monthly Journal of the Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam. Presenting Islam as a tolerant, liberal and peaceful religion as practiced by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s).
ْ م ِ اہللِ الرَّْحم ٰ
سب
ِ ی م الرَّحم
ن
ِ
The Light
International Organ of the Centre for the Worldwide
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam
2017
April
April
2016
The only Islamic organisation upholding the finality of prophethood.
Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at
www.virtualmosque.co.uk
This issue is dedicated to the memory of P.C Keith Lambert, who died so that we may live.
Editors
Shahid Aziz & Mustaq Ali – UK;
Zainib Ahmad – USA; Gowsia Selim - India
Contents
The Call of the Messiah 2
Islamophobia, Real or Contrived 3
By Mr Ebrahim Mohamed
What is Enlightenment in Islam? 5
By Muqtedar Khan
World Interfaith Harmony Week 10
By HRH Prince Ghazi
bin Muhammad
Broadcasts (UK time)
1. Skype Urdu lecture: Sunday 09:00
2. Live on www.virtualmosque.co.uk
‣ Friday Sermon 13:00
‣ First Sunday of month lecture 15:00.
3. Radio Radio Virtual Mosque
Websites
1. International HQ
2. Research and History
3. The Woking Mosque and Mission
4. The Berlin Mosque and Mission
5. Quran search
6. Blog
Our Recent English Broadcasts
‣ Charity in Islam Mr Nasir Ahmad discusses
the concept of charity in Islam and
points out that it is not only a religious, but
also a social obligation of every Muslim.
‣ Equal Opportunities for all Mankind.
Mr Mustaq Ali discusses chapter 107 of the
Holy Quran to show that there is no discrimination
on any basis in providing citizens
with opportunities in education or employment.
‣ Spiritual Advancement Through Good
Deeds. Mr Talha Adnan discusses spiritual
advancement in Islam. He explains that, in
Islam, doing good to others is a very important
part of seeking closeness to Allah.
‣ The Jinn in Islam Dr Jawad Ahmad looks
at the concept of the Jinn and explains the correct
interpretation from the Quranic precepts.
Interesting external links
‣ In the US, a Muslim soldier is refused a
gun!
‣ Following Orders and what Stanley
Morgan did.
‣ Which is the Zero Eco-foot Print Parliament?
‣ Women at the Top - Rather a Lack of
Them
‣ King David's clothes discovered.
I Shall Love All Mankind.
April 2017 The
Light 2
The Innocent Made Immortal
on 22 nd March 2017
Keith
Lambert Kurt Cochran Aysha Frade
And Leslie Rhodes
The Call of the Messiah
by
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad,
The Promised Messiah and
Mahdi
Different states of mind in five daily
prayers
What are the five daily prayer services?
They are pictures of your different states of
mind during the course of the day. You experienced
five conditions at a time of trial and your
nature demands that you must pass through
them.
The first of these is when you are warned
that you are about to be afflicted with a calamity.
For instance, imagine that a warrant has
been issued for your presence in court. This is
the first condition which disturbs your serenity
and contentment. This condition resembles the
time when the sun begins to decline, as on the
receipt of the court warrant. Corresponding to
this condition, the noon prayer (Zuhr) has been
prescribed, the time of which begins with the
decline of the sun.
You experience the second condition when
you are drawn close to the place of the calamity.
For instance, when having been taken into custody
under the warrant you are presented before
the magistrate. At that time, you are in terror
and the light of security seems as if it is
about to depart from you. This condition resembles
the time when the light of the sun diminishes
and the human eye can fix itself upon the
sun and it becomes obvious that the time of its
setting is near. Corresponding to this spiritual
I Shall Love All Mankind.
condition the afternoon prayer (`Asr) service
has been prescribed.
The third condition sets in when you lose all
hope of deliverance from the calamity. For instance,
when, after the recording of the prosecution
evidence, which is designed to bring
about your ruin, you are charged with an offence
and a charge-sheet is prepared. At this
time, you almost lose your senses and you begin
to think of yourself as a prisoner. That condition
resembles the time when the sun sets and hope
of daylight comes to an end. The sunset prayer
service (Maghrib) is prescribed in relation to
this spiritual condition.
The fourth condition is when you are afflicted
by the calamity and its deep darkness envelops
you completely. For instance, when, after
the close of the evidence you are convicted and
sentenced and are committed to the custody of
the police. This condition resembles the time of
night-fall, when everything falls into deep darkness.
The evening prayer service (`Isha) is prescribed
in conformity with this spiritual condition.
When you have spent a certain time in the
darkness of the affliction, Divine mercy surges
up and delivers you from the darkness, as the
dawn succeeds the darkness of the night and
daylight begins to appear. The dawn prayer service
(Fajr) is prescribed corresponding to this
spiritual condition. Allah, Most High, in view of
your five changing states of mind has prescribed
five prayer services for you. You can thus understand
that these services have been prescribed
for the benefit of your soul. If you desire
security against these calamities, you should not
neglect the five daily services as they are a reflection
of your inner and spiritual conditions.
