DIVINE DEATH SQUAD

- by Gulzar Anwar -

Part II

Many relatives of Mirza Sahib, who were agnates or otherwise and refused to accept the claims of Mirza Sahib, are said to have died with no offspring except a boy from among them who survived because he became a follower of Mirza Sahib and had children. Suddenly the Divine Death Squad intervenes here again to destroy relatives of Mirza Sahib sparing only a boy. So much for the love of Mirza Sahib for his kinfolk. Jesus spent his entire life gathering the lost sheep of Israel, living in continence and pursuing this task alone, while Mirza Sahib, against the spirit of his proto type, is seen busy decimating his own close and distant relatives who did not agree with him and one of them had the affront of even refusing outrightly to give the hand of his daughter in marriage to Mirza Sahib despite some passionate appeals and animated efforts made by Mirza Sahib himself to enlist the support of some notable persons from within the family and overtures and threats made to those of the girl’s elders who could possibly influence her father to relent and agree. Even the threats, coercion and blackmail failed to work. After all hopes were lost to win the hand of the girl, Mirza Sahib decided to fall back on his prescient skills in order to prognosticate as follows:

About the husband of Mohammadi Begum, Mirza Sahib said:

"……… if I am a liar, my prophesy will not come true and my death will arrive “

The position is that not only Mohammadi Begum survived to live until late after Mirza Sahib died, her husband also lived for much later, despite injuring himself in the WW-II, to make a mockery of the forecast. Pray tell me, where the Divine Death Squad could have been? The unfortunate corollary, however, of the forecast was that Mirza Sahib carried out the threat, already made, and divorced his wife and his son also, under duress, divorced his. Timely intervention of the Divine Death Squad could have averted this disaster and the two innocent ladies saved from being driven to a life of privation, which a widow faces, for no fault of theirs. Despite, a humming female side of the house, Mirza Sahib decided to add to the distaff portion under divine direction. Remember, a prophet never speaks until he is asked to. In support of my claim I translate below a Persian verse:

"Mustafa (PBUH) never spoke until Gabriel spoke (to him). Gabriel never spoke until God spoke (to him)."

In short, what is decided in heavens must come to pass. But, in this case, we see it happened to the contrary. Mirza Sahib could not have possibly spoken against the will of God but why the will of Almighty failed to materialise is difficult to answer. As I have said above, Jesus went celibate all his life but should all the messiahs, or at least the replica of Jesus, then live a life of celibacy? I cannot answer this question. Prophets are special people of God but for ordinary people like me, I can say, a house without a woman is a haunted house and that is why the houris will be there to keep you company in the paradise. However, although allowed to have more than one wife, I cannot understand why a man should need a second wife unless there are fertility problems or he has a nagging wife? In the later case, I quote the Solomen’s wisdom:

"A nagging wife is like a water going drip-drip-drip on a rainy day. How can you keep her quiet? Have you ever tried to stop the wind or even tried to hold a handful of oil? “

The above will surely give a strong justification, in addition to cases of sterility, to have a second wife in the presence of the first one. I have seen, in many cases, where a man has a wife and children and is happy yet he seeks to marry a second time. Why? There can be no other reason except carnal pleasures but that can be open to debate. Remember, I am talking about ordinary people falling in my category while special people of God do not say or desire anything until they are directed to do so. A low-key case which I have read in the book - biography of Mirza Tahir Ahmad Sahib - is the death of Ashiq Hussain, a Goldsmith of Shahkot in Dist. Sheikhupura via electrocution which has been claimed to have happened only because the person was organising a demonstration against Qadianis. I reproduce below the relevant portion from the book pointing to the incident (translation is mine):

"The pamphlets of Mubahila reached Shahkot. This is a small town of District Sheikhupura in Pakistan.………. Ashiq Hussain, a Goldsmith by profession ……………… organised a big procession against …………. Ashiq Hussain went into the shop ………… as soon as he tried to switch on the fan he was daily using …………. received an electric shock, fell down and died ……….. (Ek Mard-e-Khuda-Page 379) “

