The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Pakistan Christians die in unrest

Submitted by Ikram.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8179823.stm

It is a repeat sad situation. The video reminds one of the mob killings and burning of the mosques and houses of the Ahmadis in 1974. But there are differences now i.e. there is some police actually fighting the rioters, some mention of official inquiries, and the biggest of all (without being mentioned) that the victims will not be referred to the parliament to stand trial. 

These zealots do not recognize that there is no precedence of any use of force to preserve the dignity of the Quran or Muhammad PBUH during the latter’s own time.  There is no precedence of mob justice in the Book or Sunnah. 

Alas! These zealots do not read their Book that they are trying to protect; else they might have acted otherwise:

49:6. O you who believe! if a wicked person brings you any news, examine it carefully, lest you should harm some people in ignorance and afterwards you may have to repent for what you did. 

4:83. And when there comes to them news (a mere rumour), be it a matter of peace or of fear, they spread it around. But had they referred it to the perfect Messenger and to those in authority among them, surely those of them who can elicit (the truth) from it would have understood it (and could make correct deductions). And had it not been for the grace of Allâh upon you and His mercy you would all have followed satan, excepting a few. 

Even though these believing zealots have the Book, the history is witness to the parallels in the Quran about them: 

62:5. The case of those who were charged to observe (the law of) Torah but did not carry out (its commandments in its true spirit), is like the case of a donkey that carries (a load of) volumes (of Books; he neither understands them nor gathers any advantage from them). Wretched is the case of the people who cry lies to the Message of Allâh. And Allâh guides no unjust people to success. 

Sorry to reiterate, but Wretched is the case of the people… 

[The Holy Quran – translation by Allamah Nooruddin]

‘The Amman Message’ endorses Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement as Muslim

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Kingdom of Jordan’s official forum ‘The Amman Message’ endorses Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement as Muslim.

This endorsement will InshAllah help in decreasing resistance and opposition faced by Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (LAM) in propagation and defense of Islam, from Muslims, especially Mulla Muslims.

Check the official website of ‘The Amman Message’ and endorsement of LAM:
http://ammanmessage.com/

LAM as OFFICIAL SIGNATORY. See number 16:
http://ammanmessage.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=87&Itemid=69

According to Ilham of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (HMGA) sahib, Allah SWT will exonerate him from all the false accusations, whoever they may be made by.

Tarif Khalidi’s Translation of Holy Quran and Jesus’ Death

Submitted by Rashid Jahangiri.

Recently I purchased Holy Quran Translation by Tarif Khalidi. This translator has previously taught at the Oxford University and the University of Chicago, and currently he is professor at the American University of Beirut. He has published number of books on Islam and Arab history. His translation of Holy Quran was published in 2008.

In his translation of Chapter 5 Verses 115 to 117, he translates:

“I was a witness to them while I lived among them,
But when You caused me to die, it was You Who kept watch over them.”

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib’s mission included the subject of Death of Jesus. For his stand on this subject abuses were hurled at him in his lifetime and even to this day. But the good news is that Muslim Translators of Holy Quran living in Muslim majority countries feel courageous enough to translate these verses truthfully.

Review of his translation by Ziauddin Sardar in the Guardian

Khan Mohammad ‘Marhoom’, legendary cricketer, friend of Lahore Ahmadis in U.K.

The Dawn carries the news of the death of Mr Khan Mohammad, well known as fast bowler in the Pakistan cricket team during the 1950s. Please read this link.

See also this link.

Inna li-llahi wa inna ilai-hi rajioon.

Although we had heard of the distinguished name of Khan Mohammad since childhood, little did we know that a time would come, as it did in the last eight years or so, when we would meet him regularly and sit in his company, as we did at the Lahore Ahmadiyya centre in London.

Mr Khan Mohammad, while not being formally an Ahmadi, was one of the most regular people attending the Friday prayers, and monthly and other functions, at our Darus Salaam in London. He was of an absolutely humble, quiet and unassuming nature, a gentleman in all senses of the word. You would not know that he was a man of such fame that some 5 or 6 years ago President Pervaiz Musharraf bestowed a national honour on him and a cricket stand was named after him in a stadium in Pakistan.

