Miracles, Myths, Mistakes and Matters — See Title Page and List of Contents
See: Project Rebuttal: What the West needs to know about Islam
Refuting the gross distortion and misrepresentation of the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad and Islam, made by the critics of Islam
Read: Background to the Project
List of all Issues | Summary 1 | Summary 2 | Summary 3
Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.
Recently an 18 year old girl was raped by 3 perpetrators in mausoleum of founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in Karachi. The court refused to entertain DNA evidence which reportedly proved the guilt of accused, because the victim could not produce the 4 adult male witnesses who saw the “act all the way through”. Weeks later Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) decreed that DNA evidence in absence of 4 righteous men as witnesses to rape is not sufficient for conviction under Islamic Law. (Please remember CII comprises of same kind of people who decreed that Kalima-Shahada reciters i.e. Qadianis are Kafir (non-Muslim)). I AM SURE EVERY QADIANI WILL DISAGREE WITH COURT DECISION AND CII DECREE, I.E., DEMAND OF 4 WITNESSES FROM A YOUNG GIRL WHO IS VICTIM OF RAPE.
In a recent TV interview Khalifa of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Mr. Munwar Hassan made the same point that if a female victim of rape cannot produce 4 adult righteous men as her witness who saw her being raped all the way through, then she should remain quite. (Please remember Munawar Hassan is same kind of person who consider Kalima-Shahada reciters i.e. Qadianis as Kafir). I AM SURE EVERY QADIANI WILL DISAGREE WITH JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI KHALIFA MUNWAR HASSAN.
Link to Khalifa Muwar Hassan Interview on youtube:
‘A woman should not report Rape if she has not 4 witness – Munawar Hassan’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nQTTDCromw
Qadiani History is FULL OF TESTIMONIES THAT QADIANI KHALIFA 2 MIRZA MAHMUD AHMAD, in his life time, WAS ACCUSED OF RAPE BY HIS MINOR BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTERS, SONS, NIECES, DAUGHTER AND SONS OF HIS FOLLOWERS, WIVES OF HIS FOLLOWERS, ITALIAN EXOTIC DANCER. Qadianis do NOT deny those accusations but they say, “accusations hold no value as victims could NOT produce 4 adult righteous male witnesses who have seen the entire act including the “thread going through eye of a needle””.
To the die-hard Qadiani defendants of QK 2 Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, I would ask them to read an article published in Pakistan's oldest English daily Dawn Online issue June 5, 2013: ‘A License to Rape’ by Murtaza Haider. Qadianis should pay special attention to following:
QUOTE:
In a well-researched paper published in 1997, Professor Asifa Quraishi explains that the rape laws in Pakistan are anything but Islamic. Drawing exclusively from Islamic sources and Quranic injunctions, Professor Quraishi makes the following points. First, the Quranic injunctions are restricted to zina (consensual sexual act by adults outside of marriage). There is no mention of rape in Quran. Secondly the intent of the Quranic injunctions was to prevent lewd behavior in public and to limit instances of false accusations. The requirement to produce four witnesses who had explicitly witnessed the sexual act is possible only if the act is being committed in public and in nude. This suggests that “unlawful sexual intercourse will be prosecuted by the state only when it is publically indecent.”
The noble Quran forbade Zina (fornication) in Surat Al-'Isrā' (17:32) and prescribed the punishment in Surat An-Nūr (24:2). The noble Quran then reads:
Those who defame chaste women and do not bring four witnesses (shuhada) should be punished with eighty lashes, and their testimony should not be accepted afterwards, for they are profligates. (24:4)
The Quranic speech is clear and without confusion. The requirement to produce four witnesses, and not just male witnesses, is required by the Quran to prevent false accusations of fornication against women.
END QUOTE.
I am sure conscientious Qadianis will NOT like to stand in ranks with CII and Khalifa Munawar Hussain and will reconsider justification of their defense of their QK2 Mirza Mahmud Ahmad.
Link to article in Dawn online (I highly recommend this article, especially to Qadianis):
http://beta.dawn.com/news/1016271/a-license-to-rape/?commentPage=1&storyPage=1
Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.
BBC Documentary on Marmaduke Pickthall and video of Shah Jehan Mosque (Woking Muslim Misson)
Marmaduke Pickthall (7 April 1875 — 19 May 1936) was a Western Islamic scholar, noted for his English translation of the Qur’an. A convert from Christianity, Pickthall was a novelist, esteemed by D. H. Lawrence, H. G. Wells, and E. M. Forster, as well as a journalist, headmaster, and political and religious leader. He declared his conversion to Islam in dramatic fashion after delivering a talk on ‘Islam and Progress’ on November 29, 1917, to the Muslim Literary Society in Notting Hill, West London. He was also involved with the services of the Woking Muslim Mission in the absence of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, its founder.
Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri
Today Christian Pope canonized 800 Italian Catholic Christians, who according to Christians, refused to convert to Islam in 15th century, so Ottomons murdered them.
Personally i never heard this before. Anyways we need to do some reseach and find out if it is really true then, condemn Ottomon rulers and their administration, otherwise expose lies of Christian Pope.
Link to Al-Jazeera news video:
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2013/05/201351212314711566.html
Submitted by Abid Aziz.
"A proposal for utter extinction of jihad"
The above words are the title of an article published in ‘The Review of Religions', January 1903. It can be read on this link.
More than a century ago a man of great insight, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, told the world about the mischief which the wrong concept of jihad can create in the world. His words are proven true even till this day. In this article he not only discussed the causes but also provided a solution.
The ignorant Mullahs did not listen to him and called him kafir and agent of the west.
The recent events of Boston have again highlighted the importance of removing the misconception about jihad. In USA Muslims have same kind of religious freedom which they had in India under British rule. Mosques are being built and are full of people for Friday prayers. No one stops them or even objects to it. The city administration allows people to park their cars in front of mosque where normally parking is not allowed. They also provide police to manage traffic during Friday prayers. By doing this they not just give religious freedom to Muslims but also facilitate Friday prayers.
When will Muslims realize that their actions are not just against the beautiful teachings of Islam but are also harmful for the image of Islam and Muslims themselves.
Dua as taught by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din
Translated by Zahid Aziz
Besides the importance of studying the Quran, Hazrat Mirza sahib also turned the attention of his Jama‘at towards dua and emphasised to everyone that he should say dua for himself in his own language. He told them that whenever they face any tribulation, before writing to him to pray for them they must say dua themselves. Whenever I went to Qadian and asked him to pray in some matter, Hazrat Mirza sahib promised to pray but at the same time he said to me: You should pray yourself at about 2.00 to 2.30 a.m. because at that time I will be praying for you.
The qunut prayer is much-mentioned by people but it has become a mere ritual which is performed during the witr prayer [after isha]. But Hazrat Mirza sahib revived the example of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. He urged that at times of troubles, in every salat you should say dua in addition to the prescribed words of prayer. In the postures of the salat the prostration (sajda) is the most suitable for offering dua. In Hazrat Mirza sahib’s time, in every congregational prayer, not just in witr prayers, dua was offered [by the imam] upon standing up from the bowing position. Ahmadis still continue this practice in some places.…
In brief, among Ahmadis dua became a reality, just as the Quran became a reality to them. Every Ahmadi was seen engrossed in dua. Just as salat is obligatory for a Muslim, dua was considered by Ahmadis as almost obligatory.
After his recommendation to his followers to offer dua during the five daily prayers, his next advice was the saying of tahajjud prayers. If anyone was able to persuade English-educated young Muslims to take up tahajjud prayers, it was Hazrat Mirza sahib. I knew many young men in the time of Hazrat Mirza sahib who said tahajjud prayers for years, just as regularly as the five daily prayers. They used to be restless, looking forward to saying tahajjud prayers.
A curse afflicting English-educated Muslims is that they stay up late at night, and therefore they are still asleep long after the sun has risen. The English-educated young men among Ahmadis were saved from this bad habit because they used to be concerned to rise for their tahajjud prayers, so they went to bed early.
(From Mujaddid-i Kamil, p. 81-82)
Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.
On Al-Jazeera online I read news article, reporting nude/ topless women protesting in support of a Muslim Woman in Tunisia. The article mentioned one such protest took place in front of Berlin Mosque. That prompted me to think may be it was in front of LAM Mosque in Berlin as it was the oldest mosque in Germany. So I googled the news and I got link to Huffington Post article.
It is so sad that because of interpretation of Islam done by non-LAM member Muslims that Muslim women and their supporters resort to such extent to make their voices and complaints hurt. And these women blame Islam, Holy Quran, Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS for their miseries. Another example of wrong interpretation is seen in lives of Qadianis. Qadianis to get out of miseries imposed on them by Qadiani Khalifa family resort to blaming Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib for the interpretation of his teachings they received. Today the most vocal people, on Internet, who speak against HMGA are former Qadianis.
Anyways, if I were at LAM Berlin Mosque, I would have explained to nude/ topless protesting women that Islam gives women more human rights than men. I would have backed my claim by distributing among them Holy Quran translation and explanation and religion of Islam by Maulana Muhammad Ali sahib.
