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September 18th, 2009

Blasphemy: An Editorial…

Submitted by Ikram:

Blasphemy: An Editorial…

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009/09/18/story_18-9-2009_pg3_1

13 Responses to “Blasphemy: An Editorial…”

  1. Jamaat-Islami poster Kashif Siddiqui wrote a blog article. I tried, but failed to post my following comment. I will request if someone can post my following comment.
    Link to Jamaat Islami poster blog
    ===================================
     
    Dear Mr. Kashif Siddqui:

    Today, read your article ‘International Day of Minorities and Blasphemy Law’

    My simple question:

    How come when a case between LAHORI AHMADIS and general Muslims is tried in an impartial court in front of an impartial judge, the judgment invariably is that Lahori-Ahmadis are MUSLIM? Even if in such trials stalwarts of Jamaat-Islami like of Professor   Khursheed Ahmad try their best to convince judge to declare Lahori-Ahmadis as non-Muslim.

    Kashif sahib everyone has to die and answer for his/ her actions and decisions to Allah SWT. Also please remember:

    Al-Nisa, verse 58: ‘When you judge between the people you should judge with justice’.

    Al-Nisa, verse 105: ‘ and do not become a partisan of the dishonest’.

    Al-Nisa, verse 135: ‘O you who believe! be strict observers of justice, bearers of true evidence for the sake of Allâh, even though it be against yourselves or (against your) parents or near of kin; (let neither of the parties) whether (the one against whom or the one in favour of whom you bear evidence) be rich or poor (weigh with yourself). (Bear in mind) Allâh is more regardful of them both (than you are), therefore, do not follow your low desires in order to be able to do justice. And if you distort or evade (true evidence) remember Allâh is Well-Aware of what you do.’
     
    I refer you to following case:
    PAKISTAN SUPREME COURT CASES, March 1986:
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/sa-case/pakjournal-0.pdf

    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/sa-case/intro.htm
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/sa-case2/case.htm
     
    Sincerely,
    Rashid
     
    P.S. I will post above comment on Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement blog:
    http://ahmadiyya.org/WordPress/


  2. Rashid writes: “Even if in such trials stalwarts of Jamaat-Islami like Professor Khursheed Ahmad try their best to convince judge to declare Lahori-Ahmadis as non-Muslim.”

    Prof. Khurshid Ahmad was present in court in Cape Town in the 2nd court case in 1987. He was due to testify after Prof. Mahmud Ahmad Ghazi’s lengthy evidence. It was mid-December when Prof KA’s turn came. The lady judge asked if he would finish his evidence before the Christmas break. The counsel for his side said that he had to collect and give too much evidence, for which there was no time before the Christmas break. So the hearings were postponed till February 1988, for Prof KA to come back with his evidence. We spent that time worrying what was this mass of evidence that he was going to bring. When the hearings resumed in February, Prof KA was nowhere to be seen! He made his escape, and never appeared in the witness box.

    Anyhow, in December the counsel for his side had already told the court that Prof KA would not be appearing as an expert witness on Islam, but would merely be a factual witness to the fact that Ahmadis have been declared non-Muslims all over the Muslim world. That was another covering tactic, so that Prof KA could not be cross-examined about the teachings of Islam, as he would not have been appearing as expert witness on Islam!

    Ask Prof Khurshid Ahmad these questions:

    Was he not in court in Cape Town in 1987 and due to testify to prove that Ahmadis are non-Muslims?

    Did he not fail to appear ever, at all, to give his evidence, while the court was expecting him?

    Was it perhaps seeing Prof Ghazi suffer under cross-examination that made Prof KA run away using a false excuse?


  3. Here is an excerpt from the editorial mentioned in the first post:

    “In May this year, 500 clerics stormed a court in Lahore’s Mustafabad when a judge bailed out Munir Masih and his wife for keeping a Holy Quran in their home. The victims insisted they had kept it for spiritual protection and out of devotion; but the accusation was that they were unclean as a community and therefore the Holy Quran was defiled. Later the charge was changed from desecration to blasphemy, after which the court was assaulted.”

    How absurd, disgusting and sad.

    So according to this logic, a person’s mere existence in the presence of the Holy Quran is proof enough that he or she has defiled the holy book. I though that this was a doctrine of Hinduism, where people belonging to the lowest caste were unclean and their mere existence in someone’s presence was reason enough for their “uncleanliness” to be transfered on the other person (or a holy object).

    This is not the opinion of some lay persons off the street who may not be that acquainted with Islam. It is the strongly held opinion of clerics. And at least 500 of them feel so strongly about it that they decide to take the law into their own hands.
    May Allah protect us all from these “clerics” and their cohorts.

