Below we give some remarks by a maulavi opposed to the Ahmadis, which show how the maulavis were boastful of having expelled Ahmadis from mosques, and how they scornfully rejected Hazrat Mirza's efforts at reconciliation. In 1901, when Hazrat Mirza wrote a booklet entitled Al-Sulh Al-Khair (A Reconciliation), in which he appealed to the maulavis for peace between fellow-Muslims, Maulavi Abdul Wahid Janpuri retorted:

"Let it not be concealed that the reason for this conciliatory note is that after the Mirza'i [Ahmadi] group in Amritsar were subjected to disgrace, expelled from Friday and congregational prayers, humiliatingly thrown out of the mosque in which they used to pray, and barred from the park where they held their Friday prayers, they asked Mirza Qadiani for permission to build a new mosque. Mirza told them that they should wait, while he tried to make peace with the people, for in that case there would be no need to build a mosque. They [the Ahmadis] had to bear much humiliation. Their social relations with Muslims were stopped, their wives were taken away from them, their dead had to be thrown into pits without burial garments or funeral rites, etc. It was then that the Qadiani liar issued this conciliatory note."

(Ishtihar Mukhadat Musailimah Qadiani, p. 2)

This shows that not only were Ahmadis maltreated and debarred from congregations and mosques, but the maulavis who instigated this persecution were openly proud of doing it. How unjust it is, given these circumstances, to accuse the Ahmadis of separating themselves from the rest of the Muslims!

In reply to a letter on this subject which he received in March 1908, near the end of his life, Hazrat Mirza wrote:

"As the maulavis of this country, due to their bigotry, have generally declared us kafir, and have written fatwas, and the rest of the people are their followers, so if there are any persons who, to clear their own position, make an announcement that they do not follow these maulavis who make others kafir, then it would be allowable [for Ahmadis] to say prayers with them. Otherwise, the man who calls a Muslim as kafir, becomes a kafir himself. So how can we pray behind him? The holy Shari`ah does not permit it.''

(Letter printed in newspaper Badr, 24--31 December 1908; see Ruhani Khaza'in no.2, vol.10, pp.167--168.)

It should also be remembered that, according to all Muslim authorities, there are certain conditions a person must fulfil in order to act as prayer imam, and these are laid down variously by each sect and sub-sect. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has required the condition that an imam, behind whom Ahmadis can pray, must be a person who does not call Muslims as kafir, and does not side with those maulavis who call Ahmadis as kafir. Never did Hazrat Mirza instruct his followers to abstain from praying behind an imam for the mere reason that he is a non-Ahmadi.

Finally, it must be noted that members of various sects and groups usually only pray behind an imam of their own persuasion.

Hazrat Mirza on Majority of Muslims

It has been noted above that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has drawn a clear distinction between those Muslims who abused him and called him kafir, and those Muslims who did not do so. As regards the latter, he showed them perfect tolerance, and treated them as his Muslim brothers. In fact, he considered the majority of Muslims to be in the latter category, as shown by his observation quoted below:

"There are three kinds of people [i.e. Muslims] at this time. Firstly, those who are burning with hatred and malice, and are bent upon opposition because of stubbornness and bigotry. Their number is very small. Secondly, those who are inclined towards us. Their number is on the increase. Thirdly, those who are silent, neither belonging to one side nor to the other. They are the majority. They are not under the influence of the maulavis, nor do they join them in abusing us. Therefore, they fall in our own category.''

(Al-Hakam, 17 February 1904)