2017 08 The Light August 2017
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
ِ ی م م الرَّح<br />
ن<br />
ِ<br />
سب ا ہللِ الرَّْحم ٰ<br />
ْ م ِ<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Light</strong><br />
International Organ of the Centre for the Worldwide<br />
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam<br />
<strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>August</strong><br />
April<br />
2016<br />
UK<br />
Germany<br />
India<br />
Sweden<br />
USA<br />
<strong>The</strong> only Islamic organisation upholding the finality of prophethood.<br />
Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at<br />
Editors<br />
Shahid Aziz & Mustaq Ali<br />
Amir Aziz<br />
Gowsia Saleem & Prof. Shahab<br />
Shabbir<br />
Kaleem Ahmed<br />
Zainib Ahmad<br />
Contents<br />
<strong>The</strong> Call of the Messiah 2<br />
Centenary of Hazrat Maulana Muham-<br />
mad Ali’s English translation the Holy<br />
Quran by Dr Zahid Aziz 2<br />
Identity <strong>The</strong>ft – Final Part by Iain Dixon 5<br />
<strong>The</strong> Patch to Success by E. Mohamed 7<br />
Killing Children by Alisha Shah 11<br />
www.virtualmosque.co.uk<br />
Our Recent Press Releases<br />
‣ Our Newsroom.<br />
‣ Message of Ramadan.<br />
‣ Peace is a Gift from Allah.<br />
‣ Grooming Young Girls for Sex.<br />
‣ A Terrorist is a Terrorist regardless of His<br />
Religion.<br />
Interesting external links<br />
‣ Jesus in Islam<br />
‣ Reverse Photosynthesis<br />
‣ Beat them gently!<br />
Broadcasts (UK time)<br />
1. Skype Urdu lecture: Sunday 09:00<br />
2. Live on www.virtualmosque.co.uk<br />
‣ Friday Sermon 13:00<br />
‣ First Sunday of month lecture 15:00.<br />
3. Radio Virtual Mosque<br />
Websites<br />
1. International HQ<br />
2. Research and History<br />
3. <strong>The</strong> Woking Mosque and Mission<br />
4. <strong>The</strong> Berlin Mosque and Mission<br />
5. Quran search<br />
6. Blog<br />
‣ Interfaith Dialogue<br />
‣ Islam – My Choice<br />
External Links<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Light</strong> is not responsible for the content<br />
of external sites. <strong>The</strong> inclusion of a link to an external<br />
website should not be understood to be<br />
an endorsement of that website, the views it expresses<br />
or the site's owners (or their products/services).<br />
Some links may have research, which disagrees<br />
with our beliefs. It is for us to consider<br />
such material and provide a rebuttal. Ignoring it<br />
will not make it go away.<br />
We welcome all scholarly contributions to<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Light</strong>.<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 2<br />
<strong>The</strong> Call of the<br />
Messiah<br />
by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam<br />
Ahmad<br />
<strong>The</strong> Promised Messiah and Mahdi<br />
Indisputable knowledge of God a prerequisite<br />
to righteous life<br />
It is a truly sound tenet that, to be saved<br />
from sins, man requires a certain knowledge of<br />
God and not any redemption. I say to you sincerely<br />
that if the people of Noah had the perfect<br />
knowledge which generates the fear of (losing<br />
the love of) God, they would not have been<br />
drowned, and if the people of Lot had fully recognised<br />
their Lord, they would not have been<br />
stoned to death. And if the people of this country<br />
had been granted the true knowledge of God<br />
which makes one tremble at the idea of a transgression<br />
of His Commandments, it would not<br />
have been thus destroyed with the plague. But,<br />
inadequate knowledge cannot benefit in the<br />
least because imperfect love, fear, and faith<br />
knowledge is worthless. If you do not take sufficient<br />
food, it will not sustain you, or if the full<br />
dose of medicine is not administered, it would<br />
not do any good. One grain cannot satisfy your<br />
hunger, nor one drop of water quench your<br />
thirst. How can you of little courage and slow in<br />
the search of truth, hope to be the recipients of<br />
the vast blessings and un-measured grace of<br />
God by a little knowledge and a little love and a<br />
little fear? It is for Him to purify you from sins<br />
and to fill your hearts with His love and awe. He<br />
has established the law that all this is granted to<br />
a man after he has attained to certainty in His<br />
knowledge, for knowledge is the root from<br />
which love and fear spring. He who is given a<br />
perfect knowledge is also granted perfect love<br />
and perfect fear, and he who is granted these,<br />
has attained to salvation, because he is purified<br />
from sin. For this salvation, therefore, we do not<br />
stand in need of the shedding of blood, or of crucifixion<br />
or of atonement. What we require for its<br />
attainment is only a sacrifice, and that a sacrifice<br />
of our own self. This is a requirement of our<br />
very nature and this is the true significance of<br />
Islam. Islam means the laying down of the head<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
for being slaughtered and to bow down with entire<br />
submission at the Divine threshold. <strong>The</strong> beloved<br />
name of Islam is the soul of the whole of<br />
Law and the essence of all the commandments.<br />
To lay down one's self willingly and with a joyful<br />
heart for being slain which is the true significance<br />
of Islam, means a perfect love, while perfect<br />
love indicates perfect knowledge. <strong>The</strong> word<br />
the sacrifice that God accepts<br />
from you is that you should<br />
fear Him and walk in righteousness<br />
for His sake.<br />
Islam therefore, clearly signifies that true sacrifice,<br />
which is necessary for the salvation of man,<br />
requires perfect love and perfect knowledge<br />
and not anything else. Referring to this Almighty<br />
God says in the Holy Quran “<strong>The</strong> flesh of<br />
these, (i.e. the animals slaughtered) does not<br />
reach God, nor their blood, but the sacrifice that<br />
God accepts from you is that you should fear<br />
Him and walk in righteousness for His sake".<br />
(Essence of Islam, pages 7 to 9)<br />
Centenary of the appearance<br />
of Maulana Muhammad Ali’s<br />
English translation and<br />
Commentary of the Quran<br />
Compiled by Zahid Aziz<br />
In September this year, it will be a hundred<br />
years since the English translation of the Holy<br />
Quran with commentary by Maulana Muhammad<br />
Ali was first published in 1917, right here in<br />
England.<br />
In April 1916 Maulana Muhammad Ali, after<br />
a labour of about seven years, completed work<br />
on the translation and commentary. In his Friday<br />
sermon on 28 April he gave the good news to the<br />
Lahore Ahmadiyya community:<br />
“Today is a day of happiness for me. For<br />
years, I have been busy in the work of translating<br />
