The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for August, 2009

I thank Allah for enabling me to complete this, and I hope that our visitors benefitted from it.

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Our contributor Usman has referred us to the this column of The Dawn, Karachi

The article is primarily about the requirement by a Housing Scheme to declare one’s religion in its application forms, which the writer calls discriminatory and a violation of fundamental rights. Towards the end, the following is worth reading:

“The state of Pakistan is intrusive when it comes to matters of religion. Why? Are we not supposed to all be equal citizens with equal rights as decreed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the man who founded and made the country? According to the original constitution as promulgated at noon on Aug 14, 1973 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, we were equal citizens of the state, with equal rights. But this equality was done away with in 1974 by Bhutto’s second amendment to his constitution, bending to the obscurantists and bigots, and an entire community was shorn of its rights and declared a minority.

Prior to this, in 1979 the same community was targeted by Ziaul Haq, general of the army and president of the republic, pious and God-fearing. He had decreed that all citizens, regardless of their religion, wishing to obtain a passport must sign a declaration that it is his/her belief that the Prophet of Islam is the final prophet and that any pretender that follows him is false.”

by Ardeshir Cowasjee, printed in the Daily Dawn on 23 Aug, 2009.

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri

FFree Thinker Video ‘Prophets of Islam’

On YouTube a video is posted.

I posted my comments:

According to Holy Quran (HQ), Allah sent His prophets in EVERY GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION and in EVERY ERA.
Yes, Confucius, Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Cyrus etc were all prophets.

Why all such names are not mentioned in HQ?
Because HQ is NOT book of history and genealogy like Bible.

Why HQ has only names of prophets that came in Arabs/ Middle East?
Because HQ was revealed among Arabs and that too among Quraish, so only those names of prophets are mentioned in HQ which were familiar to Arabs of that region.

To answer your question about purity of HQ, I will refer you to read the INTRODUCTION portion of HQ translation done by Allama Noor Ud Din and his son and daughter in-law. This HQ introduction answers ALL of your question that you raised in your video:
You may read its reviews on amazon:
The Holy Quran by Allamah Nooruddin

Link to FFree Thinker Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-LEsEHSji8

Note by Zahid Aziz: Some consider Dhu-l-Kifl (21:85) to be “the one from Kapilvastu”, i.e. Buddha. The lotus is an important symbol of Buddhism. The Quran refers to the lote tree in connection with a high spiritual experience (53:13-17). Quite strangely, the Arabic for Lote tree here is Sidrah, not much different from the name Siddhārtha of Buddha!

By Rashid Jahangiri.

In April 2009 I talked on telephone with Dr. Shabbir Ahmad sahib. We talked about 20 minutes. I thanked him for publishing a rational and modern translation and interpretation of Holy Quran. I specifically informed him that when I present his translation of Holy Quran to fellow Muslims, I don’t get accused of presenting Lahori-Ahmadiyya translation. And how this has made my life easy.

Dr. Shabbir sahib informed me, he has mashAllah converted over 16000 (sixteen thousand) non-Muslims, including couple of members of JihadWatch. I purchased his translation of Holy Quran and couple of other books.

Dr. Shabbir sahib was highly respectful of late Abdul Mannan Omar sahib, Khawaja Kamal Ud Din sahib, and Maulana Muhammad Ali sahib. He was highly appreciative of their works on Holy Quran and Islam. Dr. Shabbir also informed me that he talked to Mannan sahib few years ago.

I asked Dr. Shabbir sahib, in life we see a healthy tree of sweet mangos, which is capable of producing sweet mangos, but its fruit can get infected by insects and is totally wasted. As we see in case of prophet Noah’s son. But it is not possible for a sweet mango to grow on a tree, which produces some other kind of bitter fruit. So, keeping this reasoning, how is it possible that people like Mannan sahib, Kamal ud Din sahib, and Muhammad Ali sahib, towards whom you showed so much respect because of their works on Islam and knew religion so well, they not only get attracted to, rather become staunch followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib of Qadian? Dr. Shabir sahib was quiet and did not answer.

We talked about 1974, 2nd constitutional amendment that declared Ahmadis (both Lahori and Qadiani) a non-Muslim. Dr. shabbir sahib was of opinion that there was no need of this amendment, because it was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib who “first” declared Muslims as kafir so per hadith ‘fatwah takfir’ fell back on him. I informed him that in reality it was about 200 Muslim Ulama in India who issued a joint fatwah declaring Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib a kafir. And Mirza sahib only applied hadith to point out to these opponent ulama that per hadith ‘fatwah takfir’ falls back on them and they subsequently become kafir. Dr. Shabbir sahib was quiet, and did not comment.