Prayer is a remedy for the calamities that may
threaten. You know not what type of circumstances
the new day may confront you with. So,
before the beginning of the day, entreat your Divine
Master earnestly that the day may prove to
be a source of benefit and blessing for you.
(Kishti-i Nuh — Noah’s Ark, continued)
If you desire security against these calamities,
you should not neglect the five daily
services as they reflect your inner and
spiritual conditions.
April 2017 The
Light 3
Islamophobia, Real or
Contrived?
Real Threat to World Peace.
Compiled by Ebrahim Mohamed, South Africa
Islam offers Peace and Justice – Not
Fear!
The very name ‘Islam’ means Peace! Muslims
who do not live up to this lofty ideal, like
the minority terror groups, do not represent
Islam. Any unbiased seeker of truth will tell you
that true governance, according to the rule
Book of Islam, the Holy Quran, is based on
equality, justice and high moral standards. Such
was the example set by the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Holy
Quran testifies to this fact: “Certainly, you have
in the Messenger of God (i.e. Muhammad) an excellent
exemplar” (33:21).
Many renowned academics, clerics and
statesmen from different faiths who studied the
life of the Prophet Muhammad (may peace and
the blessings of God be upon him) as an historical
figure, have come to some fascinating conclusions.
Here are some examples to reflect
upon:
George Bernard Shaw, well-known Irish
dramatist and Nobel Prize recipient for Literature
said:
“I have studied him (Muhammad) - the
wonderful man . . . He was by far the most
remarkable man that ever set foot on this
earth. He preached a religion, founded a
The very name ‘Islam’
means Peace! Muslims
who do not live up to
this lofty ideal, like the
minority terror groups,
do not represent Islam.
state, built a nation, laid down a moral code,
initiated numerous social and political reforms,
established a powerful and dynamic
society to practice and represent his teachings
and completely revolutionized the
worlds of human thought and behaviour for
all times to come.
I Shall Love All Mankind.
I have always held the religion of Muhammad
in high estimation because of its wonderful
vitality.
It is the only
GBS - ‘he
religion which
(Muhammad)
must
appears to me
to possess that
be called a
assimilating
Saviour of
capacity to the
Humanity.’
changing
phase of existence
which
can make itself appeal to every age. I have
studied him – the wonderful man and in my
opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he
must be called a Saviour of Humanity.
I believe that if a man like him were to assume
the dictatorship of the modern world
he would succeed in solving its problem in
a way that would bring much needed peace
and happiness. I have prophesied about the
faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable
to the Europe of tomorrow as it is
beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of
today.”
The Rev. Bosworth Smith, carefully studied
the life of Prophet Muhammad, and in his
book, Mohammad and Mohammadism, published
in 1874, writes:
“Head of the State as well as the Church, he
was Caesar and Pope in one; but, he was
Pope without the Pope’s pretensions, and
Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without
a standing army, without a bodyguard,
without a police force, without a fixed revenue.
If ever a man had the right to say that
he ruled by a right divine, it was Muhammad,
for he had all the powers without
their supports. He cared not for the dressings
of power. The simplicity of his private
life was in keeping with his public life.”
Annie Besant, a prominent British
women’s rights activist, writer and spokesperson
for the National Secular Society, wrote in
her book, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad
(1932), p.4:
April 2017 The
Light 4
“It is impossible for anyone who studies the
life and character of the great Prophet of
Arabia, who knew how he taught and how
he lived, to feel anything but reverence for
that mighty
Boswoth Smith - If
ever a man had the
right to say that he
Prophet, one of
the great messengers
of the
ruled by a right divine,
Supreme. And
it was Muham-
mad,
although in what
I put to you I
shall say many
things which may be familiar to many, yet I
myself feel, whenever I reread them, a new
way of admiration, a new sense of reverence
for that mighty Arabian teacher.”
Mahatma Gandhi, the pre-eminent leader
of the Indian Independence Movement in British-ruled
India, and the person to whom modern
day non-violence movements trace their
roots (like that of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.’s
civil rights movement), after studying the life of
Prophet Muhammad wrote:
“I became more than ever convinced that it
was not the sword that won a place for Islam
in those days in the scheme of life. It
was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement
of the prophet, the scrupulous regard
for his pledges, his intense devotion to
his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his
fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and
his own mission. These, and not the sword,
carried everything before them and surmounted
every trouble.”
Alphonso La Martine, famous French historian,
wrote in his, Histoire de la Turqe, 1854,
Vol 2:
“If greatness of purpose, smallness of
means and astounding results, are three criteria
of human genius, who would dare to
compare any great man in modern history
with Muhammad?”
Dr Michael Hart, an American, scientist by
profession, more recently, studied important
historical figures and ranked the top 100 most
influential persons in history. He published his
rankings in a book titled: The 100 and number
I Shall Love All Mankind.
one on his list was the “Prophet Muhammad”.
He writes:
“He [Muhammad] was the only man in history
who was supremely successful on both
the secular and religious level . . . It is this
unparalleled combination of the secular
and religious influence which I feel entitles
Muhammad to be considered to be the most
influential single figure in human history.”