Obviously, one of the members of the Divine Death Squad short-circuited the power supply to the shop to have the scamp despatched to the world of dead. The readers should note that this ferment was a direct result of the “Mubahila” pamphlet. If we honestly try to apportion the blame, the writer and distributor of the handbill were directly responsible for the flare-up. This is, however, a sad story. The point to remember is that in the said demonstration the deceased was not the only one who participated. There must have been other men and/or women as is usually the case when such a demonstration takes place as a reaction or chain reaction to something extraordinarily provocative. How the other hundreds of participants escaped a similar end through some bizarre happening definitely deserves explanation? This is yet another case which has been made up by my Qadiani friends to prove the probity of their faith and what is most remarkable about it is that it is mentioned in the biography of their current Imam. I do not think there is any lack of learned people in the Jamaat which boasts of having plenty of learned men (erudite), in its ranks, who can shed some light on such a logic which otherwise makes little impact on most people. Yet, how do they accept such funny stories is not readily understood but they just hold fast to the official policy line of propagating make-believe stories like this and they are received with considerable enthusiasm and readiness? Strange, the people who talk so much, and ask, about the logic in regard to the return of Jesus with his terrestrial body hardly bother about questioning the validity of such wild claims where people are quoted to have died because of hurting the Jamaat or its people. To avoid any explanation, they will do well by attributing these acts of murder to the Divine Death Squad employed for this purpose. In a closely similar incident, another enemy of Qadianis, living in UK, accepted the challenge of prayer duel (mubahila) but soon afterwards he died in a road accident and when people came to his house in order to offer prayers, the roof of the house caved in over their heads and many people were injured (ibid Page 380). The man who died paid for his mistake, alright but what about those who were injured following the roof falling over them? Did they commit a sin by offering sympathies to the bereaved family? Now this mubahila stuff is becoming overly complicated as the time wears on. There have been claims and counter claims accusing each other for running away from the battle royal. When it is going to be resolved no body knows. I understand that Mirza Tahir Ahmad Sahib threw the gauntlets to the mainstream Muslims for a mubahila. Obviously, he did this after some careful consideration and this evoked considerable interest and a flurry of response, although with some commotion, as every other day someone came out to accept the challenge but the mubahila remains elusive so far as it has not been held nor any steps have been taken to hold one as yet. Madness prevails but the method to madness is missing. May be, there are some finer points to be sorted out. When is it going to happen, only God knows? Mirza Tahir Ahmad Sahib refuses to come out of his hermitage/fastness in London and the controversy continues regarding the form of Mubahila, how and where it should be held? I think Mirza Tahir Ahmad Sahib should give up dictating terms of Mubahila and compromise on a given and take so that the people of the 20th century witness a novel way of establishing the veracity of a faith, simultaneously reliving the scenario of 14 centuries ago. I do not, however, think they will ever agree and I fear the people might get disgusted with the whole thing and the very word “mubahila” may, at some point in time, become deseutude. Who to blame? There is, however, an easy solution in that I will recommend that my Qadiani friends summon their Divine Death Squad, pervading the heavens and earth, to go roving about and wherever they see someone clamouring for mubahila should be dispatched to hell. That is the only way out, unfortunately though! Lord Nelson, the British Admiral, who exhumed the body of Mehdi Sudani, and desecrated it, died a violent death and his body was entomed in the deep recesses of water when his ship sank. That could be the most glaring example of someone dying, outside of his appointed time, for offending a pious freedom fighter who had every right to wage a holy war against oppressors and liberate his people. I would still prefer to believe that Nelson died on his appointed time, and because of the force majeure on which no one has any command or control by any worldly means, and yet his excesses against Sudan and its most respected leader had nothing to do with the way he died. However, this is solely my opinion and is not binding on others and everyone is free to differ. The greatness of great people like Mehdi Sudani lies in the efforts and sacrifices they make for their people, and example they set for their future generations, and it is for this that they will ever be remembered and not because some of their enemies died an exemplary death to pay for their misdeeds or excesses. Who cares if an idiot lives or dies! For this illustrious band of people, Dr. Iqbal had said:

"They set up a good tradition by commingling themselves in the dust and blood. May the God Almighty shower his (choicest) blessings on these ingenuously loving people of a pious disposition."

