The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has Different Strokes for Different Folks

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri

In a blog article ‘The Source of Muslim Extremism’ in The Huffington Post by Dr. Mike Ghouse, published July 11, 2016, he writes:

Contemporary Muslim scholar Hamza Yusuf writes, “This insidious disease has a source, and that source must be identified, so we can begin to inoculate our communities against it.”

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf co-founded liberal arts Zaytuna College: http://www.zaytuna.edu

His bio on faculty pages says:

“Hamza Yusuf is a president, cofounder, and senior faculty member of Zaytuna College. He is an advisor to Stanford University’s Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. He also serves as a member of the board of advisors of George Russell’s One Nation, a national philanthropic initiative that promotes pluralism and inclusion in America. In addition, he serves as vice-president for the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, which was founded and is currently presided over by Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, one of the top jurists and masters of Islamic sciences in the world.”

See: https://www.zaytuna.edu/academics/faculty/

It is in my knowledge that in early 1990s Hamza Yusuf, after “testing the waters” with Professor Dr. Hibbatul Mannan Omar AKA Dr. Khalid Omar (son of Abdul Mannan Omar), highly praised Maulana Muhammad Ali English translation and Commentary of Holy Quran. Around half a dozen years ago I mentioned this to a former Quadiani, who was student of Hamza Yusuf in San Francisco Bay Area, on internet. Sometime later Hamza Yusuf was put on spot where he expressed somewhat appreciation of Maulana Muhammad Ali scholarly works. Recording of this came to public knowledge in a YouTube video. Dr. Zahid Aziz gave Eid Khutba (sermon) and quoted words of appreciation by Hamza Yusuf, see pages 4 – 5 of this link.

Eid Khutba by Dr. Zahid Aziz came into knowledge of opponents of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. They built pressure on Hamza Yusuf. He wrote a long article to dispel the impression that he considers Maulana Muhammad Ali as a Muslim. See: "Sticks and Drones May Break Our Bones, but Fitna Really Hurts Us".

In rebuttal Dr. Zahid Aziz wrote an article: Hamza Yusuf’s retraction of his praise for Maulana Muhammad Ali

On October 31, 2015, APPNA (Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America) winter meeting dinner was held at Fairmont, San Francisco. Hamza Yusuf was key note speaker. I twice met him after the speech. I told him what is wrong with his above mentioned article. I gave him copies of the Eid Khutba by Dr. Zahid Aziz, his own article, and Dr. Zahid Aziz's rebuttal article. I also gave my cover letter. I gave him my private phone number and email address. I requested him to please read the material I gave him and asked him to email me his reply. He promised he will, and during conversation he kept looking at me with a piercing look, perhaps to memorize my face. It has been more than eight months; he did NOT get back to me. Following is portion of text of my cover letter:

Dear brother Hamza Yusuf,

Dear brother, I feel that you have factual errors in your article ‘Sticks and Drones May Break Our Bones, but Fitna Really Hurts Us’. Brother I have full conviction that guidance only comes from Allah SWT, but as a Muslim brother of yours, I feel it is my responsibility ti at the very least point out your factual errors. With this I do my duty.

Brother, please email me your rebuttal of article by Dr. Zahid Aziz. I will forward it to him for posting on his blog. I look forward to your reply. Brother you know better than me, we all will die and we all will be accountable for our oral words, written words, actions and inactions. Ref Holy Quran 33:67, 34:31-38, and 40:47-48.

Brother Hamza you must have read about Mohammad Alexander Russell Webb. He was the first American Muslim convert. He converted to Islam after correspondence with Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the MUJADDID of 14th Islamic century. After his tenure as US ambassador in Philippines, on his way back to USA he visited India. His plan was to meet Hazrat Ahmad in Qadian. Before he could get to Qadian from the port city where his ship anchored, he met many Muslim scholars who advised him against visiting Qadian. They convinced him that as his plan is to propagate Islam in USA and open Isamic Centers etc., so by his visit to Qadian and meeting with Hazrat Ahmad will discourage Muslims in India to financially contribute towards his objective in USA. Anyways, Mr. Webb did not visit Qadian and returned to USA. He did get some funds from Indian Muslims but as history is witness they did not last and he could not fulfill his mission. Later he had regrets of not visiting the reformer of the age in Qadian, and kept contacts with LAM [Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement] elders and even edited book ‘The Teachings of Islam’ which is Hazrat Ahmad’s book translation by Maulana Muhammad Ali. Brother my point is, we humans sometime due to temporal [reasons] and fear of losing popularity stray away from our belief that source of all kinds of strength is Allah SWT. Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS despite all the odds against him preached and practiced Holy Quran teachings that don’t call Kafir to anyone who says Asaalam Alikum, let alone a Kalima Shahada reciter. By the way one such person who discouraged Mr. Webb from visiting Qadian, himself accepted Hazrat Ahmad as Mujaddid of era and was an elder of LAM.

