FALL • 2 011$4.00

“In the latter days, the sun shall rise from the west” • Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be on him)

Holy Bible & Holy Qur’an

11 The Biblicalstory of

Adam & Eve

47 Death penaltyin Qur’an & Bible

18 What isShariah Law

30 The Law ofRetribution: Qur’an

and Bible

2 MuslimSunrise

T he Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a religious organization,international in its scope, with branches in 189 countries inAfrica, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in 1889 by HadhratMirza Ghulam Ahmadas (1835-1908) in Qadian, a small and remote village inthe Punjabi province of India. He claimed to be the expected reformer of thelatter days, the Awaited One of the world community of religions (The Mahdiand Messiah). The Movement he started is an embodiment of the benevolentmessage of Islam – peace, universal brotherhood, and submission to theWill of God – in its pristine purity. Hadhrat Ahmadas proclaimed Islam as thereligion of man: “The religion of the people of the right path” (98:6).TheAhmadiyya Muslim Community was created under divine guidance withthe objective to rejuvenate Islamic moral and spiritual values. It encouragesinterfaith dialogue, diligently defends Islam and tries to correctmisunderstandings about Islam in the West. It advocates peace, tolerance,love and understanding among followers of different faiths. It firmly believesin and acts upon the Qur’anic teaching: “There is no compulsion in religion”(2:257). It strongly rejects violence and terrorism in any form and for anyreason.

After the passing of its founder, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community hasbeen headed by his elected successors. The present Head of the Community,Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, was elected in 2003. His official title isKhalifatul Masih V or Fifth Successor of the Promised Messiah..

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

EditorFalahud Din Shams

Editorial BoardImam Mubasher AhmadDr. Shanaz ButtHasan HakeemSardar Anees Ahmad

Staff EditorsMaham KhanAtif MirNaser Shams

Staff WritersLubna MalikSardar Anees AhmadDr. Zia H. ShahShazia Sohail

Religion & Science Dept.Dr. Zia H. Shah

Hasan Hakeem, Design/LayoutMuneeb Ahmad, WebsiteShuaib Shams, Circulation

Editor's Notes:The Muslim Sunrise is published by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA,15000 Good Hope Road, Silver Spring, MD 20905, Phone 301.879.0110, Fax301.879.0115, under the auspices of Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar, Ameer and NationalPresident. The views and opinions expressed by individual contributers in thispublication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity, USA.

The Muslim Sunrise welcomes letters to the editor, questions and submissions. Emailus at MuslimSunrise@Ahmadiyya.us or go online to www.MuslimSunrise.com.

Library of Congress Call Number BP195.A5 M8

Mailing Address: The Muslim Sunrise, 2 S 510 Route 53, Glen Ellyn, IL60137, Phone: (630) 790-4100, ext. 206, Fax: (630) 793-4100.

Muslims follow the name of God’s prophets with the prayer alaehis salaam or‘may peace be upon him,’ and for the Holy Prophet Muhammad, sallallahualaehi wasallam or ‘may peace and blessings of God be upon him.’ Companionsof prophets and righteous personalities who have passed away are saluted byradhi-Allaho anhu/a or ‘may Allah be pleased with him/her.” While suchsalutations sometimes are not set out in the text for readability, we encouragereaders to offer these prayers as if set out in full.

Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq (1872-1957) was the first Ahmadiyya Muslim missionaryto arrive in America. In 1921, he founded the Muslim Sunrise, which stands todayas the longest running Muslim publication in America. The magazine seeks to opendiscussions on Islam and topics relating to religion in general. It highlights the roleof Islam in an ever changing global society. It provides a platform for publicopinion on contemporary issues and presenting their solutions from an Islamicperspective.

www.muslimsunrise.com

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

Fall 2011 3

Fall 2 0 11 • V o l u m e 91 • I s s u e 3

Features

11 The Biblical story of Adam & Eve

14 Chastising a wife in Islam

16 Violence in the Bible & Jihad in the Qur’an

18 What is Shariah Law

21 The Holy Qur’an on trial

24 The Bible, the Qur’an and Science

27 Marital Relationships in Islam & Misconcep tions

30 The Law of Retribution: Qur’an and Bible

34 An introduction to the Bible

36 The reality of the Bible’s history

38 Infidel by any other name

40 The Bible & Qur’an on justice

47 Death penalty in Qur’an & Bible

Departments

5 In the Words of the Promised Messiah

6 Editorial

7 Friday Sermon“Everything will perish except God”

43 Religion & ScienceQuantem theory: A sign of a personal God

In This Issue

For More Information onIslam/Ahmadiyyat:Alislam.org or

1.800.WHY.ISLAM

44 AhadithSayings of the Holy ProphetMuhammadsaw

45 Questions & Answers

50 Poetry CornerIt is the Holy Word of the Gracious Lord

51 Book ReviewIn the spirit of St. Francis and the SultanBy George Dardess & Marvin L. Krier Mich

54 News, Views and Reviews

41 From the Archives 1940

57 PerspectiveBird Brains

Muslims who believe in the Messiah, HazratMirza Ghulam Ahmad, QadianiAS

4 MuslimSunrise

From the Holy Qur'an

[41:3] This is a revelation from the Gracious, the Merciful.

[41:4] A Book, the verses of which have been expounded in detail — the Qur’an in clear,eloquent language — for a people who have knowledge,

[41:5] A bringer of glad tidings and a warner. But most of them turn away and they hear not.

[41:6] And they say: ‘Our hearts are under covers and are protected against that to whichthou callest us, and in our ears there is a deafness, and between us and thee there is a screen.

So carry on thy work; we too are working.’

Chapter 41: Ha Mim Al-Sajdah

Fall 2011 5

In the Words of the Promised Messiah

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

I call Allah to witness thatthe Holy Quran is a rarepearl. Its outside is light andits inside is light and itsabove is light and its below

is light and there is light in everyword of it. It is a spiritual gardenwhose clustered fruits are withineasy reach and through whichstreams flow. Every fruit of goodfortune is found in it and everytorch is lit from it. Its light haspenetrated to my heart and I couldnot have acquired it by any othermeans. And Allah is my witnessthat if there had been no Quran Iwould have found no delight in life.I find that its beauty exceeds thatof a hundred thousand Josephs. Iincline towards it with greatinclination and drink it into my heart.It has nurtured me as an embryo Inurtured and it has a wonderful effecton my heart. My self is lost in itsbeauty. It has been disclosed to mein a vision that the garden of holinessis irrigated by the water of the Quran,which is a surging ocean of the waterof life. He, who drinks from it, comesto life; indeed, he brings others to life.(A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, RuhaniKhaza’in, Vol 5,pp.545:546)

We had raised an objection to thecurrent Gospels that the Gospels donot provide for the development ofall man’s faculties and that even theportions of them relating to moralqualities are taken from the Torah.This caused humiliation to the Chris-tian priests. To this some Christiansreplied that:

Divine books are concerned onlywith morals and that the punishmentof offences is not appropriate for aBook of God, inasmuch as offences

should be punished according to changingcircumstances which are unlimited and itis not proper that there should be a fixedlaw laying down penalties. Every penaltyshould be such as in accord with the timesand is helpful for the warning and restraintof offenders. Fixed penalties are not ben-eficial for the reform of people. In thesame way, civil, criminal and revenue lawsshould not be fixed and rigid, as wouldcreate difficulties under changing circum-stances. For instance, they might adverselyaffect commercial conditions which havebecome current and cannot be avoided,or a penal law might not be helpful whereoffenders have become accustomed to onekind of punishment, or may not be ame-nable to it.

I would say that this type of thinkingproceeds from people who have not stud-ied the Holy Quran with care. The direc-tions contained in the Holy Quran withregard to civil, criminal and revenue mat-ters are of two types. One, which laysdown the details of punishment or of pro-cedure, and the other which only pre-

scribes the principle and does not laydown any specific direction. The pur-pose of the latter is to provide guid-ance for the meeting of new circum-stances. For instance, at one placethe Holy Quran lays down the ruleof a tooth for a tooth and an eye foran eye. This is a detail. In otherplace, the principle is set forth:

“The penalty of an offense ischastisement in proportion thereto.”(42:41)

On reflection we find that thisprinciple is laid down for the widen-ing of the law in case where the spe-cific law cannot be carried into ef-fect. For instance, if a person whohas lost his own teeth breaks thetooth of another, he ceases to be

amenable to the rule of a tooth for atooth, for has no teeth himself. In thesame way, if a blind person shoulddestroy the eye of another person, hecannot be deprived of his own eye,foe has none. The Holy Quran laysdown general principles to meet suchcases and doing so encourages every-one to deduce rules suitable to everycase. It is a pity that the Torah doesnot follow this method and the Gos-pel is wholly deprived of this teach-ing. It only lays down a few moral ex-hortations, but they are not part of anycode or system of law. The statementof the Christians that the Gospel hasleft legal matters to the intelligenceof people is not a matter of pride, butone of remorse and shame, for what-ever is not laid down as universal lawand is not spelled out in terms of anyregulatory principles, is liable to bemisused and become an evil, howevergood its purpose might be. (Kitab-ul-Bariyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol 13, pp. 87-88)

6 MuslimSunrise

Editorial

Muslims have a

great love and

respect for Jesusas.

He was a beloved

prophet of God who preached the

worship of one God and taught the

Gospel. His teachings and words have

been referred to and recorded in the

Holy Qur’an.

Maryas, the mother of Jesusas, is also

revered by Muslims. The Holy Qur’an

narrates her story and declares that she

was the most pious woman of her times.

She is presented as a model for all

believers since she was pure and

righteous, yet endured humiliation and

slander only for the sake of God.

There are many similarities in what was

preached by Jesusasand what the Holy

Qur’an professes. Worship of one God

is common in the Old Testament as well

as the Gospel of Jesusas. The first

commandment declares the worship and

unity of God. The Holy Qur’an preaches

the Unity of God throughout its pages and

the holy prophet Muhammadsaw’s

conviction to the Unity of God is

unmatched. Muslims believe that all the

goodness offered in the previous

scriptures has been accommodated in

the Holy Qur’an. We believe that there

is no further need of previous revelations

and that can be established by comparing

the teachings of the Holy Qur’an with

any other book. It is the only scripture

that certifies the validity of the previous

scriptures as truly revealed by God.

There are so many other

commandments that are similar in Islam

and Christianity, not to mention

Judaism. Respect for parents, love for

the neighbor, care of the orphans,

widows and the needy are some of the

many common themes. In addition, the

prohibition of many sinful activities such

as adultery, usury, lust, avarice, greed

etc., are common grounds between the

two religions. This is in spite of the

differences in details of these

prohibitions and commandments.

That is where we need to focus our

attention. It is not prudent and fruitful if

we simply criticize another faith for its

beliefs. Comparative analysis would

be more productive in illustrating one

as better than another. This breeds

enlightening conversation and

nurtures mutual understanding.

Instead of criticizing the Holy Qur’an,

in cases such as about Jihad and

treatment of hostile enemies, we must

be shown how the Bible presents a

better alternative. Similarly, instead of

criticizing the Bible about its stance on

the inferiority of women, we must show

how the Holy Qur’an presents their

status in a better way. Just to criticize

one and reject without offering an

alternative is a futile exercise in the

promotion of ignorance and

intolerance. It is not sufficient to

declare one as bad without proving

the superiority of the other.

In the current issue, we have presented

topics that are common criticisms

against Islam. We contrast how the

Holy Qur’an and the Bible present the

same subjects and why we believe that

the Holy Qur’an is superior. This can

serve as a platform for future discussions

on socio-economic issues to analyze

the teachings and solutions presented

by both books to facilitate the personal

decisions we make as individuals.

Fall 2011 7

Hudhur began the Friday Sermon todayby reciting the Quranic verses:

Hudhur quotedfrom the writings ofthe PromisedMessiahas thateverything is

destined to perish and ultimately only Godwill remain and that He has decreed deathfor everything apart from His Being.Hudhur said at the Ameen ceremony ofhis son Syeddna Mahmoodra , thePromised Messiahas wrote a poeticcomposition entitled ‘Mahmood’sAmeen’, which is full of prayerful andadvisory verses. He addressed theseverses to Syeddna Mahmood as well asto his two other sons. In fact, he included

the whole Community in this. Hudhurquoted a few verses of the poem, whichbroadly translate as follows:

The world is like an inn,whoever one meets will be

partedEven if one stays for a

hundred years, oneultimately separatesThere is no room for

complaint, this very houseis transitory

Hudhur explained that the Imam of the agewho came to bring man closer to God, thusdrew attention at a time of rejoicing to the factthat real happiness lies in Divine nearness.The world indulges in idle, vain ways andmeans at time of rejoicing but the PromisedMessiahas taught that all our attention shouldbe drawn towards God and for this each act of

'Everything will Perish except God':Life of Hadhrat Sahabzadi Nasira Begum Sahiba

Summary of Friday SermonDelivered by Hadhrat Mirza

Masroor Ahmad at, Head of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community,

August 5, 2011

“All that is on it (earth) willpass away.” (55:27)

“And there will remain only thePerson of thy Lord, Master of Gloryand Honor.” (55:28)

ours should be to attain the pleasure of God.Once this insight is realised, the strands ofour times of joy and sadness will flow towardsattaining the pleasure of God. The PromisedMessiahas came to complete the mission ofthe Holy Prophetsaw. For him there was nogreater joy than for his children to cherish loveof God and be saturated in the love of theProphetsaw and to read and act upon the HolyQur’an. After Syeddna Mahmoodra finishedhis first reading of the Holy Qur’an, the Prom-ised Messiahas held a reception and this poemwas written for that occasion. Each couplet ofthis poem is replete with heart-felt prayer andpraise and glory of God. Acting upon theblessed model of the Holy Prophetsaw, thePromised Messiahas told his children and hisfollowers not to fall in love with this world fora time will come when the world and all that isin it will have to be left behind. It is pointlessto love this world for it will not last. Lastingbenefit is in having a connection with the Be-ing that always was and always will be andthat Being is God, the Master of Glory andHonour.

Hudhur said the aforementioned versescite two important matters. One is that every-thing is prone to decline and will graduallyperish and each human ultimately dies. Theother point is that those who endeavour toattain God’s pleasure should be hopeful.Those who ever search for God, who endeav-our for the piety of their children, doubtlesslydepart from this world but they are granted aneternal life in the Hereafter and are taken inthe loving embrace of God as they hear: ‘Soenter thou among my chosen servants, Andenter thou My Garden.’ (89:30 – 31)

Hudhur said the advent of the PromisedMessiahas t took place to connect man withGod and make him understand the subject of‘So enter thou among my chosen servants,’.Thus, at a time of rejoicing he articulated inthe poem that search for eternal life and un-less one finds God, one cannot discover thiseverlasting life. It is stated in Surah Al Qasas:‘And call not on any other God beside Allah.There is no God but He. Everything will per-ish except Himself. His is the judgement, andto Him will you be brought back.’ (28:89)Hudhur said this is the objective which wehave to achieve, as God also states: ‘And I

Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad at

8 MuslimSunrise

have not created the Jinn and the men but thatthey may worship Me.’ (51:57) Hudhur said thesignificance of such worship is understood onceone is firm on the belief that ‘There is no Godbut He’ and all else will perish.

Hudhur said God draws attention to suchmatters to those who believe in Him with sincer-ity. He also provides opportunities for attaininghigh standards of worship. The month ofRamadan comes every year so that we recogniseGod and save ourselves from destruction. For-tunate are those who avail of this opportunityand having done so, continue to strive towardsit for the rest of the year. Those alone endeav-our with resolve who understand that: ‘Every-thing will perish except Himself.’ No doubt thereinis the teaching that death is a reality but thosewho absorb themselves in God achieve a newlife. Who are those who are absorbed in ‘thePerson of thy Lord’? These are those who un-derstand the objective of creation. Indeed, for-tunate are those who make an effort to compre-hend this subject and then act upon it. May Godenable each one of us to understand this sub-ject and act upon it and may this Ramadan takeus closer to this, for which our elders madeendeavours and prayed for and breathed thisspirit in the new generation.

When a dear one, an elder departs from thisworld one is further drawn to this subject. In-deed each person who has firm faith and beliefin God should be further drawn to this subjectat such a time. Hudhur said that recently, hismother passed away. Inna lillahe wa inna illaheraji’oon. When Hudhur reflects over her life, henotes her standard of worship as a model. Herreading of the Qur’an for hours, deliberatingover it and her engrossment in Salat were exem-plary for Hudhur. Although she did not experi-ence the time of the Promised PromisedMessiahas but she saw the early times and hadthe love and prayers of Hadhrat KhalifatulMasih Ira and had the blessings of the compan-ions of the Promised Promised Messiahas. Shehad the positive and distinctive influence of thetime closer to that of the Promised Messiah andshe was the eldest daughter and second childof Hadhrat Musleh Maud ra. She carried herselfwith dignity, the sort of dignity which shouldbe evident in a believer. She had angst to culti-vate love of God; this angst was heart-felt andcould be seen in her poetic compositions.Hudhur said judging from the engrossed man-ner in which she offered her Salat, Hudhurknows her feelings were not superficial like po-ets who wander in wilderness. In a poetic com-position she wrote what is broadly translatedas follows:

Your love, Your mercy, Your forgivenesstoo

I seek Your pleasure each momentHaving lost everything in His obedienceI only seek my Master’s supportMay You alone be in my heartI seek the mantle of Your mercy

Hudhur said it is related in Hadith thatas a funeral procession passed by, the Com-panions spoke well of the deceased. TheHoly Prophet said ’it has become obliga-tory’. The Companions asked what had be-come obligatory. The Prophetsaw answeredthat Paradise had become obligatory for theperson because when people praise the vir-tues of the deceased, God makes arrange-ments for his or her forgiveness.

Hudhur said people who knew hismother are writing her many attributes inthe numerous letters of condolence that heis receiving on her passing away. In light ofthese letters and what Hudhur had himselfobserved, he hoped and prayed that herprayer ‘I seek the mantle of Your mercy’ isfulfilled and God has wrapped her in thecover of His mercy and forgiveness.

Hudhur prayed: ‘O my Dear God, extendthe treatment to my mother that she soughtin this prayer, and make us, her children alsounderstand this concept. In this world andafter death, keep us also wrapped in thecover of Your mercy. May we never be dis-tant from the expectations that she had fromher children. May God also enable her nextgenerations to attain His pleasure.’

Hudhur said his mother was the eldestdaughter of Hadhrat Musleh Maudra andSyedda Mahmooda Begum sahiba and wasborn in 1911. Her mother was the daughterof Dr. Khalifa Rasheeduddin. The Nikah ofthe parents of Hudhur’s mother took placein 1902 and they were married in October1903. The Promised Promised Messiahas

wrote to Dr. Khalifa Rasheeduddin that‘Mian Mahmood’ was pleased with thismatch and this was a testimony that thiswas according to Divine will. Hudhur saidcertainly this was the case as their son wasgiven the mantle of Khilafat. The Nikah ofHudhur’s parents took place in 1934 andHadhrat Khalifatul Masih IIra gave a lengthysermon at the occasion. Two Nikahs wereannounced at the time, first was that ofHadhrat Khalifatul Masih III and the otherof Hudhur’s parents. Hudhur read out someexcerpts from the sermon for the Jama’at ingeneral and the family of the Promised Mes-

siah (on whom be peace) in particular so thatthey realise their responsibilities and forHudhur’s mother who always strived for highlevels of Tarbiyyat of everyone, to be re-warded by God for Hudhur’s attention isdrawn to this because of her passing away.

In his sermon Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih IIcited the Quranic verse: ‘And among others fromamong them who have not yet joined them. Heis the Mighty, the Wise.’ (62:4) and said thatthis signified the coming of the perfect spiritualmanifestation (Buruz) of the Holy Prophetsaw.He said it was not only the prophecy rather alsoan appeal by the Prophetsawthat when the evilof Dajjal (antichrist) appeared, a few people ofPersian descent will rise against it. Citing anincident from the life of the Holy Prophetsaw,Hadhrat Musleh Maudra said during an expedi-tion there was lack of order among the Muslimsso much so that only a dozen Companions re-mained around the Prophetsaw. At this time, theHoly Prophetsaw had it announced that Prophetof God was calling on the Muslims. The Com-panions rushed to get to him trampling every-thing in their way. Hadhrat Musleh Maudra saidthat the call the Prophetsaw made regardingpeople of Persian descent was far greater inglory, in belief, in confidence, in love and inhope than the call he made to his Companions.He explained that the particular word (Rijaal)used by the Prophetsaw in his prophecy con-notes not just the people of Persian descent,rather it also signifies their generations to fol-low will have the same responsibility. HadhratMusleh Maudra thus passed the message andthe trust onto the family of those of ‘Persiandescent’. He said that he thus passed on theresponsibility to the next generation, be theyhis children or the children of his brothers.

Hudhur prayed that having listened to thisheartfelt message, may God make us feel respon-sible and may the passing away of the eminentelder of the family draw the Jama’at in generaland the family of the Promised Messiahas in par-ticular towards the important obligation that thePromised Messiahas has stated.

Briefly citing the life-history of his mother,Hudhur said given the times, her fatherstressed on her religious and worldly educa-tion and she was educated up to the FA stan-dard. On 17 March 1925 a Madrassa wasopened for girls and Hudhur’s mother was oneof the early students in it. She passed the quali-fication of ‘Maulwi’ in 1929 from the Madrassa.Hadhrat Musleh Maudra also wrote a poemon the Ameen of his children which is full ofprayers. Mentioning Hudhur’s mother, Hadh-rat Sahibzadi Nasira Begum, the poem says:

Fall 2011 9

My Nasira , avirtuous starWise, dutiful, a

pure gemHudhur said these attributes are not sim-

ply borne out of the love of a father. ManyLajna who worked with Hudhur’s mother haveverified these sentiments. A former sadr ofLajna wrote that she was very keen regardingTarbiyyat and always thought of new ideasand plans in this regard. She wished for eachgirl and each woman from Rabwah to have avery high standard of Tarbiyyat and to main-tain the dignity of Purdah and general deport-ment. If she found someone not conductingthemselves as they should, she would go upto them and lovingly explain about maintain-ing dignity.

Hudhur said that in an address during hisfirst Jalsa as Khalifatul Masih, HadhratKhalifatul Masih IV spoke about Hudhur’smother. He said that he had a sister whostrictly abided by Purdah. She followed what-ever she saw Hadhrat Musleh Maudra do.Some younger women of the time thought thatsuch ideas were of earlier times. HadhratKhalifatul Masih IV then added that the ear-lier times he knew of was the time of the HolyProphetsaw. He said this sister of his truly fol-lowed her strict ways while firmly abiding byTaqwa.

Hudhur said his mother had served asLajna sadr for Rabwah for a long time andduring her term she always aspired and workedhard for Rabwah Lajna to secure prominentposition within Pakistan. This was not simplyto be high on the league table but was owingto the thought that Rabwah was the seat ofKhilafat and no one should have the occa-sion to say that there was ‘darkness underthe lamp’. Of course, God’s pleasure was herobjective. Someone has written to Hudhur thathis mother’s decisions had great foresight.She always consulted others and respectedeach person whom she consulted. One of herapproaches to increase education and knowl-edge was to ask every member to memorisetwo couplets from the books Durre Sameenand Kalaam e Mahmood for meetings. Not onlydid this enhance spiritual knowledge, it wasalso most helpful towards Rabwah winningfirst position in Bait Bazi competitions.

Hudhur said he is aware that his motherhad many poetic couplets memorised. Imamsahib’s wife has written to Hudhur that dur-ing the journey to an out of town trip, ratherthan chat, she encouraged everyone to havea Bait Bazi session. Hudhur said his fatherHadhrat Mirza Mansoor Ahmad had also com-mitted many couplets of Durre Sameen tomemory. It seemed as if he remembered theentire composition of ‘Aye Khuda AyeKarsaz’. Hudhur said during their family trav-els, they always had Bait Bazi sessions;Hudhur’s father had one team and Hudhur’smother the other. Hudhur said his mother knewthe entire Qaseeda by heart. After the passingaway of Hudhur’s father whichever grand-daughter slept with her, had the task of help-ing her revise Qaseeda. Hudhur said she re-membered part of Qaseeda till her last days.She also read the Qur’an with great concen-tration. If she ever had any spare time duringthe day from house work, which she did in sup-porting her household help as well as under-take Lajna work, in addition to her morning reci-tation, she would sit and read the Qur’an with

deep reflection but it was not her habit to un-necessarily mention her knowledge in spite ofher vast reading practice. As she had ‘Maulwi’qualification, her knowledge of Arabic wasgood. She was most sympathetic and compas-sionate by nature and helped people with cashor by giving grain and also drew others’ atten-tion to do the same. A few well-off people gavetheir charity to her so that she would distributeit to the deserving. As she was Rabwah sadrLajna for a long period she knew people andwas aware of their situation. During her officeterm, she was not a sadr only as an administra-tor, rather, she was in touch with almost everyfamily. During her term as sadr Rabwah Lajnawas prominent in every department.

Many acquaintances of her are writing toHudhur and mentioning how hospitable shewould be when people went to visit her andwould offer seasonal refreshments. She wasvery discerning and could gauge situation bylooking at faces, asked after people and gavethem good advice and prayers. She would drawattention regarding Tarbiyyat of children. Asshe had been a sadr for a long period, the vari-

Hudhur said his mother related one of her dreams to Hudhurin which she saw the Holy Prophetsaw. She once told Hudhurabout a dream she had about the bright future of GermanJama’at. When Hudhur recently visited Germany and observedthe increasing connections and networks of the Jama’at there, hewas reminded of the dream.

German capital Berlin's firstmosque opened, a cause of

celebration for the localAhmadiyya community.

