This is in reply to Chapter 9 The Glorious Event(or words to that effect posted by Jewels of Insignificance regarding the double eclipse episode which Qadianis claim as a miracle proving the claims of Mirza Ahmed’s prophethood. The hadith used by Jewels is as below:
"For our Mahdi, there are two signs. Since the birth of Universe, these events have never taken place. Those two signs are that there will be Lunar Eclipse on the first night of Ramadhan and Solar Eclipse in the middle of Ramadhan. (Dar-e-Qatni, vol 1
p.188)
There are two points worth noting:
The tradition mentioned above is a quotation of Imam Mohammed al Baqir bin 'Ali and not the Hadith of Holy Prophet Mohammed SAAW.
For the last several centuries, Islamic Scholars of Hadiths (muhadditheens) have always maintained that the two narrators, 'Amr and Jabir, of this tradition are known to be liars. This tradition is therefore not to be relied upon.
Following are some of the quotations from the books of Mirza Ghulam A. Qadiani, the founder of Ahmadiyya Movement.
“I have an evidence from God … in Holy Quran and Hadith of Dar-e-Qatni these (lunar and solar eclipse) had been mentioned as a sign of the Promised Mahdi.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 17 p.63)
“One Hadith of Dar-e-Qatni also proves that the Promised Mahdi will appear at the head of 14th Century. and that hadith is this …translation of the whole hadith is:
‘there are two signs of our Mahdi; since the creation of earth
and heaven this sign has not been revealed for any
appointed and prophet and messenger; and that signs are
that moon will eclipse in the first night of its fixed nights of
eclipse and sun will get eclipsed in the middle of the fixed
days for its eclipse, during the month of Ramadhan.’
…this hadith clearly fixes 14th Century.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 17 p.331)
PS Note the interpolations in the translation of Hadith!!
The Moon of 14th Century:
“14th century is that century about which even the ladies used to say
that 14th century of blessings and bounties is going to come … but alas!
the day came and the full moon dawned, he was labelled businessman, selfish.”
(Roohani Khazain, Malfoozat vol 1 p.163)
Conflicting Statements:
“This has never happened and absolutely never happened, except in my time,
since the begining of universe till now, that lunar and solar eclipse had gathered
in the month of Ramadhan in such a manner that some claimant of messengership
or prophethood or muhaddathiyat (one who converse with God) had also been present.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 9 p.50)
“The meaning of prophecy is that this sign has not been to anyother claimant, whether true or false. Only given to the Promised Mahdi. If these tyrant molvis (islamic scholars) can present a similar occurrence of lunar and solar eclipse in the time of some other claimant then please do it; then I will no doubt become a liar.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 11 p.332)
“When this sign appeared in Hindustan, in the streets of Makkah people were saying that the Promised Mahdi has borned… they were jumping with joy that time has come for the rise of Islam and the Mahdi has born.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 17 p.154)
“Combination of lunar and solar eclipse in Ramadhan has never taken place in the time of any Prophet or Messenger or muhaddith and since the birth of universe during the time of any claimant of messengership or prophethood or muhaddithiyat lunar and solar has never combined. Combination of Lunar and Solar eclipse and Mahdi is an unnatural phenomenon.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 9 p.84)
“All those Hadiths in which the coming of Mahdi is foretold are not verifiable and cannot be relied upon.”
(Haqeeqat-ul-Mahdi, Roohani Khazain vol 14 p. 429)
“And now I would like to inform my Government (British) that the Promised Messiah, Rightly-guided from God and following the conduct of Jesus Christ, is me…and I absolutely deny that a Messiah will descend from heavens for Islamic Wars; and that someone by the name of Mahdi, from the family of Fathima, who will be a Ruler of his time and both (he and Messiah) will unite to start the bloodshed, God has revealed to me that all these things are not correct…the allegation of Mohammed Hussain Batalvi drawing a similarity between me and Mahdi Sudani, is an attempt to decieve the Government. It is obvious that I do not believe in Jehad and neither do I believe in such a Mahdi nor a Messiah who will come for Jehad and bloodsheding. Therefore what is the resemblence between me and Sudani and what is his relationship to me?”