I wonder how administrations at Stanford University and Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union will deal with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf when they come to know truth about him and find out he speaks from both sides of his mouth. On one hand he impresses people like Dr. Mike Ghouse and on other hand he endorses extremist ideologies of Pakistani Mullah-Mafia. How he will “inoculate our communities” when in principle he agrees with those ideologies?

Please read the following blog article that exposes Hamza Yusuf modus operandi: Reform In Islam To Come From Within, which says:

The economist has an interesting article on reform in Islam:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2015/01/reforming-islam

I commented as below (buried in 4 pages of comments to this economist article):

"Look, for example, at the personally courageous stance of Hamza Yusuf, an American-born scholar with a wide following in the Islamic heart-land"

Ah where was the courage of Hamza Yusuf when he backtracked and apostasized the Lahori Ahmadis and removed his youtube of half hearted praise.

Courage is exhibited when a scholar upholds principles that can be deeply unpopular at the time.   Hamza Yusuf did not pass this test.

Eid-ul-Fitr Khutba at Lahore Ahmadiyya Centre, London

Here is the Eid-ul-Fitr khutba (sermon), 6th July 2016, by your Blog Admin in London.

Zahid Aziz

Eid-ul-Fitr message by Dr A.K. Saeed, Head of Lahore Ahmadiyya

Please read here the Eid-ul-Fitr message, July 2016, by Dr A.K. Saeed, Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.

And an Eid Mubarak to all our Blog readers and contributors.

Ramadan 2016

Here is the Ramadan Message by Hazrat Ameer Dr A.K. Saeed, Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.

Welcome to the Ramadan Daily Quran Studies for 2016

(Note: Any new posts during Ramadan will be filed below this post.)

Prayers urged on LAM members for Ramadan by Maulana Muhammad Ali: English translation |  Urdu original

• Fast 1 — Significance of fasting
• Fast 2 — Fasting: Developing good qualities
• Fast 3 — Fasting in Religions before Islam
• Fast 4 — The month of Ramadan
• Fast 5 — Fasting: Conclusion
• Fast 6 — The quality of patience
• Fast 7 — More on the quality of patience

• Fast 8 — Women in Islam – 1: Their qualities
• Fast 9 — Women in Islam – 2: Recognized as possessing intelligence
• Fast 10 — Women in Islam – 3: Property rights
• Fast 11 — Women in Islam – 4: Spiritual position
• Fast 12 — Women in Islam – 5: Position in sight of God
• Fast 13 — Women in Islam – 6: Reward for good deeds
• Fast 14 — Women in Islam – 7: Husband and wife

• Fast 15 — Women in Islam – 8: Marriage and treatment of wife
• Fast 16 — Women in Islam – 9: A woman ruler in the Quran
• Fast 17 — Honest Dealing
• Fast 18 — Justice
• Fast 19 — Justice – Truthful evidence
• Fast 20 — Justice – Unbiased judgment, even in favour of enemy
• Fast 21 — Qualities for Leadership – 1

• Fast 22 — Qualities for Leadership – 2
• Fast 23 — Qualities for Leadership – 3: Leaders must be above suspicion
• Fast 24 — Qualities for Leadership – 4: Leaders to be gentle and lenient
• Fast 25 — Quran presents perfect concept of God
• Fast 26 — God: The One beyond all imagination
• Fast 27 — God: The oneness of God — 1
• Fast 28 — The oneness of God — 2
• Fast 29 — The oneness of God — 3. What it gives us
• Fast 30 — The oneness of God — 4. Depth of its meaning

Brief document on how the moon declines towards the end of the lunar month, with photos.

While we Muslims still insist on sighting the new moon by eye to determine if the new moon has appeared, a NASA spacecraft will reach near the planet Jupiter on 4th July. Please see this link.

Jupiter is at present 2000 times further from us than the moon, and man is able to send a spacecraft there with reamrkable accuracy! But we say we need to see the moon by eye.