The man, they say, occupied a lofty estate of living in the Eden garden although he had as humble an origin as can be perceived for being created from clay. The clay or soil is as low as the belly of snake and every body knows what “belly of snake” means figuratively. Yet, the Almighty Allah assigned him a most high position where he never knew even the meanings of vice and virtue. Unfortunately, he had a sudden fall from grace through eating that forbidden fruit and was evicted to live on earth and strive for his living. From then on the cycle of life and death began. The duration of this cycle is determined by the Almighty himself and therefore He warned all men to beware not to take the life of a fellow being as, otherwise, it will tantamount to killing the entire human race. Death is a difficult experience but life is no easy either. In a way, death is a blessing as it provides a relief and brings an end to a man’s miseries which, as a human being, he should carry as a burden all his life but that, most certainly, does not mean you have to die before you die to rid yourself of the inexorable experience of life. You have to wait for your time to come and until then you are required to live it out one way or the other. Ghalib correctly pointed out: “Why should a man be free from the worries (of life) before his death”. After crossing the threshold of death the man, once discarnate, is said to be happy over feeling himself free from his bodily confinement the same way a bird is happy to free itself from the coop but that this is beyond our perception. In this context, I translate a couple of Persian verses:

"Do you remember you were weeping when you were born and everybody else was smiling? Similarly, when you will die everybody will be weeping and you will be smiling."

The good and bad deeds of a man are subject to divine justice and no one can pronounce a judgement, on this account, in this life. Even if a man kills another man, he has to be tried under the proper state law and no one can take the law into his own hands and kill him to pay for his crime. The killer can even escape punishment from the court, through a smart and garrulous attorney, but on the final day of judgement he will have to stand in the dock, on this account, before the Supreme Judge to account for his wanton behaviour against a fellow being who had equal rights to enjoy all the joys of earthly life. In the same token, any one who offends a holy man will eventually pay for his arrogance by undergoing the divine justice and will not die for his brutal behaviour alone in this world. Cessation of life in this world may be for any biological reasons but the end of life, in itself, is not programmed by any human hand, so the forecast of death of an individual by an individual is very difficult. If someone is too daring and does take a plunge to foretell, he should give the biological reasons or point to a precursor for the upcoming death in a certain case that is in which way the death will arrive whether it will be through a certain clearly defined biological phenomenon or whether it will be through the gun or the knife of a killer. Only then it will add a semblance of credibility to such a premonition. Despite as simple a truth as this, my Qadiani friends insist that they have a Divine Death Squad employed to take the lives of those who ill- treat them and cause them problems either mentally or physically. If that is their logic, they are free to believe so but the Divine Death Squad will be well advised to keep the distance and not to interfere in the exclusive domain of God Almighty and leave it to God to exercise His rights to give and take the life. To conclude, I do not think Allah delegates His supreme powers to award life or death to any man however pious and closer to exclusive divine favours he may be. Epilogue: Mirza Sahib claimed to be incarnate, 2nd advent and replica of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH), Jesus Christ (PBUH) and even Krishna at the same time. Both the messengers of Allah were full of compassion and mercy for the mankind. They never anathematised any one of their fellow beings for personal reasons. They were maltreated, abused and tortured, yet they wished every body well. Never made any forecast nor issued any ex cathedra death penalties about any one whereas, on the contrary, we see Mirza Sahib invoking death for just about every body who dared oppose him. As for Krishna, I shall quote him:

"Desire and disgust are the products of nature. No man should live in the shadow of either - they are deadly enemies."

