The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Lahore Ahmadi tends to Maulvi Barakatullah in San Francisco in last days of his life in 1927

Maulvi Barakatullah (1854-1927) was an Indian Muslim revolutionary who campaigned for the independence of India from several countries outside India. Bhopal University in India was re-named after him as Barkatullah University. He spent the last few months of his life in the USA, died in San Francisco and was buried in Sacramento. See Wikipedia article on his life.

In the Lahore Ahmadiyya English magazine The Light a letter was published in the issue for 8 December 1927 in this connection written by a member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement from San Francisco who looked after Maulvi Barakatullah in his dying days. I have made it available at this link.

The writer of the letter is Mirza Daud Baig. He was the older son of Dr Mirza Yaqub Baig, the well-known prominent follower of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and a founding member of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman. Mirza Daud Baig returned to India a couple of years later, and spent most of the last years of his life in Turkey, having married a Turkish woman while still in India. (He was also my wife's maternal uncle, so we personally know some details of his life.)

British Judge’s analysis of teachings of Islam on jihad in court judgment

British Parliamentary Committee Inquiry into “Sharia Councils” in the UK — Our submission

The Home Affairs Committee of the British Parliament recently announced an inquiry into the role and operation of "Sharia Councils" in the UK. They invited written submissions, and are also taking oral evidence.

The home page of the Inquiry is at this link.

Under "Written evidence" it lists the written submissions. To see the full list, you have to click on the "+ View all" link.

A submission was made by the Lahore Ahmadiyya UK Jamaat, written by me. It is reference SHL0010, dated 06 September 2016 in the above list. For your convenience, the following are direct links to its pdf and html formats:

• pdf format
• html format

(The content is, of course, the same in both formats.)

— Zahid Aziz

Maulana Muhammad Ali on People Living in Qadian after the Split in 1914

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri

In my blog posts I refer to two types of Qadiani Jamaat members. One type I call ‘Mehmoodies’ and other type I call ‘Qadianis’. Many people in Qadiani Jamaat feel offended by use of term ‘Mehmoodies’. Some even complained to our current Ameer of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (LAM). Some in LAM also think term ‘Mehmoodies’ is not appropriate. This is the reason in my blogs when I use term ‘Mehmoodies’ I write short explanation in brackets next to it. By Mehmoodies I mean those people in Qadiani Jamaat who held belief that ‘Qadiani Khalifa 2 Mirza Mehmood Ahmad was “Musleh Mahud” and do NOT believe Holy Prophet Muhmmad SAWS was the last prophet and many more prophets will come after him. Some Mehmoodies then raise objection that this set of beliefs is held by ALL members in Qadiani Jamaat. Interestingly some LAM members also erroneously believe that everyone who stayed behind in Qadian, and did not move to Lahore in 1914 at time of split in Ahmadiyya Movement of Masih Mahud Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, held the said belief.

Today I read a Maulana Muhammad Ali sahib quote from LAM member Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui sahib book ‘Truth Trumphs’ (Urdu: Fatah-e-Haq), Second Revised Edition. This book published in 1965.

On page 2 of said book:

As to the other statement of 1914, it was given at a time when Maulvi Muhammad Ali and his friends had just left Qadian, but they still entertained hopes of effecting a reconciliation with Mirza Mahmud Ahmad, on the following terms:

According to the last Will of the Promised Messiah, the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyyah, Qadian (the Central Executive Body), would be considered as the supreme executive body whose decision shall be treated as final and binding.

Whoever is elected as an Amir or Head of the Community would take pledge from non-Ahmadis for admission into our ranks, but the already pledged Ahmadis were not to renew their “pledge” with him.

It was only on condition that Mirza Mahmud Ahmad accepted these fundamental conditions, that he could be accepted as Amir or Head of the entire Ahmadiyyah Community.