10 MuslimSunrise

ous Lajna meetings would take place inHudhur’s family home. Hudhur said they had alarge veranda where everything was arranged.Promptly after Asr Salat, Hudhur said, every-one had to leave home because it used to beoccupied by Lajna. 150 to 200 ladies wouldgather there and she would personally arrangefor refreshments to be served. Hudhur said ifone was indoors, one had to remain there for acouple of hours as the house was taken overby Lajna. An old class fellow of Hudhur haswritten to Hudhur remembering how once sheheard a Haji sahib’s voice and asked Hudhur’sfriend to go and see if Haji sahib had eaten ornot as it was meal time. Once she came to knowthat someone was going through hard timesand wished to send their children abroad. Shehad her Prayer mat sent to that person with themessage that she had prayed for them on theparticular Prayer mat and with God’s grace alltheir children will have the chance to go abroad.The person has written to Hudhur that extraor-dinary set of events followed and all their chil-dren could go abroad. He has written that thereare sympathetic people around but her con-cern was so unique that she made specificprayers and then sent a message.

Hudhur said his mother related one of herdreams to Hudhur in which she saw the HolyProphetsaw. She once told Hudhur about a dreamshe had about the bright future of GermanJama’at. When Hudhur recently visited Ger-many and observed the increasing connectionsand networks of the Jama’at there, he was re-minded of the dream. Another of her attributewas that she was very particular about all kindsof chandas. As long as Hudhur was in Paki-stan, she used to ask him to organise it for herand would repeatedly say that the paymentsshould be accurate. She had various sourcesof income and if the estimated income differedfrom what was received, she would ensure thatthe balance in chanda was paid forthwith.

Dr. Noori has written to Hudhur and hasalso forwarded a letter that Hudhur’s mothersent him in 1999 in reply to Dr. Noori’s letter toher following Hudhur’s release from prison[where Hudhur was a prisoner of conscience].She wrote:

‘Dear Noori,Assalamoalaikum warahamtullah

wabarakatahu. I have received your letter in whichyou have expressed delight on the safe releaseof dear Masroor. It is great grace of Allah, other-wise the enemy had very dangerous plans. WithHis blessings God has demonstrated his power.We could not thank Him enough. Almost every-one in Rabwah as well as people outside Rabwah

made many heart-felt prayers. God accepted theirprayers. Alhamdolillah, Thumma Alhamdolillah.May God also protect everyone in future.’

Hudhur said therein is her humility that shedoes not mention her own prayers that she isbound to have made as a mother. Rather, shementions the prayers of people of Jama’at. Shealso does not say may God protect my chil-dren, rather she prays for everyone. Hudhursaid thus is the distinction of the Jama’at of thePromised Messiahas and her expression here isborne of the high standard of Tarbiyyat thatHadhrat Musleh Maudra gave her.

Hudhur said his mother had great self-con-trol but Hudhur’s son told him that when hevisited her a few years ago she became veryemotional at Hudhur’s mention. and their chil-dren be fulfilled. Hudhur said after Khilafat herrelationship with Hudhur took on a differenttone and Hudhur would feel this over the tele-phone. Hudhur said he used to ring her prior togoing on tours and she, knowing Hudhur wellfor no one knows one more than one’s mother,that he was quiet and said little, would praythat may God bless Hudhur’s words and hisspeeches. She would tell him that she was of-fering Nawafil and making prostrations of spe-cial prayers. When Hudhur met her at Qadianin 2005 it was an amazing situation for Hudhur;a unique experience. Her connection with ear-lier Khulafa that Hudhur had seen in the pastwas now extended to Hudhur by her and themother and son connection was not there. Itwas replaced by a connection of Khilafat whichhad respect and deference.

Dr. Ibrahim took her interview there [inQadian] in which Hudhur is also mentioned. Inthe interview she said that she had respect andregard for Hudhur because he was the Khalifaof the time. Hudhur said his dear mother gaveprecedence to this relationship over every otherrelationship. Hudhur said when he went to meether [in Qadian] she would have happiness and

brightness in her eyes and her face would burstwith joy. Whatever time Hudhur could find fromthe engagements of Jalsa he would go and seeher, she would be loving towards Hudhur andthey would sit together and talk for some time.But this was only over a period of 15 days.When she departed from there, she did so withprayers.

Dr. Furrukh has written to Hudhur to saythat when he went to see her to pay his condo-lences at the passing away of HadhratKhalifatul Masih IVra she asked him to pray tobe enabled to take the Bai’at of the next Khalifaand also to develop an emotional connectionwith him. Hudhur prayed may God bless herwith Paradise.

In 1913 when Hadhrat Musleh Maudra

wished to start the newspaper Al Fazl, his wifeHadhrat Umme Nasir offered her jewellery tofund it initially. He wrote that God had inspiredhis wife in a way that Hadhrat Khadija (mayAllah be pleased with her) was inspired to helpthe Holy Prophetsaw. She gave two pieces ofher jewellery to be sold to fund the launch ofthe newspaper. One of these were her own goldbracelets, the other were her childhood goldbracelets that she had kept for the use of herdaughter Nasira Begum. By selling thisjewellery the newspaper was launched. Hudhurappealed that the readers of Al Fazl rememberthe dear daughter of Hadhrat Musleh Maudra,his mother, in their prayers when reading thenewspaper. Although not on a conscious level,but she also took part in the installation of AlFazl which today is also published as Al FazlInternational.

Hudhur prayed that may Godcontinue to elevate her station inParadise and may her prayersreach us. Hudhur said he wouldlead her funeral Prayer in absen-tia after Friday Prayer.

Hudhur said therein is her humility thatshe does not mention her own prayersthat she is bound to have made as amother. Rather, she mentions theprayers of people of Jama’at. She alsodoes not say may God protect mychildren, rather she prays for everyone.

Fall 2011 11

Both the Qur’anand Bible relate thestory of Adamand Eve: their

creation and downfall in theGarden. While the stories told ineach book are generallycomparable in most respects,some differences do exist. A sideby side comparison of thenarrative as detailed in theQur’an and the Bible, togetherwith the use of science and logic,can help one to the true story ofAdam and Eve.

Was Adam The First Man onEarth?

Adam and Eve were, according to theBook of Genesis, the first man and womancreated by God: “And the Lord formed manof the dust of the ground, and breathedinto his nostrils the breath of life; and manbecame a living being” (Genesis 2:7). ThenGod said that “It is not good that the manshould be alone; I will make him a com-panion fit for him” (Genesis 2:18) and thusGod created the first woman. Eve, accord-ing to the Book of Genesis, was created fromthe rib of Adam: “And the Lord God causeda deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept;and He took one of his ribs, and closed upthe flesh in its place. Then the rib whichthe Lord God had taken from the man hemade into a woman, and He brought herto the man” (Genesis 2:21).

In the Qur’an, however, it is stated thatGod said to the angels that “I am about to

place a vicegerent in the earth” (2:31). TheArabic word used for “vicegerent” iskhalifa, and the word khalifa denotes asuccessor, which means that according tothe Holy Qur’an, Adam, who lived about6000 years ago, was not the first man onEarth. The world has passed through manycycles of creation and civilization. Adam,the antecedent of the present human race,is the first link in the present cycle, andnot the very first man in God’s creation.When the stage of the full development ofthe mental faculties of man was reached,God sent His revelation to the most perfectman of that generation, Adam. It is not cor-rect to say that God formed man out of clayand breathed His spirit into him, rather thecreation of man was the culmination of agradual process. The Qur’an says: “And Hehas created you in different stages and dif-ferent forms” (71:15). Furthermore, thePromised Messiahas, founder of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community, states that

The Biblical Story of Adam and EveBy Bushra Bajwa

12 MuslimSunrise

we do not claim that all mankind who arenow found in different parts of the earth,are the progeny of the same Adam. Hence,we cannot say whether the original inhabit-ants of America, Australia etc. are the prog-eny of this last Adam or some other Adamgone before him1. Scientific evidence sup-ports the Qur’an’s decree. Discovery offossils or dead remains by scientists of ear-lier humans prove that Adam was not thefirst man on earth. The fossilized skulls oftwo adults and one child discovered in theAfar region of eastern Ethiopia have beendated at 160,000 years, making them the old-est known fossils of modern humans, orHomo sapiens2. Scientists also believe thatthe first humans in Australia date to50,000 years ago3 and the first humans ar-rived in America about 15,000 years ago. 4Thus, the proclamation of the Bible thatAdam who lived about 6,000 years ago, wasthe first man, is in direct conflict with Sci-ence.

The Qur’an also does not support theview that Eve was created from the rib ofAdam. In the Qur’an it states “O ye people!Fear your Lord Who created you from asingle soul and of its kind created its mate,and from them twain spread many men andwomen” (4:2). The words do not mean thatwoman was created out of the body of man,but that she belonged to the same speciesas man, possessing identical aptitudes andpropensities5.

The Tree Of Knowledge, Or aSource of Evil?

Genesis 2 and 3 relate the story of Adamand Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is nar-rated that God set the man in the garden

“to work it and watch over it,” permittinghim to eat from all the trees in the gardenexcept the Tree of Knowledge, “but of thetree of the knowledge of good and evil youshall not eat, for in the day that you eat ofit you shall surely die” (Genesis. 2:17). Simi-larly, in the Qur’an, Adam and Eve are for-bidden to eat from the tree: “And We said,‘O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in thegarden and eat therefrom plentifully wher-ever you will, but approach not this tree,lest you be of the wrongdoers’” (Qur’an,2:36).

The difference in the narrations of theQur’an and the Bible is in the representa-tion of the tree. According to the Bible, theforbidden tree was the tree of knowledgeof good and evil: “You will not certainlydie,” the serpent said to the woman: “ForGod knows that when you eat from it youreyes will be opened, and you will be likeGod, knowing good and evil” (Genesis, 2:4-5). However, if the tree represented knowl-edge, as suggested in the Bible, forbiddingman to eat from the tree would be deprivingman of knowledge and thus be in conflictwith the purpose of man’s creation. TheQur’an states “so he caused them to fallinto disobedience by deceit. And when theytasted of the tree, their shame became mani-fest to them and they both began to coverthemselves with the leaves of the Garden.And their Lord called them, saying, ‘Did Inot forbid you that tree and tell you, verilySatan is to you an open enemy?’” (7:23).According to the Qur’an, the tree was asource of evil which made Adam exhibit aweakness. The word used in this Qur’anicverse for nakedness, ‘sayy’ah’, is used inthis context to signify “object of shame” or“weakness”. Every person has some weak-nesses that are hidden even from himself,

The Qur’an also does not support the view that Eve was

created from the rib of Adam. In the Qur’an it states “O ye

people! Fear your Lord Who created you from a single soul

and of its kind created its mate, and from them twain

spread many men and women” (4:2)

The difference in thenarrations of the

Qur’an and the Bibleis in the representationof the tree. According

to the Bible, theforbidden tree was thetree of knowledge of

good and evil...

Fall 2011 13

but which become exposed at times of fa-tigue, stress and temptation. Thus whenAdam was tempted by Satan, he becameconscious of some of his natural weak-nesses6. Furthermore, the Qur’an does notstate that Eve initiated the fruit eating, butthat Adam and Eve were both responsible:“But Satan caused them both to slip bymeans of it and drove them out of the statein which they were” (Quran 2:37).

Original Sin or Forgiveness?

In the Bible, after eating fruit from thetree of knowledge, Adam and Eve, aware oftheir nakedness, hide themselves from God.Adam blames Eve for giving him the fruit,while Eve blames the serpent. God cursesthe serpent, causing it to lose its legs andto become an eternal enemy of the humanrace “upon your belly you shall go, anddust you shall eat all the days of yourlife”(Genesis. 3:14). To the woman he said,‘I will greatly increase your pains in child-bearing; with pain you will give birth tochildren. Your desire will be for your hus-band and he will rule over you.’ To Adamhe said, ‘Because you listened to your wifeand ate from the tree about which I com-manded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’‘Cursed is the ground because of you;through painful toil you will eat of it allthe days of your life. It will produce thornsand thistles for you, and you will eat theplants of the field. By sweat of your browyou will eat your food until you return tothe ground, since from it were you taken;for dust you are and to dust you will re-turn’ (Genesis 3:16–19). Not only were Adam

and Eve reprimanded and punished for thesin they committed, according to the Bookof Genesis, their entire progeny has beeneternally polluted with sin and will also bepunished for it.

In the Qur’an, however, it states thatAdam and Eve sought forgiveness fromGod: “They said ‘Our Lord we havewronged ourselves and if Thou forgiveus not and have not mercy on us, we shallsurely be of the losers’” (7:24). And Godforgave them: “Then Adam learnt fromhis Lord certain words of prayer. So Heturned towards him with mercy. Surely,He is Oft-Returning with compassion,and is Merciful” (Qur’an 2:38). The ideaof original sin does not exist in Islam.Arguably, a just God would not eternallycondemn the entire progeny of Adam andEve for the sin they committed and re-pented. According to Islam, sin is nei-ther transferable, nor inherited: “No onecan bear the burden of another” (Qur’an35:19).

Serpent or Satan?Also in contrast to the Biblical story, the

Qur’an relates that it was Satan that temptedAdam and his spouse and caused them toerr: “But Satan caused them both to slip bymeans of it and drove them out of the statein which they were” (Qur’an 2:37). Satan is“any evil or harmful being or thing, whethera spirit or a human being or an animal or adisease or any other thing”7. The Satan thatcaused Adam to slip was not a serpent, but awicked man from among the human race. Hewas a member of the family which Adam hadbeen told to avoid8.

ConclusionThere are some similarities in the

Qur’anic and Biblical narratives of Adamand Eve. However, scientific discoveriesreject the Bible’s claim that Adam who lived6,000 years ago was the first man on Earth.Also, the Biblical story degrades women forinitiating sin. In addition, it is irrational tobelieve that all of mankind will eternallysuffer for the sin committed by Adam andEve in the Garden of Eden as detailed inGenesis. The story of Adam and Eve asdescribed in the Qur’an does not contra-dict science and logic, which lends supportto the fact that the Qur’an is an authenticand most perfect book.

Endnotes1. Malfooza’at, Vol. 10, Page, 426

2. Sanders, R. (June 11, 2003). 160,000-year-old fossilized skulls uncovered inEthiopia are oldest anatomicallymodern humans. UCBerkley News.

3. Mayell, H. (February 24, 2003). Firsthumans in Australia dated to 5000 yearsago. National Geographic News.

4. Lovegren, S. (February 2, 2007). FirstAmericans arrived recently, SettledPacific coast, DNA study says.National Geographic News.

5. The Holy Quran. Arabic text withshort commentary. Publishedunder the auspices of HadhratMirza Tahir Ahmad (2003).Page181.

6. The Holy Quran. Arabic text withshort commentary. Publishedunder the auspices of HadhratMirza Tahir Ahmad (2003).Page313.

7. The Holy Quran. Arabic text withshort commentary. Publishedunder the auspices of HadhratMirza Tahir Ahmad (2003). Page27.

8. The Holy Quran. Arabic text withshort commentary. Publishedunder the auspices of HadhratMirza Tahir Ahmad (2003).Page313.

Bushra Bajwa is the Tarbiyyat Secretary andYouth Coordinator of the women’s auxiliaryof the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’sSeattle chapter. She has a Master’s Degreein Student Development Administration fromSeattle University.

Original Sin or Forgiveness?

14 MuslimSunrise

Maham Khan

Does the Holy Qur’an allow men tobeat their wives? We would answer‘no’. Yet the question still lurks at the

back of our minds. Should we then considerthe possibility that there could be more that

meets the eye when reading verse 4:35?In comparison, take the following verse:“And if a woman fears ill-treatment or in-

difference from her husband, it shall be no sinfor them that they may be suitably reconciled

to each other; and reconciliation is best...”(4:128).

Apparently for a woman, there is no three-step program for restraint that verse 4:35has provided for men. It does hint at aseparation if the wife fears unjust treat-ment from her husband, by suggesting thatthey can be “reconciled” which is the bet-ter for the both of them. However, eventhough both these verses aim at endingthe estrangement between the couple andsaving the marriage, the way to go aboutit differs with gender. It seems a womancan separate from her husband if he mightbe harsh with her or even betray her, whilea husband could resort to punishment ifhis wife refuses to desist from her ill-be-havior.

Yet Prophet Muhammadsa is recordedto have said in his ahadith or sayings, that“he who treats his wife best is the bestamong men and I am the best among you”( Kathir). He never raised a hand againstany of his wives. While the Holy Qur’andoes record a time when he was upset withthem and even an instance when hisyoungest and favorite wife Aisha wasfalsely accused of adultery (24:12-14), hisonly reaction was to separate himself fromhis wives. And while verse 4:35 speaks ofa woman’s nushooz or “rising against herhusband” and not some ordinary disobe-dience or even adultery (for which, pun-ishment has been prescribed in the HolyQur’an, for both men and women), the HolyProphetsa conveyed, by his own example,how he would treat his wives if he were tobe somehow displeased by them: he sepa-rated himself from them.

Various translations (e.g. of Yusuf Ali,Pickthall etc) of the root word dharabafrom which idhribuhun in verse 4:35 isderived of, read strike or beat. Owing tomany such renderings, even ‘chastise’seems to mean ‘beat.’ The verse quoted inthe beginning of this essay is fromMaulawi Sher Ali’s translation, which reads‘chastise.’ In various Qur’anic verses theword dharaba has been translated to‘strike’ or to ‘go forth,’ meaning to leaveor to separate.

For example, we read verse 2:274 as,“(Alms are) for the poor who are detainedin the way of Allah and are unable to moveabout (dharaban) in the land.” And againin the following verse dharaba is trans-lated as ‘sets forth’: “Dost thou not seeAllah sets forth (dharaba) a parable of agood word?” (14:25).

Chastising A Wife in Islam

“Men are guardians over women because Allah has made someof them excel others, and because (men) spend (on them) oftheir wealth. So virtuous women are obedient, and guard thesecrets of their husbands with Allah’s protection. And as forthose on whose part you fear disobedience, admonish them andkeep away from them in their beds and chastise them. Then ifthey obey you, seek not a way against them. Surely, Allah isHigh and Great” (Holy Qur’an 4:35)

Fall 2011 15

However, verse 8:51 contains the wordyadhriboon which is derived from dharabajust as idhribuhun is and it reads, “And ifthou couldst see when the angels takeaway the souls of those who disbelieve,smiting (yadhriboon) their faces and theirbacks and (saying):Taste ye the punish-ment of burning.” This is perhaps the onlyverse that supports the translation of beat-ing or even chastise.

The intention of this article is not toadvocate another translation of the con-cerned verse. In fact it is to defend it as itis. Critics of Islam hasten to accuse it ofviolence against women and ignoranttranslators of the Holy Qur’an, despitetheir being Islamic scholars, add to themisconception with their faulty renderings.It would do us good to understand thatthe word ‘chastise’ does not have a vio-lent connotation to it. We should also ap-preciate the significance of this word sincewe do come across sayings of the HolyProphetsa that many have mistakenly takenas permission to hit women when he hassaid that if any beating should even oc-cur, it should not be such that could leavea mark on the wife’s body, (Tirmidhi, Mus-lim). And as he has also said that he is thebest among men who treats his wife withkindness, as such, the word ‘chastise’takes over an ambiguous meaning.

If a man were to lightly hit his wife,

which is how the word dharaba is under-stood in verse 2:61 where Mosesas wasasked to strike the rock with his rod, theissue still remains a hot button with crit-ics. How much does ‘lightly’ quantify? Ifthe Holy Prophetsa has said not to leave amark on a woman’s body, how is she sup-posed to be beaten then? Furthermore,verse 4:35 ends with the warning that ifdisobedient wives obey then “do not seeka way against them,” is it possible that anywoman would come to her senses after abeating? Even children are not to betreated that way. They either remain in fearor repeat the offense in defiance. Point is,perhaps the Holy Prophetsa could havegiven a practical demonstration sinceMuslims consider him to be the living ex-ample of the Holy Qur’an. And the truthis, there is no such record.

The label ‘wife-beater’ certainly didn’tspring up with the message of the HolyQur’an 1400 years ago. Men have alwaysused and abused women. In fact, manychose aggression as a way to ‘handle’ theirwives. Moreover, masculinity was equatedwith violence. Shakespeare’s misogynis-tic play, ‘Macbeth’ brings out the evil thatnot only men are capable of but the vio-lence that sprouts from them when womenthemselves incite them. Lady Macbeth isthe classic example of such a wife whogoads her husband to kill the King and

accuses him of being less than a man forgetting cold feet. Knowing his nature shesays,

“Hie thee hither,( That I may pour myspirits in thine ear;( And chastise with thevalour of my tongue( All that impedes theefrom the golden round,” ( Macbeth, Act 1Secne V).

According to English dictionaries, LadyMacbeth is ‘severly rebuking’ her husband andnot beating him. This is exactly how theQur’anic verse 4:35 should be understood.When a wife begins to “rise against” her hus-band as verse 4:35 describes, the husbandshould admonish her or try to correct her, thenleave her alone in her bed and if she still resistshim, then to chastise her or be severe with her.This is where the punishment comes in: eitherseverly criticise her or like the Holy Prophetsa

did, separate himself from her for a while. Sepa-ration in itself is a physical punishment. For thewoman as well as the husband, since he hasalready shunned intimate relations with her bynot sharing the marital bed.

For readers to suggest that Islam permitsbeating the wife as a last resort, is incompre-hensible. No such incident is found from thelife of the Holy Prophetsa. And the Holy Qur’andoes not promote any such behavior. Beatingis inhumane conduct and the Holy Prophet hadcome to free womankind of precisely such crueltreatment. No rationale can support the beatingof a woman into submission.

Yet Prophet Muhammadsa

is recorded to have said inhis ahadith or sayings, that

“he who treats his wifebest is the best among menand I am the best amongyou” ( Kathir). He neverraised a hand against any

of his wives.

16 MuslimSunrise

By Khaula Rehman MD

Many Christians andJews, perhapsunconsciously, view theQur’an in absolutecontrast to their own

scriptures. In their minds the Qur’an teachessavagery and warfare, while the Bible offers amessage of love, forgiveness, and charity. Forthe prophet Micahas, God’s commands to hispeople are summarized in the words “act justly,and love mercy, and walk humbly with yourGod” (Micah 6:8). Christians recall the wordsof the dying Jesusas: “Father, forgive them:they know not what they do.” Likewise, thereare verses in the Holy Qur’an to promotetolerant and kind behavior. The Holy Qur’ansays, “And good and evil are not alike. Repelevil with that which is best. And lo, he betweenwhom and thyself was enmity will become asthough he were a warm friend.” (Al Qur’an41:35)This article is to give the Christians and theJews a balanced view of the two scriptures,the Bible and the Qur’an. There are no versesin the Holy Qur’an to trigger and promotegenocide, but there are in the Bible:

When you march up to attack a city, makeits people an offer of peace. If they accept andopen their gates, all the people in it shall besubject to forced labor and shall work for you.If they refuse to make peace and they engageyou in battle, lay siege to that city. When the

Violence in the Bible and Jihad in the Qur’an

Lord your God delivers it into your hand, putto the sword all the men in it. As for the women,the children, the livestock and everything elsein the city, you may take these as plunder foryourselves. And you may use the plunder theLord your God gives you from your enemies.This is how you are to treat all the cities thatare at a distance from you and do not belongto the nations nearby. However, in the citiesof the nations the Lord your God is givingyou as an inheritance, do not leave alive any-thing that breathes. Completely destroythem—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites,Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lordyour God has commanded you.1

(Deuteronomy 20:10-17)There are no verses in the Holy Qur’an to

destroy polytheism with sword and kill allpolytheists and even their livestock, regard-less of whether they are at war or not, but inthe Bible there are:

If you hear it said about one of the townsthe Lord your God is giving you to live in that

troublemakers have arisen among you andhave led the people of their town astray, say-ing, “Let us go and worship other gods” (godsyou have not known), then you must inquire,probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if itis true and it has been proved that this detest-able thing has been done among you, youmust certainly put to the sword all who live inthat town. You must destroy it completely, bothits people and its livestock. You are to gatherall the plunder of the town into the middle ofthe public square and completely burn thetown and all its plunder as a whole burnt of-fering to the Lord your God. That town is toremain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt.(Deuteronomy 13:12-16)

There are no verses in the Holy Qur’an tokill people for sexual misconduct but there arein the Bible:

If a man commits adultery with anotherman’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to beput to death. (Leviticus 20:10)

Christians recall the words of the dying Jesusas:“Father, forgive them: they know not what they

do.” Likewise, there are verses in the HolyQur’an to promote tolerant and kind behavior.

Fall 2011 17

And:If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by

becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her fa-ther; she must be burned in the fire. (Leviticus21:9)

There are no verses in the Holy Qur’anordering to attack the Amalekites and totallydestroy all that belongs to them. There is noth-ing in the Qur’an ordering, ‘do not spare them;put to death men and women, children andinfants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys,’but there is in the Bible:

Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one theLORD sent to anoint you king over his peopleIsrael; so listen now to the message from theLORD. This is what the LORD Almighty says:‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they didto Israel when they waylaid them as they cameup from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekitesand totally destroy all that belongs to them.Do not spare them; put to death men andwomen, children and infants, cattle and sheep,camels and donkeys.’”

