The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

Dr Israr Ahmad confirms that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad did service to Islam

Below is the link to a You Tube video clip of a discussion on ARY One TV. Participating are Dr Javaid Iqbal (son of Allama Iqbal), Prof. Mahdi Hasan and Dr Israr Ahmad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVOMV7vDFck

Allama Iqbal’s praise of Hazrat Mirza sahib is mentioned and acknowledged.

Someone mentions that Abdul Majeed Salik was also an Ahmadi. But he was one of those whose being Ahmadi was not later provable. He wrote a brief life of Iqbal in the 1950s, Zikr-i Iqbal. Salik lived in Muslim Town, very close to Maulana Muhammad Ali’s house, and in the street where I was born. The street is now named after him.

They then discuss why Ahmadiyyat was admired by all these people. The reason they give is that Hazrat Mirza sahib stood up to confront Christian and Arya Samaj attacks on Islam. Dr Israr Ahmad mentions it with some stress and you can tell he is telling the turth from the heart.

Comments from anti-Ahmadiyya “Crankthatskunk”

An anti-Ahmadiyya writer has sent addressed to me a couple of comments using the above name and has wondered if I have the courage to publish them. I have inserted them as comments to this post. I wonder if he has the courage to disclose his identity

Ramadan daily Quran study

During this month of Ramadan I plan to post one section (ruku) from a Part of the Holy Quran everyday for people to ponder on. The part from which a section will be selected will be Part 1 on the first day, Part 2 on the second day and so on for thirty days. The section could be any in that part. I will try my best to keep to this schedule.

The post will be a pdf file and will contain only the translation, with brief explanatory notes abbreviated and sometimes adapted from Maulana Muhammad Ali’s English commentary. Each link opens a new window.

Study for fast no. 30.
Study for fast no. 29.
Study for fast no. 28.
Study for fast no. 27.
Study for fast no. 26.
Study for fast no. 25.
Study for fast no. 24.
Study for fast no. 23.
Study for fast no. 22.
Study for fast no. 21.

Study for fast no. 20.
Study for fast no. 19.
Study for fast no. 18.
Study for fast no. 17.
Study for fast no. 16.
Study for fast no. 15.
Study for fast no. 14.
Study for fast no. 13.
Study for fast no. 12.
Study for fast no. 11.

Study for fast no. 10.
Study for fast no. 9.
Study for fast no. 8.
Study for fast no. 7.
Study for fast no. 6.
Study for fast no. 5.
Study for fast no. 4.
Study for fast no. 3.
Study for fast no. 2.
Study for fast no. 1.

Ramadan Message by our Head

The Ramadan message for this year by Hazrat Ameer Dr A.K. Saeed can be read at this link (opens in new window).

Research on Israelite origin of Afghans

You may be interested in an article by an Indian Muslim researcher entitled Medieval Persian References to the Putative Israelite Origin of Afridi Pashtuns/Pathans.

He briefly mentions Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in it as well.

Read it at this link (opens new window).

Collapsible comment feature

I have introduced this new feature with comments which displays each comment (under a post) collapsed down to its first two lines. You can easily expand any of the comments and re-collapse them. I hope this is useful when the number of comments is large. If you prefer not to have this, please let me know.

English author uses word “apostle” for Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi

Our esteemed friend Abdul Momin submitted a comment which I am presenting as a new post. By a strange coincidence, I was mentioning exactly this reference to someone yesterday while thousands of miles away from him. His post is below.

In his book, “The Indian Musalmans”, W.W. Hunter frequently refers to Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed Barelvi as “the Apostle” or “the Prophet”. This book was first written in 1871. So he could not have been influenced by the writings of HMGA. After several references to Syed Ahmad Shaheed as “the Apostle” or “the Prophet” (which literally mean Rasul and Nabi respectively), WW Hunter explains in a footnote:

By the ‘Prophet’, I invariably mean Sayyid Ahmad. Technically he was an Imam (leader) from the political point of view, and a Wali (favourite of God) from the theological one. Strictly speaking the line of the true Prophets ended with Christ and Muhammad. (The Indian Musalmans page 12, Second Impression 2004 Publisher Rupa Co.)

There are examples given in “The Ahmadiyya Case” book about the South Africa case of followers of Muslim religious leaders refering to the leaders as Nabi. (Links to: Section 7, Section 8)

Now the question arises: how did WW Hunter, an Englishman and non-Muslim, associate the words “Prophet” and “Apostle” with Sayyid Shaheed? He also explains that he was, technically speaking, only an Imam and Wali (Coincidentally HMGA is also referred to as an Imam and Wali in his writings.)

Could it be that at the time of HMGA it was fairly routine for followers to refer to their spiritual leaders as Nabi or Rasul? This seems to be the most likely explanation. Mr Hunter must have learnt about this from Sayyid Shaheed’s followers. Perhaps this tradition is at the root of all this confusion about why some of HMGA’s followers referred to him as “Nabi” and “Rasul” in several of their writings, when in fact they did not consider him as a real prophet as Lahoris believe.

Also every quote I have read attributed to HMGA’s followers in which they have used the word Nabi or Rasul for him are from 1900 or afterwards. This would give us the misleading impression that since HMGA was alleged to have changed his claim from non-prophet to prophet around 1901, therefore his followes referred to him as Nabi or Rasul after this change in claim. But it would not surprise me in the least if they referred to him as Nabi even before the so-called change in his claims took place. In one of his pre-1901 writings, he advises his followers that these terms should not be used in their everyday talk concerning him. Perhaps there was a reason why he said this; maybe these words were used by his followers about him, even though they regarded him as only a Saint.

Was Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a prophet in year 1900?

Our friend Bashir has sent a submission under the above title. Due to its length I am posting it as a comment here. The writer has asked any enquirers to contact him for further information, as he has called this submission an abridged version.

In copying and pasting his submission, I could not carry through his use of italics and bold font for certain text. So my apologies to him for that.

I won’t comment on this except to say that the reports of who said what to whom, and when, and who reported it, don’t provide a sound way of drawing valid conclusions.

Zahid Aziz

Upgrade to WordPress 2.6

Today I have upgraded the version of WordPress that we are using to the latest 2.6. It seems to be working fine. However, if you encounter any problems please post a comment here.

Comments on an argument about “suffering” and God’s existence

A common argument presented against the existence of God in the West is: If God exists why does He allow great suffering to take place?

Philosophers, theologians and thinkers have been pondering on this for centuries, so my comments below will not resolve this issue! I will make one simple point, from among many that could be made.

How do we know that God hasn’t prevented much greater suffering that could have happened but didn’t because He prevented it? Obviously this question can never be answered, as we can’t know something that doesn’t happen.

Someone recently put forward as an example a most deadly disease, as to why it occurs if God exists. But suppose that particular disease didn’t exist. Then someone would mention whatever is now the second most deadly disease and present the same argument. And if that disease didn’t exist, they would mention the next one, until a stage would come where someone would say: If God exists, why do people catch colds and coughs?

My point is that if colds and coughs were the worst disease, we would feel the same about it as we now do about what are the worst diseases now.

To some in a developed country it would be suffering if their car broke down and they missed enjoying 1 day out of their 2 week holiday. Human beings adjust what they feel to be “suffering” according to their circumstances. Just like time and space are not absolute measures, but relative, as Einstein discovered, it seems that the same applies to suffering.

Zahid Aziz