Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 24
24 the critics confine their vision to people of a specific mindset and call it consensus. They do not realize that Companions of the Holy Prophet s as were the first and foremost scholars of Islam and that they were unanimously agreed upon our point of view. How could it be possible that those ardent lovers of the Holy Prophet s as would accept a creed that was derogatory to the status of the Holy Prophet s as ? Not only are they in agreement with us but the very first formal consensus they arrived at was to the effect that Jesus was dead. It is recorded in books of Hadith and in historical literature that the demise of the Holy Prophet s as had a deep impact on the Companions and left them stricken with grief. Some could barely speak, some didn’t have the strength to stand, some lost their senses for a time, and some were so eaten away with sorrow that they passed away within a few days. Hadrat ‘Umar ra was so grief- stricken that he refused to believe that the Holy Prophet s as had passed away. He unsheathed his sword and declared that anyone who said such a thing would lose his head. He said that the Holy Prophet s as had only been called for 40 days, as Moses had been, and that he would soon return to kill and crucify the hypocrites and all those who had said derogatory things about him. Hadrat ‘Umar ra was so passionate and insistent in his claim that no one dared contradict him. Many even started to believe that this was true and that the Holy Prophet s as was in fact not dead. Signs of relief started to appear on their faces and those who had been disconsolate now started to lift up their heads. Seeing this, some insightful Companions promptly sent a messenger to Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra (who had gone to a village near Medina with the per - mission of the Holy Prophet s as when his condition had seemed