the Holy Quran into English. By the<br />
grace of Allah, I have completed it today. I am<br />
not happy like a student who, at the end of his<br />
examination, feels that now he will have free<br />
time and can rest for a few days. I am happy<br />
because all the time that I was involved in this
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 3<br />
work I was worried that life is so fickle and it<br />
may be that this work would be left incomplete.<br />
Of course, Allah is not short of men and<br />
it was His work which would have been completed<br />
somehow; if He has given strength to a<br />
weak person like me to start this work, there<br />
is no reason why He could not get it done by<br />
someone else. But it gives great pleasure to a<br />
person to complete by his own hand in his<br />
own life the work that he had started.…<br />
This work is now before you. All of it has been<br />
sent to the press. I have received proofs of<br />
eight parts (up to this time proofs of 19 parts<br />
have arrived — Editor Paigham Sulh). We<br />
need very soon to think about the printing expenses.<br />
This is not our only work; there are<br />
many others that you have to do. Complete<br />
this first. It is a service to Islam; rather, it is<br />
purely a service to the Quran. So, be concerned<br />
about it and prepare resources for it.<br />
May Allah grant this to be done. Ameen.” (Lahore<br />
Ahmadiyya Urdu organ Paigham Sulh,<br />
28 May 1916, p. 6–8)<br />
It was decided to have it<br />
printed in England because<br />
the printing machines that<br />
were required for the high<br />
quality, fine paper, to be used<br />
to produce it in one volume, were not available<br />
in India. At that time Maulana Sadr-ud-Din (d.<br />
1981), who later succeeded Maulana Muhammad<br />
Ali as Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman<br />
in 1951, was Imam of the Mosque at Woking,<br />
and he was entrusted with the arrangements<br />
for its printing, a task which he accomplished<br />
extremely well.<br />
History of the first popular<br />
English translation of<br />
the Holy Quran by a Muslim.<br />
In the Islamic Review, the monthly magazine<br />
of the Woking Muslim Mission, the following<br />
progress report was published in the issue for<br />
June 1916 on the first page:<br />
“As was expected, the announcement of the<br />
publication of an English translation of the<br />
Holy Quran, with elaborate notes and the Arabic<br />
text, aroused world-wide interest, and<br />
we have been doing our best to hurry the publication.<br />
But unavoidable circumstances have<br />
delayed it, for which the gigantic war is<br />
greatly responsible. In fact, if we had not already<br />
announced the publication, and if we<br />
had not found that there is general impatience<br />
to read the translation, we would have<br />
postponed the publication till the end of the<br />
war. Prices of all the materials required for<br />
printing that voluminous Book have gone up.<br />
We found it sometimes difficult even to get<br />
the material wanted. Delays have been<br />
caused in post, and so forth. <strong>The</strong>n we found<br />
that the bulk of the Book would be much more<br />
than we had first thought; so it was considered<br />
necessary to use India paper, the most<br />
expensive thin paper,<br />
and to enlarge the size<br />
of the book in order to<br />
reduce the bulk and<br />
make it handy. <strong>The</strong><br />
pages will now run to about thirteen hundred.<br />
<strong>The</strong> English portion is almost finished, and<br />
would have reached the hands of the public if<br />
the Arabic text had not been considered necessary<br />
to go with the translation of the uncorrupted<br />
and incorruptible Last Testament —<br />
the final Gospel.<br />
Maulana Muhammad Ali spent the whole of<br />
the year 1916 preparing the index and the preface<br />
and introduction, and at the same time going<br />
through the first proofs which came from England.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se proofs were initially read by Maulana<br />
Sadr-ud-Din in England, and then read and<br />
corrected by Maulana Muhammad Ali in his own<br />
hand in Lahore. After that stage, the reading of<br />
the second proofs, the correction of the Arabic<br />
text, and all the other tasks in connection with<br />
the printing were done by Maulana Sadr-ud-Din.<br />
Because of this war it was found not practicable<br />
to use type for the Arabic text. So now<br />
an expert copyist in India has been engaged<br />
to write out the text on the English pages sent<br />
from here. That writing is sent back to our engravers,<br />
who photograph it and obtain zincos<br />
thereof. <strong>The</strong>n the printing of the text is done<br />
in the space left for that purpose in the English<br />
translation. As is obvious, this makes the<br />
process very elaborate, and has increased the<br />
price of the work; but because the calligraphy<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 4<br />
of the text will be very handsome, those readers<br />
who know Arabic will be much pleased<br />
with Arabic writing all done by hand. <strong>The</strong><br />
Book, besides its precious and holy contents,<br />
will form an ornament to any library, and will<br />
be a unique work of its description. In the<br />
next number of the REVIEW we shall be able to<br />
give the specimen pages, which will be exactly<br />
as in the Book when ready. <strong>The</strong> price of<br />
the Book cannot now be lower than One<br />
Pound, which, considering the increased expenses<br />
and the expensive material used, will<br />
be nothing. We have no doubt that when the<br />
compilation reaches the hands of the public<br />
they will fully appreciate the labour of love<br />
done over it by our esteemed brother Maulvi<br />
Muhammad Ali, M.A., LL.B.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> following year this much-awaited book<br />
was out of the press by September. In the Islamic<br />
Review, September 1917 (p. 393), its announcement<br />
appeared under the heading:<br />
<strong>The</strong> First English Translation and commentary<br />
of the Holy Quran by a Muslim<br />
<strong>The</strong>ologian<br />
It ran as follows:<br />
“THE Maulvi Muhammad Ali, M.A., LL.B., has<br />
prepared, after a labour of about nine years,<br />
an English translation, with necessary notes<br />
and commentary, of the Holy Quran, which<br />
has been printed in England and has just<br />
come out after unavoidable delays caused by<br />
the war. Each copy contains about 1,400<br />
pages, and includes a<br />
comprehensive preface<br />
showing the special<br />
features of Islam<br />
as preached in the<br />
Holy Book, and an exhaustive<br />
discussion of the authenticity of the<br />
Holy Book, its original purity and incorruptibility,<br />
in which the Maulvi definitely proves<br />
