The Light English Edition November 2017

ِ ی م م الرَّح 

ن 

ِ 

سب ا ہللِ‏ الرَّْحم ٰ 

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The Light 

International Organ of the Centre for the Worldwide 

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam 

2017 

April 

2016 

November 

Germany 

Guyana 

India 

Sweden 

UK 

USA 

The only Islamic organisation upholding the finality of prophethood. 

Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at 

Editors 

Amir Aziz 

Abd ul Muqtadir Gordon 

Gowsia Saleem & Prof. Shahab 

Shabbir 

Kaleem Ahmed 

Shahid Aziz & Mustaq Ali 

Zainib Ahmad 

Contents 

The Call of the Messiah 2 

Al Banna’s approach to studying 

the Holy Quran 

by Prof Dr Habeebullah Zakariyah 2 

In Defence of the British Media 

by Mr Salman Tufail 5 

The Kalima 

by Ebrahim Mohammed 8 

Creation of Pakistan 11 

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 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 

www.virtualmosque.co.uk 

Interesting external links 

‣ Separate Compartments for men and women 

needed on the London underground. 

‣ Sexual attacks in Pakistani religious schools. 

‣ Muslim Contribution to Robotics. 

‣ Pakistan Review at the UN - Look for the UK 

and US contribution. 

‣ Sufism 

‣ Double Standards for Mass Killings. 

‣ Muslims Advised Americans to Abolish Slavery.. 

‣ Why don't Muslim Read? 

‣ Founding Fathers of America and the Holy 

Prophet Muhammad (s). 

External Links 

The Light is not responsible for the content 

of external sites. The inclusion of a link to an external 

website should not be understood to be 

an endorsement of that website, the views it expresses 

or the site's owners (or their products/services). 

Some links may have research, which disagrees 

with our beliefs. It is for us to consider 

such material and provide a rebuttal. Ignoring it 

will not make it go away. 

We welcome all scholarly contributions to 

The Light. 

I Shall Love All Mankind.

November 2017 The 

Light 2 

The Call of the 

Messiah 

by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam 

Ahmad 

The Promised Messiah and Mahdi 

Attributes of Allah 

Regarding His attributes of excellence 

and perfection, Almighty God says in the Holy 

Quran: “Your God is the God Who is one in His 

person and without any participator in His attributes. 

He is God alone, for there is no being 

which is like Him eternal and everlasting, nor 

has any being its attributes like His attributes.” 

The knowledge a man has is acquired from 

a teacher and is limited, but the knowledge that 

God has is neither acquired from someone nor 

is it limited. The power of hearing in man depends 

upon the transmission of sound by air 

and is moreover a limited power, but the power 

of hearing in God is an inherent power and is 

unlimited. The power of seeing things in man 

depends upon the light of the sun or some other 

light and is limited, but Almighty God sees 

things without the assistance of any light, and 

His power of sight is an unlimited one. The 

power of man to make things depends upon the 

existence of material and is a limited power 

while the act of making must take some time, 

but the creating power of God does not stand in 

need of any existing material, is unlimited and 

does not depend upon any time in its exercise. 

As there is nothing that is like Him, so there is 

nothing whose attributes are like His attributes. 

For if there is any defect in one of His attributes 

all His attributes must be defective, and if one of 

his attributes can be possessed by anyone else, 

then all His attributes can be so possessed, then 

all His attributes can be so possessed. Therefore, 

unless He is regarded as one and without 

any partner in His person as well as His attributes, 

His unity cannot be established. The remaining 

portion of the chapter quoted above 

says that God is neither anyone’s son nor father, 

for He stands in need of none, not even of a father 

or a son. The doctrine of Unity taught by 

the Holy Quran, which is necessary for a perfect 

faith, is this. (Lecture Lahore, p. 8-9) 

(Return to contents) 

I Shall Love All Mankind. 

Jamal Al-Bana’s Approach to 

Studying the Quranic Text 

and Its Effects on Islamic 

Legal Rulings: A Critical 

Analytical Study (Part 2) 

by Dr Habeebullah Zakariyah 

International Islamic University 

Malaysia 

Note: This is the second of two parts in which we 

are serialising the article reproduced here with 

the kind permission of the author from the International 

Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 

(www.ijahss.com), Volume 2, Issue 6, July 

2017. Readers are requested to refer back the previous 

issue to be able to make connected sense of 

the author’s exposition and conclusion. 

