Refutation of Ahmadi Arguments and Quotes
                   by Dr. Ismail A. B. Balogun
                   A former high level Ahmadi 
  
In a series of articles published in Nigeria during 1974, Dr. 
Ismail A.B. Balogun, a high level Ahmadi leader, refuted the 
tenets of Ahmadiyyah and publicly denounced the Movement he 
had been born and raised in. A Professor of Islamic and Arabic
Studies at the University of Ibadan, Algeria, Dr. Balogun had 
dedicated his life to the cause of Ahmadiyyah and had raised 
through the ranks to become a top spokesman and ambassador for
the Movement. Throughout the years, his well articulate and 
emotional speeches had motivated many young Ahmadis. Similarly,
his public departure and the commotion and debates that pursued 
caused many educated individuals to realize the truth and 
abandon Ahmadiyyah.  

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    "Allah accept the repentance of those who do evil in 
     ignorance and repent soon afterwards; to them will Allah
     turn in mercy: For Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom."
            (The holy Quran, An-Nisa, 4:17)
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Subsequently, Dr. Balogun documented the reason for his withdrawal
from the Movement and included the published debates that ensued 
in a book entitled "Islam versus Ahmadiyya in Nigeria". In this 
book, Dr. Balogun disclosed how he, as many other highly educated
individuals, had mistakenly accepted Ahmadiyyah out of loyalty to
his parents, misinformation disseminated by the Ahmadi leadership,
divisive methods of Pakistani Ahmadi missionaries, and other 
subjective reasons having more to do with cult-like mentality than
the truthfulness of Ahmadiyyah. 

Dr. Balogun recounts his upbringing and blind faith in Pakistani
Ahmadi missionaries in his book: 

    "In my Childhood, I was brought up to revere the Indo-
    Pakistani Ahmadiyyah missionaries who guided and controlled
    our religious activities. When the mission came to our elders
    and, through the elders to us, we believed all that they told
    us in toto, because of the implicit confidence we had in them. 

    Their preaching appeared plausible to us, and we accepted 
    their arguments in good faith. They made references to 
    Islamic books in order to substantiate their claims and we
    accepted the references without cross-checking them because
    of our confidence in them. 

    Their method was to alienate us against the orthodox Muslims
    in whom they found faults in the way they practiced Islam. 
    The missionaries claimed to present "the true Islam" to us in
    the name of Ahmadiyyah. 

    They often impressed on us that the stiff opposition which 
    Ahmadis suffered in India before the partition and 
    subsequently in Pakistan was a conclusive proof of the truth
    of Ahmadiyyah. After all, no prophet is readily accepted in
    his own town or country.  This also appeared plausible to us,
    hence we followed them with unalloyed confidence." 
     (Islam versus Ahmadiyya in Nigeria, p. 85-86) 

Over a quarter of century ago, Dr. Balogun accurately identified
the strategy employed by high level Pakistani Ahmadi missionaries
to misguide the uninformed. The missionaries not only do not 
openly publicize a complete picture of their teachings and 
history, but also actively distort the teachings of Islam and
Muslim scholars and try to exastrubate and capitalize upon 
sectarian division between some ignorant Muslims. Dr. Balogun
records: 

    "Even though Ahmadiyya has been in this country for close to
     sixty years, I make the bold to say that, up till now, the
     vast majority of the adherents of the organization, within
     both the Movement and the Mission, are still in the dark 
     about the details of its teaching, as well as its purpose.
     For example, it was only very recently, when stiff 
     opposition to Ahmadiyyah started to rear its head in this
     country, that certain high-ranking Ahmadis knew for the 
     first time that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be a Prophet." 
     (Ibid, p. 3) 

    [The fact that Ahmadis hid their true doctrine from the 
     membership at large is] "evident in the fact that when one
     of the young educated Nigerian Muslims, who originally 
     invited the Movement here, went to Britain for further 
     studies and thereby came in contact with Indian Ahmadis, 
     who resided then in Britain, he studied them at first hand
     and returned home only to withdraw his membership of the 
     Movement. This was the late al-Haj L.B. Agusto of blessed
     memory." (Ibid, p. 2) 

Indeed, since their inception, Ahmadi leadership has employed well
proven method of Christian Missionaries to alienate the uninformed
from knowledgeable and sincere Muslims and increase their own 
membership.  They know only too well that descendants of 
individuals somehow tricked into joining their organization are 
generally less likely to renounce their membership, even when they
discover the truth. 

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   "Truly they found their fathers on the wrong Path; 
    So they (too) were rushed down on their footsteps! 
    And truly before them, many of the ancients went astray;-"
        (The holy Quran, As-Saaffat, 37:69-71)
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Dr. Balogun records that when, in 1974, the Pakistani Government 
and the Muslim World League declared Ahmadiyyah to be a non-Muslim
group, he set up in earnest to defend the Movement he was born 
into and prove the truthfulness of Ahmadiyyah. However, his 
scholarly and thorough research into the teachings of Ahmadiyya
leadership untangled a disturbing web of deceit and left him with
no alternative but to denounce Ahmadiyyah. This finding is even 
more significant since Dr. Balogun, even though a high level 
Ahmadi and a Scholar of Islamic Studies, was himself kept in dark
about the truth of Ahmadiyyah for over forty years. 

