The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

The Real Seventh Day Advent, the Adventist, the Messiah

Submitted by Ikram.

The Real Seventh Day Advent, the Adventist, the Messiah

There are seven dispensational period of human civilization based upon Old and New Testaments.

The seven dispensational periods

Dispensationalism seeks to address what many see as opposing theologies between the Old Testament and New Testament. Its name comes from the fact that it sees biblical history as best understood in light of a series of dispensations in the Bible. Most dispensationalists cite seven dispensations although this is not a critical or foundational factor to the theology:

1. the dispensation of innocence (Gen 1:1–3:7), prior to Adam's fall,

2. of conscience (Gen 3:8–8:22), Adam to Noah,

3. of government (Gen 9:1–11:32), Noah to Abraham,

4. of patriarchal rule (Gen 12:1–Exod 19:25), Abraham to Moses,

5. of the Mosaic Law (Exod 20:1–Acts 2:4), Moses to Christ,

6. of grace (Acts 2:4–Rev 20:3—except for Hyperdispensationalists and Ultradispensationalists), the current church age, and

7. of a literal, earthly 1,000-year Millennial Kingdom that has yet to come but soon will (Rev 20:4–20:6). [Wikipedia, see also “What are the Seven Dispensations?”]

Adventist is someone who lives in our current times with the belief of Second coming of Jesus.

Definition of Adventist:

n. A member of any of several Christian denominations that believe Jesus's Second Coming and the end of the world are near. [thefreedictionary]

Seventh-Day Adventist is the one who believes that the humainty is at the threshold of the approaching seventh dispensational period.

Definition of Seventh-Day Adventist:

n. (Protestantism) Protestant theol a member of that branch of the Adventists which constituted itself as a separate body after the expected Second Coming of Christ failed to be realized in 1844. They are strongly Protestant, believe that Christ's coming is imminent, and observe Saturday instead of Sunday as their Sabbath. [thefreedictionary]

It is with this impending seventh dispensation that a school of thought took its origin in United States just after the birth of Hirzat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1835 in India.

Founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church:

William Miller (1782-1849), a Baptist preacher, forecast the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in 1843. When that did not come to pass, Samuel Snow, a follower, did further calculations and advanced the date to 1844. After the event did not occur, Miller withdrew from leadership of the group and died in 1849. Ellen White, her husband James White, Joseph Bates and other Adventists formed a group in Washington, New Hampshire, which officially became the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863. J.N. Andrews became the first official missionary in 1874, traveling from the United States to Switzerland, and from that time the church became worldwide. [about.com]

The irony is that Christians alike the Muslims believe in bodily return of Jesus i.e. “the Lord” for the former and “son of Mary” for the latter. Unbeknownst to most of both, Jesus returned and went who identified his advent with the Seventh-Day spanning a thousand years of the current social evolutionary stage of human cycle on the earth, which we read in his writings. The relevant portion and the declaration of the Messiah is excerpted below that he delivered as a lecture in an inter-faith setting:

Lecture Lahore (link):

…because the world is not to be destroyed yet, and thousands of years are left, the world's current development, inventions and comforts which the prevalent industries have introduced also indicate that God, the Great, has desired that human beings may be given material comforts and ease so that man may have a chance to progress and reform himself materially.

The spiritual condition of man has so deteriorated that it can provoke God's wrath. Sins are on the increase and human faculties have become very weak so logic demands that as in the physical domain whenever darkness wraps the earth, a heavenly light is kindled to dispel the darkness, likewise in the spiritual domain heavenly light descends from the heavens to enlighten the hearts. Because God has created man, His law is that to bring unity among human beings He raises a person from among themselves and enlightens him with the complete light of gnosis and honours him with His word and dialogue and gives him a cup of His complete love, and guides him to His agreeable path so that other persons may link up with him, and He injects a special strive in the heart of that person so that he draws others to him and thus others forge a special link with him to such an extent that they become a part of his body, and counted as such take God's gnosis through him and are saved from sins and grow in God's consciousness.

