Mahdi Lineage of the Prophet ﷺ

Mahdi Lineage of the Prophet ﷺ

One of the primary objection the non Ahmadi Muslims have against Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as of Qadian is that he was not from the family of the Holy Prophet Muhammad^saw. This allegation is completely baseless through many ways from the Qur’an, Ahadith and facts about the family of the Messiah and Mahdi. The first and most simple answer to this objection is that the people who raise such a false accusation, have no knowledge about Ahmad^asor his family.

Secondly, according to the Qur’an and Ahadith, a true follower of a Prophet of Allah is in reality from him and among his spiritual family. It is stated in the Qur’an :

رَبِّ إِنَّهُنَّ أَضْلَلْنَ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ ۖ فَمَنْ تَبِعَنِي فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي ۖ وَمَنْ عَصَانِي فَإِنَّكَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ {37}

‘My Lord, they have indeed led astray many among mankind. So whoever follows me, he is certainly of me; and whoever disobeys me — Thou art, surely, Most Forgiving, Merciful.(Chapter 14 Verse 37)

One should remember that righteousness is not something which is inherited and the family of the Holy Prophet Muhammad^saw is not limited to his physical progeny. The proof of this is from the Qur’an itself, that Allah does not care about the blood, rather Allah only cares about the Taqwa of the believer. Allah States:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَأُنْثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ{14}

O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female; and We have made you into tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognize one another. Verily, the most honourable among you, in the sight of Allah, is he who is the most righteous among you. Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware.(Chapter 49 verse 14)

Allah has also Shown us in the Qur’an that the progeny of the Prophets are not always righteous people. Allah also Shows us that anyone from the progeny of a Prophet who is not a good person, is not from them. He States:

قَالَ يَا نُوحُ إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ ۖ إِنَّهُ عَمَلٌ غَيْرُ صَالِحٍ ۖ فَلَا تَسْأَلْنِ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۖ إِنِّي أَعِظُكَ أَنْ تَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ {47}

He said, “O Noah, indeed he is not of your family; indeed, he is [one whose] work was other than righteous, so ask Me not for that about which you have no knowledge. Indeed, I advise you, lest you be among the ignorant.”(Chapter 11 verse 47)

The physical son of Noah^as was in reality not from him. This shows that one who might seem to be a part of the Prophets lineage may not be from him because of his behaviour, but one who is not from the physical lineage of the Prophet may be a part of his spiritual progeny which is far more important. For example the Holy Prophet Muhammad^saw stated in regards to Hazrat Salman al Farsi^ra:

الْبَیْتِ اَھْلَ مِنَّا سَلْمَانُ

Meaning that Salman is from among my Ahlul Bayt (At-Tabaqatul-Kubra). It is the belief of both the Sunni and Shia Muslims that Hazrat Salman Farsi^ra was among the ahlul Bayt despite not being a part of the phyiscal progeny of the Prophet.

This concept is further proven from the Qur’an as well, where Allah States:

النَّبِيُّ أَوْلَىٰ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ ۖ وَأَزْوَاجُهُ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ ۗ وَأُولُو الْأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَىٰ بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ إِلَّا أَنْ تَفْعَلُوا إِلَىٰ أَوْلِيَائِكُمْ مَعْرُوفًا ۚ كَانَ ذَٰلِكَ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَسْطُورًا {7}

The Prophet is closer to the believers than their selves, and his wives are as their mothers. And the owners of kinship are closer one to another in the ordinance of Allah than (other) believers and the fugitives (who fled from Mecca), except that ye should do kindness to your friends. This is written in the Book (of nature). (Chapter 33 verse 7)

According to this verse of the Qur’an the wives of the Prophet are the spiritual mothers of the believers which shows that the Holy Prophet^saw is the spiritual father of the believers. It is also interesting that the Holy Prophet^sawmentioned Salman Farsi when prophecising about the latter day Messiah and Mahdi. He stated:

حَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ الْعَزِيزِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ بِلاَلٍ، عَنْ ثَوْرٍ، عَنْ أَبِي الْغَيْثِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، رضى الله عنه قَالَ كُنَّا جُلُوسًا عِنْدَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَأُنْزِلَتْ عَلَيْهِ سُورَةُ الْجُمُعَةِ ‏{‏وَآخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ لَمَّا يَلْحَقُوا بِهِمْ‏}‏ قَالَ قُلْتُ مَنْ هُمْ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فَلَمْ يُرَاجِعْهُ حَتَّى سَأَلَ ثَلاَثًا، وَفِينَا سَلْمَانُ الْفَارِسِيُّ، وَضَعَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَدَهُ عَلَى سَلْمَانَ ثُمَّ قَالَ ‏”‏ لَوْ كَانَ الإِيمَانُ عِنْدَ الثُّرَيَّا لَنَالَهُ رِجَالٌ ـ أَوْ رَجُلٌ ـ مِنْ هَؤُلاَءِ ‏”‏‏.‏

