This allegation, however quite foolish, is often brought up by the non Ahmadi Muslims. The quote this vision of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as):
“I saw in one of my contemplative visions that I am God myself and I believed that I am the same”
Firstly this is completely out of context and will be put into context as we move forward.Now one has to first understand that firstly Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) has clearly stated that this is a vision, meaning it was not something that was his own statement. Secondly that he submitted that we need a new system and a new sky. Thirdly that in this vision Ahmad(as) stated “these are inspirations I am enlightened with by God Almighty”.
Now the first important point that one needs to understand is that in Islam a vision is not taken literal. Similar statements can be found in the Qur’an, the Ahadith and also statements of many saints in Islamic History.
Allah states in the Qur’an:
So you killed them not, but it was Allah Who killed them. And thou threwest not when thou didst throw, but it was Allah Who threw, that He might overthrow the disbelievers and that He might confer on the believers a great favour from Himself. Surely, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.(Chapter 8 Verse 18)
Such statements are never taken literally. Allah also states
Verily, those who swear allegiance to thee indeed swear allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is over their hands. So whoever breaks his oath, breaks it to his own loss; and whoever fulfils the covenant that he has made with Allah, He will surely give him a great reward.(Chapter 48 Verse 11)
This is also not taken literally.
Another example we have from the ahadith is :
حَدَّثَنِي إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الْحَنْظَلِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّزَّاقِ، أَخْبَرَنَا مَعْمَرٌ، عَنْ هَمَّامِ بْنِ مُنَبِّهٍ، قَالَ هَذَا مَا حَدَّثَنَا بِهِ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ” نَحْنُ الآخِرُونَ السَّابِقُونَ ”.
وَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ” بَيْنَا أَنَا نَائِمٌ إِذْ أُوتِيتُ خَزَائِنَ الأَرْضِ، فَوُضِعَ فِي يَدَىَّ سِوَارَانِ مِنْ ذَهَبٍ، فَكَبُرَا عَلَىَّ وَأَهَمَّانِي، فَأُوحِيَ إِلَىَّ أَنِ انْفُخْهُمَا، فَنَفَخْتُهُمَا فَطَارَا، فَأَوَّلْتُهُمَا الْكَذَّابَيْنِ اللَّذَيْنِ أَنَا بَيْنَهُمَا صَاحِبَ صَنْعَاءَ وَصَاحِبَ الْيَمَامَةِ ”.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “We (Muslims) are the last (to come) but (will be) the foremost (on the Day of Resurrection).” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) further said, ”While sleeping, I was given the treasures of the world and two golden bangles were put in my hands, but I felt much annoyed, and those two bangles distressed me very much, but I was inspired that I should blow them off, so I blew them and they flew away. Then I interpreted that those two bangles were the liars between whom I was (i.e., the one of San`a’ and the one of Yamama).(Sahih Bukhari Volume 9 , Book 87, Hadith #160)
Now can any anti Ahmadi dare to say that the Prophet Muhammad(saw) actually wore golden bangles which we know are haram? Of course not. Right away the vision was interpreted. No sahaba came and said O prophet why did you wear gold? They would always wait for the interpretations to such visions.
Now let us read the entire statement in context:
‘In a vision I saw that I myself was God and believed myself to be such. I felt that I had no will or thought or action of my own left, and that I had become like something which was being completely overpowered by something else that had absorbed me wholly so that my own being had completely disappeared. I saw the divine spirit envelop my soul and covering my body hide me completely in itself so that not a particle of me remained. I beheld myself as if all my limbs had become His, my eyes had become His eyes, my ears had become His ears and my tongue had become His tongue. My Lord seized me with such great force that I disappeared in Him and I felt that His power was surging in me and that His divinity was coursing through me. The Lord of honor then set His camp around my heart and the Lord of power ground down my soul so that there was no more of me nor any desire of mine left. My whole structure was demolished and only the structure of the Lord of the universe remained visible.
The Divine overcame me with such force that I was drawn to Him from the hair of my head to the nails of my toes. Then I became all spirit which had no body and became an oil which had no dregs. I was separated completely from my ego and I became like something which was not visible or like a drop which had become merged in the ocean so that the ocean comprehended it in its vastness. I no longer knew what I had been before nor what my being was. Divinity coursed through my veins and muscles. I was completely lost to myself and God Almighty employed my limbs for His purpose and took possession of me with such force that nothing exceeded it. By this seizure I became non existent. I believed that my limbs had become God’s limbs and I imagined that I had discarded my own being and had departed from my existence, and that no associate or claimant had remained as an obstruction. God Almighty entered wholly into my being and my anger and my gentleness, and my bitterness and my sweetness and my movement and my inertness all became His. In this condition I said: I desire a new universe, a new heaven and a new earth(Kitabul Bariyyah page 85-87)
Now imagine if the non Ahmadi Muslims gave the entire context? Would such an allegation ever arise?