It is Time for the Mujaddid of the Century. Says Tarif Khalidi.

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Tarif Khalidi is professor and Islamic scholar at American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Few days ago he gave a speech, in The Near East School of Theology in Beirut.

According to columnist Robert Fisk, of Independent newspaper, UK:

“The speaker was Dr Tarif Khalidi, one of Islam’s foremost scholars and translator of the latest English-language edition of the Koran, whose earlier works on Jesus in Muslim stories match his most recent anthology of Arab literature. The title of his address was an almost frightening world-beater: Does Islam need a Martin Luther?”

“Every 100 years in Islamic history, Khalidi observed, a renewer of faith – a mujaddid – would arise to breathe new life into the religion.”

The magnums scale at which Islam is distorted by Muslims and maligned by its opponents, to fix this problem is only the job and in power of Divine appointee i.e. Mujaddid.  Although Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement is boldly taking this challenge, I think it is punching above its weight. This problem will only be solved by a Mujaddid. With Mamur-min-Allah (Divine appointee) Malaika (angels) come that work like unknown and unseen hands to make work of Divine appointee easier. I pray may Allah SWT send his Divine appointee sooner than later. Ameen.   

Link to the article

Pharaoh and Z.A. Bhutto

"And Pharaoh said: Chiefs, I know no god for you besides myself; so kindle a fire for me, Hāmān, on (bricks of) clay, then prepare for me a lofty building, so that I may obtain knowledge of the God of Moses, and surely I think him a liar." (The Quran, 28:38)

Pharaoh = Z.A. Bhutto.
Chiefs = His ministers
"I know no god for you besides myself" — expresses accurately what he thought about himself.
Hāmān = Yahya Bakhtiar
lofty building = Pakistan National Assembly
Moses = Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
God of Moses = His beliefs

"And he was unjustly proud in the land, he and his armies, and they thought that they would not be brought back to Us. So We caught hold of him and his armies, then We cast them into the sea, and see what was the end of the wrongdoers." (28:39-40)

Orlando killings

The Quran tells Muslims: "O you who believe, take care of your (own) souls — he who goes astray cannot harm you when you are on the right way." (5:105)

Islam does not order, allow, support, encourage or condone killings by a Muslim such as the mass killing in Orlando. It tells Muslims to think about their own morality instead of attacking others for their conduct. The act committed in Orlando is nothing other than an unjustified and brutal act of mass murder.

I extend my sympathies to the many who are suffering as a result of this outrage. They are human beings, just like any Muslim.

Zahid Aziz
Admin of this blog.

Panama Leaks and the Qadiani Jamaat

Our friend SH DXB has submitted the following post. As this is all in the public domain, there cannot be any objection in publishing it, although it gives us no joy in doing so.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/105509-List-of-more-Pakistanis-named-in-Panama-Papers-released

(Note: The above link now leads to Geo TV's home page. A cached copy of the original page is available at this link.)

Please see the list towards the end to find out the name of present Qadiani Khalifa:

• Summit Properties : 20/12/94 – Lahore
• Nusrath Investments : 16/12/94 – Lahore
• Al Hamd Holdings : 23/5/2000 – Lahore
• Qadir Enterprises : 22/5/2000 – Lahore

See this link also which is from a different site:

https://www.geo.tv/assets/docs/list-jang.html

See the 3rd name from last of the 1st list.

Dear brothers in Qadiani Jamaat: Do continue to pay chanda in different forms to help the family trust called Ahmadiyya Jamaat!

And read below the words of the Promised Messiah (AS):

"I did not tell this, but after my Lord told me that my relatives will once again return to corruption and they will increase in evil deeds and adamancy, and on that day, the Lord of the servants will proclaim His decision what is decreed to them. And nobody will be able to prevent that. And I am seeing that they have inclined to their previous wrong doings and their heart has become hard like the character of illiterate people. They ignored the day of the fear of God and they increased in falsehood and exaggeration. And Allah will send down His decree when He sees that they increased in their exaggeration and Allah is not such a one who gives punishment when they are the ones who fear him." (Anjam-e Atham, RK 11, p. 223,224, published January 1897)

Mehmudies are Revolting and Grip of Qadiani Khalifa 5 Mirza Masroor Ahmad is Loosening

