The article in Roznama Sangam of Patna, India.
Of all Islamist movements in present times, a movement led by Islamic clerics and known as Khatm-e-Nabuwwat has been growing every day but remains unscrutinized by the international media due to lack of information. Khatm-e-Nabuwwat means the end of the prophethood. Pakistan's Urdu newspapers are full of reports about Khatm-e-Nabuwwat conferences in towns across Pakistan. At such conferences, Islamic clerics argue that Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet and there will be no prophet after him.
There seems to be organized global support for the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat movement. Islamic clerics in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, among others, seem to have united under this omnibus banner. There are small and big groups of clerics organized under the banners of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat and hold their own conferences. However, the Pakistani media has not been able to decipher who funds these groups. It should be mentioned here that under the pressure from such groups of Islamic clerics, Pakistan's so-called secular leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto outlawed Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslims in 1974.
For the first time in history, lawmakers were given this extraordinary theological power by Bhutto to declare an entire Muslim community non-Muslim. Consequently, it is illegal for journalists and politicians in Pakistan today to call Ahmadis Muslims, and Ahmadi Muslims are forbidden to call their places of worship mosques, or to use Islamic symbols and etiquette. The 1974 law has cemented hatred against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistani society, and no politicians seem to have the courage to support Ahmadi Muslims.
Islamic clerics routinely preach hate against Ahmadi Muslims, declaring them kafirs (infidels) and Qadianis, a pejorative term for Ahmadis in Pakistan. The term Qadiani comes from the town of Qadian in present-day India where the spiritual leader of the Ahmadi Muslims, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), was born and preached. Ahmadi Muslims are accused of not believing that Muhammad was the last prophet. However, Ahmadis say that they accept Muhammad as the last prophet but Allah continues to talk to mystics – much like the Sufis' argument – especially because there will be no prophet now. In a recent article, Islamic cleric Miyan Ahsan Bari traced the philosophy and history of the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat movement. Here are excerpts from the article:[1]
"Shias, Sunnis; [And Among Sunnis] Deobandis, Barelvis, Ahle Hadith, Etc., Are In Unison On The Qadianis Being Kafir"
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"The faith in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat and the philosophy of prophethood and Khatm-e-Nabuwwat is the symbol of alliance and unity. And all big sects – Shias, Sunnis; [and among Sunnis] Deobandis, Barelvis, Ahle Hadith, etc., are in unison on the Qadianis being kafir. This faith [in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat] is the great objective which you can describe as the basis and spirit of the religion of Islam. This faith is substantiated by 100 verses of the Koran. And there are 210 pious hadiths [sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad] in support of this faith.
"During the era of our first caliph Abu Bakr [reigned 632–634 CE], the companions of the prophet had consensus on defending Khatm-e-Nabuwwat. And in the War of Yemamah, 1,200 companions of the prophet offered the sacrifice of blood, among them being 700 Huffaz [those who memorize the Koran] and reciters [of the Koran]. They also included 70 Badri companions [i.e. those companions who had taken part in the Battle of Badr, the first Islamic war led by the prophet]. And in 1953, 16-18 thousand Muslims – the lovers of Prophet Muhammad, the slaves of the companions, the defenders of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat – embraced martyrdom on the Mall Road of Lahore [in a series of bloody riots against Ahmadi Muslims demanding that Pakistan declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims, leading to military crackdown]."
"There is a consensus of the entire Islamic Ummah on this faith [in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat] and will continue to be so till the Day of Judgment. In 1884 itself, the Islamic scholars of Ludhiana [a town now in the northern Indian state of Punjab] had issued a fatwa of kufr [unbelief] on the Qadiani belief [militating against the principle of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat]. Subsequently, the Islamic scholars of Deoband and other sects issued fatwas of kufr against the kufri beliefs [of Ahmadis]. On April 29, 1973, the legislative assembly of [Pakistan-controlled] Azad Kashmir adopted a resolution by consensus for the defense of the faith in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat and for rectifying the mischief of Qadianism. And on September 7, 1974, all Qadiani groups were declared as non-Muslims through a resolution adopted by consensus in the parliament of Pakistan.
"The current government [of Pakistan] must permanently abandon the idea of tampering the law on Khatm-e-Nabuwwat and the law against the blasphemy of the prophet. [The Pakistani government] must expel the idea from heart to annul the Article 295-C [which prescribes the death penalty for blasphemy] at the behest of the colonial nations [i.e. the West], and hang the apostate [Pakistani Christian woman] Aasia Bibi against whom death penalty has been ordered by a court for committing blasphemy. The [Muslim] nation can accept everything but will not allow any tampering with the laws on blasphemy."
"[Physics Nobel Laureate] Abdus Salam Had Left... [Pakistan] In Protest Against The National Assembly's Resolution Which Outlawed Qadianis As Non-Muslims In 1974"
"The law against Qadianism mirrors the faith of the Islamic Ummah [i.e. that Muhammad was the last prophet]. To not implement it and to allow the Qadianis to engage in their activities freely is the [government] leaders' rejection of the love of Prophet Muhammad..."
"The Qadianis' enmity against Prophet Muhammad is clear from the literature published by them. Clearly, the Qadianis do not accept the constitution and laws of Pakistan, and bury their dead in the present Chenab Nagar, [the new name of] the former town of Rabwah... [And they do this] with the idea that when India and Pakistan unite, i.e. when the country [Pakistan] disintegrates and goes into the hands of Hindus, then they will dig up their corpses and take [them] to be buried in the Indian town of Qadian [from where the Ahmadi spiritual movement began]. To name a part of the [Islamabad-based] Quaid-e-Azam University after... the Qadian Abdus Salama [who won the Nobel prize for physics] is a message to the imperial [powers], especially America, that we are their obedient liberal and secular [followers] and have sympathies for the Qadianis..."
"Abdus Salam had left the country in protest against the National Assembly's resolution which outlawed Qadianis as non-Muslims in 1974. No matter what... the outlawing of Qadianis as non-Muslims cannot be quashed simply because of the ruling class..." "The present rulers have once again handed over six educational institutions in Chenab Nagar to Qadianis where teachings of apostasy, kufr and Qadianism were given. This way, these colleges and schools will again become the playground/laboratories for the preaching of Qadianism and the Qadiani bullying. And the local Muslims students will not be given admissions."
"On the other hand, by passing an anti-Islam and religion-enmity legislation in the Sindh assembly [province of Pakistan], the ruling PPP [Pakistan People's Party] is seen making failed attempts to court the blessings and goodwill of the imperial [power, i.e. the U.S.-led West]. To impose restrictions on any youth that s/he cannot be Muslim before 18 whether the parents have recited the Kalimah [i.e. the words that, 'there is no deity but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger', thereby accepting Islam] – are open violation of the orders of Prophet Muhammad, whether done intentionally or mistakenly, and are the means of shaking up Islam's foundations..."[2]