Because of this law, God Almighty has sent information through His prophets of yore that when, from the time of Adam, six thousand years will be nearing their end and the earth will be covered with the darkness of sins and God's love diminishes in the hearts of the masses of human beings, then God, from His heavens and without any earthly factors, would blow His spirit of truth and love in a person who would be called Messiah because God with His hands would anoint his soul with His personal love and he would be the Messiah of promises who has been called in God's books the Promised Messiah. The Masih-Maoud [The Promised Messiah] would be raised against the devil and there would be a last war between the entire forces of the devil and the Messiah. The devil with all his powers and progeny and manoeuvres will come prepared for this last spiritual encounter. There had never been such a conflict between virtue and evil in this world as it would be on that day, because on that day the devil's knowledge and trickery deceptions would be at their zenith, as he would bring forth all those cunnings with which he can lead human beings astray. Then after a terrible battle the Messiah would be victorious and the devil's powers would be annihilated and for some time God's awe, immaculateness and theistic glory would keep spreading on the earth, and that period would be for one thousand years which would be called the seventh day, and thereafter the world would end. And know ye all that that Messiah is myself. If you want, you may accept. [emphasis added]

The Promised Messiah continues from the above in the same essay where he outlines the seven dispensations and identifies the current, the Seventh Day, as follows:

…And at a place the Holy Quran has mentioned a sign for the age of the Promised Messiah, stating that:

"The day of thy Lord as one thousand years duration which you count" (22:47).

That is, God's one day is like a thousand of your years. So, because there are seven days, hence the age of this world has been given in this verse as seven thousand years. But this age is with reference to Adam's, whose progeny we are, as from God's word it appears that before (our) Adam the world was in existence we cannot say who were those people and of what sort were they. It appears that every cycle of this world is of seven thousand years duration, and to convey this idea a sign was affixed by restricting the week to the seven days, that every single day may refer to one thousand years. We are not aware as to how many periods have elapsed on this world and how many Adams have appeared in their own times. But God is Creator since time immemorial. We believe that in this context the world is ancient, by its own nature and right.

Alas, the Christians believe that God created the world and prior to that God was inactive and in a state of suspension and was as such since time immemorial. This belief is such that no rational mind can accept it. But the belief that the Holy Quran has taught us that God was ever since a creator, is rational. If He so desires He may destroy the heavens and the earth a million times and create it again.

The Holy Quran has informed us that Adam who came after many generations had been destroyed, was our father, the human race had been in existence much before his advent on earth and this is the chain, the age of which period has been fixed approximately seven thousand years. These seven thousand years, in God's reckoning, are just as seven days of human counting. It may be remembered in Divine law every human cycle has been fixed as seven thousand years. Therefore the age of our human race has been fixed as seven thousand years. When our Lord, Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, appeared in human history five thousand years had passed. The chapter on Time was revealed to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, which according to alphabetical calculations showed the time that had elapsed since Adam's creation and the Prophet’s appearance on earth.

According to the chapter referred to in the foregoing lines, we are living now in the fag end years period of six thousand, not only in the form of the Holy Quran but also in previous scriptures it is written that the last messenger who would be raised in the form of Adam and name Messiah, would appear at the end of six thousand years as Adam was born on the sixth day of the week. All these signs are such that they are sufficient to convince a thinking mind. The division of these seven thousand years according to the Holy Quran and God's other books is that first thousand years is the growth and spread of virtues, and the second one thousand years is the devil's supremacy and the third one thousand years is spread of virtue and the fourth one thousand years is again devil's age, which is succeeded by the fifth one thousand years which is of virtue and goodness. This is the fifth thousand years when our Lord, Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, appeared and the devil was chained, the sixth thousand was the devil's release which started three centuries after the death of the Holy Prophet (qarun-sulasa), and ends at the advent of fourteenth century Hijrah. The seventh thousand years period is for God and His Messiah when all the virtues and good deeds would prevail. This is the period when we are living at the head of the epoch; no other Messiah dares to step up at this age. There are only seven epochs which have been divided in period of virtue and period of evil.

This division has been mentioned by all the prophets. Some have only mentioned towards thousand and some have mentioned in detail and this detail is given in the Holy Quran and the prophesy about the Promised Messiah is clearly inferable from the Holy Quran. It is surprising that all the prophets have mentioned the Messiah's epoch in one form or another in their books and also mentioned the Antichrist. There is no other prophesy in the world which has so forcefully and consistently been narrated as that of the last Messiah yet there are persons in our age who deny its authenticity. Some demand proof of the existence of such a prophesy from the Holy Quran. Alas, if they had only looked deeply into the Holy Quran they would have discovered how explicitly it is narrated in the Holy Quran that, for an intelligent person, no further explanation is needed.

