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A common argument presented against the existence of God in the West is: If God exists why does He allow great suffering to take place?

Philosophers, theologians and thinkers have been pondering on this for centuries, so my comments below will not resolve this issue! I will make one simple point, from among many that could be made.

How do we know that God hasn’t prevented much greater suffering that could have happened but didn’t because He prevented it? Obviously this question can never be answered, as we can’t know something that doesn’t happen.

Someone recently put forward as an example a most deadly disease, as to why it occurs if God exists. But suppose that particular disease didn’t exist. Then someone would mention whatever is now the second most deadly disease and present the same argument. And if that disease didn’t exist, they would mention the next one, until a stage would come where someone would say: If God exists, why do people catch colds and coughs?

My point is that if colds and coughs were the worst disease, we would feel the same about it as we now do about what are the worst diseases now.

To some in a developed country it would be suffering if their car broke down and they missed enjoying 1 day out of their 2 week holiday. Human beings adjust what they feel to be “suffering” according to their circumstances. Just like time and space are not absolute measures, but relative, as Einstein discovered, it seems that the same applies to suffering.

Zahid Aziz

Dr Tahir Ijaz has submitted the following:

Forget the theory about the next mujaddid to come 200 years after Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, he is now here with a website!

http://www.jamaat-ul-sahih-al-islam.com/

Submitted by Abdul Momin 

Since being declared non-Muslim, in Pakistan it is fashionable to label someone as Qadiani or Ahmadi even if that person is not even aware of Ahmadi beliefs, in order to defame him. This can happen for any reason, e.g for the purpose of litigation in order to influence a court of law or it could be to prevent appointment of someone to a higher post in a government job. All it takes is for someone to have a present or past (deceased) relative who is or was an Ahmadi, and from time to time the label of being Ahmadi will be applied to that non-Ahmadi person. Such a person has to prove his being non-Ahmadi through constant denials during his lifetime. Were it not such a serious matter and the severe persecution that Ahmadis have faced, one would find this whole matter laughable.

But just as the label “Ahmadi” is used as a weapon to demonise and curse people in Pakistan, it seems that now the label “Muslim” is used by bigoted Christain Evangelists to demonize their opponents in US presidential politics. The ignorance or false propaganda of these Evangelists can only be matched by their anti-Ahmadiyya counterparts.

The leading US presidential candidate Barack Obama has to repeatedly deny that he ever was a Muslim:

“My grandfather, who was Kenyan, converted to Christianity, then converted to Islam,” Obama said Sunday. “My father never practiced; he was basically agnostic. So, other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child, I have very little connection to the Islamic religion.”

-A debunked chain e-mail circulating widely on the Internet suggests he is hiding his Islamic roots. It says he was sworn into the Senate on the Quran and turns his back on the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance. He took his Senate oath with his hand on a family Bible, and he says, “Whenever I’m in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. In fact, no candidate could survive if he publicly spurned the pledge.”

-Another false report says he attended a Muslim madrassa school as a child in Jakarta. Obama was born in Hawaii and moved to Indonesia when he was 6 to live with his mother and stepfather. He returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.

(From Haaretz, a liberal Israeli newspaper)

Recently a picture of Obama surfaced wearing African tribal clothes, and that was reason enough for him to be labeled “Muslim”!!!

It was purely by chance that I came across this website which has an Indian address. In the right hand column of each page, under the title “Guard your faith”, there is a list of movements considered kafir. Click on the movement’s name and you can read the full denunciation.

Ahmadiyya is, of course, top of the list.

Under Shi’ites we read: Shiaism (The Rafidah) and Islam are indeed different religions.

Under Jamaat-e-Islami:  “if you see the Aqeedah and Manhaj of their founding leaders, who are looked upon as mujaddid and great scholars you will be shocked”

Also under the above, Maudoodi is described as:  “A man who reviled many of the Prophets of Allaah and the Companions of Allaah’s Messenger”.

Under Barelwis: “the belief and practices of this sect are founded upon superstition, folklore and many innovatory practices. It is a sad fact that the masses of ignorant Muslims do not know the real meaning of ‘Ibaadah (worship); they address their worship (unknowingly) to other than Allah, thereby committing a kind of shirk (associating partners with Allah), which would drive a person right out of Islam.”

