The allegation of the anti Ahmadi Muslims is that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas stated that the Holy Prophetsaw stated that one should leave a city wherever a epidemic disease appears. This is taken from the Review of Religions from the month of September in the year of 1907 and is a completely baseless and out of context allegation. Let us see what the Promised Messiahas has in reality stated:
“The Government of India consider the evacuation of infected houses as the best plan to minimise chances of infection from the plague, and the correspondence which has just been published on this subject directs that as soon as the plague makes its appearance in a village or in any mohalla of a town, the residents of the infected quarter should take the earliest opportunity to evacuate their houses and should live in sheds in the open at sufficient distance from the infected place. I am fully confident that this plan is a most efficient one as a remedy against the plague. Our Holy Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah, also directed that when the plague made its appearance in any town the people living at the infected place should immediately evacuate it and that otherwise they would be fighting with God. To fly from the place which is under the wrath of God is an act of wisdom. In the Islamic history an incident is related with regard to the second Khalifa, Umar, which also shows that a place visited with the plague should be avoided. It is stated that when Umar undertook a journey to Syria after the conquest of that country, it was brought to his knowledge on the way to it that the plague raged there. On hearing this, he at once made up his mind to go back and not advance any further. Some people remonstrated with him on his postponing his journey saying that it was not proper to fly from the decree of God. But Umar said that he was only flying from one decree of God to another decree and they were satisfied. In fact it is the duty of man not to choose the path which is sure to lead him to destruction. Bear in mind that whatever the Government is doing for the suppression of the plague, it is doing it for the welfare of its subjects. It has spent hundreds of thousands of rupees for the safety of the lives of those who live under it. None is more foolish than tthe person who looks with distrust upon the Government measures. My followers! Be foremost in showing an example of true obedience, for in it lies your welfare. Your number is now close upon four hundred thousand and your example will serve to save many a life. I enjoin upon you that if the plague makes it appearance in any town in which you live, you should be the first to leave the infected locality.”
“But remember that I do not think this to be sufficient that you should leave infected localities. Nay, I inform you, O servants of God, that the plague has not itself appeared in this country, but it has come by the will and order of God whose order every particle of this universe obeys. I have been informed that Almighty God is offended with those on earth because of the multiplicity of their sins. Repent therefore and seek the forgiveness of your Lord. Mind that as you leave the place which is infected with the plague, banish also all ideas from your heart which are infected with evil and sinfulness. Ye that follow me! I shall not live for ever amongst you;remember my words that nothing occurs on earth unless the same is decreed upon heaven. Fear therefore the God who is the God of the earth and the heavens, and let there be a transformation in your lives so that you may be saved from the punishment which is overtaking others.”
“Remember also that it will be wickedness and mischief if you look with suspicion upon the measures or disobey the orders of the Government under which you are living peacefully and whose favours you have witnessed many of times. It is your own misfortune if you turn away from its orders which are meant for your own welfare. I do not say aught to you but what is for your own good, and I do not stand in need of flattering the government, for there is only one Lord who is my refuge and whose protection I seek. He is the King of the earth and the heavens and I trust that till I die, I shall not stand in need of anybody else. But I cannot conceal that this Government is a great benefactor of ours and except that we can pass our lives with peace and security under this Government, there is not so much as a span of earth where we should lead our lives in safety. If therefore, we are not thankful to this Government which Almighty God has chosen for our comfort and safety, we shall be unthanful to God. If I am not right in saying this, name the Government which will afford you a shelter in case you leave the shelter of this Government. You have heard that the Maulvis who are opposed to you and who are followed by millions of people in this and other countries have published in pamphlets, notices and newspapers, judgements declaring that you are heretics and that your murder is deed of merit. Similar judgements have more recently been published in the Civil and Military Gazette, by Syed Muhammad of Peshawar and Maulvi Muhammad Hussain of Batala who gives himself out to be the advocate of the Ahl-e-Hadith Sect. Where then is peace for you except under this Government? Certainly you cannot find it under any Muslim rule. Be faithful to this Government with a true and sincere heart and let there be no desire of reward on your part for what you have done, for there is sufficient reward for any service that you may render in that Almighty God has appointed this Government to protect your lives and properties.”
