Contents December 2002, Vol.97, No - Review Of Religions

Special contributors:Amatul-Hadi AhmadFarina Qureshi

Proof-reader:Shaukia Mir

Design and layout:Tanveer Khokhar

Publisher:Al Shirkatul Islamiyyah

Distribution:Muhammad Hanif

Mansoor Ahmed Shah

Basit Ahmad

Bockarie Tommy Kallon

Daud Mahmood Khan

Fareed Ahmad

Fazal Ahmad.

Fauzia Bajwa

Mansoor Saqi

Mahmood Hanif

Mansoora Hyder-Muneeb

Navida Shahid

Sarah Waseem

Saleem Ahmad Malik

Tanveer Khokhar

Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the opinions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

All correspondence shouldbe forwarded directly to:

The EditorReview of Religions

The London Mosque16 Gressenhall RoadLondon, SW18 5QL

United Kingdom

© Islamic Publications, 2002ISSN No: 0034-6721

Editorial – . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Comments – Christmas and Eid are a time for the family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Palestinian Question – Our feature length article is a transcript of the speech delivered in the UN prior to the creation of Israel which aimed to achieve justice for all parties concerned. -Chaudhry Zafrullah Khan.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Reformation – Part II – Intention and true desire make actions pure and lead to internalspiritual reformation.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

QUESTION & ANSWER: Spiritual Guidance – The need for Prophethood and guidance from the Divine. Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Christianity Uncovered – Discoveries through research and archaeology over the last 100 years have provided insight into the truth behind modern Christianity.Fazal Ahmad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Islamic Tolerance and the Concept of Jihad – Address delivered in the presence of the President of Mauritius on the promotion of peace, the Charter of Freedom and the true concept of JihadImam Ataul Mujeeb Rashed – UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

The ‘Blind Watchmaker’ who is also Deaf and Dumb – Part VContinuing our serialisation of Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge and TruthHadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Index of articles published in Review of Religions, 2002Listing with brief desciption of every article published this year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Contents December 2002, Vol.97, No.12

1

Chief Editor and Manager Chairman of the Management BoardNaseer Ahmad Qamar

Political turmoil and racial hatreddo not always happen of theirown accord. People of differentcreeds have lived together forcenturies in harmony before apolitical change born of greedencouraged hatred and turmoil.

Such was the case in India whereHindus, Muslims and Sikhs couldhappily co-exist before politics‘reminded’ them that they weresworn enemies, no longercontented with their own lot. Thesame was the case in Palestinewhere Jews, Christians andMuslims had co-existed for yearsand endured side-by-side foreigninvasions from Europe in the formof the Crusades. The Jews hadsuffered persecution at the handsof Europe several times since andhad always fled to Muslim nationssuch as Spain, Turkey and NorthAfrica to get freedom and anatmosphere in which they couldthrive.

So how did Jews and Muslimssuddenly become sworn enemiesof one another? Again, we areindebted to politics for creating

the current circumstances in theMiddle East where thousands ofPalestinians now live in abjectpoverty, unable to cultivate landthat their families had owned forcenturies, and the incumbentJews watch in amazement aswaves of immigrants havecreated Israel. Yet these peopleshare a common religious her-itage which endorses peaceful co-existence and brotherly love!

The feature article provides aninsight into the politics aroundthe creation of the mess in theMiddle East. The main issue wasthat the regional politics werecrafted for the benefit of outsideinterests rather than for theinterests of the people involvedand without even their consu-ltation. It is greed and self-interest which drives suchpolitics, but actually nobody winsbecause successive generationsthen bear grudges and look foropportunities to gain revenge.

And have we learnt any lessonsfifty years on ... well the Balkans,Central Africa and many otherconflict zones will bear testimonyto our wisdom in years to come.

Fazal Ahmad

2 Review of Religions – December 2002

Editorial

3Review of Religions – December 2002

A Time for Fa m i l yDecember is a time when Muslimswill celebrate Eid and Christianscelebrate Christmas. The festivalsthemselves are different in theircontext, meaning and practice,but one feature will uniteChristians and Muslims during thismonth - the sense of family.

At these festivals, families will gettogether all around the world toshare presents, a traditional familymeal, and meet family memberswho are often too busy to see eachother during the year, or perhapsthose living too far away.Grandparents look forward to thenoise and energy of theirgrandchildren, and maybe evengreat-grandchildren. A large com-amunal meal will be shared,whether it is a turkey with trim-mings, a special stew, or maybe apilau rice meal. Special treats willalso be served such as sweets andpuddings. Brothers and sistersbring their families together, andeach year, the size of the familyseems to get larger and larger andthe excitement of the meetingmore intense. Everyone will bewearing special new clothes for

the occasion. The houses will bedecorated and made to feelspecial and welcoming. But whilewe enjoy our food and presents inthe warmth of our homes, weshould especially open our heartsto those without family, or thosewho feel like outsiders. For them,rather than being the mostenjoyable time of the year and onethey would look forward to,instead this becomes the mostdifficult time as it brings into theopen more acutely than ever theirsense of loneliness. They watchfamilies getting together and canonly feel a sense of loss. Some mayhave fled from terror and are livingin refugee accomodation. Othershave been turned onto the streetsfollowing failed marriages. Ye tothers have drifted apart fromtheir families over the years andwould now feel awkward trying toget re-acquainted with their oldfriends who now have their ownf a m i l i e s .

On the day of Eid or Christmas, itis hard for them to feel ‘goodwillto all men’ or to feel as if this is aspecial day and that they too arebeloved servants of the same God.

Notes and Comment


So what should we do? The cele-brations of both Eid and Christmasbecome more complete when weopen our hearts to others. If thereare lonely neighbours, we can tryto include them in our happiness.If we know of family members thathave drifted away, we can try tomake the first move and re-establish contact with them. Ifthere are homeless people, we cantry to make them feel special withfood and gifts. In sharing ourpleasure with them, it can onlyenhance the experience for usthrough God’s Mercy.

It is easy to give food and presentsto our nearest and dearest, andthe spirit of sacrifice and giving isa great quality which we have seenin all of the prophets of God.H o w e v e r, a sacrifice is not really asacrifice if it is not painful. A realsacrifice on this day would be tospend some time, money andeffort with those who are excludedfrom the festivities. A realsacrifice would be to open ourcelebrations to those that we knoware feeling lonely.

F i n a l l y, let us remind ourselves ofthe wisdom that religion hasprovided on this subject:

Never shall you attain torighteousness unless you spend

out of that which you love; andwhatever you spend, Allahsurely knows it well.( Q u r’an; Ch.3: v. 9 3 )

‘Whoever gives to one of theselittle ones even a cup of coldwater because he is a disciple,t r u l y, I say to you, he shall notlose his reward.’(Matthew 10:42)

May the festive season provebeneficial to all members ofsociety: those with establishedfamily ties and those without.Ï

Tanveer Khokhar

Notes and Comment

In this edition, for theconvenience of non-MuslimEnglish readers, (sa) or sa afterthe word the Holy Prophet orthe name Muhammad, areused. They stand forsalallahualaihiwasallam, andabbreviated as ‘sa’, meaningpeace and blessings of Allah beupon him. Likewise, theletters ‘(as)’ or as after thename of all other Prophets isan abbreviation (meaning,peace be upon him derivedfrom alaih salato-wassalam)for the respect a Muslimreaders utters.

HUNDRED AND TWENTY- S I X T HP L E N A RY MEETINGHeld in the General AssemblyHall at Flushing Meadow, NewYork, on Friday, 28 November1947, at 11 a.m.President: Mr. O. Aranha( B r a z i l ) .

125. Continuation of thediscussion on the Palestinianq u e s t i o n

The PRESIDENT: The repre-sentatives must have the bestpossible conditions in order togive proper consideration to themerits of the serious questionbefore the General Assembly.

The President, therefore, mustremind the public to refrainfrom applause or any kind ofintervention in the debate ofthe General Assembly.

There are ten speakers on thePresident's list. I call upon therepresentative of Pa k i s t a n .

Sir Mohammed ZAFRULLAHKHAN (Pa k i s t a n ) : It is withsatisfaction that one notes, Mr.President, that you are anxiousto secure, at least so far as thisquestion is concerned, anundisturbed and uninfluenceddiscussion. Whether the vote isgoing to be equally free and


The Palestinian Questionby Chaudhry Zafrullah Khan

The issue of Palestine and the disharmony between the Jews and theirArab neighbours is constantly in the news. In this article, we return to theUN debate of the 28th of November 1947 in which the issue was beingdebated and after which, Israel was formed. The rest is history.

Here, we reproduce the epoch-making address by the then representativeof Pakistan to the UN, Mr Chaudhry Zafrullah Khan, a prominent andrespected Ahmadi who tried to reason for a balanced state. Had the UNfollowed his advice, the Arabs not walked out and the secret lobbying forvotes disallowed, the outcome may have been more peaceful for allconcerned. This address is recognised by many to be the greatest singlecontribution to the caus eof the Arabs by anyone.

uninfluenced is no longer amatter for satisfaction. But Ishall not dwell on that.

Those who have no access towhat is going on behind thescenes have known enough fromthe Press to have fear in theirhearts not only on this question— because this is one individualquestion — but that thedeliberations on crucialquestions of this great body, onwhich the hopes of the worldfor the future are centred, willnot be left free.

This is a solemn moment,solemn in the history of theworld, in the history of thisgreat — Iet us hope at least —great Organisation. The UnitedNations is today on trial. Theworld is watching and will seehow it acquits itself again,perhaps, not so much from thepoint of view of whetherpartition is approved or notapproved, but from the point ofview of whether any room is tobe left for the exercise ofhonest judgment and con-science in decisions taken uponimportant questions.

We are often apt to read historybackwards, which, I submit, is avery wrong method of readingh i s t o r y. History, in order to beproperly appreciated, has to beread forwards. One must putoneself behind the events whichone desires to evaluate, andthen judge and appraise them.

With your indulgence, Mr.President, let me invite therepresentatives to read historyin that manner for a fewmoments, at least that part ofhistory which concerns theGeneral Assembly.

Thirty-two years ago — not to gotoo far back — the We s t e r nAllies were in the midst of amortal struggle with the CentralEuropean Powers. Turkey hadjust entered the war on the sideof Germany. The fate of theAllied cause trembled in thebalance. The Arabs, who alonecould help to redress thebalance in the Middle East, thevital region, were invited torepudiate their allegiance toTurkey and to throw in their lotwith the Allies. In return forwhat? In return for the pledgedword of the United Ki n g d o m ,

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The Palestinian Question

Review of Religions – December 2002

subsequently confirmed byFrance, that at the end of thestruggle, the Arabs in their ownlands would be free. Theyagreed and did their part.

How have the pledges given tothem been fulfilled? We haveoften been reminded that thesepledges have been fulfilled tothe extent of nine-tenths, andthat such fulfilment ought to besufficient. Is that the standardwe wish to see established andadhered to in international,national, and even privateaffairs? We have fulfilled thesepledges to the extent of nine-tenths and therefore, thatought to be sufficient. If that isso, pause and consider whetherfaith will ever again be placedin pledges, particularly in thepledges of the Western Po w e r s .Re m e m b e r, nations of the We s t ,that you may need friendst o m o r r o w, that you may needallies in the Middle East. I beg ofyou not to ruin and blast yourcredit in those lands.

It has been said that there issome doubt whether Pa l e s t i n ewas included in the pledgesgiven to the Arabs. Throughout

all these long discussions incommittee and in sub-committee, back again incommittee, and then in theGeneral Assembly, no one hassought to argue that Pa l e s t i n ewas not included in thosepledges or was excluded fromthose pledges. Nevertheless, itwas suggested that if therewere any doubt concerning thatquestion, it should be referredto the International Court ofJustice, whose advisory opinionshould be requested so that thequestion might be settled, onceand for all, one way or theo t h e r, inasmuch as so far noindependent and impartialtribunal had been invited toexpress an opinion on thatquestion. That suggestion wasnot adopted.

What is the conclusion? Thatthose who entertain any doubtconcerning the matter areconvinced what the reply of theInternational Court of Ju s t i c ewould be.

It was stated, particularly bythe representative ofC z e c h o s l o v a k i a , that thesepledges were only promises,

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that they were not internationalagreements; the meaning wasthat a promise need not befulfilled whereas an interna-tional agreement is binding.H o w e v e r, before an inter-national agreement emerges,particularly in the midst of anemergency like a world war, wehave to place faith in promises.If no faith need be placed inpromises, we shall never beable to get promises or pledgesaccepted.

It is then said: but the BalfourDeclaration is also a pledge.True, it is also a pledge, butthere is this point: either it canstand with and be consistentwith the prior pledges or it isnot consistent with the priorpledges. If it is not consistentwith the prior pledges, thensince the prior pledges occupythe field, there is no more fieldto be occupied by aninconsistent pledge; or else it isconsistent with the priorpledges. In other words, theBalfour Declaration meant theestablishment of a Jewishnational home in a free andindependent Palestine. Boththese pledges can stand

together; let them standtogether and let both bef u l f i l l e d .