(21st Feb 1889, Haqeeqat-ul-Mahdi, Roohani Khazain vol 14 p.436)
“That Mahdi who was destined to come with direct guidance from God at the time of Islam’s downfall and spread of apostasy, whose gladtidings were given by Holy Prophet SAAW 1300 years ago, it is me.”
(Tazkirat AlShahadatain, Roohani Khazain vol 20, p.43)
“Since my early age till now, when I am nearly 60 years old, with my tongue and pen I have been engaged in an important task to turn the hearts of Muslims towards true love and goodwill for the British Government and to remove the wrong ideas of Jehad from the hearts of stupid Muslims.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 13 p.339)
Reacting to the criticism of one of his opponents, he said:
“O Low Caste, Khabees, Enemy of Allah and Prophet ! You have done this Jewish alteration in the (prophecy), so that this Grand Miracle of Holy Prophet SAAW is hidden from this world …your lie O Worthless is exposed … from which word did these stupid understood these meanings? O Morons! O Sightless! Disgrace to the Molviyat! …especially the head of the Dajjaleens, Abdul Haq Ghaznavi and his followers; Hundred thousand times shoes of curses may fall upon them. O Dirty Dajjal! Prophecy has been fulfilled but bigotry has blinded you.”
(Zamima Anjam-e-Atham, Roohani Khazain vol 11 p.330)
Contradictory Statements
“I do not claim that I am that Mahdi who is according to (the Hadith of Rasoolullah) ‘from the son of Fatima and from my family’ etc.”
(Braheen-e-Ahmadiyya, part 5, Roohani Khazain vol 21 p.356)
“I also admit that several Mahdi may have come earlier and possibly will come in future and some Mahdi may appear by the name of Imam Mohammed.”
(Izala-e-Auham, Roohani Khazain vol 3 p.380)
“It is possible that no Messiah may appear in future. May be 10,000 more Messiah may appear and one of them may descend in Damascus … and it is possible and highly probable that at sometime a Messiah may appear upon whom the apparent wordings of Hadith will apply…”
(Izala-e-Auham, Roohani Khazain, vol 3 p.197)
Contradictions and Qadiani Edict
“Writings of liar compulsorily contains contradictions.”
(Zamima Braheen-e-Ahmadiyya part 5, Roohani Khazain vol 21 p.275)
“Writings of a truthful and clear-conscience person never contains any contradictions. Yes if someone is lunatic and insane or such a hypocrite who is a yes man for flattering someone, his writings will, of course, be contradictory.”
(Sat Bachan, Roohani Khazain vol 10 p.132)
“Any intelligent and sensible can never keep two different beliefs.”
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani, founder of Ahmadiyya Movement, claimant of Mahdi and Messiah, said:
“This sign of (Double Eclipse Ramadhan) has not been given to any claimant, whether true or false, only given to Promised Mahdi. If these Cruel Molvis can prove the occurrence of Double Eclipse in the life of some other claimant, then I will no doubt become a liar.”
(Roohani Khazain vol 11 p.332)
During the last 1400 years there have been innumerable claimants, big and small, some of them during the lifetime of Mirza Ghulam himself. Following is the list of a few of such claimants:
- Dr Alexander Dowie in USA, 1890s.
- Mahdi Sudani in Sudan
- Mirza Ali Baab in Iran. Claimed to be Mahdi in 1260 AH.
- Subhe Azal, the successor of Mirza Ali Baab.
- Baha-ullah, successor of Mirza Ali Baab. Both claimed to be Mahdi.
- Saleh bin Tarif Burghwati claimed prophethood and Mahdihood in 125AH. After ruling over his people for 47 years, in 174 AH he abdicated the throne in favour of his son.(AlIstaqsa LAkhbar alMaghrib alAqsa, see Aimma-e-Tilbees vol 1 p.192)
- Abu Mansoor Eisa claimed prophethood and Mahdihood in 341 AH and ruled over his people for 28 years. (Aimma-e-Tilbees vol 1 p.194)
- Abu Ghafeer Mohammed bin M’uaaz. Claimed Mahdihood in 268 AH and ruled over his people for 29 years.(Aimma-e-Tilbees vol 1 p.194)
Dear Reader!
Mirza Ghulam A. Qadiani and his followers have been fooling around for too long. The myth of ‘Heavenly Signs’ has now been exposed. Whether these events proved anything, it is for the reader to decide.
There is one more myth that need to be exposed.
