July 6th, 2012
Death of Jesus
Rizwan Jamil writes:
Dear Dr. Zahid!
I want to ask you a question regarding Jesus’s (PBUH) death. Can you please open a new thread with this topic?
Thanks!
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
Rizwan Jamil writes:
Dear Dr. Zahid!
I want to ask you a question regarding Jesus’s (PBUH) death. Can you please open a new thread with this topic?
Thanks!
Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri
My two reasons for writing blog on him.
1-Nasir Ahmad Sultani on his website has his speech in which he mentioned my name in a negative sense. He also negatively mentioned names of Dr. Zahid Aziz, Dr. Noman Malik, Mrs. Samina Malik, Shahid Aziz, and Amir Aziz. Link is provided at the bottom of this blog.
2-I receive emails from his naïve followers promoting Nasir Ahmad Sultani claim of Mujjadid of 15th Islamic century, at the same time avoiding my probing questions about their “Mujjadid”.
Nasir Ahmad Sultani has been member of Qadiani Cult until last couple of years. On his website he has posted his photos graduating from Qadiani Murrabi (missionary) School in Rabwah and with other elders of Qadianis. He has also posted photos in which he has stethoscope resting around his neck. From photos he creates impression as if he is medical doctor such as M.B.B.S. (i.e. Physician of modern western evidence based medicine). He falsely gives impression that he can identify cardiac murmurs and arrhythmias with tubes hanging around his neck.
Professor Dr. Munir ud Din Ahmad, Ph.D is professor of Oriental Sciences, based in Hamburg Germany. He is former Qadiani. He was Waqaf-e-Zindghi, missionary to Germany and graduate of Qadiani Murrabi School in Rabwah. The same Murrabi School from which Nasir Ahmad Sultani is proud of graduating. Dr. Munir ud Din Ahmad has written his autobiography in Urdu language. Title of his book is ‘Dhaltay Syae’. In his book he has given details of life of student days and of culture of Qadiani Murrabi School and its Hostel of young male students. He has even given names of elders of today’s Qadianis. Picture he has sketched is of Qadiani Murrabis drenched in immorality. I only mentioned this detail here because Nasir Ahmad Sultani has made claim of divine appointment. Otherwise Allah SWT is Sattar and He covers weaknesses of his imperfect, sinner and weak servants.
In my curiosity to find out about the new claimant of “divine appointment” Nasir Ahmad Sultani, I inquired about any scholarly works on Islam he has published. I consider it a fair question, as I don’t live in his neighborhood, and on the other hand he is trying to reach people including myself across the world through modern means of communication. In reply his NAÏVE FOLLOWERS reply, “Did Holy Prophet Muhmmad SAWS wrote book before he made his claim of messenger-hood?” (Nasir Ahmad Sultani is lucky that he is in Sri Lanka seeking political asylum otherwise some Pakistani Mullah would have made him history for equating himself to Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS).
Following tradition of Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS, when it is demanded he should put his personal character for scrutiny, I get reply from Nasir Ahmad Sultani’s NAÏVE FOLLOWER, “your mind is preoccupied”.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib had many opponents. The leader of their opponent was Maulvi Muhammad Hussain Batalvi of Alh-e-Hadith. He was to HMGA what Abu Jahl was to Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS. Muhammad Hussain Batalvi was arch enemy of HMGA, but even he testified the superb moral character of HMGA. Actually HMGA use to refer to him when presenting his character.
Now question for Nasir Ahmad Sultani and his NAÏVE FOLLOWERS:
Can any current PROMINENT Qadiani who has spent considerable numbers of years in RABWAH MURRABI SCHOOL HOSTEL with Nasir Ahmad Sultani testify on his character??? Can Nasir Ahmad Sultani refer to such a person???
Link to Nasir ahmad Sultani’s audio/video clip. Please listen at 12 minutes.
Zulqarnain: Was Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad the Mujaddid of the 14th and 15th Century Hijrah?
The following are real events known to me first hand.