When we look at Hadith Qudsi we find that Allah States:
حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُثْمَانَ، حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ بِلاَلٍ، حَدَّثَنِي شَرِيكُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي نَمِرٍ، عَنْ عَطَاءٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَالَ مَنْ عَادَى لِي وَلِيًّا فَقَدْ آذَنْتُهُ بِالْحَرْبِ، وَمَا تَقَرَّبَ إِلَىَّ عَبْدِي بِشَىْءٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَىَّ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ، وَمَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَىَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ، فَإِذَا أَحْبَبْتُهُ كُنْتُ سَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ، وَبَصَرَهُ الَّذِي يُبْصِرُ بِهِ، وَيَدَهُ الَّتِي يَبْطُشُ بِهَا وَرِجْلَهُ الَّتِي يَمْشِي بِهَا، وَإِنْ سَأَلَنِي لأُعْطِيَنَّهُ، وَلَئِنِ اسْتَعَاذَنِي لأُعِيذَنَّهُ، وَمَا تَرَدَّدْتُ عَنْ شَىْءٍ أَنَا فَاعِلُهُ تَرَدُّدِي عَنْ نَفْسِ الْمُؤْمِنِ، يَكْرَهُ الْمَوْتَ وَأَنَا أَكْرَهُ مَسَاءَتَهُ ”.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “Allah said, ‘I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper of Mine. And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing Nawafil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him, so I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him, and if he asks My protection (Refuge), I will protect him; (i.e. give him My Refuge) and I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer, for he hates death, and I hate to disappoint him.”(Sahih Bukhari, Book 76, Hadith #509)
According to the non Ahmadi logic would it mean that the Holy Prophet(saw) is saying that Allah literally becomes your ears and eyes? Of course not. This vision of Ahmad(as) actually shows his truthfulness and how much he loved God. This Bukhari hadith explains a similar condition.
In Ta‘tirul-Anam, which is a famous book on the interpretation of dreams, it is written:
من رآی فی المنام كانہ صار الحق سبحانہ تعالیٰ اھتدیٰ الی صراط المستقیم
“Anyone who sees in a dream that he has become God, the Glorious and Exalted, this is an indication that he would be rightly guided to the straight path”
According to the Non Ahmadi dream interpretations themselves, they are forced to admit that one who sees such a vision means he is on the true path.
We have many similar statements of famous saints.
Hadhrat Abu Yazid Bustami(Rh) stated:
‘If a man be totally lost in God, since God is everything he will see in himself everything.'(Bustami, [Hadhrat] Abu Yazid. vide. Tadhkirath al Aulia, ch.. xiv, p. 146)
Imam Ja’far Sadiq(rh) stated:
“we are the face of God”(Sadiq, [Hadhrat] Imam Ja’far. vide. Kitab Mazhar al ,’Ajai’b fin Nikat e Wal Ghara’ib)
Hadhrat Abu Yazid Bustami(rh) again states:
‘There is no one like me in heaven, nor anyone of my attributes on earth. My attributes are hidden in the Unseen. How can such a one be man? Nay, he is the tongue of Truth, and the speaker of the Truth Himself. For Me he speaks, for Me he hears, from Me he sees. Therefore, it is God Who speaks through the tongue of Abu Yazid(Bustami, [Hadhrat] Abu Yazid. Tadhkirat al Aulia, ch. xiv, p. 151)
Hadhrat Jalal Ud Din Rumi(rh) has said:
‘That glorious sage Abu Yazid came to the disciples and said: I am God. This perfect spiritual leader, in the state of spiritual intoxication declared: There is no God but me, serve me; In other words, in my robe there is none but God, so how long will you search Him in heaven and earth.(Rumi, [Hadhrat] Jalal ud Din. Miftah al Ulum, sec. iv, pt. ii, pp,. 25 & 36)
Ibn Arabi(ra) has stated:
‘I am the spirit of spirits not the spirit of vessels.(Arabi, [Hadhrat] Sheikh Muhiyudin ibne. Fatuhat Makiyya pt. 1, p. 1)
Hadhrat Hussain Ibn Mansur Al Hallaj(rh) stated:
“I am the Lord” (Halaj, [Hadhrat] Mansur al. vide. Fawaid e Faridiyya, p. 76)
These are only a minor amount of examples of such statements from the Muslim saints over time. Do the non Ahmadi Muslims accuse all of these people to be claimants of God? The truth is clear that the non Ahmadis either have no Islamic knowledge or just have the habit of lying. In reality it is both.