Almost nothing could prevent him from attending our centre. Even when receiving his cancer treatment as an out-patient on Friday mornings, he would try to make it for Friday prayers. Many a time I prayed alongside him in congregation, or I gave the khutba and led the prayers with him in the congregation (the latter happened as recently as twice this year).

A year or so ago I asked him about fasting during Ramadan, assuming that he would not be fasting while under treatment, but he said that since he couldn’t eat much anyway due to his condition and the treatment, so he had decided that he might as well fast.

It was only his confinement in hospital in the last few weeks that prevented him from attending our meetings.

He showed extraordinary patience in his illness and made light of it. He prayed with deep concentration and humility. Behind the scenes, he quietly helped people, including members of our Jamaat, in many a matter.

Although apparently not an Ahmadi, he expressed in his will that the Lahore Ahmadiyya Jamaat should say his funeral prayers. As the Holy Prophet Muhammad said: A man is with those whom he loves.

The pleasure of a humorous chat with him will, unfortunately, not be experienced by us again.

We pray that Allah accepts all his humble prayers that he said in our company, grants him forgiveness and mercy, and admits him to His highest places to join His righteous servants in heaven, Ameen.

These few personal observations of mine will be borne out by many others.

Zahid Aziz

From ‘Dawn’: Bhutto’s constitutional concessions only emboldened the religious zealots

I was interested to read this column in the Dawn.

I quote from it:

“Though in private, Bhutto accused the Islamic parties of being ‘anti-socialist American stooges,’ in public he went along with some of his advisers’ counsel and declared the Ahmadiyya community non-Muslim, naively believing this concession would appease and contain his Islamist opponents. The truth is, the Islamists were only emboldened by this gesture.”

Reuters report: Relics of old Afghanistan reveal Jewish past

Thanks to our friend Usman for bringing this to notice.

This is the link to this article on Reuters’ website.

The text is quoted below:

Relics of old Afghanistan reveal Jewish past

GOLNAR MOTEVALLI

ARTICLE (June 25 2009): Behind a parade of old mud brick shops, through narrow winding alleys, a tiny door opens onto a sundrenched courtyard, where school children giggle and play alongside the ghosts of Afghanistan’s Jewish past. The Yu Aw is one of four synagogues in the old quarter of Herat city in west Afghanistan, which after decades of abandonment and neglect, has been restored to provide desperately-needed space for an infant school.

When Israel was founded in 1948, the estimated 280 Jewish families that lived in Herat began leaving. Today, there are no Jews left in the city and only one left in the entire country, the last remnant of a community that dates back some 2,500 years. “Before this was a community centre and school it was a synagogue for the Jewish families who lived in the area,” said Fatemeh Nezary, a teacher and supervisor of the school.

“The children don’t know, they are too young to understand right now,” she said, pointing towards her small class of doe-eyed five-year old girls and boys. The Herat synagogue, over a century old, is comprised of a modest stone courtyard framed by a series of small rooms including a main prayer room which still has a raised platform where the torah would have been read.

Parts of the prayer room’s high ceilings are decorated in painted Persian-style floral patterns and motifs. The “mikvah”, an echoey underground chamber underneath the courtyard, has also been restored. Decades of rubbish was gutted from its cavity to reveal a natural pool of water which is thought to have been used for bathing rituals.

“Wherever possible we try and put back the elements. We can’t put back what we don’t find, some of the buildings have been stripped,” said Jolyon Leslie, a South African architect who leads restoration projects in Herat’s old city on behalf of the Agha Khan Trust for Culture. “What we’re trying to do is protect as many old historical monuments as possible. Whether it’s a mosque whether it’s an ex-synagogue like this or whether it’s a hamam, to try and put them in public use,” Leslie said.

“It’s important that Heratis understand for future generations that this was a very rich society in the sense of its religious diversity and it’s pluralism,” he added. Where Jewish prayers once rang out, now Afghan children chant nursery rhymes. The platform where the torah would have been read is left undisturbed to bask in warm sunshine which floods through wide, arched bay windows.