1969: A Sunni (meaning non-Ahmadi Sunni) Muslim faces a court case in Pakistan brought by some other Sunni Muslims regarding a personal issue. He submits a false statement to the authorities. He and his friends also ask an Ahmadi to back up the false statement by making a false statement himself. The Ahmadi refuses since he believes that it is against Islam to give false evidence, and moreover he advises them that the party against them are also Muslims and it is wrong to do injustice to your own brethren whether they are your actual relatives or other Muslims.
1974: Ahmadis are declared as non-Muslim by the government of Pakistan. The very same Sunni gentleman (who made a false statement against other Sunnis for his personal advantage) advises Ahmadis that it is absolutely essential, in fact the most important thing in life, to be known as a Muslim, and therefore they must declare that they are not Ahmadis so that they are legally recognised as Muslims. He himself is proud to be a Muslim according to the Pakistan constitution and even wishes that the Ahmadi who refused to give false evidence should declare himself such a “Muslim”.
Strange isn’t it, that to be recognised as “Muslim” under Pakistani law is so very important, but there is nothing wrong with giving false evidence which deprives another party of Muslims (who are Sunnis) of their just rights! And even stranger, that it was an Ahmadi, one who was declared a non-Muslim from 1974 onwards, who refused to give false evidence which would damage that other party’s rights!
In Paigham Sulh, 3 December 1929, an Arabic poem by a Syrian in praise of Maulana Muhammad Ali is published. The Urdu translation is under each line of Arabic. See the image here.
A tool which the Western critics of Islam have recently been employing is to accuse Islam and its followers of anti-semitism. (They are, of course, helped in their argument by the foolish pronouncements of certain Muslim political and religious leaders.)
Yet when Hitler was conducting the oppression of the Jews in Germany, before the Second World War began, very few people in the U.K., U.S.A., France, and like countries, condemned his actions. In fact, a large number of people in these countries supported various policies of Hitler until they were compelled to fight Germany’s aggression towards its neighbours.
But who condemned Hitler’s anti-Jewish measures at an early stage?
It was Muslims.
Please see at this link a page from The Light of Lahore, an English language Muslim journal, dated 8 April 1933, just two months after Hitler came to power. On this page there is a comment in the right-hand column near the foot of the page, which is headed Hitlerism.
“The West may rightly be described as a continent of “isms”. Capitalism, Socialism, Bolshevism, Facism, Communism — these are the so many manifestations of a restless soul seeking after some true solution of a social system. On top of them all now comes in Germany what may be called Hitlerism. Whether this new tide will take the German people back to the promised land flowing with milk and honey is yet to be seen. In the meantime it has launched a bitter campaign of hatred against the Jews who, as reports show, are subjected to severe persecutions all over Germany. This is deplorable, to say the least and no movement based on hatred can be expected to blow any good to humanity. Europe in quest of a social order has tried so many isms, each having landed it in deeper social bogs. Will it not give a trial to the one “ism” that sprang from the soil of Arabia and which combines all that is best and is free from all that is evil in all the “isms” it has so far tried, viz., Islamism?”
(The bolding is mine.)
It is nothing short of astonishing, if not a Divine miracle, that a Muslim organ based so far from Europe, writes that Hitler’s policies will lead to no good because they are based on hatred and on persecuting the Jews. Please remember that during the 1930s eminent persons in the West outside Nazi Germany (particularly the U.K.) believed that many of Hitler’s policies were admirable.
Challenge number 1 to critics of Islam: How many persons can you point out in the civilised West who, at the very time Hitler came to power, condemned Hitler’s persecution of Jews and predicted that it would lead to no good for humanity?
If this was not enough, I refer you to statements of the Imam of the Woking Mosque in 1939. The Woking Mosque was, at that time, the main Muslim centre in the U.K., frequented by leaders of various nations when visiting Britain, and its Imam was the spokesman of the Muslim community.
1. In 1939 he was asked if Nazism was compatible with Islamic teachings. He replied that:
“The present-day legislation in Germany is inspired by racial discrimination and religious distinctions. It, to begin with, believes in racial superiority, it believes in exiling people for their religious opinions. It has actually pulled down synagogues.