Following are links to Al-Jazeera news story and Huffington Post. Later have photos of protesting women. Photos 22 to 26 are in front of LAM Mosque in Berlin, Germany.
WARNING: PHOTOS SHOW WOMEN BARE BODIES:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/04/20134511838270701.html
International Topless Jihad Day: FEMEN Activists Stage Protests Across Europe (NSFW PHOTOS)
Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.
I came across following piece on Ghulam Ahmad Parvez. Published on Dawn.com blog
Ghulam Ahmed Parvez
A 1935 portrait of Ghulam Ahmed Parvez.
As a young teen in Batala, India, Ghulam Ahmed Parvez often wondered why all the hectic practicing of Islamic rituals and traditions by his fellow Muslims was not producing good men and a better community.
‘Why isn’t all this creating the kind of society that the Qu’ran talks about?’ He would often enquire, more than rhetorically.
Hushed by his elders and treated suspiciously by his friends, Parvez refused to stop looking for answers to the ever-increasing number of questions growing in his head.
He continued to study the Qu’ran and other Islamic literature under various religious scholars, while at the same time also attending a Missionary school in Batala. He then went on to bag a Master’s degree from the Punjab University in 1934.
After mastering the works of some of Islam’s leading scholars and texts, Parvez moved towards studying the faith’s esoteric strains such as Sufism and Tasawaaf (Islamic mysticism).
During this period he also managed to meet renowned poet and philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal. Taking Iqbal to be his mentor, he held many discussions with the poet, especially on Islamic philosophy and the Qu’ran.
His relationship with Iqbal helped the young Parvez come into contact with the head of the All India Muslim League (AIML), Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
By the time Jinnah had asked Parvez to edit and publish a pro-AIML Urdu weekly, ‘Talou-e-Islam,’ Parvez had already began to formulate and advocate his views on the subject of Islam in the subcontinent.
He claimed that Islam (unlike other monolithic faiths) was not supposed to be an organised religion. Undermining the importance of Islamic rituals, Parvez said the Qu’ran is an ideology and a philosophy beyond rituals and that anything practiced or believed by Muslims that was outside the Qu’ran was a fabrication.
Parvez was particularly harsh on the traditional Islamic institution and ‘science’ of Hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet and his companions and reported by a chain of men years after the Prophet’s demise).
According to Parvez a majority of Hadiths (upon which a bulk of Islamic Laws in the Shariah are built and based up on), were fabrications authorised by Muslim kings to justify their tyrannies and by anti-Islam forces who wanted to portray the faith as being amoral and violent.
Parvez had become a prominent ‘Quranist’ – someone who rejected the religious authority of the Hadith or of any Islamic text that was not part of the Qu’ran.
Though he was immediately attacked and labelled as a heretic by traditional Islamic scholars and religious parties like the Jamat-i-Islami, Ahrar-e-Islam and Jamiat Ulema Islam, Jinnah insisted that Parvez was to be the one to edit ‘Talou-e-Islam’.
In a two-pronged strategy, Parvez used the magazine to propagate the implementation of Jinnah’s principle that had inspired the demand for a separate Muslim State; and to blunt the protests of the conservative Islamic forces that had dismissed Jinnah’s demand for Pakistan. They accused Jinnah and his party of being too secular and ‘modernist.’
One of the first cover features to appear in the magazine was titled, ‘Mullahs have hijacked Islam.’ In it Parvez lambasted conservative Islamic parties and the molvies as being ‘agents of rich men’ and the enemies of the well being and enlightenment of the common people.
A 1935 photo of Muhammad Iqbal (sitting centre) with some literary colleagues. Parvez is sitting on the far right.
On the eve of Pakistan’s independence in August 1947, Parvez had become a close advisor of Jinnah.
He became part of the Muslim League government after independence, but retired in 1956 to concentrate on his scholarly work.
In 1961, Parvez attempted to popularise saying the Muslim prayers (namaaz) in Urdu, a language he said most Pakistanis understood (unlike Arabic).
In the 1930s, Turkey’s Kamal Atta Turk had attempted to introduce prayers and the call for prayer (aazan) in Turkish.
Though the move was initially supported by the secular Ayub Khan regime (1959-69), Ayub backed out when Parvez was vehemently attacked by conservative religious parties and scholars.
Ghulam Ahmed Parvez in 1962. It was during this period that he tried to advocate the saying of the Muslim prayers (namaaz) in Urdu instead of Arabic.
As an author and scholar, Parvez was most prolific. Undeterred by the continuing criticism and threats coming his way by religious parties and conservative Islamic scholars, Parvez kept emphasising and propagating his Quranist views through a number of books and lectures.
