The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

George Sale and the story of Jesus in Islam

Submitted by Bashir.

George Sale was the first person to translate the Quran into english. I recently read his translation and was intrigued in terms of the story of Jesus. In my honest opinion muslims always believed that Jesus would physically return to this planet. The way he left was a gray area in Islamic thought. As we all know, some muslims thought that Allah caused Jesus to die before he left, whereas the majority believed that he was ascended whilst still alive. The reason that the majority of the muslims believed that Jesus must have left physically was because of the traditions that explained a physical return.

This is how George Sale translated 4:157

“and have said, Verily we have slain Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the apostle of GOD; yet they slew him not, neither crucified him, but he was represented by one in his likeness; and verily they who disagreed concerning him were in a doubt as to this matter, and had no sure knowledge thereof, but followed only an uncertain opinion. They did not really kill him; but GOD took him up unto himself: and GOD is mighty and wise. And there shall not be one of those who have received the scriptures, who shall not believe in him, before his death; and on the day of resurrection he shall be a witness against them.1 Because of the iniquity of those who Judaize, we have forbid-“

Some of this translation by George Sale has extra words which help the reader understand the verse. Obviously, Mr. Sale got the impression from this verse that muslims believed that Jesus wasn’t crucified, but instead, there was a person who was crucified in his place, pointing towards the substitution theory.

This is how George Sale translated 3:55

“When GOD said, O Jesus, verily I will cause thee to die, and I will take thee up unto me, and I will deliver thee from the unbelievers; and I will place those who follow thee above the unbelievers, until the day of resurrection: then unto me shall ye return, and I will judge between you of that concerning which ye disagree.”

Obviously, Mr. Sale’s translation exposes the position of Islam and the status of Jesus. The way that Jesus left this planet was a gray area. Muslims explained the best way possible. There were some muslims who thought that Jesus died when he left, nonetheless, Jesus’ return was to be physical, not spiritual.

Ibn Abbas who is the father of Tafsir, he wrote:

((And remember) when Allah said: O Jesus! Lo! I am gathering thee and causing thee to ascend unto Me, and am cleansing) saving (thee of those who disbelieve) in you (and am setting those who follow you) follow your Religion (above those who disbelieve) with strong argument and triumph (until the Day of Resurrection) then I shall make you to die after descent; it is also said this means: I shall make your heart die to the love of the life of this world. (Then unto Me ye will (all) return) after death, (and I shall judge between you as to that wherein) in religion (ye used to differ) to argue.

Photograph of a medical class, Lahore 1951

At this link you can view a photograph I recently found, which shows some students from the year 4 medical class at the Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore, from the year 1951, along with some staff. Dr Allah Bakhsh, who later in 1965 became General Secretary of the AAIIL in his retirement, is 4th from the left in the seated row (wearing glasses).

In the mid-1950s he became Chief Chemical Examiner of the city of Karachi, from which post he retired in 1960. Serving in that post required a high degree of probity, honesty and integrity since he was responsible for the post-mortem reports in murder cases. Some of these crimes were carried out at the behest of wealthy, influential persons who were prepared to offer large bribes to get a report which cleared the murderer.

New spam protection

I was unable to get the previous spam-protection script to work today, which required you to specify the current year when submitting a comment. When I switched the script off, two auto-spam comments appeared in the moderation queue within a few minutes!

I have now installed a different spam protection method which doesn’t require comment posters to type the answer to any question. This saves you the extra bother, as well as providing me with spam protection (if the claim is true!).

Zahid Aziz

Abtar: Having no offspring or progeny

Submitted by Rashid.

Holy Quran, Chapter Al-Kauthar, Verse 3:
“Surely thy [Holy Prophet Muhammad’s] enemy is cut off.”

The word ‘abtar’ (from ‘batr’, meaning ‘the cutting off of a thing entirely’), as applied to a beast, means ‘one whose tail is cut off’. As applied to a man it conveys several significances, for instance, ‘in want’ or ‘poor, suffering loss, one whom all good or prosperity is cut off, having no offspring or progeny’ (LL). All good is cut off from him because he walks contrary to the ways in which good can be attained. (Holy Quran commentary by Maulana Muhammad Ali).

The verse addressed Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS, but it also applies to other appointees of Allah. Just the way Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS enemy was made ‘abtar’, we see the same happened to charismatic Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who through his 2nd amendment to 1973 Constitution behaved as enemy of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Mujaddid of 14th Islamic Century.

ZAB had two sons and two daughters. Both sons are dead. Through one son he has one grandson. His politically active daughter Benazir Bhutto is dead. I don’t know what future holds for ZAB only grandson through his son. His grandsons through his daughters, including Bilawal Zardari don’t have Bhutto as their last names (although he changed his name, for political purpose, after death of his mother to Bilawal Zardari Bhutto).

According to founding members of ZAB’s Pakistan Peoples Party, i.e. Dr. Mubashir Hassan, Abdul Hafiz Pirzada, the current PPP led by Asif Zardari is NOT ZAB’s PPP. Given the state of political leadership of even this version of PPP, it is very much doubtful that it will remain as viable political party in future.