Narrated Abu Huraira: While we were sitting with the Prophet (ﷺ) Surat Al-Jumu’a was revealed to him, and when the Verse, “And He (Allah) has sent him (Muhammad) also to other (Muslims)…..’ (62.3) was recited by the Prophet, I said, “Who are they, O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)?” The Prophet (ﷺ) did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman Al-Farisi was with us. So Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) put his hand on Salman, saying, “If Faith were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (pleiades, the highest star), even then a man from these people (i.e. Salman’s folk) would attain it.” (Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Hadith #4897)

The Holy Prophet Muhammad^saw himself told us that the Messiah would be from the lineage of Salman Farsi^ra meaning a person of Persian lineage. This further proves that the primary lineage of the Messiah and Mahdi was to be spiritually of the Prophet^saw rather than physical, although that was also fulfilled.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as states:

“People who think in physical terms, sometimes link the Promised One to the progeny of  Hasan^ra, sometimes to Hussain^ra and sometimes to Abbas^ra. But what the Holy Prophet^saw really meant was that the promised One would be his heir, kust like a  son, i.e he would inherit his name, his character, his knowledge, his spirituality, and would reflect his very image. He will acquire nothing on his own but will acquire everything from the Holy Prophet^saw and will so lose himself in him^saw as to reflect his^saw very Image” (A misconception removed Pg 15)

And:

“Although I am not from the descendants from Alevis (descendants of Hazrat Ali^ra from other than Fatima^ra I am from the lineage of Bani Fatima^as. Some of my paternal grandmothers were from among well known saadaat(female members of the family of Prophet Muhammad^saw. It was a practice among our family that at times women from saadat would be wed into our family and ours into theirs” (Ruhani Khazain Volume 18 page 426 footnote Nazul-ul-Masih)

Furthermore Allah revealed to Ahmad^as:

Translation: [Arabic] God, Who has bestowed upon you a marital arrangement with a noble family who are Sayyed, is the True God. Also, He has made your own descent from a noble family which is compounded mix of Persians and Sayyeds. [Tiryaqul-Qulub, p. 64, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 15, pp. 272–273]

“In this revelation the family of my wife and my family are both described together as having been provided by God and both have been treated as praiseworthy to about the same extent. This is a clear indication that as my in-laws are descendants of Hadrat Fatimah, in the same way there is a mix of descent from Hadrat Fatimah in my genealogy through some of my grandmothers. The precedence given to my wife’s family in the revelation over my family is to stress the fact that she is a direct descendant of Hadrat Fatimah and I have partly inherited her blood.”(Tohfah Golarhviyyah, Page 19, Ruhani Khazain, Volume 17, Page 117)

And:

“It is a historical fact recorded in the history of my ancestors that one of my grandmothers was from a noble family of the descendants of the Holy Prophet^saw, through his daughter Fatima. This was confirmed by the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be on him, in a dream when he addressed me in the following words:

[Arabic] Salman is one of us, a member of the household, following the method of Hasan.

Thus, he named me Salman (Silman), that is to say double peace. Silm, in Arabic, means peace. That is to say, it is destined that I would bring about two kinds of peace, one internal which will put an end to ill will and rancour and the other external which will remove the causes of external enmity and by displaying the greatness of Islam will attract the followers of other faiths to Islam. It seems to me that by the mention of Salman in the hadith, it was I who was meant because the prophecy with regard to double peace does not apply to the other Salman” (A Misconception Removed Page 15 Footnote, Ruhani Khazain, Volume 18 Pages 212-213 Footnote)

He also states in regards to divine revelation:

“It was made clear to me through divine revelation that the Messiah, whose advent among the Muslims had been promised from the beginning and the Mahdi whose advent had been diviney decreed at the time of decline on Islam and the spread of error, and who was to be guided directly by God, and who was to invite people to partake of the heavenly banquet, and whose coming had been foretold by the Holy Prophet^saw thirteen hundred years in advance was myself” (Tazkirahtush-Shahadatain, Page 1-2)