The allegation of the anti Ahmadi Muslims is extremely dishonest. Firstly, it is important to note that Ahmadas did not claim that Sanaullah would die during his life time, rather he challenged the maulvi but the maulvi did not accept the challenge and was terrified. He would continuously back out from the challenge of Ahmadas and these facts are ignored by the anti Ahmadi Muslims.
Ahmadas sent a challenge to the scholars of India who were mocing and rejecting him during the year of 1896, and this list of scholars included 58 scholars of whom 49 were so called “Sufi scholars”. This list included Maulvi Sanaullah, and none accepted except him because of the pressure which was put on him, but he would continuously back out of the challenge because in his heart he knew that he cannot stand a chance against the Lion of Allah.
Before we go into detail in regards to what occured, we find it important to show some statements of the Maulvi himself in regards to Ahmadas:
He writes: “The life of Hazrat Ahmad (as) is divided into two parts. One is before his claim of Messiahship and one is after, and that there is a big difference between the two.”
“In the start, majority of the Muslim scholars supported him and in the second majority opposed him”
Just like there are two parts to the life of Mirza sahib, one before Barahine and one after, in the same way my view on him is twofold also. Up until Barahine Ahmadiyya and then after that. Up until Barahine Ahmadiyya I had good thoughts about him. In fact once, when I was 17-18 years of age, I went walking from Batala to Qadian to visit him.”
Sanaullah’s first acceptance of the challenge and once it reached Ahmadas he replied saying:
“I have seen the signed statement of Maulvi Sanaullah of Amritsar stating that he is whole-heartedly ready to accept such a method of decision whereby the two parties, i.e. he and I, should pray that whoever from among us is a liar should die in the life of the other”(Ijaz-e-Ahmadi Page 14)
And:
“So if Maulvi Sanaullah sahib has expressed this desire from heart and not by way of hypocrisy, then what is better than this? He shall do a great favor upon the ummat in this era of dissension, as an opponent, he shall become the means of a verdict between truth and falsehood. He has put forth a good proposal, now if only he remains firm upon this” (Ijaz-e-Ahmadi Page 14)
Sanaullah became so terrified that he claimed:
“Since this humble one is not in actuality or like yourself a prophet, messenger, the son of God, or claim to receive revelation, therefore I dare not accept such a challenge.” (Illhamat-e-Mirza, Edition 2, Page 85)
“This statement of his itself shows that he only believed a Prophet can do such a challenge and has clearly himself stated that he dares not to accept a challenge”(Illhamat-e-Mirza, Edition 2, Page 85)
Maulvi Sanaullah then stated:
“Mirza’is! If you are truthful then come; and bring your people with you. The same Eid-Gah is ready where you did a mubahala with Sufi Abdul Haq Ghaznavi and were faced with heavenly disgrace And bring the man who has invited me for a Mubahalah in his book Anjam-e-Atham” (Ahl-e-Hadith, 29 March 1907 Page 10)
After this was heard by Ahmadas, he stated:
“I give the good news to Maulvi Sanaullah that Mirza Sahib has accepted his challenge of Mubahalah. Undoubtedly(you) swear that this man (i.e Mirza Sahib) is false in his claim and then openly state that if I am false in this claim then “May the curse of Allah be upon those who lie”. The verse of the Holy Qur’an upon which the foundation of Mubahalah is set only states that both parties should say, “May the curse of Allah be upon those who lie” (Badr, 14 April 1907)
This terrified the Maulvi of Amritsar and caused him to contradict himself by lying and stating:
“I did not invite you to a Mubahalah, I only expressed my intent to make a sworn statement. However, you call this a Mubahalah, whereas a Mubahalah is when both parties swear against each other. I have only agreed to take an oath not to engage in a Mubahalah. A sworn statement is something else and a Mubahalah is something else” (Ahl-e-Hadith 19 April 1907)
The maulvi contradicting himself itself shows how afraid of Ahmadas he was. His statements make it clear that he continued to avoid the mubahalah. Ahmadas was already told by Allah that Sanaullah would not accept. After the behaviour of Sanaullah, Ahmadas issued a final verdict where he prayed that Allah destroys the false one in the life of the other. He states:
“In the end,w e request Maulvi Sahib to publish this statement in his newspaper(Ahl-e-Hadith) and write whatever he so wishes below it. Now the verdict is in Allah’s hand”
Now it was an obligation of Sanaullah to accept the mubahalah but he was scared and rejected it and replied with six points that he had. These points included him saying that the approval of this was not sought of him on the wording of the prayer and it was published without his approval, secondly that Ahmadas cannot be considered a final decision, thirdly that his opposition is with Ahmadas and if Ahmadas died how would his death be a sign for others, fourthly that the messengers do not pray for anyone’s destruction so why should Ahmadas, fifthly that Allah grants the false liars longer lives and sixthly that the statement of Ahmadas is not acceptable to him nor to any one wise (Ahl-e-Hadith, April 26, 1907)
After all of these baseless points, the maulvi also stated:
“Despite being a true prophet, the Holy Prophetsaw passed away before Musailma Kadhab, and even though Musailmah was a liar, he died after the truthful one” (Muraqqa-e-Qadiani, April 1907, Page 9)
And also:
“Show such a sign from which we can take a lesson. If we die, what shall we see and what guidance shall we receive?” (Watan Amritsar, 26 April 1907, Page 11)
At the end of the 26 April 1907, Sanaullah himself says we do not accept this challenge.