As far as the mandatory Power isconcerned, one pledge has beenfulfilled: the Jewish nationalhome has been established. Theindependence of Palestine as awhole should now be estab-lished. Again, it has beenargued: no, the BalfourDeclaration meant somethingmore than this. Very good. Ifthere is a question of thelegality of the scope of theDeclaration, refer it to theInternational Court of Justice.Sub-Committee 2 made thatproposal also. It has beenr e j e c t e d .

Much emphasis has also beenplaced on the humanitarianaspect of this question, anaspect which is not denied. Butfrom the humanitarian point ofv i e w, it is not only a question ofJewish refugees and displacedpersons. Any person who ispersecuted or discriminatedagainst or unjustly or unfairlyused has the right to appro-priate redress. That is notd e n i e d .

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What has Palestine done? Whatis its contribution toward thesolution of the humanitarianquestion as it affects Jewishrefugees and displaced persons?Since the end of the First Wo r l dWa r, Palestine has taken overfour hundred thousand Jewishimmigrants. Since the start ofthe Jewish persecution in naziG e r m a n y, Palestine has, takenalmost three hundred thousandJewish refugees. This does notinclude illegal immigrants whocould not be counted.

One has observed that thosewho talk of humanitarianprinciples, and can afford to domost, have done the least attheir own expense to alleviatethis problem. But they arer e a d y, indeed they are anxiousto be most generous at theexpense of the Arab.

There have been few periods inhistory when members of theJewish race have not beenpersecuted in one part oranother of Europe. WhenEnglish kings and baronsindulged in the pastime ofextracting the teeth of Jewishmerchants and bankers as a

gentle means of persuadingthem to co-operate in bolsteringtheir feudal economy — a sort ofmedieval one-way lend-lease —Arab Spain provided a shelter, arefuge and a haven for theJ e w s .

Today it is said: only the poorpersecuted European Jew iswithout a home. True. And it isfurther said: why, then, let ArabPalestine provide him, as ArabSpain did, not only with as h e l t e r, a refuge, but also with aState so that he shall rule overthe Arab. How generous! Howh u m a n i t a r i a n !

The United Nations specialCommittee on Palestine, as wek n o w, in recommendation VI1,one of the unanimous recom-mendations, urged that theGeneral Assembly take up thisquestion of refugees anddisplaced persons immediately,apart from the problem ofPalestine, in order to affordrelief to the persecuted Jew sothat there should be analleviation of this humanitarianproblem and an alleviation ofthe Palestinian problem.

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What has this great and augustbody done in that respect? Sub-Committee 2 made a recom-mendation and drew up a draftresolution on that basis(resolution II, documentA/AC.14/32). First, let thoseJewish refugees and displacedpersons who can be repatriatedto their own countries berepatriated; secondly, thosewho cannot be repatriatedshould be allotted to MemberStates in accordance with theircapacity to receive suchrefugees; and, thirdly, a com-mittee should be set up todetermine quotas for thatp u r p o s e .

The resolution is put forward forconsideration. Shall they berepatriated to their owncountries? Australia says no;Canada says no; the UnitedStates says no. This was veryencouraging from one point ofv i e w. Let these people, aftertheir terrible experiences, evenif they are willing to go back,not be asked to go back to theirown countries. In this way, onewould be sure that the secondproposal would be adopted andthat we should all give shelter

to these people. Shall they bedistributed among the MemberStates according to the capacityof the latter to receive them?Australia, an overpopulatedsmall country with congestedareas, says no, no, no; Canada,equally congested and over-populated, says no; the UnitedStates, a great humanitarianc o u n t r y, a small area, with smallresources, says no. That is theircontribution to the human-itarian principle. But they state:let them go into Pa l e s t i n e ,where there are vast areas, alarge economy and no trouble;they can easily be taken inthere. That is the contributionmade by this august body to thesettlement of the humanitarianprinciple involved.

What is the position today, apartfrom these other consid-erations? As soon as theMandate is laid down, this is thesituation that arises. I inviteattention to paragraph 4 ofArticle 22 of the Covenant ofthe League of Nations, underwhich the Mandate was granted.I quote: "Certain communitiesformerly belonging to theTurkish Empire have reached a

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stage of development wheretheir existence as independentnations can be provisionallyrecognised, subject to therendering of administrativeadvice and assistance by amandatory until such time asthey are able to stand alone."That is the paragraph thatrefers to Pa l e s t i n e .

The mandatory Power says thatit will lay down the Mandate.The United Nations SpecialCommittee on Palestine saysthat the Mandate should be laiddown. Everybody is agreed thatin some shape or other Pa l e s t i n eshould be independent. Thatstage of rendering admin-istrative advice and assistancehaving been concluded, thelegal position is that Pa l e s t i n e ,whose provisional independencehas been recognised juridicially,will be from that date indepen-dent. That is the problem withwhich the United Nations has tod e a l .

How is Palestine to beindependent? What sort of inde-pendence? What is the solutionthat we are invited to endorseand to attempt to carry

through? In effect, the proposalbefore the United NationsGeneral Assembly says that w eshall decide — not the people ofPalestine, with no provision forself-determination, no provisionfor the consent of the governed— what type of independencePalestine shall have. We shallcall Palestine independent andsovereign, but Palestine shallbelong to us and shall be, notthe apple of our many and indifferent direction-looking eyes,but shall become the apple ofdiscord between East and We s t ,lest, perchance, the unity whichour name so wistfully proclaimsmay have a chance to establishi t s e l f .

We shall first cut the body ofPalestine into three parts of aJewish State and three parts ofan Arab State. We shall thenhave the Jaffa enclave; andPalestine's heart, Jerusalem,shall forever be an internationalc i t y. That is the beginning of theshape Palestine shall have.Having cut Palestine up in thatm a n n e r, we shall then put itsbleeding body upon a crossf o r e v e r. This is not going to betemporary; this is permanent.

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Palestine shall never belong toits people; it shall always bestretched upon the cross.

What authority has the UnitedNations to do this? What legala u t h o r i t y, what juridicalauthority has it to do this, tomake an independent State for-ever subject to United Nationsa d m i n i s t r a t i o n ?

The representative of theUnited States said that theproblem is without precedentmeaning obviously that it wasnot visualised and therefore isnot provided for in our Charter.But he feels that if thirty-eightStates accept the partitionscheme, that would almostamount to law in and of itself.What is the significance of thatobservation made by therepresentative of the UnitedStates to the Committee andthen to the Press? Is that not aconfession that the schemelacks legal, juridical andconstitutional authority, andthat you are called upon notonly to accept the scheme as ascheme, but by your vote alsoto supply the juridical authoritythat it lacks? In other words, you

are in effect invited to amendthe Charter by your vote, and towrite into it a new and a mostcontroversial chapter. Will youtake the responsibility? Wherein the Charter is there theauthority to do what you areinvited to do? Has the GeneralAssembly the authority to do it?Has the Security Council theauthority to do it? Are bothcombined authorised to do it?

What are you invited to do? Yo uare invited first to set up acommission to exercise sover-eign authority over twoindependent States. You areinvited to set up these Statesand exercise authority overthem during the transitionalperiod — all the functions ofgovernment; legislative, execu-tive and administrative. Towhom is the permanentsovereignty of these two Statesto belong? To the people ofthese two States? By no means.The permanent sovereignty is tobe in the hands of a jointeconomic board. Is that boardto be a link between the twoStates in the sense that nobodyelse will be concerned? Again,no. That board will be a council

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of nine, in effect, rulingPalestine: three members fromthe Arab State, three from theJewish State, and three fromthe United Nations. In everycase, they will be managingcustoms, currency, railways,international airways, thedevelopment of water resourcesand water power, the devel-opment of agriculture and soon. Without their contribution,neither State, it is admitted,will be viable; that is, neitherState will be able to rendereither its administrative ser-vices or its social services, or tomake any progress whatsoever,or to provide for its defence.Who will in effect be thesovereign? The sovereign is theJoint Economic Board. The JointEconomic Board is constitutedof three Arabs, three Jews andthree United Nations repre-sentatives. The United Nationswill permanently exercisesovereignty in Palestine. Whereis the authority for doing that?

M o r e o v e r, so far as Jerusalem isconcerned, an international cityis to be created to beinternationally administered —again, forever. There was a

provision in the report of sub-Committee 1 that after tenyears this system might berevised; that if two-thirds of theinhabitants of Jerusalem wereto express a view, one way ora n o t h e r, that view shall also begiven consideration. But thatprovision has been wiped out by amendments. It was stated thatwe must make Jerusalem aninternational city forever, to beadministered by a governor tobe appointed by the UnitedN a t i o n s .

Is there any pretence even therethat it is going to be anindependent city? No. Where isthe authority for it? So far as theGeneral Assembly is concerned,it is stated in Articles 11 and 14of the Charter. Article 11 statesthat the General Assembly maydiscuss and make recom-mendations. Article 14 statesthat the General Assembly maytake steps for the peacefuladjustment of disputes, obvi-ously — between Member States.

Where is the authority to dowhat the General Assembly isinvited to do here? So far as theSecurity Council is concerned,

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Articles 34, 39 and 41 of theCharter were referred to.M o r e o v e r, as the result of whatis called the Danish amend-ment, (document A/AC.14/43/Re v.1) Articles 39 and 41 havenow been incorporated in thefinal resolution. But do theyapply? The preamble of theresolution contained indocument A/516, states, ineffect, that if the situation sodemands, the Security Council,by taking measures underArticles 39 and 41 of theC h a r t e r, shall authorise theUnited Nations Commission todo what the Commission hasbeen asked to do in thisscheme. I utterly fail to graspthe meaning of the statementto the effect that, takingmeasures, under Articles 39and 41, shall authorise theUnited Nations Commission todo what the Commission hasbeen authorised to do. Wheredo Articles 39 and 41 come in?Articles 39 and 41 apply asbetween Member States.

But the problem is this. In thefirst place, where is theauthority for the United Nationsto rule sovereign States? In the

second place, the Members ofthe Assembly are aware that theArabs of Palestine will not co-operate in setting up the ArabState. I am not talking ofbloodshed; I am not talking ofviolence. They will not co-operate. How is the GeneralA s s e m b l y, then, going to set upthe Arab State? How is it going toset up the administrative ser-vices in the Arab State? How is itgoing to provide for the ArabState's defence? How is it goingto provide for all the numerousfunctions that a working govern-ment has to carry out? Wherehas the General Assemblyprovided the authority for that?Those questions have been putr e p e a t e d l y, but they have notbeen dealt with. All that hasreceived attention is, theproblem of how are they to bedealt with if the surroundingArab States should createt r o u b l e .

That is not the problem aboutwhich I am worried. I amhoping — as a matter of fact Iam convinced — that the ArabStates, being Members of thisOrganisation, will not do norattempt to do anything which

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would be contrary to theobligations we have under-taken under the Charter asMembers of this Organisation.But how is the GeneralAssembly going to set up theArab State if the people say:no, we are not co-operating?Where are you going to get theservices? Who is going in tokeep order? These problemswere put, but where have theybeen provided for?

If force becomes necessary forthe purpose of setting up theArab State, where is it going tocome from? Who is going tocontribute to it? Who is goingto provide it? From where willthe administration come? Fromwhere will the finances come?This will be a continuingsituation which may become afestering sore in the inter-national body. Forces andfinances may be required inever-increasing volume, as theexperience of the mandatoryPower confirms. Why is theUnited Kingdom, today, sick ofthe Mandate over Pa l e s t i n e ?

The question was raised of thelegal or juridical authority of

the United Nations to do allthese things, and it wassubmitted that this questionought to be referred to theInternational Court of Justice.Does the Charter authorise thedoing of what is proposed here?This matter was put to a vote inthe Ad Hoc Committee, andreference to the InternationalCourt was rejected by twentyvotes in favour to twenty-oneagainst. Only twenty-one mem-bers were even nominallysatisfied, or professed to besatisfied, that somehow, some-where, there must be authorityto do what we proposed to do.Only twenty-one! Moreover, alarge majority of thesemembers voted as they did, notbecause they were reallysatisfied on the legal question,but because they were anxiousthat some scheme or other forPalestine should be adoptedbefore the General Assemblyadjourns. Even that is to bebrushed aside.

Let us come to practicalproblems. What will be thesituation with regard to theviability of the two States? Takethe Arab State. The United

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Nations Special Committee onPalestine itself admitted thatthe Arab State by itself wouldnot be viable and, therefore,provided for the joint economicboard. I invited the attention ofthe Ad Hoc Committee to thepronouncement of that emi-nent, highly intellectual andhighly respected Jew, Dr. JudahMagnes, the President of theHebrew University, for whom Ipersonally have the greatestadmiration and respect, andwho has stated, "Your economicunion without political union isa flop from the beginning andwill never work. What a hope,"he says, "that economic unitycould be brought about withoutpolitical unity!" If the Arabs willnot co-operate, as they willnot, even the Jewish State willnot be viable. It will be under agreat and continual strain,financial as well as economic,and extending also to the fieldof personnel. How are you goingto make it viable? Again, who isgoing to provide, and continueto provide the finances?