“There’s a huge shortage of classes in this part of the city and some 60,000 people (here) and some 20,000 of those are children … we really wanted to invest both in protecting the historic monument but also in having a new use,” Leslie said. “It’s a mixture of conservation and social development.” Three other synagogues in the same neighbourhood are being renovated. Two will also be used as schools for children living in the neighbourhood. The third is now a mosque for the residents who live in a cluster of simple, centuries-old abodes.

LONG GONE

Afghanistan’s once thriving community is believed to trace its roots to the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests in 720 B.C. and 560 B.C. when exiled Jews moved to what is now Iraq, Iran and neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan. By 1992, when the Soviet-backed communist leadership in Kabul collapsed, the community disappeared from Herat. A few have since returned to re-visit the refurbished relics of their past.

“Jewish visitors from abroad, even Herat Jews from abroad, have come back to visit these places and there’s a sense of them re-owning these properties and being very proud to see them restored,” Leslie said. He recalled a recent visit by a Herati Jewish family who had travelled from Canada to visit Yu Aw. They sobbed when they saw the restored synagogue.

A few kilometres away from the old quarter, an Afghan boy unlocks a heavy wrought-iron door to an open field where overgrown thorn bushes and weeds breed unchecked around craggy and windswept white marble tombs inscribed with Hebrew. The family which has taken care of the cemetery for the past 150 years continue to do their best to protect it, but since Herat’s Jews left, they are no longer paid for the work.

“When my grandfather worked here, they were still here and they gave him a salary. But then when the security situation got bad the last of them moved to London. And so our salary was stopped,” Jalilahmed Abdelaziz said, adding that the cemetery contained about 1,000 graves. Through three decades of conflict and the rule of the austere Taliban, Abdelaziz’s family guarded the site, which is off a dirt track lined with Muslim cemeteries.

The Taliban, though responsible for harassing the family at times, resisted damaging the graves. “The Taliban were not the worst of our problems. We had neighbours who would try and desecrate the graves or steal the stones, they were the worst, but we would tell them to stop and tell them what they were doing was unIslamic,” Abdelaziz said. “We knew all of the families here. If they wanted to visit here they could, but they don’t.”

Did 100% of the scholars from Muhammad to HMGA believe Jesus was alive in heaven?

In a comment Bashir writes:

“100% of the scholars from Muhammad to HMGA all unanimously agreed on the idea that Jesus was alive in heaven…”

Bashir says that Hazrat Mirza sahib made statements of certainty (e.g. about age of Jesus) while he should really have been more careful and said “may be”. But Bashir himself goes on making statements of certainty such as the above. “100% of all scholars”? So if even one accepted scholar of repute didn’t agree, it would disprove Bashir’s claim!

Another example of Bashir’s reasoning is this. He says Hazrat Mirza sahib was wrong on the birth of Jesus, and he was wrong about the tomb of Jesus. So, on the first issue, where HM agreed with the vast majority Muslim opinion, he was wrong, and on the second issue where he disagreed with (according to Bashir) 100% of scholars, HM was still wrong!

A question arising from this “100%” of scholars” claim is: how did those general Muslim scholars after the time of HM who believed in the death of Jesus reach that conclusion? They must have found that before their time it was only the reviled figure of HM and his oddball followers who believed in the death of Jesus and no other Muslim whatsoever. So what made them break the 100% consensus?

Khatm-e nubuwwat conference calls for boycott of Ahmadi businesses

Submitted by Usman.

A Khatm-e-Nubuwwat conference was held in Rawalpindi on 31st May 2009. As a support to the issue of Khatm-e-Nubuwwat, the organisers and workers have stepped up their activity of asking Muslims to do a business boycott of Ahmadis. Brochures are being widely circulated in the market, asking the retailers not to stock and sell any product made by an Ahmadi company. Certain products made by companies partly or wholly owned by both Lahori and Rabwah Jama`at members have been mentioned by name. Obviously the objective is to drive the companies into bankruptcy by not allowing them to sell their products.