Similarly, it was stated in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica that the Prophet Muhammad
was:
“. . . that most successful of all prophets and
religious personalities.” (11th edition, under
‘Koran’, 1st paragraph)
Distinguishing characteristic of the
Holy Prophet Muhammad (s):
From an orphan to a king of a great empire,
the Holy Prophet Muhammad passed through
all phases of life so that he was able to provide
a model for people in many different roles.
If he had not been a labourer, he could not
have revealed the value and integrity in working
with one’s own hands and earning an honest
living.
If he had not in his youth organized grassroots
campaigns to
serve the poor and it was not the
protect the weaker sword that won
members of society, a place for Islam
he could not have - Gandhi
been an inspiration
for socially conscious community organizers.
If he had not married, he would have left
people unguided in practically half of their daily
interactions, and could not have shown how to
be a kind and affectionate spouse and a loving
parent.
If he had not been the head of an armed
force, he could not have served as an example
for a responsible general or an accountable
commander-in-chief in the fight for justice.
If he had not formed rules and regulations
April 2017 The
Light 5
for his community, he could not have been regarded
as an example for a conscientious legislator.
If he had not been in the position to decide
disputes among people, he could not have
served as a model for an impartial judge or effective
mediator.
If he had not had life-long friends, he could
not have shown the beauty in true and trusted
companionship.
And if he had not been persecuted by tyrants,
and then overcome his persecuting enemies,
and forgiven them without enforcing any
punishment against them, he could not have
practically illustrated the lessons on compassion,
mercy and forgiveness that are contained
in all revealed scriptures.
According to the Holy Quran Muhammad
was raised as a ‘mercy’ for all the worlds – not
as a threat to peace to be feared by anyone.
Finally, Thomas Carlyle, famous Scottish
philosopher, writer and historian, considered
one of the most important social commentators
of his time, who produced the famed work On
Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History,
after studying the life of Prophet Muhammad,
concedes:
The lies (from western critics), which wellmeaning
zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad)
are disgraceful to ourselves only. (emphasis
is mine)
We strongly condemn all acts of violence
and the abuses of the rights of all humankind
and the rest of God’s creation – we especially
condemn, at the top of our voices,
the ruthless killings conducted in the name
of Religion or State!
What is Enlightenment?
An Islamic Perspective
M. A Muqtedar Khan,
University of Delaware
(First printed in Journal of Religion & Society
vol. 16 produced by The Kripke Center)
Abstract
The lies (from western critics), which
well-meaning zeal has heaped round this
man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves
only. Thomas Carlyle
This essay draws on Immanuel Kant’s concept
of enlightenment as an escape from selfimposed
ignorance and argues that a similar
concept of enlightenment can be understood
within the Muslim context as escape from selfimposed
jahiliyyah 1 , which is understood as fear
to exercise reason publicly. The article advocates
for ijtihad 2 , is critical of Taqlid 3 , and invokes
Islamic sources to invest confidence in
contemporary use of reason for interpreting Islam.
Return of Jahiliyyah
An Enlightenment has come ب ِكُمْ ۖ
to you from your Lord (Quran 6:104).
قَدْ جَٓاءَكُم بَصَ ٓائِرُ مِن ر ََّ
For nearly a millennium and a half, Muslims
have understood Islam as a human condition
that is antithetical to jahiliyyah (ignorance).
Most historical and religious accounts of Islam
begin with a discussion of the state of ignorance
in Arabia and often use it as a benchmark to underscore
the civilizing influence of Islam on the
barbaric Arabs of pre-Islamic Arabia. The great
Islamic civilization that was produced with the
explosion of knowledge in the fields of philosophy,
science, sociology, medicine, and mathematics
still remains a central influence on Islamic
identity and an example of the indubitable
truth of Islam and its transformative potential.
In the same vein, the rationality of Islamic
beliefs and Islamic socio-political order remains
a major theme in the discourses of Islamic
intellectuals, scholars, and preachers. The
point I seek to make is simple: Muslims have always
understood Islam as enlightenment, the
path that rescued humanity from ignorance, irrationality,
and superstitions and catapulted
1 Jahaliya – Arabic term used for the period in Arabia
before the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(s) meaning days of ignorance.
I Shall Love All Mankind.
2 Ijtihad – Use of reason.
3 Taqlid – Blindly following the religious decrees
of religious authorities.
April 2017 The
Light 6
human society towards the apex of civilization,
towards the realization of a perfect community
based on divine principles.
The present Ummah 4 can hardly be described
as a perfect community or as one that is
organized around divine principles. It clearly
lacks enlightenment. This is not to deny the
presence of many enlightened individuals and
even movements, but the overall condition of
the global Muslim community can hardly be described
as worthy of emulation. Indeed, modern
revivalist thinkers of Islam are conceptualizing
the present age as an age of jahiliyyah. Here ignorance
is defined as the absence of Islam as the
central fountain from which society derives its
organizational principles. In order to understand
the fundamental causes behind this state
of decay, we need to understand what enlightenment
is and how it relates to the vigour of societies.
We need to learn to recognize the conditions
that indicate the presence or absence of
enlightenment in society and to elaborate, for
popular consumption, why Islamization is enlightenment.