Let us come to the question ofthe fairness of the solution,since everybody has professed

the belief that this is a fairsolution which will work if theArab States co-operate and ifthe people of Palestine, Jews aswell as Arabs, also co-operate.Let us examine the threeconsiderations on the basis ofwhich it is urged that thesolution is fair.

The first contention is this.There are 1,300,000 Arabs inPalestine and 650,000 Jews,with room wanted for more —and the problem has becomeinsoluble. It is said: therefore,let us divide because it wouldbe unjust and unfair that thirty-three per cent of thepopulation (which is the Jewishpopulation of Palestine today)should occupy a minority statusin a unitary State. Let us have afair solution, the Arabs to havetheir State and the Jews tohave theirs.

The boundaries were drawna c c o r d i n g l y. The Arab State willbe an Arab State in the sensethat there will be only 10,000Jews in it and almost 1,000,000Arabs. Very well, but what ofthe Jewish State? In the JewishState there will be 498,000 Jews

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and 435,000 Arabs. Have yousolved the problem? Jews arenot to live as a minority underthe Arabs, but the Arabs are tolive as a minority under theJews. If one of these is not fairthen neither is the other; and ifone is not a solution, the otheris not.

Let us now consider theboundaries for a moment. Howabout the area? Jews constitute33 per cent of the populationand Arabs 67 per cent but 60per cent of the area ofPalestine is to go to the JewishState. Moreover, what is thecharacter of the area,excluding for the moment thedesert waste to which I shallrefer later? Of the cultivablearea of Palestine the plains, byand large, go to the JewishState, the hills to the Arabs.There was a document cir-culated to members of theCommittees by the UnitedKingdom representative show-ing that, of the irrigatedcultivable areas, 84 per centwould be in the Jewish Stateand 16 per cent in the ArabState. A very fair division forone-third of the population to

receive 84 per cent while two-thirds receive 16 per cent.

The United Nations SpecialCommittee itself has observedthat the largest export fromPalestine is citrus produce, andthat it is owned almost half andhalf by Arab and Jew, and thatthe citrus area will be almostentirely in the Jewish State.How fair is that? Pa l e s t i n eproduces only 50 percent of thecereals it requires, and the resthas to be imported. Eighty percent of the cereal-producingarea is in the Jewish State, andonly 20 per cent in the ArabS t a t e .

M o r e o v e r, there is the questionof scope for development. Lookat the map. Where is therescope for development in theArab State? We were told by onerepresentative: Oh, in the hillsyou can grow a lot of olives.A d m i t t e d l y, you can increasethe production of olives in thehills; but on the average olivestake twenty-five years to cometo full yield.

What about ordinary agri-culture? In the Negeb, as was

17



pointed out in the Committee,there are two million dunams ofland cultivated by ArabBedouins whenever the scantyrainfall there permits. Ninety-nine per cent of that area isbeing allotted to the JewishState. In that area, 15 per centof the land is owned by privateowners. Of the 15 per cent, 14per cent is owned by Arabs andone per cent is owned by Jews.The whole of it is to go into theJewish State. There is an Arabpopulation of one hundred andsome odd thousand, and aJewish population of only twothousand. The whole of it is togo into the Jewish State.

Take the area farther south. It isadmitted on all sides that thatextreme triangle is uncultivablewaste, burning desert. Iunderstand, although myinformation may not be correct,that the representative of theUnited States in Sub-Committee1 raised the question of why itwas proposed to allot this areato the Jewish State. No reasonhas been given. However, thereis a reason if one looks at themap: it takes the Jewish Statedown to the Gulf of Aqaba and

gives it access to the Red Sea.At one time — in connectionwith its recently proposedscheme which was not accepted— the mandatory Power wasanxious to retain that area.H o w e v e r, the mandatory Po w e rsaid frankly that its reason wasthat possession of that areawould provide access to theGulf of Aqaba, which wasstrategically important for itspurposes. Is that areastrategically important to theJewish State? That cannot bethe case. So far as access to thesea is concerned, the JewishState will be on theMediterranean itself. Why gothrough this desert to the Gulfof Aqaba? To whom is itstrategically important? Thisarea is to be retained in theJewish State for some otherpurpose, because no reason hasbeen disclosed for including it inthe Jewish State.

Consider the situation in regardto industry. Practically thewhole of Jewish industry iswithin the Jewish State. After Ihad pointed this out in theCommittee, one representativesaid: "Oh, objection is being

18



taken to having Jewish industrywithin the Jewish State! Butthat is where it ought to be." Ofcourse, that is where it ought tobe. I have not said that it shouldnot be there. I said that it wasperfectly correct perfectly just,perfectly fair. As against that,h o w e v e r, what about Arabindustry? Forty per cent of Arabindustry is in the Jewish State.Is that fair?

It will be said, and it has beensaid, that a great concession hasbeen made to the Arabs inregard to Jaffa. What is theconcession? The predominantlyArab city of Jaffa has been cutout as an enclave to be includedin the Arab State. Why as anenclave? The map included inthe minority report of theSpecial Committee2 shows that,through Arab areas, it could beconnected with the southernportion of the Arab State. Themap included in the majorityreport shows that, throughpredominantly Arab areas, itcould be part of the Arab Statetoward the east. Why is it to bean enclave? The lands betweenJaffa and the Arab State to theeast and to the south are

predominantly Arab. Why shouldJaffa be an enclave?

An amendment was proposed inregard to the boundaries. It wassuggested that, if there must bepartition, at least fair bound-aries should be drawn. Theamendment proposed thatproper boundaries should berecommended by a commissioncomposed of three boundaryexperts to be appointed by theSecurity Council; and that theyshould ensure that inside theArab State there should not bemore Jewish-owned land thanwould constitute ten per cent ofthe privately-owned land in thatState, and that in the JewishState there should not be agreater area of Arab-ownedland than would constitute tenper cent of the privately-ownedland in that State. That wouldhave been quite fair, but theproposal obtained almost nosupport outside the Arab States.

We now come to the question ofwhether the plan is workable, ingeneral. As I have said, therepresentative of the UnitedStates has expressed the hopethat, given the support of the

19



surrounding Arab States and ofthe people of Palestine, thescheme might work. Thesurrounding Arab States willcertainly not support theexperiment; all that can beexpected of them is that, asStates, they will do nothingwhich is contrary to theirobligations under the Charter.

But the Arabs of Palestine havedeclared that they are notgoing to co-operate. And themembers of the Assembly mustremember that this plan is notan experiment. It is not like theexperiment regarding theInterim Committee which wasset up for a year. If that fails, itcan be scrapped and theGeneral Assembly can thenadopt another scheme. On thec o n t r a r y, this plan is proposedas a permanent solution. If itfails, the United Nations hasfailed. It is a permanent system,and it pledges the credit, theh o n o u r, and indeed the veryexistence of the United Nations.Therefore, we had better giveheed at this stage to what weare going to lend ourselves to. Isthe General Assembly preparedto make the gamble?

Let us pause and considerbefore we launch the UnitedNations upon a course whichcommits it to carrying througha scheme which lacks moraljustification, is beyond thelegal and juridical authority ofthe United Nations, and isimpossible of achievement. Inmaking this futile, this fatalattempt, you set at nought thewishes of sixty-six per cent ofthe people of Palestine. Yo udestroy the faith and trust ofall the surrounding andneighbouring States in thefairness and impartiality of theUnited Nations, particularlyhaving regard to what has beenhappening during the last threeor four days - all themanoeuvres, even with regardto the meetings of the GeneralA s s e m b l y, that great andhonourable nations aredescending to.

In the hearts of the populationsof all the countries from theNorth African Atlantic Coast tothe steppes of Central Asia, yousow doubt and mistrust of thedesigns and motives of theWestern Powers. You take thegravest risk of impairing,

20



beyond the possibility of repair,any chance of real co-operationbetween East and West, by thusforcibly driving what in effectamounts to a Western wedgeinto the heart of the MiddleE a s t .

How has the United Nationsdischarged its responsibilitywith reference to this verydifficult, very live and veryhuman problem?

There were two proposals, andthey have been described asextreme proposals. One was fora unitary State and the otherfor partition. Two Sub-Committees were set up. Onesupported the unitary schemewith the responsibility ofdrafting a proposal on thatbasis; and the other wascomposed of Members in favourof partition, with the respon-sibility of drafting a proposalon that basis. Has the UnitedNations made any effort tobring the Arab and the Jewt o g e t h e r, to find a middle waywhich might provide a solutionon which both peoples mightcombine to work — the onlysolution that could have any

possible chance of beingsuccessfully worked out?

There was the minority report.There were other suggestions -and there can be othersuggestions, if statesmanship isnot entirely bankrupt — whichcould have been committed tothe consideration of a thirdb o d y. A large number ofdelegations did not supporteither the unitary idea or thepartition idea. Why was theirtalent not utilised to find somesolution, some middle way?

Sub-Committee 2, when itbegan to work, found itselfcomposed of Members who hadtaken one view. The repre-sentative of Colombia, who inthe meantime had been electedthe Chairman of the Sub-Committee, felt very uncom-fortable because of thesituation. He suggested that weapproach the Chairman of theAd Hoc Committee on thePalestinian Question andrequest him to nominate to Sub-Committee 2 certain Statesother than Colombia who werenot committed to the idea of aunitary State, who could take

21



the middle view, and who couldtry to bring about a solutionthat might be acceptable.

This was submitted to theChairman of the Ad HocCommittee and he was informedthat two of the Arab Stateswere willing, indeed wereanxious, to step down from theSub-Committee so that it mightbe reconstituted on that basis.But that suggestion wasrejected; the Chairman did notsee his way clear to accede tothe request. The only attemptthat was made in that directionwas rejected.

Now we are told: you mustaccept either partition ornothing. But is that so? Is thatthe only choice? How muchgenuine support has the schemeof partition received? In the AdHoc Committee, it received thesupport of twenty-five dele-gations. Some of these twenty-five delegations said theysupported the partition planwith a heavy heart; others saidthey supported it with reluc-tance. Why? Because there isnothing else. This shows thatthe General Assembly as a

whole is, at least, not happy tocommit itself to this so-calleds o l u t i o n .

It is said that if partition is notaccepted, there will be no roomleft for a solution. On thec o n t r a r y, if partition is acceptedthe fatal step will have beentaken. The Arabs and the Jewswill have been set by the earsand never again will there be achance of bringing themt o g e t h e r. Far too many unfin-ished vendettas will then barthe way. If you delay and do nottake the fatal step, you stillleave open to the Arabs and theJews the chance of aconciliatory solution throughwhich they combine and work.It is not that if you do not takea final decision today, yourjurisdiction to decide anythingis barred. It means that neitherof these two solutions isacceptable and that somethingelse must be found. The respon-sibility remains with you. Do notthrow away that chance. Do notclose a door that may not beopened again. The UnitedNations must find a solutionwhich is not only just and fair,but which has the best chance

22



for success as regards thelargest number of Jews andArabs in Pa l e s t i n e .

Our vote today, if it does notendorse partition, does not ruleout other solutions. Our vote, ifit endorses partition, bars allpeaceful solution. Let him whowill, shoulder thatr e s p o n s i b i l i t y. My appeal to youis: do not shut out that po-s s i b i l i t y. The United Nationsshould seek and strive to uniteand bring together rather thanto divide and put asunder.

The representative of theUnited States made referenceto the prayer and the wish thatI expressed at the end of mystatement to the Ad HocCommittee. I again utter ith u m b l y, sincerely, and earnest-ly: May He who controls allhearts and knows theirinnermost thoughts and designs,Who alone can appraise the truevalue and foresees the conse-quences of all human action, inHis Grace and Mercy so guideour judgement that what wedecide here today shall promoteand foster the peace, prosperityand welfare of all His creatures,

Jews, Arabs, and Gentiles alike,and shall redound to His Gloryf o r e v e r.

Sir Mohammed Zafrullah Khancontinued his remarks in Arabic.( Translated from Arabic):

Our last cry is: All praise is dueto God, the Lord of all theU n i v e r s e s .

(Reproduced from origianl text)

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A very happyNEW YEAR

to all ourreaders

Wishing you allpeace, spiritualguidance and

blessings throughout the year

[ Tr a n s l a t o r’s Note: All refer-ences to the verses of the HolyQur’an are given in Arabic asthey occur in the text. TheEnglish translation, presented inItalics, is taken from thetranslation of the Holy Qur’anby Hadhrat Maulvi Sher AliS a h i b( r a ). Where the Pr o m i s e dM e s s i a h( a s ) has expressed acertain interpretation of theArabic verse, this isincorporated in the main bodyof the text].

(Continuation…….)