So Saul summoned the men and musteredthem at Telaim—two hundred thousand footsoldiers and ten thousand from Judah. Saulwent to the city of Amalek and set an ambushin the ravine. … But Saul and the army sparedAgag and the best of the sheep and cattle, thefat calves and lambs—everything that wasgood. These they were unwilling to destroycompletely, but everything that was despisedand weak they totally destroyed. (1 Samuel15:1-9)

There are no verses in the Holy Qur’andescribing Allah as a Man of war but in Exo-dus 15:3, the Bible tells us the Lord is a manof war. Such war verses are not limited to theOld Testament only. In Mark 7:9-10, Jesus iscritical of the Jews for not killing their disobe-dient children as prescribed by Old Testamentlaw. In Luke 19:22-27, Jesus orders killedanyone who refuses to be ruled by him. TheNew Testament quotes Jesus Christ, “Thinknot that I am came to bring peace on earth: Idid not come to bring peace, but a sword.”(Matthew 10: 34) At another place the NewTestament quotes Jesus, “Then said he untothem, ‘But now, he who has a money bag, lethim take it, and likewise his knapsack: and hewho has no sword, let him sell his garment,and buy one.” (Luke 22: 36)

The Holy Qur’an does not prescribe deathsentence for the sin of arrogance but the Bibledoes:

Anyone who shows contempt for thejudge or for the priest who stands ministeringthere to the Lord your God is to be put to

death. You must purge the evil from Israel.(Deuteronomy 17:12)

The Holy Qur’an does not prescribe to killwitches and fortune-tellers but the Bible does:

Do not allow a sorceress to live. (Exodus22:18) And: A man or woman who is a mediumor spiritist among you must be put to death.You are to stone them; their blood will be ontheir own heads. (Leviticus 20:27)

The Holy Qur’an gives freedom of speechto followers of all other religions and does notprescribe killing them for preaching their reli-gion but the Bible does:

If your very own brother, or your son ordaughter, or the wife you love, or your closestfriend secretly entices you, saying, “Let usgo and worship other gods” (gods that nei-ther you nor your ancestors have known, godsof the peoples around you, whether near orfar, from one end of the land to the other), donot yield to them or listen to them. Show themno pity. Do not spare them or shield them.You must certainly put them to death. Yourhand must be the first in putting them to death,and then the hands of all the people. Stonethem to death, because they tried to turn youaway from the Lord your God, who broughtyou out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and noone among you will do such an evil thingagain. (Deuteronomy 13:6-11)

The Holy Qur’an does not prescribe capi-tal punishment for stubborn and rebelliouschildren but the Bible does:

If someone has a stubborn and rebelliousson who does not obey his father and motherand will not listen to them when they disci-pline him, his father and mother shall take holdof him and bring him to the elders at the gateof his town. They shall say to the elders, “Thisson of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He willnot obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”Then all the men of his town are to stone himto death. You must purge the evil from amongyou. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.(Deuteronomy 21:18-21)

Now, the Christian apologists could bewrithing in pain and anger and asking a hostof questions, for example: “Why are you cherrypicking?”, “Why don’t you take the holisticpicture and appreciate the message of com-passion in the Bible?”, and “Why do you nothear the message of Jesus Christas of turningthe other cheek?”

Muslims can respond affirmatively that weaccept Jesusas as a kind hearted prophet ofGod and the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa in theQur’an has been called as a mercy for the whole

mankind, based on his conduct towards allpeople that he dealt with in his lifetime.2

Now I can hear through the grapevines,the Christian apologists offering host of ex-planations, for these verses! They are sayingstatements like, there are different explanationsof these verses in different Judeo-Christiantraditions and sects, the Old Testament hasbeen superseded by the New Testament, donot take these verses literally in our presenttimes, look at the context of these verses intime and history.

I say yes my dear, yes indeed, the Muslimshave explanations also, for the so called ‘swordverse’ of the Holy Qur’an and other similarverses that sometimes hatemongers like to ob-sess about and the USA national media unilat-erally comments on, fairly regularly!3 Let thediscussions begin, as we hold hearings aboutthe Holy Qur’an in different juries across theWest. Let us be fair and reasonable and put theBible on trial as well. Last but not least, theChristian apologists tell me that even if theseverses are there in the Bible, so what? We donot take Bible seriously anymore and do not acton the Biblical injunctions anymore. But I re-mind them that according to a recent poll, morethan 60% of the USA population still takes theBible to be literal word of God.4 So, let us talk,let us talk about both the Bible and the HolyQur’an in a mature fashion. According to theHoly Qur’an, Jihad even when it means armedstruggle, it implies only defensive war and not apre-emptive strike. Let me introduce two Exhib-its in defense of the Holy Qur’an.

My Exhibit A:Fundamental versusallegoric: War and Peace in Islam:

http://www.alislam.org/library/articles/War-and-Peace-in-Islam-20080402MN.pdfExhibit B:War Verses of the Holy Qur’an:http://muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/2010_spring.pdf#page=22

(Endnotes)1 All Biblereferences and quotes are fromNew International Version.

2 Al Quran 21:108.3 Al Quran 9:5.4

http://legacy.rasmussenreports.com/2005/Bible.htm

Dr. Kahaula Rehman is a Sleep MedicineSpecialist workiing in upstate New York.

18 MuslimSunrise

Dr. Lutf-U-Rehman

The idea of implementingthe Shariah Law through thelegislative process of a coun-try is not new. Muslim majoritycountries have faced this de-

bate for many decades. The driving forcesbehind such concepts are usually politico-re-ligious parties who find it very hard to comeinto power through the normal process of elec-tions. This is their attempt to grab power inMuslim majority countries. Over time theyhave succeeded to varying degrees in thisgoal.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh has de-scribed the line of argument by the religiouselite as follows:

“It is generally understood that if the ma-jority in a country are Muslims, then the Mus-lims have a right rather, an obligation toenact Shariah Law. It is argued that if theybelieve in the Holy Qur’an and if they believealso that the Holy Qur’an is a comprehensiveBook which relates to every area of humanactivity and directs man how he should con-duct himself in every sphere of life, then it is

hypocrisy not to act on those claims. Theyshould follow the logical conclusion and en-act Shariah Law and make it the only law validfor the country.”

(‘Shariah: Relationship Between Reli-gion & Politics in Islam.’ A speech deliveredby Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh, at the Inter religious Consults,Suriname, on 3rd June 1991)

Then he points out various problems thatwill be encountered if an attempt is made toenact Shariah law as the only law of the land.

1) If Muslims are permitted to haveShariah Law based upon their Holy Book, thenother religions will have the same right in theircountries. For example, India will be free to havea law based upon their religious scriptures. Jewscan enact the law of the Talmud for their coun-trymen. Christians will also be free to force thepopulation to follow their religious law in theircountries. Today, with most countries havingmultiple faiths in them, this can produce chaosand substantial communities can become sec-

ond class citizens with only limited rights.2) Since legislation will be based in the

scriptures of a certain religion, people belong-ing to other faiths will have no say in the for-mulation of that legislation and will be ex-cluded from the process, even though theymay be affected by it. In a secular state thecitizens acquire these rights by being a citizenregardless of their beliefs or any other dis-crimination such as race, color or creed.

3) Even if legislative bodies were to beelected without any religious consideration,the interpretation of the law based in religionwill be challenged by the religious scholarsand they will have the final say as they are thescholars of the religion. Therefore even whenthe religious scholars will not be elected, itwill become necessary to concede power oflegislation to them. This would by definitionresult in a theocratic state.

4) Over time all religions divide and manysub groups appear. Within Islam there are atleast 73 different sects whose interpretation ofShariah Law differs from others. The most starkexample of this was seen during the 1953 judi-

What is Shariah Law?Shariah Law Concept of Enforcement

Fall 2011 19

cial enquiry report after Anti-Ahmadiyya riotsin Pakistan. The Ulema (religious scholars) fromdifferent sects of Islam could not agree on thedefinition of a Muslim. It is common knowledgethat religious scholars of various denominationsdo not agree on even basic regulations such ashow to perform Salat (prayer). This presentsanother serious hurdle in implementing a lawwhich is based on religion. The majority sect ina religion will enact the law according to theirinterpretation. But the majority sect may makeup only a small fraction of the total populationof the country. Hence a small minority will dic-tate the legislation for the majority of the peopleof that country.

5) All religious people believe that they havethe perfect truth as revealed by God to theirprophet through their Holy Book. They believethat there is no error in that which has beenrevealed to them. Therefore the question is notfinding an acceptable answer to a problem, ratherit is only a question of implementation. There isno room for debate, as we already know thetruth. And of course the truth will be asinterpreted by the majority faction which maybe only a small fraction of the total.

Therefore Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh

said, “These and many such issues make thequestion of imposition of Shariah almost im-possible.”

There was a great debate in Pakistan (teem-ing with fundamentalist Muslims) in the late80’s and early 90’s about imposition of ShariahLaw in the country. Ninety percent ofPakistan’s population is Muslim; the differ-ences in the interpretation of Shariah Law madeit impossible to become law.

The law passed in Pakistan is that theywill accept the supremacy of the Qur’an, andthey will agree that no legislation will be madecontrary to the fundamental Qur’anic teach-ing. But beyond that, they will not adopt anyrules or regulations which spring from laws asif they were legislative instructions from God.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh furtheropined:

“So as such, we must think many, manytimes, before we can even begin to ponderover the question whether anywhere in theworld, the law of religion can be imposed as alegal tender. Personally, I doubt it.”

(‘Shariah: Relationship Between Reli-gion & Politics in Islam.’ A speech deliveredby Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh, at the Inter religious Consults,Suriname, on 3rd June 1991)

Once this historic address was finished,Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh was asked somequestions.

If Muslims are permitted to haveShariah Law based upon their HolyBook, then other religions will havethe same right in their countries. Forexample, India will be free to have alaw based upon their religiousscriptures. Jews can enact the law ofthe Talmud for their countrymen.Christians will also be free to force thepopulation to follow their religious lawin their countries. Today, with mostcountries having multiple faiths in them,this can produce chaos and substantialcommunities can become second classcitizens with only limited rights.

Hadhrat Khalifatul-Masih IV

20 MuslimSunrise

Question: Is there a particular confusionin the western world about Shariah?

Answer: Thank you for this pointed ques-tion. But I thought that such questions areoutside the realm of this discussion.

What we are discussing is whether it ispossible to adopt religious law as the law ofthe country: by any state or any other reli-gion, for that matter.

I believe it’s not possible. It’s not possibleeven if you genuinely and fervently so desire,in the name of God, even then it’s not pos-sible. We have gone so far away from religion.We have become hypocrites. The whole hu-man society has become hypocrites. There ishypocrisy in politics and society everywhere.And hypocrisy does not permit honesty toflourish. It does not permit the word of God totake root. That is the main problem.

Question: I feel that we cannot really ap-ply a law that came for older times to the mod-ern times. Please explain.

Answer: I have studied this question indepth. I believe that religion can be perma-nent and universal; provided its principles aredeep-rooted in the human psyche. The hu-man psyche is unchangeable. And that is ex-actly what the Holy Qur’an claims. It says it isDeen-ul Fitra: meaning a faith or a law basedon human nature. And also ‘La tabdeelalekhalkillah’ meaning that the creation of Godand whatever he has created in you, the dis-pensation, the dispositions, etc. and the ba-sic propensity to do something or not to doso, all these remain the same.

Consequently, any law which is rooted inhuman psyche must also be universal andpermanent. But, the Holy Qur’an does not stopthere. It does not monopolize this truth. It goeson to say that all religions, at their nascentstages and at the stages of their development,were fundamentally the same and they all car-ried such basic truths related to human na-ture. This is referred to by the Qur’an as Deen-ul-Qayyema. It says there were three funda-mental features in every religious teaching:

First: To mend your relations with God, tobe honest and devoted to Him.

Second: To worship God only. In theQur’anic sense, worship does not mean justto pay lip service, but to try to acquire God’sattributes.

Third: To serve mankind and spend in thecause of the needy.

These are the three fundamental features,according to the Holy Qur’an, which are com-mon to all religions. However, with the pas-sage of time and through interpolations, they

were changed later on. So, what is needed isrectification of the change. Not a new faith.And that is what has been happening withthe advent of every prophet.

So, it is a highly complex question and alsonot directly related to the issue we are dis-cussing. I hope this much should suffice.

As far as the question of whether Islamiclaw, or any other religious law, can be imposedperforce, I say ‘no’ because it is against thespirit of all religions themselves. The HolyQur’an says in Chapter 2 verse 256: Laa Ikrahafid-Deen

This is a statement of the Holy Qur’an ofcourse; but it is a universal statement whichcan never be changed. It is an example of howlaws can become permanent and universal. Itsays there is no coercion in faith or in mattersof faith. No coercion is permitted. So, here isthe question: If one religion imposes its lawon a society where people of other religionsand denominations also live, how will thisverse stand against your attempt to coerce?Not only vis-à-vis the people from other reli-gions, but vis-à-vis people from the same reli-

gion who are not willing?So, this is the fundamental question. There-

fore the conclusion is that coercion is not a validinstrument in religion. The only authority in Is-lam, who was genuinely capable of being giventhe right to coerce, was the Founder of Islam,Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings ofAllah be upon him). Why? He was a living modelof Islam and when enquired about his character,his wife, Hadhrat Ayeshara said, he was the liv-ing Qur’an.

So, the only person who could be genuinelyentrusted with the faith of others, and be permit-ted to use coercion where he felt that rectifica-tion was to be made by force, was the HolyProphetsa

Yet, addressing him, Allah says in the Qur’an,

“Innama anta mothakkir lasta ‘alaihim bi-mosaitir.”

“Admonish therefore, for thou art but anadmonisher; thou art not (appointed) a keeper overthem,” (88:22-23)

So, that is why I say coercion is not possible,nor permitted by God. Moreover, what prevents aMuslim from following the Muslim law? Whyshould he wait for the whole legislation to bechanged?

Most of Islam and most of Christianity andmost of Hinduism can be practiced without therebeing the law of the country. The more so sincethe general principle accepted by the modernpolitical thinkers is that religion should not bepermitted to interfere with politics and politicsshould not be permitted to interfere with religion.

Interference is what I am talking about, notCooperation. Cooperation is the second part ofthe same subject. So, if a society is permitted tolive according to their religious aspirations, whyshould the religious law (Shariah Law) concernedbe made law of the land?

It is clear from the above explanation of Hadh-rat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh that Shariah cannotbe implemented through the use of legislativeprocess.

Shariah is a code of conduct, a guidelinewhich is applicable to one’s own self. No law isrequired to follow this code of conduct. EveryMuslim is free to adopt this code in his personallife. As for others, we can only deliver the mes-sage but not enforce it.

Dr. Lutfur Rehman, is a surgeon specializing inKidney Transplants, he is the president of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community, Tennessee.

Fall 2011 21

TheHoly Quran

on TrialMubasher Ahmad, M.A., LL.B.

22 MuslimSunrise

O n 20th of March

2011, a Christian pastor in Gainesville,

Florida, by the name of TerryJones, put the Holy Qur’an ontrial. He presided over this trialas a judge and had a jurycomprising of 12 members ofhis church. On receiving the‘guilty’ verdict of the so-calledjury, he oversaw the burning ofthe Holy Qur’an. This was doneafter the Holy Qur’an had beensoaked in kerosene oil for onehour. His reason for burning theQur’an was that its teachingsdidn’t correspond with his owntheology.

This shocking event is suggestive of

the Nazi German authorities who hadconducted a campaign to burn all bookswhich did not correspond with Hitler’sideology. Clearly, the pastor broughtshame on himself by rekindling theintolerant practices of the ancient Christianreligious courts. One of the many appallingexamples of intolerance of ancientChristian religious courts is the trial of ayoung innocent girl by the name of Joanof Arc who was found “guilty” and thenburned alive at the stake in 1431. Later,Joan of Arc was raised to the status of aSaint by the Catholic Church; and thosewho had burnt her alive were disgraced inthe corridors of history. Terry Jones is notthe first person who has launched amalicious attack against the Holy Qur’an..Since the very outset, when the Qur’anwas in the process of being revealed tothe Holy Prophet Muhammadsa , the paganArabs in their ignorance and disbeliefwere quick to raise objections against the

Holy text. Although they could see theawe-inspiring beauty of its Arabic verses,and its stunning effect on the hearts ofits listeners, but still, they did not believeit was the Word of Allah. To dissuadeothers from the effects of its beauty, theywould find faults with the Holy Prophetsa.They alleged that the prophet was asoothsayer – a kahin1; or that he was asorcerer, a magician –a sahir2, or he wasjust a poet – a sha’ir3. At times they wouldalso assert that he was under a paranormalinfluence, or (God-forbid) he had goneinsane – and they used to call him amajnoon4. At times they would say thatthe text of the Qur’an was prepared byothers; and at other times they claimedthat the contents of the Qur ’an werestolen from older scriptures, and i tcontained nothing more than “fables of theancient”5 dictated to him by someforeigners6.

All of theses false accusations arerecorded in the Holy Qur’an itself alongwith complete and satisfactory responses.Each and every allegation is fully rebutted,and the Holy Qur’an stands out clearly asa winner. One of the dazzling proofs of thevictory of the Qur’an is evident in the factthat within the life time of the HolyProphet sa, a vast majori ty of Arabiaaccepted the Qur’an was the Word ofAllah, and that the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa was its sole recipient, andthat i t was not a product of somesoothsayer, magician, poet or a mad-man!

The very same pagan Arabs who usedto find faults with the Qur’an, afteraccepting its truth turned into staunchbelievers that the Holy Qur’an was amiracle in itself; it was a perfect guidancefor mankind for all ages to come; it was ablessing, a mercy, a light, a healing, and aclear answer to all important questionsconcerning life and hereafter, seen andunseen.

The world saw the marvelousphenomenon that the teachings of theHoly Qur’an turned the morally depravedArabs into Godly men and women. It waswith the blessings of the Holy Qur’an thatthe ignorant masses of Arabia turned intosincere and loyal servants of Allah. Theyrejected idol worship, and whole-heartedlyaccepted Tawheed – the Oneness of God.They became the teachers and leaders ofthe world, creating a superb newcivilization unmatched in the history ofmankind.

However, witnessing the popularityand effectiveness of the Holy Qur’an, someChristian, Jewish and Hindu scholars tookit upon themselves to attack and defamethe Holy Qur’an; and this continues to thepresent time. Their main allegations wereand remain three-fold: 1) the authenticityof the text of the Quran; 2) the structureand style of its Surahs (Chapters); and3), some of its teachings.

With regards to scriptural authenticity,much effort is made to prove that thepresent text of the Qur’an is not thatexisted at the time of the Holy Prophetsa .These scholars claim that the text of Qur’anhas “evolved” from one version to another– some of its verses have been changed,and some deleted by early Muslims7.

Concerning the structure and sequenceof the Qur’anic Surahs they allege thatthese are haphazardly put together basedon their length – the longer ones in thebeginning and the shorter ones towardsthe end, without any coherent connectionbetween their subject matter. They alsosay that different subjects are disorderlypatched within each Surah , and i tsnarration jumps quickly from one subjectto another.

The third type of accusation is againstsome of its teachings. For example, thesescholars accuse the Qur’an of depicting aParadise as a place for men to engage insensuous pleasures. They also allege thatthe Qur’an teaches inequality betweengenders: it gives more rights to men thanit grants to women8.

They also claim that the Qur’ansanctions brutal aggression against non-believers and it promotes violent jihad tospread its message9. Moreover, they arguethat the teachings of the Quran are notcompatible with the modern scientificknowledge.

In response to all such attacks andmany more on the Holy Qur’an, thefounder of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdias

through his writ ings and discoursesproved that all these allegations were notonly baseless, but that the Holy Qur’anwas far superior than all other religiousscriptures – those belonging to theHindus, the Buddhists, the Jains, theZoroastrians, the Jews or the Christians.With cogent arguments he proved that theHoly Qur’an points out the deficiencies ofprevious scriptures, and corrects all their

Fall 2011 23

shortcomings. He emphasized that theQur’anic claim of its superiority overprevious religious scriptures was true, andhe challenged the entire world to counterhis arguments written in defense of theHoly Qur’an.

The Holy Qur’an carries a complete,comprehensive and final moral andspiritual law. Not only does it make claimsof perfection, it also provides undeniableproof with regards to the truth of its claimsbased on rational reasoning. In light ofwhat the Promised Messiahas has impartedto us, our verdict is absolutely andemphatically certain that the Holy Qur’anis al-Furqan (Criterion), and as such, itclearly discriminates between what is truthand what is falsehood.

“Truth has come and falsehood hasvanished. Verily, falsehood is bound tovanish”10.

God Almighty has made a promise inthe Qur’an that He Himself shall safeguardits text11, and we openly and vigorouslyclaim that God has kept His promise. Thereis no change in the text of the Holy Qur’aneven to an iota.

It is exactly the same as it was revealedto the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa . TheArabic language is a living language, spo-ken by millions in many countries, whilethe original languages of other religiousscriptures such as the Bible and the Vedasare no more in use. Our verdict is that thetext of the Holy Qur’an has remained thesame throughout the centuries all over theworld.

We also can show that the subject mat-ter of one Surah is connected with the pre-ceding and proceeding Surahs, and that in-ternally there is cohesion within variousparts of the Surahs. This connection is fullyexplained in the Ahmadiyya Commentariesof the Qur’an such as Tafseer-e-Kabeer byHadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din MahmudAhmad, Khalifat-ul-Masih IIra12 13 14)

As for the concept of the Paradise, thefact is that matters of life yet to come areunknown and inconceivable to humanmind, and some translators have made itdifficult for the non-Arabs to understandits correct concept. Therefore, we have tomake them understand that the languageused in the Holy Qur’an is metaphoricaldesigned to indicate the mysterious dimen-sions of life after death.

Moreover, the Holy Qur’an protectsthe rights of women who are equal in thesight of God. Allah Subhaana wa Ta’alaa

clearly states in the Holy Qur’an: “Whosodoes good works, whether male or fe-male, and is a believer, We shall surelygrant them a pure life; and We will surelybestow on such their reward accordingto the best of their works”15. Also, theHoly Qur’an explicitly states that thatthere is no compulsion in matters of faith16. Jihad is not an act of offensive ag-gression. It is a permission to defend thefaith and religious liberty for all whoworship God. The Holy Qur’an declares:“Permission to take up arms is given tothose against whom war is made, be-cause they have been wronged, and Godindeed has the power to help them –those who have been driven out fromtheir homes unjustly, only because theyprofessed ‘Our Lord is Allah.’ And if Godhad not repelled some people by meansof others, then cloisters, churches, syna-gogues and mosques, wherein the nameof God is oft remembered, would surelyhave been destroyed.”17.

Thus, the Qur’an certainly does notinstigate Muslims to start killing non-Muslims randomly. The permission tofight is given in self-defense against anarmed aggression for the protection offreedom of conscience and religion. It isto safeguard the fundamental humanright to worship God, whether it is donein churches, synagogues, cloisters ormosques.

We do not recognize any conflict be-tween the Holy Qur’an and scientificfindings. Nature is the Work of God andthe Qur’an is the Word of God, there-fore, there is no conceivable contradic-tion between the two. The Holy Qur’anrepeatedly encourages scientific studyand observation of all that exists in theuniverse, calling the natural mysteriesand wonders as the Signs of Allah18.Nothing in the Qur’an contradicts sci-ence.

The Holy Qur’an grants spiritual emi-nence to the believers, and salvation isfound through acting upon its teachings,but only the mutahhir– the pure of heart–can benefit from it, not the doubtingdisbelievers and the wrong-doers19 . Thebest defense of the Holy Qur’an is to fol-low in the footsteps of our belovedProphetsa who was the Qur’an personi-fied. Once when someone asked Hadh-rat Aishara about the Holy Prophet’ssaw

way of life, she said that he was theQur’an in action20. It becomes all the

more necessary for us to do so in thepresent day environment, because someextremists among the Muslims havetwisted its teachings and as a result theydo not behave according to i ts t rueteachings. As such, they provide am-munition to non-Muslims to attack theQur’an.

In addition to correcting the misun-derstanding and misrepresentation ofthe Qur’anic teachings by unwise mili-tant Muslims, we have to get fully en-gaged in presenting the Holy Qur’an asa solution to many serious problems ofour present day society – whether theyare social and moral problems or politi-cal and economical challenges. The HolyQur’an presents solutions to many of thepredicaments that our American societyis suffering, and presents workable so-lutions – be it alcoholism, drug abuse,nudity, sexual promiscuity, pornography,same sex marriages, racism, crime, dis-crimination or be it the failure of interestbased f inancial system, high use ofcredit, and disparity between the richand the poor.

Endnotes:

(1) (52:30); (69:43)(2) (10:3); (38:5); (51:53).(3) (15:7); (37:37); (68:52).(4) (21:6); (37:37); (52:31); (69:42).(5) (6:26); (8:32); (16:25); (23:84); (25:6);(68:16); (83:14).(6) (16:104); (25:5)(7) Lester, Toby. What is the Koran? AtlanticMonthly, January 1999.(8) Spencer, Robert. 2009. The CompleteInfidel’s Guide to the Koran, pp. 155-177.(9) Ibid., pp 178-205.(10) (17:82)(11) (15:10); (75:18); (85:23)(12) Tafseer-e-Kabeer by Hadhrat Mirza Bashir udDin Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih II (rz)(13) The Holy Qur’an with English Translationand Commentary, Published by Nazarat NashroIshaat, India.(14) The Holy Qur’an, Arabic Text with EnglishTranslation & Short Commentary, Edited by MalikGhulam Farid, Islam International PublicationsLimited.(15) (16:98).(16) (2:257)(17) (22:39,40)(18) (2:165); (3:191-192); (6:96-99); (13:4, 5);(16:69); (21:32); (30:23, 25); (39:43).(19) (17:83); (56:80).(20) Hadith: Sahi Bukhari

Mubasher Ahmad is an AhmadiyyaMuslim Community missionary stationedin the West Coast, USA.

24 MuslimSunrise

By Shahina Bashir

Science and religion

have been at odds

with each other over

centuries. According to the

hostility model, the belief in

science or religion necessarily

implies the rejection of the

other. However, the reality is

not that black and white. There

have been and still are great

scientists who are strongly

grounded in religious beliefs.

The question which arises in the minds ofpeople is why is there such a heated debatebetween science and religion? Are they reallyincompatible? Perhaps the answer lies in whatis written in the scriptures. This article will fo-cus on science as portrayed in the two majorworld scriptures, the Bible and the Qur’an.

A note about the origin of the Bible and theQur’an

Most Biblical scholars are in agreement thatthe Bible- both the Old and the New Testament,have been written by various authors. Evan-gelical Christians believe that the Bible was writ-ten by men who were inspired by God. Manybelieve that the Pentateuch, or the first fivebooks of the Old Testament were written byMosesas himself. However, there is again a con-troversy regarding this authorship. Bart Ehrman,a New Testament scholar, says that the authorsof the New Testament are not who they claim tobe. For example, Apostle Peter is thought to bethe author of II Peter but in reality it is someoneelse. Fundamentalist Christians believe in theinerrancy of the Bible. Scholars on the otherhand disagree on such a claim.

