January 2013

Editors:

Shahid Aziz

Mustaq Ali

Contents: Page

Call of the Messiah 1

Peace, Not Pacifism, by Shahid Aziz 3

The Position of Woman, by Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali 5

How Islam Sees Non-Muslims by Hazrat Khawaja Kamal-ud-Din 7

م می

حالر

ن

م

ح اہلل الر

م س

ب

Call of the Messiah (Continued from the previous issue)

Two persons

Just as a distinction has been made, in the Books

of God, between a good man and a bad man, and

different stations have been earmarked for

them, in the same way, there is, in the Law of

Nature, a distinction between persons of two

types, of whom one, believing the Most High

God to be the Source of all grace and power,

craves His help

through prayer,

while the other,

relying on his

own plan and

power only, rails

at and ridicules

prayer and lives

Godlessly in a

proud and con-

ceited way. The

man who, at the

time of trouble

and affliction, prays to the Most High God and

seeks His help, receives from Him peace of

mind and true prosperity, provided he works

up his prayer to the perfect degree; and even

though he may not acquire the actual object

prayed for, he will, even in that case, get from

the Most High God another kind of satisfaction

and contentment of the mind, and will never

meet with disappointment and failure; besides

success, his faith gains strength, and his belief,

too, gets ahead and grows. But the man who

turns not his face towards God in prayer lives

and dies a blind man.

An objection

In this speech of ours there is, to a good extent,

a reply to those ignorant ones who, on account

of their faulty observation, raise the objection

that many persons are seen who, in spite of the

fact that they are absorbed completely in

prayer, fail to achieve their objects and die in

disappointment and despair, whereas another

man, on the other hand, who believes neither in

God nor in prayer, gains success and achieves

great victories. The real purpose of prayer, as I

have just now indicated, is to obtain satisfac-

tion of the mind and true happiness and pros-

perity; and it is not correct that our true pros-

perity and happiness can be had only through

what we seek by

means of prayer;

rather, the Most

High God, Who

knows wherein

lies our real

prosperity con-

fers the same

upon us after

perfect prayer. It

is not possible

that a man who

prays with the

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2013

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2

January 2013

full truth of his soul

should really remain

unsuccessful and un-

fortunate. But the

true happiness and

prosperity which can

be had neither

through gold and

wealth, nor sover-

eignty and rule, nor

sound health, is in

the hand of the Most

High God, Who can

bestow it in whatso-

ever manner He may

like; it is, of course,

granted after perfect

prayers. If the Most

High God should so

will, a sincere and

truthful man, after

his prayer and sup-

plication, may get, even in the midst of his mis-

ery and affliction, such pleasure and comfort of

the mind as even an emperor cannot have and

enjoy on the imperial throne of his power and

glory. And this is what has been called the real

achievement of one’s object, which is at last

granted to the persons who pray, and the end of

their misfortune and affliction comes with a

state of tranquillity of the mind and happiness.

But if we could not achieve solace and content-

ment of the mind, our success too, in that case,

would be but a painful thing for us. So, this satis-

faction and real happiness of the soul cannot be

achieved by plan and device, but only by means

of prayer and supplication; yet people who have

not their eyes on the ultimate result make the

outward achievement or failure the basis of

their decision. And the truth of the matter is

that only such persons have a happy ending as

are fearful of the Most High God, and keep them-

selves engaged in prayer; and it is only these

who get the great wealth of the achievement of

their object by means of real and blessed peace

of mind and prosperity.

Sacrilegious thought

It is a great injustice and profanity to deny the

good and grace which comes only through the

channel of prayer,

and look with con-

tempt upon the sub-

lime teaching of the

pure and sinless

prophets of God who

had set their excel-

lent example in prac-

tical form even dur-

ing their lifetime. Is it

not a fact that, by the

curse and maledic-

tion of those Holy

Men, the insolent and

insurgent people who

had stood up to op-

pose them had always

been smitten with

death and disgrace?

Just look at the curse

uttered by Prophet

Noah, the effect whereof caused even the high

hills to be submerged in water, and instantane-

ously wiped hundreds of millions of people from

off the surface of this earth. Also reflect upon

the malediction of Prophet Moses, which swal-

lowed up and exterminated Pharaoh and all his

army. Again, ponder over the power and effect

of Jesus’s imprecation which caused the Roman

Government to annihilate the Jews. And give

thought to the Holy Prophet’s malediction,

which sealed the doom of his wicked opponents.

