English Revelations

حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَوَانَةَ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى بْنُ أَبِي عَائِشَةَ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ جُبَيْرٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى ‏{‏لاَ تُحَرِّكْ بِهِ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعْجَلَ بِهِ‏}‏ قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يُعَالِجُ مِنَ التَّنْزِيلِ شِدَّةً، وَكَانَ مِمَّا يُحَرِّكُ شَفَتَيْهِ ـ فَقَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ فَأَنَا أُحَرِّكُهُمَا لَكُمْ كَمَا كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يُحَرِّكُهُمَا‏.‏ وَقَالَ سَعِيدٌ أَنَا أُحَرِّكُهُمَا كَمَا رَأَيْتُ ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ يُحَرِّكُهُمَا‏.‏ فَحَرَّكَ شَفَتَيْهِ ـ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى ‏{‏لاَ تُحَرِّكْ بِهِ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعْجَلَ بِهِ* إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا جَمْعَهُ وَقُرْآنَهُ‏}‏ قَالَ جَمْعُهُ لَهُ فِي صَدْرِكَ، وَتَقْرَأَهُ ‏{‏فَإِذَا قَرَأْنَاهُ فَاتَّبِعْ قُرْآنَهُ‏}‏ قَالَ فَاسْتَمِعْ لَهُ وَأَنْصِتْ ‏{‏ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا بَيَانَهُ‏}‏ ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا أَنْ تَقْرَأَهُ‏.‏ فَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ إِذَا أَتَاهُ جِبْرِيلُ اسْتَمَعَ، فَإِذَا انْطَلَقَ جِبْرِيلُ قَرَأَهُ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم كَمَا قَرَأَهُ‏.

 

Narrated Said bin Jubair: Ibn ‘Abbas in the explanation of the statement of Allah “Move not your tongue concerning (the Quran) to make haste therewith.” (75.16) said “Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) used to bear the revelation with great trouble and used to move his lips (quickly) with the Inspiration.” Ibn ‘Abbas moved his lips saying, “I am moving my lips in front of you as Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) used to move his.” Said moved his lips saying: “I am moving my lips, as I saw Ibn ‘Abbas moving his.” Ibn ‘Abbas added, “So Allah revealed ‘Move not your tongue concerning (the Qur’an) to make haste therewith. It is for Us to collect it and to give you (O Muhammad) the ability to recite it (the Quran)’ (75.16-17) which means that Allah will make him (the Prophet) remember the portion of the Qur’an which was revealed at that time by heart and recite it. The statement of Allah: ‘And when we have recited it to you (O Muhammad through Gabriel) then you follow its (Quran) recital’ (75.18) means ‘listen to it and be silent.’ Then it is for Us (Allah) to make it clear to you’ (75.19) means ‘Then it is (for Allah) to make you recite it (and its meaning will be clear by itself through your tongue). Afterwards, Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) used to listen to Gabriel whenever he came and after his departure he used to recite it as Gabriel had recited it.”(Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 1, Hadith #4)

 

This hadith illustrates exactly what Ahmad(as) has stated. The reason the Prophet Muhammad(saw) would repeat the Qur’an is so he would keep the revelation in the exact form and way it was revealed in by Allah.

 

One has to remember this is after the revelation came to him.They were written much later.

 

Some of the allegation they have do not have any basis to them anyways as many words used are synonyms for others. For example:

 

“God is coming by His army”

 

The word ‘by’ is also used in the English language to denote ‘together with’ or ‘in company with’. (See Dialect Dictionary by Joseph Wright, page 470) [Jalal-ud-Din Shams]

 

Even when we look at the The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etympology we see that under the word “by” they have written “alongside; in the course of; according to; in relation to; marking the means or instrument (ult. superseding from,through …”

 

 

The official Seadict online dictionary also agrees and has alongside as a synonym for by. It states:

 

 

In fact, even the online most widely used thesaurus, agrees that there is nothing wrong with the revelations of the Promised Messiah(as). Do the non Ahmadi Muslims think they know better English than all of these dictionaries? It states:

 

 

The meaning would possibly be that Allah is coming alongside His army.