After reading the above by the Promised Messiah, please read the article about Seventh-Day Adventists from Encyclopedia Britannica (link) to compare and contrast what Adventists have missed for a century while Messiah and his Seventh Day has been in their plain sight. Before it were the Israelites who missed the Messiah because they were awaiting the bodily return of Eliah, now in turn, both Christian and Muslims missed the Messiah while awaiting his bodily return. To them, we quote the Messiah from the same essay of his:

“Open your eyes and open your ears. I am surprised at your wisdom, you have targeted the bow's arrow at a distance while the prey is close to you.”

All India Kashmir Committee

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Yasser Latif Hamdani wrote a blog on Ahrar-e-Hind on 'Pak Tea House' blog.  He writes:

"It [Majlis-e-Ahrar] started its anti-Ahmaddiya movement in 1933 … when it clashed with All India Kashmir Committee – a rival organization fighting against Dogra Rule in Kashmir. Besides Dr. Muhammad “Allama” Iqbal (who was till 1933 or so probably an Ahmadi and whose father and elder brother were staunch Ahmadis), the AIKC consisted of Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud – the second caliph of Jamaat Ahmaddiya [Qadiani Jamaat]… the rivalry of these two organizations turned Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam against the Ahmadis altogether. (Ironically Bashiruddin Mahmud’s presidency of the said organization turned Dr. Iqbal against Ahmadis as well but that is another story. Majlis-e-Ahrar is clearly the oddest Islamic movement in the subcontinent."

Bolding is mine.

YLH did not elaboratewhat turned Sir Dr. Mohammad Iqbal against Qadiani Khalifa 2 Mirza Mahmud Ahmad. Here is some information:

Out of respect for father of QK2 i.e. HMGA, Sir Dr. Mohammad Iqbal nominated and voted for QK2 to become president of AIKC. As president QK2 asked all members of AIKC to take oath of confidentiality, i.e. what ever is spoken in meeting it will remain scret. This was done to give confidence to speakers to speak freely. But instead of keeping minutes of meeting secret, QK2 himself was providing information to Viceroy. Dr. Iqbal came to know about this when two Muslim office clerks in Viceroy office showed the original file to Dr. Iqbal. That was the origin of Dr. Iqbal turning away and against HMGA.

Link to YLH article:

http://pakteahouse.net/2014/03/03/ahrar-e-hind-ttp-mohmand-group-the-21st-century-reincarnation-of-majlis-e-ahrar-e-islam-hind/comment-page-2/#comments

“The True Succession”: Founding of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement a century ago

The month of March 2014 marks the centenary of the beginning of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore, which came about in March 1914 although this Anjuman formally came into existence at the beginning of May 1914.

Consisting to a large extent of new research, which has unearthed material that was forgotten or lying buried in archives, I have completed a book of almost 150 pages bearing the title The True Succession. The title indicates the theme and thesis of the book, namely, that the AAIIL represents the true succession to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din and the continuation of their real mission.

I thank Allah the Most High for enabling me to complete this book on time and provide a definitive and substantiated record of how and why the AAIIL came into being. The burden of debt we owe to the Lahore Ahmadiyya pioneers cannot be repaid, but I hope this book counts as a minisicule recognition of it.

Read the book at this link.

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi’s views on claim of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Submitted by Dil Sooz

Respected Javed Ahmad Ghamidi is a noted contemporary Islamic Scholar. He is known for objective analysis of issues. Recently, I came across this video of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Sahib where he explains that respected Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was "Sufi" and did not claim to be Prophet as he is accused of. He also clarifies that founders of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement did not consider him to be a Prophet.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=647159602014434

I'm not a scholar of Mr Ghamidi stature, but I do want to humbly bring this to his kind attention that Respected Mirza Sahib claimed to be Mujadid or reformer of his team. So he was under naturally divine command to declare his mission Statement before the world and then get on with his works, despite immense  opposition. In contrast " Sufi" has one to to one with Allah and is not required to have broad spectrum of audience. I think Mr Ghamidi should not mix and match two different Job descriptions meant for two different persons.

Valentine Day – A ghostly Love or ghastly Lust in the name of the Son or the Father?