Here is the irony. The products made by the “Ahmadi” companies (as if now companies also have a religion) are known for their quality and most importantly correct weight, while may “Muslim” companies are known for giving short weight! Of course the Khatm-e-Nubuwaat people also do not seem to be concerned about the fact that thousands of Muslim families depend upon these companies for their livelihood. So while the rest of the world is trying hard to kick start economies by encouraging investment and creating employment, the anti-Ahmadiyya groups are working in the opposite direction; making people unemployed and depressing local economies. In the process also ensuring that quality products make way for sub-standard products. A service to Islam indeed !

Did Jesus live to age 120 years?

Submitted by Bashir.

Is it possible that Jesus lived until age 120?  Why did HMGA write that this was true?  Do prophets live half the age of their predecessor?  What is Kanzulummal? 
 
Here is the so-called hadith that was used to prove that Jesus lived until the age of 120:
 
“The Holy prophet peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “Gabriel informed me that every successive has lived to half the age of his predecessor. And verily jesus, son of mary, lived to 120 years. Therefore, I think, I may reach the age of sixty. (Kanzulummal Vol. 11 page 479).
 
1.      Treasure of the Doers of Good Deeds(Arabic: Kanz al-Ummal fi sunan al-aqwal wa’l af`al is a known 8 volume set Islamic hadith collection, collected by Islamic Scholar Ala’Uddin Ali al-Muttaqi ibn Hisam-Uddin al-Hindi, Al Muttaqi was born 888AH, CE 1472 in Burhanpur which is a town situated in modern day Southern Madhya Pardesh on the banks of the river Tapti, India. 
 
This book of hadith was written almost 800 years after the death of the prophet.  Why is Kanzul-ummul given precedence to over the sahih and sunan books?  Prophets do not live half the years of their predecessor prophet, that’s totally irrational!  Why did HMGA use this hadith, I just cant understand it. 
 
Muslims cannot rely on any other books of hadith for theory.  Muslims must rely on the sahih and sunan books.  Muslims cannot rely on a book of tradition that was written some 800 years after the death of the HP. 
 
For the AMI, if the AMI believe that this hadith is true, then HMGA(assuming that he is a prophet), he should have lived to roughly 30 years of age.  The fact is that this tradition is totally false.  I don’t think that any scholar can prove that this is true.  If so, I would love to see it! 
 
HMGA has placed Kanzul-ummal above all the sahih and sunan books, not to mention the Koran.  I cant explain this action of his.  I hope that someone can explain this to me. 
 
See-  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzul_Ummal
  
Here are some other hadith books that the sunni adhere to:
 
Al-Muwatta
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal— 780-855
Sunan al-Darimi — 868
Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah — 923
Sahih Ibn Hibbaan — 965
Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain — 1014
Mawdu’at al-Kubra— 1128-1217
Riyadh as-Saaliheen— 1233 – 1278
Mishkat al-Masabih – 1340
Talkhis al-Mustadrak — 1274-1348
Majma al-Zawa’id — 1335-1405
Bulugh al-Maram — 1372-1449

Kanz al-Ummal — 1500s

Standards for a Divine as outlined in Quran

Submitted by Ikram.

 
Standards for a Divine as outlined in Quran

Islam is a living religion; periodic revival of the Message of Quran through persons who have and will claim to be divines is expected. Any such claimant to divine-hood and those who follow him have to meet the standards set in the Quran, which were originally outlined for Muhammad PBUH and the Umma. The following is a sampler of those standards.

La ilaha ill-Allah, Muhammad-ur rasul-ullah

“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”

The above declaration is the fundamental oath for a Muslim. It identifies the source of belief (Allah) and the messenger (Muhammad PBUH). By referring to Muhammad PBUH as “The Messenger,” the oath precludes any future messengers i.e. prophets. It also prevents a Muslim from alluding to Muhammad PBUH as no more than a human, unlike other religions whose followers over period of time, out of love for their respective messenger coupled with their ancestral and inherent idolatrous traditions, attributed godliness to their messengers. Thus this oath preserves the fundamental monotheistic pristinity of Islam.