The Qur’an, unlike the Bible, has quite adifferent origin. It was not written by many au-thors neither was it actually written by the HolyProphet Muhammadsa. Muslims believe theQur’an to be a direct word of God revealed to

Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel. When-ever Muhammadsa received the revelations firsthe would memorize them and subsequently hewould direct scribes to write them on varioustypes of materials including animal hide, bark,and parchment. The entire Qur’anic revelationwas completed in a period of 23 years. After thedeath of the Prophetsa, his first successor, AbuBakrra (d. 634 A.D.), put the revelations into onecomplete book. It was the third successor,Uthmanra (d. 656) who standardized the Qur’anand distributed copies to major Islamic capitals.

The creation story in the Bible

The Bible in the book of Genesis, chapter 1describes the creation of the heavens and theearth (Verses 1-25). The creation of the universe,according to Genesis, took five days and manwas created on the sixth day.

Day 1: God created light

“In the beginning when God created theheavens and earth, the earth was a formlessvoid and darkness covered the face of thedeep…Then God said, ‘Let there be light’…andGod separated the light from darkness…Andthere was evening and there was morning, thefirst day.” (Verses 1-4)

Day 2: God separated the skyand the oceans-

“And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in themidst of the waters and let it separate the watersfrom the waters’…God called the dome Sky. Andthere was evening and there was morning, thesecond day.” (Verses 6-8)

Day 3: God separated landfrom the oceans-

“And God said, ‘Let the waters under thesky be gathered together into one place, andlet the dry land appear.’ God called the dry land

Science vs. Religion:The Great Debate

Fall 2011 25

Earth, and the waters that were together he calledSeas. Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forthvegetation’…And there was evening and therewas morning, the third day.” (Verses 9-11)

Day 4: God created the sun, themoon, and the stars, and made

them attach to the dome

“And God said, ‘Let there be lights in thedome of the sky to separate the day from thenight; and let them be for signs and for seasonsand for days and years, and let them be lights inthe dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.’God made the two great lights- the greater lightto rule the day and the lesser light to rule thenight- and the stars. God set them in the domeof the sky to give light upon the earth…Andthere was evening and there was morning, thefourth day.” (Verses 14-19)

Day 5: God ordered the seasto bring forth living creatures

and birds to fly in the air

“And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forthswarms of living creatures, and let birds flyabove the earth across the dome of the sky.’…And there was evening and there was morning,the fifth day. (Verses 20-23)

Day 6: God ordered the land toproduce living creatures of everykind and God created humankind

“in our image”

“And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forthliving creatures of every kind..’…Then God said,‘Let us make humankind in our image…’ Andthere was evening and there was morning, thesixth day.” (Verses 24-31)

The creation story of the universe as nar-rated in the Bible shows incompatibility withwhat is now understood from the scientific dataabout the way our universe came into existence.The fundamentalists Christians say that the sixdays of creation as mentioned in Genesis referto literal six days where each day consists oftwenty-four hours. This understanding pre-sents a problem since the scientific data sug-gests that the universe is several billion yearsold and life took a few billions of years to comeinto existence.

Apart from the age of the universe the se-quence of events with respect to creation men-tioned in Genesis has some obvious contradic-tions. The first such contradiction is apparentfrom Chapter 1, verse 3 which talks about thecreation of light which appeared on day 1 ofcreation. However, the source of the light, that

is, the sun and the stars did not appear until thefourth day. Similarly, vegetation appeared onthe earth on the third day. How could there beany plant life when the source of energy for theexistence of the plant life had not been yet cre-ated? Literalists have a solution to this discrep-ancy. According to them, light came from Godbefore the sun and the stars were created.

But here the matter gets even more compli-cated because there is a second rendition of thecreation story in Genesis chapter 2. This narra-tion is in direct contradiction to the first de-scription. The second account of creation is asfollows:

“In the day that the Lord God made the earthand the heavens, when no plant of the field wasyet in the earth and no herb of the field had yetsprung up- for the Lord God had not caused itto rain upon the earth,…then the Lord Godformed man from the dust of the ground…”(Verses 4-7)

In these verses it appears that God createdman first and then plant life came into existenceafter that. Whereas, in chapter 1, verses 9-11,God had ordered the land to produce vegeta-tion of various kinds.

The creation story in the Qur’an

In contrast to the Biblical narration of cre-ation, the Qur’an does not relate the events in asequence as we saw in Genesis, chapter 1. Versesthat describe the creation of the universe arescattered throughout the Book.

Chapter 7, verse 55 of the Qur’an says,“Surely, your Lord is Allah Who has cre-

ated the heavens and the earth in six days.”Although the word “day” is used here trans-

lated from the Arabic, yaum, it should not betaken to mean that the day is a twenty-four hourperiod. Elsewhere in the Qur’an, it has been clari-fied that one day in God’s terminology couldmean several thousands of years. The Qur’ansays in chapter 70, verse 5,

“The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him ina day the measure of which is fifty thousandyears.”

The Qur’an’s description of the creation ofthe universe does not conflict with science.,which attributes the creation of the universe tothe “Big Bang”.

We read in the Qur’an in chapter 21, verse31, “Do not the disbelievers see that the heav-ens and the earth were a closed-up mass, thenWe clove them asunder? And We made fromwater every living thing. Will they not then be-lieve?”

It is clear from the above verse that what is

Surely, your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and theearth in six periods; then He settled Himself on the Throne.He makes the night cover the day, which pursues it swiftly.

And He created the sun and the moon and the stars, all madesubservient by His command. Verily, His is the creation and

the command. Blessed is Allah, the Lord of the worlds. (7:55)

T h e c r e a t i o n s t o r y i n t h e Q u r ’ a n

26 MuslimSunrise

described is nothing other than the “BigBang” which scientists have alluded towhen speaking about the creation of ouruniverse. The Qur’an not only talks aboutthe beginning of creation but it gives anapt description of its ending. This is men-tioned in chapter 21, verse 105.

“Remember the day when We shall rollup the heavens like the rolling up of writ-ten scrolls by a scribe. As We began thefirst creation, so shall We repeat it — apromise binding upon Us; We shall cer-tainly perform it.”

It is clear from the above verse that theuniverse is not eternal. The rolling up ofthe heavens is likened to what the scien-tists describe as the formation of blackholes.

Evolution in the Bible & Qur’an

Fundamentalist Christians are opposedto the concept of evolution and they ad-here to what is referred to as “Creation-ism”. Creationists believe that God createdeach species and which was put on earthby Him. Many organizations have sprungup in the USA whose primary job is to seethat public schools teach an alternative toevolution. The push is to expose highschool biology students to the subject ofcreationism and Intelligent Design.

The literalists see the creation story inGenesis, as mentioned earlier, as a solidproof to reject any reference to evolution.

Although there are many Christianswho try to find a middle ground and sug-gest that evolution and the Bible can be inharmony, it is clear by reading Genesis 1that there is no room for a compromise. Inmatters of evolution the Qur’an throws adifferent light.

In his book, “Revelation, Rationality,Knowledge, and Truth”, Hadhrat MirzaTahir Ahmadrh, the second Caliph of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community, writesabout the “step by step progressivestages”. He quoted verse 20 from chapter84 in which humans are told about theircontinuous journey of moving from onestage to another:

“That you shall assuredly pass on fromone stage to another.”

But the evolution spoken about in theQur’an is not one of random chance.

“And thy Lord creates whatever Hepleases and selects whomsoever Hepleases. It is not for them to choose. Glo-

rified be Allah, and far is He above all thatthey associate with Him.” (Quran 28:69)

Man, according to the Qur’an, goesthrough four major stages of evolution.The first stage involves lifeless material.As humans moved onto the second stagethey were physically considered to be hu-mans but their mental stage was like thatof animals. In this stage the humans hadno verbal communication skills. By thethird stage humans were able to think logi-cally. In the final stage they learned to ex-ist in a society. The evolution of man froma lower form to that of an intelligent beingoccurred under Divine guidance.

Quran and science

Considering that the Qur’an was re-vealed to Prophet Muhammadsa some 1500years ago and that the Prophetsa himselfwas illiterate, it is a marvel when one findsQur’anic verses that confirm scientific find-ings. Let’s take the example of astronomy.Here is what the Qur’an has to say on thissubject:

Expanding universe-“And the heaven We built with Our own

powers and indeed We go on expandingit.” (51:48)

No other scripture talks about the con-cept of the expanding universe. This ideaof the expanding universe is of significantimportance to the scientists in order to gaina better understanding of how the universewas initially created.

The movement of the heavenly bodiesin an orbit-

“And He it is Who created the nightand the day, and the sun and the moon,each gliding along in its orbit.” (21:34)

The verse above is in complete accor-dance to what Copernicus and Galileoclaimed. Contrary to the Church’s belief ofgeocentric universe, the Qur’an speaksabout a heliocentric universe.

Apart from astronomy, the Qur’an de-scribes the human embryologic process ina manner which is in complete corrobora-tion with science.

“Then We fashioned the sperm into aclot; then We fashioned the clot into ashapeless lump; then We fashioned bonesout of this shapeless lump; then Weclothed the bones with flesh; then We de-veloped it into another creation. Soblessed be Allah, the Best of creators.”(23:15)

The description of the stages of hu-man development in the womb is uniqueto the Qur’an. No other Holy Scripture hasmentioned embryology in such preciseform. There was no way that ProphetMuhammadsa had any notion of this sci-ence in the seventh century.

In search of the truthA truth seeker does not take things

matter-of-factly. Those who are believers,be they of any faith, owe it to themselvesto not follow their religions blindly. TheQur’an repeatedly exhorts mankind to usetheir understanding. They are asked toponder and search. Chapter 45, verse 14of the Qur’an reads,

“And He has pressed into your servicewhatever is in the heavens and whateveris in the earth, all of it entirely. In that thereare Signs surely for a people who reflect.”

Professor Abdus Salam, a Nobel Lau-reate once wrote: “The Holy Qur’an en-joins us to reflect on the verities of Allah’screated laws of nature; however, that ourgeneration has been privileged to glimpsea part of His design is a bounty and a gracefor which I render thanks with a humbleheart.”

In conclusion, the science vs. religiondebate can be put to an end if there ap-pears to be no controversy between theHoly Scriptures and scientific data. Thosewho believe in the inerrancy of the Biblewould have to think more carefully. A com-parative study of various religious booksshould be a guiding principle for sincereseekers of truth.

Endnotes:1. Bucaille, Maurice. “The Bible the Quran andScience” (Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc. NY,1981).2. Eve, Raymond A., and Harrold, Francis B.“The Creationist Movement in Modern America”(Twayne Pub. Boston, 1991).3. Ahmad, Mirza Tahir. “Revelation RationalityKnowledge and Truth” (Islam International Pub.Ltd., UK, 1998).4. Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version(Thomas Nelson Pub., Nashville, 1990).5. Ahmad, Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood. “TheHoly Quran, long commentary”.

Shahina Bashir is a graduate of TexasWoman’s University where she obtained herM.S. degree in Biology. She is the NationalChair of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’swriters’ group.

Fall 2011 27

Marital Relationships in Islamand Misconceptions

Marital relations have been tackled by many contemporary researchers,

in light of ever- increasing divorce rates. In today’s time, especially in

the United States, the roles of a husband and wife have become so

intermingled that each believes the other is unnecessary. In this essay

we shall demonstrate the relationship between husband and wife as

prescribed by the universal religion, Islam.

By Usman and Sohaib Awan

28 MuslimSunrise

The Holy Qur’anmentions severalaccounts of maritalrelationships throughthe accounts of

prophets and other ordinary people. Wefeel it is important to examine the dictionof the Qur’an to analyze theserelationships discussed. The two wordsthat are frequently used to describe thewomen in relation to their husbands arezauj and imra’ah, meaning spouse andwoman respectively. What is interestingis that these words actually define thequality of the relationship between thehusband and wife. For example, whenthere is cohesion and prosperity meaning,children in the relationship, the word usedis zauj. But when there is no goodnessin the marriage or goodness coming fromthe marriage the word used is imra’ahor woman. In the case of Abrahamas, theQur’an cites the zauj of Abraham to beHagar, but the wife of Abu Lahab isdescribed as imarahu (his woman) inChapter 111. Let us analyze the wordchoice of the Qur’an. Between Abrahamas

and his wife Hagar there was always love.Hagar, however, was referred to asimra’ah until she bore Ishmaelas toAbrahamas. Thus, after the criteria weremet, the relationship was characterized bythe word zauj. In the case of Abu Lahabwe find that though there may have beencompatibility, as both husband and wifeare known for their wickedness, there wasno goodness coming out of therelationship. Consequently, the Qur’anreferred to Abu Lahab’s wife as ‘woman’,instead of ‘spouse’. Thus, the Qur’an putsthe relationship of husband and wife intoperspective, through the feeling of lovebetween the husband and wife, and theirgift to mankind, their children.

If we look more closely, we see thatmarriage, ideally is the bringing togetherof not only two people but also two fami-lies. If the marriage is healthy, the familyrelations will also benefit from it. In anideal society this is a key factor in pro-moting peace and harmony within thecommunity. Therefore, the relationshipone has with his or her spouse is pivotalin not only their own relationship, butalso in relations of people on a larger scaleand of the future (children) of the soci-ety. Thus, the All-Knowing God stressesthe importance of love in the relationshipbetween husband and wife, “And of HisSigns is that He has created wives foryou from among yourselves that you mayfind peace of mind in them, and He hasput love and tenderness between you. Inthat, surely, are Signs for a people whoreflect,” (30:22). This verse also de-scribes the qualities of a healthy mar-riage, again using the word azwaaj (plu-ral of zauj) in reference to ‘wives.’ Con-

sequently, the relationship of a husbandand wife is not limited to those twopeople; it resonates to a much largerscale.

Let us delve deeper into how Islam ac-tually describes the relationship betweenhusband and wife. Some non-Muslimsargue, by citing various verses, that Is-lam treats the husband as the master orruler over his wife. One such verse is,“Men are guardians over women becauseAllah has made some of them excel oth-ers, and because they (men) spend oftheir wealth. So virtuous women arethose who are obedient, and guard thesecrets of their husbands with Allah’sprotection” (4:35). At first glance, theQur’an seems to be portraying a bias to-wards the husbands . However, thebeauty of the Qur’an is that the objec-tion is answered in the very same verseand explains the reasoning. Men andwomen are both equal in the eyes of Godspiritually. There are many verses in the

“And of His Signs is that He has createdwives for you from among yourselves that you

may find peace of mind in them, and He has putlove and tenderness between you. In that, surely,

are Signs for a people who reflect,” (30:22)

Fall 2011 29

Qur’an that refer to this as being true,for example in Chapter 33 verse 36 Godstates: “Surely, men who submit them-selves to God and women who submitthemselves to Him . . .men who fast andwomen who fast, and men who guardtheir chastity and women who guard theirchastity, and men who remember Allahmuch and women who remember Him –Allah has prepared for all of them for-giveness and a great reward.”

Spiritually, the reward is the same forboth male and female. However, whatseems to be troubling is the physical rankgiven to men over women. This verse,contrary to what others may suppose,does not give the slightest allusion tothe use of force to subdue women. Thisphysical strength is to be used, as theoriginal verse mentions to, “spend oftheir (men’s) wealth” and to provide forthe family. Therefore, the husband hasnot been given any higher spiritual rankbut a physical one, in which he must useto support his wife and family.

The original verse also points to an-other aspect of the marriage that wewould like to discuss: the husband as aguardian. This guardianship status isimportant in that it describes the man’sresponsibilities. The husband must pro-tect the family against any outs idethreats (e.g. the weather, animals, otherpeople) for which he must use his physi-cal and monetary means he has beengiven by God. Furthermore, the verse alsoinstructs the women to guard the secretsof their husbands. In his commentary, ThePromised Messiahas explains that the in-junction for wives to guard the secretsof their husbands may refer to actual se-crets that he may have but it also extendsto guarding and taking care of the home.The following verse in the Qur’an, fur-ther supports this reciprocal guardianrelationship: “They are a garment for youand you are a garment for them,” (2:188).As a garment covers one’s nakedness andprovides a feeling of comfort and protec-tion for a person, so should a spouse ful-fill his or her duties and become a shieldfor the other. This analogy of garmentscoincides with the meaning zauj we havebeen discussing, by instilling love be-tween the husband and wife.

In light of the above verses, we cansee that the Qur’an does not portray thehusband as a master over his wife, rather

both must do their duties and guard oneanother in their distinguished ways. Infact, the idea of the husband being a mas-ter may have been deduced from theBible. The following example, is notmeant to bring down or degrade the Bibleat all, rather it is to show that the teach-ing of the Qur’an is based on the humanpsyche and universal to all. Again we feelit necessary to go to one of the originallanguages of the Bible to describe howhusband-wife relations are portrayed.The Hebrew words ish and ba’al are usedin reference to husband, respectivelymeaning man and master or lord. Goingback to the story of Abrahamas and Hagar,however this time in the Bible, we see theword used ish, literally meaning man, withregards to Abrahamas and his relationshipto Hagar. However, in other parts of theBible the word ba’al (master) is used. Forexample Exodus 21:22 states, “If menstrive, and hurt a woman with a child, sothat her fruit depart from her, and yet nomischief follow: he shall be surely pun-ished, according as the woman’s hus-band will lay upon him.” The husband inthe verse comes from the term, ba’almeaning master or lord. Therefore, the

concept of husband being a master is notsupported in the Qur’an, and may justhave some connection with the Biblicalword ba’al. As we have tried to show, arelationship cannot be classified as onebetween spouses or zauj, if the husbandrules over his wife; mutual love and com-promise is required.

Thus far, we have tried to demon-strate the relationship between hus-band and wife through Qur’anic versesand to remove a common misconcep-tion. Now we would like to briefly shedlight on the perfect exemplar, The HolyProphetsa. One of his most widely knownsayings in regards to wives is, “Best ofyou is one who is best in his treatmentof his wife and I am the best of you inthis t reatment ,” (Tirmidhi) . Conse-quently, it is important for us to look atwhat the Holy Prophetsa said about thistopic and how he himself practiced it.He loved his wives and did not hesitateto help around the house, completelycontrary to the customs of Arabia atthat time. On the topic of a husband’sduties to the family, the Holy Prophetsa

has said: “Of the dinar (money) youspend in the cause of Allah; the dinaryou spend in procuring the freedom ofa slave; the dinar you give away in char-ity to the poor and the dinar you spendon your wife and children, the highestin respect of reward is the one youspend on your wife and children.” Thistradition puts into perspective of howimportant a husband’s duties are to hisfamily.

In conclusion, it is important forus to look at the different verses in theQur’an which refer to husband-wife re-lationships and we must also look at thespecific terminology used. In order forthe marriage to be classified under theterm zauj one must try to follow the ex-ample of the Holy Prophetsa, the livingexample of the Qur’an. In this way wecan have peace within our families andcommunities, and peace in the futuregenerations.

Usama is currently studying Islamic Studiesat the Ohio State University. Sohaib is in 11thgrade in Pickerington North High School.Both have published several pieces in theleading newspapers of Ohio.

One of his mostwidely known

sayings inregards to wivesis, “Best of youis one who is

best in histreatment of hiswife and I amthe best of you

in thistreatment,”

(Tirmidhi)

30 MuslimSunrise

By Anwer Mahmood Khan

It is a gruesome historical fact thatthe first recorded murder took placewhen the elder son of Adamas, namely,Cain killed his younger brother, Abelout of sheer jealousy as the

underlying cause. We find this historical factrecorded both in the Bible and the HolyQur’an.

In the Old Testament we read:

Abel became a shepherd of a flock, butCain cultivated the land. In the course of timeCain presented some of the lands produce asan offering to the LORD. And Abel also pre-sented [an offering]— some of the firstbornof his flock and their fat portions. The Lordhad regard for Abel and his offering, but Hedid not have regard for Cain and his offering.Cain was furious, and he was downcast. Thenthe LORD said to Cain, “Why are you furi-ous? And why are you downcast? If you doright, won’t you be accepted? But if you donot do right, sin is crouching at the door. Itsdesire is for you, but you must master it.” Cainsaid to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to thefield.” And while they were in the field, Cainattacked his brother Abel and killed him. Gen-esis 4:1-8

In the Holy Qur’an we find: 2:28-31

28: “And relate to them truly the story ofthe two sons of Adam, when they each of-fered an offering, and it was accepted fromone of them and not accepted from the other.The latter said: ‘I will surely kill thee’. Theformer replied, ‘Allah accepts only from therighteous.

29. “ ‘If thou stretch out thy hand againstme to kill me, I am not going to stretch out my

hand against thee. I do fear Allah, the Lord ofthe Universe.

30. “ ‘I wish that thou should bear my sinas well as thy sin, and thus be among the in-mates of fire, and that is the reward of thosewho do wrong.’

31. “But his mind induced him to kill hisbrother, so he killed him and became one ofthe losers.”

This was the first incident that trig-gered the laws of retribution. Historically, mancreated his own sets of retaliation as he neverconsidered this a community act and revengeof such acts was the order of the day. Thisfire of revenge did not subside the first gen-eration but the feud carried on and the retalia-tion continued for generation after generation.

Chronologically, the prophet Mosesas re-ceived the Torah, Jesus Christas received theGospel, and then the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa was revealed the Holy Qur’an.Accordingly, we will review how the law ofretribution is presented first in the early scrip-tures. We then will study the Holy Qur’an andobserve how the Quranic teachings not onlysupersede the earlier teachings but presentthe wisest and most practical approach to thesubject of crime and punishment.

In the Old Testament, the law of retribu-tion is covered in four passages. Let us studyeach in detail.

In Exodus (21:23-24) we read:

“And if any mischief follow, then thou shaltgive life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth,hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burn-ing, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

In Deuteronomy (19:21) we read:

“And if any mischief follows, then thoushall give life for life. Eye for Eye, tooth for

tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

In Leviticus (24:19-20) we read:

“And he that killeth any man shall surelybe put to death. And he that killeth a beastshall make it good; beast for beast.

….and he that killeth a man, he shall beput to death. Ye shall have one manner of law,as well for the stranger, as for one of your owncountry; for I am the Lord your God.”

In Numbers (35:30-31) it is written:

“Whoso killeth any person the murderershall be put to death. Moreover ye shall takeno satisfaction for the life of a murderer, whichis guilty of death: but he shall be surely put todeath.”

All the above passages describe the lawof retribution in the Old Testament. The law ofretribution, or “lex talionis” (Latin, lex (law)and talio (like)); the punishment is like the in-jury or the law of equivalency. Historically,we find that prior to this law murders and as-sassinations were considered personal of-fences and these were retaliated by individu-als themselves. Sometimes these forms of re-venge would persist for generations, with noend in sight. The Old Testament presentedthis law to limit the extent of punishment andto discourage cruelty. The principle of this leg-islation is one of equivalency; that is to say,the punishment should correspond to thecrime and should be limited to the one in-volved in the injury. We also find this law inthe Code of Hammurabi, which seems to bethe first written and codified law to requirephysical injury for physical injury. In the lightof these codes some historians opine thatthere was a time when monetary compensa-tion redressed personal injuries because thestate did not consider such acts to be crimesagainst society.

the Law of

The Holy Qur’an and Bible

Fall 2011 31

Philosophers generally share two perspec-tives for the motives of this law. The Utilitar-ian or “forward looking” view asserts that theessential benefit of this law is to produce bet-terment of society in terms of deterrence forfuture losses. In contrast, the “backward look-ing” view focuses only on punishing crimesaccording to their severity, thus serving thedictates of justice.

Overall, we can infer from these passagesthat the law of retribution in the Old Testa-ment has the following features:

1. The punishment must fit the crimeand no more

2. The law serves to deter the commit-ting of future crimes in society

3. Justice is served by its application4. Future feuds and excessive harm in

families is severely checked.5. The State has to get involved to

make the decisions for its application6. Killing is a crime that will no longer

be handled by individuals, as it would be con-sidered personal vengeance.

7. The law does not give any allowanceof clemency under any circumstances (suchas: real remorse by the culprit, forgiveness bythe heirs, offering of blood money, etc). It isthus simply a “cut and dry” law that is com-pletely blind to new evidence.

8. The focus is on the balance and pun-ishment regardless of reformation.

Let me cite a recent example of the famous1998 execution of Karla Faye Tucker inTexas. A drug addict, she had killed awoman she found hiding in her bed sheetout of jealousy, and was sentenced todeath, first spending 14 years in jail.During her incarceration, she developedand displayed ser ious remorse, andthrough serious reading of the Bible, hadchanged her entire life to truly become amodel prisoner. She requested that herdeath penalty be converted to life impris-onment, but her request was declined.She finally was executed by lethal injec-tion. She was the first woman in Texas toreceive the death penalty. A Professorof Philosophy at the University of Den-ver commented on her case and pre-sented a new theory of character creation.She writes:

“It is helpful to begin with a motivat-ing example. In 1983, Karla Faye Tucker

committed a horrific murder for which shewas sentenced to death. During the four-teen years of appeals she (at least to alloutward appearances) repented of hercrime, underwent a complete conversionto Christianity, and became a model pris-oner and spiritual support and advisorto other inmates. She requested that hersentence be commuted to life. Her re-quests were ultimately denied, and shewas executed in 1998. Her case occa-sioned a nationwide debate in the UnitedStates in which many spoke against herexecution. Some posed the standard ar-guments purporting to show that capitalpunishment is always wrong. Others heldthat the original sentence had been un-fair; Tucker had been under the influenceof drugs, and her attorneys argued thatthe state had not proved premeditation,a requirement for a capital sentence inTexas. A third commonly expressed sen-timent was that she had changed so muchsince the crime that even if she deservedto die on the day she was sentenced, shedid not deserve death any more. Thisthird position seems plausible and whole-

some, and yet it raises some interestingpuzzles for punishment theory.”