Submitted by Ikram.

If one casts a glance on the recently transpired Valentine’s Day, a few things come to light. It is a day usually associated with love that is primarily focused, besides others, on the bonds between couples, married or otherwise. Based upon this ‘love’ the ever present commercialism comes into full gear with its special candy, flowers, attire, jewelry, gift wraps, songs, movies and numerous other trappings. The undertones of sin, sensuality and sexuality on that day are almost synonymous with the very term Valentine, the name and title of various early Christian Martyrs and Saints. The love on a Valentine Day somewhat reflects the God of Christianity which is summed up by Khwaja Kamaluddin:

“we read of God as the Possessor of love. But love has got its wicked side too, if we yield to the dictates of lust.”

(GOD AND HIS ATTRIBUTES by Khawaja Kamal-ud-din, The Woking Muslim Mission and Literary Trust, The Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking, England, 1936.)

If Christmas is a Christened Pagan festival of birth of a Sun God at winter solstice, so is the Valentine Day, a reliving of Hellenistic festival of Lupercalia, a drunken revel of fertility and love, though with a religious twist after the slaying of two separate men with similar name, three years apart by the same emperor, at least one of whom was later made into a Saint (see link).

While keeping the dynamics of Valentine Day in mind it becomes difficult to understand Christianity as to where does it’s doctored love in the name of the Son ends and when does its unbridled lust takes off and is there even a separation between the two? It thus behooves to read Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s (HMGA) reply to a Padre who raised objections against Islam. In his discourse HMGA shines with his mastery of the Scriptures – Quran and Bible, the life and works of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Christian myths ascribed to Jesus of Bible, Islam as a religion and Christianity as a formulated doctrine. He compares and contrasts these from angles that, unbeknownst to him, intersect with the above enumerated themes of a Valentine Day for their inherent insinuations that seem naturally embedded in the general Christian doctrine. In HMGA’s analysis, Christianity, which if from God, instead of acting as a bulwark against paganism, itself becomes the root cause of a dogma that is not too holy.

Read extract from Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's book Nur-ul-Quran

Alexander Russell Webb

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri

On January 2, 2006 i along with marhoom Abdul Manan Omar sahib and his children visited final resting place of Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb, in Rutherford, New Jersy, USA. We offered Fatiah.

Today i came across a website that has written about him. Post about him says: "Although he was originally introduced to Islam through members of the unorthodox (and frankly, un-Islamic) Ahmadiyya Movement, he eventually found a path to mainstream Islam.". Of course author did not mention that he proofread/ edited Lahore Ahmadiyya Movment's publication 'Teachings of Islam'. This post is another example of damage caused by Qadianis Khalifa 2 Mirza Mahmud Ahmad. Where author does want to give credit to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam sahib, but then ends up calling his movement "Un-Islamic". Anyways following is complete post and link:

Alexander Russel Webb (1846-1916)

In late 19th century America, journalism was beginning to take off as an effective and influential medium for influencing the public. One of the men who helped spur this journalistic wave was Alexander Russell Webb. Unconvinced about his Christian religion, and being a well-read journalist, he began to read extensively about other religions, and was particularly interested in Islam. When he was appointed by the U.S. State Department to work in the American embassy in the Philippines in 1887, he took the opportunity to begin a correspondence with Muslims in India about Islam.

Although he was originally introduced to Islam through members of the unorthodox (and frankly, un-Islamic) Ahmadiyya Movement, he eventually found a path to mainstream Islam. He proceeded to travel throughout the Muslim world, studying Islam and meeting with scholars. In 1893, he resigned his post at the State Department and returned to America. Back in the United States, he published numerous books on Islam and started an Islamic newspaper explaining the religion to the American public. In the early decades of the 20th century, he continued to be a prominent voice for Islam in the United States, even being appointed an honorary Ottoman consul by Sultan Abdulhamid II. He died in 1916 and was buried outside Rutherford, New Jersey.

Lost Islamic History

http://lostislamichistory.com/6-great-converts-to-islam/

“Insult” to Jesus

This, as you know, is a common charge against Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, that in his writings he has used insulting language when speaking of Jesus.