Gamal al-Banna or Jamal al-Banna (1920– 

2013) was an Egyptian author and trade unionist 

and was the youngest brother of Hassan al-Banna 

(1906–1949), the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement concurs 

in general with the principles outlined in the 

article but does not necessarily draw the same 

conclusions in detail as Gamal al-Banna. 

We assume that the witnesses referred to in 

the paragraph on marriage are the ones who, after 

ascertaining that the woman has consented, then 

convey her consent to the person conducting the 

nikah. 

ROLES PLAYED BY THE SUNNAH IN THE 

QURAN 

It is worth to note that al-Bana classifies 

Sunnah into three types: 

1. Sunnah of worship: This Sunnah explains the 

relationship between a creature and the Creator. 

It also explains all acts of worship such 

as Salat, Pilgrimage, fasting and so forth. 

2. Sunnah of life: It represents the pivot of 

transactions and dealings. It regulates people’s 

relations with each other and determines 

the basis on which these dealings 

should be. 

3. Sunnah of Politics: This Sunnah has to do 

with the policies that the prophet (s) adopted 

as the leader of Muslims in entirety and the 

one who governed their affairs. 

Whoever scrutinises deeply into his poetry 

titled “al-Mandhum al-Ma‘rifiy” will see that 

Jamal al-Bana holds a stance that is completely



different from that of ancient hadeeth scholars. 

Perhaps, he may be depicted as an Islamic 

thinker who struggles to oppose Sunnah. He 

draws attention to this possibility in the second 

part of his book “Nahwa Fiqh Jadeed” when he 

states: “The most obvious obscurity provoked 

by the second part is that some are prompted to 

think that we are among the deniers of Sunnah.” 

Although this probability is on the part of those 

who view the matter in the external perspective, 

al-Bana denies the truthfulness 

of that possibility since his 

books provide corroborative arguments 

that he is not a denier 

of Sunnah at all. He has defended 

himself when he says: “This is not true 

at all. In 1972, I published my book, “Al-Aslaan 

al-Adheeman al-Kitab wa Sunnah” which regards 

Sunnah as the second source…”. 

The Sunnah should relate with the Quran in 

a way that the latter serves as the judge over the 

former. This is because the Quran is distinguished 

by immortality rather than the Sunnah. 

He asserts that the act of forbidding the companion 

to codify the Sunnah is an indication 

that the Prophet (s) himself did not want the 

Sunnah to be immortalised like the Quran. 

One of his works presented is a dissertation 

for Sunnah studies which is characterised as 

scrutiny or recantation of the views of the ancient 

scholars of hadeeth. “This work condemns 

almost half of the hadeeths we have in our 

books including authentic ones.” 

The Sunnah that we are obliged to be submissive 

and resort to is that which agrees with 

the Quran and its noble intents. Before a Sunnah 

can be implemented, it should be judged by 

the Quran. If it agrees with it, we accept it. But if 

it disagrees with it, we reject it. In his view, this 

approach is a moderation between the denial of 

the Sunnah and its extreme advocacy. He states: 

“There is no ruling except Quran. Hence, having 

recourse to it is the first step towards finding a 

method that is objective…what is consistent 

with the Quran will be attributed to the Prophet 

(s), but if otherwise, its attribution to the 

Prophet (s) will be a doubtful matter.” 

“The Sunnah, with all the defects that it 

suffers such as fabrication, inclusion made by 


narrators into its text, abnormality and disorders, 

and narration by meaning without the 

original wording, all of which cast doubt to it 

and adversely affect its trust and reliance.” 

STUDYING AND EVALUATING THE 

APPROACH PROPOSED BY JAMAL AL-BANA 

Those are the most significant principles 

and methods employed by al-Bana towards understanding 

the Quranic discourse all of which 

represent the fundamental pillars for deducing 

the Quran is distinguished by immortality 

rather than the Sunnah 

the rulings of Shariah. 

As we see, despite 

the analogical 

reasoning of al-Bana, his act of subjecting 

ancient scholars and the Quran exegetes to a serious 

campaign on many occasions is far from 

benefit. 

Al-Bana sees the need to surrender to the 

usefulness of thematic interpretation in the exegesis 

of the Quran. However, this should not 

lead us to impose it on other methods of interpretation 

or to render useless the efforts of 

scholars who employ analytical approach. 

The view of al-Bana which prioritises human 

reason on the revelation is not consistent 

with the Shariah of Islam in any circumstances. 