ZAB has become abtar both biologically and politically.

Change of year when submitting comments

As our contributors know, when submitting a comment they are required to type the current year (2009 at present) in a box. This eliminates spam/advertising comments from being auto-submitted because this number has to be typed manually by a human.

I hope to modify the programming code in a day or two to make it recognise 2010 as the current year. I will announce it here when that has been done. Till then it is still 2009.

In memory of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din sahib

Our esteemed contributor Ikram has reminded me that today, 28th December, is the anniversary of the death of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din sahib (may the mercy of Allah be upon him), which took place in Lahore in 1932. He is buried in the old Lahore Ahmadiyya section in the great Miani sahib cemetery in Lahore.

This is a link to a page of contents giving links to information about the life of the Khwaja sahib.

One of these links is to the Muslim League records showing that condolences were expressed at its annual meeting.

Here is a link to the special issue of The Islamic Review, April-May 1933, published in tribute to him.

I was at the annual gathering of the AAIIL in Lahore in December 1982. I remember the late Mirza Masud Baig, General-Secretary, walked in to one session and reminded people that that day was the 50th anniversary of the death of Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din.

A problem and suggestions sought for resolving it

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Problems I face as a member of LAM And suggestions to resolve them

In my talks with our jamaat (LAM) opponents on Internet or in person, I realize repeatedly that they believe that our jamaat has the same beliefs as that of Qadiani Jamaat. Here are couples of examples:

“the same is with Mirzaees whose reasoning falls behind the scope of fundamental tenets of Islam. How ridiculously the fanatics of this cult have remarked about non-Mirzaees being Kafirs! ….. If this be so all Muslims who are not Mirzaees should be Kafirs!”

“I may take your point in that Muslims other than Mirzees were declared Kafirs by his [HMGA] son. But what I am trying to say is that this entire lot is ONE and DISTINCT and has to be viewed as a WHOLE.”

And then in their support they bring quotes from Qadiani Jamaat publications authored by their Khalifa 2 Mirza Mahmud Ahmad and his brother Mirza Bashir Ahmad. Such as:

1) “So whatever has been ordained in the Holy Quran about non-belief in a Prophet, the same applies in the case of Mirza Sahib.” (Al-Qaul-al-Fasal, p. 33).
2) “If we don’t believe in him as a Prophet then a dangerous flaw occurs (in iman [faith]) which is enough to render one a ‘kafir’.” (Haqeeqat-un-Nabuwwat, p. 204).
3) “It is obligatory for us not to consider non-Ahmadis as Muslims.” (Anwaar-e-Khilafat, p. 90).
4) “… and one who does not believe in the Promised Messiah, whatever his reasons for this non-belief, he is kafir.” (Zikar-e-Illahi, p. 22).
5) “The third matter to which he (Maulana Muhammad Ali) calls my attention is the issue of ‘kufar and Islam’. He says the path of peace is that we consider non-Ahmadis as Muslims, but I say ‘the path of peace is that we accept the decision of the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran calls the non-believers in a Prophet a kafir, and the same Allah calls Mirza Sahib a Prophet’.” (Haqeeqat-ul-Amar, p. 17).
6) “Is there any such irreligious non-Ahmadi who will marry his daughter to a Christian or a Hindu? You call them kafir but in this matter he is better than you in spite of being a kafir, but you even being Ahmadi marry your daughters to kafirs.” (Maliakatullah, p. 46).
7) “We met a person in Lucknow who is a great scholar. He said ‘many of your adversaries falsely propagate about you that you call us kafir. I cannot believe that a person of your vast capacity would be saying so.’ Sheikh Yaqub Ali was talking to him. I told him, ‘you tell him that we in fact call him a kafir.’ On hearing this he was much astonished.” (Anwar-e-Khilafat, p. 92).
8 ) All such Muslims who have not entered in the Baiat of the Promised Messiah, whether they have not heard the name of the Promised Messiah, are kafir and out of the pail of Islam. That these beliefs have my full concurrence. I readily admit. (Aaina-e-Saddaaqat. p. 35).

His younger brother Mirza Bashir Ahmad, M.A., surpassed him when he wrote:
“Every such person, who believes in Moses but does not believe in Jesus, or believes in Jesus but does not believe in Mohammed, or believes in Mohammed but does not believe in the Promised Messiah, is not only a kafir but a confirmed kafir and out of the pail of Islam.” (Kalamatul-Fasal, p. 110)

My question is, How we can resolve this problem? Perhaps our Qadiani Jamaat friends should think about rejecting these statements, and accept that mistakes were made by authors of these books.

This will help not only LAM members, but will also definitely help Qadiani Jamaat friends immensely. Qadiani Jamaat friends will find this very helpful in their efforts to be recognised as Muslims, which they seek to do by quoting the Holy Quran and Hadith to prove they fulfill criteria to be declared Muslim.

In this regard, I look forward to suggestions from our jamaat and Qadiani jamaat brothers and sisters. Thanks.