Kant’s Conception of Enlightenment
In order to elucidate the meaning of the
term “enlightenment,” I wish to turn to a famous
essay by Immanuel Kant, originally published
in Berlinische Monatsschrift in December
1784, “An Answer to the Question: What is
Enlightenment?” In this essay, Kant, one of the
great philosophers of European enlightenment,
defines enlightenment as “Man’s emergence
from a self-imposed immaturity.” An enlightened
man for Kant was “one who had the courage
to use his own understanding.” In Islamic
terms, this means one is competent to do one’s
own ijtihad (independent thinking). Kant was
seeking to liberate human reason from the
shackles of stagnant religious traditions that
had deprived humanity of the freedom to use
reason. He lamented the fact that, due to indolence
and cowardice, a great proportion of humanity
remained in a state of immaturity and
subcontracted their thinking and faculties of
judgment to others. For Kant, immaturity was
the inability of an individual to rely on one’s
own understanding. Kant argued further that
society could come out of such a state only if
“people had the courage and freedom to use
reason publicly in all matters.”
The significance of Kant’s analysis and prescriptions
for modern Muslims is enormous.
The present Ummah exists in a state of unparalleled
immaturity. Not only has the capacity to
think independently and freely nearly disappeared,
it has become illegitimate. Attempts to
institutionalize and democratize the spirit of
ijtihad inspire fear among the masses and incite
anger, resentment, and opposition from the
Ulema. The Ulema, by generating discourses
that have instilled a fear of reason and independent
thought, have rendered the Islamic
Ummah incapable of relying on its own judgment.
The Ummah seems to know only one way
– Taqlid (imitation). 5 The present Muslim world
attempts to either ape the West or ape the past
(a glorified and nebulous golden age). Sadly, we
fail to realize that even to be good at imitation
requires creativity and initiative. The condition
of immaturity or jahiliyyah has become so widespread
that the Ulema, too, have become immature,
have ceased to rely on their own rational
faculties, and have surrendered the cardinal
function of “judgment/reasoning” to the scholarship
and religious judgement of a canonized
and sacralised privileged elite from the second
and third centuries of Islam. True religious
scholarship has been reduced to memorization
and recycling of medieval opinions and methodologies.
New scholars are appreciated as long as
they are seen as revivers of the past, and those
who seek to reform or institute new practices
are immediately viewed with suspicion. We remain
a civilization that is petrified to think, following
those who refuse to think. In the absence
of new, invigorating thought, widespread immaturity
prevails.
From Taqlid to Ijtihad
The twentieth century has proved to be
4 Ummah – The Muslim Community.
I Shall Love All Mankind.
5 On what is Taqlid [the blind imitation of
madhahib], often seen as an antithetical view to
the ijtihadi view, see Ahmed: 42-47.
April 2017 The
Light 7
more fortunate for the Ummah. More and more
Muslims have mustered the courage to rely on
their own reason and have sought to understand
Islam and make it more relevant and
meaningful to contemporary life. The impact of
their ijtihad is unprecedented. Global movements
for the revival of Islam have mushroomed
and the power and vitality of Islamic
principles and ideas have galvanized Muslims
everywhere. Nevertheless, the shadow of immaturity
or jahiliyyah continues to dog even the
most vibrant of Islamic movements. It is my fear
that we may lose the momentum that independent
thought spawned by thinkers like Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan and Muhammad Abduh, Fazlur
Rahman and Malik Bennabi, Syed Nursi and Ali
Bulac, Abdolkarim Soroush, Javed Ghamdi, and
Tariq Ramadan and many others have provided.
This fear stems from my perception that independent
thinking still remains spectacular but
episodic, revolutionary but rare. We need independent
thinking to become routine. The followers
of some of these great thinkers have not
emulated their leaders’ spirit of ijtihad and
movements that have sprung from some of their
ideas have once again institutionalized Taqlid.
In this discussion, I am clearly departing
from the traditional Islamic understanding of
the term jahiliyyah. I am referring to the refusal
of Muslims in general to rely on their own judgment
and reasoning as Jahiliyyah. Taqlid without
reflection is jahiliyyah, immaturity, and lack
of enlightenment. I would like to point out how
the concept of jahiliyyah itself has evolved.
From the Quran, we can glean that jahiliyyah
means the ignorance of the all-powerful, merciful,
and omniscient God. Ignorance in the Quran
is defined basically as ignorance of God, God’s
nature and attributes, and God’s expectations of
humanity. Subsequently, in the discourses of Islamic
scholars, the term jahiliyyah slowly
evolved to mean ignorance of Islamic principles
and ignorance of what it takes to be a good Muslim.
This understanding still dominates traditional
discourses. Recent endeavours at ijtihad
by the pioneers of contemporary Islamic revival
have redefined jahiliyyah as absence of Islamic
governance. This understanding of jahiliyyah is
I Shall Love All Mankind.
largely due to the political polemics of Maulana
Maududi (from the Indian sub-continent) and
Syed Qutb (Egypt). Unfortunately, their followers,
too, remain in a state of jahiliyyah, for they
have fallen into the habit of imitating their new
demigods and sacrificed their own capacity,
right, and duty to think. This is clearly evident
in the immature and often violent manner in
which they respond to any disagreement or criticism
of these new masters. These reactions are
very similar to the reactions of the traditional
Ulema and their followers to any attempt at approaching
the Islamic heritage from a critical
perspective. This is another manifestation that
the Muslim Ummah exists in a state of self-imposed
jahiliyyah. How does one escape this stifling
and stultifying condition? How do we
move from immaturity to enlightenment? How
do we spark what Kant calls an age of enlightenment,
a precursor to the enlightened society?