We have mentioned earlier that Islam honours 

the intellect on many occasions. However, it 

does not behove of anyone to put revelation under 

the control of intellect, “Aql”. Al-Bana does 

not show the characteristics of the intellect that 

he implies in this regard, because intellects are 

inherently different in their view of things, in 

addition to the fact that the intellects, whatever 

sapient they are, they cannot by themselves 

reach some things which are not within the 

realm of their capacity. 

As for his view that it is not permissible to 

be submissive to the Sunnah until after it is 

presented to the Quran because there are 

hadeeths that are fabricated in the Sunnah. This 

statement is, indeed, invalid. Which authentic 

Sunnah is contradictory to the Quran? Except if 

the conflict arises in the understanding of human 

rather than the revelation itself, be it the 

Quran or the Sunnah. Also, the reliable scholars 

in the hadeeth have done the great and good job



in classifying the weak or fabricated hadeeths, 

and they have written specialised books to explain 

the weakness of these narrations and 

their fabrication. 

However, the dissertation presented by al- 

Bana leads us to disprove the effectiveness of 

Sunnah, and thus it is rejected in one word. The 

Prophet (s) does not make any utterances except 

that it is a divine revelation revealed to 

him. Hence, submission to his sayings is a submission 

to the Quran. Allah says: “Cling to that 

which the Prophet offers to you and refrain 

from that which he forbids”. It appears as if the 

saying of the Prophet (s): “Indeed, I am given 

the Quran and its like. Then a replete man is 

As for his claim that the issue of abrogation 

and occasions of revelation 

should not be considered in the 

Quranic exegesis, this should not be 

accepted at all. 

about to say while 

on his sofa: O people, 

be adherent to 

this Quran; make 

lawful what it 

legitimises, and declare 

unlawful whatever it makes unlawful! O 

people, whatever is prohibited by the Prophet 

(s) is as that prohibited by Allah.” It is evident 

from the perspective of al-Bana the lack of submission 

to the Sunnah as an independent 

source of legislation. As for his claim that Sunnah 

does not possess the attribute of immortality, 

this assertion is far from objectivity. Also, he 

does not have any proof with which to corroborate 

this claim. If Sunnah as a part of revelation 

is not immortal, what remains for us?! 

As for his claim that the issue of abrogation 

and occasions of revelation should not be 

considered in the Quranic exegesis, this should 

not be accepted at all. The act of marginalising 

the Sciences of Quran in the interpretation of 

the Quran will leave some adverse effects on the 

spirit of the Quran and its intents. The claim 

that it is more than necessary to be cognizant of 

occasions of revelation does not imply that a 

Quran exegete should confine the verse in question 

to its occasions without making it applicable 

to other relevant circumstances. The absence 

of knowledge of the reasons for the 

revelation of verses is, in fact, the destruction of 

knowledge of the historical sequence of the revelation 

of the Quran. 


VI. THE EFFECTS OF AL-BANA’S APPROACH 

ON ISLAMIC LEGAL RULINGS 

It is known that there is no approach except 

with certain effects. Since the approach of al- 

Bana mentioned above connects with the principles 

of Shariah rulings, its effects have been 

evident in his deduction of Shariah rulings from 

the Quran and Sunnah. In the next few lines, 

some light will be thrown on the effects of his 

approach. 

VII. ISSUE OF MARRIAGE IN ISLAMIC LEGAL 

RULINGS 

One of the important issues that al-Bana refers 

to in the application of his approach to understanding 

the Quranic text is 

that of marriage. 

Although he sees the inevitability 

of referring to the 

Quran directly without having 

recourse to the Sunnah, this 

approach led him to claim the permissibility of 

a woman to marry without a guardian or witnesses. 

He sees that the Quran does not stipulate 

these two conditions either from near or 

far. He emphasises that these conditions were 

laid down by jurists and are being imposed on 

couples, and thus they are incompatible with 

the spirit of Islam and the Quranic text. 

He says: “Books of Fiqh have elaborated at 

length on the necessity of “a guardian”. However, 

the Quran does not make any reference to 

that. It only points out the necessity of seeking 

permission from the guardian with regards to a 

slave woman. Then, he quotes the following 

verse: “If any of you have not the means wherewith 

to wed free believing women, they may 

wed believing girls from among those whom 

your right hands possess: And Allah hath full 

knowledge about your faith. Ye are one from another: 

Wed them with the leave of their owners, 

and give them their dowers, according to what 

is reasonable. They should be chaste, not lustful, 

nor taking paramours: when they are taken 

in wedlock, if they fall into shame, their punishment 

is half that for free women. This [permission] 

is for those among you who fear sin, but it 

is better for you that ye practice self-restraint. 

And Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”



(Quran 4:25) It can be said that the requirement 

of permission here is understood as not required 

for the free women. 

VIII. CONCLUSION 

It is possible to say that the approach 

introduced by al-Bana in which he rejects the 

great and painstaking efforts exerted by 

scholars of the Quranic exegesis of ancient and 

modern times leads us to reject many of the 

Shariah rulings sometimes with the argument 

that the Quran does not declare them, while 

sometimes with the argument that they do not 

agree with reason. However, the interpretation 

of the Quran based on the main themes around 

which the Quran revolves is very important. 

I hold that there is an urgent need to 

scrutinise the works of Jamal al-Bana and conduct 

a thorough and objective study on them. 

(Go To Contents) 

In Defence of the British 

Media. 

Mr Salman Tufail 

(Note: Recently, we have sent out media 

releases which were critical of the British 

Media. A member of our jamaat has responded 

with a defence of the media, and we are printing 

it here, balancing the argument.) 

Recently my daughter related a 

conversation she had with her school friends. In 

it, she explained to them that we were Muslims. 

Her friends who were horrified and expressed 

the view that it could not be true since our 

family were too nice to be Muslims and her 

mother did not wear the hijab. Therefore, it is 

clear to all that the media does create a very 

bias and prejudicial view of Muslims especially 

amongst the very young and impressionable. 

There is no doubt that some Western is biased 

and Islamophobic, an article by the Jamaat 

regarding Islamophobia and the Western Media 

is important, especially since there has been a 

recent increase in hate crimes committed 

against Muslims. Moreover, the emergence of 

the Far Right parties in Europe is of concern 

since these parties rise to prominence has been 


our family were too nice to be 

Muslims and her mother did 

not wear the hijab 

on an anti-Islamic, and anti-immigration rhetoric. 

In Austria, the Eurosceptic and anti-immigrant 

Freedom Party (FPOE) came close to winning 

the presidency in December, which would 

have made its leader the European Union's first 

far-right President. In Germany, the openly antiimmigration 

and Islamaphobic Alternative for 

Germany (AFD) is the third-biggest party in the 

Bundestag after the September election. This is 

a political earthquake for post-war Germany, 

and finally, in the Netherlands, the anti-Islam 

Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders in March 

became the second party in parliament, with 20 

seats in the 150-member parliament. 

However, the election of Sadiq Khan as the 

Mayor of London has indicated that we here in 

the United Kingdom have not followed the European 

narrative completely, but the Brexit 

vote, partly won due to anti-immigration platform, 

should be a warning. 

Is all the British Media Islamophobic? 

I have to confess that after I spend time listening 

to some Muslims’ viewpoints on certain 

issues, I became ‘Islamophobic.’ For instance, 

some of these Muslims’ views about women, 

minorities and Islam, in general, do concern me. 

Then there is the anti-Ahmadi rhetoric that I 

hear in the North (of England) and the attempt 

by some of the Muslim clerics to prevent an Ahmadi 

being buried in the Muslim Cemetery particularly 

offends me. Is it a surprise that there is 

Islamophobia? 

We only have to read about the blessed 

Prophet Muhammad’s life to realise that he 

would not have acted as these Muslims do, nor 

would he have condoned these views. 

Muslims themselves are in part, responsible 

for the anti-Islamic narrative which is rolled out 

by some elements within the press, already 

primed with a biased and prejudicial view. 

It is my view that not all the press are biased



and prejudicial. One only 

has to examine the case of 

Mirza Beg, the Guantanamo 

Bay prisoner released after 

a concerted effort by some 

parts of the press who 

argued that it was against 

the British Legal System, 

and human rights to detain 

a British subject without 

trial indefinitely. I remember 

the pressure being exerted on the then 

Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Parliament to 

explain to the American allies that this was unacceptable 

and that he Mirza Beg, should be released, 

and in time he was indeed released. 

It was the British press who helped 

Snowden to release the sensitive material on 

surveillance. And, to some extent, it was the 

Guardian who helped expose the human rights 

and war crimes being committed in Iraq, such 

as Abu Ghraib and the publication of the Wiki 

Leaks information of the murder of innocent 

Iraqis by a helicopter gunship. Who can forget 

this video! 

