The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Archive for the ‘general’ Category

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/

I used to be puzzled when, searching for terms in this blog which I knew should be found, I would not get any results back. Other readers may have had the same experience. I then realised that the default WordPress search was only searching the initial posts, and not the subsequent comments on the posts. Today I have added a plug-in which searches comments as well. I have tested a search before and after installing the plug-in, and confirmed that it does search comments.

Each search result is a link leading you to the start of a post, plus its comments, within which the terms occurs. To reach the term on that page, you can do a ‘find’ in your browser (In IE: Edit > Find on this page. In Firefox: Edit > Find. In Google Chrome: ‘Control the Current Page’ > ‘Find in Page’).

Submitted by Ikram.

Repeatedly on this site attention is drawn to the Kalima-Shahada which is:

Ashhadu an la ilaha ill-Allah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammad-ur rasul-ullah
“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”

This declaration is the fundamental oath of a Muslim. It identifies the source of belief (Allah) and the messenger (Muhammad)

By declaring Allah as one’s God, one is barred from either thinking or acting like a god himself unto others neither taking others as god unto oneself. This declaration fundamentally humbles and unburdens mankind from shackles of arrogance, myths and fears of life, thus unleashing human potentials. Yet, it is the very objective of Islam to revive godly attributes in one-self.

By declaring Muhammad as the messenger, the oath assigns a human status to Muhammad and prevents the Muslims from attributing super human qualities to him. Unlike other religions whose followers, out of love for their respective messengers, coupled with their ancestral and inherent idolatrous traditions, over a period of time started attributing godliness to their messengers. In contrast, this oath preserves the fundamental immaculate monotheistic nature of Islam.

In light of the Kalima, it does not behoove the holders of majority point of view to act as God towards a minority opinion; else they are contravening the basic oath of Islam. Having the audacity to declare another adherent of this oath a Kafir is extreme form of arrogance.

Quran draws attention to the moral laws of retribution for such behaviors where it speaks on behalf of the minority:

5:59. Say, “O People of the Scripture! Do you not blame us because we believe in God, and that which is revealed to us and that which was revealed before? And because most of you are drifting away from the Right Direction?”

Quran then in the same breath admonishes the majority:

5:60. Say, “Shall I point out to you something much worse for retribution with Allah? Worse is the case of those whom Allah has rejected, and His Law of Requital hits them. And whom Allah’s Law relegated from the honorable stature of humanity and they started behaving like apes and swine (2:65). And they fell into becoming the slaves of TAGHOOT (tyrants and the priesthood of any religion (4:51)). Such are in worse plight, and farther astray than the mockers.”

Quran then continues on to identify such transgressors by their attributes:

5:61 When they come to you O believers, they say, “We believe”. In fact they come in disbelief and depart in disbelief. God knows best what they conceal.

5:64 (The Divine System wants people to contribute to the society) The Jews say, “God’s hand is tied down.” It is their hands that are tied down. Their uttering deprives them of God’s Grace. His hands are wide open and He showers His Bounties according to His Laws. (O Prophet) Since the Revelation given to you by your Lord brings about a benevolent revolution in the society, people with selfish interests hate it. Many of them plunge deeper into transgression and disbelief. Consequently, Our Law has sent down into their hearts and ranks animosity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection. God has put down the flames of war that they repeatedly ignited. They try to create corruption and disorder in the land and God does not love the corruptors.

At the time of revelation of these verses, the transgressors were people belonging to older interpretations of the scriptures. Now that we have Quran for more than fourteen hundred years, these verses squarely include the arrogant Mullahs and their followers as well. With this in mind, please re-read the verses above.

[The Qur’an As It Explains Itself – Shabbir Ahmed]

It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing away of His Eminence Sheikh Muhammad Syed Tantawi. The Sheikh was the Grand Imam of Egypt’s prestigious Al-Azhar University. He passed away in Riyadh, where he was attending a conference, because of cardiac arrest at the age of 81. Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Rajioon.

His Eminence Sheikh Tantawi was a prominent voice in the world of moderate Islam. When the book The Religion of Islam by Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali, the late Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, was translated into Arabic he was asked to review the manuscript and to write a foreword. After reviewing the manuscript he wrote a very favourable foreword praising the book and Maulana Muhammad Ali. He asked his personal printer to give his advice on how best to print and to publish the book. His personal printer also printed the Arabic translations of other books by Maulana Muhammad Ali such as Muhammad the Prophet, Living Thoughts of the Prophet Muhammad and A Manual of Hadith.

He regarded the Lahore Ahmadis as Muslims and spoke well of us. He would quote from the book The Religion of Islam in his articles. Sheikh Tantawi showed his support for this jamaat by saying that we should not worry about criticism. He would throw newspapers containing abusive articles about Lahori-Ahmadis in the waste paper basket.

His enlightened leadership will be greatly missed by moderate Muslims. May Almighty Allah admit him to His mercy and grant him a place in paradise.

Sheikh Tantawi, right, with Pope Shenouda III, Coptic pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa, earlier this year. (Photograph: Salah Ibrahim/EPA)

Submitted by Rashid. This was originally a comment, which is being converted into a new post.

More and more opponents of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad are inadvertently adopting his approach to solve Muslims conflicts with non-Muslim people, nations and countries.

Today in an event in UK, well covered by media, Tahir ul-Qadri has issued Fatwa against militant approach of Muslims. His target audiences are Muslims all over the world, including countries in which Muslims are fighting against occupation.

‘Powerful attacks’ are forcing Muslims to accept HMGA by accepting his approach for revival of Islam.

Alhamdolillah, we are witnessing fulfillment of Allah’s promise and HMGA prophecy.
Hopefully, HMGA opponents this time won’t say his prophecy did not fulfill.

The Independent
March 1, 2010.
Islamic scholar says suicide bombers will ‘go to hell’

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Recently, US educated Pakistani Neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqi was convicted by a US court in New York City. There were protests all over Pakistan. Pakistani electronic and print media gave it a huge coverage. Many legal, political and religious commentators voiced their opinions. On the Internet many Pakistanis and other Muslims wrote articles against her conviction.

Without going into the merits and demerits of Dr. Aafia Siddiqi’s conviction, I would like the Muslim Ummah particularly of Pakistan, to reflect on their last 125 years behavior. When Pakistanis disagree with some individual or group of people’s OPINION they go to every extent to get that individual and group punished. Pakistani Ummah and their predecessors Indian Muslim Ummah have been doing this by forging frivolous and false cases. After creation of Pakistan this Muslim Ummah of Pakistan considers it justified enacting laws “in service of Islam” to punish those with whom they do not agree; without any regard to justice and fairness. It is unbelievable to see how Pakistani Ummah is at pains when one of their Ummah member is convicted by a non-Muslim Judge. Between 102 and 125 years ago ancestors of today’s Pakistani Ummah tried many times to get one of their Ummah member convicted by a non-Muslim Judge. Just, because they couldn’t defeat him in arguments.

With my little education/training in Forensic Psychiatry, I’m NOT sure if Dr. Aafia Siddiqi is innocent.

Dr. Aafia Siddiqi is lucky she is convicted in a country where, unlike Pakistani Muslim Ummah country i.e. Pakistan, there is a right to appeal and judges do give decisions irrespective of their Ummah political and street pressure.

Let’s hope justice prevails.

P.S. In case some one is wondering whom I’m talking about in the era between 102 and 125 years ago: The person is Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Mujaddid of 14th Islamic century.