    Tariq


  4. Astronauts on the Apollo 15 mission to the moon carried a page with Surah Fatiha on it for protection! The man who offered it to them was Dr Farouk El-Baz, the Egyptian geologist who trained the Apollo astronauts in Geology. I quote below from this link at islamonline.net:

    In June 1971, the manned Apollo 15 mission flew to the moon with much concern over the safety of its members as new equipment, including the rover car, meant that changes were done to the spacecraft Endeavour for the first time.

    “[The astronauts] were talking with us and I was telling them that
    ‘what I would like to do is to give you a page of the Qur’an, the
    first surah of the Qur’an, Al-Fatihah, and that would put further
    protection [on the mission]’ ” recalled Dr. Farouk El-Baz, then
    chairman of the Astronaut Training Group, in a recent radio interview
    with IslamOnline.net.

    “And the commander of the mission said, ‘Absolutely! We [can use] all the help we can get ‘ So I actually took Al-Fatihah, the first page of
    the Qur’an … and it was [written] in Arabic and [translated into]
    English, and on that sheet of paper I actually wrote down a prayer for the protection of the astronauts of the mission … and they took that first surah of the Qur’an to the moon.”


  5. Jamaat Islami clearly reflects the personal opinions of certain peoples, and not necessarily of Quran.  By extension, the Pakistani society and its thought is magnification of such ideas.

    The paucity of logic in such a thought is reflected in its Constitution. Lets not forget that articles of constitution are developed by voting-in the populist ideas. These articles are NOT written by courts where a neutral judge weighs both sides for their logic and evidence.

    Constitution of Pakistan 1974, has a catch-22 in it. It undertakes to declare certain schools of thought as non-Muslim, while it itself lacks the very definition of a Muslim. Such lack of integrity and that too of a Constitution is laughable.

    Yet it is not laughable, because any effort to define a Muslim and that too in its Constitution can potentially result in a blood bath in Pakistan. Now that is ironic yet even more laughable.

    This Constitution by its spirit is in violation of Quran when read in light of the following verse:

    [Hence,] O you who have attained to faith, when you go forth [to war] in God’s cause, use your discernment, and do not – out of a desire for the fleeting gains of this worldly life – say unto anyone who offers you the greeting of peace, “Thou art not a believer” for with God there are gains abundant. You, too, were once in the same condition – but God has been gracious unto you. Use, therefore, your discernment: verily, God is always aware of what you do. {Translator: Muhammad Asad}

    Historically Jamaat Islami has always been at war against the people that said Constitution singles out.


    The above comment also got accepted on kashifiat.wordpress.com.


  6. My post is criticized by Jamaat-I-Islami, Pakistan blogger on his blog Kashfiat. He declared my post as “During browsing I find the following call of Ahmadi lobby for combine effort at Kashfiat”. But he obviously failed and tried to hoodwink my question that I asked him particularly.
     
    I would like to read what he has to say about Judge comments about Jamaat-I-Islami leader Khurshied Ahmad (the professor whose Honorary PhD degree was rescinded by British University). Mr Kashfiat can read judge comments in her decision starting from page 93 in The Ahmadiyya Case — Judgment in 1987 court case in Cape Town between Sheikh Jassiem (an Ahmadi sympathiser) and the anti-Ahmadiyya Ulama: by Her Ladyship Justice Van Den Heever (Supreme Court of South Africa, Provincial Division).
    The link is:

    http://aaiil.org/text/books/others/misc/ahmadiyyacase/2/ahmadiyyacase2.shtml
     
    If he cares and has an iota of honesty then I expect him to read lies by his leader i.e. Khurshied Ahmad:
    False propaganda by our opponents

    (Prof. Khurshid Ahmad’s news article translated)
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/sa-case2/part2.htm
    And its reply:
    Our Reply
    (to the Urdu article published by our opponents)
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/sa-case2/part3.htm
     
    Link to Kashfiat article in reply to my post:
    http://kashifiat.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/ahamadi-lobby-combine-efforts-kashifiat/
     
     


  7. A research – Why Qadianis are Non Muslim?
     
    Jamaat Islami blogger Mr. Kashif Saddiqui has posted his article on his website that he published in Jamaat Islami news paper Daily Ummat Karachi September 29, 2009 issue. I posted my reply it is awaiting moderation.
    Link to Kashif Saddiqui article:
    http://kashifiat.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/a-research-why-qadianies-are-non-muslim-part-i/#comment-605
     
    I posted my following reply
    ==============================
     
    Dear Mr. Kashif Saddiqui:
     