Recently President Trump’s anti-Muslim 

views have been exposed and dissected by the 

press and his third attempt to impose a travel 

ban has been defeated again as being unconstitutional 

and anti-Muslim, even though the 

Trump administration attempted to circumvent 

the constitutional law by including other non- 

Muslim countries within the ban. However, it is 

my view that the Trump Administration will 

most probably succeed in the Supreme Court by 

altering the contents of the ban criteria again. 

What is clear is that the press called it a Muslim 

ban, which is what it is and did not try to dilute 

this issue and the courts have made it clear that 

President Trump ban is anti -Muslim. 

Even though the plight of ethnic cleansing of 

the Rohingya Muslims has not been reported as 

widely as was the ethnic cleansing of Christians 

in Iraq, nevertheless, the impact of these reports 

has had an effect, and Aung San Suu Kyi 

has been widely criticised for not addressing allegations 

of ethnic cleansing. Students at the Oxford 

College where Aung San Suu Kyi studied 

have voted to remove her name from its junior 


common room. 

The JCR Committee 

at St Hugh's 

College said the 

de-facto leader of 

Myanmar's response 

to reports 

of ethnic cleansing 

of Rohingya Muslims 

was "inexcusable". 

The College 

has removed a portrait of the Nobel Peace Prize 

winner. Councils in Oxford and London are also 

seeking to strip her of the honorary freedoms of 

both cities. 

it was the Guardian who helped 

expose the human rights and war 

crimes being committed in Iraq, 

such as Abu Ghraib and the 

publication of the Wiki Leaks 

information of the murder of 

innocent Iraqis by a helicopter 

gunship 

In its motion, the St Hugh's JCR Committee 

said its junior common room would be "unnamed" 

with immediate effect. It has issued a 

statement: 

"We must condemn Aung San Suu Kyi's 

silence, and complicity on this issue and her condonation 

of the human rights offences is her land. 

"In doing so, she has gone against the very 

principles and ideals she had once righteously 

promoted." 

The fall from grace of one of the most respected 

figures in the West has been swift and 

to some extent brutal, as were the Roman Catholic 

Church Priests in Ireland as a result of the 

child abuse scandal, also reported by the British 

Media. 

Perhaps, more importantly, it could be argued 

that the consistent probing of the Saudi Islamic 

principles by the Western media may 

have led the Saudi Governments to attempt to 

distance itself from the more radical elements 

of the Islamic clergy within Saudi Arabia and 

has meant that the government now wants to 

‘adopt moderate’ Islam. Moreover, questions 

have been asked about the funding of terrorist 

groups by some elements within of the the 

Saudi Kingdom and the press has also condemned 

human rights abuses both within the 

kingdom and via its foreign policy and significantly 

started to question the wisdom of the 

British policy of selling arms to the kingdom



Though the statement from Crown Prince 

Mohammed bin Salman, is welcome, I am not 

sure what a ‘’moderate Islam’’ would look like 

under a Saudi model, and until action follows 

the word, I remain sceptical. 

From an Ahmadi perspective, the question 

has to be asked: Will Ahmadis be allowed to 

freely perform Haj after Saudi declaration or 

now be regarded as ‘Muslims’? Probably not, 

furthermore, will the Pakistani Press or for that 

matter, any Muslim press start to report the Human 

Rights abuse of the Ahmadis? 

It has been left to the British press and media 

to initiate this discussion on the plight of the 

Ahmadis and other minorities, albeit in a lowkey 

manner and it imperative that we continue 

to publicise it. Otherwise, we may suffer the 

same fate as the Rohingya Muslims. 

So what of the Muslim press around 

the world, and how does it compare to 

the British press? 

The refugee crisis has been exploited and 

misrepresented by some of the press and farright 

ideologues in the west to further their 

agenda, and at times, it is my view that some of 

the press coverage has been very much Islamaphobic 

and racist. 

However, if one takes the time to read the 

Lebanese press articles on their Syrian refugee 

crisis, and it is much larger than the current exodus 

to the West, there is a consistent theme 

which mirrors the sinister bias reporting that is 

seen here in some media in the West. Some of 

the Lebanese press reports demonise the refugees 

as rapist, criminals and undesirables and 

the some of the reporting starts with the statement, 

‘‘We are not racist because we speak about 

the refugees’’. 

This type of reporting has led to attacks on 

the refugees in Lebanon. 

Does all of this sound familiar? 