Spiritual law

Is it not, then, a sound and satisfactory argu-

ment that it is an ancient spiritual law of God

that a humble prayer stirs up and arouses the

attention of the Most High God, and obtains sat-

isfaction and solace of the soul, and real peace

and prosperity? If, in seeking an object we be

not in error, that very object is achieved; but if

we, like the mistaken child who cries out to his

mother and asks from her a beautiful-looking

viper or a red-hot charcoal, should be in the

wrong in our prayer and demand, the Most High

God, then, confers upon us what is really good

and useful; and in both the cases adds to and

January 2013

3

sacre others with Divine approval? The reason

given is “Otherwise they will teach you to follow all

the detestable things they do in worshipping their

gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.”3

There were a number of reasons for God’s not

just condoning but ordering such slaughter. One

reason for this genocide is that it is necessary to

keep Israel’s religion pure. Another is that Israel

was the instrument of God’s justice and it was the

Lord’s sword.4 In the past, God executed His jus-

tice without human involvement, for example at

Sodom, but now He authorised humans to execute

His Will.

While the Law commanded the love of God5

and of neighbour6, such commands did not auto-

matically exclude capital punishment or going to

war. The assumption in the Law was that Israel

would go to war and that they could fight wars in

God’s name,

though, in Leviti-

cus 19 we find

many laws that

required Israel-

ites to treat each

other equitably.

Those who lacked

social influence

and power were

to be defended.

The justice sys-

tem was to be

impartial. Al-

though the Law says “Do not do anything that en-

dangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. Do not

hate your brother in your heart…. Do not seek re-

venge or bear a grudge against one of your people,

but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the

Lord”7, yet that neighbour was to be a fellow Isra-

elite – he was the one like a brother, and not a for-

eigner!

There was a natural reaction to this teaching.

Buddha in India and others in China were shocked

by massacres taking place in the name of religion

increases our faith; for, by means of prayer, we get,

beforehand, knowledge from the Most High God;

and our belief grows to such a high degree that, as

it were, we see and behold our God with our own

eyes.

Peace, Not Pacifism

by Shahid Aziz

(Note: the following is the text of a speech delivered

at the international symposium organised by the

Suriname Islamic Association in Paramaribo,

Suri name from November 15 to 18, 2012. )

The struggle to establish peace on this earth

started when Cain killed Abel.1 It has eluded

man kind since then, and while searching for peace,

millions have perished in pointless wars. In the

very ancient

times we had

mighty civilisa-

tions which

clashed, one de-

stroying the

other to try and

establish peace.

One example of

such struggles

was the Mahab-

harata in India.

But if we look

closely at these

attempts to establish peace we find that, in fact,

these wars were fought to establish the superiority

of one tribe or people over another, and peace was

to be established by one annihilating the other and

not by establishing some higher moral value sys-

tem.

We find that later on the same philosophy was

developed in the Old Testament, where the nation

favoured by God was allowed by Him to treat oth-

ers with unlimited savagery. It says: “However, in

the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving

you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything

that breathes.”2 Why should God’s favourites mas-

1: Genesis 4:8. 2: Deuteronomy 20:16.

3: Deuteronomy 20:18. 4: Leviticus 18:24ff. 5: Deuteronomy 6:5. 6: Leviticus 19:18. 7: Leviticus 19:16b–18.

4

January 2013

and establishing peace and harmony on this

earth. They said all killing is wrong and we

should leave all punishment to Allah. In Pales-

tine, amongst the Israelites, the main proponent

of this theory was the Holy Prophet Jesus, as

reported in the New Testament. The most fa-

mous example of such thinking is Luke 6:29

which says: “If someone strikes you on one

cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone

takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking

your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if

anyone takes what belongs to you, do not de-

mand it back.” The words are fine, but we do not

have any example of a human who was able to

follow these instructions. Even if Jesus had been

able to set an example of following this advice,

which he did not, our answer would be that it

may be possible

for the son of God

to do so but we

humans cannot!

This struggle

has continued

down to our

times. Humanity

has been running

from one extreme

to the other. An

example of the

teaching of the

Old Testament

was put into practice when the treaty of Ver-

sailles was signed at the end of the First World

War, by which the Allied Powers tried to emas-

culate Germany and those who supported her.

