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An Important Submission to the Honourable Members of the Assembly

fter briefly reviewing the allegations levelled against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at we would like to sound this warning to the honourable Members of the Assembly that a conspiracy has long been in existence, the purpose of which in the name of religion is to cause intercommunal trouble among the Muslims of Pakistan with intent to obliterate them from the face of the earth. The President of Bazm-e-Saqaafat-e-Islamiyyah, Khalifa Abdul Hakeem exposed this conspiracy, years ago, in the following words:

"The Vice-Chancellor of a Pakistani University said to me recently that when he asked a great Mullah and eminent scholar who had only recently migrated to Pakistan after much vacillation and calculation—as to his opinion about a certain Islamic sect, he gave the fatwa that those among them who are of ghali, or extremists, must be put to death, and those who are not ghali, are liable to be punished. Then I asked about another sect which has numerous millionaire businessmen. He replied: all members of that sect are worthy of being put to death. It was the same scholar who was in the vanguard of those thirty, or thirty-two, ulema—and he was their prime-mover—who laid it down as mandatory, in their proposed Islamic Constitution that: every Islamic sect must be given recognition, with the exception of only one sect which must be considered outside the pale of Islam. Of course, they too deserve death but this is to be explicitly decided later. When the appropriate time comes we will deal with them accordingly. Another scholar, among the aforementioned group, stated: so far we have initiated Jehad in the path of Allah, only against one sect. After attaining success in this venture, Insha Allah (God willing) we shall turn to making short work of others."

[Iqbal aur Mullah, p. 9, by Dr. Khalifa Abdul Hakeem, M.A., Ph.D.; Published by: Bazm-e-Iqbal, Lahore, Pakistan]

The above excerpt very clearly brings out the background of the agitational movement which is being carried on in Pakistan under cover of the venerable name of "Khatme Nubuwwat." In this respect, Maulana Abul Aala Maudoodi, referring to the incidents of 1953, gave a special statement in which he made the following surprising admission:

These actions clarified two things for me: firstly, the real objective, in front of the Ahrar, is not the protection of the Finality of Prophethood (Tahaffuze Khatme Nubuwwat); rather, their real aim is self-advertisement and taking selfish credit. And that these people want to gamble away the lives and property of the Muslims for gaining their selfish ends in exchange. Secondly, that after unanimously adopting a resolution the night before, some conspirators hatched a plot in isolation and produced a different resolution of their own composition…… I felt that a task which is performed with such intentions and by the use of such tricks, cannot contain any goodness. And those who are exploiting the name of Allah and of the Holy Prophet^sa for achieving their own selfish ends—and who use the lives of Muslims as if they were manoeuvering chess-pieces—such people can never be granted support by Allah…."

[Daily Tasneem, Lahore, 2 July, 1955]

Against this backdrop, if one views the past, together with the newly emergent situation, it becomes plainly obvious that although at this stage emphasis being placed exclusively on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at to be declared as non-Muslim minority, but under the long-range scheme of the enemies of Pakistan, the door to mischief against the other sects of the Muslim ummah has already been opened and, in the aftermath of 1953, voices are already being raised to declare some other sects too to be non-Muslim minorities, in addition to the Ahmadis. For instance, in early-March, 1953, a public poster entitled "Demands" (Mutaalebaat) was found posted at all public places in Karachi. It is being reproduced verbatim, as under:

Demands as formulated by the Majlis-e-Shura consisting of some Muslim Scholars

Deobandi Sect Must be Declared a Separate Minority Sect

The Basic Principles of Islamic Government, has merely referred to the rights of Islamic sects in its Section (9) without mentioning any details. The ostensible reason for this "oversight" seems to be to ensure the fulfilment of political aims and objectives behind the creation of the "minority sect" which was born in the days of the British Rule: making it appear as if it were a part and parcel of the majority-sect of Pakistan and thereby having the doctrines of the majority-sect trampled down through their agency. We, therefore, consider it our duty to lay it bare, in unequivocal words, to the Government of Pakistan that khuddaam-e-auliya Allah (servants of the Godly saints) viz. Ahle Sunnah wal-Jama'ah sect constitutes the majority in Pakistan. Its faith and tenets today are the same as the faith and tenets of the Muslim Kingdom of the un-divided India since the days of Shahaab-ud-Din Ghauri to those of Shah Aalam, the King of Delhi.

The doctrines of this Muslim Majority of Pakistan are as under:

Veneration of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, and a variety of rituals to express this reverence: ceremonial invocation of blessings (eesaal-e-thawaab); ceremonial preparation and consumption of ritual food-items in the name of the deceased Saints and with a view to beseeching them to accept our prayers (nazr neyaaz) on pre-determined dates; celebrating the anniversaries of the saintly figures of Islam on a large-scale, in commemoration of their dates of demise (urs); conducting meetings involving group-recitals of ritualistic blessing on the Holy Prophet, to commemorate his birth (mahaafil-e-meelaad) and chanting benedictions on such occasions in standing position, etc. are all included.

But the "minority sect"—born of the British Rule—declares and believes the above-mentioned tenets of the Majority to be shirk (sic. associating partners with God) and innovation in Faith (bid'at). And this "minority sect" considers it legitimate to impose restrictions, in India and Pakistan, on the aforementioned practices of the Majority, as were once imposed, under the auspices of Ibn Sa'ood, on the performance of rituals rooted in ancient doctrines. The creation of this "minority sect" was accomplished during the stint of The East-India Company's rule, and its founder was Maulvi Isma'eel Dehlvi—who declared that waging Jehad against the British to be unlawful but, at the behest of the British, he waged Jehad against the Sikhs. He also formulated the self-styled doctrines of Imkaan-e-Kizb, i.e., God can tell lies, and Imkaan-e-Nazeer, i.e., possibility of the creation of a replica of the Holy Prophet, (God forbid).