An Islamic Perspective of Enlightenment
It is important that we first understand enlightenment
and its Islamic nature. The Quran
describes the human being as the best of creations,
and this claim is premised on the human
ability to reason (95:4).
have indeed created man in the best of molds
(Quran 95:4)
ٓ أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيم َّ
We ل َقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱْلِْنسَنَ ِفِ
The Quran does not invite blind followers; it
demands and exhorts us to reflect and use our
reason to read God’s signs in nature, history,
and text (12:109). In all its presentations, the
Quran presents evidence and proofs and, indeed,
demands arguments and proofs from
those who disbelieve its message. There is no
suggestion or expectation in the Quran that the
human being ceases to be the best of creations
and becomes an ape (reversing evolution!). The
Quran does not ask believers to surrender their
reasoning capacity, the very faculty on which it
is relying for the cognition of God. It is reason,
not ritual, which connects humanity with
the divine, and this theme is the central essence
of the Quran. Until the guardians of Islam
and Muslims, their intellectuals, and
their Ulema realize and emphasize this at
every opportunity, the Muslim community
will remain immature.
April 2017 The
Light 8
Once a man came to Umm Ayesha, the wife
of Prophet Muhammad (s), and asked her to describe
to him the character of the late Prophet
of Islam (Imam Muslim). Ayesha’s reply was at
once succinct and deeply profound. She said,
Have you not read the Quran? The Prophet’s
character was the embodiment of the Quran itself.
This tradition is very well known and often
invoked in the praise of the Prophet and to invite
Muslims to imitate the Prophet. Unfortunately,
very little substantive analysis of what
Ayesha meant is available in contemporary popular
discourses. The tradition is used to inspire
awe in the Prophet and to generate deep respect
for his persona, but little else. There is rarely
any effort made at advancing the meaning of
this equation in terms of the Prophet’s qualities
and the Quran’s character. The Quran, besides
other things, is also the best tafseer (exegesis)
of itself. The Quran describes itself, as the
bearer of the truth and most importantly as Furqan:
Blessed تَبَارَكَ ٱل َذِى نَز َلَ ٱل ْفُرْقَانَ عََلَ ٰ عَبْدِهِۦ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَلَمِنيَ نَذِيرًا
is He Who hath revealed unto His slave the Criterion
(of right and wrong), that he may be a
warner to the peoples (Quran 25.1)
فُرْقَانً ًۭا وََّيُكَف ِرْ عَنكُمْ سَيِ َاتِكُ ْم
يَٓأَي ُهَا ٱل َذِينَ ءَامَنُو ٓ ا۟ إِن تَت َقُوا۟ َ ٱّلل َ َيَ ْعَل ل َكُمْ
O ye who believe! if ye fear وَيَغْفِرْ ل َكُمْ ۗ وَٱّلل َ ُ ذُو ٱل ْفَضْ لِ ٱل ْعَظِ يمَِّ
Allah, He will grant you a criterion (to judge between
right and wrong), remove from you (all)
evil (that may afflict) you, and forgive you: for
Allah is the Lord of grace unbounded. (Quran
8.29)
Furqan means “criterion for judgment” or
“capacity to discern.” It also means to differentiate
between the right and wrong, and between
justice and injustice. This understanding of the
Quran implies that the Prophet’s personality,
which is the prototype for a Muslim, is the embodiment
of the capacity to judge. If this is what
Ayesha meant, then it means that to be like the
Prophet is to have Furqan, which is to be capable
of discernment.
One of the enduring myths of Islamic beliefs
is the extreme glorification of early Muslims.
Muslim scholars, searching for authority (necessary
in the absence of reason) to support
I Shall Love All Mankind.
their interpretations of Islam created a hierarchy
of interpretive privilege in Islam. The veracity
of a particular opinion depends upon the
personality and reputation of the person with
whom it corresponds. The Prophet is on the top
of the pyramid, followed by his companions,
then come the companions of the companions,
followed by the classical scholars. While the status
of the Prophet is indubitable, the rest of the
pyramid weighs upon the reason of subsequent
generations of Muslims to the point that today,
even to disagree with a companion or with one
of the classical scholars leads to calls for excommunication
(takfir) and even endangers life itself.
Islamic scholars have subtly propagated
the myth that early Muslims are far superior in
intellect and virtue than later Muslims no matter
what the issue is and, therefore, contemporary
understandings and interpretations must
defer to past understandings and interpretations.