You see, how clear is Krishna about warning man to beware for nursing a desire and fostering a disgust in one’s heart, about any one, because these are his deadly enemies. An ordinary person cannot rise above his ordinary level but the messiahs and prophets never sweat over small things like who says what about them in an insulting or invidious way. They have to look ahead to complete their mission and not to look back to care about the yapping curs. A caravan always passes and dogs keep barking even until the dust settles down on them. We have to see, now, if the replica lived to the words of his proto type? Unfortunately, we find that he was himself overcome by the passionate desire of winning the hand of Mohammadi Begum in the first case and, in the second case, carried considerable disgust inside for all those who dared not to agree with him and very often foreboding them to die and fixing definite time limits within which they will fall. The above will lead you to ask one question and that is: Should not a replica, incarnate and the 2nd advent be an exact copy of the proto type? Must not have the same attributes? How is it possible that a replica be any different in character and temperament, in fact, exactly the opposite of its original? In daily life, I invite you to place a sheet of printed paper on the glass of a copier, feed a plain white paper, press the button and what you will see coming out from the other end will be a facsimile of exactly the same character and attributes. It is just not possible for replica to be even a wee bit different from the proto type in any possible way. Here, we see in contrast the replica sending signals of death and destruction for people whereas his proto types were all love, compassion and mercy even for their enemies. Whose credo it was:

"Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you …. Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you?”

To win over, you have to work on the hearts of people than expending your time and energy by working on their mind. If you work too hard on a mind, it might rebel. After all, don’t they say in Persian:

"Winning over a heart is as good as performing a Haj-e-Akbar.”

These things are not a part of any curriculum to be taught in the lyceums alone, you have to follow them in your daily life so that the people accept you as a guide. Similarly, why should a girl, for example, or her husband for that matter, be punished with death if her parents refuse to give her hand in marriage to a holy man? What is her fault, after all, the final decision lies with her parents? Suppose she dies, according to the prophesy, on the day of judgement she might ask the Almighty “What was the sin I was killed for?”. What do you guess will be the divine answer? It is yet another case of Zaid dying for the sin of Bakar or, more precisely, the daughter dying for the sin of an uncompromising father. These are simple questions but very important to answer and cannot be simply swept under the carpet. All the trials and tribulations which the family of prophet underwent in Karbela, Mirza Sahib claimed to have undergone every moment of his life. Let me quote Edward Gibbon here about the tragedy of Karbela:

"In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hussain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader."

