The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Maulvi Ghulam Mohiuddin Qasuri’s father, Dr Bootray Khan of Qasur, was a pledged Ahmadi. His name, and I recall along with Maulvi Ghulam Mohiuddin Qasuri’s name, are in a list of members published in one of Hazrat Mirza sahib’s books.

(The name I have spelt as Bootray is the common word in Urdu meaning ‘old’. I have used the letters “tr” to represent the Urdu letter occurring after “boo”.)

Maulvi Ghulam Mohiuddin Qasuri had long ceased to have any formal association with the Ahmadiyya Movement. He was general-secretary of Anjuman Hamayat-i Islam in the 1930s, and friend of Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig.

In 1934 there were two editions, the first and the second. It is almost impossible, if not totally impossible, to find the first edition. The oldest we can find, scanned on some websites, is the second one from 1934. The next one, I believe, in more common circulation for many years, was the 1938 one. After that, the changed ones started appearing.
 

Another similar website is: http://al-quran.info/  To select a particular translation, click on the word 'Menu' (top right), and then on the resulting page click inside the box under the heading 'Translation' (as there is no down-arrow there, it is not obvious that a drop-down list will appear, but it does appear). In the long list, go to the sub-heading 'English'.

The site has a survey of some of the English translations, but the page isn't easy to find. So here is the link:

http://al-quran.info/page/language/english

It classifies the English translations under 'Non-Muslim' and 'Muslim'. It doesn't list Maulana Muhammad Ali here, even though the site provides his translation. Muslim ones are listed chronologically. After mentioning the first three obscure, obsolete ones ("…today these works only remain of historical interest."), it lists Pickthall and opens with this opinion:

"The first serious response to the Orientalist venture into Quran translations was undertaken by Muhammad Marmaduke William Pickthall,… 1930. Back then, the translation was viewed with delight among the Muslim community and skeptic among orientalist circles."

The writer doesn't know, or doesn't say, but this applied exactly to Maulana Muhammad Ali's translation when it appeared in 1917: "first serious response" and "viewed with delight by the Muslim community".

Under Muslim translations 'Mohamedali Habib Shakir' is listed, and the review says:

"Sometimes it is branded as a reworking or blatant plagiarism of Muhammad Ali’s Ahmadiyya translation of 1917, but Shakir probably set out to correct the distortions that the later had allowed to creep into his otherwise solid translation."

Since the reviewer recognises Maulana Muhammad Ali's translation as "otherwise solid", he should have listed and reviewed his translation as well. Perhaps he was afraid to include him in the 'Muslim' category and, at the same time, ashamed to place him in the 'non-Muslim' category! Once Maulana Maudoodi expressed the opinion that Lahori Ahmadis are neither Muslims nor non-Muslims: they are not Muslims because they believe in Mirza sahib and not non-Muslims because they deny that he was a prophet. So he ruled that Lahori Ahmadi are suspended (mu`allaq) between the two!

What qualifications Shakir, a banker and financier, had to produce this work is not mentioned in the review.

This opinion by Maudoodi was published by his opponents in the Khatam-i nubuwwat movement in a poster entitled (in Urdu):

"Maudoodi does not call Lahori Mirza'is as kafir,
whereas all Muslims fully believe that all Mirza'is, Lahori or Qadiani, are kafir, and the man who has any doubt that they are kafir is also a kafir"

They then reproduce an official letter, in reply to someone's query, sent by the Jamaat-i Islami of Pakistan, written by an assistant of Maudoodi and certified by Maudoodi at the end.

See this poster in pdf format at this link.

They have drawn a square around the letter. Dated 29 January 1968, it reads as follows:

Your letter was received. The Lahori Jamaat of the Mirza'is is mu`allaq (suspended) between kufr and Islam. It neither says that it disassociates itself totally from a claimant to prophethood, so that its members could be declared as Muslims, nor does it clearly affirm his prophethood so that it could be called kafir.

Sincerely,
Ghulam Ali
Special assistant to Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maudoodi

This reply is according to my directions. Abul Ala.

May Allah bless Hafiz Sher Mohammad sahib marhoom! He took a mass of material with him to Cape Town, including this poster. After the case concluded in 1985, I had a couple of spare days, and I photocopied much of it, and have it in my possession.

Wa Alaikum Assalam Dr. Hasan.

Thank you for your appreciation.

