What is the reality of the Qadiyyah?

The Shaykh : You must have heard of a sect called "the Qadiyyah." They trace their origin to a town or village in Pakistan called Qadian. A man emerged from there who was a Sufi scholar, but he was a Sufi who followed a specific path. First, he claimed to be the Mahdi, then he claimed to be Jesus, the one whose descent is foretold in the end times, and then he claimed that revelation is sent to him. He has a book printed in Arabic titled "The Reality of Revelation." He has very strange acts of disbelief, such as lying about and fabricating things regarding Allah (Mighty and Majestic). For example, he claims that his name is Ahmad, whereas the name his father gave him was Ghulam Ahmad. The translation of "Ghulam Ahmad" in their language is "Servant of Ahmad." The Ahmad referred to here is our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). This child was named Ghulam Ahmad, meaning his servant, seeking blessing. Then, as he advanced in misguidance, he dropped the word "Ghulam" and kept only the name Ahmad. He then claimed that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed to him that book known as "The Reality of Revelation." What does it say? It says Allah told him, "O Ahmad, you are from Me in the position of my Tawhid (oneness of Allah); you are from Me in the position of my Tafdrid (singling out)." This means that Tawhid is in the position of the Tawhid of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). He has many, many such delusions. But when he claimed prophethood, people followed him to this day. It has been approximately seventy years since he passed away. His followers are now spread out in Britain, Germany, and France, and they have amazing activity in da'wah (calling others to Islam). I do not mean calling to Islam, but rather calling to their version of Islam, because part of their belief is that prophethood has not been cut off, contrary to the well-known verse: Contrary to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): And contrary to what he (peace be upon him) said to Ali when he (peace be upon him) went to Tabuk and left him in Medina as his deputy. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Do not think that these Qadiyyans deny any of the pillars of faith or any of the pillars of Islam. No, they believe in all these pillars with us. They pray, they fast, they perform Hajj, and their names are entirely Islamic names. Do you consider them Muslims when they believe that this man is a truthful prophet? And this man says that prophets will come after him. Of course, these people are not Muslims because they denied, as the jurists say, what is known from the religion by necessity. It is known from the religion by necessity to every Muslim that there is no prophet after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), due to the verse mentioned earlier and the hadiths, some of which I also mentioned earlier. The point is: Do they believe in this verse? The answer is yes. Do they accept these hadiths? The answer is yes. How is this possible when they say the opposite of the verse and the opposite of the hadiths? Here comes the calamity of ta'wil (figurative interpretation), which was the cause of the division of the believers, those old sects, some of whose effects remain to this day. For example, the Mu'tazilah went astray and left the community. Did they disbelieve in any of the verses of the Qur'an? The answer is no. So why did they go astray? Because they applied the tool of ta'wil to the texts of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and they went astray in far misguidance.

The questioner : Peace be upon you

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Likewise, these Qadiyyans did not depart from the Qur'an and the Sunnah in wording, but they departed from the Qur'an and the Sunnah through ta'wil (figurative interpretation) and tahrif (distortion of a text's meaning). For example, regarding the previous verse: They say, "But the Messenger of Allah," meaning he is truly and sincerely the Messenger of Allah. But "Khatam al-Nabiyyin" (Seal of the Prophets) means that he is the adornment of the prophets, not the last of them. Regarding they said this is a likeness and a metaphor. Just as the ring on the finger is the adornment of the fingers and the hand, so Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets, meaning their adornment, not the last of them. So they believed and they disbelieved. That is, they believed in the wording of the Qur'an and disbelieved in its meaning. Do you see that when our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) wants us to believe in the Qur'an, does He want us to believe in its wording without its meaning, or in its meaning without its wording? Or does He want us to believe in both, wording and meaning? There is no doubt that the answer is wording and meaning. Among the Muslims, there were philosophers who are considered among those who departed from the religion of Allah in great numbers, just as a hair comes out of dough. They said that the verses that command establishing the prayer and giving zakah do not mean the prayer that Muslims perform to this day, praise be to Allah, prayers at five times with known rak'ahs, conditions, and pillars, etc. No, this is an error in understanding the verse. Rather, the meaning is "establish the prayer," meaning supplication, and "zakah," meaning purification of the soul. So they nullified all these laws. This means that they do not truly believe in Allah and His Messenger. This is what some Islamic philosophers say. But there is a lower degree of misguidance than this, though it is still misguidance. I do not want to return to some of the old examples; this new example is sufficient for now. Regarding meaning their adornment, meaning he is not the last of them, because after the Messenger came Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiyani, and many prophets will come after him. They interpreted the verse, applied ta'wil to it, and nullified its indication, just as the Jews distort the word from its place. And they fell into disbelief while relying on the Qur'an, claiming to be interpreters of the verse contrary to its correct interpretation. What did they do with the hadith? You heard earlier his (peace be upon him) saying to Ali: They said, "There is no prophet with me, but after my death, there are prophets." So, these people are among the sects referred to in his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: This sect is one of these seventy-two perishing sects. Why? Because even though they believe in the Qur'an, they followed a path other than that of the believers in interpreting the Qur'an. For that reason, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said in the previous verse in the Qur'an: So, these Qadiyyans and their like, in the past and perhaps in the present, when they did not believe in the verse and interpreted it other than the interpretation of the believers, their reward is what came in the verse: This is sufficient, if Allah wills. So that we do not mix the tooth with the lesson, please proceed to the food now.