On page 5 of said book:

Maulana Muhammad Ali sahib statement published dated December 8, 1938:

Moreover Mian Sahib [QK2 Mirza Mehmood Ahmad] had solemnly declared that one could take bai’at even if one did not see eye to eye with him in certain matters [here it is means have difference in beliefs—RJ]. This being his declared formula that even such people may be regarded as his followers, as call the people Muslims, whereas Mian Sahib regards them as Kafirs. Even such people also are his followers who impute Kufr to people whom Mian Sahib regards as Muslims. As for the accusers they had been his followers for years together and were very close to him.

The above two quotes from Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui sahib tells us Maulana Muhammad also held belief that there were people living in Qadian after the split in ‘Ahmadiyya Movement of Massih Mahud Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib’ in 1914 who decided to live in Qadian and did not move to Lahore and they did NOT do ba’it of QK2 Mirza Mehmood Ahmad, and they did NOT held beliefs of QK2 Mirza Mehmood Ahmad. This way Maulana Muhammad Ali sahib was making distinction between two types of people living in Qadian and later in Rabwah. One type is called Mehmoodies and other type is called Qadianis.

Interestingly in Urdu section of said book in introduction Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui sahib writes on page 5:

Here I want to thank Maulana Shaikh Abdur Rehman Misri sahib and Maulvi Abdul Mannan Omar sahib M.A. They read manuscript of this book and gave helpful advice, and made some corrections. May Allah SWT reward them.

Both Abdur Rehman Misri sahib and Abdul Mannan Omar sahib had spent good years of their adult life in Qadian. It is obvious they knew Maulana Muhammad Ali sahib was correct when he wrote that NOT everyone living in Qadian under the head ship of QK2 Mirza Mehmood Ahmad held his beliefs or did his ba’it (pledge of allegiance).

Allah “is the manifest (zahir) and the hidden (batin)”

Bearing the above words in mind, which occur in the Quran, 57:3, please watch the video entitled: “Dimensions: Cosmic Eye”.

Starting from the eye of the girl, the view rises above from it, more and more, showing the scale of distance involved, till it reaches 10 billion light-years away from her. Then it zooms back in towards the girl’s eye, and passing within it it magnifies ever smaller objects inside her, till the scale reaches 1 femtometre (10 to the power minus 15 metres). Presumably these are the largest and the smallest distances so far discovered.

Allah is the “manifest (zahir)” because He is the outermost, even beyond the largest known distance, and He is the “hidden (batin)” because He is the innermost, beyond the smallest distance known. He encompasses the largest distance from above it and the smallest distance from beneath it.

Now read at this link the explanation of Dr Basharat Ahmad, from the collection of his articles Basharat-i Ahmadiyya, about the words of the Quran: “He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden” (57:3). He deals more with “the First and the Last”, though.

In his Lecture Lahore, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad says about God:

“Being remote, He is very near, and being near, He is still far off. He is above all but still it cannot be said that beneath Him there is anything else, and He is the most hidden of all things, but it cannot be said of any thing that it is more manifest than He.” (Lecture Lahore; Ruhani Khaza’in, v. 20, p. 152-153)

Senior Saudi scholars say ‘takfir’ (declaring a Muslim as kafir) cannot be done by humans, but only by Allah

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Geo channel news program ‘Aaj Shahzib Khanzada Ke Sath’ September 28, 2016.

Please click on following link and watch at 24 minutes and 45 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRS377AKPSE

Please see also the same report in the Saudi Arab English daily Arab News:

www.arabnews.com/node/990366/saudi-arabia

"Senior scholars say decision on takfir rests with Allah

ARAB NEWS | Published — Tuesday 27 September 2016

RIYADH: The Council of Senior Scholars has stressed the fact that takfir is a serious issue as it will legalize bloodshed, prevent inheritance and annul marriages.

Declaring rulers and governments out of the fold of Islam is even more harmful as it constitutes incitement to violence, use of weapons, encouraging chaos, bloodshed and corruption of people, the council said.