    Before going into discussion on the contents of your column published in ‘Daily Ummat Karachi’ issue of September 29, 2009, under title ‘A research — Why Qadianis are non-Muslim’, I would like to get some clarification from you.
    First of all I would say on the onset that I hold beliefs of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, briefly they are:
    1)      There is no God but Allah (SWT) and Muhammad (SAWS) is His (Last and Greatest) messenger (and NO new or old messenger can come after him).
    2)      EVERY reciter of Kalima-Shahada is a MUSLIM.
    3)      Mujjaddids (revivalists or reformers) are mamur-min-Allah (appointed by Allah SWT). Through out the 14 plus Hijra centuries Mujjaddids have come, and many times more than one in a particular time in different regions of Muslim world. And this continuation of Mujjaddids will continue until Yaum-e-Akhrat (end of the world).
          4) Prophet-hood ended with Muhammad Rasul Allah SAWS. No new or old   messenger can come after him.
    5)      Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib was NOT a messenger of Allah SWT. He was just a Mujjaddid of his era i.e. 14th Hijra Century. He was just a Mujjaddid like Shah Wali Ullah, Mujjaddid Alif Sani, Umar Bin Abdul Aziz etc.
    6)      It is NOT must for any Muslim to accept him as Mujjaddid.
     
    Question 1:
    Definition of a Muslim is based on Holy Quran and Sunna of Muhammad Rasul Allah (SAWS). How come definition of Kaffir is NOT based on Holy Quran and Sunna???
    Home come definition of Kaffir is based on political Majority in Pakistan Parliament in 1974???
     
    Question 2:
    How come when ever a case against Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (LAM) is tried in an impartial court in front of an impartial judge LAM is declared a Muslim???
     
    Question 3:
    According to 1973 constitution only those Muslims qualify to become its members who were not involved in Un-Islamic practices. How come parliament members who authored 1973 constitution THEMSELVES WERE PRACTICING UN-ISLAMIC PRACTICES??? Where they even qualified to become members of Pakistan Parliament and then enact constitutional amendment to declare LAM a non-Muslim???
     
    Question 4:
    The “constitutional” definition of Muslim that you provided in your article is NOT the one under which President and Prime Minister of Pakistan take oaths of their respective offices???
     
    For your information:
    Oath of office of The President:
    President
    [Article 42]
    (In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.)
    I, ____________, do solemnly swear that I am a Muslim and believe in the Unity and Oneness of Almighty Allah, the Books of Allah, the Holy Quran being the last of them, the Prophethood of Muhammad  (peace be upon him) as the last of the Prophets and that there can be no Prophet after him, the Day of Judgment, and all the requirements and teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah:
    Ref: http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/schedules/schedule3.html#president
     
    Oath of office of The Prime Minister:
    Prime Minister
    [Article 91( 4)]
     
    (In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.)
    I, ____________, do swear solemnly that l am a Muslim and believe in the Unity and Oneness of Almighty Allah, the Books of Allah, the Holy Quran being the last of them, the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the last of the Prophets and that there can be no Prophet after him, the Day of Judgment, and all the requirements and teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah:
    Ref: http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/schedules/schedule3.html#president
     
    It is clear from the above quotes of 1973 Constitution of Pakistan that laws of the country must be formulated using Holy Quran and Sunnah as source and guidance, and Muslim are defined who hold the beliefs included in the statement of Oath of Office of President and Prime Minister of Pakistan. Contrary to this the classification of Lahori Ahmadis as a non-Muslim citizen of Pakistan is not only violation of source and guidance of our legislation, but also an ultra vires act.
     
    Kashif Saddiqui sahib, I would like to read your reply. Thanks.


  8. I also wrote following comments that await moderation:

    Dear Kashif sahib:

    You need to edit your article in light of information provided in following links. YOU HAVE MADE FACTUAL ERRORS AND MISTAKES BASED ON YOUR MISCONCEPTION ABOUT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD sahib.
    Moreover the quotes and references you have provided are NOT of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib.
    Don’t you think you owe it to yourself, and readers to PROVIDE TRUE QUOTES AND REFERENCES?
    Don’t you believe YOU WILL BE ANSWERING TO ALLAH SWT for what you are writing in your articles?
    Please read the following links and gain some TRUE knowledge about Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib.
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/cont-hmga.htm
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/noclaim/intro.htm
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/takfir/index.htm


  9. While progressively reading the above links, I came to the following page:

    Part 4 – Further clarification – (Secular courts do provide protection to victims of ulama’s declarations of apostasy and ‘kufr’)

    Historically, during Muhammad’s PBUH lifetime, the Muslim refugees/immigrants were adjudged to be righteous in the Christian court of Emperor Nijashi of Ethopia.