that the Holy Book as it stands today is exactly<br />
as it was arranged by the Holy Prophet<br />
Muhammad himself. Elaborate indexes are<br />
also given. <strong>The</strong> whole cost has come up to<br />
£1,500. <strong>The</strong> price of a leather-bound, giltedged<br />
copy on good India paper is 20s., to be<br />
had of the ISLAMIC REVIEW Office, <strong>The</strong> Mosque,<br />
Woking, Surrey.<br />
To those who know the learned<br />
translator his very name would<br />
be a guarantee to them that the<br />
translation is scholarly . . .<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
Although it has increased the expense<br />
greatly, it was thought very necessary that<br />
the original text in Arabic, written by expert<br />
calligraphists in India, should also accompany<br />
the translation of each verse, as can be seen<br />
on the sample pages.<br />
<strong>The</strong> translation is very faithful. <strong>The</strong> notes<br />
and commentary are fully comprehensive<br />
and explanatory, and every objection of<br />
Western critics has been met and answered.<br />
<strong>The</strong> mistakes of European translators and<br />
commentators have been corrected on the<br />
authority of old commentators as well as expert<br />
Arabic scholars. <strong>The</strong> relation of one<br />
chapter to the other and the connected context<br />
of the verses of each chapter have been<br />
fully established. An abstract of both chapters<br />
and sections is also given.<br />
To those who know the learned translator<br />
his very name would be a guarantee to<br />
them that the translation is scholarly, and the<br />
commentary is based on the authentic traditions<br />
of the Great Prophet as interpreted by<br />
the authentic Muslim savants. For the benefit<br />
of strangers the selection of the sample pages<br />
has been such as to give out the characteristics<br />
of the translation of the whole, so that the<br />
reader of these pages should be able to form<br />
some idea of the nature of the whole volume.<br />
It would but be superfluous to dilate<br />
upon the need of an English translation by a<br />
person who has not only<br />
a command over the<br />
English language but<br />
also over the original<br />
(i.e. Arabic) text of a<br />
book which holds the most unique position in<br />
the world of literature.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> price of the book, in top quality and<br />
leather bound, is given above as 20 shillings,<br />
which is £1 (one UK Pound). We can get an idea<br />
of what £1 would be in the year 1917 by noticing<br />
that the price of the above issue of the Islamic Review<br />
was 7 old pence. This means that the price<br />
of the book is about 35 times the price of one issue<br />
of this magazine (as £1 consisted of 240 old
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 5<br />
pence). In the same issue of the Islamic Review,<br />
sixteen consecutive pages from this translation<br />
are reproduced in facsimile form, starting at the<br />
beginning of chapter 1 of the Quran.<br />
As being the “first” English translation by a<br />
Muslim<br />
<strong>The</strong> heading of the above announcement describes<br />
this translation and commentary as “the<br />
first by a Muslim theologian”. Before this translation,<br />
three English translations of the Quran by<br />
Muslims had been published. <strong>The</strong>se were by Abdul<br />
Hakim Khan (1905), Mirza Abul Fazl (1911),<br />
and Mirza Hairat of Delhi (1912), and were all<br />
published in India. <strong>The</strong>y were, however, of limited<br />
circulation and little known. In a book <strong>The</strong><br />
Student’s Quran, published in India in 1961, the<br />
author Hashim Amir Ali has listed several English<br />
translations of the Quran in chronological<br />
order, including those by Abdul Hakim Khan and<br />
Mirza Abul Fazl as numbers 5 and 6 in his list.<br />
Maulana Muhammad Ali’s is at number 7 and he<br />
writes of it as follows:<br />
“7 MUHAMMAD ALI<br />
<strong>The</strong> first work published by any Muslim with<br />
the thoroughness worthy of Quranic scholarship<br />
and achieving the standards of modern<br />
publications.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> author of a review of English translations<br />
of the Quran, written around 1999, entitled<br />
Translating the Holy Quran: Is <strong>The</strong>re An Ultimate<br />
Translation Of <strong>The</strong> Quran?, Dr. A. Nihamathullah<br />
of Tamil Nadu, India, has listed some criteria for<br />
determining which of the numerous English<br />
translations of the Quran are worthy of a detailed<br />
review, comparison and examination. On<br />
that basis, he eliminates the English translation<br />
attempts by Muslims before Maulana Muhammad<br />
Ali as being “of just historical interest” and<br />
“inconsequential translations”.<br />
<strong>The</strong> description in the Islamic Review announcement<br />
quoted above, that Maulana Muhammad<br />
Ali’s work is the “first … by a Muslim<br />
theologian” is also accurate as the three preceding<br />
Muslim translators were not Islamic scholars<br />
or theologians. Moreover, it is a fact that the<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
A moth gladly flutters towards<br />
a lightbulb but cockroaches<br />
will flee from the<br />
light emanating from the<br />
same bulb!<br />
Maulana’s English translation of the Quran was<br />
the first by a Muslim to be published in the West,<br />
as it was printed at the famous Gresham Press of<br />
Unwin Brothers Ltd. in Woking, England, and<br />
published in 1917 from the Islamic Review Office<br />
at the Woking Mosque in a quantity of 5000<br />
copies. It was thus the first by a Muslim to be<br />
available in the world generally. (End)<br />
Identity <strong>The</strong>ft- final part<br />
By Iain Dixon<br />
In this short series of articles, I have tried to<br />
convey my frustration that people have misrepresented<br />
the beautiful character of Allah, hijacking<br />
his loving nature, and turning it instead into<br />
something repulsive. A moth gladly flutters towards<br />
a lightbulb but cockroaches will flee from<br />
the light emanating from the same bulb! How<br />
has the Creator of Heaven and Earth been represented<br />
to a watching world? Has Allah been<br />
painted as loving, compassionate, full of tender<br />
mercy towards His creation? Are we drawn to<br />
Him as a moth is drawn to the light? Or have we<br />
in the same breath said: “Allahu Akbar” and represented<br />
Allah as pure evil, desiring to crush,<br />
kill and destroy? Just as cockroaches run from<br />
the light, have we portrayed Allah in such a way<br />
that people want to flee from Him, rather than<br />
run to Him? We are reminded in the Honoured<br />
Quran that “those who believe and work deeds<br />
