Reply to a Mockery — Page 14
14 have considered the repercussions of his attacks on our lord and master the Holy Prophet Muhammad s as before levying them upon Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as. The So-Called Consensus Maulaw i Abul Bashir has cited in his pamphlet the follow- ing extract from Shara h Fiqh Akbar [The Great exposition of Jurisprudence] by Hadrat Mull a ‘Al i Q a r i rh. The arguments he then gives are based on this extract. ِ ُفْر ٌ بِالِْجْمَاع ک دَعْوَی النُّبُوَّۃ ِ بَعْد َ نَبِیِّنَا ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص It is the consensus of opinion that any claim to prophet- hood after our Holy Prophet s as is tantamount to kufr (disbelief ). ( Sharhu Mull a ‘Al i al-Q a r i , p. 164, Shirkah Maktabah Mu st af a al-B a bi al-Halabi wa Aul a duhu bi-Mi s ra, second ed. , 1900) Maulaw i Sahib! You claim to be a learned man with an honours degree, yet you do not know that the question of consensus (of opinion) about an issue only arises when clear, definitive state- ments from the Quran and the Hadith are not available to come to a conclusion. Why do you not give precedence to the Quran? Does the community not have consensus of opinion regarding the Quran? We realise that you cannot, as the Quran does not contain a single verse to support your stance. In fact, there are a number of verses that not only leave open the possibility of prophethood,