It is indeed clear that Sanaullah did not accept the final verdict and was way too afraid to do so. If he did accept it, his end would be like the others who were destroyed by the Hands of Allah. Since he rejected the mubahalah, he did not face the punishment one recieves in the outcome of a mubahalah. Furthermore, despite the mubahalah not happening, Sanaullah believed the false remain alive longer than the truthful, and this is exactly what had occured.
Sanaullah did not accept the challenge in the same way that the Christians who lived in Najran at the time of Muhammadsaw as both were too afraid of the Prophets of Allah. After Ahmadas passed away, a allegation came which tried to claim that the final verdict was not a mubahalah but this is totally false. Sanaullah himself considered the final statement to be a mubahalah or why else would he reply to it claiming that it is an unfair challenge? Also why did he accuse Ahmadas of not getting his approval if it was not a challenge for mubahalah? Lastly, a month after Ahmadas passed away, Sanaullah proved himself to be a liar by stating:
“The Krishan of Qadian published an announcement of Mubahalah on 15 April 1907(Muraqqa-e-Qadiani, June 1908, Page 18)
This is a clear statement which shows us that it was indeed a mubahalah which Sanaullah was too terrified to take part in. Sanaullah rejected just as the Christians of Najran had rejected. It is evident that Sanaullah was afraid of Ahmadas who stated in regards to the ignoran statements of Sanaullah:
“Where is it written that a false person dies in the life of the truthful one? What we have written is that between two parties who are engaged in a Mubahalah, the one who is false dies in the life of the truthful. Did all the enemies of the Holy Prophetsaw die in his lifetime? Thousands of enemies remained alive after the demise of the Holy Prophetsaw. Yes, a false person who engages in a Mubahalah dies in the life of a truthful person. Similarly, our opponents shall remain alive after our demise. We become astonished upon hearing such things. Look at how our words are presented in a twisted manner. And what art of distortion is this that even the Jews have been left behind.”(Al-Hakam, 10 October 1907, p. 9)
Ahmadas has also stated in regards to his other mubahalahs in regards to some maulvis who accidentally accepted and were faced with the Wrath of Allah:
Where is Ghulam Dastgir who supplicated for my destruction in his book Faid-e-Rahmani, and prayed for the death of whichever of us was false? Where is Maulavi Charagh Din of Jammu who stood up for Mubahalah against me and predicted my death on the basis of a revelation he was supposed to have received? Where is Faqir Mirza who had a large following and who predicted my death with great enthusiasm. He even announced that God had informed him from His throne that I was an impostor and would die during his own lifetime in the following month of Ramadan. But when Ramadan came, it was he himself who died of the plague. Where is Sa‘d-ullah of Ludhiana who stood up for Mubahalah against me and predicted my death? He died of the plague in my lifetime. Where is Maulavi Mohy-ud-Din of Lakhoke who called me the Pharaoh and predicted my death in his lifetime and published several of his supposed revelations concerning me? He too passed away in my lifetime. Where is the accountant Babu Ilahi Bakhsh of Lahore, the author of ‘Asa-eMusa, who described himself as Moses and called me Pharaoh and predicted my death by the plague in his own lifetime, and published several other prophecies about my ruin? He too died of plague within my lifetime, thus bearing witness that his book ‘Asa-e-Musa was false and a bundle of impostures. All these people had hoped that I would become an illustration of the verse:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي مَنْ هُوَ مُسْرِفٌ كَذَّابٌ {28}
‘If he be a liar, on him will be the sin of his lie.’—(Al-Mu’min, 40:29)
But they themselves illustrated this verse by their ruin. By destroying them God also made me an illustration of the second part of the same verse:
وَإِنْ يَكُ صَادِقًا يُصِبْكُمْ بَعْضُ الَّذِي يَعِدُكُمْ ۖ {28}
But if he is truthful, then some of that which he threatens you with will surely befall you.’—(Al-Mu’min, 40:29)
Have not all these events fully established the design of God Almighty? Yet it was necessary for my opponents to have rejected me because of the Divine prediction published 26 years ago in Brahin-e-Ahmadiyyah:
A Warner came to the world and the world did not accept him, but God will accept him and will establish his truth with powerful assaults.