of righteousness, will Allah most Gracious bestow<br />
love.”- Surah 19:96. We are also told: “He<br />
forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion.”-<br />
Surah 16:90. Much that is done in the<br />
name of ‘Islam’ makes a mockery of much that<br />
is written in the Quranic scriptures. Allah is<br />
looking for a people who will represent His<br />
character — a people who will reflect His love,<br />
compassion and mercy. Just as a fingerprint reveals<br />
the unique identity of its possessor, so too<br />
we are to be ‘the fingerprints’ of Allah, bearing<br />
His beautiful image to a broken world.<br />
People have dishonoured Allah and His law
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 6<br />
through their actions. Pride for status, selfishness,<br />
and a disregard for his righteousness has<br />
caused havoc in the world. It is pure rebellion<br />
towards the Creator of Heaven and Earth. A rebellion<br />
that drives people away from encountering<br />
the beauty of Allah — a rebellion that<br />
leads people into darkness and captivity. As the<br />
Bible expresses it: “the heart is deceitful above<br />
all things.”- Jeremiah 17:9, “All we like sheep<br />
have gone astray, we have turned everyone to<br />
his own way.”- Isaiah 53:6. Have we followed<br />
the way of Iblis and become rebellious, defiant?<br />
“He refused and was haughty, he was of those<br />
who reject faith.”- Surah 2:34. Unfortunately,<br />
the way of true Islam, true submission to Allah,<br />
is hard to find today. But it exists! Don't be<br />
fooled by looking to great organisations, sects<br />
or religions. Begin by turning your own face to<br />
Allah. When I hear the Azaan (the call to<br />
prayer), I am reminded of a compass point<br />
pointing north, in that it brings direction and focus<br />
in all the chaos we call ‘the map of life’ - a<br />
life filled with changes and turnings, dead ends<br />
and roadblocks. <strong>The</strong> compass points ‘true<br />
north’ and helps us recalibrate our lives. <strong>The</strong><br />
Azaan challenges all the distractions of life, and<br />
there is a call to come<br />
out of the world, and<br />
point our hearts in the<br />
direction of Allah. In<br />
the Bible, we are told<br />
of a worldwide<br />
‘Azaan’. Although people<br />
have misrepresented<br />
the character<br />
of Allah there is a worldwide call to return to the<br />
true God, a call that leads us to worship him in<br />
submission and truth. “And I saw another angel<br />
fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting<br />
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the<br />
earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and<br />
tongue and people saying with a loud voice<br />
‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of<br />
His judgement has come, and worship Him that<br />
made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the<br />
fountains of waters.”- Revelation 14:6-7. Did<br />
you notice that? “<strong>The</strong> hour of His judgement has<br />
come”. I wonder if that phrase could be interpreted<br />
in two ways. Sure, Allah's eyes are upon<br />
us now, and He sees our thoughts and actions.<br />
We are being judged. But have you ever thought<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
that Allah Himself is being judged by an unbelieving<br />
and sceptical world? Has the misrepresentation<br />
of His character resulted in Allah being<br />
laughed at, scorned, hated? Not taken seriously?<br />
Is this worldwide Azaan a challenge for<br />
us to so love God, so obey him, so serve him . . .<br />
that people would begin to recognise the magnificence<br />
of our Creator? I find it interesting that<br />
Jesus himself lived to give glory to Allah. When<br />
Jesus was nailed to the cross, beaten and<br />
scarred, it was not as a defeated person. He<br />
lived and breathed integrity to Allah. <strong>The</strong> DNA<br />
of Jesus’ life was “Your will be done.”- Matthew<br />
6:10. He was the embodiment of true Islam.<br />
Many centuries before he was born into this<br />
world, it was said that “He will magnify the Law,<br />
and make it honourable.”- Isaiah 42:21. Jesus<br />
did everything to bring honour to Allah despite<br />
being misunderstood and mistreated. We are<br />
given his example to follow. “Christ also suffered<br />
for us, leaving us an example, that you should<br />
follow in his steps, who did no sin, neither was<br />
guile found in his mouth.”- 1 Peter 2:21-22.<br />
It is well known that during wartime road<br />
signposts are turned-round to point people in<br />
the wrong direction and to confuse them. As we<br />
What I see in the Lahore Ahmadiyya<br />
community, is a people who are constantly<br />
examining themselves, constantly<br />
reaching out for more, constantly<br />
trying to be a better people,<br />
a people longing for a raiment of<br />
righteousness.<br />
watch the media,<br />
and read reports<br />
of violence<br />
and<br />
shameful things<br />
done in the<br />
name of Allah,<br />
may we take up<br />
the challenge to be a genuine signpost, pointing<br />
others to the true worship of Allah, and not follow<br />
those who have committed ‘identity theft’.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se people have twisted signposts of Allah's<br />
character, and have pointed people in the wrong<br />
direction! We can choose to be different. And Allah<br />
can help us change. We are told in the Honoured<br />
Qur’an that “it is He who created you<br />
from clay.”- Surah 6:2. Allah is a master potter!<br />
Not only did He make and fashion each one of<br />
us, but He can ‘re-shape’ our hearts too. Will we<br />
ask Him to? Wearing long beards, niqab, and<br />
praying in a correct manner may look good to<br />
an outsider; but Allah sees the hearts of all. With<br />
far too many, obedience to Allah's word is only<br />
on the lips. <strong>The</strong>y have obedience [merely]on
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 7<br />
their lips. Surah 4:81. Jesus rightly put it when<br />
he said: “This people draws nigh unto me with<br />
their mouth and honoureth me with their lips,<br />
but their heart is far from me.”- Matthew 15:8.<br />
What I see in the<br />
Lahore Ahmadiyya<br />
community, is a people<br />
who are constantly<br />
examining<br />
themselves, constantly<br />
reaching out<br />
for more, constantly trying to be a better people,<br />
a people longing for a raiment of righteousness.<br />
“But the raiment of righteousness, that is the<br />
best. Such are among the signs of Allah.”- Surah<br />
7:26. This reaching up, this longing for righteousness<br />
is a beautiful longing. So different<br />
from those who have committed ‘identity theft’.<br />
(End)<br />
<strong>The</strong> Path to Success<br />
Eid ul Fitr Message<br />
By Ebrahim Mohamed<br />
President AAII Lahore (South Africa)<br />
