The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

‘London Mosque Fund’ sets up the Woking Mosque Trust and appoints Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din as Imam

The London Mosque Fund was a body founded in 1910 by certain prominent Muslims, mainly of Indian origin, and some British sympathisers of Islam, with the aim of building a mosque in London. Its work led eventually to the establishment of the East London Mosque, now located in Whitechapel, London.

The minutes of the meetings of its Executive Committee have been published by Cambridge University Press. These contain several references to the Woking Mosque and Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, showing that the London Mosque Fund set up the Woking Mosque Trust as the body to hold the Woking Mosque and appointed Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din as Imam in 1913.

The London Mosque Fund also approved a grant for Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din to rent a location in Central London for the holding of Friday prayers. The Fund approved a form of wording for the announcement of these prayers, which was as follows:

Allah – O – Akbar

The Jooma Namaz will be held at the Lindsay Hall, Notting Hill Gate, W., regularly every Friday at 12 Noon until further notice.

Mr Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din of the Mosque, Woking will deliver the sermon and the Dua will be recited by Haireddin Effindi and Lord Headley respectively in Arabic and English.

All Moslems are cordially invited.

For full details please see the latest addition to the Woking Muslim Mission website at this link.

New, revised and expanded edition of ‘The Ahmadiyya Case of South Africa’

This is an update to the news which I published below.

The page on www.ahmadiyya.org website about this case has been revised. I have added a number of scans from some original documents relating to the case. Please visit this link.

This new edition, revised and expanded by myself, is now available at Amazon:

Amazon UK

Amazon USA

Amazon Canada

The first edition was published in 1987, less than two years after the conclusion of the case.

— Zahid Aziz

Abdullah Yusuf Ali visits Qadian and meets Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din in 1913

Please see below report from Al-Fazl, 22 October 1913, of a visit by Abdullah Yusuf Ali to Qadian where he met the Head of the Movement Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din. It is reported that he was brought there by Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig, who was later a founder-member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jamaat. Yusuf Ali was at the time in the Indian Civil Service of British rule of India, as stated in the report. Later, of course, he translated the Quran into English in the 1930s.

—Zahid Aziz

Allegation of misquoting the Quran

This is further to the point discussed in an earlier post about quotations from the Quran being given, in recognized Islamic literature, in words differing from how they occur in the Quran. (See the earlier post.)

There is a book by Shah Ismail Shaheed (d. 1831) entitled Abaqaat. In the original Arabic book we find the following:

Here a verse of the Quran is quoted in the words: Wa in min qaryat-in illā khalā fī-hā nadhīr — “There is no town (qarya) but a warner appeared in it”. To my knowledge the actual verse in the Quran (35:24) does not say qarya (town) but umma (people).

There is an Urdu translation of Abaqaat by Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani (about him see link 1 and link 2). In his translation this appears as follows:

(This is at the bottom lines of page 401 of his translation, see link).

He has even added before the quotation: “Similarly, the famous Quranic verse” before quoting Wa in min qaryat-in illā khalā fī-hā nadhīr. But this wording does not occur in the Quran!

There are indeed verses in the Quran (three as far as I know) which contain the words nadhīr and qaryat-in. These are 25:51, 34:34 and 43:23, but none of these has this wording.

Most probably, Shah Ismail Shaheed mistakenly recalled qarya as occurring in 35:24, and a century later the translator Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani did not realise this. Human beings make mistakes like these. It doesn’t detract from their high standing and we don’t throw unfounded accusations and slurs at them.

— Zahid Aziz

Vinicunca (or Rainbow Mountain), Pitumarca District, Peru

وَ مِنَ الۡجِبَالِ جُدَدٌۢ  بِیۡضٌ وَّ حُمۡرٌ  مُّخۡتَلِفٌ اَلۡوَانُہَا وَ غَرَابِیۡبُ سُوۡدٌ ﴿۲۷﴾ وَ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَ الدَّوَآبِّ وَ الۡاَنۡعَامِ مُخۡتَلِفٌ اَلۡوَانُہٗ  کَذٰلِکَ

“And in the mountains are streaks, white and red, of various colours and (others) intensely black. And of mankind and beasts and cattle there are various colours likewise.” (The Quran, 35:27–28)

See more such photos of these mountains at this link.