Could you please shed  a little more light on how we shy away from taking practical steps. A little bit of detail will help us answering your question.

thank you zahid aziz and abid aziz. . for taking pains to answer my querry. .yes m living in pakistan and i knw that law here does not allow you to preach freely. .but what if someone who studies the ideology of aaii himself,contacts you for further guidance on how to enter the pail of true islam?telling you out of personal experience that people of your jammat here are v reluctant to provide literature and relevant information to someone seeking guidance. .this sounds as if doors are closed for those living in pakistan to embrace true faith. .if its so ,i can jst say that ALLAH is there to acknowlede and count even the unsuccessful efforts and struggle of light seekers.regards

@Dr. Hassan sahib,

Aslam Alikum,

Every Muslim in Pakistan has TRUE FAITH. Regardless if they are member of our AAIIL or not. We are NOT like Qadianis who call their interpertation of Holy Quran and their beliefs as only "true" Islam.

We at LAM/AAIIL practice same Islam that rest of Muslim Umma does. Only difference is in some interpertations e.g.

1-LAM believes EVERY RECITER of Kalima Shahada is Muslim.

2-Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS was the LAST prophet. NO NEW or old prophet can come after him.

3-Believe is Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is NOT must for a Muslim to remain or become a Muslim.

4-Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib was ONLY reformer (Mujjaddid) of 14th Islamic century.

5-Revelations of HMGA were only revelations of a saint/ reformer.

6-By NOT accepting HMGA as appointee of Allah SAWS, NO Muslim becomes a Non-Muslim.

7-No word of Holy Quran is abrogated.

8-Eisa AS is physically dead, and he will NOT return to this world.

9-Jihad does NOT mean to spread Islam by sword.

10-Dajjal is Christian Caucasian nations.

11- Allah SWT is LIVING GOD and He has and will communiacte with his chosen righteous people, even after Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS.

and apropos respected  mr.abids rejoinder,m thankful that you took pains to explain things.jazak ALLAH. .

HOWEVER skeptical attitudes like that shown in the last of ur msg discourage people and strenthen the wall of reluctance and closeness that has been erected aroud the jammat coupled with sheer dearth of functional centers in pakistan. .no one who wants to stay in pakistan and has a good setup over here,would like to invite troubles by engaging in discussions like this. . .hope i have clarified my position

My comment in this discussion is that, sad to say, there are no hoards of people in Pakistan queuing up to find out the truth (about anything), and those few who might be interested in the truth are deterred the moment they have to face any repurcussions, legal or social, and ostracism from society, for accepting that truth.

I recall that in the 1974-1984 period, when the Qadiani Jamaat khalifas were still in Pakistan, we used to be told by members of their Jamaat that when the annual jalsa at Rabwah is held, the government posts policemen there to keep a check on what is being said in the speeches, and that those policemen, after hearing the speeches, become so impressed that they join the Jamaat! Can anyone imagine that policemen in Pakistan, who are in gross disrepute because of their bad character and corrupt behaviour, are such lovers of the truth and true religious beliefs that they accept the truth the moment they hear it?

I apologise if this offends any person in Pakistan.

Although, I was neither born in Pakistan nor have I formally lived there, I have been quite intrigued by the lack of people (en masse) of non-HIndustani (Pakistan/India) origin or background that are part of either the Qadiyani or Lahore 'movement'. In general, Lahori/Qadiyani movement leaders also are not well versed in the language of Islam – Arabic. There is no formal scholar either. Whereas you will see in Shia and Sunni Islam, converts or scholars will study the Arabic language as a first, i.e. Dr Bilal Philips, Sh Hamza Yusuf, Dr Yasir Qadhi and the list goes on. 

Additionally, in the past 1500 years or so since the advent of Islam, there have been many reformers in Islam, whether from the Shias, Sufis or Sunnis. There is a negligible amount of those reformers who claimed what MIrza Ghulam of Qadiyan claimed and/or what his followers have claimed. 

Logically, and most converts/reverts will agree here (I only quote converts because they come to Islam with a desire to embrace what is pure and true to an unbiased mind), our understanding of Islam today should be the same as was the understanding of the Prophet SAW and the righteous generation(salaf al-salih). This begs the following questions:

1) Did the Prophet SAW and the righteous generation Eesa A.S. to be phsyically dead and for him not to return? 
2) Did the Prophet SAW and the righteous generation understand Dajjal to be a person or did they take it metaphorically?
3) What was their understanding of Jihad?