S a l a t [performed by a Muslim]can only be considered to be atrue S a l a t when there is a trueand pure relationship with God—


Reformation – Part IIPresented below, in translation, is the second part of the address deliveredon 26 December 1903 by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, thePromised Messiah and Mahdi (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).The Urdu text of the speech is taken from Malfoozat, Volume 6, PP.240-245. Malfoozat is the title of the ten volumes that contain the collection of

discourses, speeches and addressesof Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

of Qadian, the Promised Messiah andMahdi (peace and blessings of Allahbe upon him). (Translated by Amatul Hadi Ahmad)

The founder of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community was Hadhrat

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

In 1891, Hadhrat Mirza Ahmadclaimed, on the basis of Divinerevelation, that he was thePromised Messiah and Mahdiwhose advent had been foretoldby Muhammad the Holy Prophetof Islam (peace be upon him) andby the scriptures of other faiths.

His claim constitutes the basis ofthe beliefs of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community.

when one becomes so immersedin the pleasure and obedience ofGod that one gives precedenceto faith over all worldly matters,to the extent of being preparedto sacrifice even one’s life in thepath of God. It is only when sucha state is inculcated within aperson that his S a l a t can beconsidered to be sincere andtrue. Until such a truthful statedevelops within a person anduntil he manifests [signs of] atrue and sincere loyalty, hisS a l a t and other deeds arewithout any effect.

There are many people who areconsidered to be believers andto be truthful but in theheavens they are considered tobe non-believers. A truebeliever who is truthful in everyway is he who is considered tobe a truthful person in theheavens even if it is the casethat such a person is consideredto be a Kafir or a non-believerby the world. However,attaining such a state of truebelief and complete truth-fulness and manifesting signs oftotal and sincere loyalty to Godis a difficult task indeed. It isthe case that when a personacquires a deeply sincere and

true belief [in God] there aremanifested many signs of such astate. The distinguishing signsof true believers as described inthe Holy Qur’an are all to befound in the people who aretrue believers. Among suchdistinguishing signs is the greatsign of becoming distanced fromthe material world. Just as asnake comes out of its old skin,so when a person ‘tramples’ thematerial world under foot andbecomes separated from it and‘comes out’ of the ‘covering’ ofhis self-importance and selfishdesires. Such a person becomesa believer and there are to befound in him signs of completefaith. Hence, God Almightystates:

Verily, Allah is with thosewho are righteous and thosewho do good.(Ch.16, V.129)

That is, without doubt, God iswith those who adopt Taqwah,that is, righteousness and with

25

Reformation – Part II


those who do even greaterdeeds than Taqwah, that is theyare beneficent [being eager todo good and serve mankind].

The meaning of Taqwah is toabstain from wrongdoing in sucha manner that even the veryfine lines around it are notcrossed. Re m e m b e r, however,that goodness is not that aperson should consider himselfto be ‘good’ because he has notusurped another’s rights orstolen another person’s pro-perty or that he has abstainedfrom adultery. A truly righteousperson would find such adescription of ‘goodness’ to belaughable because if a personcommitted any of the abovedeeds, he would facepunishment [by society]. Hence,such acts are not acts ofgoodness of a kind that wouldfind appreciation by those whohave true knowledge of God. Onthe contrary, a truly good deedis one where a person is ofservice to mankind and mani-fests complete loyalty andtruthfulness in the path of God,being prepared to give up evenhis life in this path. That is whyit has been stated (in the HolyQur’an):

Verily, Allah is with thosewho are righteous and thosewho do good.(Ch.16, V.129)

That is, God is with those whoabstain from bad acts and alsodo good deeds. Remember thispoint well that the mereabstention from bad deeds isnot in itself worthy of beingconsidered an outstanding actunless there are also presentgood deeds. There are manywho have never committedadultery or murder, norindulged in theft or robbery, butdespite all this they do notperform any acts manifestingtrue loyalty to God nor do theyserve mankind in any way. Suchpeople, therefore, have notperformed any good deeds atall. It would be an ignorantperson indeed who wouldpresent such things andenumerate such people amongthe righteous because such acts[as theft, murder and adultery

26



are generally accepted to bebad and] constitute evilbehaviour. It is the case thatmerely abstaining from thesewill not lead a person to enterthe fold of those who are the‘friends of God’. It is thepractice of God that those whoindulge in evil behaviour, thosewho steal, who are dishonestand those who take bribes, allsuch people will meet theirpunishment in this very world—such a one does not die until hehas received his punishment.Remember, therefore, that themere abstention from major illsdoes not constitute goodness.

Ta q w a h [righteousness] is alower stage. Its example is likethe container that is cleanedthoroughly in order that thebest kind of food may be placedwithin it. If, however, it werethe case that the container iscleaned thoroughly but no foodis in fact placed within, wouldthis satisfy one’s hunger?Certainly not! The same appliesin the case of Taqwah. What isTaqwah? It is merely that whichcleanses the vessel thatcontains Nafse-Ammarah, [thatis ‘the self that incites to evil’].

There are three types of the self[or soul]: N a f s e - A m m a r a h,N a f s e - L a w w a m a and N a f s e -M u t m a i n n a h, [that is, the ‘selfthat incites to evil’, the ‘self-accusing spirit’ and the ‘spirit atrest’]. There is yet another typeof self and that is N a f s e-Z a k i y y a h [the ‘naturally pures e l f’] but this exists in the stateof childhood when the conceptof sin does not apply. Hence,apart from the N a f s e - Z a k i y y a h,there have been mentioned onlythe three types of the ‘self’which are applicable ina d u l t h o o d. Nafse- Ammarah i sthat state when a person is slaveto the self and Satan and followsthe desires of the self. Whateverthe self commands, the personobeys just as a slave is eager tofulfil the commands of itsm a s t e r. If it commands him tocommit murder, he murders; if itcommands him to commita d u l t e r y, he commits adultery;if it commands him to committheft, he steals and robs. Inshort, whatever is commandedby the self, he is ready to fulfil.Whatever evil deeds or bad actshe is asked to perform, heperforms these. This is the stateof N a f s e - A m m a r a h, the ‘selfthat incites to evil’.

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After the state of N a f s e -Ammarah comes the state ofN a f s e - L a w w a m a or the ‘selfaccusing spirit’. This is thecondition in which a person isnot yet completely free of sinbut he blames and accuseshimself and is occupied in theeffort of trying and finding waysand means of ridding himself ofsin. Those who are in this state,that is, in the state of Nafse-Lawwamma, are in a state ofbattle as they are continuallyfighting a war with Satan andwith their own self. Sometimesit happens that they win andsometimes the self [that incitesto evil] – at times the selfoverpowers and at other timesthey overpower the self andsubdue it. Such people progressfurther than those in the stateof Nafse-Ammarah. There is nodifference between N a f s e -Ammarah and other beasts. Justas a dog or a cat falls upon acontainer if it is without cover,unaware of the fact as towhether they have a right to itor not, so a person who isenslaved by the self that incitesto evil indulges in whatever evilhe has the opportunity tocommit and he is ever ready todo so. If, for example, he finds

some coins lying in his path, hewill rush to pick them up andwill not consider whether he hasa right to take them or not. Thisis not, however, the case with aperson under the rule of theself-accusing spirit, or Nafse-Lawwamah – such a person is ina state of war in whichsometimes he is victorious andat other times the self. There isnot yet complete victory whichis the condition of the thirdstate, N a f s e - M u t m a i n n a h. Inthis state there is an end to allbattles and there is a completevictory hence the name Nafse-Mutmainnah which means theachievement of complete satis-faction and peace. At this stagea person acquires a true beliefin God and he believes in theexistence of God with completecertainty. The state of Nafse-M u t m a i n n a h brings with itstrength of belief that hasreached its ultimate limitsbecause complete satisfactionand assurance is only grantedwhen there is a complete beliefin God.

Understand this certainty thatthe real root of all piety and allgoodness is the belief in God.The weaker the belief in God,

28



the weaker will be theperformance of good deeds –there will be found sluggishnessin carrying out acts of goodness.H o w e v e r, when the belief inGod is strong and a personbelieves with complete cer-tainty in all the perfectattributes of God, a strangekind of change comes over theactions of such a person. Theone who truly believes in Godcannot be capable of com-mitting sins because this beliefsevers the sinful capacity of theself and it cuts off the ‘limbs’ ofthe capacity of sin. Would aperson who has lost his eyes beable to cast a lustful glance—would such a person have thecapacity to commit sinsassociated with eyes? Similarly,if the hands of a person were tobe severed, how would such aperson commit any sinsassociated with this limb? Theperson who is in the state ofNafse-Mutmainnah finds himselfin exactly the same situation [inthat he is spiritually renderedincapable of committing sins].T h e N a f s e - M u t m a i n n a h m a k e shim ‘blind’ in such a way thathis eyes no longer have thecapacity to commit any sinsassociated with eyes—he sees

yet he does not see because heis without the ‘sight of sin’. Hepossesses ears yet he is ‘deaf’and he cannot hear that whichis sinful. Similarly, a deathcomes over all the capacitiesthat are capable of committingsin and he becomes like a‘dead’ person, moving onlyunder the will of God, nottaking a single step that may goagainst God’s will. This is thestate when one has a true beliefin God and the result is that heis granted a state of completesatisfaction and peace. Thisindeed is the state that shouldbe the true objective of ahuman being and it is this thatour Community needs toachieve. The attainment ofcomplete satisfaction and peacerequires complete and totalbelief in God. Hence, the firstobligation of our Community isto attain a true belief in GodAlmighty.

(To be continued)

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What is the Ahmadiyyaview on Sufism?

H a d h rat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:Sufism is good but it depends onits sincerity. First, however, weneed to address the question asto what is the meaning of theterm ‘Sufism’. If Sufism means adeeper and more profoundunderstanding of God’s Will asexpressed in His Books, then Ibelieve in Sufism, as did all theProphets of God. Jesus Christ(as)believed in ‘Sufism’ in the sensethat he understood the crypticmessage contained in the form of

words that others failed tounderstand. The Holy Pr o p h e t( s a )

of Islam also understood thecryptic messages contained inthe Holy Qur’an and he explainedthese to us. Another point tonote here is that when the HolyProphet Muhammad(sa) p r a c t i s e dIslam, his Salat [worship] was infact the only thing that otherscould see in form — what waspassing within his heart wasinconceivable by other people. Itwas not invisible but incon-ceivable because it all dependson a person’s inner feeling andinner depth as to what heactually feels about something.Hence, while he stood per-


SpiritualGuidance

H a d h rat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, theFourth Head of the AhmadiyyaMovement in Islam offers to peopleof all nationalities, faiths and beliefsthe opportunity of raising questionsand issues that are of interest tothem. Presented below is acompilation of answers to questions raised in London on 19 April 1998, inWest Ferry, Australia on 30 September 1983, and in London on 18 April1999, respectively.Prepared by Amatul Hadi Ahmad

QUESTIONER

forming the Salat before Allah,his understanding of Allah’sattributes, his love expressed interms which perhaps we do noteven understand — the manner inwhich he worshipped God, theway he loved God, the way helost himself in Him, are allaspects that were concealedfrom the world’s eye and this istrue Sufism. If ‘Sufism’ is not thisthen I do not believe in Sufism.

Sufism was, in fact, a movementthat waged war against the so-called believers, that is theMullahs who adhered strictly tothe formality of Islam. There wasa time in the history of Islamwhen some people thought thatsuch a rigid interpretation ofIslam that was being imposedupon them was only a form thatwas without any pith, withoutany spirit. As a result, thependulum swung in the otherdirection and, consequently,there was an over emphasis onthe ‘spirit’ relative to the formand the ‘utensils’ that containedthe spirit were thrown away. Theformal worship [that is Salat] wasdone away with as people beganto question the purpose of suchworship. Was the purpose, theyasked, ‘to love God, to knowGod’? ‘We love God, we know

God’, was their answer so Salatwas no longer considered by suchpeople to be a requirement. Suchwas the nature of the argument.There was one thing, however,that they forgot in the process.They forgot that the HolyProphet Muhammad( s a ), thefounder of Islam, loved Islam farmore than they did. He lovedGod far more than they did andhe never abandoned the form. Itwould be a stupid child who lovesdrink but hates the pot thatcarries the drink.

Why is it essential forhuman beings to have thehelp of Prophets and whydo Prophets have certainnames and denominationsattached to them?

H a d h rat Mirza Tahir Ahmad: The question raises the issue thatif a Prophet is born amongst theMuslims, why should Christianschange their religion to acceptthat message? The same is trueof Hindus, of Confucianists, ofZoroastrians and of so manyothers. Why should man be put tosuch trial not only to change hisway of life but also to change thename of the religion in which he

QUESTIONER

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Spiritual Guidance


is born. This, in fact, is thefundamental obstruction in theway of acceptance of otherProphets. However, the questionis automatically resolved if theway in which the Holy Qur’ a nexplains the office ofProphethood is understood.