… there can be no two opinions on the matter. Islam has come to establish in reality the Brotherhood of Man which is the imperative need of the present-day world. Enough of dissensions. Let us talk of ways enabling us to treat each other as brothers and members of one family.”
He went on to denounce the persecution of Jews in Germany. See: www.wokingmuslim.org/work/imams-reply-mar40.htm
2. In the Eid-ul-Fitr khutba, 13 November 1939, he declared:
“A Muslim is bound to wage war against any person, whether of his own kith and kin and religion or not, who interferes with the beliefs of a non-Muslim. … Muslims are ordered to sacrifice their lives not only to save their own mosques but the religious houses of other peoples as well. …
The Zionist policy in Palestine has done us great harm. Untold miseries has it brought upon our brethren in the faith in that country. But the very fact that synagogues have been pulled down in Germany upon the slightest pretext makes it obligatory upon us Muslims to throw our weight into the cause of the Allies. ”
See: www.wokingmuslim.org/work/id-ul-fitr-1939.htm
Challenge number 2 to critics of Islam: How many Christian religious leaders at the time preached from the pulpit that it was the religious duty of Christians to take up arms against those who destroy synagogues?
I will be sending out my challenge by post to certain newspapers columnists in Britain. (Zahid Aziz)
Someone called Adam has sent the following comment:
Ahmadiyya fatwa muzzles wedding bells
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-12/kozhikode/31330842_1_wedding-reception-family-members-marriage
What are your thoughts on this?
I have created a new website dedicated to the life and work of Maulana
Abdul Haq Vidyarthi. It is as yet at an early stage of development.
Please see:
If you read the reports of his missionary activities from 1923 that I have uploaded, you will see how much work he and other Lahore Ahmadi missionaries (such as one Maulana Ismatullah) did in rural areas (for example, around Agra) to prevent Muslims falling into the clutches of the Arya Samaj. Large numbers of Muslims had in fact deserted Islam and become Aryas, who accepted Islam again through the work of the Maulana.
He mentions in these reports that one factor which helped the Arya Samaj was the disrepute of the Maulvis themselves. The Maulana even says that some wicked Maulvis took money from the Aryas to confirm the allegations against Islam which the Aryas were exploiting (meaning that if, for example, the Aryas said that Islam was a religion of violence, the Maulvis would confirm the same).
Zahid Aziz.
A valued contributor has sent us the following news:
US Bible translator agrees to review after criticism over substitutions for ‘Son’ and ‘Father’
The head of the translation publication company says:
“in some cases, what are known to scholars as the “divine familial terms” — God the Father and the Son of God — don’t make sense in translation in some cultures. Islamic teaching, for example, rejects the notion that God could be involved in a relationship similar to a human family, and … people in such cultures might be immediately put off by those terms.”
A critic of the translation says:
“using words like “Messiah” instead of “Son” and “Lord” instead of “Father” badly distorts the essential Christian doctrine of the Trinity, in which God is said to be one being in three persons…
If you remove ‘son,’ you have to remove ‘father,’ and if you remove those, the whole thread of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation is unraveled”.
When I first read the news item referred to below in a British newspaper, I thought the newspaper must have made a mistake or misunderstood something (i.e. the “dead wife” part). But the same news appears in a newspaper of the Arab world. Please see:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/25/210198.html
To quote the opening lines:
“Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) has appealed to the Islamist-dominated parliament not to approve two controversial laws on the minimum age of marriage and allowing a husband to have sex with his dead wife within six hours of her death according to a report in an Egyptian newspaper.” (bolding is mine)
Submitted by Ikram.
Qadianis base their claim of Prophethood for Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian on two verses of Holy Quran that they enumerate as 4:70 and 7:36. Both of these verses are included in their arguments on a web page titled “Khatamun Nabiyyeen – Does the Holy Quran allow Prophets to come?” on their site WhyAhmadi.org.