Tablighi Jamaat: “this group has exceeded all bounds in innovations and aspects of shirk, Muhammad Illiyaas, the heretical Deobandee who founded Jamaa’at ut-Tableegh in the 1920s, may Allaah give him what he deserves.”

Under Sufism they mention: “the kufr of Ibn ‘Arabi,”

Under Naqshbandiyya: “The present-day Naqshabandis are determined in their war against Islaam and the Muslims and seek to pull in unsuspecting and ignorant Muslims by their “populist” and cleverly devised approach”.

Under Deobandis, it says (encouragingly) at the top: “The Deobandis are one of the groups of Muslims”.

However, at the bottom of the page we read:

“after reading the writings of the revered scholars and Founder of Deoband one Realizes that the difference between the Barelwis and the Deobandis is Miniscule and they both Share the Same Sufistic Beliefs …”

Under the above heading there is a news item on the BBC’s news website at this link.

Here are some brief extracts giving its flavour:

“Its supporters say the spirit of logic and reason inherent in Islam at its foundation 1,400 years ago are being rediscovered. Some believe it could represent the beginning of a reformation in the religion.”

“… the task of explaining the original spirit of Islam to remote communities in Turkey’s vast interior…”

And how about this:

They have also taken an even bolder step – rejecting a long-established rule of Muslim scholars that later (and often more conservative) texts override earlier ones.

“You have to see them as a whole,” says Fadi Hakura.

“You can’t say, for example, that the verses of violence override the verses of peace. This is used a lot in the Middle East, this kind of ideology.

“I cannot impress enough how fundamental [this change] is.

This obviously refers to the theory of abrogation.

The work of “recreating” Islam (as it is called in this article) has already been done long ago in the writings of Maulana Muhammad Ali.

Muslims must welcome the Danish cartoons

by Maulana Mustapha K. Hydal B.A. Theology (Peshawar)

Lahore Ahmadiyya Imam and Missionary in Trinidad and Tobago

Muslims have insulted the Prophet Muhammad. Their behaviour is a shame and disgrace to the teachings of this ideal Prophet. Yet we do not see demonstrations of Muslims against these Muslims who insult the Prophet Muhammad by their response to the publication of cartoons allegedly offensive to the Prophet Muhammad.

Allah prophesied in the Qur’an: “you will certainly hear from those who have been given the Book before you and from the idolaters much abuse. And if you are patient and keep your duty, surely this is an affair of great resolution.” (The Qur’an 3:186) Thus the correct duty of Muslims is firstly to “restrain (their) anger and pardon people.” (The Qur’an 3:134) and then to “defend themselves after they are oppressed.” (The Qur’an 26:227)

We must recognise and realise that the concept of Islam and Muslims which many persons harbour is a concept of terrorism. Ever since the last century and even before, it was incorrectly stated that Islam was spread by the sword. This wrong concept of Islam and Muslims was and still is fostered and nurtured by Muslims themselves: “whatever misfortune befalls you, it is on account of what your hands have wrought.” (The Qur’an 42:30)

For example, over one hundred years ago Mirza Ghulaam-Ahmad advised Muslims that rather than merely asking governments to proscribe and confiscate the offensive jargon of the objectors of Islam they should all be collected and appropriate replies prepared so that the present and future generations can be spared from these vituperative and poisonous diatribes. But instead of heeding his call Muslims condemned him and developed and advocated violence and terror to him and his followers.

It is amazing that the very first revelation Prophet Muhammad received was not to pray, not to fast, not to give charity or to perform pilgrimage. The first command was to READ and the method of propagating Islam was there and then indicated “Allah teaches by the pen” (The Qur’an 96:4). Later on Prophet Muhammad was also informed: “the pen and that which they write! By the grace of your Lord you are not mad. And surely yours is a reward never to be cut off. And surely you have sublime morals.” (The Qur’an 68:1-4) In other words Muslims must use the pen to promote the sublime morals that they ought to possess.

The Prophet Muhammad, though illiterate, used the pen at least once in his life and that was to delete his Divinely given honorific as the messenger of God to foster peace with his enemies albeit under disgraceful conditions at the truce of Hudaibiyya.

If we ban the cartoons we ban the expression, we do not remove the thinking.

