Gate of Ludd

Gate of Ludd

The Holy Prophet Muhammad^saw stated:

كَاللُّؤْلُؤِ فَلاَ يَحِلُّ لِكَافِرٍ يَجِدُ رِيحَ نَفَسِهِ إِلاَّ مَاتَ وَنَفَسُهُ يَنْتَهِي حَيْثُ يَنْتَهِي طَرْفُهُ فَيَطْلُبُهُ حَتَّى يُدْرِكَهُ بِبَابِ لُدٍّ فَيَقْتُلُهُ

” Every non-believer who would smell the odor of his self would die and his breath would reach as far as he would be able to see. He would then search for him (Dajjal) until he would catch hold of him at the gate of Ludd and would kill him. ” (Sahih Muslim Hadith #2937 a)

The sign which will now be discussed, is the killing of the Dajjal at the Gate of Ludd. Dajjal and Gog and Magog would have its own section, and the purpose of this explanation will primarily be in regards to the Gate of Ludd.

The meaning of this hadith is quite beautiful. Allah States in the Qur’an:

فَإِنَّمَا يَسَّرْنَاهُ بِلِسَانِكَ لِتُبَشِّرَ بِهِ الْمُتَّقِينَ وَتُنْذِرَ بِهِ قَوْمًا لُدًّا {98}

So We have made it (The Qur’an) easy in thy tongue that thou mayest give thereby good tidings to the righteous, and warn thereby a contentious people.” (Chapter 19, Verse 98)

An approved commentary of the notes of Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad^ra state:

الد (most contentious) is derived from لد (ladda). They say لده meaning, he contended or quarreled with him vehemently. So الد which is the noun of pre-eminence from it, means, one who is a great quarreler. The plural of الد is لد (Aqrab)

الد refers to the act of one involved in disputes and arguments and can also be defined as the most quarrelsome or argumentative. This refers to the Messiah^as destroying and dismantling the false doctrines of Christianity through evidences from the Qur’an, Bible and all sorts of other arguments, including Historical records as well. Ahmad^as did exactly that. He proved Islam to be the true religion and disproved the trinity, divinity, the concept of Isa^as being raised to heavens and proved many other concepts of different religions wrong. This prophecy further proves that the Messiah would not be fighting dajjal with a weapon or a sword, rather through means of argumentation. For this reason, the Holy Prophet Muhammad^saw also said:

إِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَأَنَا فِيكُمْ فَأَنَا حَجِيجُهُ دُونَكُمْ وَإِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَلَسْتُ فِيكُمْ فَامْرُؤٌ حَجِيجُ نَفْسِهِ

“If Dajjal comes forth while I am among you, I shall contend with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth, while I am not amongst you, a man must contend on his own behalf…” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith #2937 a)

This hadith also refers to the Holy War which was one of the greatest debates against Christianity by Hadhrat Ahmad^as which happened in Amritsar in 1893. The Promised Messiah^as triumphed over Christianity through arguments that the people from the Christian side themselves admit defeat. Amritsar is close to Ludhiana which is why it is called the Gate of Ludd and it is possible that the city of Ludhiana is a secondary interpretation of the word Ludd as that is where Dajjal had its outbreak at first. Hadhrat Ahmad^as proved every Christian wrong who came against him.

There is yet another way this prophecy was fulfilled. We know from the life of the Holy Prophet^saw , that a Khalifa may also fulfill a prophecy of the Prophet. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as beautifully explains this. He states:

“Migration is also a characteristic of Prophets but some of the dreams of a Prophet are fulfilled through him in his own time, and others are fulfilled through a descendant or a follower of his. For instance, the Holy Prophet, on whom be the peace and blessings of Allah, was given the keys of the treasuries of Caesar and Chosroes and these countries were conquered in the time of Hadrat ‘Umar^ra .” (Badr, Volume 1. No.23, September 7, 1905 p.2 and al-Hakam, Vol 9., No.32 September 10, 1905, Pg 3)

This prophecy was also fulfilled through the Promised Son, Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad^ra. When he arrived in London, he went to the Ludgate and led a prayer outside the entrance of St. Paul’s Cathedral. His speech on Ahmadiyyat, and it being the True Islam was read out in the Wembley’s Conference of Living Religions during the year of 1924. This sign was indeed fulfilled in the Messiah^as beautifully. The Khulafa are a shield for the believers and continue to carry the true Islam to the all parts of the world.

When you consider the various connotations of the word Qital, major, important Arabic dictionaries would tell you that the word Qital also has the connotation of hot debate or disagreement or opposition or hostility and so on and so forth so Qital also means to defeat
someone in argumentation. So the Holy Prophet
Qital
comes next time, because also he himself will be Hajij, he will not be Qatil of Antichrist. So also the Messiah would be Hajij and not the Qatil of, that is to say murderer or killer, of the Antichrist. He will be defeated in arguments and that is how he will be murdered in essence,
himself has thrown light in what sense صلى الله عليه وسلم
he has used the word
as applicable to the time of the advent of the Messiah when he
not physically. So that is why the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has mentioned Bab e Lud in the same
sense. Lud means to exceed beyond moderacy in your argumentation, [to] become illogical so that the person with whom you are arguing is unnecessarily involved in lengthened out debate because of the wrong attitude of his opponent. So although both are involved in that Lud it doesn’t mean that both are wrong. If one adopts a wrongish attitude the other is also
involved and dragged out in that debate. So the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has mentioned that Masih
would kill Dajjal at the Gate of Lud and the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) has argued that here it means that he will defeat him in argumentation and on the other hand his attitude would be that of obstinate mulish argumentator without any real substance. Now I think some time ago it was pointed out by Hazrat Maulawi Jalaluddin Shams Sahib or somebody else that when they first discovered there was a Ludgate in London that is the Lud which was mentioned in the Hadith because of course it is a metaphorical application of the word Lud but if also there is physically some place as Ludgate and if a debate of Ahmadis against Christians begins to take place around this area then the Prophecy is in the heart of Christianity (London at that time was the heart of Christianity of course you must remember. It was the heart of the Christian world critically as well as religiously), so for Bab e Lud to be found in London is a very interesting coincidence. Lud also further explains the word Hajjij – that it will be a debate which will destroy Christianity and not the real physical murder of
some Christians.
Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad – Khalifatul Masih IV. Darsul Quran on Surah Āl Imran [Family
of Imran]: 60 (2) – 62. 8th May 1988.