Following is the analysis of these verses in light of Qadiani claims, that are refuted. For comparison, verses from translation of Quran by Muhammad Ali are also given below:
4:70. And Whoso obeys Allah and this Messenger of His shall be among those on whom Allah has bestowed His blessings, namely the Prophets, the Truthful, the Martyrs, and the Righteous. And an excellent companions are these. [WhyAhmadi.org]
4:69. And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, they are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favours from among the [nabis] prophets and the [siddiqs] truthful and the [shahids] faithful and the [salihs] righteous, and a goodly company are they! [Muhammad Ali, as quoted in Islamic Review, p. 5]
Qadiani Misconception:
“We are told by Allah that the blessings that He bestows are the Prophets, the Truthful, the Martyrs and the Righteous. So Allah is clearly informing us that the blessings of Prophethood are still open for us, why are we trying to close it. Do we not want this great blessing?” [WhyAhmadi.org, emphasis added]
Assumptions – of “cause and effect” in the above verse in light of Qadiani view:
Given – Whoso i.e. both men and women.
Premise – If the status of the Truthful, the Martyrs, and the Righteous can be attained by one’s actions then why it should not be supposed that likewise the status of prophethood can be also be attained?
Cause – Whoso obeys Allah and this Messenger of His
Effect – status of even prophethood can be achieved.
Fallacy – that the office of prophethood can be realized, whereas it is an office that is conferred:
3:179. …Allah chooses of His messengers whom He pleases… [Muhammad Ali]
72:27. except a messenger whom He chooses… [Muhammad Ali]
Analysis – of absurdities:
If the cause (obedience to Allah and Messenger – Muhammad) as a law produces the effect (prophethood), then where ever the cause is found its effect must also be found.
But, if cause is found without its effect or effect is found without its cause, then this relationship is not a law.
Since eternity till Muhammad, and almost fourteen centuries since, not a single woman has been conferred the office of prophethood, despite women being given revelations (e.g. mothers of Moses and Jesus). Why? Did not Quran self-contradict by mentioning Whoso. Is no woman is capable to obey Allah and this Messenger like men, even thought we have Mary on record to have devoted her chaste life in prayer. Despite the cause, the desired effect never happened for our mothers. Why the discrimination, even thought Quran is on record that Allah does not impose on any soul a duty beyond its ability (2:286), be it a man or a woman? Either, we must state equivocally that the above verse is not for half the humanity, i.e. for women the cause does not produce the desired effect or fundamentally there is no relationship between the cause and the effect.
If the Misconception outlined above is taken on its face value as the law, then by obedience to Allah and Muhammad there is nothing to prevent one from becoming a prophet – the promulgator of the law and the “teacher of the book and authority.”
Nowhere in the above verse it is stated that such a prophet will not be maker of the law. The promulgator of the law not only enjoins other to follow the law but himself follows his own law, for no one can conceive of a law, and no one is likely to follow a law unless the promulgator himself follows the law. This new prophet not only disassociates himself from the original set of laws to which he was obedient to begin with, but he enjoins others as well to cut themselves away from the law, essentially the prophet and the followers make a “revolt” to previously ordained prophet. Now what about the new prophet who himself is the violator of the verse obeys Allah and this Messenger, as the previous Messenger does not hold sway for him.
Factuality
The verse clearly states among (‘ma‘ i.e. with) excellent companions without conferring the ‘identify’. Thus by obedience to Allah and Messenger one attains the ‘companionship’ of theProphets, the Truthful, the Martyrs, and the Righteous and not the ‘identity’ of theProphets, the Truthful, the Martyrs, and the Righteous. Simply put, by being in company of lawyers and judges, one does not become one himself, but such ‘companions’ do share common values but not ‘identify.’
What is here spoken of is a general and a very broad enjoyment which even ordinary conformity to God and the Apostle will confer upon all mankind. That benefit which is conferred is “companionship”, which is enjoyable by not merely those of the same “identity” but even by others who are not of the same identity but merely conforming to God and the Messenger.
It is not the purpose of this verse to show what men actually become by obedience to God and the Messenger. This verse merely indicates what humanity enjoys in common on account of “obedience to God and the Messenger” irrespective of their being of the one class or another, But the verses indicating as to what they actually become are different, regarding which it can be said with certainty that there is not even a single verse indicating that by “obedience” one can become a prophet or nabis. On the contrary, however, we have other verses mentioning that by “obedience to God and the Messenger” people do become siddiq, or shahid, or salih.