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

In 1974 Pakistani anti-HMGA Muslims were successful in getting 2nd amendment to Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution. Although on the surface they were successful in creating hindrance in mission of HMGA, but unknown to them their action created environment for spread and correction of its mission in minds of those who were on the wrong path. In aftermath of this amendment Lahore Ahmadiyya Movements members were forced to realize that HMGA teachings are needed outside the geographical boundaries of Pakistan. As a result more books of HMGA and literature of LAM got translated into European languages. And with the advent of internet, its computer servers and websites are placed and hosted outside Pakistan. Similarly, Mehmudies (those Qadianis who believe QK2 Mirza Mehmud Ahmad was Musleh Mahud) were forced to emigrate to Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and USA. This is giving Mehmudies chance to correct their wrong beliefs and providing them space to revolt against their Qadiani Khalifas 2-5 teachings and policies. Interesting thing is that QK5 Mirza Masroor Ahmad knows this, but he is not in a position to tighten his grip. Recent Panama Leaks has further eroded whatever moral authority he had.  Here are two such examples:

I know a Qadiani Jamaat member who is physician. He is known for opening Aftar (breaking fast in Ramadan) with Muslim friends but then not offering Mughrib prayers. Three weeks ago a common Muslim friend’s son died in accident. There was Janaza (funeral prayer) in town mosque. Before Janazah there was Asar prayer. This Qadiani physician first offered Asar prayer with common Muslims behind non-Ahmadi imam, and then offered Janazah of common Muslim behind non-Ahmadi imam. Please note there were at least 300 Muslim in mosque.

Today a colleague of mine, psychiatrist by profession, his paternal aunty (cha chi) is sister of QK 4 Mirza Tahir Ahmad, told me that Qadianis are NOT reporting their true income to Qadiani authorities for purpose of compulsory and non-compulsory Chanda (financial) collections. Qadiani authorities have started demanding W-2 form (it is official form issued by employer that reports total income and federal and state taxes etc withheld). So Qadianis have refused to provide this document to Qadiani Jamaat goons who come to collect Chanda. Instead they are told to get lost and get out of their homes.

One thing is becoming clear by the day, that Qadiani Khalifas are losing their hold on his followers and followers are questioning their Khalifa policies and beliefs.

Link to W-2 form:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw2.pdf

Links to Panama Leaks:

http://ahmediorg.yuku.com/topic/5145/Offshore-Company-From-RABWAH-Panama-Leaks#.V053lPkrLIU

http://ahmediorg.yuku.com/topic/5149/Mirza-Tahirs-Daughter-Son-in-Laws-Company#.V053uPkrLIU

http://ahmediorg.yuku.com/topic/5148/ASIFA-HOLDINGS-SA#.V0532vkrLIU

http://ahmediorg.yuku.com/topic/5147/Panama-Leaks-Abdul-Baqi-Arshad-The-Handler#.V053-fkrLIU

Hadith about khilafat after despotic kings

Submitted by Omar Raja.

Regarding the hadith: "Prophethood will remain among you as long as Allah wills. Then Caliphate (Khilafah) on the lines of Prophethood shall commence, and remain as long as Allah wills. Then corrupt/erosive monarchy would take place, and it will remain as long as Allah wills. After that, despotic kingship would emerge, and it will remain as long as Allah wills. Then, the Caliphate (Khilafah) shall come once again based on the precept of Prophethood (Masnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Mishkat, Chapter Al-Anzar Wal Tahzir)

This hadith cannot be interpreted to mean a new khilafat will be established after the Promised Messiah because the Promised Messiah himself did not even interpret it as such! Furthermore, a divinely-ordained institution of everlasting khilafat after the Holy Prophet already existed and continues to exist with the coming of mujaddids whom are in fact the spiritual khalifas of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, to include the Promised Messiah as he himself explained and claimed to be, stating mujaddids are in fact "deputies and spiritual successors (khalifas) of the Messenger of Allah" and come "by way of zill." (Fath Islam, 22 January 1891, p. 6 footnote).

The hadith in question can only mean the early days of Islam and the last days are similar in terms of an abundance of blessings for the progress of Islam. The Promised Messiah explained, "it is proven from the Hadith that there are three ages: first, the period of the righteous khilafat, then the "age of corruption" in which there were to be tyrannical kings, and after that the last days which would be on the pattern of the times of prophethood. The Holy Prophet has gone so far as to say that the early days of his followers and the last days would be very similar, and that these two ages are like the rain: it is full of such good and blessings that one knows not whether the blessings lie more in the beginning or in the end. (Shahadatul-Quran pp. 45-46).