The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for May, 2007

“So their Lord accepted their prayer, (saying): I will not suffer the work of any worker among you to be lost whether male or female, the one of you being from the other. So those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and persecuted in My way and who fought and were slain, I shall truly remove their evil and make them enter Gardens wherein flow rivers — a reward from Allah. And with Allah is the best reward.” (3:195)

The words highlighted above, “the one of you being from the other” (ba`zu-kum min ba`z), are generally taken to mean that men and women are born, each from the other. We too have been accepting them in this sense.

However, one or two translators render these words as “you are all as each other” or “each is like the other”. Maulana Muhammad Ali in Bayan-ul-Quran has also given this as an alternative interpretation. He writes in note 592:

“Or it means that you, men and women, are alike in terms of behaviour and qualities. … You all are one, you are like kindred.”

Thus, “you, men and women, are the same as each other” is a meaning of these words.

On Saturday 26th May, as the session of the convention in Berlin opened, we were reminded that this day was the 99th anniversary of the death of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Some extracts were read out from his writings and statements. Thus begins the 100th year after his passing away. We will devote this year to reminding and informing people of his great contributions to the cause of Islam.

This was a European Lahore Ahmadiyya convention, conducted by members from Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. The theme from the U.K. was “Islam, Peace and Tolerance” and the damage done to the cause of Islam by the use of violence in the name of Islam.