It is only when the opponents of Islam express their thoughts that we can counteract their objections which arise out of either ignorance or fabrication. So rather than insulting the Prophet Muhammad by their truculent behaviour, the Muslims must take on the challenge of one whose head is full of lies with this approach – “let him bring on his brayers we will call up our penpushers.” (The Qur’an 96:17-18)

The Qur’an sets the tone for the appropriate counteracting of objections to Islamic teachings: “say to My servants that they utter what is best.” (The Qur’an 17:53) Yes, the Qur’an teaches: “And the recompense of evil is the like of it; but whoever forgives and amends, his reward is with Allah. Surely He loves not the cruel ones.” (The Qur’an 42:40)

We live in a time when human beings are at a loss – wondering how society can deal with so much violence and hatred pervading all strata of human society yet with little solutions to these challenges. Let there be exception in those “who believe and do good, and exhort one another to Truth, and exhort one another to patience.” (The Qur’an 102:3)

Maulaana Mustapha K. Hydal B.A. Theology (Peshawar)

Up to now the box in which you type your comments has been a simple text entry box (although those who know html could insert html tags within the text).

I have now installed a “plug-in” which has made the comments box into a simple editor with buttons to mark any part of your text as bold, italic etc. The resulting appearance of the text is immediately visible within the editor. There is a button to insert links around a block of text.

Zahid Aziz

Due to an increase in auto-spam messages being sent to this blog, I have introduced a feature to ensure that a comment is being sent by a human and not computer generated.

On the comment submission form you have to answer the question what year is this? Please type the obvious answer 2008 in the box.

If you give the wrong answer, a page will appear asking you to press the back button on your browser and type the correct year. By pressing the back button on your browser you do not lose the input that you had provided, but merely return to the form as it was when you submitted it.

For any problems, please contact us through this link.

Zahid Aziz

As so often in the past, the Saudi Arab authorities announced a date for Eid which caused confusion all over the world. The date of Eid-ul-Adha had been expected by all Muslims to be either Thursday 20th or Friday 21st December 2007. I compute dates of Ramadan and the two Eids in advance for the Lahore Ahmadiyya branch in the U.K. We had set this Eid-ul-Adha as Thursday 20th some four years ago.

Saudi Arabia has now announced that Eid-ul-Adha is to be on Wednesday 19th December. This has led many Muslim organisations around the world to change their earlier plans and hold Eid on this date.

The Muslim astronomical website www.moonsighting.com has quoted this announcement and then given their own comment as follows:

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Official Decision and Announcement of the High Judiciary Council of Saudi Arabia:

Since the moon of Dhul-Hijjah was sighted Sunday, December 9, 2007 evening here in Saudi Arabia, we shall be completing twenty nine (29) days of Dhul-Qi’dah, inshaa’Allaah.

… and the Muslim Ummah shall be celebrating ‘Eid al-Adha on Wednesday, December 19, (10 Dhul-Hijjah 1428), inshaa’Allaah.

Comment by Moonsighting.com:

The moon was not even born on Sunday, December 9, Maghrib time in Saudi Arabia, and moon actually set 23 minutes before sun set at Makkah.

According to the research conducted by Moonsighting.com the Universal date for Eid-al-Adha is on December 20, 2007 (Thursday) because actual authentic sighting was confirmed from Mauritius, Tanzania, South Africa, and Barbados on Monday, December 10, 2007.

(See: http://www.moonsighting.com/1428zhj.html)

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Thus it was impossible for the new moon to have been sighted in Saudi Arabia on the 9th as claimed. As it had not even been born, it means that neither by calculation nor by actual sighting could the moon be considered new on the 9th (and hence Eid-ul-Adha on the 19th).

It would also have been impossible to sight it by eye on the evening of 10th December in most parts of the world (including Saudi Arabia), and only on the basis of calculation could it be accepted as new for 10th December (giving Eid-ul-Adha on 20th). This is why in many countries Eid-ul-Adha is being held on 21st December.

If the Saudi authorities accept the evidence of their eye-witnesses who claimed to have seen the new moon on 9th December 2007, then they should also announce that the calculations of the moon’s movement and position as accepted by astronomers and others have been proved incorrect. Are they prepared to do that? Why do they not come forward to claim credit for disproving these predictions of modern science? They should be easily able to claim several Nobel prizes for correcting the universally-accepted data published by scientists.

On Saturday 26th May, as the session of the convention in Berlin opened, we were reminded that this day was the 99th anniversary of the death of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Some extracts were read out from his writings and statements. Thus begins the 100th year after his passing away. We will devote this year to reminding and informing people of his great contributions to the cause of Islam.