Such a hierarchy cannot be derived from the
Quran without prejudicial interpretation of
Quranic phrases like “Are they equal, those who
know and those who do not” (39:9). This creative
interpretation with selective references to
the ahadith (traditions) has created a prison
from which Muslim thinking finds it impossible
to escape. The opinions of early jurists, which
even for them were contingent on time and
place, have today become the default for divine
law. Human opinions are treated as if they were
the very words of God and often there is no differentiation
between the opinions of say, Imam
Al-Shafi, (a prominent medieval jurist) and laws
of Allah. To challenge the eminent jurist’s opinions
or even to subject them to a critical analysis
is interpreted as an assault on Islam and Allah’s
divine Shariah. This has led to an incredibly
tragic state of things, where to think is tantamount
to not only launching an un-Islamic project
but an anti-Islamic one. Thinking has been
rendered illegitimate because it necessarily
threatens the hegemony of past opinions.
There are many traditions of the Prophet
wherein he has praised Muslims who would
come later. In one such remarkable tradition,
the Prophet describes later Muslims as his
brothers, who are even closer to him than his
April 2017 The
Light 9
companions (Imam Muslim: CI 482). It is not really
possible to definitively argue from the
sources that the understanding of Islam of later
Muslims will be inferior to that of early Muslims.
However, Muslim eschatology argues that
there will be general moral decay in society as
we approach doomsday, but these arguments
serve a debilitating purpose. Consider the paradox:
if our objective is to revive Islamic society
and emulate the moral excellence of early Muslims,
then we must at least be their equals to
replicate their efforts. Indeed, we have to be
better than them for they improved themselves
with the help of the Prophet and we have to do
it without his direct personal guidance.
The other alternative is to surrender to the
inertia of history and let things be. Why bother
to emulate those who are inimitable. If things
are destined to get progressively worse as we
approach doomsday, then why even raise the
call for revival? It would be destined to fail. Indeed
the general lethargy in the global Muslim
community suggests that such a tacit condition
has already materialized. But when some Muslims
look at other non-Muslim societies and remark,
like Muhammad Abduh did upon visiting
the West, that “I see Islam without Muslims,” we
realize that indeed for some people it is still
possible to produce Islamic values in real life.
The reality of this is extremely disturbing. First,
we concede that perhaps humanity is degenerating
and cannot aspire to equal those who lived
centuries ago. And then we find that some people
are able to emulate the past Islamic glory
even without the explicit assistance of Islamic
sources. These conditions simultaneously suggest
that nothing is wrong with humanity itself;
it is only Muslims who are declining.
How, if at all, can Muslims as a community
come out of this inertia of immaturity and inspire
an age of enlightenment? I think that the
route to this noble end is through a collective
emergence from this self-imposed jahiliyyah.
This task requires major changes in the outlook
of Muslim intellectuals as well as Muslims in
general. Our self-imposed immaturity does not
stem from a complete disregard for reason; on
the contrary, it stems from a lack of self-confidence.
We need to encourage the use of reason,
which we refuse to do so even when freedom is
I Shall Love All Mankind.
available to us. We also need confidence in our
inherent capacity to understand, interpret, and
apply Islam in our context. Our problem is not
the lack of freedom to use reason, but the lack
of freedom to use Islamic texts directly. We have
to come out from the feeling of inferiority towards
the Muslims of the past, take our destinies
in our hands and chart our own straight
path.
Muslim intellectuals and scholars must stop
acting as if they are defenders and guardians of
Islam. This position inevitably leads to the conservativeness
of thought. The responsibility of
defending and safeguarding Islam is Allah’s responsibility
and he has said so clearly. It is this
fear that Islam will be diluted, misinterpreted,
and distorted by contemporary Muslims who
are inherently inferior that must be discarded.
Muslims must stop performing God’s task of
safeguarding his message and start performing
the human task of understanding and acting
upon this message. Muslim scholars and intellectuals
need to change the psyche of the
masses by focusing attention not on what Islam
is but on what Muslims do. The artefact of separating
Islam from Muslims allows Muslims to
have the best religion with the worst followers.
The only way to escape this is to deconstruct the
myth of the essential Islam and argue that Islam
is what Muslims do and shift the burden of manifesting
Islam on to human actions and away
from sacred, un-implemented texts. We have to
realize that Islamic civilization, in its totality, inclusive
of its best and its worst, is also a tafseer
(exegesis) of the Quran. Therefore, it is not
enough to glorify ideas confined to text. They
are meaningless until they are realized in this
duniya (world).
Conclusion
The Muslim community must be made to realize
that our generations, the communities after
the advent of Prophet Muhammad, the Seal
of Prophets, are the best of all generations.
Never has God ever trusted a people without a
prophet. There are going to be no more new
messengers or messages from the All-Mighty.
We are for the first time on our own. We have
the revelation and so did past communities. But
they all needed Prophets to guide them.
April 2017 The
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Even the great Sahabah (companions of
Prophet Muhammad) lived life as pagans and in
ignorance before Prophet Muhammad came to
them as a guide and messenger. But the present
Muslim Ummah is the only Ummah that Allah
has trusted to act on its own. The only difference
is that, unlike the messages of earlier
prophets, Allah has promised to safeguard his
revelations to Prophet Muhammad. We have to
live up to God’s expectations. And we cannot do
that until we become capable of acting on our
own judgment, until we are strong and courageous
enough to understand and apply his message
in our times. Maturity and enlightenment
at one level means simply living in our times.
