The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for April, 2010

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Muslims around the world are in love with Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Muslims love him more than their biological fathers. They know more about his life than lives of their biological fathers.

Unfortunately, non-Muslims do not seem to understand Muslims love of their beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It is not clear that people who make fun of Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) person are doing it “just for laughs” or there is conspiracy to demean his image, insult him, and ignite Muslims emotions with a purpose to stir-up global reaction by Muslims and encourage them to do acts that casts negative image of Islam, and in the process politically help one country, one community, and one lobby.

In last few decades fun was made of Jesus image in newspapers, and movies. Christians did not show their abhorrence towards such depiction of Jesus. Now cartoonists have turned towards Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Unfortunately, Muslims are taking to violent means to stop this kind of blasphemy. In 1980s when West needed Muslims support to defeat Communist threat, such kind of blasphemy was discouraged. Even fatwa by Imam Khomani (spiritual leader of Iran) regarding Salman Rushdie (author of Satanic Verses) was dealt with an appeasing approach. Now global situation has changed. There is no threat of USSR, and Communist block and ideology.

After Danish Newspaper cartoons of Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), cartoon show ‘South Park’ has portrayed him wearing a teddy bear outfit. This is bound to ignite controversy and violence and bring bad name to Islam.

Question is given changed global political situation, how Muslims can educate non-Muslims to refrain from insulting their beloved, and hurting feelings of Muslims, from extremists to liberals. In Europe, and North America teachers in elementary schools teach pupils to be respectful of others, and not to hurt anyone’s feelings. But when it comes to Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), this basic norm of decency and mannerism are absolutely forgotten in the name of freedom of speech. People in West forget they are hurting feelings of one fifth of world’s population by making fun of their beloved i.e. Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

On this forum I ask readers to share their suggestions, on how at least Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement can play their role in preventing derogatory and insulting imaging of Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

A few years ago I attended a debate on this subject and wrote a report in The Light –London edition: http://ahmadiyya.org/uk/light-jun06.pdf

Link to news item on ‘South Park’

Submitted by Usman.

The following article in Time magazine is about the rise of Christianity in the World’s largest Muslim nation. The article notes when talking about reasons for Muslims converting to Christianity:

“At the same time, the attempted hijacking of Muslim theology by a small band of homegrown terrorists who have killed hundreds of Indonesians in recent years has led some to question their nation’s majority faith.”

In short, the rejection of Ahamdiyya view of Jihad and the death of Jesus is resulting in Christianity spreading in the Muslim world.

Read more at this link.

Submitted by Ikram.

Allegorical parallels for everyone to see in the excerpts below:

Moses (before he left for the Mount) = Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Moses (after he returned from the Mount) = Musleh Mohoud
Aaron = Muhammad Ali
Samiri = Mirza Mehmood Ahmad

Calf = Khilafat
Bani Israil = Qadianis

20:80. O Children of Israel! We delivered you from your enemy and made a covenant with you on the right and blessed side of the Mount (Sinai), and We got Manna and quail to be sent down to you. [Followers of HMGA did excel in various professions and wealth]

20:81. (And it was also said,) `Eat of the good and pure things We have provided you, and do not exceed the limits in this respect or My displeasure shall descend upon you. Indeed, lost are those on whom My displeasure descends.’

20:82. But surely I am greatly protecting to him who turns (to Me) in repentance and believes and does righteous deeds and then sticks to guidance.

20:83. (When Moses went to the Mount, God said,) `Moses! what has made you depart from your people in such haste?’ […and similarly when HMGA departed from this world to meet his God (like anyone else)]

20:84. Moses said, `They are close on my heels and I have hastened to You, my Lord, that You might be pleased.’ [Similarly HMGA expected this followers to be “close on my heels” expecting that his followers will follow the true spirit of his message in his absence, if nothing else at-least the absolute finality of Muhammad PBUH]

20:85. (The Lord) said, `We have distinguished your people, the good from the bad in your absence and the Sâmirî has led them astray?’ [How different is Samiri from Mirza Mehmood? Both divided and diverged the followers of their respective messengers]

20:86. So Moses returned to his people indignant and sorrowful. (Reaching there) he said, `My people! did your Lord not make you a gracious promise? Did then the promised time (of forty nights and days) seem too long to you. Rather you desired that displeasure from your Lord should descend upon you that is why you failed in (your) promise with me.’ [Will not the Muleeh Mohoud have the same questions to Qadianis as Moses had for his followers?]