In the 1960s when a group of young leftist intellectuals led by Hanif Ramay and Safdar Mir were working on a theoretical and ideological project to fuse and merge socialism with the Quranic concepts of justice and equality, they incorporated a number of ideas first aired by Ghulam Ahmed Parvez.
The group would go on to join the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1967.
Throughout his career as a Quranist and scholar in Pakistan, Parvez not only managed to invite the wrath of the conservatives within Pakistan, but in some other Muslim countries as well.
In the 1970s his books were banned in various Arab states, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia that were (and still are) ruled by monarchies belonging to the ‘Wahabi’ strain of Islam that adheres to the strict 8th century Hadith-centric Hannibali Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).
Parvez responded to the bans by accusing the monarchies of behaving like ancient Muslim Kings who had used ‘fabricated hadiths’ to justify their rule, subjugate the people, and demonise their opponents.
During the same period, Parvez even began to upset some of his supporters as well, mainly a few ‘progressive Islamic scholars’ who thought his writing style was too abrasive and arrogant and that he was too much in favour of using Quranic concepts to create a political ideology, albeit a leftist one.
It is still unknown though exactly what Parvez’s views were about the 1953 and 1974 riots against the Ahmadis, even though he maintained that Quran does not allow one Muslim to judge the beliefs of another Muslim.
Parvez’s ‘progressive’ stage lasted till about the late 1970s in which he continued to reject the Hadith; the overemphasis of Muslims on rituals; and insisted that rituals and Shariah laws based on the Hadith were contrary to the revolutionary, as well as the rational spirit of the Qu’ran.
From the late 1970s onwards (and after the fall of the left-leaning government of Z A. Bhutto in a reactionary military coup in 1977), his writings and views had already begun to move away from his Islamic interpretations of socialism.
His detractors now accused him of being ‘pro-West’ when he suggested that modern-day scientists were closer to Qu’ran’s emphasis of enquiry and progress than the ulema.
Though still related to by many labour unions as a pro-workers Islamic scholar, he was, however, attacked with shoes in 1978 during a lecture that he was delivering at a function organised by the Mughalpura Railway Workers Union.
His supporters claimed that the attack was provoked by the ‘agents of the Jamat-i-Islami’, a party that had joined military dictator Ziaul Haq’s first cabinet.
Though Ziaul Haq was an ardent follower of conservative Islamic scholar and founder of Jamat-i-Islami, Abul Ala Mauddudi, he resisted the demands of Islamic outfits to declare Parvez and his followers are heretics.
Maybe Zia had already sensed that Parvez was getting old and soft and posed no threat to Zia’s ‘Islamisation’ project.
In the early 1980s when Parvez entered the 80th year of his life, he began to rediscover the early Sufist teachings his father had taught him – though he never reverted his position and views on the Hadith.
In 1983, he decided to visit Makkah to perform Haj and he did that by refusing to wear any footwear whatsoever throughout the trip. He roamed the streets of Madina barefooted.
Parvez in 1984.
In spite of the fact that the Zia regime discouraged bookstores to sell his books and Parvez was now too old to give lectures, his previous lectures began appearing on audio-cassettes and the books were clandestinely sold, bagging him a strong but quiet following of Quranists.
But Parvez was slipping into gloominess, and in 1985 he quietly died at the age of 83. The news of his death was only briefly reported in the press.
Here is the audio of an eye-opening talk in Urdu on the above subject:
www.ahmadiyya.org/images_blog/mar_1_2013_8_51_36pm.m4a
(The audio file is of type mpeg-4, which can be played using Microsoft Windows Media Player or RealNetworks RealPlayer. If you encounter problems, please try saving the file to your computer by right-clicking on the link, and then opening that saved file in appropriate software.)
Submitted by Abid Aziz.
An American researcher called Suzanne Olsson who has done research and written a book about life of Hazrat Issa as in Kashmir wrote following on her facebook page.
“Can some Ahmaddis please help me answer some questions? I have been asked questions about the Roza Bal tomb by Wikipedia editors. If we can provide the answers, the page about Roza Bal “may” be improved. I have been fighting hard for this! If anyone here can help, these are the questions raised…you can post answers here or send me messages. Whatever works for you best. Thank You.
“Suzanne, welcome back. Regarding edits can you please give a page reference for where James Tabor says Jesus in India is a real possibility? (My answer is the Paul David’s film, and Elaine Pagels mentions this theory of Jesus in India as well. I’ll get the place in the films and post them. There are quite a few, but if you know of additional religious scholars who support the theory, please include them)
This would be question (5) after:
(1) When was the shrine built?
