"I have a very bad memory. I meet a person many times, but after sometimes I forget that I ever met him. This condition has reached a stage beyond description." (Maktoobat-e-Ahmadiyya, Vol. 5, No. 3)
"I do not consider you have reached the state of weakness of brain that I have reached." (Makatoob-e-Ahmadiyya, Vol. 5, No. 13; written in a letter to Hakim Nuruddin in 1891)
No Hajj, No Zakat, No Etikaf, No Tasbih for Mirza Mirza Ghulam was indeed a strange claimant to Prophethood and sainthood. How could he have made such outlandish claims, when he did not even faithfully fulfill the pillars of Islam. Let's review what his own son has written:
"Doctor Mir Muhammad Ismail Saheb narrated to me that hazrat Promised Messiah never performed Hajj, never gave Zakat, never sat in Etikaf (extra worship during the last 10 nights of the month of Ramadhan), never kept a Tasbih and in my presence he refused to eat tropical sand lizard. This humble self submits he probably sat in Etikaf before his commissioning. Later on, he did not do Etikaf because of the pen crusades he waged and other engagements... And he did not give Zakat because it never accrued to him." (Seerat-ul-Mahdi, Vol. 3, P. 119; by Mirza Bashir Ahmad)
Yet, the Holy Prophet (ﷺ) and his companions never shrunk from engaging in Etikaf and Tasbih and took every opportunity to help the needy. Mirza Bashir Ahmad tried to provide an excuse to discount his father's reluctance to give Zakat. Yet, historical records show that Mirza Ghulam was living a life of comfort and had claimed to have owned 300,000 rupees (would be equivalent to millions of dollars by today's standards) he also owned some rental property which his uncle was managing. Mirza Ghulam himself admitted to this fact:
"I have more than three hundred thousand rupees." (Haqiqat-ul-Wahy, Roohany Khazaen, Vol. 22, P. 220-221; Haqiqat-ul-Wahy, P. 211-212) [Read: Mirza Ghulam Qadiani: From Rags to Riches ] Still, he never paid Zakat! Furthermore, the Mirza of Qadian did not feel that performing Hajj was a primary duty of a claimant to Prophethood. The reason he provided for his unwillingness to undertake the demanding and arduous (by the standard of the 19th century) journey to Makkah is indeed very weak.
"A letter from Moulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi was read out in the presence of hazrat Promised Messiah in which he had objected: 'Why do you not perform Hajj?' In reply, hazrat Promised Messiah said: 'My First priority is to kill swine and break the Cross. At the moment, I am killing swine - many of them have died but some hard souls are still alive. Let me be free from this first'." (Malfoozat-e-Ahmadiya, Vol. 5, P. 264; by Manzoor Ilahi Qadiani) Mirza neither succeeded in his attempt to "kill the swine and break the Cross", nor did he perform Hajj. After his death, his followers tried to justify this shortcoming with the following statements:
"This humble self submits, there were of course some special reasons for not performing Hajj. In the beginning, there was no financial arrangement for him because all properties were, from the outset, in the hands of our grandfather and later on my elder uncle managed them. After that, such circumstances arose that on the one hand he (Mirza) remained preoccupied with Jihad (author: abolishing it!) and secondly, the passage to Hajj was dangerous. However, he did desire to perform Hajj." (Seerat-ul-Mahdi, Vol. 3, P. 119; by Mirza Bashir Ahmad)
"Hajj did not become obligatory on Hazrat Saheb because of his poor health. He always remained ill. Also, the Ruler of Hejaz was against him because the Muslims of India had obtained a Shariat Decree (a Fatwa) from Makkah for his (Mirza's) execution. Therefore, the government of Hejaz had turned against him." (Al-Fadl, Sept. 10, 1929) In our opinion, it was divine prudence which deprived Mirza from performing Hajj, since one of the signs of Mahdi and Messiah is that they will perform Hajj in the holy city of Makkah.
Nightly Massages by Unrelated Women is a Blessing Mirza Ghulam enjoyed having unrelated women serve him in seclusion, during the night hours. Although many of his own followers objected to this practice, this habit went on up to his dying days. We provide here a few references:
"My late wife went to Hazrat Promised Messiah at the age of fifteen in Dar-ul-Aman (Mirza's room).The Sire very much liked her service of massage his legs." (Al-Fadl, March 20, 1928, P. 6-7; by Ghulam Muhammad Qadiani)
"Question No. 6: (from Muhammad Hussain Saheb Qadiani) Why does the pious Hazrat (Mirza) get his legs and arms massaged by unrelated stranger women? Answer: (from Hakim Fazal Din Qadiani) He is an innocent Prophet and caress with him is not prohibited; it is rather a source of suspiciousness and blessing'." (Al-Hakm, April 17, 1907, P. 13) Unknowingly, his own son rejected this practice of Mirza Ghulam as being contrary to the Shariat of Islam and not befitting a claimant to sainthood:
"This humble self submits that the Holy Prophet (ﷺ) , as per Hadith, did not touch the womenfolk at the time of Baiat. The Holy Quran states that a woman should not display her embellishments to a stranger or unrelated person. This prohibition includes touching by hand, because womanly embellishment can be known by coming into contact with the body." (Seerat-ul-Mahdi, Vol. 3, P. 15; by Mirza Bashir Ahmad)