Sister Helen Prejean wrote in her bookDeath in Texas the following commentsabout the “eye for an eye” law:

The argument in favor of clemency forKarla Faye Tucker went like this: Yes, she’sguilty of a horrible crime—she killed twohelpless people with a pickax—but sheseems genuinely remorseful for hercrime; she seems to have undergone agenuine, life-changing religious conver-sion. Even the warden and correctionsofficers attest that for fourteen yearsshe’s been a model prisoner. Couldn’t shespend the rest of her life helping otherprisoners to change their lives? Is astrict “eye for an eye” always called for?

On television screens across America,people saw Karla Faye Tucker’s beauti-ful face as she talked about reading theBible in her prison cell (she admitted tostealing the Bible, not realizing it was freefor the asking) and discovering Jesus,who “changed my life.” In followingChrist, she said, she had truly been madeinto a “new creation.”

Karla Faye Tucker in Texas. A drug addict, she had killed a woman she foundhiding in her bed sheet out of jealousy, and was sentenced to death.Some posed thestandard arguments purporting to show that capital punishment is always wrong.Others held that the original sentence had been unfair; Tucker had been under theinfluence of drugs, and her attorneys argued that the state had not provedpremeditation, a requirement for a capital sentence in Texas.

32 MuslimSunrise

Pope John Paul, the President of Italy,the President of Russia, and several se-nior U.N. officials requested PresidentGeorge Bush for clemency, yet thesepleas were rejected and she was executedby one stroke of pen. Look at her per-sonal character at this execution order:

By the time Tucker climbed ontoTexas’s lethal injection gurney, whisper-ing, “Lord Jesus, help them to find myvein,” her name had become a householdword, not only in the United States, butaround the world. Larry King’s in-depthinterviews with her on CNN made peoplefeel they knew her personally.

(New York Review of Books, Death inTexas; January 13, 2005)

This is an example of a case where the“eye for an eye” law was administered toits full measure. Also, it offers a glimpseof a Christian character by the last state-ment of the culprit following Jesus’ teach-ings. Now let us turn to the teachings ofJesusas.

Christianity and theLaw of Retribution

Although Jesus Christas was sent tofulfill the law and not to legislate or cre-ate new laws, some people believe thatJesusas essentially rewrote these laws andnegated the essence of the earlier laws.A common example presented is as fol-lows.

In Mathew 5:38-42, we read:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘aneye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth butI say to you, do not resist one who isevil. But if any one strikes on your rightcheek, turn to him the other also. And ifanyone would sue you and take yourcoat, let him have your cloak as well. Andif anyone forces you to go one mile, gowith him two miles. Give to him who begsfrom you, and do not refuse him whowould borrow from you.”

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17,18 that Hedid not come to destroy the law. “Thinknot that I am come to destroy the law, orthe prophets: I am not come to destroy,but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you,till heaven and earth pass, one jot or onetittle shall in no wise pass from the law,till all be fulfilled.”

tion? An in-depth study of the HolyQuran presents an overall principle of han-dling all possible situations confrontedhumankind. This could be considered themagna carta of Islamic teachings. Allahsays in Surah Al-Shura 42-41:

“And the recompense of an injury isan injury the like thereof; but whosoforgives and his act brings about refor-mation, his reward is with Allah. Surely,He loves not the wrongdoers.”

A very broad teaching to handle thecrimes is presented here that has noequal in Torah or Gospel. The subtledefinitions of means and ends have beendelineated when an offense is addressed.Punishment and forgiveness are the twomeans to achieve the end, i.e. justice andreformation. Neither of the two meansare the goals to be achieved. In contrast,the Torah spells out the end to be justiceonly, and ignores the broader aim ofreformation of the self. The Holy Qurans ta tes tha t ne i ther punishment norforgiveness is the objectives; rather, theobjective is to dispense justice in thesociety along with the reformation of theindividual as well. This verse instructsus tha t , in pr inc ip le , the law ofequiva lency (which s ta tes tha t therecompense of an evil is the like thereof)may satisfy one as a means to securejustice, but may not reform the person:perhaps reformation could have beenbetter achieved by forgiveness. In otherwords, the greater good for the societyis both the dispensation of justice andthe reformation of the person as well as

Let us apply this principle (Quran 42:41 to the

case of Karla Faye Tucker. Although justice

was meticulously served, it ignored the basic

fact that Karla with her extreme remorse and

repentance reformed herself Even her heirs

had acknowledged that to exercise the

dictates of the law and execute her with

lethal injection was not required.

Let us survey the different Christiandenominations with regards to their ac-ceptance or rejection of capital punish-ment.

Catholics:In general, Catholics be-lieve that capital punishment by the Stateis lawful retribution for crimes commit-ted

Orthodox Christian: hierarchy rejectscapital punishment. Russia, for example,abolished it in the tenth century.

Anglican and Episcopalians: At theLambeth conference held in 1988, the An-glicans and Episcopalians condemnedcapital punishment by stating:

This Conference: ... (a). Urges theChurch to speak out against: ... (b) allgovernments who prac t ice capi ta lpunishment, and encourages them to findalternative ways of sentencing offendersso that the divine dignity of every humanbeing is respected and yet justice ispursued.

The Southern Baptists, in their con-vention of 2000, officially sanctionedcapital punishment. Similarly, MartinLuther, John Calvin and other Protes-tants have also approved of the deathpenalty when administered by authori-ties.

Islamic Law of Retribution andits application

in the modern day cases.

What about the Islamic law of retribu-

Fall 2011 33

that of society.Let us apply this principle to the case

of Karla Faye Tucker. Although justicewas meticulously served, it ignored thebasic fact that Karla with her extreme re-morse and repentance reformed herselfEven her heirs had acknowledged that toexercise the dictates of the law and ex-ecute her with lethal injection was notrequired. Indeed, the protest letters writ-ten by law enforcement agents, worldleaders and the Pope himself supportedthis view. Had they adopted the Islamicprinciple and understood that punish-ment is only the means and not the end,and that holding reformation as an endgoal is far more superior of a virtue thanto meet the dictates of justice, especiallywhen the heirs already excused her.

This verse is the overall guide for alldigressions; specifics have been coveredelsewhere in the Quran as follows:

Here, the Holy Quran is stating that thereis “life in retaliation”. How could this be whenthe person is already dead? What it suggestsis that by taking the life of a culprit, hundredsof lives in the greater society are protected. Aperfect case is that of the serial killer, RichardRamirez, who is still waiting his execution bygas chamber in a California prison. He killed15 people and attempted to kill five others.

Looking at this serial killer, how one couldcomprehend that forgiveness or “turning theother cheek” would be suitable retribution forhis crimes? Had he been released, he couldhave killed additional people. Therefore, theQuranic teaching that there is life in retalia-tion is a universal truth. There are many orga-nizations around the world that would like toterminate the death penalty for serious offend-ers. This has already been predicted in thisverse, since the Arabic phrase Oolul Albabrefers to “men of thinking”, and in essencestates that when this movement ensues, op-pose it as the life is in the law of retaliation.

In closing, I will cite an excerpt from thewritings of Hadhrat Ahmadas on this subject.He said:

“Again there is apprehension that justiceand mercy cannot both coexist in the entity of

God because justice demands punishmentwhile mercy calls for forgiveness. This is a

And there is life for you in thelaw of retaliation, O men ofunderstanding, that you may

enjoy security.

O ye who believe! equitableretaliation in the matter of theslain is prescribed for you: thefree man for the free man, andthe slave for the slave, and the

female for the female. But if oneis granted any remission by one’s

brother, then pursuing thematter for the realization of theblood money shall be done withfairness and the murderer shallpay him the blood money in ahandsome manner. This is an

alleviation from your Lord and amercy. And whoso transgresses

thereafter, for him there shall bea grievous punishment.

trap in which the shortsighted Christiansare caught because of lack of judgment.They donot realize that God’s justice is a kind ofmercy! It is entirely for the good of humanbeings. For instance, if God Almighty issuesan order about a murderer from the point ofview of His justice that such a criminalshould die, it does not benefit God in anyway. He issues such an order so that man-kind should not put an end to itself by kill-ing one another.

So it is God’s Mercy towards mankind.God has promulgated such ‘human rights’for social peace to prevail and that onegroup of humans must not oppress anothergroup and create turmoil in the world. So allthe rights and punishments which are thereconcerning property, life and reputation arein fact mercy towards mankind.” (Kitab-ul-Bariyya, page 73).

Anwer Mahmood Khan is the National Sec-retary, Tehrik-i-Jadid, and is a member ofthe Chino, California Branch of the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community,

In the commentary Hazrat MirzaBashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad writes:

“We note a distinct difference be-tween the laws mentioned in the Torahand the Quran. In the Quran, there aretwo options open to the authorities whenexercising punishment; a) they can checkwith heirs and if they settle for ransommoney then the death penalty can be re-duced to ransom; b) if the heirs forgivethe culprit for any reason then the statecan let go the culprit. These options arenot part of the Torah law of retribution.”

The next verse is quite interesting and hasmany profound implications:

They do notrealize that

God’s justiceis a kind ofmercy! It is

entirely for thegood of

human beings.

34 MuslimSunrise

By Arif Humayun

The Bible is the most readbook in the world with about 4Billion copies sold and hastwo parts – the Old Testamentand the New Testament. It isthe scripture for two of thethree Semitic religions –Judaism and Christianity andbrings together documentsidentifying their founders,early followers, and theirbeliefs. The Old Testament,also known as the HebrewBible, is the Jewish canonwhile the New Testament isthe Christian canon. Thedesignations “Old” and “New”were adopted after 200 AD todistinguish the books of theMosaic (old) covenant andthose of the “new” covenantin Christ.

The Old Testament

The books of the Jewish Bible are be-lieved to have been written over several cen-turies, beginning in the 10th century BC – bywhich time the Hebrews are settled in Canaan,or Palestine – but many parts of the Old Tes-tament (OT) indicate that the scribes werewriting much older oral tradition, some eventsdating back to the 18th century BC. The Jewsconsider the Torah (‘instruction’ or ‘law’ inHebrew) – the first five books of the OT – tobe the holiest part of the Bible. In non-Jewishsources these books are sometimes called thePentateuch (‘five scrolls’ in Greek, from atranslation done in Alexandria).

Genesis, the first book of the Torah, be-gins with a resolutely monotheistic story ofthe creation and provides stories which areechoed in other religions – man’s fall into astate of sin through disobedience (Adam andEve eating the apple), the great flood whichswept away sinful mankind except for one smallgroup of survivors (Noah and his family), etc.Describing Abraham as the patriarch of a no-madic tribe, it identifies Hebrew people andtheir movement through Mesopotamia (fromUr to Harran) and then down into Canaan – aland which, God promised his descendantswill inherit.

Genesis also describes God’s pact withAbraham that God will help Abraham’s peoplein return for their fulfilling God’s law. Godinforms Abraham about a yet to be born sonat which Abraham and his wife Sarah are sur-prised because of their old age. However,Sarah gives her Egyptian maid Hagar as “wife”to Abraham and the first son Ishmael is born.Later God foretells Abraham about the birthof his second son Isaac to be born to Sarahand foretells him that Ishmael will be the fa-ther of “twelve princes” and Isaac will be thefather of “twelve tribes.” Genesis records thefulfillment of both prophecies. Genesis alsorecords the story of God testing Abraham’sresolve by first asking him to leave his son ina desert and then asking him to sacrifice hisonly son.

The second book of the Torah – Exodus –establishes the religious identity of the Hebrewthrough Moses’ leadership and inspiration whobrings them out of slavery from Egypt. God’srevelation of His name, the Ten Commandments,and promises to Moses for favoring Jews as hischosen people, and bringing them into the prom-ised land of Canaan if they obeyed God’s laws,is reiterated in Exodus.

Exodus and the other three books of theTorah document Moses and his elder brotherAaron wandering with the Hebrews in the Sinaidesert. The third book, Leviticus, mainly dealswith proper details of ritual and sacrifice whilethe fourth, Numbers, describes the social andpolitical structure of the tribes on the slowjourney towards the Promised Land. The fifthbook, Deuteronomy, is an amplification ofGod’s law for his people. At the end ofDeuteronomy Moses glimpses the land prom-ised by God to Abraham, but dies before hecan enter it.

Subsequent OT books can broadly be clas-sified into three categories – historical, pro-phetic and poetic. The historical books con-tinue the story of the children of Israel whilethe prophetic books, castigate the Israelitesfor their sins and warn them of the wrath ofGod to come, and the poetic works, rangingfrom the devotional (Psalms) to the more liter-ary (Song of Solomon). In Jewish Bibles thewarnings of the prophets are interspersed withthe history, of which they are indeed an im-portant part.

The New Testament

The current New Testament (NT) consistsof twenty-seven short Greek writings, com-monly called books. The first five of which arehistorical in character, four of which writtenby Matthew, John, Luke and Mark, form thecore of the New Testament and are regardedas Canonical. The books of the New Testa-ment were not written by Jesus himself or byhis principal disciples. Strange as it maysound, they deal only with the last two or threeyears of Jesus’ life and devote what mightseem an excessive detail in the week immedi-ately preceding his alleged death. The NT

An Introduction to the Bible

Fall 2011 35

books were written decades after Jesus’ de-parture from Judea by people whom he maynever have met. Books were also written byJesus’ main disciples and, according to Churchrecords, were commonly used in the earlyChurch, were not included in the current NT.

The year 325 AD is an important landmarkin the Christian calendar because the RomanEmperor Constantine I convened the FirstCouncil of Nicaea (present-day Ýznik in Tur-key). Emperor Constantine I (ruled from 306to 337 AD) accepted Christianity and endedthe persecution of Christians in 313 AD. Themonth-long Council adopted the Nicene Creed(Christological issue of the relationship ofJesus to God the Father), settled the proce-dure for calculation for the date of Easter, andpromulgation of early canon law. The four NTbooks were selected as canon and all otherbooks were declared illegal and destroyed.Later in 331 Constantine commissioned fiftyBibles for the Church of Constantinople.

Original SourceMaterial and Versions

The OT or Hebrew Scriptures are the col-lection of books that form the first of two partsof the Christian Biblical canon. Although nota history book in the modern sense, the OT isthe primary source for the history of ancientIsrael and Judah. The oldest material in theHebrew Bible – and therefore in the ChristianOld Testament – was assembled in its currentform at various points between the 5th cen-tury BCE (the first five books, the Torah) andthe 2nd century BCE,1 but as already statedcontains recollection of events dating backmany centuries. This material is found em-bedded within the books of the current He-brew Bible/OT.2 The contents of the OT canonvary among churches, with the Orthodox com-munion having 51 books – the shared booksare those of the shortest canon – that of themajor Protestant communions with 39 books.All OT canons are related to the Jewish BibleCanon but with variations. The most impor-tant of these variations is a change to the or-der of the books: the Hebrew Bible ends withthe Book of Chronicles, which describes Is-rael restored to the Promised Land and theTemple restored in Jerusalem; in the HebrewBible God’s purpose is thus fulfilled and thedivine history is at an end. In the Christian OTthe Book of Malachi is placed last, so that aprophecy of the coming of the Messiah leadsinto the birth of the Christ in the Gospel ofMatthew.

The Jewish Bible is called the Masoretic,after the medieval Jewish rabbis who compiledit. The Masoretic Text (i.e. the Hebrew textrevered by medieval and modern Jews) is onlyone of several versions of the original scrip-tures of ancient Judaism, and no manuscriptsof that hypothetical original text exist. In thelast few centuries before Christ, Hellenistic-Jewish scholars produced a translation of theirscriptures in Greek –– the common languageof the Eastern portions of the Roman Empiresince the conquests of Alexander the Great;these originated with the translation of thePentateuch in the mid-3rd century BC. Thistranslation, known as the Septuagint, formsthe basis of the Orthodox and some otherEastern OTs used in the Greek-speakingchurch. The OTs of the Western branches ofChristianity were originally based on a Latintranslation of the Septuagint known as theVetus Latina, which was later replaced byJerome’s Vulgate, which continues to behighly respected in the Catholic Church. Prot-estant churches generally follow translationsof a scholarly reference known as the BibliaHebraica Stuttgartensia. In 1943, Pope PiusXII issued the Divino Afflante Spiritu whichallows Catholic translations from texts otherthan the Vulgate, notably in English the NewAmerican Bible. The canon of the Septuagintincluded the books of the later Hebrew canon,with the addition of several others, most ofwhich were those now reckoneddeuterocanonical by Roman Catholics andapocryphal by Protestants.

Suffice it to say that the current OT textcannot be regarded as the original word ofGod, preserved in its pristine purity. The OldTestament itself provides evidence to this ef-fect:3

“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and thelaw of the Lord is with us’?

But, behold, the false pen of the scribeshas made it into a lie”.

The wise men shall be put to shame, theyshall be dismayed and taken;

lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord,

The New Testament does not have originalsource materials either; it has different versionsbased on explanations and clarifications bypriests which were later included in the texts.An excellent account of the oldest NT docu-ments, on which the Bible is based, is containedin a book titled “Gospel Parallels” publishedby Thomas Nelson & Sons. It classifies theorigins and dates of all surviving Biblical manu-scripts based on their texts or families. It states:

None of the original manuscripts of theNew Testament have survived, nor, presumablyany direct copies of the original manuscripts.“What we have are copies of copies. Into thesecopies crept errors; moreover additions and“corrections” were sometimes made by thecopyists, for the Bible of the early church wasthe Old Testament, and it was not imperativeto copy gospels and epistles - stilluncannonized- exactly word for word.....Nomanuscript can be better than that from whichit was copied...4

How did these families, or types of text,arise? It is quite obvious that errors, correc-tions and additions made in Rome would beperpetuated in manuscripts copied at Rome,and not at Alexandria or Antioch or Caesarea.Each religious center in the Church wouldpreserve and add to its own peculiar readingsand gradually the texts in and around the vari-ous leading communities took on their owncharacteristics. Moreover, when the bishopsand scholars edited New Testament texts forlocal use by copying from the various manu-scripts in their own communities, the charac-ter of the text in these communities becamefixed...5

It is also clear from the above evidence thatthe New Testament texts have been throughnumerous human interpolations and as suchcan, in no sense, be regarded as God’s originalword. Such acknowledgements are also con-tained in the preface of the various Bibles.Details of the scriptural interpolations in theOT and NT can be found elsewhere.6

Endnotes:

1 Bible: Growth of Literature.” EncyclopediaAmericana. Grolier Online . Retrieved March 5,2010.2 Encyclopædia Britannica: “Written almostentirely in the Hebrew language between 1200 and100 BCE”; Columbia Encyclopedia: “In the 10thcentury BCE the first of a series of editorscollected materials from earlier traditionalfolkloric and historical records (i.e., both oral andwritten sources) to compose a narrative of thehistory of the Israelites who now foundthemselves united under David and Solomon.”3 Jeremiah 8:8-94 Gospel Parallels, Pub: Thomas Nelson & Sons,(1967), p v-s (7)5 Ibid p vi6 A. Humayun, Islam: The Summit of ReligiousEvolution, Islam International Publications.

Arif Humayun is a student of comparativereligion and has published two books onIslam. In addition, he authored a WhitePaper on Radicalism among Muslims afterthe terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2009.

36 MuslimSunrise

The Bible is a book thatcarries various meanings fordifferent people of faith. Inregards to history, there aresome people who believethat this book contains nohistorical errors, others whothink it is entirely made upof inaccuracies, and stillothers who think it is a mix-ture of both: real people andplaces, but fictional stories.In order to be consideredhistorically accurate, theseBiblical facts would need tobe corroborated with otherhistorical documents of thetime, archaeological finds,or scientific evidence. Eventhis, however, does not nec-essarily mean that the eventwas factual in itsentirety.

Owing to its age and relative preservationthrough the millennia, it is certainly a text tobe considered when studying the history ofthose particular times and peoples. Archae-ologists, historians, and even some scientistshave dedicated their careers to search for his-torical truths in the Bible. Hershel Shanks,editor of Biblical Archaeology Review andBible Review, stated in a 1993 symposium onthe search for a historical Jesusas:

“Christians belong to a faith community, andfaith, by definition, is not a subject to objectivescientific verification. Faith deals with ultimatequestions, things that are beyond the testable,the empirical or the provable by reason. So wewill not speak here of questions of faith.

Those questions are for each of us to answer.Each of us must also decide how our faith inter-sects with what we judge to be the mostlikely historical scenario.”1

While it may never be possible to provewhether or not something really did happenin the Bible, it is up to the readers to examinethe evidence found thus far and use their com-

mon sense to decide what, if anything, hap-pened.

The Old TestamentMany scrutinize the first book of the Bible,

Genesis, because this book contains a major-ity of the well-known Biblical stories. Theseinclude the creation of the world, creation of

By: Valerie Long Bhatti

The reality of the Bible’s history

Fall 2011 37

mankind, the flood, the Tower of Babel,Abrahamas, Jacobas, and the beginning ofEgypt’s involvement via stories aboutJosephas. The remainder of the Old Testa-ment contains the most known Biblical fig-ures such as Mosesas, Davidas, andSolomonas.

Noah’sas flood is a story that many havesought to prove as historically accurate, fromscientists looking for evidence of a greatflood to archaeologists searching for theArk’s remnants. The area where Noahas livedwas Mesopotamia. Within the vicinity, ar-chaeologists discovered tablets of The Epicof Gilgamesh, which is among the earliestsurviving written documents. A story of aflood is written on those tablets. In theGilgamesh flood myth, the gods were dis-turbed by mankind’s general discord anddecided to destroy the world. One of the godswarned Gilgamesh in his dream to build aboat, abandon his worldly possessions, inorder to save himself, his family, neighbors,and some animals. It rained for many daysuntil the world appeared to be covered inwater. Gilgamesh landed his boat on amountaintop and sent out birds after a fewdays to see if the water had cleared. 2 Thestory of Gilgamesh is quite similar to the Bib-lical verses regarding the great Flood.

Scientific expeditions have further proventhe existence of some sort of a large-scaleflood. An environmental marine research teamfrom Tel Aviv University and a non-profitagency called EcoOcean, have made someinteresting discoveries. EcoOcean’s AndreasWeil says,

“We found that indeed a flood happenedaround that time. From core samples, we seethat a flood broke through the natural barrierseparating the Mediterranean Sea and thefreshwater Black Sea, bringing with it sea-shells that only grow in a marine environ-ment. There was no doubt that it was a fastflood — one that covered an expanse fourtimes the size of Israel. It might not have beenNoah, as it is written in the Bible, but we be-lieve people in that region had to build boatsin order to save their animals from drowning.We think that the ones who survived werefishermen — they already had the boats.”3

Two very different types of evidenceshow that there was a great flood during an-cient times in Mesopotamia.

Archaeologists have had the most suc-cess finding external sources that corrobo-rate the Old Testament, when people andevents that involved authority figures of im-

portance are mentioned. In regards to places,the Bible mentions different powerful na-tions of the ancient world such as Ur, thehometown of Abrahamas, the lands of theHittite Empire, Jericho, and Babylon. Severalpeople of power were proven to not only ex-ist outside of the Bible, but accomplished thetasks that the Bible says that they did. TheHouse of Davidas, meaning the family lineageof King Davidas, has been found on an in-scription in Tel Dan. The inscription provesthat Davidas not only existed but that he andhis family were considered very importantand the ruling family for many years.4 TheBible also relates in Isaiah 44:28, ‘’Who saysof Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will ac-complish all that I please’; he will say ofJerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the temple,‘Let its foundations be laid.’”

Archaeologists discovered a nine-inchcylinder dating back to approximately 539-530 BCE, which describes the rule of Cyrus.He allowed for the captives of Babylon toreturn home and restore their temples.5

The New TestamentThe New Testament books are the main

resources for Christians. They examine thelife of Jesusas in the first few books and theremainder of the books are thought to be writ-ten by the followers of Jesusas to carry onwhat they believed to be his message andmission. The search for the historical Jesusas

began in the early 18th century and still con-tinues to be a topic that fascinates scholars.It is nearly impossible to really discover whothe historical Jesusas was, based on the textsthat have been collected thus far. The oldesthistoric texts that have been gathered regard-ing the life of Jesusas can be found in theGospels. In the case of the Gospels, how-ever, age does not necessarily result in accu-racy, nor have the books remained in an un-altered condition.

There are alleged historical facts foundwithin the Gospels that are not at all factual.For example, in the Gospel of Luke, he beginsJesus’as life narrative with a decree from Cae-sar Augustus, which required people to leavewhere they resided and work to return to theirhomeland for a census. No such census wasever issued.6 Luke needed to get Jesusas toBethlehem in order to fulfill a Judaic proph-ecy.7 The combination of a real historic personand fictitious decree confuses many into be-lieving that this actually occurred.

Although Jesusas is not really mentionedin any texts contemporary to his time, Bibli-

cal scholars have examined the social andreligious history from the period of Jesusas

and have compared the Gospels, in order todevise an accurate account of some of theteachings of Jesusas, that many scholars callthe Gospel of Q. Much of his life narrativedescribed in the Gospels cannot be proven.The crucifixion of Jesusas is perhaps the mostbelieved story in the account of his life andcan be authenticated by other means. Schol-ars discovered a tomb in India, which manybelieve to be the tomb of Jesusas. Outside thetomb is a set of footprints, which appear tohave scarring. Although the scars are not inthe same spot on the foot, they would, how-ever, line up if a nail had been driven throughthem. 8

Documents written so long ago are essen-tial to studying history but are not always reli-able. They tell whatever happened through thepoint-of-view of the author, which may or maynot be the entire story. Although much of whatthe Bible says cannot be proven through his-torical or scientific means, it can still be used asa general resource to show how people thoughtand lived their daily lives.

