Lahore; September 7, 2021: Vernacular press has played a very significant role for decades in promoting the anti-Ahmadiyya narrative through the Tahaffuz (safeguarding) Khatme Nabuwwat campaign. It is a policy with some newspapers to publish news, editorials, op-eds, etc. on the issue and spare ample space for the mullas who make a living out of this issue. On September 7 every year, some newspapers issue special editions; on this date the state amended the Constitution through Amendment Nr. II to declare Ahmadis ‘not-Muslim’ for the purpose of Constitution and law. This year too, some Urdu dailies issued special editions in the name of Tahaffuz Khatme Nabuwwat Day. As a sample, we quote from the daily Dunya. It spared one full-length page in color for this purpose. It carried three articles written by clerics. We produce below translations of extracts printed in bold letters by the paper, to give an idea of the content and the message promulgated by the writers and the paper: • September 7 is a bright and historic day for us, as then the Parliament declared Qadianis a Non-Muslim minority in the Constitution. • At the end of the nineteenth century, one major mischief (fitna) among many that came up was that of the self-styled Prophethood in the form of Qadianiat. • It is Kufr (Disbelief) to claim Prophecy after the Holy Prophet (pbuh). The Great Imam, Abu Hanifa has given the fatwa (edict) that even to require a claimant to prophecy to provide evidence for this claim, is Kufr itself. • Qadianis were declared Non-Muslim in the light of their own statements. • It is our belief that after the Holy Prophet (PBUH) until to date no Prophet was born nor will be born. (Note: The word ‘born’ is used to cover the belief of these mullas that the Prophet Isa will surely descend, physically from the sky, during the Latter Days to lead the Muslim Ummah.)