According to the Holy Qur’ a n ,the theory of Prophethood is thatGod always makes Himself knownby manifesting Himself throughthe agency of those whom Hechooses to speak to and Hechooses only such people who arewell suited to serve His cause.For example, in a society inwhich most people are nottruthful — even if they do not liedirectly but imagine things andexaggerate — if God chooses aperson who is given to thesevices, consciously or uncon-s c i o u s l y, what would be theresult? Would God not bemisrepresented to the people? IfHe chooses someone who is weakof heart and who cannot gothrough the stress of opposition,will he not lose the message halfway? God, therefore, has to beselective. He has to select onlysuch a person who is most highlycapable, mentally as well as inthe quality of heart, to beperfectly suited to the office of

Prophethood. This is how,according to the philosophy ofIslam, God chooses His mes-s e n g e r s .

The second part is that whatevername He gives to a religion, it isjust a transient thing. What isimportant for man is, whethersomeone has been sent by hisCreator or not. That is the onlything which man should judge. Ifhe worries about labels, then heis dictating to his Lord. Heattaches a condition to God andsays that whoever comes musthave this label with him or hewould not, for instance, acceptChrist if he came with a differentlabel. So the Muslims, naturally,would not believe in a Pr o p h e tfrom among the Christians. Theywould say that the name of thereligion that is true is Islam andso they will only accept God’smessengers under the conditionthat He sends them with thelabel of their choosing and notany other label. This means thatpeople are dictating terms toGod. All that God is interested inis His wish to see loyalty towardsHim with no other loyaltystanding in the way. That is theonly test He puts mankindthrough and whenever He sends aM e s s e n g e r, man is always put to

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Spiritual Guidance


the same test. Some adhere tothe religion of the people amongwhom they are born. They sayhow can we accept such and sucha person when he has come froma different country, from adifferent race, from amongst adifferent people and in the nameof a different religion when wewere expecting somebody tocome from within our ownreligion. These are the hin-drances created in the way ofm a n ’s acceptance of the truth.C o n s e q u e n t l y, only those peopleaccept the message whoseloyalties lie with their Creatoralone and not with somedenomination or name of areligion. This is why we are dutybound to seek out a Pr o p h e twherever he comes. But why isthis so?

The reason why we needProphets is that Prophets comeonly during an age that hasbecomes distorted. They appearat a time when mankind as awhole, but with a few excep-tions, has gone astray. When manhas turned his back to his Lordand begun to feel the pride ofknowledge. When he considershimself not dependent on anyoutward source and believeshimself to have gained adulthood

and majority — when he thinksthat he does not stand in need ofany outside help or anysupernatural interference. Onlythen does God send Prophets tocut man back to size with themessage that either he turnsback to his Lord and submits toHim or else be destroyed as acivilization and that is exactlywhat has happened in previoust i m e s .

There is a fallacy from which thepresent day man is suffering. Weconsider that we are the mostadvanced people on earth andman belonging to previousgenerations was backward. Sincehe was not mature, he could notsee things as wisely as we canand could not make choicesbecause he was so far behind inh i s t o r y. This fallacy from whichman suffers is entirely wrong ifone looks at the march ofhumanity and take a crosssection at any stage in history.Wherever one may takes a cross-section, the man of that agewould be the most advanced. Hewould be going through the samepsychological complex of supe-riority because to him you arenot visible. To the man ofprevious ages, the only visibletrace is of the man behind him.

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Spiritual Guidance


This is the situation whether heis of 4000 years or of 6000 yearsago. He has the same haughtyattitude and thinks that he is atthe summit of things — the firstin the procession of maturemanhood. He thinks he belongsto people who have attainedmaturity in terms of humanthought and so he is free.According to the Holy Qur'an, thesame question was raised byPharaoh some 3000 years ago.Why do we need a God or Moses?Are we not adult enough? Weknow what is wrong and what isright. We alone are our gods andwe don’t need any other god.Exactly the same question wasraised by people before thePharaohs, by the people of Noah,and yet others before them. So,this is a question that has beenasked again and again. However,if we accept that man needs anoutside agency, that is, aMessenger of God to guide him,he needs it today as much as heneeded it in the past.

The second aspect from whichwe should look at this veryimportant philosophical questionis this that however advancedman is, in relation to his Creator,he stands at the same place ofignorance. As Einstein once

beautifully put it, in a way, onecannot be closer to God becauseHe is unlimited in His powers andHis attributes. So the ratiowhich, according to Einstein, aknowledgeable or a wise personhas with his Creator, ismathematically the same ratio asan ignorant person will have withhis Creator because man is zeroas compared to the infinity ofGod. So the relationship willremain always unchanged.H o w e v e r, much progress one maymake in this age with respect toyour Creator and His wisdom,one remains ignorant and anignorant person always stands inneed of guidance from a wiserbeing. That relationship cannotbe changed.

So much evil is going onand is allowed to continueagainst the forces of good,justice and humanity. Willthere be a time in thefuture that the forces ofe vil will be stopped ore radicated forever?

H a d h rat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:That is, in fact, impossible. Thefight between the forces of eviland the forces of goodness will

QUESTIONER

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Spiritual Guidance


continue forever. At times youwill find goodness moredominant against evil and attimes you will, unfortunately,find evil becoming more domi-nant. Sadly, the time we arepresently passing through iswhen evil seems to be dominantall over the world. However, I amquite sure that in the longer run,as God’s will be done, evil will betotally defeated, at least once.When this purpose is achieved,should mankind then graduallyreturn to evil ways, then Allahwill not care for them and,according to the Holy Qur'an, atime will come when evil willultimately dominate once again.At that time mankind will bewiped out from the face of theearth and a new form ofexistence will come into beingthat will displace mankind. Thisview is based on many verses ofthe Holy Qur'an. There is notenough time now to give all thereferences from the Holy Qur'an.H o w e v e r, in principle, one canunderstand this point withreference to Noah. Whathappened in the time of Noahwas that evil had dominated andvery few true divine people wereleft on earth. For the sake ofTruth, Allah destroyed a numberthat was overwhelming — the

number did not even matter. Thepeople were destroyed almost asa whole and Allah did not carefor them as He did not createmankind for the sake of evil. IfGod has done this before, He willsurely do it again should evilprevail. If mankind as a whole isrejected ultimately, having fallenback to its evil ways then Allahwill wipe out the whole ofmankind from the face of theearth and a new creation willcome into being that will behavebetter than the previous creation— that is mankind.

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Spiritual Guidance


A century ago when thismagazine was first launched,views on Christianity wereconsidered to be on solidground, and to have emanatedfrom the origins of the religionalmost two thousand yearsago. However, in the years tocome, a number of new dis-coveries were to shatter somemyths, and to cast doubt uponthe pillars of the modernreligion. The Review ofReligions has also shown howthese discoveries have come tolight from God at theappropriate time to justify theclaims made by the PromisedMessiah(as), and even sciencehas further backed up these

claims. Let us now examine afew of these discoveries whichhave opened up new avenuesof research into Christianity.

Turin ShroudThe Turin Shroud was a wellknown cloth thought to havebeen the shroud coveringJesus(as) in his tomb after thecrucifixion. It had been held inTurin, Italy for hundreds ofyears, and periodically, pil-grims would visit the city toview the shroud. In 1898, thecity decided to again displaythe Shroud to commemorate50 years of the new Italianconstitution and hesitatingly,agreed to allow the cloth to be


Christianity Uncovered –Discoveries of the Last Hundred Years

Since the publication of the Review of Religions in 1902 and the advent ofthe Promised Messiah(as) at the end of the 19th century when he declaredpart of his mission to be to uncover the truth behind Christianity and thegreat prophet Jesus(as), there have been numerous discoveries in the lasthundred years to vindicate his claims and shed new light on the origins ofChristianity. This article chronicles and summarises those new findings,and their impact on our understanding of the faith. It points the readers toother articles published in the Review of Religions which cover thesubjects in greater detail.By Fazal Ahmad – UK

photographed for the firsttime.

Secondo Pia, Mayor of thetown of Asti and a well-knownamateur photographer waschosen for the task. His firstattempt on the 25th May wasaborted because his lightingfailed. His second and lastchance was on the 28th May.He coated a glass plate andthen managed to expose it tothe cloth for 14 minutes. While

developing the plate himself,he became satisfied as theimage of the cloth began toemerge. But to his aston-ishment, the image thatemerged on the negative wasnot the usual mask thatvisitors saw, but rather a realface! This is the image which isnow so well known worldwide.Before the advent ofp h o t o g r a p h y, it would havebeen impossible to see thisimage, as it only appeared onthe negative image.

Since then, the Church author-ities have been under pressureas research has shown that ifthe cloth were the actualshroud of Jesus(as), then tracesof blood would suggest that hewas not dead when takendown from the Cross.

In a series of experiments in1988, scientists commissionedby the Vatican thought thatthey had managed to convincethe world that the cloth was amedieaval fake, so removingthis threat. However morerecent research suggests thatthe experiments were flawed,

37

Christianity Uncovered


Shroud Image on the negative© 1978 Barrie M. Schwortz

or possibly even falsified, andthat those theories of how anegative image could havebeen manufactured hundredsof years ago are absurd. Somerecent theories have even triedto suggest and justify thatLeonardo da Vinci forged theimage. The debate rages on.[See the Review of Religionsfrom July 1997 for a moredetailed analysis].

Tomb in SrinagarThe Promised Messiah( a s ) h a dbeen Divinely Guided throughrevelations to the concept ofthe survival of Jesus( a s ) from thecrucifixion and the conclusionthat his eventual resting placewas in India. This formed thecore of his book Jesus in Indiawhich resulted in widespreadinterest ever since. His beliefswere at odds with thecommonly held views of theorthodox Christians andMuslims of the time.

He showed how the greatProphet had a wider missionthan just to the lost sheep ofIsrael the Jews of Palestine asmost of the Jewish tribes had

scattered in eastern landsfollowing waves of slaveryunder the Persians. Jesus( a s )

therefore intended also topreach to the Jews in Iraq,Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan andultimately to India. Had hestayed in Palestine, Jesus( a s )

could only have conveyed hismessage to the remainingHebrew tribes, and not to allof the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

With time, many scholarsincluding the Germans Ke r s t e nand Gruber have followed hislead and have also been drawnto the ancient tomb of theprophet prince Yuz Asaph inKhanyar Street in the Kashmiricapital of Srinagar. A Wo r l d

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Tomb of Jesus(as) in Srinagar,Kashmir

Conference on the‘Deliverance of Jesus from theC r o s s’ held in London in 1978ignited further debate amongstthese scholars. It attractedoutside scholars such asAndreas Faber-Kaiser, DrLadisjav Filip and Pr o f e s s o rHassnain amongst others.

Research has shown suchsimilarities between Yuz Asaphand the Jewish Messiah that atthe very least, it warrantsmore serious research by worldscholarship. We shall see whathappens on this subject in thecoming century.

Findings of New TestamentFragmentsOver the years, it has been themajor discoveries such as theDead Sea Scrolls which were tohit the headlines, but therewere several other discoverieswhich are also provingextremely significant.

One such discovery was theOxyrhinchus Papyrus discov-ered in Egypt in 1897. Itcontained some unknownverses of Christian nature(they appeared to be sayingsof Jesus( a s )) which remainedunidentified until the laterdiscovery at Nag Hammadi atwhich point they wereidentified as verses from theGospel of Thomas.

In 1958, Dr Morton Smithdiscovered a Secret Gospel atMar Saba in Palestine which heattributed to Mark.

In the century before theReview began, Tischendorf haddiscovered the oldest com-plete Bible text from the 4thcentury at St Catherine’sMonastery in Sinai, Egypt, and

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Conference Programme from 1978

this is known as the CodexSinaiticus. Examination overthe last century revealed somestartling facts about thedifference between modernBibles and the Sinaiticus.There are sections of the Biblesuch as the ending of theGospel of Mark (the account ofthe Resurrection) which arenot in the older Bibles, andeven the references toAscension could not be found[see Review of Religions of8/1994 for details].

Dead Sea ScrollsIn 1947, a bedouin in theJudaean desert near the DeadSea came across a cave withancient scrolls hidden inearthen jars. More scrolls werediscovered in the years to 1956across 11 caves. Prior to theappreciation of the signif-icance of these scrolls, manyattempts had been made tosell them as relics. In the fiftyyears since, scholars havetried to translate and under-stand the scrolls. Much more isknown about them now, butthe fact remains that althoughthey are clearly related to

Judaism and the hope for thearrival of their Messiah, it isnot certain whether thesedocuments belong tomainstream Jews or sects suchas Essenes and Ebionites, ormay even be the earliestdocuments of the earlyJewish-Christians. The discov-ery has ignited debate aroundthe subject. Scholars havestarted to remember thatChristians were originally Jewsand therefore that the twotraditions share the same root.

A more detailed analysis of thescrolls has unearthed anaccount of a Teacher ofRighteousness who was tryingto bring Jews back to God, anda Wicked Priest who betrayedhim and led people astray. Tothis day, scholars argue overthe identity of these characterswith candidates being Jesus( a s ),James (described as hisbrother), Paul, John the Baptistor even the earlier JewishHasmonean priests.