33:40. Muhammad is no father to any man among you…

Muhammad PBUH had no male lineage. Irrespective, his descendents have no inherited divine status. However, it does not prevent them from attaining spiritual elevation and leadership through self-refinement.

39:3. Beware! sincere and true obedience is due to Allâh alone. Those who choose others as a patron beside Him (say), `We serve them only that they may bring us near to Allâh in station.’ (It is absolutely wrong.)…

Thus patronizing any person, even Muhammad PBUH, cannot be used as a crutch by anyone for a spiritual uplift. Muhammad PBUH thus cannot be invoked.

2:79. It is not given to a human being that Allâh should give him the Book, the sovereignty and the prophethood and then he should say to the people, `Be servants to me beside Allâh.’ He would rather say, `Be you the sole devotees of (Allâh) the Lord, for you teach the Book and because you study (it).’

Despite the colossal personal character of Muhammad PBUH, he is by decree barred from self-exaltation before fellow Muslims, as even an imagination of such an act would defeat the pristinity and the very purpose of the Message. Such hygiene in faith must be followed posthumously as well.

2:151. Just as (the Ka`bah is a means to your guidance so,) We have sent to you a great Messenger from among yourselves who recites to you Our Messages and purifies you and teaches you the Book and the Wisdom and teaches you what you did not know.

And that Muhammad PBUH was just not only a mail carrier of the Message, but an actual living manifestation of the Message and a teacher of the Message, both during his lifetime and afterwards as well. There is no obscurity in Muhammad’s intentions and actions.

6:20. Those whom We have given this perfect Book recognise him (-the Prophet Muhammad) as they recognise their own sons…

10:16. …I had indeed lived among you a (whole) lifetime before this (claim to Prophethood. Was not my truthfulness undisputed?). Will you not then refrain (from opposing me)?’

Muhammad PBUH is just not a stranger riding through a town in history but is a real life figure who lived a “human” life to its fullest, a life that has a very detailed historical record. He showed no disparity between professing, preaching and practicing of the faith.

17:95. Say, `Had there been angels on the earth (in place of human beings) walking about secure and sound We (too) would have invariably sent down an angel from heaven as a Messenger to them.’

46:9. Say, `I am no novel (Apostle) among the Messengers nor do I know what will be done to me (on your behalf) or to you. I simply follow what is revealed to me and I am nought but a plain Warner.’

72:20. Say, `I invoke only my Lord and I associate no one with Him (as His partner).’

And that Muhammad PBUH was just a humble non-super-human Messenger whose duty and burden were deliverance of the Message. Attributing to him any mythological miracles or non-human attributes would be absurd.

7:188. Say, `I have no power over (bringing) any gain or (avoiding) any harm to myself save to the extent that Allâh will. And had I known the unseen I would surely have secured a great deal of good (for myself) and no harm would ever have come to me. I am only a Warner (to the wicked) and a Bearer of good tidings (to the people who believe)

And Muhammad PBUH, despite having succeeded in a momentous and almost a non-human task within his own lifetime, is no more than a mere mortal.

108:1. Verily, We have bestowed upon you (O Muhammad!) abundance of good (both of this life and of the Hereafter).

And history is witness to the success of Muhammad PBUH, both during his lifetime and afterwards, and to the failure of his opposition, of both individuals and institutions. And what a success! (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_100&oldid=291047691)

7:157. `Those who follow this perfect Messenger, the Arab Prophet whom they find described in the Torah and the Evangel which are with them, who enjoins upon them that which is right and forbids them that which is wrong, and who makes lawful for them all the pure and good things, and makes unlawful all the impure and bad things, and who relieves them of their heavy burden and shackles that weigh them down. Indeed those who believe in him and honour him and serve him and follow the light that has been sent down with him, it is these who will attain their goal.’

In summary, the purpose of Muhammad (PBUH) and his entrusted Message is simply to unburden the mankind from the idols that are still rampant physically, socially and in the minds.

[The Holy Quran – Translation by Allamah Nooruddin]