We must escape the prisons of past authorities
and past achievements and focus on our task at
hand. Very simply, we must grow up and take
responsibility. Be enlightened and act mature.
To achieve this noble end, we need to encourage
in every possible manner, the confidence that
we are capable of understanding and realizing
the maqasid (purpose) of Islam and foster a culture
of tolerance for those who have the courage
to think.
Any grandiose project towards the development
of democracy and pluralism, or towards
the respect of freedom – freedom to believe and
freedom to chart one’s own destiny – will not
gain any foothold in the Islamic World until the
condition of self-imposed immaturity is alleviated.
Until individual Muslims and their intellectuals
and scholars can dare to pass judgment
on the present, and view their heritage from a
critical perspective without allowing the past to
prejudice them, until then freedom of thought
and action – a constitutive element of Islamic
society – will remain beyond our grasp.
World Interfaith Harmony
Week
H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
delivers
H.M. King Abdullah II’s proposal at UN
Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem Mr. President,
I have the honour to introduce, on behalf
of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the 29
I Shall Love All Mankind.
other co-sponsors Albania, Azerbaijan; Bahrain;
Bangladesh; Costa Rica; the Dominican Republic;
Egypt; El Salvador; Georgia; Guatemala;
Guyana; Honduras; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Liberia;
Libya; Mauritius; Morocco; Oman; Paraguay;
Qatar; the Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia;
Tanzania; Tunisia; Turkey; the United Arab
Emirates; Uruguay and Yemen, the draft resolution
A/65/L5 entitled the ‘World Interfaith Harmony
Week’.
Allow me to explain in brief the reasoning
behind this resolution which was launched by
H.M. King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein before the
United Nations General Assembly on September
23 rd 2010.
As this august assembly is well aware, our
world is rife with religious tension and, sadly,
mistrust, dislike and hatred. These religious
tensions can easily erupt into communal violence.
They also facilitate the demonizing of the
other which in turn predisposes public opinion
to support war against peoples of other religions.
Thus, for example, according to the results
of the 2008 Gallup Poll one of the largest
international religious surveys in history 53%
of Westerners have ‘unfavourable’ or ‘very unfavourable’
opinions of Muslims and 30% of
Muslims polled worldwide hold negative views
of Christians.
The misuse or abuse of religions can thus be
a cause of world strife, whereas religions should
be a great foundation for facilitating world
peace. The remedy for this problem can only
come from the world’s religions themselves. Religions
must be part of the solution, not part of
the problem. Much good work has already been
done towards this starting really with the Second
Vatican Council from 1962-1965 by hundreds
of intra-faith and interfaith groups all
over the world and of all religions. Yet the forces
inciting inter-religious tensions (notable among
them being religious fundamentalisms of various
kinds) are better organized, more experienced,
better coordinated, more motivated and
more ruthless. They have more stratagems,
more institutes, more money, more power and
garner more publicity such that they by far outweigh
all the positive work done by the various
interfaith initiatives. The sad proof of this is that
April 2017 The
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religious tensions are on the rise, not on the decline.
Mr. President, Turning now to the text itself,
allow me to explain some of its most essential
terminology and concepts: 1) In the very title
of the resolution and in the second operative
paragraph and elsewhere, the word ‘harmony’
is used in the Chinese sense of the term. We add
it to the term ‘tolerance’ (which we have also
used) because ‘tolerance’ can suggest that the
other is so negative they have to be ‘tolerated’;
we cannot use ‘acceptance’ because it implies
that religions accept each other’s doctrines rather
than their right to those doctrines and this
is not the case; we cannot use the term ‘peace’
alone because it suggests merely the absence of
war, and not necessarily the absence of hatred.
Only the Confucian concept of ‘harmony’ can
rescue us here because it suggests not merely
‘peace’, but also ‘beautiful and dynamic interaction
between different elements within a
whole’.
2) In the third operative paragraph, there
is mention of ‘Love of God and Love of the
Neighbour, or Love of the Good and Love of the
Neighbour’. Why is this religious reference necessary
in a UN resolution? In answer to this
question, it will be noted first that this draft resolution
is unique because it is specifically about
peace between religions and not about anything
else, therefore some religious references in this
particular case is only natural. To rigidly maintain
the contrary would be to disregard the feelings
of 85% of the world’s population which belongs
to one or another faith.
Second and more importantly perhaps we
include these references because whilst we all
agree that it is clearly not the business of the UN
to engage in theology, it is nevertheless the primary
goal of the UN to make and safeguard
peace, and without the specific mention of God
and of the Two Commandments of Love [see:
Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-31] many if
not most devout Muslims, Christians and Jews
will consider a secular call for an interfaith harmony
week a feckless platitude that they cannot
fully or sincerely support. For in the Holy Bible
Jesus Christ (echoing the words of Deuteronomy)
said: Man shall not live by bread alone, but
I Shall Love All Mankind.
by every word of God [Luke 4:4 and Matthew
4:4, see also: Deuteronomy 8:2-3] and also that:
Hallowed be Thy Name [Matthew, 6:9], and similar
meanings are to be found in the Holy Qur’an
wherein it is stated that no act is rewarded Save
for seeking the Countenance of [the] Lord, the
Most High [Al-Layl, 92:19-20] and that: Verily
the Remembrance of God is of all things the
greatest [from: Al-Ankabut, 29:45]. In other
words, for many Muslims, Christians and Jews
who together make up perhaps 55% of the
world’s population and (I regret to say) are involved
in most of the world’s conflicts it is necessary
to mention the substance of their faiths.
