The Descent of the Messiah — Page 305
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMADAS world as an Arbiter to establish the greatness of the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- is nothing more than admitting one's own ignorance. He is neither a Hanafite, Shafite, Malikite, Hanbalite, Ja'farite, Muqallid, nor Ahl-e-Hadith. How then can you refute him by presenting the say- ings of Hanafite, Shafite or Malikite scholars and commentators? If he were bound by these sayings, then he would not deserve the station of Imāmat. He claims that he is the Hakam [Arbiter] of this age. Barghānī or Tabarānī would only contain a trove of the commentators' own opinions, nothing else. If you say that it is the commentary of the Holy Quran, then we will ask why so many dif- fering commentaries, which number more than a thousand, have been published and why they differ at all. And is it not included in your beliefs that Hadrat Mahdi will appear to eliminate differenc- es and make all religions one? Would the religion become one by itself at the arrival of the Imam Mahdi without any teaching or ser- monising and bring about change and transformation? Would he not do some amendment or abrogation? After he appears, would he follow the verdict of the religious scholars of Karbala, or those of Najaf and Iran, or those of Lucknow and Lahore? Please tell me which Mujtahid will he follow and act upon his fatwas? No, I for- get; he will certainly adhere to your fatwas. But unfortunately, you will not agree with this. In short, an Imam does not follow anyone but is himself the authority. It is not sensible to present Tafsir Bur- hānī and Dalā'il an-Nubuwwah against him. His beliefs are based on the Holy Quran and the authentic Sunnah. I would have been very happy if, when you presented the verse of Sürah Al-An'ām, “O ye who believe!” you had shown from the Holy Quran itself that the word wasilah in this verse refers to Hussain or his noble 1 1 I have written Sūrah Al-An'am to conform to the writing of Maulawi Sahib, otherwise, the said verse is to be found in Sürah Al-Ma'idah. (Author) 305