The Review of Religions hascontributed to the argumentto such an extent that some of

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the leading scholars such asEisenman have been drawn todiscussion and debate withAhmadi scholars [see issues of11/1995, 4/1997 and 8-10/1997 for details].

Nag Hammadi LibraryIn 1945, at much the sametime as activity focussed onQumran, some scrolls wereunearthed in a cave in NagHammadi in Upper Egypt. It isthought that they were storedin the cave in the 4th century.The texts contain unauthorisedworks such as the Gospel ofThomas and other works not inthe approved New TestamentCanon, but which potentiallyshed new light on the viewsand beliefs of Jews andChristians of that period.

Dwellers of the CavesAnother subject of growinginterest is in relation toChapter Al-Kahf in the HolyQ u r’an which covers thesubject of those Christianswho took shelter in caves overa period of some 300 hundredyears to avoid persecution. Itwas commonly accepted that

such verses would refer to theCatacombs of Rome. Howeverthese were largely under-ground cemeteries.

The Review of Religions has inrecent years covered thissubject also, and consideredseveral possible sites includingthe caves where the Dead Seaand Nag Hammadi documentswere discovered. There is stillmuch research to be done onthis subject, and there areother candidate sites such asEmesa in Syria or even thecaves of Cappadocia in Turkeywhich were inhabited byChristians and could be can-didates for the site. Visitors toEphesus in Turkey are told avery similar story about cavesnear the old ruins which wereused for worship and meetingsas well as burials. The depththat the Qur’an covers thissubject in would seem tosuggest that there will bemore discoveries in this areawhich will also shed new lighton the beliefs and practices ofthose early Christians [see4/1994 for details].

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Judaeo-ChristiansThe last hundred years has seena growing body of scholarshipreviewing the nature andbeliefs of early Judaeo-Christians (Jews who acceptedJ e s u s( a s ) as their Messiah).Research has led to the con-clusion that early Christianswere Jews, and that becausethey followed Jesus( a s ) as theirMessiah, they were in factJudaeo-Christians. Thesegroups were well known andinclude sects such as theEbionites, Elchasaites andMandaeans. Of particularinterest are the facts thatthese groups regarded Jesus( a s )

as their Jewish Messiah orProphet, and not as any form ofd e i t y. Moreover they regardedPaul as their enemy for dilutingthe message and taking it tonon-Jews in Europe.

During the last hundred yearswith the other discoveries,sects such as the Essenes andEbionites are now being linkedto the Dead Sea Scrolls andother finds [see issues of11/1993, 12/1994, 7/1997,3/1999 for details].

Trinity and the BibleThe subject of Trinity has alsobeen under scrutiny in the lastc e n t u r y. The Review ofR e l i g i o n s has been instru-mental in examining theearlier Christian philosopherssuch as Origen and Arius.There has also been more in-depth research into theCouncil of Nicaea which washeld in 325 CE in Turkey underthe auspices of the Ro m a nEmperor Constantine. It was atthis forum that the concept ofthe Trinity was established andpromulgated around theChristian world.

Research has shown that manyof the churches disagreed, butwere forced to adopt theCreed for the sake of the unityof the Empire, hence therewas perhaps a politicalmotivation behind it. Scholarssuch as Origen and hiscontemporaries had beendebating the nature andessense of Jesus(as) for manyyears, so for the whole churchto suddenly adopt the Creedwith certainty was surprising.There was also a significant

42



pagan influence on Christianitywhich led to the adoption ofthe winter solstice (used byRomans to worship their sungod) as Christmas Day.

Further research is showingthe make up of the Bible andlinks between the SynopticGospels (Matthew, Mark, Lukeand John) and other non-canonical texts such as theGospel of Thomas [see issuesof 1/1994, 2/1994, 2/1995,3/1995, 4/1995, 12/1995,9/1996, 8/1999 for details].

John the Baptist(as)

The subject of John the Baptistarouses debate betweenMuslims and Christians.According to Christians, he wasbeheaded at the orders of Ki n gHerod having acted as aforerunner for Jesus( a s ).According to Islam, a prophetof God would never suffer sucha fate, and the Qur’an containsthe true account of Pr o p h e tYa h y a( a s ), the same character.The Review of Religions ran along 14 part feature on thissubject in the issues fromMarch 1996 to June 1997 which

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Timeline of Discoveries

1889 Promised Messiah(as) makes hisclaim to be the Messiah andinitiates the first Ahmadi.

1898 Secondo Pia takes the first everphoto of the Turin Shroud, andsees the image of the face onthe negative!

1899 Compilation of HadhratAhmad’s book ‘Jesus in India’.The book pointed to thesurvival from crucifixion, andthe Tomb of Srinagar.

1902 First publication of the Reviewof Religions magazine

1934 John Rylands fragmentdeciphered and found to beoldest fragment of the NewTestament.

1945 Discovery of a library ofGnostic documents in Egyptnear Nag Hammadi.

1947 Dead Sea Scrolls found in theJudean Desert.

1958 Evidence of a secret Gospel ofMark at Mar Saba in Egypt.

1978 Conference in London on‘Deliverance of Jesus from theCross’.

1988 Claim after tests by the Vaticanthat the Turin Shroud is fake.

covered the character, missionand life of John the Baptist( a s )

and compared him to otherknown characters such as Johnthe Elder of Ephesus and Johnthe Divine who wrote the Bookof Revelations while living onPa t m o s .

ConclusionsThe range of different finds inthe last century have createda whole new generation ofresearchers no longer willingto accept any of the ‘facts’and challenging long-heldconcepts such as Tr i n i t y,Crucifixion and Ascension.

Not only has the new evidencecast doubt on some of thebasic tenets of Christianity,the timing has been crucial.For so much evidence toappear just at the time thatthe Promised Messiah(as) waslooking to break the falsedoctrines of the Church andunite religious people world-wide under a single banner ofpeace would seem a strangeco-incidence, or perhaps evenan act of God.

The Review of Religions hasbeen ideally placed over thelast hundred years toaccommodate the evolvingscholarship on these subjectsand to challenge establishedwisdom based on the guidanceprovided a century ago by thePromised Messiah(as).

References1. Jesus the Evidence, Ian Wilson,

Pan Books 1984.2. The Jesus Conspiracy - The Turin

Shroud & the Truth about theResurrection, Holger Kersten &Elmar R Gruber, Element Books1994.

3. Jesus in India, Hadhrat MirzaGhulam Ahmad, IslamInternational Publications 1989(original 1899).

4. The Nag Hammadi Library, E. J.Brill Publishers, Leiden 1988.

5. Christianity - A Journey fromFacts to Fiction, Hadhrat MirzaTahir Ahmad, Islam InternationalPublications 1994.

6. The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception,Michael Baigent and RichardLeigh, Corgi Books 1991.

7. The Lost Gospel, Burton Mack,Element Books 1993.

8. One Jesus - Many Christs, GregoryJ R i l e y, Harper San Francisco1997.

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IntroductionIt is a great privilege for me tosay a few words on theconcept of Jihad vis-à-vis theconcept of peace in Islam. Ithas been averred that Islam isthe most misunderstoodreligion in the world. I concurwith this statement. It isindeed unfortunate thatpeople have not been able tounderstand the philosophy ofIslamic teachings in relation topeace. One of the main areasof misunderstanding has beenthe concept of Jihad. Theconcept of Jihad has been socompletely misconstrued andfalsified that it has taken anegative connotation. It isindeed very sad that peoplehave failed to recognise thebeauty of Islam in this regard.Islam, to my mind, is like a

very beautiful diamond, adiamond of peace. Fromwhichever angle it is viewed,it is absolute peace, purepeace and nothing but peace.However, there has been a lotof distortion of true Islamicteachings. Therefore, I wouldfirst like to express and sharewith you my views on theconcept of peace in Islambefore I explain the truemeaning of the word ‘Jihad’.

Islam and PeaceWhat makes Islam a religion ofpeace? The very name of Islamis something very unique. It isthe first time in the entirehistory of religion that a reli-gion has been given a namewhich literally means "peace".The word ‘Islam’ has twoconnotations; firstly, it means


Islamic Tolerance and the Concept ofJihad

The following article is a keynote speech delivered by Maulana AtaulMujeeb Rashed, Imam of the London Mosque, at the Annual Convention ofthe Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, Mauritius, on 14th September 2002.Among the several respected dignitaries present on this occasion was HisExcellency, Karl Offman, President of the Republic of Mauritius.

submission to the will andcommand of Allah ands e c o n d l y, it means peace.Furthermore, Islam is a reli-gion which has beenestablished by Allah Almighty.Allah has various attributesand one of His attributes is As-Salaam, that is, the one whobestows peace.

One who believes in Islam iscalled a Muslim. The definitionof a Muslim is ‘one who isentirely at peace with himselfand who promotes peace ins o c i e t y.’ A more beautifuldefinition of a Muslim has beengiven by the very founder ofIslam, the Holy Pr o p h e tMohammad(saw). He is reportedto have said:

‘A Muslim is that personfrom whose hands and fromwhose tongue all peopleare safe.’ (Bukhari)

In the true sense of the term,only that person can honestlyand truly be called a Muslimwho does not cause any harmto anyone.

There are other points worthyof note. The greeting ofMuslims is ‘Assalamu Alaikum’,that is, ‘peace be upon you.’This is to be shared by all,Muslims and non-Muslims alike.The place where Islamoriginated from, Mecca, wasknown as B a l a d - u l - A m e e n,meaning a city of peace. TheHoly Quran was revealed to theHoly Pr o p h e t( s a w ) by the angelknown as R o o h - u l - A m e e n, thatis, the angel of peace. Finally,the title that was bestowedupon the Holy Prophet ofI s l a m( s a w ) by his opponents, priorto his claim to prophethood,was Al-Ameen meaning that heis the most trustworthy and themost peaceful person on earth.

No Compulsion in Matters ofFaithIt should be pointed out thatIslam has made a very opendeclaration, a declaration forall times, addressed to allpeoples. The Holy Qur’ a nclearly states:

There should be nocompulsion in religion.(Ch.2: v.257)

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Islamic Tolerance and the Concept of Jihad


The verse goes on to explainthe reason for this. It says:

Surely, right has becomedistinct from wrong. (Ch.2: v.257)

When you have reason andlogic on your side and whenyou are in possession of thepersuasive and beautifulteachings of Islam, you needneither force nor coercion.Islam does not permit the useof force to convert anyone.The Holy Qur’an declares:

And say: ‘It is the truthfrom your Lord. Whereforelet him who will, believe,and let him who will,disbelieve.’(Ch.18: v.30)

Islam upholds and guaranteesfreedom of choice, thefreedom to profess, propagateand practise religion. Anyonewho chooses to believe will berewarded accordingly andanyone who chooses not tobelieve will not be compelledto do so.

Recantation from IslamThere are some Muslims who,unfortunately, believe that if aperson enters into the fold ofIslam and later recants, thepunishment of such apostasy isthe death penalty. Accordingto the teachings of Islam,there is no worldly punishmentto be meted out for recan-tation from Islam. Thepunishment, if any, is to begiven by Allah Almighty not byman. Freedom of conversioninto, and recantation from,Islam both constitute the acidtest of the declaration: ‘nocompulsion in religion.’ Itcannot be a one-wayfreedom—the freedom toenter Islam but not to leave it.

Equality of MankindThere are some otherteachings that prove beyondany doubt that Islam is areligion of peace. One of theprominent teachings of Islam isthe concept of equality ofmankind. Islam concedes noprivilege on account of birth,family, cast, class or any otherfactor. There is no discrim-ination between human beings

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whatever their language,nation, race or creed. Islamseeks to establish anegalitarian society based onthe practical expression of thetruth that all men arecreatures and servants of thesame God and must, for Hissake and for the purpose ofwinning His pleasure, livetogether as brethren.

Respect for all ReligionsIslam further enjoins belief inthe founders of all majorreligions and belief in thebooks revealed unto them.This, in fact, is one of thegreat distinctions that Islamenjoys. The view is held thatall major religions were, attheir inception, based on truthand still contain manyexcellences. Islam categor-ically rejects the attitudewhich maintains that noreligion other than one’s ownholds the key to salvation. Allmajor religions are respectedand held in high esteem.Muslims are obligated to holdin honour and respect theplaces of worship of otherfaiths. Deep reverence must

also be shown to theirfounders and holy personages.

The Charter of FreedomIt can be clearly seen thatIslam is a religion of peace andit inculcates tolerance towardspeoples of all faiths andnations. In this regard, I wantto present to you a veryimportant historical docu-ment. This was the greatCharter of Freedom given toChristians by the Holy Founderof Islam(saw). This monumentalpiece is unprecedented in thehistory of mankind and is anepitome of the entire spirit ofthe Islamic concepts oftolerance and peace. It states:

‘This is the document whichMuhammad, the son ofAbdullah, God’s Pr o p h e t ,Warner and Bearer of gladtidings has caused to bewritten so that there shouldremain no excuse for thosecoming after. I have causedthis document to be writtenfor the Christians of the Eastand West, for those who livenear, and for those of thedistant lands, for the

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Christians living at presentand for those who will comea f t e r, for those Christianswho are known to us and forthose as well whom we donot know.