“I may add that the Government intends to afford every facility to those who are ready to act upon the measures suggested by it, and it is hoped that in such parts of the country as the Frontier Provinces where the lives of those who go out into fields will be in danger, a danger which is doubled in the case of the Ahmadis on account of the fatwas of heresy and murder against them, the Government will if approached properly make sufficient arrangements for the safety of lives in addition to the arrangements which it intends to make elsewhere”- Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Qadiani, The Promised Messiah (Review of Religions, September 1907)
Now as we see, this allegation has no basis at all and the Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas is in no way going against the Holy Prophetsaw, rather following exactly what he had told us. Ahmadas has basically stated that “The Government of India consider the evacuation of infected houses as the best plan to minimise chances of infection from the plague, and the correspondence which has just been published on this subject directs that as soon as the plague makes its appearance in a village or in any mohalla of a town, the residents of the infected quarter should take the earliest opportunity to evacuate their houses and should live in sheds in the open at sufficient distance from the infected place” which makes complete sense and is not against any saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw.
This is the interpretation Ahmadas gave based on the same ahadith the anti Ahmadis are claiming he has rejected. This is a complete false allegation as Ahmadas quotes the incident of Hazrat Umarra which has the hadith in it. If he interpreted the hadith, this itself makes it clear he did not reject it, rather accepted it. These types of allegations are raised by even the Christians. The Qur’an makes it clear that the Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw is prophesied in the bible but this is our interpretation which Allah has taught us and is rejected by the Christians. This does not mean that Allah or the Prophetsaw are wrong, rather means the Christians have in reality misinterpreted the biblical verses prophesising the Holy Prophetsaw. In the same way the non Ahmadi Muslims have misinterpreted this hadith. Furthermore, the word بِأَرْضٍ has been translated as country by the non Ahmadi themselves in some translations of this hadith and it would not make sense for it to mean the exact place. An example would be, the plague occurring in India, and a father is using the washroom would he be forced to stay in the washroom and not even leave that exact place for safety? Of course this would not make sense, and the Prophet Muhammadsaw is referring to the territory as a whole. One has the right to move around in his territory and look for the most safe spot, which in such cases are open fields as Ahmadas stated. Furthermore, the statement of Ahmadas saying that the Holy Prophetsaw said not doing so would be fighting God is clear from this hadith for example:
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعَيْبٌ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، حَدَّثَنَا عَامِرُ بْنُ سَعْدِ بْنِ أَبِي وَقَّاصٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ أُسَامَةَ بْنَ زَيْدٍ، يُحَدِّثُ سَعْدًا أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ذَكَرَ الْوَجَعَ فَقَالَ “ رِجْزٌ ـ أَوْ عَذَابٌ ـ عُذِّبَ بِهِ بَعْضُ الأُمَمِ، ثُمَّ بَقِيَ مِنْهُ بَقِيَّةٌ، فَيَذْهَبُ الْمَرَّةَ وَيَأْتِي الأُخْرَى، فَمَنْ سَمِعَ بِهِ بِأَرْضٍ فَلاَ يَقْدَمَنَّ عَلَيْهِ، وَمَنْ كَانَ بِأَرْضٍ وَقَعَ بِهَا فَلاَ يَخْرُجْ فِرَارًا مِنْهُ ”.
Narrated ‘Amir bin Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas:That he heard Usama bin Zaid speaking to Sa`d, saying, “Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) mentioned the plague and said, ‘It is a means of punishment with which some nations were punished and some of it has remained, and it appears now and then. So whoever hears that there is an outbreak of plague in some land, he should not go to that land, and if the plague breaks out in the land where one is already present, one should not run away from that land, escaping from the plague.”(Sahih al Bukhari, Hadith #6974)
This hadith tells us that the plague was a punishment of Allah and it is obvious that one should not try to go where there the punishment of Allah has occurred. If it has occurred where you are living you should not leave the country, however making arrangements in the area where you are living is an act of wisdom, and for the plague the cure Ahmadas has given is going into open fields. In no way did Ahmadas go against the hadith, rather in reality he quoted it himself quoting the incident of Hazrat Umarra.
Secondly, in Kanzul Ummal it is narrated:
يا أيها الناس إن الطاعون رجز فتفرقوا عنه في الشعاب
That Oh People! The plague is very evil. So scatter in the fields! (Kanzul Ummah Volume 2, Page 224)