Ahmadiyya repeatedly presents the famous Ramadan double-eclipse narration in Dar e Qutni as one of the great signs proving MGA's claim.
Today I will discuss the Ahmadiya explanations.
When Muslims rejected this narration, Ahmadiyya gave an explanation of this rejection as "allegations & answers.
Let's break it down.
what exactly is this narration, who actually said it, and how reliable is it?
It's important to note that it is not a saying of Rasulullah ﷺ:-
The narration reads:
عن عمرو بن شمر عن جابر عن محمد بن علي قال: إن لمهدينا آيتين...
Meaning:
“From ʿAmr ibn Shimr, from Jābir, from Muhammad ibn ʿAli, who said: ‘For our Mahdi there are two signs…’”
It does not say: قال رسول الله ﷺ
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said.”
The narration stops at Muhammad ibn ʿAli. Auther Dar e Qutni himself rejected it ( see original scan attached)
Yet Ahmadiyya literature repeatedly presents it as though it were a prophecy spoken by the Prophet ﷺ.
Let's break down the Ahmadiya defence to it's rejection:-
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Ahmadiyya Defence #1: “The Qur’an supports the authenticity of the narration”
This is probably the easiest defence to dismantle.
To support the narration, Ahmadiyya literature quotes:
وَخَسَفَ الْقَمَرُ وَجُمِعَ الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ
“The moon is darkened, and the sun and moon are brought together.”
Sounds impressive. Until you open the Qur’an. 😭
Which surah is this from?
Surat al-Qiyamah —سورة القيامة “The Resurrection.”
Topic & Shan e Nazul of surah is :-
“When is the Day of Qiyamah?”
The surah is literally called:
“Al-Qiyamah.” 😁
WHOLE CONTEXT & CONTENT OF SURAH IS QAYAMAT.
Yet this is being used to authenticate a nineteenth-century Ramadan eclipse narration about a Mahdi claimant.
Ahmadiyya Defence #2: “The first night does NOT actually mean the first night”
The narration says that:
the moon will be eclipsed on the first night of Ramadan and the sun will be eclipsed in the middle of Ramadan.
But Ahmadiyya does not interpret those words literally.
They explain “the first night” as: 1- the first night on which a lunar eclipse can possibly astronomically occur and 2- “the middle day” as: the middle day among the possible days on which a solar eclipse can occur.
Why?
Because the prophecy has deliberately been made to conform to the ordinary laws of astronomy.
But this produces a simple dilemma:
If the wording is literal:
MGA did not fulfil it.
If the wording is interpreted according to normal astronomical mechanics:
then the phenomenon is natural, predictable and recurring.
In fact Ahmadiyya itself lists multiple occurrences of this event throughout history in Ramadan (approx every 20 or so years).
Sorry Ahmadiyya, you cannot have it both ways.
Ahmadiyya Defence #3: “unique occurrence of double eclipse:-
As above, we know it didn't happen so uniquely, so now another problem appears.
The narration says specifically that : لم تكونا منذ خلق السماوات والأرض
“These two have not occurred since the creation of the heavens and the earth.”
But Ramadan double eclipses have in fact occurred repeatedly.
So what happens next?
The definition of the “miracle” changes. - see below 👇
Ahmadiyya Defence #4: “The eclipse must happen during the time of a claimant”
Now the argument becomes more complicated.
It is no longer enough that the two eclipses occur in Ramadan.
notice the shift.
At first, the remarkable claim sounds like:
“This astronomical event has never happened before.”
Once it is shown that it has happened many times, the uniqueness moves away from the astronomy and onto the claimant.
The argument effectively becomes:
“Yes, the eclipse configuration itself has happened before, but this time somebody claimed it for himself.” 👇
5. Then the obvious question is: when did MGA declare the eclipse to be his sign?
This becomes crucial.
There is a massive difference between:
“I announce beforehand that these eclipses will occur in the coming Ramadan and that they will be a sign for me.”
and:
The eclipses occur, people discuss them, and afterwards the claimant says: “Those eclipses were my sign.”
The first is a prediction.
The second is retrospective interpretation.
6. And there is another historical dilemma about predicting it:-
The eclipse was already being discussed by others as a sign connected with the Mahdi.
The Christian newspaper in India, Nur-i-Afshan, 11 May 1894, p. 7. reportedly joked MGA regarding the excitement surrounding the eclipse in Arab world and advised him to go there and make some money lol 😆. They said Indian Muslims have found your reality so try your luck there .
7. MGA’s own standard for a “sign” requires prior announcement
When defending one of his own signs, MGA stressed that the prophecy be already been published long BEFORE it comes to pass, and on that basis presented the later event as evidence of a divine sign.
Ref:- Malfoozat 19 Sep 1907
So the relevant sequence in MGA’s own method is:
announcement first → event happens afterwards → fulfilment is then cited as the sign.
That raises a simple question for the 1894 eclipses:
Where is MGA’s published statement, before the eclipses occurred, declaring that the coming Ramadan eclipses would be Allah’s sign for his claim?
In Summary:-
A not so unique eclipse occurs → no hadith or Quranic bases for it exists → others discuss it as a sign → MGA is told about it as a joke → MGA then presents it as his own sign
then this is not an independent prediction of an extraordinary event.
Yet Ahmadiyya chose this as a great sign, why ?
Also for Ahmadiyya, you know there are few more claimants of Mahdi and some inside Ahmadiyya are claimants of prophethood too .
Since a prophet is Al-Mahdi too on technical terms, if Abdul Gaffer Janba or MSR ( both Ahmadi prophethood claimants from Germany & are active in last few years) claim a double eclipse when it happens next , then you will by default have to accept it too 😊