• Contact us
• Search the website

Read Correction of an Error, the translation of Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala in book form, with explanatory notes and a detailed study.

What the Qadiani Jama‘at believes about
Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala

The Qadiani Jama‘at belief is that it was by the publication of this booklet, in November 1901, that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad first announced to the world that he was claiming to be a prophet.

Both the Qadiani Jama‘at and the Lahore Ahmadis agree that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad laid claim to be the Promised Messiah in 1891. They also agree that, having made that claim, he denied and kept on denying that he was claiming to be a prophet, and wrote again and again that his claim was that of a muhaddas (a non-prophet who receives revelation from Allah) and mujaddid.

The difference is that the Qadiani Jama‘at believes that after about ten years he changed his position and declared to the world in Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala that he was in fact a prophet. But the Lahore Ahmadis believe that his position never changed, and remained the same as it was in 1891 to the very end of his life.

To show that the Qadiani Jama‘at does indeed hold this belief, we quote below from the book Haqiqat-un-Nubuwwat by Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, their second Khalifa, published in March 1915:

1. “The books in which he has denied being a prophet in clear words, and has called his prophethood as partial and imperfect, and as the prophethood of saints (muhaddas), are all without exception books from before the year 1901 … It is definitely found that in 1901 the Promised Messiah certainly made a change in his belief, that is to say, previously he considered his prophethood as being sainthood (muhaddas) but afterwards he only called it prophethood.” — p. 120.
2. “The issue of prophethood became clear to him in 1900 or 1901, and as Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala was published in 1901, in which he has proclaimed his prophethood most forcefully, it shows that he made a change in his belief in 1901, and the year 1900 is a middle period which is like a boundary between the two views. … It is proved that the references dating prior to the year 1901 in which he has denied being a prophet, are now abrogated and it is an error to use them as evidence.” — p. 121.
3. “The Promised Messiah during two different periods defined ‘prophet’ in two different ways. Before the year 1901 he used one definition of ‘prophet’. Afterwards, by pondering on his continuous revelation from God and by examining the Holy Quran, he discovered a different definition of ‘prophet’. According to the previous definition of ‘prophet’ in his mind, he was not a prophet, and therefore while all the characteristics of prophethood were found in him, he refrained from calling himself a prophet. … Thus afterwards he had to change his belief. He discovered from the Holy Quran that the definition of ‘prophet’ was different from what he had thought, and as according to the definition of ‘prophet’ in the Quran he was proved to be a prophet, therefore he declared his prophethood” — p. 122
4. “The first evidence of the change in this belief is found in the announcement Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala, which is the first written evidence.” — p. 124.

According to the Qadiani Jama‘at belief expressed in these extracts, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, having become the Promised Messiah in 1891, did not know what makes a man into a prophet. Therefore, while being a prophet he did not consider or call himself a prophet; indeed he denied being a prophet. This state of affairs, according to the Qadiani Jama‘at belief, lasted for some ten years. In the year 1901, they assert, he discovered the right definition of a prophet, and realized that he had been a prophet all along, and so he wrote Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala to announce that he was a prophet.

The question to be determined is, therefore:

• Has Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad changed his belief in this booklet as claimed by the Qadiani Jama‘at,
• or has he reaffirmed the beliefs he expressed previously as claimed by the Lahore Ahmadis?

• He now “discovered a different definition of ‘prophet’ ”, according to which he was a prophet.
• His previous denials of prophethood “are now abrogated”.
• This booklet is “the first evidence of the change in his belief”.

Contradiction

In his book Haqiqat-un-Nubuwwat quoted above, Mirza Mahmud Ahmad goes on to summarise his standpoint as follows:

5. “He [the Promised Messiah] did not know that the nature of the claim he was putting forward was that of a claim that only prophets can make, and no one else, and yet he was denying being a prophet. But when he discovered that the nature of his claim that he had been putting forward since the beginning of his claim was that of prophethood and not sainthood, he declared himself as a prophet, and he rebuked the follower who had denied his being a prophet, telling him: as I am a prophet why did you deny my prophethood.” — p. 124

Mirza Mahmud Ahmad says that the Promised Messiah declared in Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala for the first time that he was a prophet and that he had up to that time been wrong in denying claiming to be a prophet. Yet he also says that, in the same Ayk Ghalati Ka Izala, the Promised Messiah rebuked his follower for denying that he claimed to be a prophet! The earlier error in putting forward the claim was, according to Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, made by the Promised Messiah and yet he rebuked his follower for making that mistake!

Urdu original texts for reference

Given below are the Urdu texts of the above quotations from Mirza Mahmud Ahmad’s book Haqiqat-un-Nubuwwat. This book is available for reading on the Qadiani Jama‘at website within the volumes of a collection entitled Anwar-ul-‘ulum at the link: http://www.alislam.org/urdu/au/. This book is volume 2, book number 10, of that collection. Page numbers below refer to this volume.

Quotation 1 (p. 443–444):

Quotation 2 (p. 444-445):

Quotation 3 (p. 445–446):

Quotation 4 (p. 447):

Quotation 5 (p. 448):