This attempt to destroy the German people and

to annihilate their country did not succeed. In-

deed, it led to great bitterness, hatred and an

even more terrible war.

An example of trying to put the proposition

of ‘turning the other cheek’ was then tried. On

September 30, 1938 the British Prime Minister

Neville Chamberlain returned to the UK from

Munich, and upon landing described the treaty

signed in Munich with Hitler as “peace for our

time”. It is now remembered for its irony, be-

cause a year later Europe was plunged into a

terrible war. This war ended with the terrifying

spectacle showing that humanity had now the

capability of destroying itself. Robert Oppen-

heimer, the leader of the American team which

successfully tested the first atom bomb, quoted

the Bhaghavad Gita on hearing of the success of

the test, “Now, I am become Death, the De-

stroyer of the Worlds.” This meant that man now

emulated the Devil, the destroyer, rather than

emulating God the Creator.

This shows that peace is not the same thing

as pacifism. ‘To turn the other cheek’, to give in

to a tyrant, to acquiesce in the face of brutality is

not to earn peace but to abdicate one’s duty to

fellow man and to Allah. Pacifism leads to

greater violence and more destruction.

The Old Testament tells people to slaughter

everyone – man, woman and child, when they

overcome their

enemies. The New

Testament goes to

the other extreme

and tells people to

turn the other

cheek. Neither

leads to durable

peace. When Islam

says it is the relig-

ion of peace, what

it says is that it

abhors violence,

but at the same

time it abhors injustice and cruelty even more.

The examples given above show that there

can be no peace without justice and honour, and

that is what Islam teaches. Islam is the Religion

of Peace because it tells us to treat everyone

with respect and with honour, because that is

what leads to lasting peace. The Holy Quran says

“persecution is graver than slaughter”.8 As we

saw above, persecution of the Ger mans by the

British, French and Americans despite opposi-

tion from such wise people as John Maynard

Keynes, led to greater violence and destruction.

Islam does not say “Do not fight.” But it lays

down conditions under which you can fight:

8: The Holy Quran 2:217. 9: The Holy Quran 22:39.

January 2013

5

“Permission (to fight) is given to those on whom

war is made, because they are oppressed. And

surely Allah is Able to assist them.”9 This verse

tells us that we should not turn the other cheek

but that the oppressed are allowed to fight back.

In other places the Holy Quran is more explicit.

It says: “Those who are driven from their homes

without a just cause except that they say: Our

Lord is Allah. And if Allah did not repel some

people by others, cloisters and churches and

synagogues and mosques, in which Allah’s name

is much remembered, would have been pulled

down. And surely Allah will help him who helps

Him. Surely Allah is Strong, Mighty.” 10

This verse does two things. It defines who

are the oppressed and who should fight to se-

cure respect for them and their rights. It men-

tions not just mosques, but also cloisters,

churches and synagogues with mosques, thus

making a universal declaration that every man

has the right to believe in whatever he considers

to be the correct religion. Any other proposition

is against logic. Does a Hindu or a Christian or

Jew say that he believes in his religion because it

is the wrong religion? In his eyes I am just as

wrong as he is in my estimation.

But the Holy Quran does not stop with

mak ing this universal declaration. Pious words

and intentions read well on paper but they do

not solve problems. They do not give people

their rights. So, Islam goes further; it makes it a

duty of a Muslim to protect all such places of

worship, those who worship there and their

right to do so.

Allah repelled the oppressors by raising a

people who will protect them and these people –

the protectors – are Muslims. For Islam recog-

nises that lasting peace cannot be established

until such time as people are free to believe, to

practice and to preach what they believe to be

correct. We have examples from history to show

that Muslims of early ages understood this and

acted upon it. In Spain, one sect of Christians

was persecuting another. So, the persecuted

went to North Africa and asked Muslims to help,

and the reason they gave for approaching

Mus lims was that they have heard that everyone

is free to practice and preach their religion un-

der Muslim rule.

Islam is a religion of peace but not of paci-

fism. Peace is not achieved by giving in to dicta-

tors and tyrants. I have already quoted the Holy

Quran saying: “persecution is graver than

slaughter”. This is proven by history. The exam-

ples I gave earlier show that if you give in to

ty rants to save a few lives, in the long run you

will end up causing the deaths of millions, even

tens of millions. The summary of these ideas is

given in the Quranic verse which says that Mus-

lims are ummati-wusta, or a people who in every

situation follow the middle road and do not re-

sort to extremes, and that is what establishes

peace and harmony on this earth.