Endnotes:

1 Shanks, H. (1994). The search for Jesus: modernscholarship looks at the Gospels.Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society2 The Epic of Gilgamesh. (1972). New York, NY:Penguin Books.3 Marine team finds surprising evidence supportinga great biblical flood. (2007, September 10).Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070907150931.htm4 David Inscription: The House of David. (2008).Retrieved from http://teldan.wordpress.com/house-of-david-inscription/5 The Cyrus Cylinder Retrieved from http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cyrus_cylinder.aspx6 Luke 2:1-3 “In those days a decree went out fromEmperor Augustus that all the world should berecognized. This was the first registration and wastaken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. Allwent to their own towns to be registered.”7 Crossan, J.D. (1994). The search for Jesus:modern scholarship looks at the Gospels. Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society8 Khan, A. (2010). Rozabal—the tomb of JesusChrist(as)?. Review of Religion, Retrieved fromhttp://www.reviewofreligions.org/2727/rozabal-%E2%80%93-the-tomb-of-jesus-christas/

Valerie is a Humanities graduate studentat Penn State University and is completingher master’s thesis on the history of Islamicpropagation in America. She works as theeditor for Ayesha Magazine.

38 MuslimSunrise

By Azhar Ahmed Hussain

It is not uncommon to hear an

Islamic terrorist call for a holy

war against the infidels,

claiming that it is in accordance

to Islamic principles. Aside

from the obvious fallacy of

declaring that Islam permits

aggression, the term infidel is

itself a term entirely foreign to

Islam. Ironically, one of its uses

was to denigrate Muslims and

Islam during the time of the

Crusades.

When Pope Urban IIaddressed the Councilof Clermont in 1095, helaunched one of themost notorious military

campaigns in human history. In the nearly 400years European forces attempted to captureJerusalem and Palestine1, an unprecedentedera of cultural and linguistic exchangeoccurred, including the term Infidel. In the timesince the Crusades, the use of infidel has creptits way into the common nomenclature of

some Muslims who now use the term to labelnon-Muslims. However, the usage of infidelin this manner is entirely incorrect. In theQur’an, Allah applies the term kafir to non-Muslims or those who hide and cover the truthof Islam and deny the oneness of Allah. Onetheory ascribes the label of kafir as one whorejects the current messenger. The acceptanceof infidel by many Muslims is the embodimentof outside influences diluting the continenceof Islam. Furthermore, because of its violenthistory infidel carries with it the underlyingimplication that violence or subjugation issomehow acceptable regardless of religiousdoctrine clearly stating otherwise.

From Latin to the Crusades

After its advent, Islam expanded at an ex-ponential pace, within a few short centuriesthe Umayyad Caliphate stretched from Spainto India. Shortly thereafter, the Seljuk Turksgained control of Asia Minor (Turkey) andrumors spread of an oppressive Seljuk Em-pire. Robert the Monk mentions that Seljukrulers tortured Christians and desecratedchurches2, though no evidence exists to sup-port such a claim.

In response, Pope Urban II called for anarmed Crusade to capture Palestine. Fulcherof Chartes relates that Pope Urban II imposedon the Christian faith: “Let those who havebeen accustomed to unjustly to wage privatewarfare against the faithful go now againstthe infidels and end with victory this warwhich should have begun a long time ago.3”

With this directive, all who believed in themessage of Prophet Muhammadsaw and Islam

were labeled Infidel- unfaithful. The term infi-del is short for the Latin term “infidelis,”Fidelis is the Latin term for the word faithful;the prefix “in” negates the term, makinginfidelis a translation of “untrue,” “perfidi-ous,” and “faithless.44

D.P. Simpson, “Cassell ’s Latin Dictionary,“ (New York, Cassel’s 1977) 278.”

The application of this term to Muslims ismostly a misnomer. Islam is a religion whichbelieves in and is faithful to the oneness of Al-lah and that Hadhrat Jesus was a messenger ofGod. Muslims, however, believe that ProphetMuhammadsaw is the last law bearing prophet-which according to Pope Urban II was justifica-tion for labeling Muslims infidel. In the 1000years since infidelis was uttered by Pope Ur-ban II, it has continued to cause untold andunjust murder worldwide. Due to its negativeand iniquitous connotation, some Muslim ter-rorist organizations use infidel to label non-Muslims in addition to Muslims who do notsubscribe to their interpretation of Islam.5 Thesegroups then justify terrorist acts and murdersby implying that such actions are permittedagainst non-Muslim infidels- a view which isentirely against Islamic teachings.

Kafir according to the Qur’an

Though some Muslims use infidel to la-bel non-Muslims, it is not found in the HolyQur’an. Allah provides the term kafir which,though not formally defined, is describedthrough verses in the Qur’an as a dynamicword which applies in many different ways.One description of the term kafir is used forthose who do not believe in the oneness of

By Any Other Name

Fall 2011 39

Allah and practice polytheism. Another at-tribute of a kafir is a person who rejects all ofAllah’s Messengers and Prophets. One fi-nal description of the term kafir is one whohides and covers from the truth of Islam.

The Holy Qur’an (5:73-74), states: “In-deed, they are the disbelievers (kafir) whosay, ‘Allah, he is the Messiah, son of Mary,’whereas the Messiah himself said, ‘O Chil-dren of Israel, worship Allah who is mylord and your lord.’ Surely they disbelievewho say, ‘Allah is the third of three’” Thesignificance of these verses lies in its infer-ence that one such application of the wordkafir could be directed toward Christianity,due mainly to its belief that Jesus was Al-lah. However, Allah does not specificallysay that all Christians are kafir. One pos-sible explanation could be that some Chris-tians do not believe that Jesus was literallyAllah, for example the Unitarian church.6

These groups recognize the inherent logi-cal fallacy created by polytheistic belief ofthe Trinity and follow the Old Testamentverse (Deuteronomy 6:4) which states,“Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, theLORD is one.”

Another application of the word kafirspecifically mentioned in the Qur’an is di-rected to those who reject the messengersof Allah. The Qur’an declares (4:151)“Surely, those who disbelieve in Allah andHis Messengers and seek to make a dis-tinction between Allah and His Messen-gers, and say, ‘We believe in some and dis-believe in others,’ and seek to take a wayin between.” This verse is important toMuslims because it declares that they arebound to the belief in continuity of Allah’sapostates from Hadhrat Adam to the Prom-ised Messiah.

The final aspect of kafir lies in the rootsof the word itself. The root ka fa ra trans-lates to ‘he covered’ or “he hid” which lendsevidence to the theory that one possibledefinition of kafir could be one who ac-tively hides from the truth of Islam. TheQur’an furthers this by stating (11:6) “Nowsurely, they fold up their breasts that theymay hide their evil thoughts from Him. Aye,even when they cover themselves up withtheir garments, He knows what they hideand what they reveal.” The process of ac-tive disbelief in the oneness of Allah andthe divine nature of his messengers,l’kafiroon, requires an active participantwho intentionally disregards key facts.

The converse difference in between in-

fidel and kafir further lends weight to thedivine aspect to the Qur’an as the absoluteword of Allah. Though the distinction be-tween these two words may seem somewhatarbitrary, the implication of the use of oneover the other has historically proved tocarry a heavy burden.

The treatment of non-Muslimsaccording to Allah

From the Crusades to the present, infi-del has shown to be a word followed byuntold horrors of war and destruction. Thereis no handbook which exists that regulateshow one should act toward an infidel, mod-ern day users of the term have only the ex-ample of its previous employers to follow.The only precedent for the treatment of in-fidels that exists is one of subjugation andperverted justification for genocide; a farcry from the peaceful nature of the HolyQur’an. According to the absolute word ofAllah, anyone who falls under the jurisdic-tion of kafir is provided every protectionfrom bodily or spiritual harm from the handsof Muslims. The Holy Qur’an boldly states(2:257) “There is no compulsion in reli-gion,” which grants unabated freedom ofconscience and thought. Furthermore, theQur’an also states (88:22-23) “Admonish,therefore, for thou art but an admonisher.Thou art not appointed a keeper overthem.” and finally, in the surah titled AlKafiroon Allah closes by instructing “foryou your religion and, for me my religion.”Allah states in the Holy Qur’an that thosewho are kafir are answerable only to Allahand are at the mercy of his judgment as seenin verse (88:25) “But whoever turns awayand disbelieves, Allah will punish himwith the greatest punishment.”

The Treatment of Non-Muslims

The example of the Holy Qur’an is mir-rored perfectly by the Holy Prophet whosigned the Charter of Medina with ArabJewish Tribes, though they reject Allah’smessengers Hadhrat Jesus and HadhratMuhammad. This groundbreaking docu-ment guaranteed the right for Jews to selfgovernance as well as the right to practicetheir religious beliefs without restriction.7

In addition, he also wrote a letter to theMonks of St. Catherine’s Monastery grant-ing full protection and freedom to practicetheir faith unabated. This letter ends with

the Holy Prophet declaring that this cov-enant of brotherhood will last until the Dayof Judgment.8

Though these people could be consid-ered kafir according to the Qur’an becauseof their rejection of all of Allah’s messen-gers, and their belief in the Trinity, HadhratMuhammadsaw reflected the Qur’an’s teach-ings by offering peace and allowing themto follow their religion. Contrary to theQur’an and the example set by the HolyProphet, some misguided and mal-inten-tioned Muslims label these people infideland use it as an excuse for murder.

Despite the guidance provided in theHoly Qur’an, some Muslims believe that itis permissible to slander non-Muslims withinfidel. From the Crusades to the present,where the word infidel has been used, ithas caused despair and death. As innocu-ous as the difference may appear, it is im-portant for Muslims to understand the dis-tinction. Allah instructs that though theyhave a different faith, they are to be giventhe liberty to practice their religion. Theexample of Prophet Muhammadsaw followsthis guidance and sets the standard forMuslims to follow. It is through adherenceto the tenants of the Holy Qur’an and byfollowing the precedent of the Holy Prophetthat infidel will cease to exist.

Endnotes1 Carrolle Hillenbrand, “The Crusades: IslamicPerspectives, “ (New York: Routledge, 2000) 1.2Robert the Monk: Historia Hierosolymitana. in [RHC,Occ III.] Dana C. Munro, “Urban and the Crusaders”,Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources ofEuropean History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University ofPennsylvania, 1895), 5-83Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, A sourceBook for Miedeval History, (New York: Scribners,1905) 513-175 Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Murder in the Name of Allah,(Cambridge, Lutterworth 1989) ch 8.6 George W. Cooke, Unitarianism in America: AHistory of its Origin and Development, (Boston:American Unitarian Association 1910) 13.7Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, “Absolute Justice,Kindness, and Kinship- Three Creative Principles,“(Tilford: Islam International Publications 2008)334-335)8Tommy Kallon, “The Holy Muhammadsaw: AProphet of Peace and Reconciliation,” Speech,(alislam.org)

Azhar Ahmed Hussain earned a Bachelorof Arts, History degree from Texas TechUniversity and is a Juris Doctorate candidateat Hofstra University School of Law. Recently,he became a recipient of Majlis Sultan-ul-Qalam’s “Sir Chaudry Zafrullah Khan” award.

40 MuslimSunrise

By: Shazia Sohail

The Biblehe Biblehe Biblehe Biblehe Bible speaksextensively about theimportance of justice,

bearing true witness, and caringfor the poor, the orphan and thewidow. There is no doubt thatthe Christian teachings aremerciful in nature, and theQur’an testifies to it. The endgoal of both the Biblical andQur’anic injunctions is to createpersonal and social harmony.The difference lies in the scopeand range of justice the twoscriptures aim to deliver. TheQur’an teaches absolute justiceto all mankind, with no racial,gender or class discrimination.The Bible’s scope is limited tothe Israelites, and is prejudicialto women and slaves.

The Holy Qur’an takes it upon itself toattest to the just nature of all previous Mes-sengers and Scriptures in “Verily, We sent OurMessengers with manifest Signs and sentdown with them the Book and the Balancethat people may act with justice” (57:26). Thus,according to Islamic belief, all deviations fromjustice found in the Bible are attributable tohuman interpolation. This verse also definesJustice as “balance.” The Qur’an repeatedlydraws attention to the perfect balance in theuniverse1 through a uniform application of thephysical laws. Any breach in the equilibriumof forces in the universe would make thewhole system collapse. Similarly, givingpeople anything short of what is their due willcause disorder:

“And O my people, give full measure andfull weight with equity, and defraud not peopleof their things and commit not iniquity in theearth, causing disorder” (11:86).

Due to the immense importance of thissubject the Qur’an outlines specific require-ments of justice.

Justice in Governance

The Holy Qur’an does not stipulate thetype of government or a system of Justice acountry should have. It does, however, spellout the responsibilities of a ruler or a rulingbody. Every institution and individual of a coun-try must:

Protect the Honor, Life and Property of itsPeople: The Qur’an states, “Verily, Allah com-mands you to give over the trusts to those

entitled to them, and that, when you judgebetween (or rule over) individuals, you judge(or rule) with justice” (4:59). Thus the basicrights of a people reside as a ‘trust’ with thegovernment and are to be accounted for di-rectly to God Almighty.

Always Act with Justice, between Indi-viduals and between People: The words“when you judge between individuals, youjudge with justice,” admonish that when set-tling matters between people, justice, alsodefined as ‘balance’ or ‘middle path’ shouldbe the yardstick. In other words, the govern-ment should settle disputes in a manner thatall sides get their due, and equilibrium is re-stored. This is not a mere suggestion, but astrict command: “Be strict in observing jus-tice, and be witness for Allah, even though itbe against yourselves or against your parentsor kindred “(4:136). Again, one is answerableto Allah directly while dispensing justice.

Enter the Testimony of a Witnesses withImpeccable Character Only: “And those whocalumniate chaste women but bring not fourwitnesses — flog them with eighty stripes,and never admit their evidence thereafter, andit is they that are the transgressors;” (24:5).

Require that Witnesses Must Testify:“And the witnesses should not refuse whenthey are called “(2:283).

“And conceal not testimony; and whoeverconceals it, his heart is certainly sinful” (2:284).

Protect the Witnesses: “And let no harmbe done to the scribe or the witness” (2:283).

Require the Witness to Tell the Truth: “Oye who believe! Be steadfast in the cause of

The Bible and the Quran on Justice

Fall 2011 41

Allah, bearing witness in equity;” (5:9).Fully Comply with the Judgment Pro-

nounced: “O ye who believe! Obey Allah,and obey His Messenger and those who arein authority among you” (4:60).

“But no, by thy Lord, they are not be-lievers until they makethee judge in all that is indispute between them andthen f ind not in the i rhearts any demur con-cerning that which thoudecides and submit withfull submission” (4:66).

Judge with Strict Im-partiality: “O ye who be-lieve! Be steadfast in thecause of Allah, bearingwitness in equity; and letnot a people’s enmity in-cite you to act otherwisethan with justice. Be al-ways just; that is nearerto righteousness. And fearAllah. Surely, Allah isaware of what you do“(5:9). The rights of mi-norities are sought to beprotected in this verse.

Not Corrupt theCourse of Justice throughBribery: “And do not de-vour your wealth amongyourselves through false-hood, and offer it not asbribe to the authoritiesthat you may knowinglydevour a par t of thewealth of other peoplewith injustice” (2:189).‘Bribery’ is any favor be-stowed with a view to ob-tain a biased or partisanoutcome.

Not let Hostility to-wards a People Incite aMuslim or a Muslim Stateto Act Unjustly towardsThem: Justice towardsone’s enemy is a uniquefeature of the Holy Qur’anand Islam. No other reli-gious scripture containssuch an injunction. Mus-lims are required to be justeven in times of war, withse l f -defense being theonly motive for war:

“And fight in the way of Allah againstthose who fight against you but do nottransgress. Allah loves not the transgres-sors” (2:91).

“And if they incline towards peace,incline thou also towards it “(8:62).

“And let not a people’s enmity inciteyou to act otherwise than with justice.Be always just; that is nearer to righ-teousness. And fear Allah. Surely, Allahis aware of what you do” (5:9).

Settle National Matters by Consulta-tion: Islamic gover-nance is required to bedemocratic to the ex-tent that all matters ofs ta tehood are to bedetermined after ascer-taining and consider-ing the opinion of awide range of citizens:

“Those who hear-ken to their Lord, andobserve Prayer, andwhose affairs are de-cided by mutual con-sul ta t ion , and whospend out of what Wehave provided forthem” (42:39).

Provide the Provi-sion of Food, Clothingand Shelter to the Citi-zens: “It is decreed forthee that thou shal tnot hunger therein norshalt thou be naked.And that thou shal tnot thirst therein, norshalt thou be exposedto the sun” (20:119-120). The Holy Qur’anrecognizes tha t nosystem of justice caneffectively be imple-mented i f the basicneeds of people havenot been adequatelymet.

Provide a Peacefuland Secure Environ-ment with an Equitableand Orderly EconomicSys tem and Heal thCare: The Holy Qur’anidentifies and criticizesan abusive ruler bystating, “When he is inauthor i ty, he runsabout in the land tocreate disorder in itand destroys the tilthand the progeny ofman; and Allah loves

Judge with Strict Impartiality: “O ye who

believe! Be steadfast in the cause of Allah,

bearing witness in equity; and let not a

people’s enmity incite you to act otherwise

than with justice. Be always just; that is

nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah.

Surely, Allah is aware of what you do”(5:9).

The rights of minorities are sought to be

protected in this verse.

42 MuslimSunrise

not disorder “(2:206). The Arabic wordemployed for “tilth” in this context refersto agriculture, economy, and health ofwomen, and the “tilth and the progeny ofman” refer to general health care. Thus, inthe spirit of “a ruler is a steward and isaccountable for his charge2” a just gov-ernment will strive to restore the basicamenities of life to its people, and estab-lish peace and prosperity by regulating ag-riculture, economy, and health care.

Provide Total Religious Freedom:“There should be no compulsion in reli-gion” (2:257).

“We know best what they say; and thouhast not been appointed to compel them inany way. So admonish, by means of theQur’an, him who fears My warning” (50:46).

“Thou hast no authority to compelthem” (88:23).

“And if thy Lord had enforced His will,surely, all who are on the earth would havebelieved together. Wilt thou, then, forcemen to become believers?” (10:100)

These verses put an end to the myththat Islam seeks to punish blasphemy orapostasy. Thus, the laws promulgated inmany Muslim countries to punish blas-phemy and apostasy are totally unjust, un-Islamic, and against the teachings of theQur’an.

Always Honor Treaties and Agree-ments: “And who are watchful of theirtrusts and their covenants” (23:9).

“And those who are watchful of theirtrusts and their covenants” (70:33).

“But if they seek your help in the mat-ter of religion, then it is your duty to helpthem, except against a people betweenwhom and yourselves there is a treaty. AndAllah sees what you do” (8:73).

Never Instigate or Participate in, Rebel-lion against the State: “And when it is saidto them, ‘Create not disorder in the earth,’they say, ‘We are only promoters of peace.’Beware! It is surely they who create disor-der, but they do not perceive it “(2:12-13).

Take the Middle Course: In contrast tothe Bible, Islam does not prescribe ex-tremes. The Old Testament teaches an eyefor an eye and a tooth for a tooth; and theNew Testament preaches the “turn theother cheek.” The Holy Qur’an establishesa middle ground stating, “The recompenseof an injury is an injury the like thereof;but whoso forgives and thereby bringsabout a reformation, his reward is with Al-lah “(42:41). Thus, Islam legally entitles

one to exact retribution as stated in theOld Testament. However, if the victimfeels that forgiveness may bring aboutmoral reformation in the perpetrator, thenthe Qur’an advises turning the cheek asmentioned in the New Testament.

Must Punish a Murderer: In the case ofa murder “Equitable retaliation in the mat-ter of the slain is prescribed for you”(2:179), meaning, the authorities must pun-ish a murderer. The general rule is to putthe murderer to death. However, the op-tion to forgive in lieu of monetary compen-sation, albeit with the sanction of compe-tent authorities, rests with the aggrievedparty: “But if one is granted any remissionby one’s brother, then pursuing the matterfor the realization of the blood money shallbe done with fairness and the murderershall pay him the blood money in a hand-some manner. This is alleviation from yourLord and a mercy” (2:179).

Socio-Economic Justice

Islam recognizes and safeguards anindividual’s right to possess, enjoy, andtransfer property but also imposes themoral obligation that in all wealth all sec-tions of society, even animals, have a rightto share: “In their wealth they acknowledgethe right of those who asked and of thosewho could not” (51:20). Such moral exhor-tations not only foster the will to complywith the minimum legal requirements of dis-semination of resources but also to bringabout one’s own spiritual and moral growththrough generous and equitable spendingpractices based on the premise that it is

God alone Who is Self-Sufficient and thesource of all prosperity; it is men who arein need, and can achieve prosperity, notthrough miserliness and holding back, butthrough beneficent spending in the serviceof His creatures (47:39). The object of Is-lamic economic system therefore, is to bringabout a wide distribution of wealth throughmoral exhortation and legal sanctions per-taining to taxation, law of inheritance, loans,and commercial practices. Punishments inthe Quran

As far as Islamic injunctions of pun-i shment a re conce rned i t mus t bepointed out that the benefits of Islamiclaws were enacted first and the punitiveinjunctions were revealed at a much laterstage. In its early stages Islam revealedits teachings of beneficence, and therights of the people in an Islamic state.Once a society of law abiding, pious, andrighteous people was created, in whichthe standards of conduct had alreadybeen raised to a very high level, onlythen were the laws governing punish-ment revealed and enacted.

Endnotes1. Ahmad, Mirza Tahir. Some Distinctive

features of Islam (Islamabad, UK: IslamInternational Publications Ltd., 1992).

2. Farid, Malik Ghulam. The Holy Quranwith English Translation and ShortCommentary (Islamabad, UK: IslamInternational Publications Ltd., 1994).

3. Khan, Muhammad Zafrullah. Islam andHuman Rights (Islamabad, UK: IslamInternational Publications Ltd., 1999).Pages 49-59

4. Ahmad, Mirza Tahir. “Interpretation ofSharia, Part 2” Review of Religions(July 2002): pages 38-45. (London,UK)

References

1. (55:8-10), (67:4-5)

2. Khan, Muhammad Zafrullah. Gardens ofthe Righteous (Islamabad, UK: IslamInternational Publications Ltd., 1996).Page 69

Shazia Sohail is a staff writer for the MuslimSunrise. She has an MBA and lives in theBay Area, Calif. with her family.

Provide Total ReligiousFreedom: “There should

be no compulsion inreligion” (2:257)

“We know best what theysay; and thou hast not beenappointed to compel themin any way. So admonish,by means of the Qur’an,

him who fears Mywarning” (50:46)

“Thou hast no authority tocompel them” (88:23)

Fall 2011 43

By Zia H Shah MD and Sardar Anees Ahmad

Determinism

A deist believes God created theuniverse, but rejects the notion of aPersonal God – a God who answers

prayers or intervenes in human affairs. Manydeists are strict determinist, believing that cau-sality governs the entire universe. AlbertEinstein, by his own admission, held such aconception of God, “I do not believe in theGod of theology who rewards good and pun-ishes evil. My God created laws that take careof that. His universe is not ruled by wishfulthinking, but by immutable laws.”1

Einstein’s own views resulted from his ownremarkable scientific discoveries, as well as thatof Newton. Through these discoveries, greattechnological advancements surfaced and sci-entists came to believe that determinable lawsgoverned the entire universe.

In turn, Einstein’s strict adherence to de-terminism lead him to reject the notion of freewill: “If this being is omnipotent, then everyoccurrence, including every human action,every human thought, and every human feel-ing and aspiration is also His work; how is itpossible to think of holding men responsiblefor their deeds and thoughts before such analmighty Being? In giving out punishment andrewards He would to a certain extent be pass-ing judgment on Himself. How can this be com-bined with the goodness and righteousnessascribed to Him?”2

Unlike his earth-shattering discoveries re-garding space, time, gravity and light, how-ever, Einstein’s determinism would not be ableto command respect. Ironically, science itselfwould debunk Einstein’s determinism.

Quantum Theory

In 1912, Neils Bohr began research underErnest Rutherford. Rutherford, by this time, hadnot only discovered the phenomenon of ra-dioactive half-life but had also revolutionizedman’s understanding of the atom. Rutherford

postulated that the atom was like a miniatureuniverse with electrons rotating around a posi-tively charged nucleus. Rutherford, however,discovered a problem in his model. If his modelwas true, the electron should rapidly orbit intothe nucleus – i.e. if Rutherford was correct,atoms could not exist and, therefore, nothingcould exist. Bohr resolved the dilemma by dem-onstrating that electrons only occupy variousdefined orbits. Werner Heisenberg would latercorroborate Bohr’s atomic model but wouldfind himself struggling with a new problem ofhis own.

The Bohr-Heisenberg atomic model impliedthat there was a level of uncertainty regardingan electron’s location. One night Heisenbergwent out for a walk, confused as to how theposition of an electron is uncertain. In anepiphany, Heisenberg realized that observa-tion is the key. Called the “uncertainty prin-ciple,” he realized that observation of an elec-tron disturbs the electron and therefore it isimpossible to know both the position and mo-mentum of a particle. This discovery meant thatuncertainty was a fundamental quality of na-ture and that the future of any physical sys-tem at the subatomic level is unpredictable.

Before quantum theory only one aspect ofindeterminacy existed, arising from not know-ing the “initial conditions.” If such conditionswere known, using Newtonian and Einsteinianphysics, everything could be determined. Sci-entists believed that these laws applied to plan-etary motion as well as subatomic particles.

Despite mathematical proofs and experi-mental evidence, Einstein rejectedHeisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Einsteinknew that if Heisenberg were correct, extremedeterminism was false. For how could deter-minism describe the universe when it cannotdetect the whereabouts and motion of a singleatom? For more than three decades, Einsteinattempted to formulate a grand model explain-ing the nature of the entire universe within theparadigm of determinism. But it was not to be.

In fact, on a large scale, such as that of the

observable physical world, nature is compre-hensible. However, quantum mechanics im-plies there is a limit to which man can under-stand reality – at the quantum level, especially,nature is uncertain to some degree.

Quantum Theory andDeterminism

One should appreciate the power of theidea that the universe operates in a determin-istic fashion at some levels, but according tothe rules of quantum mechanics is in-deter-ministic in other scales. To create an orderlyobservable world not in need of constant in-tervention, God implemented fixed, discernablelaws. Applying these laws to every stage ofexistence, however, would have precluded thepossibility of free will. Quantum indeterminacyallows for free will while allowing deterministiclaws to operate on larger scales.