I was reading the book Taqwiyyat-ul-Iman by Shah Ismail Shaheed (d. 1831), the right hand man of Syed Ahmad Barelvi, and found that commenting on the verse of the Quran "The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger; messengers before him had indeed passed away. And his mother was a truthful woman. They both used to eat food" (5:75), he writes:

"At this point both Baidawi and the author of Jalalain [commentators of the Quran] have written that Jesus and Mary were like other animals, that just as animals are dependent on food, weak and helpless, so were these two venerable persons. By this statement, these two commentators did not mean to be insulting to their dignity and to ignore their high status. May Allah guard us from wrong understanding." (Urdu translation of Taqwiyyat-ul-Iman, p. 256-7).

Baidawi and Jalalain (the latter by Jalal-ud-Din Suyuti) are two well known, classical commentaries of the Quran, and are among the sources referred to by Maulana Muhammad Ali and other commentators of the Quran. This shows that classical Islamic works also contain statements which can be misread or misrepresented as insulting to Jesus. It is also possible that such accusations were actually made against these two renowned commentators and Shah Ismail Shaheed is writing in their defence.

Prophecy of devastation of First World War by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Please refer to this brief document I have compiled on this subject. Its synopsis is as follows.

First I have translated (not necessarily all that well in poetic terms) some verses from a very long poem by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, written in 1905 and included in one of his books published posthumously in 1908, the verses which later on came to be regarded as a prophecy of the devastation of the First World War. But when later on? Only after the war? I have then quoted from the front page of Paigham Sulh of 13 August 1914, showing that followers of Hazrat Mirza sahib applied these verses to this war just as this war began that month of August 1914, before its horrors were known to anyone!

The centenary of the First World War is being commemorated in the UK and there are several TV documentaries on its various aspects being broadcast at present. One of the leading documentaries is Britain's Great War made by the BBC, whose first part was shown last Monday 27th January. Looking at the opening few minutes of this part, which give an overview of this war, I have compared the comments made in documentary about this war's key features with the prophesied description of this war in Hazrat Mirza sahib's pen. From this we see clearly that his prophecy was so lucidly fulfilled.

At the end I have provided the original Urdu text of these verses.

Efforts of Damage Control by Qadianis Caused by Answers of QK3 Mirza Nasir Ahmad in 1974 NA Special Committee

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Rind Malik, a Canada based Qadiani has sent me a link to youtube video in which two Qadianis make effort to control damage caused by Qadiani Khalifa 3 Mirza Nasir Ahmad replies in 1974 Pakistan National Assembly Special Committee.

Both participants in the program very easily forgot to answer questions raised by myself in the following link. These Qadianis feel no shame in beating around the bush and not commenting on their QK3 Mirza Nasir Ahmad replies.

http://ahmadiyya.org/WordPress/2012/12/25/comments-on-mirza-nasir-ahmads-answers-at-the-national-assembly-1974/

In the beginning minutes of youtube video participants made an effort to paint the picture of Qadianis as a peaceful citizens of Pakistan. This is exactly opposite to what Qadianis were in the days leading to Rabwah Railway Station incident in which Qadianis as preplanned operation assaulted the Nishtar Medical College students on their return from excursion tour of Northern Pakistan.

Professor Hibbatul-Manan-Omar (alias Khalid Omar), Ph.D son of Abdul Manan Omar sahib and grandson of Khalifa-tul-Massih Hazart Maulana Noor-ud-Din RA, is currently professor of Business at Goldey-Beacom College, Wilmington, DE. http://www.gbc.edu Professor Hibbi Omar profile on college website:http://www.gbc.edu/faculty/omar/index.html

Professor Hibbi Omar was engineering student in UET (University of Engineering and Technology), Lahore in 1974. He personally narrated to me in detail, in the days before Rabwah Railway Station incident, Mirza Tahir Ahmad, who later became Qadiani Khalifa 4, visited UET and addressed Qadiani students in the university. Mirza Tahir Ahmad did not know about him and he was also in that gathering. In fact it was Professor Hibbi Omar who recited Holy Quran in the start of meeting. Anyways, in meeting Mirza Tahir Ahmad went over the plan in which operation was to be conducted by Qadiani students, in which they were to wear turbans (like worn by Qadiani Khalifa 3,4, 5) carry 303 rifles, and containers of gasoline (patrol), run on two sides of street in famous market Anarkali Bazaar, Lahore and torch the bazaar. For whatever reasons operation was not put into action, but the fact remains that Qadianis were NOT peaceful citizens of Pakistan as the following youtube video by two Qadianis try to convey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8k99xhEAcI

A much needed “New World Economic Order”

Submitted by Ikram.