Regarding the alleged references provided by Ahmadi Missionaries 
from Quran, hadith, and writings of Muslim personalities to 
substantiate their claims, Dr. Balogun writes: 

   "My aim (in cross-checking the references offered by Ahmadis) 
    was actually to strengthen myself against the gathering 
    opposition to Ahmadiyyah. As a University scholar, I was 
    conscious that my pronouncement in support of Ahmadiyyah 
    must necessarily be backed with authentic references to 
    Islamic sources. 

    In my cross-checking of the Ahmadiyyah missionaries' 
    references, however, my findings were rather disappointing...
    I must say, before God and man, that the more I scrutinized
    the claims and purported references for them, the more I 
    discovered that the Ahmadiyyah Mission is deceiving the 
    world and playing on the ignorance of many of their followers. 

    In many cases, they quote authors (scholars) who are 
    explicitly opposed to Ahmadiyyah ideas; but so cleverly do
    they quote that they often give the impression that the 
    authors support Ahmadiyyah views... 

    It is only by going to the source references and reading what
    the Ahmadis had quoted within the context in which they are 
    set that the reader, and the seeker after truth, will realize
    how much the Pakistani Ahmadiyyah missionaries try to deceive
    the world." (ibid, p. 86-87) 

Dr. Balogun's extensive research into original and authentic 
Muslim books made it amply clear that Ahmadi founders and leaders
had actively and knowingly resorted to deceit to misguide the 
uninformed. In his book, he discloses these findings: 

    "It is clear from the quotation that the Mission has extracted
    what they thought would support their erroneous view from a 
    commentary which, taken together, is explicitly opposed to 
    their view.  This is in order to give the impression that the
    author supports their idea. 

    In educated circles, such act is an errant distortion of an
    author's view and thought. 

    It contradicts the international law of copyright. It is, 
    indeed, unacceptable as well as unbecoming of a mission that
    wants itself to be taken seriously. 

    From the Islamic point of view also, it is an abominable act.
    Consider, for example, Quran 2:59 (also 7:162) which says: 
    "The transgressors changed the statement from that which was
    made to them; so We sent a pestilence from heaven upon the 
    transgressors, for their having gone astray." A food for 
    thought indeed for the Ahmadis!" (ibid, p. 94-95) 

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    "It is those who do not believe in the Signs of Allah that
     forge falsehood: it is they who lie!"
         (The Holy Quran, An-Nahl, 16:105)
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Subsequent to his public disclosure, Dr. Balogun became the 
subject of attacks and responses by many Pakistani Ahmadi 
missionaries.  For instance, Molvi Ajmal Shahid, then the Amir
of Ahmadiyyah movement in Nigeria, provided an extreemly short
reply in which he expressed his dismay at the "spiritual death of
a brother (ibid, p. 97)" and Moulvi Naseem Saifi, the chief 
Ahmadiyyah missionary for West Africa, confirmed that Dr. Balogun
had been very close and high in Administration and expressed his
sadness that Dr. Balogun had abandoned Ahmadiyyah in favor of 
Islam (ibid, p. 99); yet, other Ahmadi missionaries questioned 
his motives at his public withdrawing from the movement.

In clarification, Dr. Balogun, who over the years had grown 
familiar with the strategy of the Ahmadi leadership to discredit
those who renounced Ahmadiyyah, responded: 

   "I could have raised all the points in this article with them
    (e.g. the Pakistani Ahmadi leadership) internally without any
    publicity; but experience has shown that such criticisms will
    automatically earn the critic either a long-term boycott or 
    an outright excommunication. With any of these, no other 
    member will be prepared to listen to him... I have stated my 
    point of view, God is my witness, purely because of my 
    awareness of the responsibility incumbent on me towards my
    fellow Nigerian Muslims in particular, and the world Muslims
    at large. My intention is not to oppose Ahmadiyyah; I have 
    lived in it long enough to have a soft spot for it in my 
    heart. But that notwithstanding, whenever a clash of opinion
    arises between Islam and Ahmadiyyah, it behoves me to 
    declare for Islam without mincing words." (ibid, p.17) 

We hope that individuals who might have joint Ahmadiyyah 
reconsider their standing in the light of all the evidence 
uncovered by Dr. Balogun. Should those who have been touched by
the miracle of Quran and the teachings of the last Prophet 
Muhammad(SAW) exhibit loyalty to Allah(SWT) and His last 
Messenger(SAW) or to those whose deception and falsehood has
been continually exposed? 

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   "Those who reject Allah, hinder (men) from the Path of Allah,
    and resist the Messenger, after Guidance has been clearly 
    shown to them, will not injure Allah in the least, but He 
    will make their deeds of no effect."
        (The holy Quran, Muhammad, 47:32)
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Quotes taken from: Islam versus Ahmadiyyah in Nigeria, Published
by Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, Kashmiri Bazar, Lahore, Pakistan 
===========================================================
(c) Idara Dawat-O-Irshad, USA Inc.
http://www.irshad.org/idara/ 

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