Almighty God be praised and thanked abundantly<br />
for granting us this day of Eid ul Fitr (a<br />
day of ever-recurring joy) to celebrate that inner<br />
joy that culminates after a month of fasting<br />
for the sake of God; a month of intense prayers<br />
and supplications, and charity for the poor and<br />
indigent out of love for Him. Despite all the<br />
grimness in the world, Ramadan (the month of<br />
fasting observed by Muslims throughout the<br />
world) has shown that the Muslim fraternity<br />
can rise above their own selfish and self-centred<br />
tendencies — on the one hand having been<br />
afforded the opportunity of engaging in serious<br />
introspection to improve themselves whilst at<br />
the same time reaching out for the less fortunate<br />
with love and compassion in a manner that<br />
drew the admiration of many outsiders.<br />
<strong>The</strong> joys and exhilaration that we experience<br />
this day are like the joy and gratification<br />
that a farmer feels when harvesting a luxuriant<br />
crop after long periods of cultivation of the land,<br />
followed by planting of the seeds with careful<br />
precision, watering it, and guarding it with the<br />
our whole life should be about<br />
ensuring the proper growth to<br />
perfection of those latent seeds<br />
of morality and spirituality that<br />
Almighty God had placed inside us<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
utmost vigilance and care against harmful elements<br />
until the crops grow to maturity and bear<br />
fruit.<br />
This allegory of the farmer and his lush<br />
crops illustrates what<br />
we undergo during<br />
the month of fasting to<br />
reap the spiritual<br />
fruits that bring joy<br />
and contentment of<br />
the heart. We are thus<br />
reminded that our whole life should be about<br />
ensuring the proper growth to perfection of<br />
those latent seeds of morality and spirituality<br />
that Almighty God had placed inside us so that<br />
we may enjoy the bliss and well-being when<br />
those seeds reach fruition. This happens when<br />
we reach a state of complete God-Consciousness,<br />
that state of being that brings us closer to<br />
God and complete surrender to His Will. This<br />
state is what the Holy Quran repeatedly refers<br />
to as our falah or success and therefore the<br />
Holy Quran says:<br />
“He indeed is successful who causes it (the<br />
soul) to grow.” — 91:9<br />
<strong>The</strong> word ‘successful’ in the Holy Quran<br />
comes from the root word falah which also<br />
means ‘self-improvement’, or the ‘unfoldment’<br />
of hidden qualities that evolve into a<br />
state of happiness and well-being. In the rich,<br />
comprehensive Arabic language it is interesting<br />
to note that ‘a farmer’ is often referred to as falah<br />
because a farmer is the one who works hard<br />
to till the land in order to grow successful crops<br />
of delicious fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers<br />
etc. Such crops that give recurring delight to the<br />
beholder and the harvester. This is the meaning<br />
of Eid— an ever-recurring happiness and joy,<br />
accompanied by well-deserved festivities.<br />
<strong>The</strong> same principle on which the harvesting<br />
of a successful crop by a farmer is based, applies<br />
to our relationship with the Holy Quran which<br />
often stands for the spiritual rain that enlivens<br />
our souls and causes it to grow into super God-<br />
Consciousness that knows no end. <strong>The</strong> Holy<br />
Quran alludes to this, metaphorically, when it<br />
says:<br />
“And He it is Who sends down water from<br />
the clouds, then We bring forth with it buds of
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 8<br />
all (plants), then We bring forth from it green<br />
(foliage), from which We produce clustered<br />
grain; and of the date-palm, of the sheaths of it,<br />
come forth clusters (of dates) within reach; and<br />
gardens of grapes and the olive and the pomegranate,<br />
alike and unlike. Look at the fruit of it<br />
when it bears fruit and the ripening of it. Surely<br />
there are signs in this for a people who believe!”<br />
— 6:99<br />
fruits of our falah i.e. ‘the success of both this<br />
world and the next.’<br />
In the next life this crop, built up from our<br />
good deeds here, will, by the Mercy of Almighty<br />
God, manifest itself as the most beautiful<br />
Garden of bliss unimaginable to our physical<br />
senses here, as promised repeatedly in the Holy<br />
Quran to the steadfast.<br />
So, what are the signs or lessons for us in<br />
this beautiful picture of a luxuriant garden, the<br />
soil of which was given life to by salubrious rain<br />
from the heavens? <strong>The</strong> month of Ramadan has<br />
highlighted this principle in a spiritual sense.<br />
We watered the garden of our souls through<br />
reading, reciting and studying the Holy Quran<br />
more intensely; we engaged in additional prayers<br />
sometimes in the middle of the night; we<br />
fasted to gain the pleasure of Almighty Allah; we<br />
gave charity out of compassion and concern for<br />
the poor and less fortunate. In this manner we<br />
worked hard to transform the raw seeds of ‘lust,<br />
anger and greed’ in us into useful moral qualities<br />
that are beneficial and not destructive to<br />
ourselves and humankind at large. We were afforded<br />
the opportunity to collectively put a<br />
check on our lusts and turned it into ‘love and<br />
compassion’ that extended beyond our own<br />
families to the less fortunate in particular. We<br />
worked on our ‘anger and egotistic natures’<br />
by turning it into ‘wellplaced<br />
bravery and patience’<br />
that developed further<br />
into the moral qualities<br />
of being ‘firm and principled’<br />
in the face of injustice<br />
and cruelty. <strong>The</strong> seeds of<br />
greed in us were transformed<br />
into moral qualities of being ‘up and<br />
doing’ against all forms of injustice, forbidding<br />
what is wrong and enjoining what is good -<br />
not being insolent and lethargic, and an idle<br />
‘fence-sitter’, yet at all times avoiding extremities.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are but some basic examples of how<br />
the Ramadan taught us to cultivate our own<br />
souls for it to grow into moral and spiritual<br />
fruits. In the Holy month of Ramadan, we did all<br />
this like a farmer, so that we could reap the<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
But like anything else in life, we need expert<br />
guidance as to the best methods to adopt to enhance<br />
the growth of our souls. We need to know<br />
what is useful and what should be avoided. This<br />
guidance comes in the form of the Holy Quran:<br />
“So, He reveals to it its way of evil and its<br />
way of good.” — 91:8<br />
<strong>The</strong> Holy Quran tells us what is harmful for<br />