One of the proofs of Mirza Ghulam A Qadiani being the true claimant is that Mirza Ghulam lived for more than 23 years after claiming prophethood. Every qadiani/ahmadi believes in it. Mirza Ghulam said:
“If our movement has not been established by God AlMighty then give me the example from any nation’s history that someone has fabricated a lie upon Allah and he was given time. For us this is enough criterion that Holy Prophet Rasoolullah SAAW’s period (of receiving revelations) was 23 long years. God has given us the same period resemb
ling the period of that Truthful and Perfect Prophet.”
(Roohani Khazain, Malfoozat vol 1 p.301)
Readers are kindly requested to note the following points:
Mirza Ghulam claimed prophethood in 1900 and yet he labels his period of so-called revelation as greater than Holy Prophet Mohammed SAAW.
There is no such criterion for a Prophet to have a period longer than the previous Prophets. How did Mirza Ghulam deduce that, God only knows!
Had it been so what will one say about all the Prophets who came after Hazrat Noah (as), who preeched his people for 950 years.
Nevertheless, as mentioned above, there have been several claimants of prophethood, who ruled their people for long periods and yet they were liars.
Comments on
“ECLIPSES AND THE PROMISED MESSIAH”
by Dr David L McNaughton
15th November 1995
(“Eclipses and the Promised Messiah”, by Dr Muhammad Aslam Nasir, was placed on the
Internet under " Review of Religions" in March 1994.)
Dr D L McNaughton is a South African meteorologist and astronomer working at Dubai Airport in the Meteorological Office. He is responsible for answering all queries of an astronomical nature and is considered to be an authority on this subject in the UAE. He is well known for his valuable contributions of articles in this field to magazines and journals both locally and internationally for the past several years.
- The foundation-stone of Dr Muhammad Aslam Nasir’s thesis is his very drastic reinterpretation of the words of Imam Muhammed al Baqir ibn 'Ali ibn Husain. That Imam’s statement about a lunar eclipse on the first night of Ramadan, is regarded by Dr Muhammad Aslam as referring to the 13th of Ramadan - by arguing that the 13th is the earliest Ramadan date when such an eclipse is possible. Similarly, Imam Baqir’s stipulation of a solar eclipse “in the middle of Rama dan” has been reinterpreted by Dr Muhammad Aslam as one which would take place on the 28th of Ramadan!
According to many accounts, when Imam Muhammed al Baqir made his prophecy, one of his companions suggested that he might have inadvertently reversed the order of the two eclipses. However, the Imam replied that he had not made a mistake. If indeed ( as Dr Muhammad Aslam claims) this Imam had really meant to specify the 13th and 28th of Ramadan, then surely he would have explained that when questioned.
- The above “alteration” of those Ramadan dates is compounded by additional uncertainty - because of flexibility in specifying exactly where crescent sightings are made, when defining the start of that lunar month.
Islamic countries occupy a wide range of longitudes between eastern Asia and northwest Africa, so their calendars do not always follow the same Gregorian dates. There is also a marked bias between the northern and southern hemispheres: e.g. it is often easier to spot a new-born crescent from southeast Africa than it is from a Levantine country on the same longitude (or vice versa) - because of the different angles between the ecliptic and the horizon at dusk.
Furthermore, there are other Islamic calendar systems in use which eliminate any dependence on lunar observation: such a calendar (based on a 10631-day cycle) has been adopted by the Bohra community, and (for certain months) by the Saudi Arabian authorities. It often runs one or two days behind calendars which conform strictly to crescent-sighting.
Thus, it is probably unproductive to attempt to examine whether or not particular eclipses did in fact occur (or commence ) on the 13th of Ramadan, or on the 14th, or whenever, because of the difficulty in deciding which Islamic calendar should be utilised.
However, there is absolutely no doubt that there have been many occasions when a lunar and a solar eclipse have both been witnessed during Ramadan(McNaughton, 1995).
Dr Muhammad Aslam’s article contains another time-misconception in his claim that all eclipses are confined to one particular Islamic day. On the contrary, it is by no means impossible for an already eclipsed moon to rise as the sun sets, having been visible earlier on from countries further east. Similarly, the sun may set while eclipsed - but continuing to remain eclipsed and still above the horizon elsewhere. Alternatively, a solar eclipse observed from west Africa or Europe will often begin before and e nd after sunset in Pakistan, for example.
