Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was criticized for his inadequate knowledge of the Arabic language. Subsequently he claimed to have been taught Arabic directly by God and that he received the knowledge of 40,000 Arabic roots from God in a single night. He wrote some 20 books in Arabic, and Urdu combined with Arabic, as well as poetry upon what he considered was divine direction. He wrote:
All my Arabic books are type of revelation since I wrote them with special support from God. Sometimes I do not understand the meaning of some words and sentences unless I use a dictionary
– Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Seerat-ul-Mahdi, Narration No. 104
Ahmad challenged his critics and contemporary religious scholars to produce the like of his Arabic works with as much help as they wanted individually or collectively. After having been alleged to have hired some experts of the Arabic language to write those books, he gave them leave to call to their aid the learned men and divines of Arabia, Egypt and Syria whose mother-tongue was Arabic thereby extending his challenge to all Arabs and non-Arabs alike.[59] According to Ahmadi sources no one took up this challenge and those who did, only sought to find fault with the works of Ghulam Ahmad and failed to produce any book. He also declared Arabic to be the mother of all languages (Ummul-Lisana) and the original tongue of mankind.[60] This subject he dealt with in detail in his book Minanur-Rahman.
Although Ahmad stated:
When my age was about 10 years, then an Arabic teacher was appointed for my education whose name was Fazal Ahmad
– Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Kitab ul Bariyah, Roohani Khazain Volume 13, pages 180–181
Ahmad did go on to say however that such teaching of his was an
elementary education...(providing) some rules of Arabic grammar
– Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Kitab ul Bariyah, Roohani Khazain Volume 13, pages 180–181
From this, Ahmadis argue that learning basic rules of Arabic grammar in the manner of a student learning a classical language at a young age cannot on its own lead to writing scores of books, delivering lectures and challenging the Arabic-speaking world, all successfully, fifty years later. Ahmadis conclude therefore that extra knowledge, above and beyond an "elementary education" is required to achieve such literary feats.