us and what is good for us. It is the most up to<br />
date and authentic guide for humankind. <strong>The</strong><br />
Holy Quran is clear on Who its Author is. Thus,<br />
we are told at the very beginning:<br />
“I Allah am the Best Knower.<br />
This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide<br />
to those who keep their duty” — 2:1-2<br />
<strong>The</strong>refore, in order for the falah — ‘unfoldment’<br />
of our souls to develop from a state of<br />
‘low, uncontrolled<br />
animal passions’ to a<br />
highly civilized,<br />
moral status — we<br />
must turn to the Holy<br />
Quran for our guidance.<br />
If our approach<br />
to the Holy Book is<br />
anything other than<br />
this, and that is, when it is merely recited at special<br />
occasions such as weddings and funerals<br />
etc; or treated as an object for debate to sport<br />
some academic prowess, then all our efforts will<br />
be futile like the ‘chaff’ of the failed crop mentioned<br />
in the Holy Quran; which says:<br />
this world’s life is only<br />
sport and play and gaiety<br />
and boasting among yourselves<br />
and a vying in the multiplication<br />
of wealth and<br />
children.<br />
“Know that this world’s life is only sport and<br />
play and gaiety and boasting among yourselves<br />
and a vying in the multiplication of wealth and
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 9<br />
children. It is as rain, whose causing the vegetation<br />
to grow pleases the farmer, then it withers<br />
away so that you see it turning yellow, then<br />
it becomes chaff” — 57:20<br />
<strong>The</strong> peaceful teachings of Islam explained to<br />
visitors to our Berlin Mosque<br />
This tells us that success according to Islam<br />
is not measured in terms of material possessions<br />
which tend to occupy a bigger part of our<br />
lives. Nay! Instead it will lead to a failure of the<br />
‘spiritual crop’ even though it might be seemingly<br />
pleasing to us.<br />
Our duty is to bring ourselves to the point of<br />
true morality that makes us competent of building<br />
a civilization based on ‘righteousness, compassion<br />
and justice’ for all. A civilization where<br />
we find comfort in being principled and stand<br />
firm by truth and justice at all costs avoiding hypocrisy<br />
and duplicity — typical weaknesses of<br />
modern day leadership across the political and<br />
religious spectra that are ruining the moral fabric<br />
of society in the world. To use the metaphor<br />
of the farmer in the Holy Quran above, these are<br />
the ‘weeds’ that we do not want in our ‘garden’<br />
for it will retard our growth and turn our crops<br />
i.e. the fruits of all our hard labour into useless<br />
‘chaff’.<br />
Who, these days, can deny the fact that due<br />
to the infiltration of such ‘weeds’ into the ‘Garden<br />
of Islam’, Muslims in general and Muslim<br />
nations still find themselves so divided? <strong>The</strong>re<br />
appears to be no empathy along the lines of a<br />
common brotherhood. Religious scholars cannot<br />
agree even on simple mundane issues such<br />
as when is the day of Eid or when does the fast<br />
begin. When a leading nation in the Muslim<br />
world can spend billions of dollars on arms and<br />
use it with impunity on a virtually defenceless,<br />
ill-equipped Muslim neighbour, mercilessly killing<br />
thousands and rendering millions of them,<br />
women and children, destitute in the process,<br />
then we know there is something very, very seriously<br />
wrong somewhere.<br />
Even the holy month of Ramadan was not<br />
spared for such barbaric behaviour nor did it<br />
bring about a change of heart nor a vestige of<br />
the moral transformation highlighted above.<br />
Whilst it is encouraging these days to see<br />
many video clips circulating on social media<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
condemning such behaviour as well as clips extolling<br />
the beauty of the Holy Quran — these<br />
postings are of short-lived admiration and no<br />
sooner everyone reverts to the same humdrum<br />
state of life. This sorry state prevails despite the<br />
fact that nowadays religious clerics are churned<br />
out like produce off a conveyor belt in a factory<br />
without any quality checks or screening done<br />
before they are set loose on an indifferent,<br />
‘couldn’t - care - less’ society. <strong>The</strong>se clerics are<br />
blindly admired for their packaged education to<br />
the extent that their lacking in wisdom and integrity<br />
is often over looked! Nowadays, we also<br />
find people flocking to Mecca in droves yet with<br />
all these well-intentioned efforts there is still no<br />
visible transformation of note. Instead of those<br />
noble moral qualities of ‘love, compassion,<br />
empathy, relentless thirst for justice, etc’, referred<br />
to above, flourishing and becoming a<br />
dominant feature of note in our communities,<br />
we still see too much of the low raw qualities of<br />
‘lust, anger and greed’ prevail.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re now seems to be a growing general<br />
consensus from a ‘forward thinking sector’ with<br />
seemingly genuine concern that at the root of all<br />
this chaos lies a serious ideological disease.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement<br />
in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, 19 th Century<br />
Muslim Reformer, diagnosed and identified<br />
this disease accurately 100 years ago and actively<br />
set about in treating its root causes — not<br />
just the peripheral, superficial symptoms of the<br />
disease. Since the disease set in as a result of<br />
gross distortions of the teachings of Islam by<br />
misguided clerics largely influenced by anti-Islamic<br />
propaganda, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad<br />
made it very clear that the only solution was to<br />
provide quality literature that gives the correct,<br />
unadulterated teachings of Islam as a cure for<br />
the disease. <strong>The</strong> Woking Muslim Mission in
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 10<br />
England and the establishment of the Berlin<br />
Mission in Germany at the turn of the 20 th century<br />
by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement were<br />
the first of their kind in the West to carry out<br />
this noble work.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Lahore based Ahmadiyya Movement,<br />
despite opposition from mainstream Muslims<br />
plagued by sectarian strife, has over a century<br />
successfully produced widely acclaimed, top<br />
quality literature geared at improving the overall<br />
moral condition of the Muslims; not such<br />
that leaves sincere seekers in a constant state of<br />
confusion and misguidance; nor such that breed<br />
militant jihadists and suicide bombers; nor<br />