A point to be noted is that isolated or rogue opinions that support any Islamic ideology are not very convincing and should be deemed irrelvant. 

regards

I may also add this. Followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad are the ones who believe that Arabic is Ummul-alsina ('mother of all languages'). Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din wrote a book of this title in Urdu in 1915 to further the research of Hazrat Mirza sahib on this point. In it he appeals to all Muslims to take up this research. He writes in it:

"Remember that to spread the Arabic language is to spread Islam. Service to Arabic should not be the work of a particular sect of Islam. You should consider it as the primary service to Islam (appendix, p. 7; link to book).

Last Friday I attended jumu`a prayers at the Berlin Mosque of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. Our Imam, Amir Aziz, addressed the congregation in both German and Arabic. I saw Arabs sitting there listening to him in Arabic.

How well versed in Arabic was Syed Abul A'la Maududi, one of the greatest scholars of Sunni Islam of the last century? Does anyone know about any book, article or leaflet he wrote in Arabic? He was the receipient of the prestigious Faisal award in its inaugural year. Arguably the greatest scholar of Arabic among the non Arabs of the last century, Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi (Ali Miyan) had to wait till next year to receive the coveted prize.

Other Muslims ought also to be interested in this research since it raises the status of the language of the scripture and religion of Islam as a whole. After all, Hazrat Mirza sahib was not trying to get a special position assigned to his own native language of Punjabi!

I take the section below from an article I wrote in 2001. It shows that he based this idea on statements occurring in the Quran.

——

Another service to Islam by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad relates to the Arabic language. He writes in a book entitled Minan-ur-Rahman that he prayed and cried before Allah, broken heartedly, regarding the condition of the Muslims, that Islam was under heavy attack by the unbelievers and the Ulama were completely heedless and indifferent to these attacks, and doing nothing. So as a result of his prayer Allah opened up to him the secrets of certain verses of the Quran and gave him a powerful weapon for the support of Islam and the Muslims. One of these verses is:

Wa ka-dhalika auhai-na ilai-ka Quran-an ‘arabiyyan li-tunzira umm-ul-qura wa man haula-ha: “And thus have We revealed to you an Arabic Quran that you may warn the mother-town and those around it.” (42:7)

He writes that “those around it” means the whole world and adds:

“It has been disclosed to me that this verse and the indications within it refer to the virtues of the Arabic language, and they point to the fact that Arabic is the mother of the languages, and the Quran is the original of the previous scriptures, and Makkah is the mother of the whole earth … Arabic is the mother of the languages and is from Allah, and the rest of the languages are like its sons and daughters” (See Ruhani Khaza'in, v. 9, p. 183-184)

“You know that our Rasul, the Khatam-un-nabiyyin, was the warner for all the nations. Allah, the most truthful of the truthful, gave him this name. This proves that Makkah is the mother of the whole world … and this also proves that Arabic is the mother of the languages because Makkah is the mother of all habitations. It also proves that the Quran is the mother of the holy books, and this is why it was revealed in the language which is perfect and comprehensive. The order of God required that His Book, which is the perfect and the last, be revealed in the language which is the root of all languages, the mother of all languages of mankind, and that is clear (mubin) Arabic. You have heard that in the Quran Allah has used the word bayan to describe the Arabic language and called it mubin. This refers to the eloquence of this language and to its high position in the eyes of God.” (ibid., p. 207, 208)

In this book he discusses some features of the Arabic language and shows that Arabic, out of all languages, has the expressiveness, articulation and eloquence which suits it to carry the last, most perfect word of God.

I don't have sufficient knowledge of this subject to answer your question.

Just some points:

-According linguists Aramaic is classified as a Northwestern semitic language while Arabic is a central semitic language. So it is not possible that Arabic comes from Aramaic.

– linguists have theorized of a proto semitic language as the originator of semitic languages.

– Arabic is probably the most closely related language to the proto-semitic language because of its conservative structure due to being preserved in the relatively isolated Arabian desert and surounded/sheltered by other semitic languages from outside influences.

-So I think the Promised Messiah (as) is still correct since Arabic is the most preserved and conservative semitic language, that it is the mother of all languages.

– I personally believe that Quranic Arabic and the original proto-semitic language are probably mutually intelligible.

– However, Arabic was a primarily oral language and did borrow the Aramaic alphabet. However, the alphabet has no relationship to a languages age. Otherwise, some languages have not come into existant as they donnot have alphabets.