At this link, you may read in this connection the article The Philosophy of Colours in the Holy Quran by Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi.

— Zahid Aziz

Speeches at the Annual Lahore Ahmadiyya Gathering, Lahore, December 2020

The annual gathering of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore took place in Lahore from December 25th to 27th, 2020. It has been taking place on around the same dates since December 1914, and is a continuation of the annual gathering or Jalsa instituted by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in December 1892.

The audio recordings of the speeches are available as follows:

• English
• Urdu

Assessment of Prof. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi by Lady Judge in Cape Town

Professor Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi (d. 2010) of the International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan, appeared for the defence in a court case in Cape Town in 1987. The case was brought by a Sunni Imam, Sheikh Jassiem, against the Sunni Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and its President and involved a discussion of the point whether Jassiem was right in treating Lahore Ahmadis as Muslims after they had been declared kafir and apostate by the MJC.

Professor Ghazi, who later became Rector of International Islamic University, Islamabad, a judge in the Federal Shariah Court, and later still the Minister of Religious Affairs in Pakistan, testified to prove that Lahore Ahmadis are non-Muslim.

In her judgment of February 1990, the lady Judge Van Den Heever, assessed Ghazi’s testimony as follows:

“He has been involved with various Pakistan government bodies…  As a witness Professor Ghazi has the disadvantage that he correctly concedes that where the government of the day supports an idea that idea flourishes. The Pakistan government having legislatively declared Pakistan Mirzais to be a non-Muslim minority, he himself would have problems on his return home were he to thump any but an anti-Ahmadi tub. That tub he thumped with great vigour, displaying his total bias against Mirza [Ghulam Ahmad]. He concedes that he has the “strongest possible” anti-Ahmedi feelings — a concession it was unnecessary to extract from him since he seldom missed an opportunity of running Mirza down. He was not prepared to give Mirza the benefit of any doubt whatever, to regard him as perhaps bona fide but misguided, but likened him to a “criminal” whose “justification” should not be taken as face value. Of possible interpretations put on Mirza’s words and actions, he always chose the worst. …

… his evidence was often illogical, inferences unjustified. Indeed, he appears to be more interested in the political than the spiritual aspect of Islam…

Advocate de Villiers’s comment to Ghazi “you do seem to make up rules as you go along” or words to that effect, was not without foundation. Ghazi has dual standards for apos­tacy and almost everything else, one for Mirza and one for others.” (pp. 93–95).

The mystery of the quotation from George Bernard Shaw about Islam

At this link I have compiled some research into the source of a much-repeated quotation attributed to George Bernard Shaw which begins as follows:

“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality.”

It contains also the following comments, which are frequently quoted in Muslim literature:

“I believe that if a man like him [Prophet Muhammad] were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much-needed peace and happiness. … It [Europe] is beginning to be enamoured of the creed of Muhammad. In the next century it may go still further in recognising the utility of that creed in solving its problems …”

But what is the source of this? This is explored in my article.

Zahid Aziz

Translation of verse 3:186

From Abdul Momin

Pickthall translates the verse numbered as 3:186 of the Holy Quran as:

“Assuredly ye will be tried in your property and in your persons, and ye will hear much wrong from those who were given the Scripture before you, and from the idolaters. But if ye persevere and ward of (evil), then that is of the steadfast heart of things.”

The same verse translated by Maulana Muhammad Ali reads:

“You will certainly be tried in your property and your persons. And you will certainly hear from those who have been given the Book before you and from the idolaters much abuse. And if you are patient and keep your duty, surely this is an affair of great resolution.”

The translations “But if ye persevere and ward of (evil)” (Pickthall) and “And if you are patient and keep your duty,” (Maulana Muhammad Ali), can convey different meanings.

Which translation is more prevalent, the one by Maulana Muhammad Ali or the one by Pickthall? Thank you.

Revised editions of two publications available as paperbacks from Amazon

These are as follows:

Muhammad in World Scriptures, New Edition, Volume 2: Buddha foretells the advent of Prophet Muhammad

A Mighty Striving: Life and work of Maulana Muhammad Ali