(2) When was the shrine first mentioned?
(3) On what page of the Urdu translation or Persian original of [[Khwaja Muhammad Azam Didamari]] (d.1765) is Youza Asouph mentioned?
(4) What is the source for “Syed Nasir-u-Din (buried 1451)”
Can someone from our Jama`at help her in answering these questions.
As Islam Grows, U.S. Imams In Short Supply
by John Burnett
NPR – February 10, 2013
Islam in America is growing exponentially. From 2000 to 2010, the number of mosques in the United States jumped 74 percent.
Today, there are more than 2,100 American mosques but they have a challenge: There aren’t enough imams, or spiritual leaders, to go around.
The Mid-Cities Mosque in Colleyville, Texas, has two modest minarets that distinguish it as a sacred building here in this sedate suburb between Fort Worth and Dallas. It’s trimmed in green lights — the color of Islam. A Dallas Muslim Yellow Pages sits in a rack outside the doors.
Inside, maghrib prayers, after sunset, are commencing. A husky young imam dressed in a sand-colored tunic closes his eyes and leans into a microphone. A dozen men stand barefoot, elbow-to-elbow on a green carpet, in quietude.
The 200 mostly Pakistani-American members of this small Texas mosque are lucky to have a full-time, American-born imam. There’s an acute imam shortage in America, the result of supply, and demand, says Nouman Ali Khan.
“I’ve had the opportunity to travel to maybe 150 mosques across the country. And the vast majority of them, actually, did not have a full-time imam,” says Ali Khan, who heads Bayyinah, an Arabic-language institute in Dallas that educates future imams. “The ones that did are very happy to have them and the ones that didn’t are constantly asking me when I go for a seminar, ‘Hey, so you know anybody?'”
Separated geographically from the rest of Islam, he says American Muslims must find their own way, must invent their own traditions.
In Islamic countries, mosques and imams are supported by the state. Here in the U.S., they are private just like any church. Moreover, they are likely to serve as religious and community centers for their ethnically distinct congregation.
Indeed, American mosques are filled with Muslims from many different countries. And increasingly they’re the spiritual home of native-born Muslims whose identities are completely American.
Some young Muslims feel alienated from the mosque and from religious culture altogether. So U.S. mosques not only need imams trained in classical Islam, but who possess good English skills and a thorough understanding of American culture.
“You may have a scholarly religious figure that can speak to the older congregation, but he’s not able to connect as well with the youth,” Ali Khan says. “And in a lot of the interviews, it’s even sort of a primary concern how well can you connect with the young in our community.”
The Islamic Association of Mid-Cities went without an imam for 15 months before it finally chose Yahya Jaekoma. He’s a cherubic, 23-year-old of Thai and Afghan descent, who was born in San Diego.
“I was a sponsored skater at the age of 10 … and after breaking my arm, my grandmother told me I [had] to put it off,” Jaekoma explains. “So she sent me to a madrassa, which is an institute to study the Quran, at the age of 14.”
By the time he was 18, Jaekoma had memorized the entire Quran and dedicated his life to religious study. But his time as a hip-hop skateboarder gives him a unique voice for the youth in his mosque.
“I tell them my life story,” he says. “I tell them where I came from. I tell them what I’ve done.”
The youth group at the Mid-Cities mosque includes Sijil Patel, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American who is thoroughly modern with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, crazy-colored sneakers, and a headscarf.
“By having someone that was born here, it’s easier to relate to them, and it’s easier for them to understand our view on what we’re dealing with and, like, the difficulties we have with our faith in, like, such a modern environment,” Patel says.
Some of those things include dating, sex, drugs, alcohol and profanity.
“We’ve been strictly taught in Islam that vulgar language is not allowed,” Patel says. “I try my best to, like, not engage in that type of thing, and I’ve told my friends, too.”
A recent survey by the Islamic Society of North America reports that only 44 percent of American imams are salaried and full-time. The rest are volunteer religious leaders. Four out of five imams here were born and educated outside the United States, mostly in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India.
“I can count the number of institutions that prepare imams in the U.S. on three fingers,” says Jihad Turk, president the Bayan Claremont Islamic graduate school in Southern California.
Turk estimates that his institution, Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, and Zaytuna College in the San Francisco Bay Area will, collectively, graduate fewer than 30 Koranic scholars this year.
This handful of newly minted American imams should have no trouble at all finding work. [Copyright 2013 NPR]
According to an article published by BBC Urdu the total number of Ahmadiyya community in India is One hundred thousand.…
----Jul 27, 18:49