Saudi Arabia has no independent media, 

the authorities do not tolerate political parties, 

unions, nor human rights groups, and the level 


of self-censorship is extremely high. The Internet 

is the only space where freely-reported information 

and views can circulate, albeit at 

great risk to its citizen journalists. Like professional 

journalists, they are watched closely, and 

critical comments are liable to lead to arrest 

and trial under the country’s terrorism or 

cyber-crime laws. 

The Bangladeshi government does not 

take kindly to criticism of its Constitution or its 

state religion, Islam. Journalists and bloggers 

who resist censorship or self-censorship on 

these subjects risk life imprisonment, the death 

penalty, or murder by Islamist militants, who 

often issue online calls for the deaths of outspoken 

secularist bloggers and writers. 

Morroco, the Kingdom’s authorities use political 

and economic pressure to deter local independent 

media outlets from covering highly 

sensitive subjects. Even the international media 

has become a target. 

The Pakistani media are regarded as 

among the freest in Asia but are targeted by extremist 

groups, Islamist organisations, and the 

feared intelligence agencies. There are fatal attacks 

on journalists every year, though the number 

has dropped for the past four years. 

In Turkey, the witch-hunt waged by President 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government 

against its media critics has come to a head 

since the abortive coup of July 2016. The authorities 

have used their fight against “terrorism” 

as grounds for an unprecedented purge. A 

state of emergency has allowed them to eliminate 

dozens of media outlets at the stroke of a 

It has been left to the British press 

and media to initiate this discussion 

on the plight of the Ahmadis 

and other minorities, albeit in a 

lowkey manner and it imperative 

that we continue to publicise it. 

Otherwise, we may suffer the 

same fate as the Rohingya Muslims.



pen, reducing pluralism to a handful of low-circulation 

publications. Dozens of journalists 

have been imprisoned without trial, turning 

Turkey into the world’s biggest prison for media 

personnel. 

Islamaphobia an opportunity. 

It is my view that Islamaphobia can be a 

positive for all of the Muslims in the UK, in that 

it allows us to present the true picture of Islam 

through publications, interviews on television 

and a general dissemination of information to 

nullify the gross misrepresentation of Islam. It 

is also an immense opportunity for the Lahore 

Ahmadiyya Movement, and though our numbers 

are small, the wealth of material we have is 

large. 

Articles written by us explaining our view 

must be published in the mainstream press and 

media so that the message reaches a much 

larger audience than it does at the moment. For 

instance, our friends in Harrogate are fully 

aware of the Ahmadiyya Movement not only 

from ourselves but also from BBC Radio 4, 

which had recently discussed the discrimination 

against Ahmadis in Pakistan. 

Of course, some of the media here is biased. 

But we do have freedom of speech and 

expression. We must support the press freedom 

despite some of the press being prejudiced. 

Since in my view, some of the freedoms are 

being often eroded in the name of national 

security, and this has resulted in Parliament 

adopting the most extreme surveillance 

legislation in UK history, with insufficient 

protection mechanisms for whistle blowers, 

journalists, and their sources, posing a serious 

threat to investigative journalism. 

Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement’s role 

It is obvious that as time progresses, the 

Ahmadiyya view of Islam is being adopted 

though not in name, but this is of no concern to 

me or should be of concern to anyone in the 

Movement since the overreaching principle 

should be the propagation of the message. 

However, what must be done is that we 

make available all the material within the 

Jamaat. (Go To Contents) 


Why the Prophet Muhammad 

(s) is an Integral Part of a 

Muslim’s Testimony of Faith 

– Kalima Shahada 

by Ebrahim Muhamed, October 2017 

(Note: All emphases depicted in Quranic references 

herein are author’s) 

“Allah bears witness that there is no god but 

He, and (so do) the angels and those possessed 

of knowledge, maintaining justice. There is no 

god but He, the Mighty, the Wise.” 3:18 

“Muhammad is not the father of any of your 

men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the 

Seal of the prophets. And Allah is ever Knower 

of all things.” 33:40 

“Say: O mankind, surely I am the Messenger 

of Allah to you all, of Him, Whose is the kingdom 

of the heavens and the earth. There is no god 

but He; He gives life and causes death. So believe 

in Allah and His Messenger, the Ummi 

Prophet who believes in Allah and His words, 

and follow him so that you may be guided 

aright.” 7:158 

as time progresses, the Ahmadiyya 

view of Islam is being adopted 

The Kalima Shahada or Testimony of Faith 

is what a person declares when he or she enters 

the fold of Islam. This testimony consists of the 

following statement made with absolute sincerity: 