Dr. Shabbir sahib brought Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib writings into question.
I replied Mirza sahib had five kinds of audiences, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sufia, and Atheists. So if we keep in our minds to what kind of audiences Mirza sahib is addressing, we are better able to understand him. Unfortunately, Muslim readers do not pay attention, while reading his books i.e. to which he is addressing and that’s were confusion originates. I gave him few examples.

I brought to Dr. Shabbir sahib attention that we see good percentage of Muslims, especially those living in Europe and Americas, are practically following Mirza sahib even if verbally they use abusive words for him. I told him, in my opinion, following 6 were Mirza sahib’s mission:
1- All reciters of Kalama-Shahada are Muslims.
2- No part of Holy Quran, not even a dot, is abrogated.
3- Allah SWT is living God. He has communicated with his chosen ones even after Rasul Allah SAWS. And this will continue.
4- Islam does not allow jihad with sword for its propagation.
5- Isa A.S. is physically dead. And will not return to earth.
6- Yajooj-Majooj and Dajjal is not supernatural animal.
Dr. Shabbir sahib did not object to any of above 6 points.

Dr. Shabir Ahmad wrote ‘Hashish From Qadian’. Dr Zahid Aziz sahib has written an article referring to this book, in ‘The Light—UK edition, May 2009’. See link here.

Based on my conversation with Dr. Shabbir sahib, I very much doubt if he has read Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib’s books. And even if he did, he did not read them carefully. And it is very likely his opinion of Hazrat Mirza sahib is based on his teacher’s opinion. I don’t know, as Shabbir sahib never mentioned to me, but this is what I have heard that he is student of Ghulam Ahmad Pervaiz sahib. And it is known fact that Pervaiz sahib was opponent of Mirza sahib and he has used strong language for him.

I will email this blog post to Dr. Shabbir Ahmad sahib. I would like to read his comments.

Link to Dr Shabbir Ahmad’s website.

Update:

My Internet connection is unpredictable at present. Hopefully, it may be working normally by late on Friday.

I have an Internet connection problem at the moment and cannot post your comments.

Zahid Aziz

Bashir has submitted the following new topic.

I just researched the mi`raj and the Isra.

Ibn Ishaq claimed that this was a vision. All other scholars that I have found so far claim that this was physical ascent and descent.

This is why muslims believe that Jesus did the same. the fact is Muhammad did the same. These events are from before hijra. Jesus’ story of survival are after hijra. Muslims must have believed both stories equally. Remember Muhammad did it first, then they heard the story of jesus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isra_and_Mi%27raj

Many Muslims believe that the Isra and Mi’raj describe a physical journey of Muhammad, but some Islamic scholars consider it as a dream. Ibn Ishaq, author of the first biography of Muhammad, says it was the latter. Ibn Isḥaq has been accused of being a Qadari, as some have questioned his dependability. Because of this, highly notable scholars including Imam Bukhari hardly ever used his narratives. He has a tradition from Aisha, one of Muhammad’s wives, that only Muhammad’s spirit had journeyed to “the distant place of prayer”, although later material written by Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir differ in this opinion.[1] Some argue that the journey was a type of metaphor – a mode of revelation for Muhammad in symbolic form, for the guidance of the Muslim nation. The event could be interpreted as foretelling Muslims that God would now raise Muslims up as a superpower, and Jerusalem would soon fall into their hands. This did happen within less than three decades of this event.[8] Other hadith material suggests that it was a physical journey and it is argued that this event wouldn’t be a “trial” for believers if it were a dream.[3][9]

This is a report in my own words after listening to the khutba.

Zahid Aziz

Today, Friday 14th August 2009, on the anniversary of the founding of Pakistan, the Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, Hazrat Ameer Dr A.K. Saeed, delivered the Friday khutba from the Centre of the Movement in Lahore starting at 2.00 p.m. local time. The khutba was broadcast on the Internet.

The Hazrat Ameer went over the vision of Pakistan laid out by the Quaid-i Azam Mr M.A. Jinnah in his speeches and interviews around the time of independence. He showed that Mr Jinnah rejected the concept of a theocratic state in Pakistan, one which would be ruled over by religious clerics. Mr Jinnah wanted all citizens of Pakistan in the new state to have freedom of religion.

The Hazrat Ameer also read out from writings and announcements of Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali at the time of independence, showing that the Hazrat Maulana wished Pakistan to be a country where the rulers and the people would display Islamic values in their lives, and where one’s duty to God and one’s duty of service to the people and of justice to all human beings would be held uppermost. The Hazrat Maulana envisioned Pakistan as a base for spreading the true picture of Islam throughout the world, by presenting an appealing model of behaviour and ethics.