such that perpetuate sectarian strife where<br />
even something as simple as ‘how do you define<br />
who is a Muslim’ cannot be determined with<br />
clarity by ‘so called’ leading scholars boasting<br />
fancy theological degrees.<br />
In Pakistan, a country where acts of terror<br />
are still much out of control, members of the Ahmadiyya<br />
Movement, by law, are not allowed to<br />
practice Islam and propagate its peaceful message<br />
in that<br />
<strong>The</strong> Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, despite<br />
opposition from Muslims<br />
plagued by sectarian strife, has<br />
over a century successfully produced<br />
widely acclaimed, literature<br />
geared at improving the overall<br />
moral condition of the Muslims . . .<br />
country. This is<br />
the cruellest<br />
piece of legislation<br />
existing anywhere<br />
in the<br />
world today<br />
that should be<br />
condemned<br />
with the contempt that it deserves by any decent,<br />
fair-minded person. This grossly inhumane<br />
Pakistani legislation is an abuse of a most<br />
basic human right and that is the freedom of<br />
worship afforded to humankind by none other<br />
than Almighty God Himself, Who has declared:<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re is no compulsion in religion.” –<br />
2:256.<br />
Nevertheless, under these most oppressive<br />
circumstances, the Central Body in Pakistan<br />
have not given up serving humanity. <strong>The</strong>se days<br />
the work of the organization is focussed on<br />
providing free humanitarian support to the<br />
poor and indigent – which at least they are not<br />
prohibited from doing under Pakistani law. Last<br />
year they<br />
• provided more than fifty thousand patients<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
with free medical treatment and medicines<br />
from the Maulana Muhammad Ali dispensary.<br />
• Seventeen hundred patients were provided<br />
with free ultra-sounds, and more than five<br />
hundred with free x-rays.<br />
• Fifty-six widows receive financial support<br />
and more than seventy students receive<br />
free education.<br />
In Europe, our Berlin Mosque has been designated<br />
monumental status by the German Government<br />
and is seen as a favourite tourist attraction<br />
with a constant flow of visitors from all<br />
parts of the world, Muslim and non-Muslim. In<br />
this way, our renowned peaceful propagation<br />
efforts of Islam in a part of the world blinded by<br />
prejudice, is most effective and vital in countering<br />
anti-Islamic propaganda.<br />
From our organization in the United States<br />
we hear the good news of the tremendous<br />
strides being made in the translation and publication<br />
of our literature into Arabic. This is a<br />
phenomenal achievement, considering the<br />
smouldering situation<br />
in the Middle East<br />
where extremist ideologies<br />
are rife.<br />
In South Africa, our<br />
National Outreach Program<br />
in the dissemination<br />
of the Holy Quran<br />
and other free literature<br />
is continuing. Hundreds of libraries across the<br />
country have benefitted from this initiative thus<br />
far.<br />
At an Eid ul Fitr celebration in Johannesburg,<br />
South Africa, the guest of honour, the deputy<br />
President of South Africa, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa,<br />
remarked:<br />
“As you (Muslims) performed service and<br />
acts of goodwill and charity for the poor and<br />
needy members of our communities, you reminded<br />
us that Islam is a faith founded on compassion,<br />
justice and universal brotherhood. It is<br />
about giving, not taking. It is about generosity,<br />
not greed. It is about love, peace, truth, and tolerance.<br />
Not hatred, violence, dishonesty and<br />
bigotry. And these are universal human values<br />
upon which we need to anchor our new
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 11<br />
society.” (End)<br />
Killing Children<br />
by Alisha Shah, Trinidad<br />
“And kill not your children for fear of poverty<br />
– We provide for them and for you. Surely<br />
the killing of them is a great wrong.” ch. 17, v. 31<br />
Glory to <strong>The</strong>e, O Allah and Thine is the<br />
praise, and blessed is Thy name, and exalted is<br />
Thy Majesty and there is none to be served besides<br />
<strong>The</strong>e. I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed<br />
devil. In the name of Allah, the Beneficent,<br />
the Merciful.<br />
<strong>The</strong> intentional killing of infants is known<br />
as infanticide. In the Pre-Islamic Arabia, infanticide<br />
was a common practice but more specifically<br />
it was female infants who were killed,<br />
sometimes buried alive as soon as she was born.<br />
In chapter 16, v 58 & 59, it states: “And when<br />
the birth of a daughter is announced to one of<br />
them, his face becomes black and he is full of<br />
wrath. He hides himself from the people because<br />
of the evil of what is announced to him.<br />
Shall he keep it with disgrace or bury it alive in<br />
the dust? Now surely evil is what they judge.”<br />
Can you imagine what<br />
kind of person would<br />
have had these<br />
thoughts? But this<br />
was a barbarous custom<br />
of the Arab people,<br />
especially among<br />
the Chiefs of the clans.<br />
However, the word of<br />
Allah swept through<br />
Arabia and this practice<br />
was abolished.<br />
But generally, in history the practice of infanticide<br />
has taken many forms. In the ancient<br />
world, it was known as child sacrifice where a<br />
child was sacrificed to a supernatural figure or<br />
forces. In ancient Europe and Asia, they simply<br />
abandoned the infant, leaving it to die from exposure<br />
that is from hypothermia, hunger, thirst<br />
or animal attack. In ancient Oceania, they practiced<br />
infanticide by suffocating the infant and in<br />
other countries and tribes, infanticide was practiced<br />
in order to control their numbers so that<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
their lands could support them. Many carried<br />
out this horrible act due to the ability of a male<br />
child carrying on the family name until he dies<br />
as opposed to the female who will leave to join<br />
her husband’s family most of the time after a<br />
burdensome dowry is paid.<br />
“And when the birth of a daughter is announced<br />
to one of them, his face becomes<br />
black and he is full of wrath. He hides<br />
himself from the people because of the<br />
evil of what is announced to him. Shall<br />
he keep it with disgrace or bury it alive<br />
in the dust? Now surely evil is what they<br />
judge.” — <strong>The</strong> Quran, 16:58–59<br />
Another reason infanticide was practiced<br />
has been related to economic necessity, or the<br />
inability to provide for the child. However, the<br />