Our message to the World Economic Forum at Davos and our answer to Oxfam

Just before the Davos World Economic Forum (link) annual summit meeting on January 22-24, 2014, Oxfam has come out with a report (see link) which concludes that “The 85 richest people own the same wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people.” The report in its summary states:

In November 2013, the World Economic Forum released its ‘Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014’, in which it ranked widening income disparities as the second greatest worldwide risk in the coming 12 to 18 months. Based on those surveyed, inequality is ‘impacting social stability within countries and threatening security on a global scale.’ Oxfam shares its analysis, and wants to see the 2014 World Economic Forum make the commitments needed to counter the growing tide of inequality. Some economic inequality is essential to drive growth and progress, rewarding those with talent, hard earned skills, and the ambition to innovate and take entrepreneurial risks. However, the extreme levels of wealth concentration occurring today threaten to exclude hundreds of millions of people from realizing the benefits of their talents and hard work.

Extreme economic inequality is damaging and worrying for many reasons: it is morally questionable; it can have negative impacts on economic growth and poverty reduction; and it can multiply social problems. It compounds other inequalities, such as those between women and men. In many countries, extreme economic inequality is worrying because of the pernicious impact that wealth concentrations can have on equal political representation. When wealth captures government policymaking, the rules bend to favor the rich, often to the detriment of everyone else. The consequences include the erosion of democratic governance, the pulling apart of social cohesion, and the vanishing of equal opportunities for all. Unless bold political solutions are instituted to curb the influence of wealth on politics, governments will work for the interests of the rich, while economic and political inequalities continue to rise. As US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, ‘We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we cannot have both.’

Oxfam is concerned that, left unchecked, the effects are potentially immutable, and will lead to ‘opportunity capture’ – in which the lowest tax rates, the best education, and the best healthcare are claimed by the children of the rich. This creates dynamic and mutually reinforcing cycles of advantage that are transmitted across generations.

Given the scale of rising wealth concentrations, opportunity capture and unequal political representation are a serious and worrying trend. For instance:

* Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population.

* The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population.

* The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world.

* Seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years.

* The richest one percent increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012.

* In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer.

This massive concentration of economic resources in the hands of fewer people presents a significant threat to inclusive political and economic systems. Instead of moving forward together, people are increasingly separated by economic and political power, inevitably heightening social tensions and increasing the risk of societal breakdown.

Oxfam’s polling from across the world captures the belief of many that laws and regulations are now designed to benefit the rich. A survey in six countries (Spain, Brazil, India, South Africa, the UK and the US) showed that a majority of people believe that laws are skewed in favor of the rich – in Spain eight out of 10 people agreed with this statement. Another recent Oxfam poll of low-wage earners in the US reveals that 65 percent believe that Congress passes laws that predominantly benefit the wealthy.

The impact of political capture is striking. Rich and poor countries alike are affected. Financial deregulation, skewed tax systems and rules facilitating evasion, austerity economics, policies that disproportionately harm women, and captured oil and mineral revenues are all examples given in this paper. The short cases included are each intended to offer a sense of how political capture produces ill-gotten wealth, which perpetuates economic inequality.

This dangerous trend can be reversed. The good news is that there are clear examples of success, both historical and current. The US and Europe in the three decades after World War II reduced inequality while growing prosperous. Latin America has significantly reduced inequality in the last decade – through more progressive taxation, public services, social protection and decent work. Central to this progress has been popular politics that represent the majority, instead of being captured by a tiny minority. This has benefited all, both rich and poor.

The report then makes the following recommendations which essentially are a pipedream in current economic mind set, i.e. Capitalism. The recommendations are no more than a wish list and without any ideological basis:

Those gathered at Davos for the World Economic Forum have the power to turn around the rapid increase in inequality. Oxfam is calling on them to pledge that they will:

* Not dodge taxes in their own countries or in countries where they invest and operate, by using tax havens;

* Not use their economic wealth to seek political favors that undermine the democratic will of their fellow citizens;

* Make public all the investments in companies and trusts for which they are the ultimate beneficial owners;

* Support progressive taxation on wealth and income;

* Challenge governments to use their tax revenue to provide universal healthcare, education and social protection for citizens;

* Demand a living wage in all the companies they own or control;

* Challenge other economic elites to join them in these pledges.