Ashhaddu an la ilaha ill-allahu wa ashhaddu 

anna Muhammadar Rasulullah – which means ‘I 

bear witness that there is no God besides Allah 

and I bear witness that Muhammad is the 

Messenger of Allah.’ This statement, although 

it does do not appear as one in the Holy Quran, 

contains the very basic theme of the Holy Quran 

and that is the absolute Oneness of Almighty Allah 

and the Messengership of the Holy Prophet 

(s) which can be seen from just a few verses to 

this effect quoted above. It is on this undercurrent 

theme that the Kalima Shahada of a Muslim 

is formulated. In the first verse of the Holy 

Quran quoted above ( 3:18) Almighty Allah declares 

that He 

and His angels 

bear witness to 

His Oneness



and then adds “and those possessed of 

knowledge.” This last part introduces the human 

element that tells us that only through true 

knowledge can we testify with certainty to the 

Unity of Almighty Allah. This true knowledge 

does not come from faulty, secular-based 

knowledge, but the knowledge that comes to us 

through Divine revelation granted to the Messengers 

of Allah. In the case of the Muslims it no 

doubt refers to the knowledge brought by the 

angel Gabriel to the heart of the Holy Prophet, 

Muhammad (s), the Messenger of Allah and Seal 

of the Prophets after whom no prophet, new or 

old will appear. This knowledge is contained 

and preserved in the Holy Quran, the only true 

guide for all of the humanity. 

There is a new argument emerging in 

certain sectors of the community. It professes 

that because the Holy Quran only mentions 

“witnessing the unity of Allah”, shahidallaa, in 

verse 3:18 above. It says nothing about 

Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. They 

conclude that the name of Muhammad (s) 

should not be included in the Muslim’s Kalima 

Shahada as this, they allege, would be bordering 

on shirk (i.e. putting up partners with Allah). 

This assertion, however, is based on sheer ignorance 

of the Holy Quran. To read verses of the 

Holy Quran in isolation, without judicious 

cross-reference to other pertinent verses, and 

then form opinions based on it is extremely 

foolish and unwise because it leads to the error 

of judgment. In fact, the very same chapter 3, 

Sura Al Imran has an entire section (9) dealing 

with the ‘Covenants of the Prophets’ that has a 

bearing on the shahada of the Nabi (s), and I 

quote from it: 

“And when Allah made a covenant through 

the prophets: Certainly what I have given you of 

Book and Wisdom — then a Messenger comes 

to you verifying that which is with you, you 

shall believe in him, and you shall aid him. 

He said: Do you affirm and accept My compact 

in this (matter)? They said: We do affirm. He 

said: Then bear witness, and I (too) am of 

the bearers of witness with you.” 3:81 

Here mention is made of a covenant that 

was made with the people by Almighty Allah 

“through the prophets” that when the Messenger 

appears then they must believe in him and 

aid him. Having been asked to affirm this commitment 

that was requested of them, the Holy 

Quran states: “They said: We do affirm. He (the 

Prophet) said: Then bear witness (ashaddu), 

and I (too) am of the bearers of witness with 

you.” The ‘bearing of witness’, ashaddu, here relates 

to the witnessing that Muhammad (s) is indeed 

the fulfilment of the advent of that final 

Messenger of Allah prophesied in their 

scriptures 1 and thus it became incumbent on 

them to believe in him and to aid him. This concludes 

the second portion of our shahada (testimony 

of faith) – Muhammad ur Rasululah – Muhammad 

is the Messenger of Allah. In the very 

next verse, 3:82, those who reject or oppose this 

testimony are thus warned: 

“Whoever then turns back after this, these 

are the transgressors” 3:82 

This verse is prophetical, as the Holy Quran 

shows that there were those who accepted this 

kalima shahada, but turned to disbelief afterwards: 

“How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved 

after their believing, and (after) they 

had borne witness (shahidu) that the Messenger 

was true, and clear arguments had 

come to them? And Allah guides not the unjust 

people.” 3:86 

This verse, without a doubt, proves that at 

the time of its revelation there already existed a 

shahada which included testimony to the 

truth of the Messenger of Allah. The verse 

clearly states that there were people who 

turned to disbelief after they ‘bore witness’ 

(shahidu) of the truth of the Messenger of Allah. 