Quran clearly states in Ch 6, Section 19 (Guiding<br />
rules of Life), v. 151: “Say: Come! I will recite<br />
what your Lord has forbidden to you: Associate<br />
naught with him and do good to parents and<br />
slay not your children for fear of poverty — We<br />
provide for you and for them.” and again in Ch<br />
17, v. 31: “And kill not your children for fear of<br />
poverty — We provide for them and for you,<br />
Surely the killing of them is a great wrong.” Now<br />
this verse may not necessarily be speaking of<br />
actually ending your child’s life. <strong>The</strong> verse can<br />
be interpreted to mean not giving your children<br />
a proper education, or intellectual death. History<br />
has shown that females were not given an<br />
education, that males were educated, for they<br />
were to be the breadwinners in a family and it<br />
was commonly accepted that women needed<br />
only to be prepared to be effective wives and<br />
mothers; consequently,<br />
their education<br />
was most<br />
often confined to<br />
emulating their<br />
mothers and<br />
obeying their fathers<br />
within the<br />
home.<br />
Today thankfully<br />
that has changed; there is gender equality<br />
in almost every sector of the world. Women are<br />
rising up in the workplace and becoming leaders.<br />
For this we should be happy; however, a<br />
small question is now raised, when both parents<br />
leave for the workplace, going there to earn<br />
a living, to ensure that the bills are paid and the<br />
family lives a comfortable life, where does that<br />
leave the children? Don’t get me wrong, women<br />
were built strong, we can do everything men<br />
can do and sometimes even better, however<br />
there is one thing that only a woman could do<br />
and that is being a mother. So, I ask a question
<strong>August</strong> <strong>2017</strong> <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Light</strong> 12<br />
now, is this another form of “killing your children”<br />
by leaving them with a care giver rather<br />
than being there for them yourselves? What are<br />
they learning when you are not around to teach<br />
them? Who are they emulating? Every society is<br />
made up of blocks of family units. <strong>The</strong> stronger<br />
each block is, the stronger the structure of the<br />
society. Families are thus the building blocks<br />
upon which rests the fate of society.<br />
For the development of good families, the<br />
mother plays a vital role. Chapter 46 V 15 of the<br />
holy Quran says “And we have enjoined on man<br />
the doing of good to his parents. His mother<br />
bears him with trouble and she brings him forth<br />
in pain. And the bearing of him and the weaning<br />
of him is thirty months.” In today’s workplace,<br />
maternity leave is 14 weeks which is 3.5 months<br />
while the Quran says 30 months which is 2.5<br />
years. That is a hard decision right there but we<br />
need to make good decisions that are based on<br />
caring in the best possible way for our children.<br />
Allah has said “fear not, we will provide for<br />
them and for you”. So, then what do we do?<br />
When my husband and I made the decision for<br />
me to take a break from work to be with our<br />
kids, someone said to me: “You’re lucky, you’re<br />
on a permanent vacation.” Because now, society<br />
has fashioned working mothers, so that it is taboo<br />
or looked down on to be a full-time mother.<br />
When I was working I would get a lunch hour, I<br />
would get time to have a cup of coffee and<br />
snacks, I would get bathroom breaks by myself,<br />
and when I had to travel I would get some “me”<br />
time while sitting in a taxi to just listen to music<br />
or whatever, or when my husband would pick<br />
me up we had some alone time together; but being<br />
a mother means you don’t get any of that,<br />
not until they fall asleep and most of the times<br />
you’re falling asleep along with them. It is not a<br />
bed of roses all the time, but it is a bed I chose<br />
and one that I have been blessed with. <strong>The</strong>refore,<br />
we must always try to give our children<br />
every opportunity that presents itself, help<br />
them to grow and develop into wonderful, educated<br />
people. Do not stifle their growth by limiting<br />
their intellectual and spiritual education<br />
because that in itself would be a form of killing<br />
your children.<br />
When we were children, our parents would<br />
send us outside to play. We would run and play<br />
hide and seek, or gun shooting or pretend to be<br />
a princess or a firefighter. But the point is, we<br />
would be outside playing and most of the times<br />
the neighbours’ kids there playing with us. But<br />
today we don’t see that. Kids today sit for hours<br />
on end watching television or playing on a Playstation<br />
or Xbox or their tablets or cell phones.<br />
This cannot be right! Our parents would always<br />
ensure we had a good home cooked meal ready<br />
and waiting for us but now it’s KFC and McDonalds.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se fast food organizations use so much<br />
chemicals and steroids in their foods. Are we<br />
“killing” our children? Are we doing something<br />
wrong here?<br />
It is hard being a parent, we make so many<br />
mistakes, we have so many decisions to make<br />
that can affect not only us but those young precious<br />
lives that Allah has entrusted us with.<br />
Lives that we have to nurture and love and discipline<br />
and sometimes scream at for them to listen,<br />
but nonetheless, lives that we love with<br />
every atom of our being, with every beat of our<br />
heart. Those little fingers and toes that we have<br />
to care for, we were given such a gift from Almighty<br />
Allah that we sometimes doubt that we<br />
are doing the right thing, that the decisions that<br />
we make are the right ones, but again Allah has<br />
said “Fear not, we will provide for them and<br />
you.” So, we now have to take comfort in that<br />
and believe that we are doing our best to help<br />
our children flourish and grow emotionally,<br />
physically, intellectually and spiritually and<br />
trust that Allah will guide us and provide for us<br />
so that we can present into our society strong,<br />
happy, educated, religious, kind and humble human<br />
beings. (End)<br />
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore (UK)<br />
Founders of the first Islamic Mission in the UK, established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission.<br />
Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, UK, HA0 4JQ<br />
Centre: 020 8903 2689 ∙ President: 01793 740670 ∙ Secretary: 07737 240777 ∙ Treasurer: 01932 348283<br />
E-mail: info@aaiil.uk<br />
Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk<br />
I Shall Love All Mankind.<br />
Donations: https://www.cafonline.org/charityprofile/aaiiluk