I am certain that God will not stop His signs till my truth is made manifest to the world. Today, 15th May 1908, it has occurred to me that there is another method by which a God fearing person may perchance emerge from the dangerous whirlpool of denial. It is as follows: Someone out of my opponents who deems me a disbeliever and a liar should obtain the attention of at least ten reputed clerics, or of at least ten well known leading personalities, and should come out against me in order to carry out a test of our truth or falsehood. We should select two persons who are critically ill and each of them should, by the drawing of lots, be allocated to each of us for prayer. Thereafter, the one whose patient recovers completely or lives longer than the other patient, will be considered true. All this is in the hand of Allah Almighty, and, relying on His promise, I predict that God will either bestow full health on the patient allocated to me or will grant him longer life than the other patient; and this will be the testimony of my truth. If this does not happen, it may be concluded that I am not from God. But it will be necessary that the person who stands up against me, and the ten Maulavis or leading personalities who support him, must announce in three leading papers that, in the case of my triumph, they will accept me and join my Jama‘at. I shall also be bound by similar conditions…. One benefit resulting from such a contest would be that God Almighty would bestow new life upon someone dangerously ill, who has lost all hope of life, and would thus manifest a sign of reviving the dead. Secondly, the contention between us will be judged peacefully and easily. Peace be on him who follows the right path. Announced by: Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani, The Promised Messiah. 15 May, 1908.(Chashma-e-Ma‘rifat, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 23, pp. 2-4)
Imagine what the end of Sanaullah would be if he actually had the power and courage to accept a mubahalah with a Prophet of Allah?
Furthermore, Sanaullah was completely humiliated. A biography of Sanaullah writes in regards to his death showing how miserable he hd become:
“In August 1947, Amritsar was the scene of a mini-doomsday. The death-afflicting storm of rioting completely enfolded the residence of Maulana, and even though he succeeded in evacuating himself and his family out into safety, his only youthful son Ataullah was cruelly slaughtered under his very eyes and the horror of that grief minced his heart into pieces.”(Al Aitzan June, 15 1962 page 10)
And also:
Maulvi Abdul Majid Sohdarvi, biographer of Maulvi Sanaullah, writes: “The moment he left his house, vagabonds and looters who were waiting for the opportunity swept in and took everything, including all the household items, cash and jewelry. After looting and robbing, they put the house on fire. That was, however, not the end of it; the looters also put on fire and turned to ashes Maulana’s most precious and valuable collection of books which included some very rare publications worth thousands of rupees and which he had brought together after great pains and expense. The loss of these books was no less distressing to Maulana than the loss of his only son. Those books were the most valuable estate of his life and some of them were so rare that it was not only difficult but impossible to replace them” … “This violent grief remained with Maulana until his death and, in fact, these two tragic incidents were the major cause of his sudden death. The sudden loss of his only son and the burning of his most precious collection of books, and the affliction of both of these misfortunes over a short while claimed his life(Seerati Sanai, Maqbool Aam Press, Lahore)
Despite being too afraid to challenge Ahmadas, Sanaullah still ended up facing the wrath of Allah. This is why we advise the anti Ahmadi Muslims to not mock the Prophets of Allah as Allah punishes those who mock the ones He Himself has Sent.
It is also interesting that Sanaullah believed Ahmadi Muslims to be a sect of Islam:
