February 2012

Editors:

Shahid Aziz

Mustaq Ali Contents: Page

Announcements and News 1

The Promised Messiah speaks 2

The Second South Africa Case 4

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Announcements and News

Friday Prayers 12:30

Dars/speech 12:45

Sunday 01-01-2012 15:00

Webcasts: Please note that the Friday

khutba and prayers, the dars, as well as all meet-

ings are broadcast over the Virtual Mosque

(www.virtualmosque.co.uk) at the time stated

above.

وانااليہ راجعون انا �

Friends who left us

Mr Nasir Ahmad writes: “My dear Bro Ak-

bar, Assalamo alaikum. I have just heard from

Bro Khalid Iqbal of Woking and it was also on

the Pakistan TV, that the senior journalist of

Pakistan, Sheikh Ikramul Haque, son of late Sh.

Abdul Haque, Manazir-i Islam and son-in-law of

late Hazrat Maulana Abdur Rahman Misri, died

in Madina while on pilgrimage. He lived in

Rawalpindi. He was 80 years old. All the Jamaats

are requested to offer janaza ghaibana for the

deceased. With sincere prayers.

Yours sincerely Nasir Ahmad.

“We pray that Allah (swt) with His bountiful

mercy and graceful blessings grant the soul of

Marhoom peace, solace and happiness in the

Heaven of eternity and instil strength, patience

and fortitude amongst the surviving family in

their anguish and sorrow to bear the burden of

such irreparable personal loss. Aameen.”

APPRECIATION OF THE LADIES OF

AAIIL, SUVA, FIJI

As Chairperson of Interfaith Search Fiji

and further as representative delegate of the

Muslims, I take this special opportunity to ex-

tend our most sincere thanks to the wonderful

ladies of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women's

Movement (AMWM), in taking up the initiative

to prepare special food items for the Interfaith

Search Fiji Gathering at the Masjid Noor Con-

ference Centre.

A valid point that some of the members

remarked was that the meals (of wide variety)

were so delicious, even without the inclusion of

onions and garlic in all foods.

The Hindus had double observance of full-

moon and moon eclipse last night and consum-

ing food without onions and garlic was a neces-

sary requirement. They were pleased; as a few

braved and decided to come to the function and

then went to their mandirs later.

Many of the Christians were at retreat, 2

weeks before Christmas, but a few braved and

came over.

Thank you also for providing the necessary

backup support so that the event was not all

"just men" but ladies' participation also re-

flected in true practice the fundamental rights

of women as both propagated and stressed

upon in the Holy Qur'an at so many places.

Thank you also for your Islam-prescriptive

dressing, which brought about colourful dis-

tinctiveness and brightness to the event.

I'm confident that Allah was very pleased

with the kind gesture of you good ladies and He

will reward you all in His best way. Ameen.

February

2012

2

February 2012

Request for prayers

From Mr Amir Aziz, Secretary General,

the Centre:

(1) “I just talked to Dr Tareen sahib's son

who informed that Dr Tareen sahib got cardiac

arrest and is admitted in the hospital for sur-

gery. We request jammat members to pray that

may Allah bless him with perfect health. Hazrat

Ameer has asked all jammats members to pray

for Dr Tareen's health and fast recovery.

“Dr Tareen is most valuable and knowledge-

able member of the Jammat who is rendering

great services for the jammat.

“May Allah shower His blessings on him and

grant him Shifa e kamla for all times to come.”

(2) “I sadly inform you that yesterday Mr

Jamil ur Rehman, is an employee of Central An-

juman, also got heart problem and has been

hospitalized.

“We request jammat members to pray that

may Allah bless him with perfect health. Hazrat

Ameer has asked all jammats members to pray

for Jamil ur Rehman sahib's health and fast re-

covery. Mr Jamil is father of Mr Hamid ur Reh-

man who is sub editor of Paighame Sulha.

May Allah shower His blessings on him and

grant him Shifa e kamla for all times to come.”

The Promised Messiah

Speaks

Example of the Holy Prophet (s) and

his companions

I have already stated that our Holy Prophet

(s) did not ever first raise the sword against

anyone, rather for a long period he was perse-

cuted by the Polytheists and he exhibited such

patience which is beyond any human. Similarly,

his companions too adhered to the same highest

principle and, as they were commanded to bear

the persecution with patience, they exhibited

the same sincerity and steadfastness and pa-

tience. They were trampled under the feet but

they did not utter a word, their children were

cut into pieces in front of them, they were tor-

tured with fire and water but they restrained

from offering any resistance against their perse-

cutors as if they were infants. Who can prove

that anyone from among the followers of all

other prophets of the world, in spite of possess-

ing the ability to avenge, on hearing the Divine

Command made themselves humble and ab-

stained from confrontation as they did? Who

has the proof of the fact that a community has

ever passed in the world which, in spite of brav-

ery, numerical and physical strength and power

of confrontation as well as possessing all requi-

site courage and valour, patiently bore torture

and painful persecution at the hands of blood-

thirsty enemy for thirteen consecutive years.

The patience of our Leader and Master (s)

and his companions was not due to some help-

lessness. On the contrary, during this period of

patience he and his devoted companions had

the same mettle that they exhibited after the

revelation of the permission relating to jihad

when at times one thousand of their men de-

feated a strong army of a hundred thousand of

their enemy. It happened so that people may

know that the patience that was displayed by

them against the bloodshed by their enemies in

Makkah was not due to cowardice or weakness,

but that they had laid down their weapons in

obedience to the Divine Commandment and

they made ready to be slaughtered like lambs.

Undoubtedly, such patience is beyond the hu-

man power of endurance. If we study history of

the whole world and all of the prophets we do

not find any example of such high morals in any

community or followers of any prophet. And if

we hear of any instances of patience shown by

some earlier people then circumstances pertain-

ing thereto immediately bring it to mind that the

reason for that patience really would have been

cowardice or lack of ability to avenge. But when

a community that actually possesses soldierly

skills and a courageous and robust heart is per-

secuted and their children are murdered and

they are wounded with lances and even then it

chooses not to resist the evil, that was the mas-

culine quality which was shown for thirteen

years in an excellent manner by the Holy

Prophet (s) and his companions in fulfilment of

the Divine Commandment. This type of patience

in which every moment one was facing great

February 2012

3

their legs were firmly tied to the legs of two camels

which were made to stand side by side. Then these

camels were made to run in different directions

tearing them, in one minute, like a carrot or a rad-

ish is cut into pieces.

It is regrettable that Muslims, especially Mus-

lim priests, have forgotten these events. Now they

consider the whole world as their prey. The condi-

tion of the majority of the Muslims today is like a

hunter who, after locating a deer in the forest,

walks stealthily towards it and finding an opportu-

nity opens fire from his gun on it. The same is the

condition of these Muslim priests. They have not

learnt even a word from the lesson of human sym-

pathy. Rather, opening fire with a pistol or gun on

an unmindful person for no fault of his is consid-

ered a religious act.

Where are such persons among them who will

undergo persecution and suffer torture like the

companions (r) of the Holy Prophet (s) but remain

patient? Has God commanded us to cut to pieces

with a knife or kill with gunfire, at random, a per-

son who knows us not, nor we know him, without

proof of any crime, finding him not on his guard?

Can such a religion be from God that teaches just

to go on murdering sinless innocent people with-

out any preaching and you will enter Paradise? It is

a matter of great regret and shame that we may

open fire on a person with whom we have no pre-

vious enmity, rather we do not know him, while he

is busy purchasing something from a shop for his

children or is busy in some other lawful errand

without any reason or concern and in a moment

render his wife a widow and his children orphans

and turn his home into a place of mourning. In

which hadith or verse of Quran is it so written? Is

there any respected Muslim priest who will pro-

vide us with answer to this question of ours?

Ignorant ones have heard the word jihad and

then using it as an excuse, they have sought to ful-

fill their selfish desires or they shed blood out of

lunacy. We have already written that when at the

time of the Holy Prophet (s), Islam raised the

sword under Divine Commandment, it was raised

when many Muslims had been laid in the graves by

the enemy’s sword. Finally, Divine Honour desired

that those who kill with sword be killed with

swords too. God is very generous, merciful and

calamities and which was spread over thirteen

years is in fact incomparable and unique in the

annals of history of mankind. If someone doubts it

then let him show us where such an example is

traceable in the history of righteous persons of the

yore.

It is worth remembering that, at the time when this violence was being meted out to the companions of the Holy Prophet (s), the Holy Prophet (s) did not suggest any measures of avoiding it; using his own judgment instead he (s) repeatedly told them to bear the pain patiently. If someone pleaded some way of resistance, he (s) stopped him and said: “I have been commanded to be patient.” In brief, the Holy Prophet (s) always emphasized patience until the Divine Com-mandment for confrontation with arms was revealed. Now bring an example of this type of patience in the past and the later people. Then, if it is possible, bring a precedent from the people of Moses (as) or the dis-ciples of Jesus Christ (as) and show it to us.

The Perfect Role Model ignored

To summarize, when the Muslims have this

example of patience, abstinence from wrongdoing

and highest morals, which has superiority over all

the people of the world, how stupid and unfortu-

nate it is that this example has completely been

ignored. Ignorant Muslim priests, may Allah give

them guidance, have wholly deceived mankind and

have declared this act (i.e. jihad), which is manifest

injustice and cruelty and an affront to human mo-

rality, as the key to Paradise. Can it be a virtuous

deed that a person about whom we know nothing,

so much so that we do not even know his name,

neither does he know us is, for example, going in

the market deep in his thought and we open fire

with a pistol to murder him. Is this piety? If this is

a virtuous deed then undoubtedly ravenous beasts

are superior in performance in doing such virtu-

ous acts.

God be praised, how righteous were those peo-

ple and had the spirit of the prophets in them!

When, in Makkah, God commanded them not to

resist the evil-doers even though they are cut into

pieces; on hearing this command they became

humble and weak like infants as if neither their

hands had any strength nor their arms have any

power. Some of them were killed in this way that

4

February 2012

forbearing but at the end He is covetous about

His righteous persons. I am amazed that, when

no one is murdering Muslims in this era for their

religion, then under what commandment do

they choose to murder innocent people? Why do

their priests not stop them from committing

these unlawful acts, which bring Islam into dis-

repute?

Can someone determine how much peace

the Muslims are now enjoying under this British

Government? Many persons such as those who

have seen something of the Sikh rule would still

be alive. Let them say what the condition of the

Muslims was during the Sikh reign. An obliga-

tory practice of Islam, which is the call to prayer,

was declared a form of a crime. Who could dare

call Azan in a loud voice and remain safe from

the spears and lances of the Sikhs. Then what

wrong did God commit that He rid Muslims of

the unjust coercion practiced by the Sikhs and

brought them under the peaceful British Gov-

ernment. And with the advent of this Govern-

ment, it was as if Muslims of the Punjab em-

braced Islam anew. Since return for favour is

favour, therefore, it is not fitting that we reject

this Divine Blessing, which we have received in

replacement of the Sikh rule after thousands of

prayers.

(Continued from the last issue)

The Second South Africa Case

Some Memories of events in 1987

Shahid Aziz

I just want to relate some incidents, which

happened during the course of the hearings.

Attack and counter-attack :

Towards the end of the hearing one day, I

translated something and suddenly all hell

broke loose. One guy from the opposition

benches leapt

up and started

whispering in

their barris-

ter’s ear, who

stood up and

objected to my

t r a n s l a t i o n .

The proceed-

ings were be-

ing taped. So

the tape was

played back

and he gave his

t r a n s l a t i o n .

The following

morning I met

the opposing

barrister in the

corridor and

asked him

about the fuss

and he told me

to forget it. It

was a storm in

a tea cup. And

as the hearing

proceeded I got the impression that he had more

respect for us than for his own clients.

The hearing started and Mr De Villiers asked

Hafiz sahib a question and I remained silent. He

looked at me, as did the judge. The judge then

asked me if I heard the question and I re-

sponded that the previous day there had been

such fuss about my interpretation and yet the

learned gentlemen on the opposite side con-

stantly talk during the proceedings. I said that I

would not interpret unless there is absolute si-

lence in the court. I noticed Mr De Villiers smile

and the judge hiding her smile as she told them

to be absolutely quiet or she will expel them

Hafiz Maulana Sher Muhammad, Shabir, Shahid Aziz and the

typist - translation and typing during the case Sheikh Jasseim v

Sheikh Nazim and the MJC.

Sheikh Jasseim, a Sunni who

fought for the principle that eve-

ryone who recites the kalima is

a Muslim and Hafiz Maulana

Sher Muhammad, the expert

witness who defended the La-

hore-Ahmadiyya beliefs.

February 2012

5

from the court.

Our opponents bad behavior :

At break times the judge would give instruc-

tions about time when the hearing will resume.

Both parties were always late and one day we

arrived to find the judge waiting. After that Mr

De Villiers would make sure that we arrived a

few minutes before the time given by the judge.

But this had no affect on our opponents. One day

we arrived the other barrister was there and the

judge came in and the hearing started. About ten

minutes later there was a lot of noise from out-

side and eventually a court bailiff came and

whispered in the other barristers’ ear that his

expert witnesses wanted to see him outside. He

asked the judge’s permission and she said that

she had instructed that if they are late they are

not to be allowed in as it disturbs the proceed-

ings and shows disrespect to the court. She al-

lowed them in and told them that if they are late

again they will not be allowed to enter.

One more thing worth mentioning is that, as

you know, when a judge comes in the whole

court stands. In accordance with the custom we

would but our opposition would not stand. The

judge had to tell them that next time they re-

mained sitting when she entered they would be

arrested for contempt of court. After that they

started making half-hearted attempts to stand

when the judge entered the room.

Our opponents’ idea of service to Islam

is falsification of documents :

At first we used books printed in Pakistan to

support our case. However, as the case pro-

gressed we found these books had been edited

to take out “incorrect material”, as someone put

it. To make sure they had not been tampered

with. We had to get the same books from India . I

remember two incidents in particular. One was a

book by Hazrat Shah Wali Ullah and the other

was a book of hadith. I had translated a hadith

and as I went to copy the edition from Pakistan

Hafiz sahib asked me to check the hadith given

in the book. I laughed and said, “Hafiz sahib,

these are words of the Holy Prophet (s); who

will tamper with them! But as I checked the

words, to my horror I found that the words we

used to support our case had been removed

from the Pakistan edition and were present in

the edition from India. It seems that even the

Holy Prophet’s words needed correction by our

Sunni friends in Pakistan! We never managed to

get to South Africa the book by Hazrat Shah Wali

Ullah with the complete reference.

Our lack of knowledge :

Another problem that we faced was that

Hazrat sahib had answered some Christian pa-

dres who used abusive language against the

Holy Prophet Muhammad, in harsh words. And

the maulvis kept bringing these up and present-

ing them to the court. Hazrat Mirza sahib had

said that he had taken all these thing from the

Old and the New Testaments. However, being

cautious, Mr De Villiers added “or Jewish litera-

ture” to these words. As we sat looking for these

references from the Testaments one night at

about two in the morning Hafiz sahib stood up,

smashed the Bible against the wall and said:

“Why didn’t God tell Hazrat sahib this as well

that coming generations of the jamaat will not

have the same knowledge and put in references

as well?” Eventually, we found every single inci-

dent about Jesus that Hazrat Mirza sahib had

written in the Testaments. I have to thank that

great warrior of our jamaat and the great man

Ismail Peck who was almost a hafiz of the Bible.

Without his help we would not have been able to

Mr De Villiers (counsel for Sheikh Jasseim - back to

camera), Hafiz Sher Muhammad, Seikh Jasseim

(standing), Masud Akhtar, Rishad Khan, Shahid Aziz.

6

February 2012

find all the reference. The judge, a devout Ro-

man Catholic, was astonished. She said that she

had read the Bible all her life but didn’t know

these references existed. She went on to add

that she did not interpret them in the same way

as Hazrat sahib. We responded that that was the

point Hazrat sahib was making, that Christian

padres wrongly interpreted the incidents from

the life of the Holy Prophet (s) to give them a

wrong meaning and if they could do that so

could we.

The judge benefits from the Promised

Messiah’s writings :

It is interesting that at a private party she

commented to Mr De Villiers that she had

greatly benefited from Hazrat sahib’s writings.

Although a Roman Catholic, she had never be-

lieved that Jesus was the son of God; it was Haz-

rat Sahib’s writing which showed her what Jesus

meant by saying he was the son of God.

Jesus’ father :

Our opponents kept twisting and turning

their case. If, for example, they were told that

Hazrat Sahib believed Jesus was born of Im-

maculate Conception so at least on this point

they should accept him as a Muslim. They would

say, “But Lahori Ahamdis believe that Jesus had

a father, so they are still not Muslims.” Mr De

Villiers was very worried about this. Hafiz sahib

would say find me an English translation of the

Holy Quran by Adbullah Yusuf Ali and it will take

me one minute. Suddenly, all copies of this

translation disappear from South Africa! I had

noticed a copy on the opposing barrister’s table.

So I asked Mr De Villiers to ask Hafiz sahib a

question about birth of Jesus in open court. I

asked Hafiz sahib to point to the copy of Yusuf

Ali’s translation on the table in front of our op-

ponent’s barrister and ask for it. And this was

what we did. Hafiz sahib gave me the chapter

and verse to look up which I did. It is the verse

of the Holy Quran where, after giving a list of

prophets ending with Jesus, it is said, “and We

guided their fathers and their children.” So Hafiz

sahib said, “There you are, it shows that Jesus

had a father. During the break a Maulana ran

over to me and asked me what was the verse I

had recited. I gave him the reference and told

him that if the case has made just one maulvi

want to seek the truth all the money spent on it

would have been worthwhile. He responded by

saying that was not why he wanted to see the

reference. “Allama sahib had made many mis-

takes in the Holy Quran and when we find them

we correct them”, said he. I asked him whether

they actually tell people that they have changed

what Allama wrote but he said there was no

need!

Partial superiority explained :

One thing that worried us was the concept of

partial superiority. We would ask Mr De Villiers

for time to explain this and he would just say

don’t bother, I will explain it in one minute. And

that he did. He asked Prof Ghazi whether Jesus

knew Latin, English and Afrikaans. Ghazi replied

in the negative. He then asked whether Jesus

had studied the law and represented his country

before the International Court. Again Ghazi said

no. “Well then professor,” said Mr De Villiers, “in

Mr De Villiers, Counsel for Sheikh Jasseim

February 2012

7

this respect I am superior to Jesus “.

Ghazi’s use of Hazrat Maulana Muham-

mad Ali’s translation:

During the proceeding the judge had in front of

her four translations of the Holy Quran. One of

these was by Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali. She

picked up on the fact that Prof Ghazi always used

Hazrat Maulana’s English translation when discuss-

ing a verse of the Quran. She asked him the reason

for this and he said because Hazrat Maulana’s

translation was the best and the closest to Arabic.

This must have annoyed the opposition and the

following day Prof Ghazi asked to be allowed add to

his statement of the previous day. He said that

many non-Muslims had done great service to Islam,

as well. Mr De Villiers then asked the Prof to name

one and of course he could not.

Quran says Jesus is dead:

Another interesting incident relates to the argu-

ment about death of Jesus and the Prof conceded

that according to the Holy Quran Jesus was dead.

Again, this caused much consternation in the oppo-

sition and it was reported that Prof Ghazi had be-

come angry and asked the other maulvis why they

don’t appear in the witness stand.

Gen Zia’s offer:

One day the court reader whispered to us:

“pray a lot”. This puzzled us but initially she would

not explain further. Eventually, she told us that

President Zia ul Haq had made an offer to the Presi-

dent of South Africa that if the court decides that

Ahmadis are non-Muslims he will use his influence

in the Muslim world to get South Africa recognition

and the South African President had asked for a

transcript of the case. This shows what little confi-

dence our opponents had in their case.

Who is the most stupid maulvi?

As the case proceeded, Mr De Villiers con-

stantly asked this question. Eventually, we asked

him what he meant by that. He laughed and said

the maulvi who presents himself as a witness to

give evidence in the court after Hafiz Sher Muham-

mad’s will be the most stupid maulvi because he

will tear him to pieces and so it happened to poor

Prof Ghazi.

Khurshid Ahmad runs away :

After Prof Ghazi’s evidence came to an end

the opposition’s next witness was Professor

Khurshid Ahmad, a high-ranking official of the

Jamaat I Islami and a member of the Senate in

Pakistan. On the day he was to start giving evi-

dence the court was asked for an adjournment

because Prof Khurshid Ahmad had been re-

called to Pakistan by General Zia for important

consultations. The hearing was adjourned for

many months to give the Professor time to re-

turn but he has never returned to South Africa.

However, on arriving in Pakistan, when asked

why he had returned while the case was still

continuing, he gave statements that he has re-

turned after finishing his task. Our Centre chal-

lenged this but the Prof never responded to the

challenge. Later he made further erroneous

statements about Ahmadis losing the case and

these were challenged by Dr Zahid Aziz in let-

ters to the Prof and to the Jamaat I Islami’s

magazine where these statements appeared.

Prof Khurshid Ahmad never replied and the

magazine never printed Dr Aziz’s rejoinder.

My return and Nauman’s kindness :

I had taken four weeks’ leave from my job to

go to South Africa and my leave came to an end

half way through Hafiz Maulana Sher Muham-

mad’s evidence. Rishad kindly offered to get a

court order barring me from leaving South Af-

rica so that I could send it to BT and get leave

without pay. And Nauman called and offered to

Boarding card for outbound flight to Cape Town, 16 July

1987

8

February 2012

pay my salary so that my family would not suf-

fer. I rang my wife and discussed the matter

with her. Riffat said that if I was needed by the

jamaat I should stay but she would not accept

any money from Nauman as she regarded it as

charity and said she would rather starve. I

talked to Choudhry Masud Akhtar who advised

that as most of the translation work was now

complete and now only interpretation in court

is required, he could manage and that there was

no point in everyone losing their livelihood. I

declined Nauman’s kind offer and with much

regret returned to the UK.

Remember them all

We should remember that Mr Masud Akthar

Choudhry closed down his business to go and

translate and interpret for Hafiz Sher Muham-

mad and that, although he was paid for this

case, Rishad Khan, who practiced as a sole legal

practitioner, had to close down his legal prac-

tice, to concentrate on the case and because of

the difficulties his involvement in the case was

causing with his clients.

And most of all . . .

At the end I want to describe an incident,

which shows that if you are sincere and want to

help, you can do so regardless of your station in

life, or how much you know. I noticed that there

was one person from our jamaat in South Africa

who turned up at the hearing every day. He

would sit and listen. Every now and then Rishad

would give him something to photocopy or

something else to do like bring a cup of tea for

Hafiz sahib and he would quietly go and do it.

One day I did not see him and I thought that per-

haps he has had enough. However, he was back

the following day. I went up to ask him the rea-

son for his absence and noticed that he looked a

bit sad. At first he didn’t say anything but then in a

soft voice he said it was my father’s funeral yester-

day. I said how sorry I was and hoped that every-

thing went OK. Suddenly, tears started running

down his face. I wasn’t allowed to attend. I am the

only Ahmadi in the whole family and they didn’t

want me there. After everyone had gone I went to

his grave to say a prayer. And yet the following day

he was back in court because the jamaat needed

him!

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam Lahore (UK)

The first Islamic Mission in the U.K. established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission

Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, UK, HA0 4JQ

Centre: 020 8903 2689 President: 020 8524 8212 Secretary: 01753 575313 E-mail: aaiil.uk@gmail.com

Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk

Donations: www.virtualmosque.co.uk/donations

Lahori-Ahmadis, threatened with death, under armed

guard. The person mentioned in this paragraph is the

brother at the back .

Say not of those who die in Allah’s way that they are

dead. They are not dead, they are alive.