    See the facts and parallels of South Africa now and Abyssinia of then below:

    —————————————————————————————————-

    The Life of Muhammad The Prophet by Syed Saeed Akhtar Rizvi
    Chapter 6
    Migration

    First and Second Hijrahs to Abyssinia

    When endurance was reaching its limits and persecution became unbearable, the Prophet advised a group of his followers to migrate to Abyssinia where a benign Christian king reigned. This was the first Hijrah (Migration) in Islam and fifteen people took part in it:

    And those who become fugitives for Allah’s sake after they are oppressed, verily We shall give them good abode in the world and surely the reward of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew. (Qur’an, 16:41)

    And what was all this tyranny and persecution for? Just for believing in one God and for leading a chaste and pious life! Further migration of some people led to intensified persecution of those left behind. The Prophet advised a second Hijrah to Abyssinia, and this time about a hundred people, including Jafar, the elder brother of ‘Ali, went away. The Quraish sent a deputation with ‘Amr ibn al-‘As and ‘Ammara ibn Rabi’ah to Negus (Nijashi, in Arabic), the king of Abyssinia, to demand the deportation of the emigrants back to Mecca to be punished by death. Having won the favor of the clergy, the deputation tried to prejudice the king against the fugitives. Asked to explain the position, Jafar delivered a speech, which is a brilliant summary of the fundamentals of Islam and all that it stands for:

    “O king! We were plunged in the depth of ignorance and barbarism; we adored idols; we lived in unchastity; we ate dead animals, and we spoke abomination. We disregarded every feeling of humanity, and the duties of hospitality and neighborhood. We knew no law but that of the strong. At that time, God raised from among us a man of whose birth, truthfulness, honesty and purity we were aware, and he called us to the Unity of God and taught us not to associate anything with Him. He forbade us to worship idols and enjoined us to speak the truth, to be faithful to our trusts, to be merciful, and to regard the rights of neighbors. He forbade us to speak ill of women and to eat the substance of orphans. He ordered us to flee from vices, to abstain from evil, to offer prayers, to render alms, and to observe the fast. We have believed in him; we have accepted his teachings and injunctions to worship God, and not to associate anything with Him. For this reason, our people have risen against us and persecuted us in order to make us forego the worship of God and return to the worship of idols of wood and stone and other abominations. They have tortured us and injured us. Having found no safety among them, we have come to thy country and hope thou wilt protect us from their oppression.”

    The king refused to oblige the deputation, and the latter had to return disappointed. Muslim traditions indicate that the king later on secretly converted to Islam. 

    Reference: http://collectionofislamicebooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/life-of-muhammad-prophet.html
     


  10. My preceding post that questioned quotes provided by Kashif Saddiqui and alleged to be of HMGA, was awaiting moderation has been DELETED.

    I will try once again to post same comments. If he allows my posting then I will continue discussion with him. If he does not then there is no point in wasting time. It seems Kashif Saddiqui is following the tradition of Prof Khurshied Ahmad, who ran away from court in South Africa and then wrote an article in Pakistan based on absolute lies.


  11. Ikram’s comment about the Muslims seeking refuge in Abyssinia is very poignant and touching for me because I recall that at that time the very same idea occurred to us. The comparison we drew, when talking among ourselves in those days, was that just as Muslims from Makka had gone to Africa for justice, we too had come to Africa for the same reason. Just as a delegation of Quraish pursued Muslims, so were we pursued there by our persecuters, i.e. the dignitaries from Pakistan.

    Moreover, the Quraish delegation, in order to incite the Christian Negus (Najashi) against Muslims, told him that Muslims dishonour Jesus because they call him a mortal. Exactly like that, our opponents, in order to incite the South African courts, whose officials were devout Christians, raised as one of their main allegations that Hazrat Mirza sahib has insulted Jesus! This was a chief ploy they used, especially in the second case, hoping that the court would turn against Ahmadis by listening to the quotations by which Hazrat Mirza sahib is alleged to have spoken ill of Jesus and called himself superior to him. The ploy didn’t work.

    At once stage the lady Judge said to Prof. Mahmood Ghazi in the witness box: Ghazi, can’t you understand that what Mirza is saying is that it is Muhammad who is so great that even his followers can excel the Messiah Jesus?


  12. I posted following posted earlier this morning it was DELETED. I posted it again, let’s see how much honest moderator(s) of Kashifiat’s Blog are.  Of course my other posts in which i tell Mr Kashif Saddiqui that quotes he has provided are NOT of HMGA, rather they are from books/ newspapers articles written by Qadiani Jamaat people, are also DELETED. Kashif Saddiqui in his article has lumped LAM with Qadiani Jamaat, but has NO tolerance to let LAM member reply.
    ===============================

    Rashid, on October 1st, 2009 at 2:13 am Said:
    Sayyid Abul A‘la Maudoodi
    His views bearing on the LAHORE Ahmadiyya Movement
    http://www.ahmadiyya.org/movement/maudoodi/index.htm