 

Another allegation comes on the revelation of :

 

“He halts in the zilla Peshawar”

 

Anti Ahmadis say why does an English revelation have an urdu word? This is because of their ignorance.  The word ‘zilla’ is used in English. See Public Service Inquiries Act Section 8 and the Punjab Courts Act, (published by Shamir Chand) Article 23. See also Oxford Dictionary under ‘zilla’. [Jalal-ud-Din Shams]

 

Furthermore, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary has also stated that Zilla refers to a district which has its own local government.

 

 

Just to make it clear, the anti Ahmadis mock the revelations although there is nothing wrong with them, but there is a possibility of forgetfulness. We have to remember that our knowledge is still limited but the knowledge of Allah is not limited at all, and we should not criticize His Words.

 

Another English revelation which is criticized is :

 

“Though all men should be angry but God is with you. He shall help you. Words of God not can exchange” The truth behind this revelation is that there was an error in the scribe as it has been recorded as well in Tadhkirah earlier on page 123 where it has been stated:

 

Though all men should be angry but God is with you. He shall help you. Words of God can not exchange

 

(Some have mocked the usage of the word exchange but do not realize that exchange is a synonym for change as well, and in fact it is the first synonym stated by the most famous thesaurus used worldwide.

 

 

The Online Etymology Dictionary of the English language also states:

 

change (n.) c.1200, “act or fact of changing,” from Anglo-French chaunge, Old French change “exchange, recompense, reciprocation,” from changier (seechange (v.)).

 

Meaning “a different situation” is from 1680s. Meaning “something substituted for something else” is from 1590s. The financial sense of “balance returned when something is paid for” is first recorded 1620s; hence to make change (1865). Bell-ringing sense is from 1610s. Related: changes. Figurative phrase change of heart is from 1828.

 

change (v.) early 13c., “to substitute one for another; to make (something) other than what it was” (transitive); from late 13c. as “to become different” (intransitive), from Old French changier“to change, alter; exchange, switch,” from Late Latin cambiare “to barter, exchange,” from Latin cambire “to exchange, barter,” of Celtic origin, from PIE root *kemb- “to bend, crook” (with a sense evolution perhaps from “to turn” to “to change,” to “to barter”); cognate with Old Irish camm “crooked, curved;” Middle Irish cimb “tribute,” cimbid“prisoner;” see cant (n.2). Meaning “to take off clothes and put on other ones” is from late 15c. Related:Changed; changing. To change (one’s) mind is from 1610s.

 

 

Another revelation which people have often criticized is :

 

[English] You have to go Amritsar;

 

There is also nothing wrong with this and just shows the emphasis Allah has put on Ahmad(as) going to Amritsar. Furthermore, a revelation which also states similar has been recorded as :

 

[English] Then will you go to Amritsar([Barahin-e-Ahmadiyyah, part 4, pp. 469–470 sub-footnote 3, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 559–561 sub-footnote 3]

 

So even if there was an error in noting down the revelation, Ahmad(as) was previously revealed similar and has clearly written the word to before Amritsar.

 

The next two revelations which are mocked are [English] I can what I will do and [English] We can what We will do. Firstly as explained earlier it is possible that there was forgetfulness involved as Ahmad(as) did not know the language of English. However, even if one focuses on these revelations they are simply stating that Allah knows what He will do and that We know what we will do.  When we look at the Online Etympology dictionary and focus on what they have written for the word “can” it makes perfect sense. It is written:

 

“can (v.1) Old English 1st & 3rd person singular present indicative of cunnan“know, have power to, be able,” (also “to have carnal knowledge”), from Proto-Germanic *kunnan “to be mentally able, to have learned” (cognates: Old Norse kenna “to know, make known,” Old Frisian kanna “to recognize, admit,” German kennen “to know,” Gothic kannjan “to make known”), from PIE root *gno- (see know).  Absorbing the third sense of “to know,” that of “to know how to do something” (in addition to “to know as a fact” and “to be acquainted with” something or someone). An Old English preterite-present verb, its original past participle, couth, survived only in its negation (seeuncouth), but see also could. The present participle has spun off as cunning”

 

 

