A Review of the Debate between Batalavi and Chakrhalavi — Page 6
6 6 A REVIEW OF THE DEBATE BETWEEN BAT A LAV I AND CHAKRH A LAV I Both sources are thus rendered suspect. Such error has been the ruin of many. 1 I have penned this treatise in order to reveal the right path. Muslims have at their disposal three means by which they can establish themselves on the teachings of Islam. (I. ) The Holy Quran: the Book of God and there is no word available to us which is as absolute and certain. It is the Word of God and untainted by doubt and speculation. (II. ) Second is the sunnah: Here I differ from the Ahl-e-Hadith with regard to their application of the term for in my estimation the hadith and sunnah are not one and the same thing as is held by traditional scholars of hadith. As a matter of fact, the hadith and sunnah are two separate things. By sunnah I refer only to those actions of the Holy Prophet saw which possess continuity and go 1. Note: When I had completed the writing of the announcement and perhaps only a couple of lines remained, I was overcome by sleep. Thus, I had no choice but to put away my pen and sleep. In my dream I saw Maulav i Muhammad H ussain Bat a lav i and Maulav i ‘Abdull a h Chakrhal a v i. Addressing both of them, I said: , which means, the moon and the sun have already been eclipsed in the month of Ramadan, then why do you both gentlemen deny the favour of your Lord. I then said to Akhw i m Maulav i ‘Abdul-Kar i m in my dream: ‘The favour’ in this context means me. Then I looked up at a veranda where a lamp was burning as if it was night time, and some people were copying this revelation from the Holy Quran with the help of the lamp, and I had a feeling that this revelation was to be found in the Holy Quran in the sequence just mentioned. I recognized one of those people to be Miy a ń Nab i Bakhsh darner of Amritsar. (Author)