بسم الله الحمد لله و صلاة و سلام على رسول الله و على آله و سلم تسليما

Allah says in the Qur’an:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا

Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you who believe! Send blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.

This verse has come to us many times, but do we reflect on its power? Consider the following…

The universe is massive. Massive beyond all comprehension, beyond the normal scales of human understanding. When astronomers measure distance, they do not use kilometers or miles. Instead, they use light years: the distance a beam of light travels in a year. This distance is estimated to be 9,461 billion kilometers (5,879 billion miles). No, not a million, a billion.

Using that unit of measurement, realize that there are some stars millions of light years away. There are some stars that are a billion light years away. And there are yet others that are billions of billions of light years away. Allah has informed us that he has adorned the lowest heavens with “lamps”- all of the stars, planets and galaxies we see are mere beautifications of the lowest of the seven heavens.

With that in mind, consider this. If the entire first heaven when compared to the size of the second heaven would be like an insignificant ring in a vast desert. Meaning, the size of the second heaven is thousands of times larger. But it does not end there. The second heaven compared to the third heaven is also like a ring in a desert. And the third compared to the fourth, and fifth, and sixth up to the seventh heaven! Our minds are utterly incapacitated at the sheer size- layers of vastness!

And our Noble Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم has informed us that the heavens are ready to crack open for there is not a spot in the seven heavens more than the distance of a hand-span where there is not an angel standing, bowing or prostrating to Allah. They completely fill up the heavens! Can you imagine how many there are? This must be what the mathematicians refer to when they say “approaching infinity”.

Now we come back to the Ayah. All of these countless Angels are constantly (المضارع) in a state of beseeching Allah to send blessings and peace [Durood Shareef] upon Sayydina Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه و على آله و صحبه و سلم تسليما كثيرا. The rank, status and honor of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم is beyond comprehension!

Yet, there are people, now and in the past, who are ignorant of this fact and attempt to put down the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم. They serve only to debase themselves. But, what is even more ludicrous are those who posit that their own rank, honor and status is equal to or even comparable to that of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه سلم. For anyone who believes in him, this is truly an inconceivable claim.

But, this is exactly what Mirza Ghulam did. In this pamphlet “A Misconception Removed“, he has the audacity to say that there is not even “the slightest degree of estrangement” between him and the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم. He uses this as a springboard to declare that through the medium “Zill” (an invented concept), he had become Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم. He explicitly writes:

It was twenty years ago, in Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, that God named me ‘Muhammad’ and ‘Ahmad’ and declared me to be the Holy Prophet [Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم].
- Page 12

He further writes “I am Muhammad“, and implicitly says that there is absolutely no degree of separation between him and the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم. In other words, he is declaring himself to be so high that he has reached the status of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم. This extreme veneration is further echoed in the Ahmadi-specific commentary of Surah Baqarah, where their official doctrine declares Mirza Ghulam to be the “second coming” of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم, akin to the Hindu belief of Avatar (no, not the dumb movie).

To this I must sincerely ask my Ahmadi readers, do you really believe that Mirza Ghulam reached the status of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم? Do you think he reached such a rank that the countless angels are making Salawat [Durood Shareef] upon him at all times? Do you really believe in the concept of the ‘second-coming’ of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم? Do you believe he became Muhammad? We seek refuge in Allah from such an audacious claim.

I expect the following responses:
A) His attainment of the rank of the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم was spiritual, not literal. To this, I retort that it was not only his spiritual rank, but his manners, way of walking, talking and even the way he looked by which Allah honored him and the Angels pray upon him. One cannot separate his “spiritual rank” from his entire sense of being. Mirza defined “Zill” as not even the “slightest degree of estrangement”. This means everything, down to where he lived, who he married, and how he ate. But, did Mirza even perform Hajj? That itself is a degree of estrangement!

B) This attainment was what the Sufis call Fana’ fi al-Rasool (obliteration in the Prophet). The Sufi concept of Fana’ is understood to be something chased after, but ultimately unattainable. Rather, the pursuit itself is the ends. If anyone would have reached this station, it would have been Abu Bakr al-Saddiq رضى الله عنه, the best friend of the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم and whose daughter married the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم. He physically resembled the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم such that the Ansar mistook them upon his arrival in Madinah and he even died at the same age (63). But, he was Amir al-Mu’mineen Abu Bakr, not the Messenger of Allah Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم. Had it been anyone, it would have been Abu Bakr, but he never uttered “I am Muhammad”.

No, Mirza Ghulam held no such rank. He was not our Master صلى الله عليه سلم, he was a misguided man from rural Punjab. May Allah guide our Ahmadi readers away from the false path of Mirza Ghulam and to the path of our Master Sayydina Muhammad ibn Abdullah صلى الله عليه و سلم.

و صلى الله على سيدنا محمد و على آله و صحبه و سلم