Did Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) abuse his opponents? The “zurriyyatul baghaya” allegation

A doctor tells a patient, “Your lung has started to rot.” The words are hard and bitter to hear. But would anyone say the doctor insulted the patient? He named the disease, so that it could be treated.

One of the oldest accusations against Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) is that he abused his opponents in unspeakable language. Today we will open up this accusation calmly.

What is the allegation?

An anti-Ahmadi booklet, under the heading “The abuse of Mirza Sahib”, gives a long list of harsh words from his writings. The greatest weight is placed on one Arabic phrase: zurriyyatul baghaya. The accusers translate it with an extremely offensive meaning, and say that he used it to abuse Muslims.

Abuse, and describing the truth

First let us hear what he himself said about harsh language. In the book Izala-e-Auham he wrote that abuse is one thing, and describing the actual facts, however unwelcome and bitter, is another. It is the duty of every truthful person to make the truth reach the ears of a heedless opponent, even if the opponent is displeased (Ruhani Khazain vol. 3, Izala-e-Auham, p. 20).

This distinction is found in the Quran too. Of those who knowingly reject the truth, Allah says:

No one calls these words of Allah abuse; they call them a stern description of the truth. Such stern words came from the lips of prophets too:

No one questions the prophethood of Hazrat David (as) and Hazrat Jesus (as) because a curse came from their lips. For it was a plea to Allah against disobedience and transgression.

“Zurriyyatul baghaya”: where the phrase appears, and in what sense

Now to the phrase itself. It appears in his Arabic work Ainah-e-Kamalat-e-Islam (1893). There he speaks of his service to Islam: Muslims look with respect on his books written in reply to the Arya Samaj and the Christians, and accept his call, “except the zurriyyatul baghaya, whose hearts Allah has sealed, so they do not accept.” (Ruhani Khazain vol. 5, p. 548)

Notice that the very same sentence explains the phrase: those whose hearts Allah has sealed. According to the dictionary Taj al-Arus, it means people deprived of guidance, and the Promised Messiah (as) himself gave its meaning as the offspring of wrongdoers. Elsewhere he addressed an opponent as “ibn baghaa” and translated it himself as “O rebellious man”.

Idioms like this are very common in Arabic. “Ibn al-sabil” literally means “son of the road”, but in the Quran it means a traveller. Translating it literally would be a laughable mistake. When the author himself has told us what his words mean, no one has the right to force another meaning on them.

One more point. In this same book he urged Muslims to pray for Queen Victoria to accept Islam, and he praised spiritual scholars as the heirs of the prophets. In a book so full of affection for Muslims, the idea that he was abusing them does not hold up.

Where the harshness began

His own explanation is this: some harshness towards opponents did come into his writings, but he was not the one who began it; those writings were replies to fierce attacks by his opponents (Kitabul Bariyyah). In the same place he gave two reasons: so that the opponents would restrain their own language, and so that ordinary Muslims would not be provoked into some savage act of revenge. In Kitabul Bariyyah he set the opponents’ writings and his own replies side by side, so that readers could judge for themselves.

Questions people ask

Is harsh language fitting for a prophet?

Some say here that a true prophet always speaks gently. Let us see. At the time of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, the Quraish envoy Urwah made insulting remarks about the companions, saying they would abandon the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) and flee in a time of danger. Then, in the very presence of the Holy Prophet (sa), Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) answered him in extremely harsh words (Sahih Bukhari, Kitab al-Shurut, Hadith 2731). No one calls this a flaw in the character of Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra). Everyone understands it was the sense of honour that defends the dignity of the Holy Prophet (sa).

Isn’t harsh language about the scholars of the last days an insult to Muslims?

The harshest words about some scholars of the last days were spoken by the Holy Prophet (sa) himself. In Mishkat al-Masabih, Kitab al-Ilm, there is a hadith that in the last days some scholars will be the worst creatures under the sky; trials will come out of them and return to them. This is not about all scholars, but about those people who spread trials. The Promised Messiah (as) also praised honest scholars, and was stern only towards those who had descended to abuse and false accusations.

Did he address all Muslims with this phrase?

No. The sentence itself says that most Muslims look with respect on his books; the only exceptions are those whose hearts have been sealed. Applying words about one small group to all Muslims amounts to changing the meaning of the sentence.