Quantum indeterminacy further allows fora deist to accept the possibility of a PersonalGod – a God Who can intervene if needed anda God Who answers man’s prayers. In prin-ciple, this is what Hadhrat Mirza GhulamAhmadas alludes to, “If God has created theuniverse, then one can be certain that in keep-ing with His infinite entity, He would have leftinnumerable ways to influence the universeso that His divinity is not suspended in anyway at any time.”3

Endnotes1Max Jammer. Einstein And Religion, Physics AndTheology. Princeton University Press, 1999. pp.110-1112 Albert Einstein. Ideas and Opinions. Wing’sbooks, New York, 1954.pp. 46-47.3 Barkat-ud-Dua, p. 27

Zia Shah is a doctor practicing in sleep andlung disorders in upstate New York. He alsois the editor of Muslim Times, an online blog.Sardar Anees Ahmad, is the head of AAMS-USA, writing team and a staff member of theMuslim Sunrise.

Quantum Theory: Sign of a Personal GodReligion & Science

44 MuslimSunrise

Ahadith Sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw

Bukhari-Volume 3, Book 41, Number 576:Narrated Hudhaifa:

I heard the Prophet saying, “Once a man died and was asked, ‘What did you use to say (or do)?’ He replied,‘I was a business-man and used to give time to the rich to repay his debt and deduct part of the debt ofthe poor.’ So he was forgiven (his sins.)” Abu Masud said, “I heard the same from the Prophet.”

Bukhari-Volume 3, Book 41, Number 591:Narrated Al-Mughira bin Shu’ba:

The Prophet said, “Allah has forbidden for you, (1) to be undutiful to your mothers, (2) to bury yourdaughters alive, (3) to not to pay the rights of the others (e.g. charity, etc.) and (4) to beg of men (begging).And Allah has hated for you (1) vain, useless talk, or that you talk too much about others, (2) to ask toomany questions and (3) to waste the wealth (by extravagance).

Bukhari-Volume 3, Book 41, Number 592:Narrated Abdullah bin ‘Umar:

I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “Everyone of you is a guardian, and responsible for what is in his custody.The ruler is a guardian of his subjects and responsible for them; a husband is a guardian of his family andis responsible for it; a lady is a guardian of her husband’s house and is responsible for it, and a servantis a guardian of his master’s property and is responsible for it.” I heard that from Allah’s Apostle and Ithink that the Prophet also said, “A man is a guardian of his father’s property and is responsible for it,so all of you are guardians and responsible for your wards and things under your care.”

Bukhari-Volume 4, Book 51, Number 5:Narrated Sad bin Abu Waqqas:

The Prophet came visiting me while I was (sick) in Mecca, (‘Amir the sub-narrator said, and he dislikedto die in the land, whence he had already migrated). The Prophet) said, “May Allah bestow His Mercyon Ibn Afra (Sad bin Khaula).” I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! May I will all my property (in charity)?” Hesaid, “No.” I said, “Then may I will half of it?” He said, “No”. I said, “One third?” He said: “Yes, onethird, yet even one third is too much. It is better for you to leave your inheritors wealthy than to leave thempoor begging others, and whatever you spend for Allah’s sake will be considered as a charitable deed eventhe handful of food you put in your wife’s mouth. Allah may lengthen your age so that some people maybenefit by you, and some others be harmed by you.” At that time Sad had only one daughter.

Fall 2011 45

Q. Why is no other bookneeded after the Holy Quran?

A. The Holy Quran is the Perfect Bookwhich undertook the entire project of humanreform and is not addressed only to one people.It seeks the reform of all and has set forth allgrades of human development. It teaches sav-ages the manners and ways of humanity andthereafter instructs them in high moral quali-ties. Thus there is no need of any other bookbeside the Holy Quran.

Q. What is the true purpose of ahuman being’s life in this world?

A. Different people being short-sightedand lacking high resolve, appoint differentpurposes for their lives and limit themselvesto worldly goals and ambitions. But the pur-pose that God Almighty has appointed for manin His Holy Word is as follows:

I have created men and jinn so that theymay know Me and worship Me [51:57]. Thusthe true purpose of man’s life is the worshipof God, His understanding and complete de-votion to Him. It is obvious that man is not ina position to appoint the purpose of his ownlife, for he does not come into the world of hisown accord, nor will he depart therefrom ofhis own will. He is a creature and the One Whocreated him and invested him with better andhigher faculties than those of all other ani-mals. Whether anyone penetrates to it or not,the purpose of man’s creation without a doubtis the worship and the understanding of Godand complete devotion to Him.

Q.What three types of self havebeen discussed in the Holy

Quran as the springs all actions?

First Source:The Self That Incites to EvilA.The first spring which is the source of

all natural states is designated by the HolyQuran the Nafse Ammarah, which means theself that incites to evil, as it says:

The mind of man is ever ready to incite toevil (12:54).

This means that it is characteristic of thehuman self that it incites man to evil and is

opposed to his attainment of perfection andto his moral state, and urges him towards un-desirable and evil ways. Thus the propensitytowards the evil and intemperance is a humanstate which predominates over the mind of aperson before he enters upon the moral state.This is man’s natural state, so long as he isnot guided by reason and understanding butfollows his natural bent in eating, drinking,sleeping, waking, anger and provocation, likethe animals. When a person is guided by rea-son and understanding and brings his naturalstate under control and regulates it in a propermanner, that state ceases to be his natural stateand is called his moral state.

Second Source:The Reproving Self

The source of the moral state of man isdesignated by the Holy Quran NafseLawwama, as is said:

I call to witness the reproving self (75:3);that is to say, I call to witness the self thatreproves itself for every vice and intemper-ance. This reproving self is the second sourceof human state from which the moral state isgenerated. At this stage man ceases to re-semble the animals. Calling it to witness is forthe purpose of doing it honour, as if by ad-vancing from the state of the self that is proneto evil and and arriving at the state of the re-proving self, it has become worthy of honourin divine estimation. It is so called as it re-proves man on vice and is not reconciled toman’s submitting to his natural desires andleading an unbridled existence like the animals.It desires that man should be in a good stateand should practise good morals, and no kindof intemperance should be manifested in anyaspect of human life, and natural emotions anddesires should be regulated by reason. As itreproves every vicious movement, it is calledthe reproving self. Though it reproves itselfin respect of vices, yet it is not fully effectivein practising virtue and occasionally it is domi-nated by natural emotions, when it stumblesand falls. It is like a weak child who does notwish to stumble and fall but does so out ofweakness, and is then remorseful over his in-firmity. In short, this is the moral state of hu-man self when it seeks to comprehend withinitself high moral qualities and is disgusted withdisobedience, but cannot achieve completesuccess.

The Third Source:The Soul at Rest

The third source which should be de-scribed as the beginning of the spiritual stateof man is called by the Holy Quran NafseMutmainnah, that is to say, the soul at rest,as is said:

O soul at rest that has found comfort inGod return to thy Lord, thou well pleasedwith Him and He well pleased with thee. Nowjoin My chosen servants and enter into Mygarden (89:28-31).

This is the stage when the soul of a per-son being delivered from all weaknesses isfilled with spiritual powers and establishes arelationship with God Almighty withoutWhose support it cannot exist. As water flow-ing down from a height, on account of its vol-ume and the absence of any obstruction,rushes with great force, in the same way thesoul at rest flows towards God. That is indi-cated by the divine direction to the soul thathas found comfort in God to return to its Lord.It undergoes a great transformation in thisvery life and is bestowed a paradise while stillin this world. As this verse indicates in itsdirection to such a soul to return to its Lord, itis nourished by its Lord and its love of Godbecomes its nurture, and it drinks at this foun-tain of life and is thus delivered from death.This is indicated at another place in the HolyQuran where it is said:

He who purifies his soul of earthly passionsshall be saved and shall not suffer ruin, buthe who is overcome by his earthly passionsshould despair of life (91:10-11).

For further discussion on these topics go toAlislam.org. Search under libraries for the book,“The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam.”

Q&A

46 MuslimSunrise

By Ayesha N. Rashid

RRRRReverend YoucefNadarkhani awaitsexecution for his

crime of apostasy. ReverendNadarkhani, originally aMuslim, renounced Islam forChristianity. Though Iranianlaw does not considerapostasy a crime, thedecision to execute himfound credence in AyatullahKhomeini’s fatwa to killapostates. Asia Bibi currentlysuffers through the sameordeal in Pakistan forallegedly passingblasphemous remarksagainst ProphetMuhammadsa. Two of herwould-be-saviors weremurdered for theirassistance, and their deathshave been celebrated.1

The Muslim world frenzy to kill forblasphemy and apostasy has led Non-Muslims—as well as ignorant Muslims—to grossly misunderstand the role of thedeath penalty in Islam. Likewise, few un-derstand the history of the death pen-alty in the Abrahamic faiths—Judaismand Christianity, respectively. The fol-lowing analysis of the death penalty inthe Abrahamic fai ths wil l elaborateupon, and differentiate the elements ofextremism from the elements of compas-s ion and mode ra t i on i n a l l t h r eeAbrahamic religions.

Religious practices:Throughout history, punishments for vio-

lating religious laws included killing, tortur-ing and stoning the offender. According tothe Old Testament, sacrifices to gods otherthan Jehovah is a capital crime, deserving ofdeath. 2 Similarly, a person involved in sacri-ficing children to gods is supposed to bestoned to death.3 Additionally, those who statefalse prophecies and secretly entice believersto believe in other gods, should be killed andstoned to death.4 Necromancy is also consid-ered a capital crime in Judaism.5

Blasphemy is one of the most frequentlycited justifications to employ the death pen-alty in Judaic law. Leviticus speaks of a boywho was stoned to death because he blas-phemed against the Lord. At this junction theLord commands Mosesas, “He who blas-phemes the name of Yahweh, he shall surelybe put to death; all the congregation shall cer-tainly stone him: the foreigner as well as thenative-born, when he blasphemes the Name,shall be put to death.”6 Moreover, prohibitionof blasphemy is listed 5th in the Noahide lawsi.e. the seven laws of Noahas. Jesusas is unde-niably the most prominent figure to have beengiven the death penalty due to alleged blas-phemy under the Judaic law.

Blasphemy is also considered a severecrime in Christianity. The New Testament says,

“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slan-der can be forgiven, but blasphemy againstthe Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone whospeaks a word against the Son of Man will beforgiven, but anyone who speaks against theHoly Spirit will not be forgiven, either in thisage or in the age to come.”7 The New Testa-ment adds, “He who speaks evil of father ormother, let him surely die.”8 As time passed,the meaning of blasphemy changed to the dis-honor of Jesusas and the holy scriptures. Still,blasphemy is considered an unforgivable sinin Christianity.9 For instance, the Visigothspunished blasphemers with the shearing oftheir heads, a hundred lashes and perpetualimprisonment. In the medieval era, blasphem-ers, according to their status, were given vari-ous punishments such as heavy fines, publicdegradation, flogging, tongue piercing, bodilypunishments, imprisonment and sentencingto galleys under the Canon Law.

In comparison to Judaic law, Christianityplaces relatively little emphasis on capital pun-ishment. Jesus said that his mission, however,was not to abolish, but to fulfill the law.10

Therefore, it is incorrect to conclude thatChristianity abolished the death penalty alto-gether.

In Islam, the Qur’an offers no excuse tokill a human being on religious grounds. Simi-larly, spirists and magicians are not to be killed.When faced with blasphemy, alleged or oth-erwise, the Qur’an commands its followers to“refrain from reviling whom they call uponbesides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Al-lah in their ignorance.”11 Another verse adds,“We will [i.e. God], surely, suffice thee againstthose who mock.” 12 The Holy Qur’an alsospeaks about a magician at the time of ProphetMosesas who produced a calf for worshipping.Even in that case, the Holy Qur’an informsthat Prophet Mosesas punished Samiri with rig-orous social boycott instead of execution.13

Apostasy from Islam, too, is matter left toGod. The Qur’an teaches universal freedomof religion,14 and hence does not prescribe anypunishment for those who leave Islam. TheQur’an directly addresses those who revertfrom Islam for fear of death, 15 and yet doesnot prescribe any penalty for them. Anotherverse mentions those who turn away afterguidance has been manifested upon them,16

and again prescribes no worldly punishment.The Holy Qur’an also addresses those en-

Death Penalty in Qur’an and Bible

Fall 2011 47

gaged in the habitual trend of apostasy,“Those who believe, then disbelieve, thenagain believe, then disbelieve and thereaftergo on increasing in disbelief, Allah will neverforgive them, nor guide them to any way ofdeliverance.”17 Yet again, no punishment isprescribed. None of these or various otherverses prescribe any punishment, let alonedeath punishment for apostasy. On the con-trary, Muslims are forbidden from punishingany person for blasphemy or apostasy.18

Islam’s death penalty advocates disin-genuously quote, “The punishment of thosewho wage war against Allah and His Messen-ger, and strive with might for mischief throughthe land is: execution, or crucifixion, or thecutting off of hands and feet from oppositesides, or exile from the land: that is their dis-grace in this world, and a heavy punishmentis theirs in the Hereafter.”19. Such individualsconveniently ignore, however, the fact thatthis verse is actually prescribing the punish-ment for those inciting rebellions and treasonagainst a sovereign government. Even in mod-ern day US law, the punishment for treason isnone other than death.

Sexual CrimesIn Judaic law, all sexual crimes, including

rape, incest, bestiality, and adultery, warrantthe death penalty—generally via burning orstoning. The Old Testament says, “If a mancommits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adul-terer and the adulteress must be put todeath.”20 Likewise, “‘If a man sleeps with hisfather’s wife, he has dishonored his father.Both the man and the woman must be put todeath; their blood will be on their own heads.”The Old Testament also prescribes death as apunishment for homosexuals.21

Both Christianity and Islam consider extra-marital sexual practices to be immoral andsinful, however they do not deserve death. Itis said in the New Testament that, “Neitherthe sexually immoral nor idolaters noradulterers nor men who have sex with mennor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards norslanderers nor swindlers will inherit thekingdom of God.”22 At no point, however, doesthe New Testament explicitly refer death forthe aforementioned crimes.23

Islam criminalizes24 all sexual crimes. Un-like the Bible, however, Islam does not pre-scribe the death penalty for the offenders.Muslim countries that employ the death pen-alty for adultery do not find their justificationin Islamic history, nor in the Holy Qur’an. Such

In Islam, the Qur’an offers no excuseto kill a human being on religiousgrounds. Similarly, spirists andmagicians are not to be killed. Whenfaced with blasphemy, alleged orotherwise, the Qur’an commands itsfollowers to “refrain from revilingwhom they call upon besides Allah,lest they out of spite revile Allah intheir ignorance.”

48 MuslimSunrise

Muslims are either fulfilling their draconiantribal customs or, ironically, are still followingthe Old Testament.

Capital Punishments in BibleVarious verses of the Old Testament pre-

scribe capital punishment for the crime ofmurder. The Old Testament says, “He thatsmiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surelyput to death.”25 In addition to this, Judaic lawdefines numerous other practices as capitalcrimes. For instance, smiting a parent,26, curs-ing a parent,27 kidnapping,28contempt ofcourt29 and false witness30 each are deserv-ing of capital punishment in the Old Testa-ment.

Though the New Testament is more in-clined towards forgiveness, there exists aschool of thought that recognizes capital pun-ishment as a part of Christianity. StAugustine’s view on the death penalty isworth noting here. He says

The same divine law which forbids the kill-ing of a human being allows certain excep-tions, as when God authorizes killing by ageneral law or when He gives an explicit com-mission to an individual for a limited time. Sincethe agent of authority is but a sword in thehand, and is not responsible for the killing, itis in no way contrary to the commandment,‘Thou shalt not kill’ to wage war at God’s bid-ding, or for the representatives of the State’sauthority to put criminals to death, accordingto law or the rule of rational justice.”31

Moreover, the New Testament says, “who-ever sheds the blood of man, by man shall hisblood be shed.”32

Some Christians apply the commandmentof “thou shalt not kill” as one without excep-tion, and thus wholly reject any justificationfor capital punishment. As discussed earlier,however, the New Testament serves as an ex-tension to the Old Testament.33 Christianity’shistory is replete with examples when capitalpunishment was enacted based on Biblicaljustification. For instance, Thomas Aikenheadof Britain was executed for the crime of Blas-phemy in 1697 and Giordono Bruno, a phi-losopher and scientist was executed in 1600for heresy. Therefore, it is somewhat ambigu-ous whether “thou shalt not kill” actually for-bids capital punishment.

Capital Punishment in IslamIslam, the last of the Abrahamic religions,

considers only two crimes worthy of CapitalPunishment—intentional murder and treason.The Holy Qur’an strictly forbids killing and

equates the murder of one person with themurder of all mankind.34 The Qur’an furthersays,” Take not life, which God has made sa-cred, except by way of justice and law. Thusdoes He command you, so that you may learnwisdom.”35 Scholars hold varying opinionsabout the meaning of “creating disorder inthe land.” Some include, rape, adultery, pi-racy etc. Two crimes the Qur’an clearly terms,however, as deserving of capital punishmentare intentional murder and treason. The storyof a Jewish chief, Ka’b Bin Ashraf, is worthnoting here.

Ashraf, the chief of Banu Nadir, became aconstant source of danger to the handful ofMuslims living in Medina and the life ofProphet Muhammadsa—despite having pre-viously willingly agreed to the Charter ofMedina. Together, with the Meccans and thepagans around Medina, Ashraf incited a waragainst the Muslims to drive the Muslims outof Medina. Ashraf’s animosity and defianceagainst Prophet Muhammadsa culminated inAshraf’s plan to kill the Prophetsa. On accountof Ashraf’s treason, Prophet Muhammadsa, inhis capacity as ruler of Medina, orderedAshraf and his followers to leave Medina.When Ashraf refused to leave, and insteadincreased in his incitement to war and vio-lence, Prophet Muhammadsa ordered Ashraf’sexecution. This decision — employed as alast resort — was successful in preventingfuture uprisings and needless wars, ultimatelypreventing future deaths of innocent Jewsand Muslims.

In the case of unintentional murder, thefamily of the deceased reserves the right toaccept blood money from the murderer inplace of the death penalty.36 As the HolyQur’an says, “but whoso forgives and his actbrings about reformation, his reward is withAllah. Surely, He loves not the wrongdoers.”37

The decision, however, is entirely in the handsof the family of the deceased. The State hasno say. This Qur’anic injunction sets a highstandard of justice and compassion in soci-ety. It improves broken relationships and fos-ters reconciliation. Critics often repudiate thisconcept, ignoring it’s important contributionto the development of civil law.

It may be clear now that Islam is the onlyreligion that follows the middle path whenapplying capital punishment. Neither is Islamoverly aggressive like Judaism, nor oddly for-bearing like Christianity. This middle patheventually transformed the entire Arab soci-ety of early Islam into a tolerant, compassion-ate and just society. While Islamic laws arebased on extreme justice, the entire society is

built on the values of forgiveness and com-passion. Prophet Muhammad’s life is a livingexample of compassion in the face of retalia-tion. On the day Prophet Muhammadsa re-turned as the de facto ruler of Mecca, he for-gave thousands of his vehement opponentson the single condition that they accept uni-versal freedom of religion. This, despite thefact that countless were guilty of murder, andall were guilty of persecution and treason—demonstrating that even Islam’s two permis-sions to apply the death penalty are by nomeans restrictive and ridged.

We hope and pray that Rev. Nadarkhaniand Asia Bibi benefit from this true Islamicteaching, as this is the example of IslamProphet Muhammadsa put forth.

Endnotes1 Salman Taseer, former Punjab Governor, and Shabazz Bhatti,former Minorities Minister, were both assassinated because of theiroutspoken desire to repeal Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.2 The Torah declares, “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than theLORD must be destroyed.” Exodus 22:203 Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices anyof his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of thecommunity are to stone him.” (Leviticus 20:1-5)4 Deuteronomy 13:1-105 A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must beput to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their ownheads.(Leviticus 20:27)6 Leviticus 24:167 Matthew 12:31-328 Matthew 15:49 Mark 3:2910 Matthew 5:17-2011 The Holy Qur’an 6:10812 The Holy Qur’an 15:9613 The Holy Qur’an 20:88-9814 The Holy Qur’an 2:25715 The Holy Qur’an 2:21816 The Holy Qur’an 47:2617 The Holy Qur’an 4:13818 And if Allah had enforced His will, they would not have set upgods with Him. And We have not made thee a keeper over them norart thou over them a guardian. The Holy Qur’an (6:108)19 The Holy Qur’an 5:3420 Leviticus 20:1021 Leviticus 20:1322 1 Corinthians 6:9–1023 Exception being that Jesus came to fulfill the law of the OldTestament. (Matthew 5:17)24 The Holy Qur’an 24:325 Exodus 21:12-1426 Exodus 21:1527 Exodus 21:1728 Exodus 21:1729 Deuteronomy 17:8-1330 Deuteronomy 19:15-2131 Augustine, The City of God32 Genesis 9:633 Matthew 5:1734 The Holy Qur’an 5:3335 Holy Qur’an 6:15236 The Holy Quran 2:17937 The Holy Qur’an 41:42

Ayesha Noor Rashid holds a Master’s Degreein Intrnational Economics and writes onissues ranging from Islam to South Asianculture. She resides in Virginia.

Fall 2011 49

APoetry Corner A poem written in Urdu by the Promised Messiah

Every word in it is livingAnd everlasting spring;No orchard has such a quality,Nor is there a garden like it.

The Word of the Gracious GodHas no equal;Be it a pearl from Umman,OR a ruby from Badakhshan.

How can the word of manEqual the word of God?There is divine power; here ishelplessness;The difference is so obvious!

In knowledge and eloquence,How can man equal Him?Before Whom even the angelsConfess ignorance.

Even the tiny leg of an insect,Man can never create;How is possible for himTo create the Light of God?

O people, have some regardFor the grandeur of the Great Lord;Hold your tongues nowIf you have even a hint of faith.

To consider someone equal to GodIs an act of great infidelity?Have some fear of God, dears!What a lie and calumny this is!

If you accept the unity of God,Why are your hearts full ofpolytheism?

What veils of ignoranceHave enveloped your hearts?You are indeed guilty of an error;Desist! If you have fear of God.

I bear no ill will to you, brothers,This is only a humble advice;My heart and life are an offeringFor anyone who has a pure heart.

(Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in Vol.1, pp.198-204)

It is the Holy Word of the Gracious Lord

50 MuslimSunrise

In the Spirit ofSt. Francis &

the SultanBy Atif Munawar Mir

Since 9/11, the discussion as to whatinspires terrorism has become lessmeaningful and more sensational. Afterevery act of terrorism, some blame the

religion of the perpetrator. Others rush to blameIslam. In this blame game, efforts to rebuild theChristian-Muslim relationship, damaged by actsof terrorism, are rare. Arguably, the level of trustbetween Muslims and Christians today has notbeen so low since the Crusades.

It is painful to see leaders of nations victim-ized by terrorism, rush to take positions and uttersound bites that suit their immediate personalobjectives, rather than striving to create condi-tions within their borders that foster security andpeace.

In such a socio-political backdrop, the book,In the Spirit of St. Francis & the Sultan is abreath of fresh air. The authors have written thisbook to build bridges between Muslims and Chris-tians who see each other as fanatical and vio-lent1. Dardess and Mich, the authors of the book,use the meeting between St. Francis of Assisiand Sultan Malik al-Kamil during the fifth cru-sade as the basis for their ideal of Muslim-Chris-tian relations. According to historical records,St. Francis covertly entered the tent of the Sul-tan, in an attempt to reconcile their warring peoplesby converting the Sultan to Christianity. Francisdid not succeed in this endeavor, but their meet-ing enabled both to respect each other and even-tually befriend each other, as both were struck bythe many similarities between their separate faiths.

Unfortunately, this new found friendship didnot alter the course of history. The Crusades didnot come to an end, nor was the suffering thatcame with it put to an end. But as per the au-thors, the very fact of their peaceful meeting andthe ensuing friendship offers a refreshing possi-bility for current and future Christian-Muslim re-

lations. The authors imagine the conver-sation between St. Francis and the Sultanduring this encounter and attempt to iden-tify those elements that made their rela-tionship a cordial one despite the preva-

lent enmity of the time. Based on this, theypresent four steps that the Muslims andChristians of today, from all levels of society,must undertake to build mutual trust and cre-ate peace.

A guide for Catholics and Muslims on how to reach greaterunderstanding of the other's tradition in order to work together to endsocial injustice. This book takes on a specific challenge: "We all, Mus-lims and non-Muslims alike, have a choice. Either we allow our fears tobear us along towards what could eventually become a war of apoca-lyptic dimensions. Or we can rouse ourselves from our fearful obses-sions and search for ways not only to reverse this negative trend butalso, and most importantly, to focus the world's energies on achievingpeace and human flourishing" (from the Preface).

Book Review

Fall 2011 51

The steps outlined are: 1) Building Confi-dence 2) Focusing on each faith’s messageof social justice and peace, 3) Confrontinghistorical differences and conflicts and 4)Working collaboratively on social justiceprojects.2These steps are intended to buildmutual trust, discover commonalities, andstrengthen collaboration in the causes of so-cial justice for the sake of interreligious peaceand social justice.

Building ConfidenceLike Francis and the Sultan did, the au-

thors argue that contemporary Muslims andChristians too should focus on their common-alities. Francis, the author imagines must havebeen impressed by the Sultan’s greetings, As-salaam aleikum. 3 Perhaps, Francis’ dress ofa monk might have appealed to the Sultan asthe Qur’an holds monks in high esteem. 4

Such symbolic exchanges enabled the twomen to take the first step, that of buildingmutual trust, so that eventually the task ofbringing peace to their war-torn world couldgo forward.”5 Muslims and Christians todayseem to have forgotten what Francis and theSultan had learned about each other’s reli-gions few centuries ago. The media and preju-dice on both sides ignores commonalitiesbetween Christian and Muslim civilizationsand instead focus on news that feeds mutualsuspicions. The authors argue that it is theresponsibility of Muslims and Christians onelite as well as grass root levels to identifycommonalities between their faiths and buildmutual trust.