Any Muslim violating ordistorting what has beenordained will be consideredto be violating God’sCovenant and will betransgressing against HisPromise and by doing so, willincur God’s wrath, be he amonarch or an ordinarysubject.

I promise that any monk orwayfarer who will seek myhelp on the mountains, inforests, deserts orhabitations, or places ofworship, I will repel hisenemies with my friends andhelpers, with all myrelatives and with all thosewho profess to follow meand will defend them,because they are mycovenant. And I will defendthe covenanted against thepersecution, injury andembarrassment of their

enemies in lieu of the polltax they have promised topay. If they prefer to defendtheir properties and personsthemselves, they will beallowed to do so and will notbe put to any inconvenienceon that account.

No bishop will be expelledfrom his bishopric, no monkfrom his monastery, nopriest from his place ofworship, and no pilgrim willbe detained in hispilgrimage. None of theirchurches or other places ofworship will be desolated ordestroyed or demolished. Nomaterial of their churcheswill be used to buildmosques or houses for theMuslims; any Muslim doing sowill be regarded asrecalcitrant to God and HisProphet. Monks and Bishopswill be subject to no poll taxor indemnity whether theylive in forests or on rivers, inthe East or in the West, inthe North or in the South. Igive them my word ofh o n o u r. They are on mypromise and covenant and

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will enjoy perfect immunityfrom all sorts ofinconveniences. Every helpshall be given to them in therepair of their churches.They shall be absolved ofwearing arms. They shall beprotected by the Muslims.Let this document not bedisobeyed till JudgementDay.’ (Signed: Muhammad, theMessenger of God. (Quotedfrom Makâtîb-ur- R a s û l[Letters of the Messenger],printed in Beirut, Lebanon)

There can be no statementmore eloquent which sobeautifully epitomises theteachings of Islam with regardto peace and tolerance.

The Concept of JihadLet me explain the trueconcept of Jihad. The erro-neous interpretation is that ofMuslims armies invading othercountries and coercing peopleto submit to Islam. It is as ifMuslims, holding the Qur’an inone hand and a sword in theo t h e r, give people the ultima-tum of either embracing Islam

or meeting with their death.This is an absolute mis-representation of the conceptof Jihad. It has nothing to dowith Islam which is a religion ofpeace. The true import ofJihad is the striving andstruggle for the reformationthe world, to make it apeaceful place for everyone tolive in. The greatest Jihad for aMuslim is the struggle toreform his own self—a struggleagainst his own ego and againstsatanic instigations incitingtowards evil. If you wage a waragainst these, according to theteachings of Islam, you wouldbe engaged in what is regardedas the most superior form ofJihad. Spending money for thepromulgation and propagationof religion, according to Islam,is also a form of Jihad. Helpingthe cause of the poor by way ofcharity is yet another form ofJ i h a d .

One lesser form of Jihad is theright to go to war in self-defence. According to theteachings of Islam, Muslims arenot allowed to wage warsagainst their enemies however

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wrong they may be. The onlycircumstance in which Muslimsare permitted to take up armsis when the enemy attacksthem with the express aim ofdoing away with their lives,p r o p e r t y, honour andsuppressing or wiping out thevery religion they profess.Only in that situation doesIslam allow Muslims the rightto self-defence and no saneperson can raise a finger ofobjection against this. It isinteresting to note that eventhough the Muslims are giventhis right to self-defence, theyare nonetheless urged to trytheir utmost to establishpeace even in the battlefield.

Every effort is to be made sothat fighting can be avoided.Failing that, conflict is to bepursued only as long aspersecution does. If theopponents of Islam lay downtheir arms then the Muslimsare to desist from fighting.

The Holy Prophet’s(sa) PreceptWhen sending his followers todefensive battles, the Prophetof Islam(sa) used to admonishthem saying although theywere compelled to take uparms in self-defence, theyshould never forget that theywere ambassadors of Islam. Hewould give instructions to theeffect that:

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President of Mauritius, Mayor of Rose Hill, Amir Sahib and ImamSahib UK speaking at the Mauritius Jalsa Salana

• No woman, child or religiousleader is to be killed

• Anyone not taking part in thebattle is not to be killed orharmed in anyway

• Places of worship are never tobe destroyed or desecrated

• A bridge that providesconveyance to people is not tobe demolished

• A tree that yields fruit or givesshade to people is not to be cutdown

ConclusionIt can now be better appre-ciated how the teachings ofIslam promote peace andtolerance. The nobleteachings of Islam relating tothe concept of Jihad havebeen completely distorted.Jihad is actually to reformoneself, to improve one’svirtues and to fight againstthe temptations of Satan. Thislifelong Jihad is the greatestJihad. The lesser form ofJihad is to fight in self-defence against those whoseek to annihilate believersand exterminate religion fromthe surface of the earth. Evenin this eventuality, as it hasbeen established, Islam has

given beautiful and humaneteachings.

Islam is a religion of peace andto associate bloodshed,terrorism, suicide bombingsand any act of violence withIslam is totally misguided andmistaken. Islam has a messageof peace for all mankind. Thebanner that Islam holds aloft isthe banner of peace. Byfollowing the teachings ofIslam, the whole mankind canenjoy the blessings of peace.My last word, my lastsentence, my prayer is: mayAllah bless this beautifuluniverse with everlastingpeace for the whole ofmankind. Amin

About the author: Mr Ataul MujeebRashed is the Imam of the LondonMosque and Missionary in Charge UK.He is a scholar of Arabic. In additionto hosting numerous programmes onMTA International, he has in the pastserved in various capacities,including Amir UK. He has alsoserved in Japan and at theHeadquarters as the Central SadrMajlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya.

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The blind step forward theory can only work in some limited cases andthey have to be critically examined to remove the confusion they couldcause. The creation of coral islands is just the case in point. The death ofeach coral, out of trillions upon trillions of them, does not show anypurpose. Yet when they pile up one upon the other, maybe in millions ofyears, the progressive enlargement of their mass ultimately creates coralislands. If we look back at how the process began and was completed, wemay allude to it a purpose which apparently it does not possess. One couldenvisage mountains being built in the middle of the oceans so patiently,bit by bit, over aeons. They do not come to the notice of those living onland until they break to the surface. Then they begin to serve a purposewhich we may read into their making when they become coral islands.They serve and support life in so many wonderful ways. This is the case ofrandom bit by bit creation of things in whose creation a preceding purposeis not traceable. It may not have been there at all, yet their usefulnesscannot be denied.

The laws of nature run independently if there is no mind to operate them.It is they who operate and govern everything that exists. The living are notexempt from this all-pervasive principle. The absence of a conscious mindto manipulate these laws completely does away with the imaginary linewhich is said to separate the living from the dead. If the brain of the livingcannot design itself and cannot play any conscious role in the making ofthe body which possesses it, then the living and the dead are governedexactly alike by the same laws of nature. It has to be only these mindlesslaws which are responsible for the cumulative building of the bricks oflife. If they are capable of building the bricks of life, they are far morelikely to build a mere Empire State Building through the same cumulative


The ‘Blind Watchmaker’Who is also Deaf andDumb - part V

This is an extract taken from the bookRevelation, Rationality, Knowledge and Tr u t h,written by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad.

bit by bit process. Yet the naturalists contradict themselves and refuse tobelieve the bit by bit piling up of the Empire State Building by cumulativerandom steps, however small tiny and insignificant they may have been.Here they artificially create a divide between the laws of nature at workon dead matter and the laws of nature at work on the living. In reality nosuch divide should exist if there is no conscious operator of natural lawson either side. Naturalists confess that there is no conscious operator inthe case of the living, hence they must admit there is no differencebetween the living and the dead. All that remain are the free laws ofnature, working on the living as well as the dead. If they by themselvescould create things as complex as the bricks of life, then for them tocreate the Empire State Building should have been much less difficult thanthe building of a molehill by a mole. The only objection, which in fact isno objection at all, may relate to the time available. But the timeavailable to nature at work on the dead is far greater than that availablein relation to the evolution of life. Forget for a while the existing EmpireState Building because it is a known fact that it was created by a consciousmind. Visualise instead the possibility of hundreds of thousands of farloftier and more complex skyscrapers created merely by the physical lawsof nature during the last fifteen billion years or so. Remember that thelaws remain exactly the same in the case of the living as well as the dead,and remember that the existence of a conscious mind is ruled out bynaturalists in both cases. Hence no divide between the two can exist ifsanity must prevail. As such, the bit by bit creation of complexities andorder must be evident in both cases alike. Hence any person who believesin the creation of life without a mind preceding it has every hypotheticalright to jump to the top of the Empire State Building and pronounce fromits loftiness: this building is the work of trillions of piled up randomchances. There is no design and no conscious preceding mind whichperceived it. It is only a delusion entertained by some stupid religiouspeople who are overimpressed by the exquisiteness of the finished work.The same pronouncement should also apply with equal force to theevolutionists who deny purpose and design in the evolution of life. Theystand at the pinnacle of evolution where it culminated in man. Lookingdown from their vantage point, the Empire State Building should haveappeared as the tiniest of spots somewhere on the planet Earth. Yet theyshout at the top of their voices: there is no design, no purpose to ourcreation, we are impossible to exist, yet we appear to exist. All the worldis an illusion. You think that we exist and we have the illusion that you

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The ‘Blind Watchmaker’ Who is also Deaf and Dumb – part v


also exist. Thus the whole universe is a chain of illusions like thoseentertained by subjective philosophers. To dispel the illusion ofexistence, think once again of the haemoglobin number and vanish intonothingness!

By denying the existence of a Creator who has to be a person with aconscious mind and all the powers to implement His decisions, they try toreplace Him with a formless idea. It is this absurdity, to attribute theprocess of creation or selection to a mindless idea, which is categoricallyrejected in the following verse of the Holy Qur’an:

Have they feet wherewith they walk, or have they hands wherewiththey hold, or have they eyes wherewith they see, or have they earswherewith they hear? Say, ‘Call upon the partners you associatewith God, then contrive ye all against me, and give me no time’.29

This Qur’anic statement is evidently addressed to the idolaters of that ageand reminds them that though they believe that their gods are livingpersons possessing human forms, yet they are mere formless ideas. Thestatement should have ended here and the question of time should nothave been raised as it is raised. The last part of this verse clearly impliesthat mere ideas cannot create. though they may have as much time aspossible at their disposal. God on the other hand is not dependent on anyvast expanse of time for His creative faculties. In its entirety, the versecan only apply to the modern idea of natural selection which is claimed tobe responsible for the evolution of life provided it is given enough time.The factor of time in the context of natural selection is fundamentallyessential. A limbless, armless, mindless vague idea is proposed to work inthe frame of an enormous time to suit the theory of bit by bit evolution.Squeeze the time to a mere billion years and the theory immediatelybegins to crack and fall apart. This leaves no doubt that it is time whichis all-important to them in the creative processes of life. This is exactly

55



what the Qur’an denies in effect when it says: Formless ideas can have asmuch time as they may, but God with His creative faculties can create inpractically no time.

This factor of time has only gained importance in the modern age, inrelation to Darwinian principles. One may have doubts that this verse wasintended to apply to this modern concept but the fact that the whole ideaof the verse is so perfectly applicable to it can in no way be denied.Intended or not intended the theory of natural selection could not havebeen criticised in better words.

Naturalists claim that both the function of creation and the function ofselection are performed by forces which are separate yet work in perfectunison. They would have us believe that the mindless genes create, and aformless, impersonal law of natural selection selects. At the same timehowever, they dismiss the issue of genes as though taken for granted andsubjugate them to the authority of natural selection. Thus they unite thetwo functions which have to be treated as separate, combining them in amost absurd manner. If genes recede into an inconspicuous position ascreators, what is left into the bargain is merely a selector whichadmittedly has no mind with a conscious decision-making faculty. Genesthus pushed aside, natural selection is the only factor which remains inthe field. In this sense the separate functions of creation and selection aremoulded, without justification, into one. However, no scientist with theslightest idea of what Darwin propounds can attribute to him the claimthat natural selection could also directly create. There has to be somecreation before natural selection can begin to work. It is this dilemmawhich the proponents of natural selection can never resolve.

The Holy Qur’an presents a completely different picture fitting perfectlyinto the slot of the problem. The Qur’an declares that the realities ofevolution require that the creator and the selector cannot be twoseparate persons. Whoever creates, it is only He Who can select from Hisown creative works. What He does not select as the next advancedcharacter is not wiped out of existence but remains to widen the base ofHis creation at every such level playing a meaningful role in the schemeof things. Thus every time a step forward in evolution is taken, the baseof evolution is simultaneously broadened to support what has been addedto its rising column.

