look at school history books in most
Muslim-majority societies, they abound with tales
of conquests, invasions and subjugation. So
much so that they have given these conquests a
“religious flavor” by calling them “Muslim conquests,”
when in fact they were conquests by
power-hungry warriors.
The spread of Islam was a by-product of
these conquests. But giving it an Islamic designation
conveniently rules out any critique.
Where does this place us? How will history
judge the newest wave of conquests – namely,
immigration and the total inability of the West
to deal with political Islam.
While most people don’t perceive immigration
as a conquest, if we look closely at what has
happened in Europe, it is a conquest (albeit a
weaponless one): Masses of people have overtaken
the dominant culture of Europe and imposed
their own ideology on it.
This conquest has been overseen by
the Muslim Brotherhood, the Khomenists and
the Salafi/Wahhabis, i.e., institutions of political
Islam that want to impose sharia law as the law
of the land.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron recently
launched a campaign against political Islam,
outlining tougher immigration policies so
that France is not seen as a “land of asylum.”
The UK is facing its own challenges, and in
one way, Brexit is a tactic to stem hordes of immigrants
spilling over from Europe and wartorn
lands in the Middle East.
In Canada, former Prime Minister Stephen
Harper lost the election for calling Islamism the
greatest threat of our time. In Quebec, there is
pushback against immigration because Quebecers
consider themselves a “distinct society”
which would be threatened by unchecked immigration.
Are we allowed to critique these conquests?
One thing is certain: Those who don’t learn
from history and give in to these latest “Leftist”/Islamist
conquests will be their victims.
(Return to contents)
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore
Founders of the first Islamic Mission in the UK - established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission.
E-mail: editor.thelight@aaiil.uk
Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk
I Shall Love All Mankind.