20:87. They said, `We have not willfully failed to keep (our) promise with you but (the thing is that) we were laden with loads of the jewelry of the (Egyptian) people and we threw them away (into the fire). That was what the Sâmîri suggested.’ [It only proves that the mass followers of any leader follow a leader more from a herd mentality and less for intellectual reasons]

20:88. Then (it came to pass that) he (- Sâmirî) produced (an effigy of) a calf for the people (to worship), a mere body (without a soul) which emitted a lowing sound. And then they (- Sâmirî and his followers) said, `This is your god as well as that of Moses,’ so he (- Sâmirî) gave up (the religion of Moses). [Just like Israelites who in mere absence of Moses reverted to their ancestral practices, the Qadianis too as a group reverted to no-questions-asked pir-mureed relationship of Mirza Mehmood and their reverence to Khilafat which could be summarized as (to worship), a mere body (without a soul). The Kkilafat, which emitted a lowing sound…]

20:89. Could they not see that this (calf) made them no answer and could neither avoid harm to them nor do good (to any). [so could be said about the Khilafat]

20:90. Aaron had, indeed, said to them before (the return of Moses from the Mount), `My people! you have only been tried by this (calf). Surely, the Most Gracious (God) is your Lord, so follow me and carry out my biddings.’ [Just like Aaron, this too is what Muhammad Ali had to say about the Khilafat of Mirza Mehmood]

20:91. They said, `We will never give up to cleave to the worship of this (calf) until Moses returns to us.’ [This is the same argument of Qadianis, who will keep up the blind fellowship till the return of Musleh Mohoud]

20:92. (Moses turning to Aaron) said, `Aaron! when you saw them going astray what prevented you

20:93. `From following me (and punishing them)? Dared you then disobey my biddings?’

20:94. (Aaron) said, `O son of my mother! do not hold me by my beard nor (pull me) by my head. (If I was not strict to them it was because) I was afraid lest you should say, “You have caused a disruption among the Children of Israel and did not preserve my word”.’

20:95. (Moses now called upon Sâmirî to account for it and) said, `What were you after (by acting as you did) O Sâmirî?’

20:96. He said, `I perceived that which they did not perceive. (My perception and insight being stronger than theirs.) I had adopted only some of the traditions (and the teachings) of the Messenger (- Moses), but that (too) I cast away. That is what my mind made fair-seeming to me.’ [Now think for a moment, how different can be the verbatim reply of Mirza Mehmood than Samiri: `I perceived that which they did not perceive. (My perception and insight being stronger than theirs.) I had adopted only some of the traditions (and the teachings) of the Messenger (- Moses), but that (too) I cast away. That is what my mind made fair-seeming to me.’]

20:97. (Moses) said, `Begone then (if it is so). It shall be your punishment to proclaim (yourself) an untouchable throughout (your) life. Not only that there awaits yet another threat (of punishment of the Hereafter) for you from which you will have no escape. Now, look at the god to which you remained so ardently devoted (as a worshipper). We will destroy it utterly and then we will scatter it away into the sea.’ [This is exactly what happened to Khilafat: We will destroy it utterly and then we will scatter it away into the sea.]

20:98. (Moses then addressing his people said,) `Your God is only Allâh, there is no other, cannot be and will never be One worthy of worship but He. He comprehends all things in (His) knowledge.’

Quran is for all times to come. Its historical narratives have moral lessons for our times as well:

20:99. In this way do We relate to you some of the important news of the days gone by. And We have indeed granted you from Us a (sublime) Reminder (- the Qur’ân).

[Holy Quran – Allamah Nooruddin]

Submitted by Rashid.

Fruits of the tree planted by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

An intolerant nation
Editorial in The Dawn
Monday, 19 April, 2010

We are reaping the harvest of the seeds of hatred sown in the seventies and eighties. Pakistan is becoming an increasingly intolerant nation where religious and sectarian minorities live in fear and are awarded little or no protection by the state. Difference is unacceptable to the obscurantists who want everyone to toe their line. And if that takes intimidation, torture or even murder, then so be it, for no option is unavailable to the self-righteous who believe that they alone have seen the light.

Read at this link

Submitted by Ikram.

Just like smoke makes one infer the presence of fire underneath it, so do the human interactions indicate presence of “mirror neurons” in the brain. These mirror neurons actually “mirror” the behavior, speech, and emotions of others. For example, even if a total stranger picks up a baby, s/he soon starts making funny faces and cuddly noises. Why? Answer is simple that the mirror neurons of that adult reflect the expression of face and eyes and sounds of the child. Remember, it is all a psychologically unconscious behavior. Once the adult recognizes the absurdity of his/her behavior, s/he retreats from acting as such, usually with some embarrassment.

These mirror neurons we see at play in areas of interest of this site as well. A rigid remark, begets a rigid remark. An appreciation is responded by appreciation. What mirror neurons tell us that unless one thinks at a higher and mature intellectual plane, one will imitate like apes, which is a level of low intellect.

This low level of intellectual function extends into societal behavior to which Quran makes a reference and is commonly observed in the Muslim culture, where a firebrand Mullah will lash out a dogma from the pulpit and everyone in the audience affirms it. Clearly both are mirroring each other.

This is what Quran has to say about mirrored behaviors. Make your own inferences:

5:60. Say, `Shall I inform you of those who shall receive from Allâh a recompense worse than that of those (who try to find fault with Us)? They are those whom Allâh has deprived of His blessings and upon whom He brought His displeasure and indignation and of whom He has made (as) apes and swine and who serve the transgressor (- the devil). It is these who are indeed worse-placed and farther astray from the right path.’

5:62. And you will find many of them vying one with another in committing sin and transgression and being too much given to eat things forbidden. How evil is that which they practise!