The council said Islam rejects extremism and terrorism, and that this deviant belief has no place in Islam.

The scholars said the decision on takfir does not rest with humans, but Allah and His messenger and that takfir needs clear evidence from the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.

The Council of Senior Scholars strongly condemned the aggressive war waged by the criminal Syrian regime and its allies on the unarmed people of Syria in general and Aleppo in particular."

The statement in this report that "Declaring rulers and governments out of the fold of Islam is even more harmful as it constitutes incitement to violence,…" reveals the reason why they have condemned takfir. Some Muslims must have called Saudi rulers as kafir!

Maulana Nur-ud-Din on abrogation (naskh) in the Quran

1. Maulana Nur-ud-Din wrote a book entitled Nur-ud-Din in response to a book Tark-i Islam by a former Muslim who joined the Hindu Arya Samaj and had explained the reasons why he had left the religion of Islam. In answering one of his objections against Islam, Maulana Nur-ud-Din wrote:

“I know of no verse in the Quran containing a command which permits something or which makes something compulsory and then it is stated about the same command that what it permitted or required is forbidden. No, no, certainly not. Our Quran has nowhere said to us that a certain command in a certain verse is now absolutely abrogated. Our guide, the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him, has never said: Such and such a command of the Quran is now abrogated. His holy successors were Abu Bakr and Umar, about whom God said: “And the foremost, the first of the Emigrants and the Help­ers, and those who followed them in goodness  — Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him” (9:100), and God declared obedience to them to be a way of earning His pleasure. They also never said that such and such a command of the Quran is abrogated, and it is not at all right to act upon it.

If naskh means to make a command void, i.e., a command is to be found in the Quran and it was abrogated, I know of no such command. If anyone claims to the contrary, he should provide evidence.”

— From the book Nur-ud-Din, p. 231–232, published from Qadian in 1904. News of its publication was announced in Badr, 1 March 1904, p. 8, foot of col. 3.

2. In his verbal teaching sessions on the Quran, commenting on verse 2:106 of the Quran (“Whatever ayat  We abrogate or cause to be forgotten…”), Maulana Nur-ud-Din said:

“As to the question whether there is abrogation in the Quran or not, as far as my understanding goes I will say that I have never, till today, seen any verse which is abrogated while it is found in the Quran. There is no statement reported from the Holy Prophet Muhammad or Hazrat Abu Bakr or Umar showing that such verses are to be found in the Quran.

God says the reason for this abrogation is not Me, but because your circumstances keep on changing so My commands have to be altered.”

— Badr, Appendix, 11 March 1909, p. 19, col. 2; session dated 15 February 1909. See also his collected teaching sessions in Haqa’iq-ul-Furqan, p. 216, where this verse is numbered as 107.

(Translator’s Note: An example of what is indicated in the last statement above is that after Hijrah Muslims were allowed to fight in battle to repel their enemies, whereas before Hijrah the only command was to bear the persecution. This is change of circumstances, not abrogation of an earlier command.)

3. In his verbal teaching sessions on the Quran, commenting on verses 16:101–102 of the Quran (“And when We change an ayat for another ayat…”), Maulana Nur-ud-Din said:

“From these verses some people try to prove abrogation of verses. They face two difficulties. Firstly, they take the word ayat as meaning a verse of the Quran. Secondly, they have to show that the abrogated verse exists in the Quran.”

— Badr, Appendix, 10 February 1910, p. 147, col. 1; session dated 2 February 1910. See also his collected teaching sessions in Haqa’iq-ul-Furqan, p. 512, where these verses are numbered as 102–103.

Newsreel film showing Chinese PM Chou En-Lai being introduced to Mr N.A. Faruqui

There is a silent newsreel film on Youtube covering the visit to Pakistan of Chinese PM Chou En-Lai, probably in 1964, in which he is welcomed by President Ayub Khan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VSrV8Y3-c0

At 1.14 mins in the film he is seen being introduced by President Ayub Khan to Mr N.A. Faruqui. Mr Faruqui is also briefly seen a little later seated on a chair in a room.