Lastly, Hazrat Ameer referred to the numerous calls in Pakistan that all decisions of former dictators of the country be declared invalid and be rescinded and withdrawn. He demanded that this must include withdrawal of the notorious 1984 dictatorial ordinance which prohibits Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims, from calling out the Azan, from proclaiming the Kalima Shahadat, from greeting their fellow Muslims with assalamu alaikum, from calling their mosques as mosques, etc.

He said that these days there are calls for the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan, and similarly we Ahmadis also demand independence to practise Islam openly. He called for the protection of the rights of all religious minorities, be they Hindu, Sikh, Christian or anyone else.

He added that we recite the Kalima from the bottom of our hearts. We know that we are Muslims in any case, and we don’t depend on approval from anyone in order to be known as Muslims. However, freedom of religion is our right.

To deliver a Friday khutba in Lahore, broadcast on the Internet, declaring that we are Muslim and demanding that the oppressive laws against Ahmadis be withdrawn, in the powerful language that Hazrat Ameer used, is an act of great courage.

A quote from a very interesting article ‘The Contradictions of the Khilafat Movement’ by Hamza Alavi on Pakistani Blog ‘Pak tea House’ :

QUOTE:
Meaning of the word ‘Khalifa’
It is important to be clear at the outset about the meaning of the word Khalifa and the way in which that word was later transformed linguistically by Umayyad Monarchs to legitimise their rule, having seized power by military force. The word Khalifa is derived from the Arabic root khalafawhich means ‘to follow’ or ‘to come after’. It means a ’successor’ in the sequential sense, not in the sense of inheritance of properties or qualities. When Prophet Mohammad died, Hazrat Abu Bakr was elected to succeed him. He was consequently called ‘Khalifat al-Rasool Allah’ or the successor of the Messenger of Allah. In its true meaning (successor) the word Khalifadoes not indicate any kind of office or status such as that of a ruler, the sense in which it came to be used later. Khalifa meaning ’successor’ could be used meaningfully only with reference to a specified ‘predecessor’. Hazrat Abu Bakr was Khalifa only with reference to his predecessor, al-Rasool Allah.

The head of the Muslim Umma, Hazrat Umar, who succeeded Hazrat Abu Bakr could have been called Khalifat al-Khalif al-Rasool Allah, or the ‘Successor to the Successor to the Messenger of Allah. With every succession thereafter one more ‘Khalifat al’ would have had to be inserted before such a title of the previous one. That would have been quite absurd. The question of using the word Khalifa for those who came after Hazrat Abu Bakr simply did not arise. Instead, Hazrat Abu Bakr’s successors,Hazrat Umar, Hazrat Uthman and Hazrat Ali, the three successive elected heads of the Umma were each designated by the title ‘Amir al-Mu’minin’ or the Commander of the Faithful.
UNQUOTE.

In year 2000, late Abdul Mannan Omar sahib son of Maulana Noor Ud Din (rta) explained exactly the same meaning of word ‘Khalifa’ to me. I even wrote post on Qadiani Jamaat now defunct forum based in Canada ‘ahmadiyya.com’. I questioned use of word ‘Khalifa-tul-Masih’ for Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, Mirza Nasir Ahmad and Mirza Tahir Ahmad. (Now I can include Mirza Masroor Ahmad, too). I asked Qadiani Jamaat friends only Maulana Noor ud Din deserved to be called ‘Khalifa-tul-Masih’ and Mirza Mahmud Ahmad should be called ‘Khalifa-tul-Khalifa-al-Masih’ etc. Of course I was ridiculed by Qadiani Jamaat posters. Now I am glad same point is presented by some one who is not a Lahori and not writing about the Qadiani Khilafat.

Link to blog article:
http://pakteahouse.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/the-contradictions-of-the-khilafat-movement/#more-5436

Here is the Urdu translation of the words referring to Al-Akhira occurring near the beginning of Sura Baqara of the Holy Quran. These are images scanned from the published translations.

Translator 1:

Translator 2:

What is the difference between the two translations above?

Translator 1 is accused by a group of deliberately violating the command of the Promised Messiah by translating Al-Akhira in this way.

Translator 2 is regarded by the same group as a true successor of the Promised Messiah.

This is a test post to check that the upgrade of this blog to WordPress version 2.8.3 (from 2.7) has worked.

A basic test of the upgrade has been successful. If you notice any new features, I hope that: (1) they work, and (2) they are an improvement!

Zahid Aziz