5:63. Why do not the teachers of divine knowledge and those learned in the Law prohibit them from their blasphemic talk and deeds and their being too much given to eating things forbidden? Evil indeed is their machination.

[The Holy Quran – Allamah Nooruddin]

Submitted by Rashid.

On website http://www.mutazila.com/ short introduction and works of contemporaries of HMGA are made available. References to some of these gentlemen are available in HMGA writings and LAM literature. Such as:

Sir Syed (Sayyid) Ahmad Khan [1817-1898]
Cheragh Ali (Chiragh Ali) [1844-1895]
Abdullah Chakralawi (Chakralvi) [d.1930]
Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi [d.] (He was member of LAM and authored Maulana Noor Ud Din biography. He also authored famous Tarikh e Islam (History of Islam) in 3 volumes).

This website home page says:

” Who listen [closely] to all that is said, and follow the best of it: [for] it is they whom God has graced with His guidance, and it is they who are [truly] endowed with insight! Quran 39:18

With this in mind we provide here extensive resources so that one can go directly to the original source and verify for oneself matters and issues related to Islam rather than relying on second or third hand information or simply taking hearsay for the original as is common with most Muslims and even with some scholars. No one person, no matter how knowledgeable in Islam and no matter how popular among Muslims including past Imams, can be considered as the final authority on Islam The final authority on Islam must rest with the Quran and Quran alone.

This website does not promote one or the other view of Islam. It is purely meant for scholarly work. Whatever label (Modernist, Rationalist, Quran-only, Reformist, Anti-Hadith, Mutazila…) was attached in the past against one or the other group, it is important to study their writings and their sources and only then one should make independent judgment about them and about their work. Searching for resources sometimes becomes a hindrance in the search for truth. The resources provided here, it is hoped, will help ease that hindrance somewhat for those who are striving for the truth. ”

Despite this website’s great motivation described in above paragraphs, it has missed presenting works of Islamic scholars belonging to LAM, who were praised by Islamic Scholars this website promotes.

Anyways, website is good source to find books such as ‘Tafsir ul Quran’ by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; and Musaddas by Khawaja Altaf Hussain Hali.
http://www.mutazila.com/ba/ba.htm

Submitted by Rashid.

On ‘Pak Tea House’ blog a debate is going on topic of veil in Islam. This debate reflects current activities in Europe on the issue of ‘women veiling of face’. I did a quick research on this topic on Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement website (www.aaiil.org) , but I could not find any write-up. It will be nice if someone can contribute on this topic, or provide link to any article on subject of veil. Thanks.

See link.

Submitted by Rashid.

31 years ago, on April 4, 1979 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged to death. Colonel Rafi-Uddin was eyewitness. I’m sad to hear, after his death ZAB body was desecrated. His private parts were photographed by Pakistani Intelligence agency to find out if he was circumcised or not.

Colonel Rafi-Uddin interview. Watch at 31 minutes:
Express News TV
Front Line April 4, 2010
http://pkpolitics.com/2010/04/04/front-line-4-april-2010/

At present we have a nationwide election campaign in the U.K. When the rival candidates debate, although each one attacks the opposite one’s policies, yet each one presents what he or she believes is the best programme for the country. There is no candidate who does nothing but attack another.

Likewise, there can really be only one debate between us and our anti-Ahmadiyya opponents. That would be on the topic of “My (or Our) Programme for the future of Islam”. As far as we are concerned, our programme is to present the Holy Quran and the life of the Holy Prophet to the whole world in a way that refutes the widely prevailing misconceptions about Islam. Our “vision” (as they say these days) is to see non-Muslims appreciating and respecting Islam and the Holy Prophet, if they can’t yet bring themselves to accept this faith. We wish to achieve this by peaceful and polite persuasion, and not in a haughty way by claiming to be the chosen ones of God.

So let the other side put forward their programme for the future of Islam, and we can debate which is more in line with the teachings of Islam and the needs of the times.

In March 1937 the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jama`at organised a public meeting at Mochi Gate in Lahore, for the sole purpose of honouring the Holy Prophet Muhammad by drawing attention to the prophecies about him in earlier scriptures. The first edition of Mithaq-un-Nabiyyin (later known in English as Muhammad in World Scriptures) had just been published.

The anti-Ahmadiyya groups arrived and asked that their reciter of the Quran be allowed to open the meeting with a recitation. The organisers felt that if they refused, the opponents would say that Ahmadis don’t respect the Quran and a riot would start. So they let their reciter start reciting.

As was the opponents’ plan, having started reciting the reciter simply wouldn’t stop! It was intended by them that he would take up all the time of the meeting with his recitation, some 3 hours. Eventually when he was asked to stop, the anti-Ahmadiyya groups broke into a riot, claiming that Ahmadis were preventing recitation of the Quran. They smashed the lights, threw stones, jumped on the stage. Even in those pre-partition days, the police did nothing to stop this. The function was wrecked. The Muslim newspapers of Lahore expressed pride at this disruption.

It was actually the anti-Ahmadiyya groups who were abusing the Quran by using it as a ploy for their own ends. The same tactics can be seen now, when they use ‘love of Islam’ or ‘love of the Holy Prophet’ merely as a false cover for their hooliganism.