Malfuzat - Volume IV — Page 18
18 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Islam forever remains a living Faith and is accompanied by signs, which have not been left behind in previous ages. In short, the group of people I have just mentioned are also unfortunate. They do not clearly state their religious belief and so, it is difficult to identify them. The Hanafis As far as the Hanafis are concerned, the unfortunate thing is that inauthentic nar - rations and innovations in the Faith have crept into their midst. Hazrat Imam-e- Azam, 1 may Allah have mercy on him, was a righteous man of the highest order. But when his followers became bereft of spirituality, they began to adopt self- invented beliefs, and they became so excessive in blind following that they began to give precedence to the words of such people for whom the Quran gave no guarantee of preservation from error, as compared to the sayings of the Noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. In view of their own vested interests and objectives, they began to interpret the sayings of Imam Sahib rh in whichever way they pleased. I was once in Ludhiana and a person who belonged to a family of nawabs came to meet me and during the course of discussion, he said that he was a staunch Hanafi. He also told me that his paternal uncle held a strong religious attachment to Imam-e-Azam, may Allah have mercy on him, and when he read Imam Sahib’s statement in the book Ma La Budda Minhu 2 that only wine made from barley, grapes, and two other things—that is four types of wine—are prohibited, the man ordered various wines from abroad and drank an amount equivalent to 80,000 rupees. He did this, as if, to follow Imam Sahib truly and sincerely it appears! I seek refuge with Allah! Aye, again! I seek refuge with Allah. In short, these are the kinds of interpretations that they make. Generally, it is said by way of criticism that a person can secure any religious verdict from them as they may please. In fact, they are the ones who have invented the concept of halalah, which suggests that a man who seeks a ‘legal’ workaround to be with his wife again after he has divorced her, he can marry someone else only to divorce her. However, this concept is nowhere to be found in the Holy Quran and in the hadith, curse has been sent upon the man who engages in the practice of halalah. 1 A title of honour for Imam Abu Hanifah rh. [Publisher] 2 A book on the Hanafi school of jurisprudence written by Qadi Thana’ullah Panipati. [Publisher] p. 293 َِكَ َل ٰذٰ ْی َٰلٰ ْع ِ ُہللِ ُ ِد ْ َم َْحَ ْاَل َ ِف