57:19. And those who believe in Allah and His messengers, they are the truthful and the faithful ones with their Lord. They have their reward and their light…
29:9. And those who believe and do good, We shall surely make them enter among the righteous. [Muhammad Ali]
While the word of God should have so profusely reiterated the attainment of all the minor grades of spirituality by those who are obedient, it is inconceivable how the convertibility of one into the greatest of all spirituality, i.e., prophethood, should have been mentioned, if at all, only once, and that not regarding identity but about “companionship “. The fact is that while by “obedience to God and the Messenger” attainment of all the three grades – truthfulness, faithfulness and righteousness is contemplated, the attainment or convertibility of one by effort into a nabi or prophet is not even dramatic according to the Qur’án.
7:36. O children of Adam, if Messengers come to you from among yourselves, rehearsing My Signs unto you, then whoso shall fear God and do good deeds, on them shall come no fear nor shall they grieve [WhyAhmadi.org]
7:35. O children of Adam, if messengers come to you from among you relating to you My messages, then whoever guards against evil and acts aright — they shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. [Muhammad Ali, as quoted in Islamic Review, p. 7]
Qadiani Misconception
Although Allah has addressed us by saying “O children of Adam”, it is obvious if you read the verse before and after it, that Allah is addressing the Muslims. Therefore, Allah is informing us that we should accept any Prophet when he comes to us! Some Muslims object that in this verse it says Messengers – rasool will come and that there is a difference between a Prophet Nabi and Messenger rasool. This is nonsense and is totally unsupported by the Holy Quran.
If we again refer to the first verse we quoted Chapter 33 verse 41, it says that ‘Muhammad is a Messenger (rasool) of Allah and Khataman Nabiyyeen (Prophet)’. These spiritual titles have been given to many prophets there is no difference between them, a Prophet is also a messenger and a messenger is also a prophet. [WhyAhmadi.org]
It is not necessary to dilate upon this verse as the mere indication that rasool, or messengers, will come in the future does. not alter the position we have taken above. It will be enough to point out that the use of the term rasool in the Qur’an is more general and much wider than the word nabi. The word rasool etymologically means “the sent one” and in that sense the word rasool is used in the Qur’an in various circumstances for prophets or nabis, for even the companions of the prophet, the apostles of Jesus, and for angels. The use of this term, therefore, is very wide, and is based merely on its significance of the “sent ones”. As all sent ones cannot be the same, all messengers cannot become prophets or nabis. It will be quite true to say that all nabis are messengers, but it can never be said that all messengers are nabis, in the same manner as it can be said that all kings are men, but it cannot be said that all men are kings. Those who might be indicated, therefore, as capable of coming must be, if at all they do, of a non-nabi or of a non-prophet type.
While thinking outside the box I, Ikram, will further add:
72:26 He [alone] knows that which is beyond the reach of a created being’s perception and to none does He disclose aught of the mysteries of His Own unfathomable knowledge,
72:27 unless it be to an apostle whom He has been pleased to elect [there for]: and then He sends forth [the forces of heaven] to watch over him in whatever lies open before him and in what is beyond his ken. [Muhammad Asad]
If the above verses are re-read in contemporary sense, at least in the realm of Science they are fitting the Einsteins, Hawkings and Abdus Salams of today. It is these people who are given the unfathomable knowledge (of the theoretical physics), which is yet beyond the reach of a created being’s perception? Isn’t scientific knowledge sub-set of His unfathomable knowledge? Then, do we have to have Messengers only in shape of classical “Rasools?” Isn’t it a job description of a apostle to bring knowledge of God, including science to Man?
References – The above article is a rephrase and adaptation of “FINALITY OF PROPHETHOOD IN ISLAM” by M. Ahmad Bacha, B.A., published in The Islamic Review, January 1959.
According to an article published by BBC Urdu the total number of Ahmadiyya community in India is One hundred thousand.…
----Jul 27, 18:49