Shamsul Hidayah
This book was written by Hazrat (R.A.) as a part of his fight against Qadianism, or the Ahmadiya movement. In short, the book Shamsul Hidayah established the case for Jesus Christ’s ascent to Heaven "alive" and "in person" in such forceful and incontrovertible terms as to totally demolish Mirza’s interpretation and claims. The book was, therefore, acclaimed by the Muslim ulama of all schools of thought. This book was written in the year 1899.
Reason for writing the book—in Hazrat's (R.A) own words
A summary of reasons given by Hazrat in the beginning of the book for its compilation is reproduced below:
(a) The era of true guidance, firm adherence to the faith, and balanced thinking and action is now long past, with the result that human nature is being increasingly influenced by prejudice and ignorance.
(b) Due to the general lack of piety and fear of God, inner light, and scholarly ability, it has become difficult to distinguish between right and wrong and to preserve true belief.
(c) Simplicity and truth, which are among the basic and important principles of Islam, have given place to greed, mischief, and hypocrisy.
(d) Despite these shortcomings, people now tend to consider themselves to be all-knowing and to regard the visions of prophets of Allah to be the subject of error and misinterpretation and the “ijtihadat” (re-interpretations) of early ulama to be “obsolete,” while they consider their own meanings and interpretations to be immune from those faults.
(e) Because of all this, the patently wrong and misleading views set forth in Qadyani writings have started gaining more and more credence, making it imperative that something effective be done to stem this tide.
Hazrat added that the Qadyani views had been brought to his notice earlier, but he had been restraining the ulama from condemning them because he considered this to be against the Islamic principles of tolerance and broadness of outlook. However, a situation had now been reached that could not be tolerated or ignored any longer. He had, therefore, written the book “Shamsul Hidayah” to inform the people about the true meanings of the Quranic ayah and the Prophet’s (P.B.U.H.) ahadith on the related points, and thereby ensure that the established and unanimously accepted beliefs of Islam are not discarded merely due to the lack of correct knowledge.
In short, the book Shamsul Hidayah established the case for Jesus Christ's ascent to heaven "alive and in person" in such forceful and incontrovertible terms as to totally demolish Mirza's interpretation and claims. The book was, therefore, acclaimed by the Muslim ulama of all schools of thought. The adverse and abusive remarks made about it by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his followers in their various writings and sayings were an indirect proof of their helplessness in providing an effective answer to the arguments and reasoning presented by Hazrat in the book. The book has gone through three editions since it was published, the latest one having been published in 1985.
Saif-e-Chishtiyai
As Hazrat had made out a very strong case in his book "Shamsul Hidayah" to expose the fallacy of the arguments put forward by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to back up his claim to be the masil of Jesus Christ and later the Promised Messiah in person. Besides negating those arguments, Hazrat had also called upon Mirza to explain the true inner meaning of the Kalima-e-Tayyibah.
About two years after the publication of Shamsul Hidayah, the Qadyani camp published two books by way of rejoinders to Shamsul Hidayah. One of these, titled "Ijaz-ul-Masih" (The Miracle of Messiah), was written by Mirza himself. Concerning his own book, Mirza put forward the claim that it was beyond human power to reply to the arguments contained in that book (Ijaz-ul-Masih).
The second Qadyani book, titled "Shams-e-Bazighah" (The Shining Sun), was written and published by Mirza Sahib's loyal disciple and old-time associate, Maulvi Ahsan Amrohi. In this book, an effort was made, besides other things, to give a detailed explanation of the Kalimah (There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger), as had been demanded by Hazrat in his book Shamsul Hidayah.
In reply to Mirza’s two aforementioned books, Ijaz-ul-Masih and Shams-e-Bazighah, Hazrat wrote his now-renowned book Saif-e-Chishtiyai (The Chishtia Sword) and had it distributed free of cost to the subcontinent’s ulama and mashaikh as well as among religious schools and other institutions.
Saif-e-Chishtiyai further elaborated the arguments contained in Hazrat’s earlier book Shams-ul-Hidayah. In addition, it made nearly one hundred critical comments on the incorrect meaning and logic, errors of grammar, diction, and idiom, plagiarism, and distortions in respect of Surah Al-Fateha (the opening Surah of the Holy Quran) as contained in Mirza’s Ijaz-ul-Masih. Similar criticism was made of the contents of Shams-e-Bazighah, in which an effort had been made by Mirza to spell out the meaning of the Kalimah (There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) is Allah’s Messenger) as demanded by Hazrat in Shams-ul-Hidayah, and objections had also been raised to the various points made in that book (Ijaz-ul-Masih, written by Mirza Qadyani).
As clarified by Hazrat in his introductory remarks, this book, like Shamsul Hidayah, was also written by Hazrat on the insistence of some ulama and other people rather than on his own initiative, and its real purpose was to explain the correct position of the related issues from the standpoints of the Quran and the Hadith for the information and guidance of people rather than to indulge in polemics with Mirza and his followers.
Saif-e-Chishtiyai elaborated further upon the arguments contained in Hazrat's earlier book Shamsul Hidayah and also gave convincing rejoinders to the objections raised by Mirza concerning that book. In addition, it made nearly one hundred critical comments on the incorrect meanings and logic and errors of Arabic grammar, diction, and idiom (which are crucially important in relation to the Quran and the Hadith, since even the slightest error can completely distort the meanings of the relevant ayat and ahadith) in respect of Surah Al-Fateha contained in Mirza's Ijaz-ul-Masih. Similar criticisms were made of the contents of Shams-e-Bazighah. The details of these various comments, which can be properly understood only by those well-versed in the Arabic language and in religious issues, may be seen in the book itself.
In Saif-e-Chishtiyai, Hazrat had, inter alia, predicted that since Mirza was an impostor, he would never have the privilege of visiting Madina Munawwara and paying his respects at the tomb of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H), which, according to a hadith, was one of the things that Jesus Christ (the real Promised Messiah) was destined to do, along with the performance of Hajj, after his future descent to earth. This prediction was proved correct when Mirza died a few years later, neither performing Hajj nor visiting Madina.
Saif-e-Chishtiyai was hailed by contemporary religious scholars as a masterpiece on the subject. It was quoted extensively by writers of Quranic commentaries and other religious authors as a reference to prove their various points. As intended, this book did effectively stem the advancing Qadyani tide, making it almost completely ineffective. It helped thousands of Muslims to rediscover the truth about the issues that Qadianism had raised, besides making many Qadianis themselves repent and rejoin the ranks of orthodox Muslims.
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