In this article a critical analysis is made of the strong exhortations by the founder of Ahmadiyyat to followers to urgently study the Arabic language.
He is Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian in India and is the founder of the world-wide Ahmadiyya movement in Islam.
Born in Qadian, India in 1830 he later claimed to have fulfilled the advent of the much-awaited Messiah of the Jews and Christians and as well as the Imam Al-Mahdi (The Guided One) of the Muslims.
He was the recipient of divine revelations and commenced the acceptance of initiation (Bai’at) into the Ahmadiyyat Muslim Community. In 1908 he passed away and has since been succeeded by Khalifas. The fifth and current one is Hadrat Masroor Ahmad, with his headquarters in London. For Muslims the advent of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, on whom be peace, is enshrined in the Quran that in the latter days a man of Persian descent would be sent by God for the reformation of the faith (Quran 62:3). In an interpretation of the text the Holy Prophet, referring to Salman the Persian, said ‘’if faith were to ascend to the Pleiades (Distant stars) a man from these will go after it and bring it down (Salih Bakhari). In exact fulfilment of the prophecy, the ancestors of the claimant migrated from Persia and settled in India.
With this brief biography of the man let me proceed to discuss the topic under investigation. Needless to reiterate the fact that with the exception of the period of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the Companions (Sahaba), it is rare and difficult to find other periods in the history of Islam when an individual defended and explained into the minutest details the very nature of the Arabic language. In his book Minan Al- Rahman (Favours of the Beneficent) he proved decisively that Arabic is the mother of all languages. Besides, he challenged Muslim Divines and Scholars to the composition of books in classical Arabic, yet nobody has been able to accept the challenges, up to date, of any of his 20 books written in this divine languages. Thus serving as an irrefutable miracle in support of his claim to be the expected Mahdi. Before leaving this earthly abode for the heavenly life, he urged his followers to study this language, principally to enable them understand the Quran and secondly, to enable them defend the faith. Quoting him we read: ‘’I used to admonish members of my community that they should learn Arabic, for without the study of Arabic they can derive no benefit from the Holy Quran.
It is necessary and proper that they should make some efforts to learn Arabic. In these days many facilities have become available for learning Arabic. It is the duty of every Muslim to study the Holy Quran. It is not right, therefore, that no attention should be paid to the learning of Arabic and that one’s whole life should be devoted to the learning of English and other languages (Hadrat Ahmad, Malfoozat, vol 1, p385).
In the above exhortation it is crystal clear that Ahmad targeted members of his community exclusively in advising them to study Arabic. Why? Simply for the fact that Ahmadiyyat had just been born, while the Muslim world was older by more than 1,400 years. Within this period Muslims had studied and developed, to the optimum, the different branches of Arabic in addition to having established thousands of famous and first class. Arabic institutions like the Al-Azhar and Ain shams of Egypt, just to mention, some few. He could therefore have only advised his infant community to trod the path of their predecessors by studying the language and develop to maturity.
On the contrary he viewed Muslim Divines and scholars as his peers, hence challenged them to the writing of classical Arabic, through which Allah gave him miraculous victory! You can hence appreciate the following parallels between the Holy Prophet and Hadrat Ahmad, on them be peace. The Holy Prophet challenged the totality of the Arabs to produce the like of the Quran in matchless Arabic. He then prayed for his Companions to enable them defeat opponents in the composition of poems and they were always victorious. In the same vein Hadrat Ahmad defeated opponents with his matchless Arabic (20 books), while encouraging followers to study Arabic to enable them defeat opponents whenever the need should arise! This should be so for the fact that the spiritual and intellectual miracles of a Prophet are inherited in by followers. Unlike the Founders themselves where these gifts are miraculously bestowed, followers are expected to acquire them mostly through learning.
Other salient features of his wonderful advice comes from the statement; ‘’ In these days facilities have become available for learning Arabic’’. In other words, with the advent of the printing press to print books in their thousands and with the advent of modern means of transportation to convey teachers and teaching materials to the most isolated corners of the world, the learning of Arabic has become much easier. As compared to the olden days of hand-written books conveyed with teachers to places by beasts of burden.
I have in my possession a hand-written copy of the Quran that dates to the time of Samori (more than hundred years ago). It cost seven slaves to produce it. How many Muslims could afford to buy it?
Very little. In the same vein how many copies of the Quran, Arabic books and teachers could be conveyed from North Africa through the Sahara to say northern Ghana? Trickles at a time.
Yet in our times these obstacles have been overcome by the availability of these modern facilities. Little wonder an increasing number of Muslims are becoming more and more literate in Arabic. If therefore not withstanding the absence of these facilities in those days Muslims learnt and became masters of the language, then how much easier should it become to his followers to study Arabic in modern times when Allah, the Merciful, has made available these modern facilities.
In concluding Hadrat Ahmad, in a self- explanatory manner, has made it clear that the only way to understand the Quran is through a study of the language of the Quran. It is only then that we can derive maximum material and spiritual benefits from the storehouse of this noble book of Allah.
Conclusion:
Members of the Ahmadiyyat Muslim Community, according to Ahmad, must learn the Arabic language as the first step to understand the Holy Quran
By Khalid Kofi Ahmad Hadrat Ahmad
Follow our WhatsApp Channel now! https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAjG7g3gvWajUAEX12Q
