Revelations of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

From WikiAhmadiyya, the free encyclopedia on Islam and Ahmadiyyat

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to experience a number of dreams, visions and revelations directly from God. He argued God had spoken to prophets and saints through the ages and retained the power to do so. Far from being mute, God continued to communicate and establish His relationship with humankind. 

The primary, supreme and unmatched religious text for Ahmad and his followers eternally remains the Quran and his works and writings are viewed as commentaries and explanations of the scripture.



Criticism

Misinterpreted Revelations

Critics of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad note he occasionally misunderstood revelations. For instance, he received the revelation 'O Jesus', but initially did not claim to be the messiah until several years later, as he did not initially gather the full meaning of the words. Ahmadis respond that the Quran and Bible record how several previous prophets did not immediately grasp the full meaning of revelations. For example, Abraham believed he had been commanded to slaughter his son before God explained this was not the case:

He said: ‘O my dear son, I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering thee. So consider, what thou thinkest of it!’ He replied: ‘O my father, do as thou art commanded; thou wilt find me, if Allah please, of those who are patient.’ And when they both submitted to the Will of God, and he had thrown him down on his forehead, We called to him: ‘O Abraham, thou hast indeed fulfilled the dream.’ Thus indeed do We reward those who do good.

- Quran 37:103-106

Blasphemy

Some critics take aim at revelations such as "You are of me and I am of you" as blasphemous. Ahmadis explain these are metaphors which have previously been employed in the Quran:

So you killed them not, but it was Allah Who killed them. And thou threwest not when thou didst throw, but it was Allah Who threw.

- Quran 8:18

Of course it was not literally God's hand that threw during battle in the above metaphor. Again, the Quran states:

Those who swear allegiance to thee indeed swear allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is over their hands.

- Quran 48:11

Once more, those who swore allegiance to the propeht of Islam Muhammadsa placed their hands beneath his, however in the verse above God compares the hand of the prophet to His own, in a metaphorical sense. Such metaphors are based on the following tradition:

The Messenger of Allahsa said: "Allah the Exalted has said: '...The most beloved thing with which My slave comes nearer to Me is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing voluntary worship till I love him. When I love him I become his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his leg with which he walks

- Bukhari

Similarly 'blasphemous' revelations can be found in other scriptures such as the Bible and the works of previous Islamic scholars including Rumi. 

Grammatically incorrect English

Critics deride some of Ahmad's English revelations as grammatically incorrect. Ahmadis argue this assertion is entirely incorrect and based on the critics' own poor understanding of English grammar, the rules of which stretch far beyond the commonly spoken informal English of the present today. Poetic words, including revelation, often follow more artful rules - as regularly demonstrated in the Quran and even in classical English literature, which may appear entirely incomprehensible to those who have not come across it previously:

Of government the properties to unfold,

Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse;

Since I am put to know that your own science

Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: then no more remains,

But that to your sufficiency as your Worth is able,

And let them work.

- William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

However even if there were same mistake in Ahmad's recording of his English revelation, he himself explained:

Two English phrases were revealed of the correct wording of which I am still not sure on account of the speed of the revelation. They are: "I love you. I shall give you a large party of Islam."

- Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya


All the words of a foreign tongue are not preserved, and because of the speed of the revelation, and being unaware of the speed of the revelation, and being unaware of the language and dialect, some deviation occurs

- Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya 


Similarly, Muhammadsa on rare occasions forgot divinely revealed messages and so to this day Muslims are unaware of the exact date of the Night of Decree:

Allah's Messengersa said: "I was shown [the date of] the Night of Decree; then some members of my family awoke me up, but I forgot it."

- Muslim