Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 226
226 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad place at the demise of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. It is a generally accepted fact among the Muslims that when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, passed away, Hazrat Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, who due to his immense love, was unable to bear this shock of the passing of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, unsheathed his sword and said: ‘I will kill anyone who says that the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is dead. ’ When Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, witnessed this fervour of Hazrat Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, he stood up and delivered a sermon, and in it he recited the following verse: 1 ُ رَسُوْلٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُل مُحَمَّدٌ اِلَّا مَا Meaning, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is also a Messenger, and all the Messengers who came before him have passed away. When Hazrat Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, heard this, he returned his sword into its sheath and said: ‘It is as though this verse has been revealed only today. ’ The companions would walk here and there in the bazar and recite this verse. Others recited poetic couplets as well. In short, the obvious fact is that Hazrat Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, recited this verse for no other reason than to present an argument that the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had died. However, if some Prophet—like the Messiah—had gone into the heavens alive and if the companions held this belief, did not a single one of them have the courage to silence Hazrat Abu Bakr ra and say that he could not say this because the Messiah was still alive? However, not a single person raised an objection, in fact, every one of them accepted this argument. This clear- ly demonstrates that the very first consensus after the demise of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was on the death of Jesus, peace be upon him. In addition to this, there are many other verses of the Holy Quran, as well, to this effect. Therefore, this issue is quite evident 1 Aal-e-Imran , 3:145 p. 206