At this link I have extracted three relevant screen shots from it.

Towards the end of the film, starting at 2.33 mins, Chou En-Lai visits the site where Islamabad was to be built and plants a tree there.

I believe the same tree planting photo is on Flickr at this link.

In this Flickr photo Mr Faruqui, wearing a dark-coloured cap, is standing next to Z.A. Bhutto as they watch the tree planting.

Pakistan government’s report to UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Readers may be interested in this link to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.

The page is headed: Pakistan to face review by UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is to be on 16th and 17th August.

Through this page I found reports submitted to this committee by some countries' governments. I downloaded the report submitted by the Pakistan government, which I have saved here.

Here are a few choice quotations from it:

"19. Safeguarding the rights of minorities is the priority of the Government of Pakistan. Pakistan is a democratic country and pluralism is the central pillar of our society. Under Articles 20, 21, 22, 26, 27 and 28 of the Constitution of Pakistan, minorities are equal citizens of Pakistan and are free to profess their religion and visit their places of worship."

"20. … All citizens of Pakistan are, thus, equal before law. Citizens of religious minority groups in Pakistan enjoy equal rights as citizenry of the State. … The contributions of minorities in Pakistan have been substantive and they have excelled in most spheres of professions. For instance, the first ever Law Minister, Jogendra Nath Mandal was a Hindu; Justice A.R. Cornelius, a Christian, was the 4th Chief Justice of Pakistan; … …  Dr. Abdul Salam, an Ahmedi, was a Nobel Laureate of 1979."

"22.  The prevalence of Racial Discrimination is, thus, non-existent in Pakistan."

"23. As mentioned above, racism is a rare phenomenon in Pakistan and, therefore, has little or no impact on the lives of the peoples of Pakistan as such."

"25. …  Racial Discrimination does not exist in Pakistan as such, and despite that the State has taken effective measures to prevent incitement to or acts of discrimination based on theories of superiority of race, color or ethnic origin."

"32…  Evidently, there is no apartheid and racial segregation/ discrimination in Pakistan. "

"43. In accordance with existing legal framework, it is also a crime to promote enmity between religious groups"

"61. In a case filed through the Ministry of Law & Justice, i.e. Pakistan Hindi Council v. Pakistan, the Supreme Court held that every citizen had a fundamental right to profess, practice and propagate his religion. 

 … the Lahore High Court held that “under Article 20 of the Constitution, it was the right of every citizen to profess, practice or propagate his religion…"

"62. The Supreme Court … held that every citizen of Pakistan is free to exercise the right to profess, practice or propagate his or her religious views, even against the prevailing or dominant views of his or her own religious denomination or sect."

"63. The aforementioned judgment accords protection to members of all religions and criminalizes incitement of religious hatred."

"64. The minorities are free to preach their respective faith."

"65. The laws in Pakistan cater genuinely to all people belonging to various beliefs."

 "106. Pakistani society is one of the least racist societies due to adherence to the tenets of Islam which prohibit discrimination and promote equality and human dignity."

Does anyone recognize this picture of Pakistan?

(almost) Hundred year old copy of Maulana Muhammad Ali’s translation of the Quran found in belongings of Englishman, who may have been British soldier of First World War

Please see this link on website of the Surrey History Centre in UK. The page is actually about Muslim soldier Mahrup Shah, who died in September 1915 and whose grave is in Brookwood cemetery, near Woking. Some material relating to him was purchased at an auction by Mr Kevin Smith of Woking, a keen military enthusiast. Along with that material, but obviously not belonging to this Muslim soldier (since he died in 1915), was found a copy of the 1917, first edition of Maulana Muhammad Ali's English translation of the Quran, belonging to an Englishman whose name is inscribed in it (B.W. Addison).