The Position of Woman by Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ali

First Amir of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam

Spiritually, woman raised to the position of man

No other religious book and no other reformer

has done even a small fraction of what the Holy

Quran or the Prophet Muhammad has done to

raise the position of woman. Read the Quran and

you find good and righteous women being given 10: The Holy Quran 22:40.

Pull together in the same direction and

nothing is impossible.

6

January 2013

the same position as good and righteous men.

Both sexes are spoken of in the same terms. The

highest favour which God has bestowed upon

man is the gift of Divine revelation, and we find

women, to whom Divine revelation came,

spo ken of along with men:

“And We revealed to Moses’ mother, saying:

Suckle him; then when you fear for him, cast

him into the river and do not fear, nor grieve;

surely We shall bring him back to you and make

him a messenger (of Ours).” (28:7)

“And when the angels said: O Mary, surely

Allah has chosen you and purified you and

cho sen you above the women of the

world.” (3:42)

Further, where the Holy Quran speaks of the

great prophets of God, saying, “And mention

Abraham in the Book” (19:41), “And mention

Moses in the Book” (19:51), and so on, it speaks

of a woman in exactly the same terms: “And

mention Mary in the Book” (19:16). No other

religious book has given such a high spiritual

position to woman.

The Quran makes no difference between

man and woman in the bestowal of reward for

the good he or she does:

“And whoever does good deeds, whether

male or female, and is a believer – these will en-

ter the Garden, and they will not be dealt with

unjustly in the

least.” (4:124)

“Whoever does

good, whether male

or fe male, and is a

believer, We shall

certainly make him

live a good life, and

We shall cer tainly

give them their

re ward for the best

of what they

did.” (16:97)

Also, 33:35, speaking of good women along-

side of good men, enumerates every good qual-

ity as being possessed by women exactly as it is

possessed by men, and ends with the words:

“Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a

mighty reward”. With God, therefore, according

to the Quran, there is no difference between men

and women, and morally and spiritually they can

rise to the same eminence.

Woman is the equal of man in rights of property

On the material side, too, we find no difference, ex-

cept what nature requires for its own ends. A

woman can earn, inherit and own property and

dispose of it just as a man can, and the Holy Quran

is explicit on all these points:

“For men is the benefit of what they earn. And

for women is the benefit of what they earn.” (4:32)

“For men is a share of what the parents and the

near relatives leave, and for women a share of what

the parents and the near relatives leave.” (4:7)

Woman, in Arabia, had no rights of property; in

fact, she herself was part of the inheritance, and

was taken possession of along with other property.

She had no right to the property of her deceased

husband or father. The Quran took her from this

low position and raised her to a position of perfect

freedom as regards her property rights and her

right to inheritance, a position which, among other

nations, she has only partly attained, and that after

centuries of hard struggle.

Polygamy

It is, however, asserted that polygamy and the se-

clusion of women, as enjoined in the Holy Quran,

have done more harm to

woman than the benefit

conferred on her by be-

stowal of property rights.

The fact is that a great

misunderstanding exists

on these two points.

Mo nogamy is the rule in

Islam and polygamy only

an exception, allowed

subject to certain condi-

tions. The following two

verses are the only au-

thority for the sanction of

polygamy, and let us see how far they carry us:

“And if you fear that you cannot do justice to

orphans, marry such women as seem good to you,

two, or three, or four; but if you fear that you will

not do justice, then marry only one or what your

right hands possess. This is more proper that you

January 2013

7

may not do injustice….” (4:3)

“And they ask you (O Prophet) a decision

about women. Say: Allah makes known to you

His decision concerning them; and what is re-

cited to you in the Book is concerning widowed

women, whom you do not give what is ap-

pointed for them, while you are not inclined to

marry them….” (4:127)

Now the first of these verses allows polyg-

amy on the express condition that “you cannot

do justice to orphans”, and what is meant is

made clear by the second verse, which contains

a clear reference to the first verse in the words,

“what is recited to you in the Book is concerning

widowed women”. The Arabs were guilty of a

double injustice to widows: they did not give

them and their children a share in the inheri-

tance of their husbands, nor were they inclined

to marry widows who had children, because the

responsibility for the maintenance of the

chil dren would in that case devolve upon them.