- Dr Muhammad Aslam’s mention of errors in von Oppolzer’s 1887 Canon of Eclipses is misleading and inappropriate in view of the availability of more accurate canons, such as those produced by Meeus and Mucke and by Bao-Lin Liu and Fiala. (In fact, von Oppolzer’s analyses were much better than Dr Muhammad Aslam implies). Also, Dr Muhammad’s excuse that past eclipses cannot be checked properly because of fluctuations in Earth’s rate of rotation and in the moon’s orbital motion - is yet another " red herrin g".
If an eclipse-shadow is scheduled to brush the surface of the Earth, then it will still do so even if our planet is suddenly forced to spin faster or more slowly. Admittedly the eclipse timings will be affected (according to a clock running on UTC) - but past records are almost always good enough to confirm dates of occurrence - and indeed to enable scientists to deduce what UTC time-correction is appropriate for each occasion. (The contribution made to that discrepancy by variations in Earth’s rotation-r ate is known as the “Delta-T” value for the date concerned: these can be estimated for the past much more reliably than for the future).
Despite what Dr Muhammad Aslam implies, year to year variations in the shape of the moon’s orbit can be modelled and calculated extremely well. Virtually all astronomers agree that the Chapront ELP-2000/82 lunar theory is by far the best one presently available. It is true that the moon’s long-term orbital deceleration is not known with 100 per cent. accuracy - but during the last one or two centuries, eclipse times computed according to the Chapront algorithm are nevertheless reliable to within a few secon ds.
- Dr Muhammad Aslam’s investigation of future eclipses up until AD 2100 is unconvincing without a full exposition of criteria he adopted to decide on the dates of 1st Ramadan. There is a wide “grey” area where crescent sightability cannot be ascertained in advance because it depends very much on the thickness of the low-level haze. This often raises doubt as to exactly when Ramadan may commmence, and an error of a whole day is enough to destroy Dr Muhammad Aslam’s thesis.
A professional approach would also have stated what values were assumed for the Delta-T correction, to allow for the slowing down of Earth’s rotation; it is just possible that other (equally plausible) values could alter at least one of his dates.
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bao-Lin Liu and A.D Fiala, 1992: Canon of Lunar Eclipses, 1500 BC- AD 3000. Willmann-Bell Inc., Richmond, Virginia.
M. Chapront-Touze and J. Chapront, 1983: The Lunar Ephemeris ELP 2000. ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS 124, pp. 50-62. Improved expressions are given in a later paper, 1988, in ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS 190, p. 346. Their book Lunar Tables and Programs from 4000 B.C. to A.D. 8000 is published by Willmann-Bell Inc., Richmond, Virginia.
DAR-E-QATNI 1, p. 188. This mentions the prophecy by Muhammed al Baqir ibn 'Ali ibn Husain regarding eclipses preceding appearance of the Mahdi - narrated by Amar bin Shamer, quoting Jaber.
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, 1992.University Science Books, Mill Valley, California. It contains a chapter on “Calendars” and another on the "…Rotation of the Earth " as well as discussions on Solar System dynamics.
D.L. McNaughton, 1995: Eclipses during Ramadan. Accepted by HAMDARD ISLAMICUS, Karachi. Winter 1995/96. Its Table 1 shows double-eclipse Ramadans occurring every 22 or 23 Islamic years.
J. Meeus, 1991: Astronomical Algorithms. Willmann-Bell Inc., Richmond, Virginia. Chapters 45,47, 48 and 49 discuss the moon’s behaviour, including variations in its distance from Earth. Chapter 52 is devoted to eclipses and chapter 9 to fluctuations in Earth’s spin-rate.
J. Meeus and H. Mucke, 1983 : Canon of Lunar Eclipses, -2002 to 2526 (2nd edition). Astronomical Office, Vienna.
H. Mucke and J. Meeus 1983: Canon of Solar Eclipses, -2003 to +2526. Astronomical Office, Vienna.
T. R. von Oppolzer, 1887: Canon der Finsternisse. Imperial Academy of Science, Vienna. (1962 English edition published by Dover Publications, New York).
Also see Oppolzer’s Great Canon of Eclipses by W.H.C. Carton in SKY & TELESCOPE November 1989 , pp. 475-478.