Oxfam has recommended policies in multiple contexts to strengthen the political representation of the poor and middle classes to achieve greater equity. These policies include:

* A global goal to end extreme economic inequality in every country. This should be a major element of the post-2015 framework, including consistent monitoring in every country of the share of wealth going to the richest one percent.

* Stronger regulation of markets to promote sustainable and equitable growth; and

* Curbing the power of the rich to influence political processes and policies that best suit their interests.

The particular combination of policies required to reverse rising economic inequalities should be tailored to each national context. But developing and developed countries that have successfully reduced economic inequality provide some suggested starting points, notably:

* Cracking down on financial secrecy and tax dodging;

* Redistributive transfers; and strengthening of social protection schemes;

* Investment in universal access to healthcare and education;

* Progressive taxation;

* Strengthening wage floors and worker rights;

* Removing the barriers to equal rights and opportunities for women.

If we do the math, on the average each of the richest has more in his pocket than almost 42 million poor combined (to be exact 41,176,470.59). Further, on its page 9, the report states:

According to Credit Suisse, 10 percent of the global population holds 86 percent of all the assets in the world, while the poorest 70 percent (more than 3 billion adults) hold just 3 percent. By some measure, the riches of billionaires are now unparalleled in history. The Mexican Carlos Slim, owner of large monopolies in Mexico and elsewhere, could pay the yearly wages of 440,000 Mexicans with income derived from his wealth.

The report brings to light the failure of Capitalism for humanity. Capitalism was sold in the name of a common man but was aimed for exploitation by a few because fundamentally moral compunctions are anti-Capitalistic. The recommendations of the report are for sure to fall on deaf ears for rich to voluntarily give up their possessions, or pay their fair share of taxes, as there is no incentive for them to do so. The system of government in Capitalism is fundamentally a rigged system. These riches are built upon the back bone of compound interest in banking systems and the speculations on the Wall Street, which the rich thrive on and ironically the poor are made to believe and depend upon. Obamas, Camerons and Merkels are in place only because of the same very 'special interests' to begin with that the said report is trying to mollify. On the other hand, Vatican by its core divine mandate has no economic policy to offer; rather it is too busy building its own coffers by selling God. Communism has already proved itself to be a failed experiment. China turned out to be more capitalistic than what Capitalism envisioned for itself. Gandhis and Martin Luther Kings may now try to circle the globe as many times they may want with their peaceful marches, but that will not make the 85 to give up that they believe to have acquired legally, and why should they? Even If these 85 are removed, there are many more waiting in the wings to replace them as the speculative engines of the world economic system are deeply rigged to keep the greed flowing.

What options does the world population have, including the richest 85, to get away from this moral precipice that societies are already falling over? How can the world stop digging the hole, which is only getting deeper with each passing second? Europe has been the breeding ground of isms, Catholicism, Colonialism, Fascism, Nazism, Racism, Communism to count a few. Each of them literally left millions dead in its wake. The latest and greatest surviving ism, the Capitalism in only surviving a little longer and this report is one of its early obituaries. In the words of Gordon Gecko (the character in the movie, Wall Street, link) – Greed is Good. To put it differently, Greed is the God of Capitalism. All this was highlighted in a weekly newspaper in earlier part of last century:

“The West may rightly be described as a continent of “isms”. Capitalism, Socialism, Bolshevism, Facism, Communism — these are the so many manifestations of a restless soul seeking after some true solution of a social system…Europe in quest of a social order has tried so many isms, each having landed it in deeper social bogs. Will it not give a trial to the one “ism” that sprang from the soil of Arabia and which combines all that is best and is free from all that is evil in all the “isms” it has so far tried, viz., Islamism?” [The Light, Lahore India, 8 April 1933 – link]

The above report was preemptively discussed and solutions provided for by Maulana Muhammad Ali in his book – “The New World Order” (Urdu: 1942, English: 1944 – link) that gives a fundamental correction to economic system that the world is only un-proud of now. This book is our message to the World Economic Forum and our answer to Oxfam.

P.S. The said report specifically mentions rigged economic systems of India (page 13) and Pakistan (page 14).