Comparisons are odious but look the way the comparison is being made here. Can a man of even average intelligence agree to listen to these things, let alone believing in them? Mirza Sahib had a smooth sailing as far as the records show. No harm came upon him nor to any one else from his family. No body was killed, nor even stones were ever thrown on any one of them and, above all, Mirza Sahib died a peaceful death and very well taken care of right to the end. The family went from rags to riches, thanks to the royal favours. The full protection of the Government of Her Imperial Majesty, Mirza Sahib remained so busy praising all his life, was available at all time. Pages over pages were written to eulogise the British rule so much so that it was claimed with considerable pride that those pages were enough to fill 5 full sized cupboards. The family still enjoys, even after 100 years, the fruits of this labour. Compare this to the gruesome details of the unfortunate events that took place in Karbela. They transfixed even a 6 months old child. Also, why to have complaints against the people revolting? Messiahs are always expected to have tough time, especially, against clergy. Their main task is that of a redeemer, no matter people listen to them or not. They have to stick to their task under all cir*****stances and if they start encountering every opponent on personal basis they will be distracted from their line of duty. The arrival of messiah is futuristic because it is going to restore the future world to order and not the world which has gone by and this belief is held by most of the world religions with varying emphasis. But one thing is common in all of them and that is that the messiah will restore order to the troubled world or humanity. Like a true messiah, you have to be very patient. All the messiahs and reformers are, without exception, ahead of time. The message or reforms they bring are not easily understood by the people of their age. It takes a generation or two to understand the importance of these messages. So, why to lose your cool and start calling the Divine Death Squad to snuff out the lives of those who do not agree or dare to differ, criticise and lambaste or even ridicule, especially, when the pretending messiah has a mystical robe and is refuting the bloody nature of such a messiah? Why to issue death warrants then if the people are not willing to receive you or listen to you. That is against the spirit of a messiah. Messiah should just pass on the message and leave it to the people to either grasp it or floor it because it will be they who will be answerable for this in the end. The Almighty has all the means available to take care of the people who are not only insolent but revile those whom He has sent with a special message. Even the message of Jesus was not accepted straightaway by his people and the Government of the time acceded to the demand of the clergy to crucify him. Yet, after a generation or two later, when the people understood the message underlying the gospels, the entire Roman Empire surrendered before the spiritual onslaught of the Christian missionaries. But, in his life time, Jesus never intimidated or threatened any of his enemies with dire consequences when they continued vilifying and annoying the person of Jesus himself because he knew the people will not immediately understand neither him nor his message. He did what he was commissioned to do and left the rest to the will of God. His patience paid off and the formidable Roman Empire was, eventually, on his feet a generation or two later. Moral: A true messiah never gives a false impression and a pseudo-messiah is not equal to the task and that to divine the future course of events is not all that important. To wind up the discussion on the work of Divine Death Squad, may I quote two important incidents from history involving John the Baptist and the person of Jesus himself. In the case of John, he was killed by Herod the Roman Governor of Galilee at the behest of his wife. The story is that Herod had married the wife of his brother and John rebuked him because this was against the law of the time. Herod had met John before and was impressed by him and knew that he was a prophet of the Israelites and highly respected. His wife was not kindly disposed towards John and wanted to take a revenge because of his criticism on her unlawful marriage. She persuaded her husband to kill John but the later won’t agree. On a feast which Herod gave, as an annual event, in honour of the state officials and the Chief Priests of the Jews, his daughter danced to please the guests. Herod was pleased with her and asked her to ask for a gift of her choice which he took a vow that he will give her. The daughter went in to consult her mother, Herodias, who found it an opportune time to take the revenge and get even with John. She advised her daughter to ask for the head of John. The daughter faithfully obeyed her mother and asked Herod to give the head of John as a gift he had promised her. Herod was caught in a spin as he did not want to kill John but could not go back on the promise he had made to her daughter. So, finally he had John beheaded and presented the head to his daughter in a silver platter to redeem the pledge he had made to her. It was a gruesome murder, yet no harm came either upon the tetrarch, his wife or his daughter and they all lived on until their appointed time. The worst case scenario is that of Jesus himself. Following the conspiracy of Jewish priests, the Roman governor of Jerusalem, Pilate ordered to have Jesus crucified despite knowing that he was an innocent person and despite washing his hands off before the crowd saying “I am not responsible for the death of this man. This is your doing”. Yet he was responsible for agreeing with the request of the Jewish clergy to have Jesus crucified. This was a political decision to oblige the clergy so that there were no riots to endanger the peace. Inspite of such a revolting infraction by the Government and the clergy, nothing happened to either the Pilate or the Jewish priesthood and they also lived on until their appointed time. May be there was no Divine Death Squad at work in that age. I would ask readers to compare these cases with the cases often quoted by my Qadiani friends to vindicate their point that those who offend their community die a miserable death. I don’t regard anyone from their community to favourably stand even remotely in comparison to the position of either Jesus or John, much less to become their equals. In the end, I would request the readers to ponder over the above details and examples the Qadiani community takes so much pride in and use their own judgement in regard to the Divine Death Squad at work, its legitimacy, its achievements and its failures. I would like to leave it at that before it becomes too ponderous. November 2000

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