The scheme which was submitted to Queen Victoria, in 1858 A.D., to convert all India to Christianity contained, as one of its clauses, the following:

"Do not let the idolaters of India, viz. non-Christians, congregate in their political or religious festivals."

After this scheme was put forth, the suspended mission of Maulvi Isma'eel was infused with a new spirit and, on the basis of his fabricated doctrines and on the line delineated by him, a re-formulation, in the town of Deoband, was effected of a sect which he had already founded. It is for this reason that they are now known as the "Deobandi sect." Since this sect consists of a small number of adherents, therefore it tries to pass under the name of Ahle Sunnah wal Jama'ah, despite the fact that its doctrines are completely different from those of the Ahle Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. For instance, as the Sikhs are an offshoot of the Hindus, but they are no longer Hindus; or the Protestants of England are an offshoot of the Roman Catholics but they themselves are not Roman Catholic. Similarly, the Deobandi sect is an offshoot of Ahle Sunnah wal Jama'ah but they are not a part of Ahle Sunnah wal Jama'ah. The principle exponents of the minority-sect of Deobandis are: Mufti Muhammad Shafee, Maulana Sayyed Sulaiman Nadvi, Maulvi Ehteshaam-ul-Haq, and Mr. Abul Aa'la Maudoodi etc. Since the neglect of the doctrines and rights of the majority amounts to an insult to the democratic principles, therefore the following demands are put forward by the Majority:

1.    The section dealing with the principle that the Head of this Islamic State of Pakistan will have to be a Muslim, must also incorporate, as an inevitable condition, that he will hold the same beliefs as those of the aforesaid Majority,

2.    The Deobandi sect must be formally declared as an entity separate from the Ahle Sunnah wal Jama'ah, and

3.    Interference by the Deobandi sect, in the doctrines and practices, as well as in the religiously-occupied property (auqaaf), of the Ahle Sunnah wal Jama'ah, must be formally declared to be prohibited under the law of the land.

The purpose of the above demands is not to fan the flames of religious sectarianism in Pakistan. Instead, our purpose is: to eradicate the sectarian violence from Pakistan, forever; to safeguard the Majority, and communicte its viewpoint. Because history bears eloquent testimony to the fact that, during the reign of Henry VIII, some of his favourite Protestant padres posed themselves as Roman Catholic and sang paeons of praise of the Heavenly Kingdom and Christiandom for the advancement of the Roman Catholic dogma and then, through the due process of the Parliament, caused the ouster of Catholicism from the territory of England! If the Deobandi sect is forced upon the Ahle Sunnah wal Jama’ah now, it would re-enact the tragedy of the Henry VIII and the Roman Catholics.
Callers towards Goodness,

[Underneath are affixed the signature of the Patron of Jamee'at-ul-Ulamaa Pakistan, Hadhrat Maulana Makhdoom Sayyed Nasir Jalali is affixed, followed by signatures of numerous other Barelvi ulema.

[Quoted in the Monthly, Tuloo-e-Islam, May 1953, pp. 64-65]

The Shia Monthly, Al-Muntazer, Lahore, wrote in 1970:

"Those who have formulated the manifesto of the Jamee'at have, with great cunning, also included in it an article with which they can label every Islamic sect—except their own—to be ‘non-Muslim.' Khatme Nubuwwat is just a handy excuse, otherwise their use of the word ‘etcetra' has ample room in it to enable Mufti Mahmood and Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi to declare just about any sect of Islam to be ‘un-Islamic.’ " [Al-Muntazer, Lahore, 5 February, 1970, p.10]

The apprehension expressed by Al-Muntazer became a reality only two years later, as evidenced by the following resolution adopted by the "Khilaafat-e-Raashidah Conference" at Multan, which is reproduced as under:

"This momentous rally of the Khilaafat-e-Raashidah Conference at Multan, demands from the Government of Pakistan that in view of the fact that: the Shias have demonstrated that they are a separate entity from the mill'et by demanding a curriculum of education which is separate from that of the Muslims, and religiously-held property (auqaaf) which is separate from those of the Muslims; and, in view of the aforesaid, they have practically declared that they are an independent minority, separate from the generality of Muslims (aam'mat-ul-Muslimeen); and since the Government, too, has officially conceded their separate identity in these particular matters, so, therefore— the Shias must be formally separated in every walk of life.

They must be given representation in the Legislative bodies, as well as in employment, on the basis of their proportion in the total population. At the present time, poor Sunnis are usually employed in insignificant jobs whereas the Shias are seen to be occupying most of the high-ranking positions of authority.

The Majority (sawaad-e-a’azam) emphatically demands that the Government must separately treat this secessionist sect in various employments, and as far as the higher jobs and key-positions are concerned, they must be represented only on the basis of their proportion in the population.

Prime-mover: Hadhrat Maulana Dost Muhammad Qureshi
Seconded by: Hadhrat Maulana Qaa'im-ud-Din

[Quoted in the Weekly, "Tarjumaan-e-Islam," Lahore, 31 March, 1972, p.5, col. 5]

As regards the sect of Ahle Hadith, they have practically announced their support for the above-quoted resolution, and hold the Shias to be disbelievers in Khatme Nubuwwat just as they allege Ahmadis to be so. For instance, Maulana Haneef Nadvi wrote:

"In Shia doctrine, the system of Imaams runs parallel to the system of Prophethood, i.e., just as the formal title of a Prophet is needed, similarly formal titles of the Imaams are also essential.... As a matter of fact, as well as that of practice, the continuation of Prophethood and the continuation of Imaam-hood become indistinguishable."

[Mirzaa'iyyat Na'aye Zaaviyon Say (Mirza’i Faith from New Angles]