The last revelation which is mocked at is “I am quarreler”. Ahmad(as) stated that he understood this to mean that he would receive a letter relating to some dispute. This was a prophecy which was fulfilled and the full context is as follows:

 

Some time back … a gentleman named Nur Ahmad, who is both a hafiz and a haji and perhaps also knows some Arabic and preaches from the Holy Qur’an and lives in Amritsar, came to Qadian in the course of his wanderings…. Since he was staying with me, and had expressed to me in very strong words the opinion about revelation which he entertained, I felt much aggrieved by it. I tried in every possible manner to convince him of his misconception but my reasoning had no effect upon him. Then I turned to Allah the Almighty and told Hafiz [Nur Ahmad] that I would supplicate to Allah the Noble, and would not be surprised if some prophecy might be made of which he might himself see the fulfilment. Accordingly, I made my supplication that night and towards the morning I saw in my vision a letter which had arrived by post on which there was a superscription in English: I am quarreller. And another in Arabic:

 

 

And I also received these words by way of revelation as if they had been addressed to me by the writer of the letter. Then the vision ended. Since I do not have any knowledge of the English language, I informed Miyań Nur Ahmad of this vision and revelation and enquired from someone who was conversant with English what the meaning of the English superscription was. He explained that it meant that the writer was a disputant. From this brief sentence I understood clearly that I was about to receive a letter relating to some dispute. I conceived that the Arabic subscription which was the next sentence written by the scribe meant that the writer of the letter had written it in connection with some evidence relating to a dispute. It so happened that Hafiz Nur Ahmad was not able to leave for Amritsar that day on account of heavy rain. His inability to leave because of a heavenly cause was in fact an intimation of the acceptance of my prayer so that, as I had supplicated, he himself might witness the fulfillment of the prophecy. In short, the entire prophecy was narrated to him. In the afternoon, in his presence, I received a registered letter from the Reverend Rajab ‘Ali, owner and manager of the Safir Hind Press, Amritsar, reporting that he had instituted a suit against his scribe, who is also the scribe of this book, in the Small Causes Court and had given my name as a witness. At the same time I received summons from the court. The interpretation of the Arabic subscription —which means that ‘this witness is shattering’—then became patent inasmuch as the proprietor of the Safir Hind Press was absolutely certain that my testimony, which he was sure would be in accord with the facts, would prove destructive for the defendant on account of its weight, truth, and reliability. That is why the proprietor of the Press had  me summoned as a witness. It so happened that the day on which this prophecy was fulfilled was also the day on which the other prophecy mentioned above was also fulfilled. Thus, Miyań Nur Ahmad witnessed the fulfillment of that prophecy also. That is to say, money was received on that day after the expiry of the period of ten days and I was summoned and had to go to Amritsar [Allah be praised for all this.] [Barahin-e-Ahmadiyyah, part 4, pp. 471–474 sub-footnote 3, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 1, pp. 562–565 sub-footnote 3]

 

Lastly just because a revelation is misunderstood in your eyes and seems as if its not following the rules of grammar does not make it incorrect. There are English men who are known to have the best poetry like Shakespeare and even his works do not follow the grammar rules. Majority of the English revelations have no errors and even if they did its possible Ahmad(as) forgot as he did not know this language properly and wrote these revelations way after they came to him. One should also remember that there have been Arab speaking people who have accused many ayahs of the Qur’an as well and believed they should have been revealed in different ways. One should know that Allah Has the best way and as Muslims we should be the last to accuse his ways. However, it was a prophecy of Muhammad(saw) that Muslims would indeed become like the Jews and would begin to follow the Christians as well cubit by cubit.

 

The Holy Prophet Muhammad(saw) stated:

 

Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “You will follow the ways of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (i.e., inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a mastigure, you would follow them.” We said, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! (Do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?” He said, “Whom else?” (Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 92, Hadith #422)

 

It is indeed not shocking that many Muslims have indeed become like the Jews and the Christians and have went to the extent that they have begun to question and mock the revelation of Allah rather than researching Ahmad(as)’s claim and the service he did for mankind and Islam. No one defended Islam since the Prophet Muhammad(saw)’s time, like Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) of Qadian. He was indeed the greatest lover of Muhammad(saw).