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According to the Qur’an, man could not have occupied the lofty positionhe occupies and maintained it without the ecosystem which the lowerorder of animal life provides. To this the following verse specificallyrefers:

And if Allah were to punish men for their wrongdoing, He would notleave thereon any animal, but He gives them respite till anappointed tenn; and when their term is come, they cannot remainbehind a single hour, nor can they go ahead of it.30

(Ch.16: v.62)

The most significant point to be noted is that it is the entire animal lifewhich would be wiped out if man is to be punished. It is evident that theentire lower order of life serves no purpose other than to maintain thehuman life above. If that goes, they all go.

Thus the final all-important question which has to be raised and answeredby philosophers, scientists and those who believe that natural selectionvirtually plays both the role of a selector and a creator in the scheme ofthings, is precisely the following:

They must somehow be combined in the person of the creator and not inthat of a selector who cannot create. This is the only logical conclusionwhich anyone can draw. But this can only lead to God, which the naturalistwould struggle hard to avoid. It was to eliminate this inevitable conclusionthat Darwin attempted to attribute both these functions to naturalselection in an indirect manner. Did Darwin ever present the idea thatnatural selection could also create? To the best of our knowledge, henever did so. He knew, like any intelligent man should have known thatthe role of selection and that of creation are two separate functions. Itwould be far more logical if he who performed the function of creation

57



should also have performed the function of selection out of his owncreation. This could not suit the blind theory of evolution, hence all thehectic effort to eliminate a conscious creator who could also be theselector. However, it is impossible to conceive a separate plan of selectionand a separate plan of creation, both unconscious, yet moving forwardhand in hand. Darwin seems to have resolved this problem by suggestingthat since natural selection approves the bodies created by genes, so in amanner of speaking, natural selection also acquires the role of a creatorin an indirect way.

We have written elsewhere at length, rejecting the proposition that theproducts of genes can be accredited to natural selection directly orindirectly. But here we wish to point out that to attribute creative factorsto genes and to simultaneously deprive them of conscious know-how isinherently contradictory. it is absurdity supreme to begin the evolutionaryjourney from genes without resolving the factors which created genesthemselves. It is impossible for a proponent of Darwinism to demonstratehow natural selection could have played any role in the creation of genes.How and why genes create without possessing the creative faculties of aconscious mind is the question which should have been addressed first. Ina nutshell, a conscious creator of genes has to be identified or it has to beadmitted that unconscious genes created themselves as though they werehighly competent and conscious creative faculties. It is intriguing tovisualize any mindless thing creating itself with masterly dexterity. Thenaturalists begin their journey without investigating this most essentialprerequisite. Their failure to address this question is because ifisimpossible for them to answer it without disrupting their own evolutionaryscheme. The Holy Qur’an has a straightforward answer to resolve thisriddle by declaring:

And thy Lord creates whatever He pleases and selects. It is not forthem to select. Glorified be Allah, and far is He above all that theyassociate.31

(Ch.28: v.69)

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The main thrust of this verse is that the task of selection is primarily theprerogative of the Creator and the two cannot be separated. Godproclaims Himself to be that Creator Who selects from His own creation.This is how it should be and this is exactly what it is. No naturalist canalter this and replace Him with a mindless Creator of his own choice. In adesperate attempt to do so, they try to combine in natural selection theadditional role of a creator. Thus they would much rather believe in aknow-nothing mindless principle both as a selector and a creator - lackingconsciousness either way. They prefer to be fathered by a merenothingness.

All they are left with is a mindless, non-personal, deaf, dumb and blindprinciple which they believe must have created them. Incidentally, thisbrings to mind the saying: likefather, like son. They may take pride in this,but we beg to strongly differ. We much rather prefer to be the work of aCreator Who possesses a supreme mind and the power to implement whatHe designs. We have to believe in Him or we must deny ourselves thefaculties of head and heart which we seem to own. If the non-believershave any option to select, it is here they must exercise that option. Whichof the two creators will they select for themselves, is a matter for themto decide.

REFERENCES28. MOMERENKOV, VY, SHUBINA, L.F. (1982) Use of Honey In Treating Eye Diseases

- Translation of Russian Article: Feldsher Akush.

29. Translation of 7:196 by Maulawi Sher Ali.

30. Translation of 16:62 by the author.

31. Translation of 28:69 by the author.

59




Index of 2002

Natural Selection and Survival of theFittest –Life did not create itself nor did death createlife. A refreshing rational approach to theconcept of evolution.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Assessment of Belief – Part IIConvincing evidence corroborating the claimof Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) that he isthe Promised Messiah and his resemblance tothe Messiah of yore. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Q/A: Distortion of ReligionDistortions of the original message led to theoccult. Also the role of the Messiah is torectify attitudes. Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

My Visit to QadianReview of Religions' staff reporter with aneye witness account of his recent visit.Bockarie Tommy Kallon

Comment: Religious Extremism

Achievments of the PromisedReformerArticle enlisting the major achievementsduring the life of the blessed son of thePromised Messiah(as).Ataul Munim Rasheed

Assessment of Belief – Part IIIThe time appointed for the advent of theMahdi has arrived.

Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Q/A: Harmony and PeaceReligious differences should not prevent acivil life. Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Islam’s Response to TerrorismA keynote address to prevent crashingaeroplanes and sending suicide bombers. Abdul Ghany Jahengeer Khan

A Games of Chess or a Game of ChanceThe spontaneous emergence of life is about aslikely as the assemblage of a 747 by a tornadoand other evidence.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

The Holy Qur’an on War and PeaceAn understanding of Islam’s teachings inwarfare including the treatment of prisoners.Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad

Comment: A time to understand and endhatred.

The Future of Life on EarthOur feature length article looks at theremarkable way the Holy Qur’an deals withthe scenario of continuous evolution on earth,resulting in the creation of a speciesbelonging to an order higher than man.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Assessment of Belief – Part IVThe time appointed for the advent of theMahdi has arrived. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Q/A: Belief in the HereafterSome issues concernign heaven and hell. lifeafter death and re-incarnation are answered.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Fasting in ReligionsA brief look at how Islam has always providedrights for women long before westerncultures introduced them.Mrs Mansoora Hyder-Muneeb

Are the Mountains Moving like theClouds?Mountains may appear to be finally

March 2002

February 2002

January 2002

Index of articles published in Review of Religions 2002


Index of 2002

fixed but their motion is similar to themovement of the clouds. A fresh look at theverses of the Holy Qur’an and their currentscientific interpretation. Dr. Mian M. Abbas

C o m m e n t : Acceptance of the Promised

Messiah(as).

The Pure HeartThe role of the heart in bringing man closer toGod. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Jesus’ Survival from the CrossWhat the Bible tells us about this intriguingepisode. Muzaffar Clarke

Is the Shroud of Turin a MedievalPhotograph? - A Critical Examinationof the Theory:Could the image on the famous cloth be aphotograph? A photographer investigates. Barrie M. Schwortz

The Israelite Origin of People ofAfghanistan and the Kashmiri PeopleLinking the scattered tribes of Israelites withtheir Jewish roots. .Aziz A. Chaudhry

Evidence of Jesus (as) in IndiaHistorical evidence of Jesus’ migration toIndia. Abubakr Ben ishmael Salahuddin

Letter: The Catholic Church in America .

Religious Beliefs of North AmericanIndiansReligious beliefs and practices of theAmerican indians who lived in Canada, USAand Mexico. Zakaria Virk

The Purpose of InitiationThe struggle that only begins with the initiatiand requires the believer to avoid temptationand undergo a demanding programme ofreform.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Organic Systems and EvolutionExamination of organic systems such assensory organs, and their roles and specialfeatures in various species. Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

The Road to Social PeaceComparison of the teachings of various faithsabout the responsibilities of both theindividual within society, and governmenttowards all members of society, and thefacets of both individual and governmentbehaviour that lead to social peace. Fazal Ahmad

Q/A: Continuity of Divine Guidance Issues concerning the rationale for a messiahfrom Islam and Christianity, and the role ofthe Messiah.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Moons of LightUnderstanding from Islam and other faithsabout the nature of Divine Light which is seenon the faces and expressions of prophets.Maulana Bashir Orchard

Comment: Learning lessons from World Cup2002 in Korea andJapan about being goodhosts

Progress of Islam is Dependant UponKhilafatBased on a speech given in Germany in 1989.Imam Ataul Mujeeb Rashed

Patience and SteadfastnessHardships and the attainment of spiritualprogression.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

June 2002

May 2002

April 2002

The Bondage of Sin – part IExtract from an article that appeared in theJanuary 1902 Review of Religions.

The Blind Watchmaker who is alsoDeaf and Dumb – Part IContinuing our serialisation of the bookRevelation, Rationality Knowledge and Truth.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Comment: Political Economics.

The Pillars of IslamStudy into the philosophy behind the pillarsof Islam and their real significance.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Teotihuacàn – Religious Capital ofCentral AmericaA look at the religious significance of this cityand its sudden disappearance.Fazal Ahmad

Q/A: Interpretation of Sharia – Part 2Answers to questions in Nigeria related to theenforcement of Sharia Law and its perceived harsh nature.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Life Sketch – Bashir Ahmad OrchardBrief autobiography of a former editorof this magazine who passed away in July2002.

Judaism – A short IntroductionA short introduction based on a speech givenat a multi-religious function.David Grunweg

The Blind Watchmaker who is alsoDeaf and Dumb – Part IIContinuing our serilisation of the bookRevelation, Rationality Knowledge and Truth.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

A Century Ago: The first editorialpublished in the Review of Religions statingthe purpose of this publication .

Islam and the Global Quest forSustainable DevelopmentA review of some of the major environmentalissues issues facing the world today andIslam’s answers to these.Dr. Abd Latif Busari

The Purpose of Religious DifferencesDiscussion on why and how religious debateshould be conducted.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

The Blind Watchmaker who is alsoDeaf and Dumb – Part IIIContinuing our serialisation of the bookRevelation, Rationality Knowledge and Truth.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

The Bondage of Sin – part IIConcluding part of an extract from anextremely popular article that appeared inthe January 1902 Review of Religions.

Comment: A Second Coming.

The Blind Watchmaker who is alsoDeaf and Dumb – Part IVHow could the wonders of the honeybee haveevolved without a conscious designer? Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Decree and Destiny The relationship between prayer and Divinedetermination.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Concept of Jihad Understanding the true interpretation ofJihad from the Holy Qur’an, traditions of the Holy Prophet (sa) and writings of the PromisedMessiah(as) .Bilal Atkinson – UK

The Blessings of Khilafat Keynote address drawing a parallel betweenIslamic teachings and the Universal

September 2002

August 2002

July 2002


Index of 2002

Declaration of Human Rights.Rafiq Ahmad Hayat – Amir UK

Ramadan – Part I An exposition on the philosophy andimportance of fasting in the month ofRamadan. Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Comment: Moving On.

Unity v. Trinity – Part IA critical review of Trinity from aphilosophical and historical perspective.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Ramadan – Part II How fasting during Ramadan can purify manspiritually as well as physically.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Reformation – Part ITrue spirituality lies in the sincerity in humanaction and not just in the actions themselves.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

The Fazl Mosque – A Mosque for AllTimeAn insight into the significance of this mosqueover the last 50 years. Hananah Zaheer

Braheen-e-Ahmadiyya – A MonumentalBookA look at some aspects of this monumentalwork that remains unmatched in itsdefence of Islam. Dr. Latif Ahmad Qureshi

Islam and ScienceA brief review of how some recent theoriesare proving the truth of the Qur’an. Rafi Ahmad

Comment: An Aids Memoire

100 Year History of the MagazineA brief review of how some recent theories

are proving the truth of the Qur’an. Rafi Ahmad – California, USA

Unity v. Trinity – Part IIThe divinity of Jesus ( a s ) coniderd withreference to the extent of his mission.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Centenary Message: From HadhratKhalifatul Masih IV.

The Palestinian QuestionOur feature length article is a transcript of thespeech delivered in the UN prior to thecreation of Israel which aimed to achievejustice for all parties concernedChaudhry Zafrulla Khan

Reformation – Part IIIntention and true desire make actions pureand lead to internal spiritual reformation.Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)

Q/A: Spiritual GuidanceThe need for Prophethood and guidance fromthe Divine.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Christianity UncoveredDiscoveries through research and archaeologyover the last 100 years have provided insightinto the truth behind modern Christianity.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Islamic Tolerance and the Concept ofJihadAddress delivered in the presence of thePresident of Mauritius on the promotion ofpeace, the Charter of Freedom and the trueconcept of JihadImam Ataul Mujeeb Rashed

The Blind Watchmaker who is alsoDeaf and Dumb – Part VContinuing our serialisation of Revelation,Rationality, Knowledge and Truth.Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

Comment: Christmas and Eid are a time forthe family.

December 2002

November 2002

October 2002


Index of 2002

We hope you have enjoyed reading thisedition of the magazine. The Review ofReligions will continue to prov i d ediscussion on a wide range of subjectsand welcomes any comments orsuggestions from its readers.

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