Otherwise, hoping to foster peace between religions
by foisting upon them an external and
purely secular and bureaucratic language is
simply a house divided against itself which shall
not stand [Matthew, 12:25].
Third, it will be noted that this language excludes
no one, of any religion or of no faith at all:
every person of goodwill, with or without faith
can and should commit to Love of the Neighbour
and Love of God or Love of the Neighbour
and Love of the Good. Loving the neighbour and
the good is after all the essence of goodwill. And
referring to ‘the Good’ obviously does not necessarily
imply belief in God or in a particular religion,
even though for many believers ‘the
Good’ is God precisely: Jesus Christ said: ‘No one
is Good but God Alone’ [Mark, 10:18; Luke
18:19, and Matthew 19:17], and ‘the Good’ (Al-
Barr) is one of God’s Names in the Holy Qur’an
[Al-Tur, 52:28]. Thus, speaking of ‘the Good’ is a
theologically-correct but inclusive formula in so
far as it goes that unites all humanity and leaves
out no one.
Fourth, there is another reason why it is
specifically necessary to mention love of the
neighbour: it sets an invaluable practical standard
based upon which people can ask themselves
and each other if their actions stem from
love towards the neighbour or not. Indeed, as
the Prophet Muhammad said: “None of you has
faith [in God] until you love for your neighbour
what you love for yourself.” [Sahih Muslim,
Kitab al-Iman, Vol. p.67, Hadith no.45].
3) Also in the third operative paragraph,
the phrase ‘on a voluntary basis’ is used because
April 2017 The
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the entire proposal must be purely voluntary.
No place of worship should be forced to observe
the World Interfaith Harmony Week; for whilst
we hope to encourage interfaith harmony, the
last thing we want is for anyone at all to feel that
anything is being imposed on his or her faith,
beliefs or convictions. Nevertheless, one can
conceive of positive incentives to encourage and
help support and monitor the implementation
of this resolution.
4) Finally, also in the third operative paragraph,
the phrase ‘each according to their own
religious traditions or convictions’ is vital because
the different religions do not necessarily
interpret ‘Love of God and the Neighbour’ in exactly
the same way, and do not all want it said
that they do. This phrase thus avoids the dangers
of syncretism or reductionism and allows
for religious differences within the same goal of
working towards inter-religious peace and harmony.
In summary, then, I very humbly ask the
member states of the United Nations General
Assembly to adopt the proposed draft resolution
for the World Interfaith Harmony Week,
noting that it excludes no individual, compromises
no one, commits no one, forces no one,
harms no one, costs nothing, and on the contrary,
includes everyone, celebrates everyone,
benefits everyone, unites everyone and has the
potential to bring much needed Peace and Harmony
to the entire world insha-Allah. Thankyou
Mr. President.
Draft Resolution A/65/L5 Sixty-fifth Session
World Interfaith Harmony Week The General
Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 53/243
of 6 October 1999 on the declaration and program
of action relating to a culture of peace;
57/6 of November 2002 concerning the promotion
of a culture of peace and non-violence;
58/128 of 19 December 2003 on the promotion
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Islam based in Lahore can defend Islam and the
honour of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.
Join us in this struggle.
of religious and cultural understanding, harmony
and cooperation; 64/164 of 18 December
2009 on the elimination of all forms of intolerance
and discrimination based on religion or
belief; 64/81 of 7 December 2009 on the promotion
of interreligious and intercultural dialogue,
understanding and cooperation for
peace, and 64/14 of 10 November 2009 on the
Alliance of Civilizations; Recognizing the imperative
need for dialogue among different faiths
and religions in enhancing mutual understanding,
harmony and cooperation among people;
Recalling with appreciation various global, regional
and sub-regional initiatives on mutual
understanding and interfaith harmony including,
inter alia, the Tripartite Forum for Interfaith
Cooperation for Peace, and the ‘A Common
Word’, Recognizing that the moral imperatives
of all religions, convictions, and beliefs call for
peace, tolerance, and mutual understanding:
1.Reaffirms that mutual understanding and interreligious
dialogue constitute important dimensions
of a culture of peace; 2. Proclaims the
first week of February of every year the World
Interfaith Harmony Week between all religions,
faiths and beliefs; 3. Encourages all States to
support, on a voluntary basis, the spread of the
message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in
the world’s Churches, Mosques, Synagogues,
Temples and other places of Worship during
that week based on Love of God and Love of the
Neighbour, or based on Love of the Good and
Love of the Neighbour, each according to their
own religious traditions or convictions; 4. Requests
the Secretary-General to keep the General
Assembly informed of the implementation
of the present resolution.
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore (UK)
Founders of the first Islamic Mission in the UK, established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission.
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I Shall Love All Mankind.
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