The Quran remedied both these evils; it gave a

share of inheritance to the widow with a share

also for the orphans, and it commended the tak-

ing of such widows in marriage, and allowed

polygamy expressly for this purpose. It should,

therefore, be clearly understood that monogamy

is the rule in Islam and polygamy is allowed only

as a remedial measure,

for the sake of widows

and orphans.

This permission

was given at a time

when the wars, which

were forced on the

Muslims, had deci-

mated the men, so that

many widows and or-

phans were left for

whom it was neces-

sary to provide. A pro-

vision was made in the form of polygamy, so that

the widow should find a home and protector

and the orphans should have paternal care and

affection. Nature will have its course, and allow-

ing illicit sexual relations is the inevitable alter-

native to a limited polygamy.

Seclusion

As regards the seclusion of women, the Quran

never prohibited women from going out of their

houses for their needs. In the time of the

Prophet, women went regularly to mosques and

said their prayers along with men, standing in a

separate row. They also joined their husbands in

the labour of the field; they even went with the

army to the field of battle and looked after the

wounded, removing them from the field if nec-

essary, and helped fighting men in many other

ways. They could even fight the enemy in an

emergency. No occupation was prohibited to

them, and they could do any work they chose.

The only restrictions on their liberty are con-

tained in the following verses:

“Say to the believing men that they lower

their gaze and restrain their sexual passions.

That is purer for them. Surely Allah is Aware of

what they do. And say to the believing women

that they lower their gaze and restrain their

sex ual passions and do not display their

adorn ment except what appears of it. And they

should wear their head-coverings over their

bosoms.” (24:30–31)

Now the real restriction contained in these

verses is that both men and women should,

when they meet each other, cast down their

looks, but there is an additional restriction in

the case of women that

they should not display

their adornment with

the exception of “what

appears of it”. The ex-

ception has been ex-

plained as meaning

“what is customary and

natural to uncover”.

That women went to

mosques with their

faces uncovered is a fact

recognized by all, and

there is also a saying of the Holy Prophet that,

when a woman reaches the age of puberty, she

should cover her body except the face and the

hands. The majority of the commentators are

also of opinion that the exception relates to the

face and the hands. Hence, while a display of

beauty is forbidden, the restriction does not in-

terfere with the necessary activities of woman.

8

January 2013

She can do any work that she likes to earn her

livelihood, for the Holy Quran says plainly, as

already quoted, that women shall have the bene-

fit of what they earn. A limited seclusion and a

limited polygamy do not, therefore, interfere

with the necessary activities of woman; they are

both meant for her protection and as preven-

tives against loose sexual relations, which ulti-

mately undermine society.

How Islam Sees Non-Muslims by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

The very first words in the Quran, the Book of Islam, inculcate the most generous views which a Muslim must entertain towards other relig ions. Many religions, while claiming Divine revelation for their origin, de-nied that privi-lege to the oth-ers. This view created con-tempt and ha-tred between nations, and caused disinte-gration among the various members of God’s family, resulting in wars and fight-ing, which devastated everything noble and high in humanity.

Islam uprooted this very idea; it taught that every nation has been blessed with a Teacher from God. The Divine origin of every religion was admitted. “All praise and glory is due to Al lah, Who is Creator, Sustainer and Nourisher of (all the races of) mankind”, are the opening words of the Quran.

Is not physical sustenance open to every man, white or black; why not, then, spiritual? If the vari-ous components of Nature have been created to meet equally the physical needs of all the nations of the world, nourishment of soul is equally needed. And therefore God declared in the Quran that all the Prophets of various nations of the world came from God, and brought light from one Divine source.

Nay, Islam did not assume and claim a new po sition for itself as a religion. It came to complete that old religion, which was gradually revealed to the blessed race of the Prophets from Adam to Je sus. As the Quran says in this respect:

“Say: We believe in Allah and (in) that which has been revealed to us, and (in) that which was revealed to Abraham, and Ishmael and Isaac and

Jacob and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and (in) that which was given to the p r o p h e t s from their Lord, we do not make any distinc-tion between any of them

and to Him (Allah) do we submit.”

This verse not only makes a Muslim a follower of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), but infuses in him a spirit of allegiance and reverence to Moses, Jesus, and all other Prophets of the world. The Quran is his sacred book no doubt, but the sacred scriptures of other nations are also his common property with them. (From Islam to East and West.)

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore (UK)

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