Focusing on each faith’smessage of

social justice and peaceMutual trust creates the conditions nec-

essary for establishing peace but does notgenerate peace in and of itself. What deep-ened the foundations of mutual trust betweenthe Sultan and St. Francis, the authors reckon,was their understanding that the true spirit oftheir respective faiths is peace and social jus-tice.6 St. Francis found his bearings in Jesus’explicit commands to “love your enemy” andcare for the poor. And it was with this under-standing of himself and of his religion that heapproached the Sultan’s tent.7 The Sultanwas also thoroughly conversant with and at-tentive to his religion’s teachings and val-ues, and knew that peacemaking is at the heartof the Qur’an’s revelations. From the beliefin God’s oneness flows an ethical disposi-

tion towards solidarity with God’s creation. 8Contemporary Muslims and Christians,

the book argues, must not only emphasizecommonalities between themselves butshould reflect on the social justice and peace-ful teachings of their respective faiths.

Confronting historicaldifferences and conflicts

Muslims and Christians of today mustalso embrace opportunities for cross-culturalknowledge sharing. The inspiration for knowl-edge sharing, as per the book, can be foundin the Abbasid’s Caliphate in Baghdad from8th through 10th centuries where Christian pas-tors and theologians became major players inthe preservation of Greek learning.9 Anothersuch example of openness is to be found inCordoba, Spain, the seat of the Umayyad Ca-liphate of Al-Andalus from 756 to 1031, whereChristians and Jews served in key positionsin the Caliphate and all of them spoke Ara-bic.”10 The lessons of Baghdad and Cordobashow that religious differences “worked as astimulant, not as a stumbling block.” 11

The past negative encounters should nothinder this cross-cultural cooperation. Theauthors argue that we have not only to toler-ate but even to embrace the brokenness andmoral ambiguity inherent in human affairs. Forexample, we can easily point to the church’ssins in formenting the Crusades, and to itsspecific sin in suppressing the efforts ofFrancis to embody a very different responseto the Muslim enemy, we have to acknowl-edge that this same Francis loved the church,sinful as it was, and spent his life in service toit. His love was not a blind devotion to anideological idol, however, but a response bornof gratitude to that same church for preserv-ing the memory of Christ’s mandate to lovethe enemy and for sacramentally enabling itsmembers to embody that memory in their ownlives and conducts. 12

Working collaborativelyon social justice projects

Finally, the authors propose to take theMuslim-Christian relationship to a higherplane by emphasizing the necessity and im-portance of turning their separate social jus-tice teachings into joint concrete actions. 13 Suchcollaborative efforts, the authors argue, willpromote interfaith cooperation and removeany misunderstandings between the reli-gions. Being engaged in the struggle for jus-tice is a way of discovering the truth of the

way social systems really work. The strugglefor justice shapes our theoretical frameworksand our understanding of truth.14 For example,we understand the meaning of our respectivescriptures in new ways

Muslims and/or Christians may disagreewith some of the suggestions offered by theauthors to strengthen Muslim-Christian rela-tions but even critics will recognize the inten-tion and efforts of the authors as not justlaudable but also largely practical.

On occasions, the book seems to be stat-ing the obvious but stating the obvious ispertinent in times when the obvious is buriedbeneath piles of prejudice and propaganda.

Muslims and Christians should read thisbook as it offers effective ideas for improvingMuslim-Christian relations. It provides in-sight into the numerous commonalities be-tween the two separate religions and thusgives the Muslim/Christian reader an oppor-tunity to begin to understand and respect theother. It strives to build mutual trust betweenthe two parties and to initiate a friendshipbetween the two faiths, just like Francis andthe Sultan did, who despite their many differ-ences “had found in each other the confidenceand the inspiration that led them...not only tolessen the tensions between them but also tobuild new communities of trust.”15

As a member of the Ahmadiyya commu-nity, I enjoyed the book because it echoedthe 100-year old message of peace as ex-pounded by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas.He, as a subordinate prophet to the HolyProphetsa , inspired Muslims to return to thevalues of peace and compassion. These val-ues represent the true spirit of the teachingsof the Holy Prophetsa.

Endnotes1 Mich, Marvin L. Krier & Dardess, George, Introduction, In theSpirit of ST. Francis & the Sultan, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York,10545, p. 22 Ibid, p. 15-163 Ibid, Finding Common Symbols, p. 24-254 Ibid, p. 255 Ibid, p. 26-276 Ibid, The Fundamentals of Islamic Social Justice, p. 947 Ibid, The Fundamentals of Christian Social Justice, p. 718 Ibid, The Fundamentals of Islamic Social Justice, p. 94-959 Ibid. The blessings of our Religious and Cultural Sharing, p. 12810 Ibid. 12911 Ibid. p 13112 Ibid, Confronting our Demons, Sin as Exclusion13 Ibid, Common Ground, Common Action, p. 16214 Ibid, p. 16815 Ibid, Leaving the Tent, p. 182

The writer holds a BA in Political Scienceand Economics and a Master’s Degree inTaxation. He works for a major CPA firm asan International Tax Advisor.

52 MuslimSunrise

Fall 2011 53

What Hajj(Pilgrimage)is and uponwhom it isincumbent

Hajj is one of the important pillars ofIslam. It is incumbent upon all thosewho are physically and financially

able to undertake the journey for it.Hajj fosters the feeling of unity among

Muslims, who are provided with an opportu-nity to think and ponder over their own needsand those of the rest of the world. It also pro-vides an opportunity to see one another’sgood points and excellences and an inspira-tion to imbibe them. It promotes mutual loveand the feeling of brotherhood.

In my opinion, the greatest virtuous deedfor the rich today, is to perform Pilgrimage,because in spite of having wealth they do notperform it. Most of those who perform Pilgrim-age are poor people upon whom it is not in-cumbent. When I had been to Mecca on Pil-grimage, a pilgrim came to me, and ask somemonetary help. My maternal grandfather whowas with me asked him why he had come toperform pilgrimage when he had no money.He said that he had much money, but all thathe had, had been exhausted. My grandfatherthen asked him how much money he had. Hesaid he had 35 rupees. Now, to him thirty fiverupees was a big sum. But among Muslimsthere are many who have thirty five thousandrupees, nay, thirty five hundred thousand ru-pees, still they do not perform pilgrimage.There are many poor people who perform pil-grimage. They go on saving little by littlethroughout their lives, and when it amountsto some hundreds, they start for pilgrimage.

So, for the rich, to perform pilgrimage is agreat virtue, since most of them neglect it.There are many officials, who think of goingto pilgrimage after retirement, but they do nottake into consideration the possibility of theirnot having the necessary health and vigor after

From the Archives: Muslim Sunrise, 1971-IIIretirement to go on Pilgrimage. Most of theofficials, after retirement, become too ill toperform Pilgrimage.

Again, there are some businessmen who,due to business, defer Pilgrimage to every fol-lowing year. They should know that the busi-ness of this world never comes to an end. So,whenever they have the capacity, they shouldperform it as early as possible.

Without a pious and righteous motive, Pil-grimage, too, is no meritorious deed. While atMecca, on Pilgrimage, I saw a young man re-citing a very indecent love poem, instead ofglorifying God. On our way back home, hehappened to be on the same ship in which Iwas journeying, I asked him why he had goneon Pilgrimage, as he was not glorifying Godwhen performing rites of pilgrimage. He said,“In my country most people buy things fromthe shop of pilgrims. In front of my shop thereis a shop, the owner of which has recentlyperformed Pilgrimage, and has a sign boardfixed at his shop, telling that this is a Pilgrim’sshop. The result is that he has attracted allcustomers, and all those who used to buy

things from my shop, now go to his shop. Somy father advised me to perform pilgrimage,and then to have similar signboard affixed tomy shop. This is why I went on a Pilgrimage.”Now, can such a pilgrimage be a virtuousdeed? Not to speak of being a virtuous deed,it will be an act of sin.

So, even when doing a religious work, oneshould have a pious motive, otherwise it willbring no reward, rather, incur the displeasureof God. If one performs Pilgrimage to be hon-ored by people, or as a customary practice, orto be called by people “Al-Haajj”, one willeven lose the faith one already had.

In short, Hajj or Pilgrimage can be benefi-cial to one, only when one performs it out oflove and fear of God. If one goes there with asincere heart, one will return with a treasure offaith. On the contrary, if one goes there with-out a sincere heart, one will lose the faith onealready had.

(Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih II, SecondSuccessor of the Promised Messiah)

Eid Celebration is onNovember 6, 2011 at the end of the Hajj

54 MuslimSunrise

News, Views and ReviewsRick Badie: LocalMuslims offerlove and life

By Rick Badie

The way Hazeem Pudhiapura sees it, Is-lamic terrorists did more than hijack planesand kill thousands on Sept. 11, 2001. Theystole something else, too.

“They also hijacked Islam from mainstreamMuslims,” said Pudhiapura, president of theGeorgia chapter of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity, the nation’s oldest Muslim orga-nization. “We want to take that back fromthese terrorists and return it to those who arepromoting sanctity, peace and loyalty.”

This Muslim community has a motto:“Love for all, hatred for none.” In that vein,Pudhiapura encourages moderate Muslimsand those of other faiths to donate blood tohonor the 10th anniversary of the terrorist at-tacks on U.S. soil.

You’d be partaking in a national campaignthat moderate Muslims, in conjunction withthe American Red Cross, bills “Muslims forLife.” Several blood drives are being heldacross metro Atlanta to promote the effort.

The inaugural drive takes place from 8 a.m.to 3 p.m. today during the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Decatur Book Festival. (Visitwww.muslimsforlife.org. for details on othervenues.)

If you can’t donate on specific dates, ar-range to donate at any of metro Atlanta’sAmerican Red Cross blood banks. Explain thatyou’re a donor for the Muslims for Life cam-paign.

This month, blood drives will be hosted atAhmadiyya mosques and prayer centersacross the United States. Organizers hope tocollect 10,000 units of blood which,Pudhiapura said, could potentially save 30,000lives.

Last year, the Ahmadiyya community con-ducted a “Muslims for Peace” campaign inthe United States and the United Kingdom.Its purpose: To show that Muslims stand forpeace. Believers distributed fliers door to doorand approached people in public spaces tospread their message. That’s pretty gutsy,given some of the blatant anti-Muslim rheto-

ric that surfaces when mosques are opposedin some communities.

“People have accepted us, most of thetime,” Pudhiapura said. “Most supported us,but there are people — because of lack ofknowledge and the knowledge they get fromextremists — who don’t. We are trying to dosmall stuff, good stuff, to promote peace, butthey don’t hear about that.”

Chapter 5 of the Quran includes a versethat’s antithetical to views expressed by Mus-lim extremists. It states: “Whoever unjustlykills a single person it is as if he had killed allof mankind; and whoever saves the life of oneperson, it is as if he has saved the life of all ofhumanity.”

Said Pudhiapura: “The message is verysimple. We want to take Islam back from theseterrorists and return it to those who are pro-moting sanctity, peace and loyalty. We haveto fight the ideology of extremism within Is-lam, and we are doing it.”

Pudhiapura admitted that it has been a fewyears since he’s given blood. This go ’round,he hopes you join him.

“We need fellow Georgians, not just mod-erate Muslims, to join us,” he said. “Go to anyRed Cross Center and use the Muslims forLife campaign. It will help us defeat the ex-tremists.”

Rick Badie, an Opinion columnist, isbased in Gwinnett.

Muslim GroupHolds Blood Driveto Honor 9-11Victims

By Paul RichterA local San Diego chapter of the

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has an-nounced a blood drive around the 10th anni-versary of the tragic September 11, 2001 ter-rorist attacks. The blood drive, part of a na-tionwide campaign launched under the title,Muslims for Life, will run during the month ofSeptember and will feature blood drives at all

United States mosques and prayer centers, inremembrance of those who lost their lives on9/11. Their goal is to collect 10,000 units ofblood, enough to save up to 30,000 lives, ac-cording to the official press release.

The national group Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity was established in 1921 as the firstAmerican-Muslim organization, proclaiming amoto of “Love for All, Hatred for None.” Thenotion that some non-Muslims have about theIslamic culture being predicated on violentreligious extremism is something that AhmadiMuslims have been working to correct. Reli-gious leaders are spearheading projects likeMuslims for Life with community organizersaround America to make the distinction ofbeing a peaceful, benevolent religious group,no different than Christians, Catholics orMormons. Unfortunately, this message hasn’tbeen received by everyone, as hate crimesagainst Muslims have skyrocketed followingthe terrorist attacks almost a decade ago.

“We think that on Sept. 11 not only didthe terrorists hijack the airplanes but they alsohijacked the essential message of Islam, whichis to value life,” said Waseem Sayed, a spokes-man for the community. In a previously re-leased report titled “Unequal Protection: TheStatus of Muslim Civil Rights in the UnitedStates,” performed by the Council on Ameri-can Islamic Relations, almost 80 percent ofanti-Muslim crime was committed in just 10states; 20% in California, followed by 10% inNew York, 9% in Arizona, 7% in Virginia,Florida and Texas, and 5% in Maryland, Ohio,Illinois, and New Jersey.

“Whoever supported 9/11 is not a true Is-lam,” Idrees Munir, a member of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community, told MercuryNews. “There’s no religion in this world whereyou’re allowed to kill anyone, let alone Islam.No religion can afford to even put a finger onsomeone.”

Dr. Tahir Ijaz, a medical doctor who is boardcertified in radiology and part of the ScrippsHealth group, is a member of the local SanDiego Ahmadiyya Muslim Community chap-ter and will be organizing the local drive. Na-tional partners of the Muslims for Life cam-paign include American Red Cross, PugetSound Blood Center, Carter BloodCare,America’s Blood Centers, American IslamicCongress, Bowl for Life, and Blood Centers ofthe Pacific.

Fall 2011 55

AhmadiyyaCommunity at theWhite House IftarLeader of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity USA speaks with Presi-dent Obama about 9/11 commemora-tion.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim CommunityUSA’s National Vice President, Mr. NaseemMahdi, attended the annual White HouseIftar Dinner last night, along with otherAmerican Muslim leaders.

President Obama highlighted the manycontributions and services of American Muslims.He also paid tribute to the brave men and women,including several American Muslims, whoperished on 9/11: "We must be the America theylived for, and the America they died for."

To commemorate the ten year anniversaryof 9/11, the Ahmadiyya Muslim CommunityUSA has launched a nationwide "Muslims forLife" campaign across its 71 chapters to collect10,000 bags of blood and save 30,000 lives.

"Our Community was honored to beinvited to this year’s Iftar dinner at the WhiteHouse,” said Mr. Mahdi. “We support thePresident’s call to honor the memories of ourfellow Americans who perished on 9/11, andI had the distinct privilege to speak with him

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA’s National Vice President, Mr. NaseemMahdi, attended the annual White House Iftar Dinner last night, along with other AmericanMuslim leaders."Our Community was honored to be invited to this year’s Iftar dinner at theWhite House,” said Mr. Mahdi. “We support the President’s call to honor the memories ofour fellow Americans who perished on 9/11, and I had the distinct privilege to speak withhim about our recently launched 'Muslims for Life' campaign.”

about our recently launched 'Muslims forLife' campaign.”

Founders of the “Muslims for Peace” and“Muslims for Loyalty” campaigns, the

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA invitesAmericans of all backgrounds to join the"Muslims for Life" campaign by giving bloodand saving lives.

Young Muslimchildren seekprivilege ofparticipating inRamadan

By Matthew MalysaThe Hackensack Record | Posted:

Sunday, August 14, 2011 8:00 pm

HACKENSACK, N.J. — Fatin Habehhcalls her children to the living room of theirTeaneck, N.J., home as the sun begins toset. Hurry, her youngest child, Ibraheem, 8,urges his brothers and sisters. "It's already8:09."

At exactly 8:11 p.m., sunset, they eachbite into a date, the traditional food forbreaking the Ramadan fast, and each familymember is visibly delighted to have com-pleted the day's fasting and to enjoy this

sweet, satisfying reward.Families repeat this ritual throughout

Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamiccalendar, which began on Aug. 1. ForMuslims of all sects and backgrounds, it's amonth of appreciation for what they haveand a reminder to reach out to those in need.

"I love it because of how it brings us alltogether," said 13-year-old Fatima Habehh,one of Habehh's six children, who range inage from 8 to 14. "Every night we go for aspecial prayer - it's nice to see all yourfriends and family," said Fatima, who saidshe started fasting little by little at the age of5.

Children are exempt from the fast untilthey reach puberty, but many youngerchildren are eager to imitate their parentsand older siblings by taking part in thetradition. Fatin Habehh, who said she beganthe fast at age 7, likes that her children wantto be part of the tradition, but she's carefulto be sure they stay hydrated and get all oftheir daily nutrients, a task made easier

because they're home for the summer whereshe can monitor them during the daily fast.

"I remember I started when I was 6 yearsold - it made me feel like one of the olderguys," said Mohammed Habehh, 14, heroldest child, who leads the family in prayereach evening.

The fast may seem daunting to anoutsider, but for many Muslims it's aprivilege, not a burden. But while fasting is amajor part of Ramadan, Habehh saidRamadan also is a time of moral healing andrebuilding one's spiritual strength.

"Ramadan is all about training your self-discipline in order to be a better person,"said Habehh, who has made it her Ramadanmission this year to focus on educatingfamilies about the importance of foster carein the Muslim community.

Ramadan is a time of good deeds and forChaudhry, that incentive makes organizingpeople to do charitable works a simpler task.He said the community benefits most duringRamadan.

56 MuslimSunrise

There is a divide between the lay person’s perception of Islam and its true teachings. Many

may harbour concerns about Islam, perhaps through ignorance or through the portrayal of events in

the media. It may surprise some but the portrayal of Islam in the media is of greatest concern to

Muslims than anyone else, particularly when it leads to the association of deeds and values that we

know are at complete odds with the Islamic faith.

Such concerns are not new and it was in responding to questions about Islam that the third

successor the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community underlined that according to Islam

human beings are all equal before God. He added that:

“Islam teaches us to live with mutual love and affection

and with humility. It teaches us no distinction between a

Muslim or a non-Muslim. My message to everyone is that you

must have ‘Love for all, Hatred for none!’

This has since become the unique motto of the

Ahmadiyya Muslim community in its work to promote the

true and peaceful teachings of Islam.

It reflects the community;’s long held views on the

rejection of violence and terrorism, the separation of mosque

and state and the promotion of Human Rights including

complete freedom of religion for all.

Ahmadi Muslims strive to live up to the simple but

profound message of Islam that can be summed up in ‘ Love

for all, Hatred for None‘.

The values of Loyalty, Freedom, Equality, Respectand Peace are key to the foundation that underpins this

motto and reflect the true Islam that so often gets lost in the mist of world events.

About ‘Love for All, Hatred for None’

Hazrat Hafiz Mirza Nasir Ahmad -Khalifatul Masih III. (1909 - 1982)

Fall 2011 57

I walked in the backyard across to theend of the yard to put some more foodin the birdfeeder. As I got closer, birdsflew out of the trees and the grass in awonderful formation. I knew that they

would all come back as soon as I walked backinto my home. The food is always a good thingto gather around.

Now I’m not much of a bird watcher, and Ican’t tell you the difference between a yellowbelly sapsucker and a red-naped sapsucker.But, bird brains have fascinated me for threereasons: They fly in formations that enableindividual space, don’t hoard any food andmigrate when the food shortage and climatedemands it.

Human beings like to hoard things. With-out getting too sophisticated, I look in mycloset and find that I have so many shirts andsweaters. If I did not buy a single more shirt orsweater, I could manage the rest of my lifewith what I have in the closet. So why do wekeep on buying the shirts? Because we like tohoard things. I have not mentioned what is inthe garage or what people hoard in publicstorage places which sometimes get auctionedoff because they just leave it there. The ulti-mate holders in the history of mankind, were,of course, the Pharoahs of Egypt. Theyhoarded their wealth even when they weredead. It took us over four thousand years tofigure out what they were up to.

We like to amass and hoard wealth aswell. The system of interest and gamblingwith the stock markets, especially in stockoptions and borrowing money on specula-tive ventures, are components of the pro-cess of trying to hoard wealth. Never mindthat the wealth accumulated will have noutility for the person amassing it but will bepassed down to someone else or the Statein case he did not bother to write a will.What happens to that wealth and how itgets used is not in the control of thehoarder because he would be dead by then.He certainly is not going to let anyone touchit while he is alive. It is against the hoarder’scode of life. It applies not just to individu-als but to nations as well.

The thinking process of people gets af-fected by this phenomenon. Once you starton this track, the lust for hoarding growseven faster and a lifetime is consumed in it.Many people get hurt in the process, butthat is of no consequence to the hoarder.His eyes are focused on one thing only. Thebirds don’t hoard any food. Somehow, theyknow that their food will be provided. The

We like to amass andhoard wealth as well. The

system of interest andgambling with the stockmarkets, especially in

stock options andborrowing money on

speculative ventures, arecomponents of the processof trying to hoard wealth.

58 MuslimSunrise

only time they die of starvation is when wespill oil on the beach and they cannot flyanymore. They also don’t fight over foodbut share. I have seen them stepping upto the birdfeeder one at a time and get theirshare.

I started thinking about the birds be-cause the Holy Qur’an has mentioned(6:39) that they are also communities likeus. So I figured it only needed a mentionso we can possibly learn from them. It alsosays that God provides food for them. Thatis probably why they don’t hoard anyfood. There is also another thing that ismentioned in the Holy Qur’an for peoplewho have hard times in their land. It says(4:98) why don’t they move around on thisearth and see the bountiful land God hascreated. Birds definitely do it every winterwhen it gets too cold and the food isscarce.

People used to migrate when it washarsh weather and the food was scarce. Itall changed when the colonial powers de-cided to take over the world. Before thattime, anyone who wanted to move fromone kingdom to another was welcome todo so. As long as they did not get involvedin theft, murder or any other criminal ac-tivity, nobody bothered them. Since thecolonial powers took over, we had pass-ports, visas and customs agents to bribe.

Every year people from the mountainswould start their journey in the fall to thelower lands looking for work and making aliving while their land was getting readyto be under the snow. In the spring time,they would start their journey back tohomeland where they were fine for the sum-mer time. They provided services to thepeople and made a living and they wereexpected in the mainland areas every year.Communities, just like them, the birdsspend their time in the warmer lands forthe winter.

Even when the birds are in our area,they really don’t need my food. It is notsomething that they depend on. When Iforget to restock that birdfeeder, it doesnot matter because they still get fed. Theyknow that I am not their provider. It is Godwho provides them their food. I am onlyan occasional carrier in a very minusculeway. We, on the other hand, have a hardtime believing that there is a Provider forus.

The Holy Qur’an has stated it this way:

“And how many an animal there is thatcarries not its own sustenance! Allah pro-vides for it and for you. And He is the All-Hearing, the All-knowing.” (29:61)

My grandfather once told me that thehuman beings want to become Gods. Heused the word Rub meaning the Sustainer.I said to him that I did not know anyonewho claims to be God and I know somereal weird birds. He said that people wantto accumulate and leave behind so muchwealth so their children would not need

their Sustainer God. They don’t under-stand that God who provided for themwould provide their children too. It madesense because the prophets of God do notleave anything behind as far as the worldlywealth is concerned.

The hoarders, of course, have a differ-ent mindset. The wealthiest person that Iworked for in my financial management ca-reer believed only in cash. He did not buyany buildings, stocks or precious metals.He kept everything in cash and a wholelot of it. One day he asked me to see himbecause he needed my advice about some-thing. His daughter was married to a Rabbiand had four children.

They could not afford to have a bighouse on a Rabbi’s salary. He wanted todiscuss if he should give his daughter adown payment for a bigger house sincethe house they have is not enough for thefour children. I suggested that he shouldgive the money so they can be comfort-able and especially since the money isgoing to be shared by her after he wasgone. It is only advancing money fromsomething that she is going to end up withanyway. I did not say it to him but I knewthat the down payment involved would notmake a dent in his monthly interest income.

A few weeks went by and I just stoppedby his office and asked if his daughter gota new house. I was shocked when he saidthat he decided not to give her the money.I had to ask why. He said that another oneof his advisors, an attorney whom I knowto be a hoarder as well, said something thatchanged his mind. I said pray tell me whatthat profound statement was. He said,“Why do you want to take the pleasureaway from them for not allowing them tomake it on their own.”

It appealed to him so much that he de-cided to let his daughter chase around thefour kids in a small house while her hus-band was trying to get his thoughts to-gether for the Friday night sermon. I didnot know what to say. All I could do wasslap my forehead and say, “Oy vey!”

This thinking is so strange but it satis-fies a hoarder because he gets to amassand hoard for a longer time especially con-sidering that he was in his late seventiesat the time. I wondered why he paid for thecollege tuition of his three sons and tookthe pleasure away from them for not al-lowing them to make it on their own?

Here is another interesting point tonote. Islam promotes charity and helpingthe poor, needy, the orphans and the wid-ows. It all depends on one’s income andcapacity and there is no fixed amount pre-scribed. The only required charity with afixed rate is Zakat and it does not haveanything to do with the income of an indi-vidual. It only applies to the wealth not inuse for a year. This is how Islam discour-ages hoarding of wealth and tries to re-duce it over a period of time.

We could definitely learn somethingfrom the birds. They do not hoard theirfood and yet do not starve. They migratewhen they find conditions unbearable andcollect the bounties of God on this widelyspread out earth. They sing and enjoy thetime on this earth and give each other theirspace without harming one another.

I don’t know who coined the termbirdbrain, but we could certainly use moreof them in the human race. Unfortunately,the context we typically use the termdoesn’t give credit to how intelligent thoselittle creatures are. I continue feeding themso I can watch their flight formations inmy backyard. It’s a small price to pay forthe enlightening scenery that follows.

(Falahud Din Shams)

Fall 2011 59

60 MuslimSunrise

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