How science becomes “religion” with belief characteristics

I am not here expressing any view on the validity or otherwise of man-made climate change theories, but I found the following lines interesting at the start of an article by Ian Plimer, Professor of Geology at the University of Adelaide:

“Perhaps it is comforting to believe that science is an absolute discipline: immune from fads, fanatics and frauds, untroubled by extremists, evangelists, glory-seekers and bigots. But it is not. It is as vulnerable to the vested interests and biases of its practitioners as any corporate entity or political party.

Uncomfortable truths are suppressed and dubious evidence given undue prominence.

Nowhere is this more worryingly obvious than in the science of climate change. As a field of research it has become so heavily politicised that opposing views are spoken of in terms of religion: believers and non-believers, with the accent being on the righteousness of the former and the benighted state of the latter.”

See this link.

Human beings are as fallible and as influenced by their preconceptions, upbringing, egos and desires, in the field of rational science as in any other field such as religion.

Playing the “Qadiani” card

Submitted by Usman.

It is a well known phenomenon that in Pakistan whenever any person or party desires to discredit a public figure (usually for political motives) one of the ways of doing so is to declare him/her a “Qadiani” or at least show his/her connections to the “Qadianis”. I think even General Zia was once accused of this (perhaps explaining his zeal to enact anti-Ahmadi legislations). Now a new trend has emerged, whereby allegedly corrupt politicians are now playing the “Qadiani” card to save themselves.

A senior PPP leader and a sitting minister was recently accused of taking Rs. 35 million in bribes (www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=25765).

Note that the accusation was made under oath in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Now in any civilized country a minister, if faced with such a shameful scenario, would immediately resign and officially clear his name before even daring to run for public office again. But in Pakistan the said minister has promptly declared that this is all a “Qadiani” conspiracy (www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=25800), because he is apparently a major “hurdle” in the “nefarious designs” of the Qadianis. He then elaborates that this has something to do with his pro-blasphemy law stance (notorious for resulting in persecution of minorities including murder) and him being “Wakeel-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat and Aseer-e-Namus-e-Khatm-e-Rusul”.

In the end he says that he is ready to “offer any sacrifice for the defence of Islamic status of the constitution and honour of the holy Prophet (PBUH) and such tactics could not deprive him of this honour.” It is actually quite sad that a Govt. Minister accused of financial corruption (in a poor country which has one of the highest rates of child mortality this is a horrendous and inhuman crime) is linking the accusation to an attack on the honour of The Holy Prophet (pbuh). May Allah have mercy. Some one famous said (I can’t remember who): “Religion is the last refuge of the scoundrel”!

I also look at this as another “Zour avar humla”; that a person who is “Wakeel-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat” is being publicly exposed as corrupt and dishonest.

Muslim extremism as reaction to British imperialism in India

Submitted by Usman.

I would like to refer to the following news story appearing in The Daily Times News Paper (25 Nov 2009) in Pakistan titled “Roundtable conference on extremism in Pakistan: Extremism in S Asia rooted in British imperialism”

Attention is drawn to the title and the following excerpt (my emphasis):

“Noted historian Prof Dr Naeem Qureshi chaired the roundtable, which was attended by Dr Tahir Amin, Dr Tariq Rahman, Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, Dr Nazir Hussain, Simbal Khan and Shabana Fayyaz, Dr Razia Sultana of the QAU’s History Department and Zafarullah Khan of the CCE as panelists …

… Dr Qureshi traced the roots of extremism in South Asia to the advent of British imperial rule and the Muslims’ reaction to foreign rule; some sought to accommodate modernity, while others repudiated it…”

It appears that some experts are now admitting that the Muslim reaction of the time in India to British Rule is the root cause of the current extremism causing havoc in the region. We also know that at that time the two most prominent critics of the Muslim reaction were Sir Syed (embracing modernity) and HMGA (invalidating an armed Jihad against the British). Of these gentlemen I believe HMGA was the one who based his arguments on the Quran itself.

In any case both of them were branded heretics for saying what they said. HMGA is still accused of being a “British” agent for speaking contrary to the Muslim reaction to British rule. Although the quoted article mentions “embracing modernity”; in the context of religious extremism, it is not difficult to see that it is the Jihad factor which has played a key role as far as being the root cause of extremism is concerned. Readers are referred to “English Govt. and Jihad” by HMGA for an eye opening and prophetical (disclaimer: prophetical in the linguistic sense of foretelling a future event) expose of the subject. Unfortunately the Muslims of subcontinent rejected his words then, and are now being forced to admit the veracity of those very words by current events.

I think HMGA said (perhaps Dr. ZA can give a reference) where Allah revealed that he will show HMGA’a truthfulness with “forceful aggression” (“zour avar humlon saiy”).

Note by Zahid Aziz:
Usman is referring to a revelation of the Promised Messiah: “A warner came into the world, but the world did not accept him. But Allah will accept him and will show his truth zor avar humlon say (lit. very strong attacks)”. The “attacks” could be of any kind. They may even be not in support of him as such, but general violence in the world. For example, the jihadist attacks of today have shown his truth by making even his opponent Muslim Ulama declare the same concept of jihad as he presented. After attacks in U.K., the anti-Ahmadiyya Ulama in U.K. declared the loyalty of British Muslims to the British government (something they condemned HMGA for).