This goes to show that here shahidu anna 

rasula haqq i.e. bear ‘witness that the Messenger 

was true’ was part of the shahada of the very 

1 “Whoever will not hearken unto My words which he 

shall speak in my name, I will require of him.” – (Deut 

18:19); “He will guide you unto all truth; for he will not 

speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that he 


shall speak.” – (John 16:13). For more detail of prophesies 

of the advent of Muhammad (s), please refer to Muhammad 

in the World Scriptures – by Maulana Abdul 

Haq Vidyarthi



early Muslims and therefore those who turned 

against it are called ‘unjust’ by Almighty Allah 

and will be deprived of Divine guidance. NOTE: 

They are censured by Allah not because they 

‘bore witness that the Messenger was true’ but 

because they subsequently discarded such testimony. 

This clearly tells us that it was by the 

command of Almighty Allah, the Most High, that 

it became incumbent upon the Believers to bear 

witness of the truth of Muhammad (s) as the 

testimony of their faith. And it is not for any 

human agency 1400 years later to suggest going 

against the Divine will by discarding such 

testimony. By doing so they will be flirting with 

Divine wrath as indicated in the very next 

verses that follow: 

“As for these, their reward is that on them is 

the curse of Allah and the angels and of men, all 

together — abiding therein. Their chastisement 

shall not be lightened, nor shall they be respited 

— Except those who repent after that and 

amend, for surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” 

(3:87 – 3:89) 

Therefore, the part of our kalima shahada 

which states wa ashhadu anna Muhammadar 

Rasulula — “And we bear witness that Muhammad 

is the Messenger of Allah” — is based on 

the Holy Quran itself. Another proof is contained 

in verse 1 of chapter 63 entitled ‘The 

Hypocrites’. It deals with those people who 

were insincere in their shahada of the Nabi (s): 

“When the hypocrites come to thee, they 

say: We bear witness (nash hadu ) that thou art 

indeed Allah’s Messenger. And Allah knows thou 

art indeed His Messenger. And Allah bears witness 

that the hypocrites are surely liars.” 63:1 

This verse also confirms beyond a doubt 

that ‘bearing witness of the Messenger of Allah’ 

was part of the testimony of faith of the very 

early Muslims. And the testimony (nashaddu 

innaka larasulul lahi – thou art indeed Allah’s 

Messenger) was sanctioned by and approved of 

by none other than Almighty Allah. So much so, 

that even those who dared to declare it, 

hypocritically, without sincerity, was frowned 

upon by Almighty Allah and deemed ‘liars’ by 

Him. So we are not just told to declare that Muhammad 

is the Messenger of Allah but indeed 


to do so with sincerity of heart as well. ‘Wallaahu 

ya’lamu innaka larasuluhu — “And Allah 

knows thou (Muhammad) art indeed His Messenger.” 

What better testimony do we need than 

that of Almighty Allah Himself? 

Almighty Allah Himself has elevated 

Muhammad (s) in the Holy Quran 

There are several verses in the Holy Quran 

where Almighty Allah Himself has joined His 

Messenger, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) as 

an integral and inseparable part of our faith as 

Muslims. This does not mean that we worship 

the Prophet (s); on the contrary, it is through 

the Messenger (s) alone that we learn with absolute 

certainty about the ‘Oneness of Allah, 

Who has no partners.’ Through him alone we 

have come to know about the wonderfully 

unique attributes of Allah (Rabb, Rahman, 

Rahim etc.) never known to man before. 

Through him, we now have a Book from Allah 

that is pure and guarded against corruption. 

Through him, the Faith of Islam has been perfected 

(Q 5:3), and it is therefore through him 

alone that we find the Sirat al mustaqeem – a direct, 

straight path that leads to Almighty Allah. 

The part of the kalima shahada – Muhammadar 

Rasululah – i.e. where we testify that Muhammad 

is indeed the Messenger of Allah, distinguishes 

us from others who also claim to have a 

path to Allah such as the Hindus, Jews and 

Christians. They also claim that they believe in 

the One God, even Trinitarians argue that they 

believe in One God although they say ‘Three in 

One’ and idolatress Hindus argue the same, that 

their millions of idols merely represent the God 

of the Universe. Their teachings, however, contain 

many human interpolations that have 

caused the purity of its original teachings to suffer 

many distortions, which in turn have led to 

many of them going astray. It is therefore 

important that the Kalima or testimony or 

declaration of Faith of the Muslims should not 

only contain absolute faith in the Oneness of 

Allah but also firm belief in the Messenger of 

Allah, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s), as the 

one who has brought the perfect code and 

perfect, unadulterated teachings that provide



absolute and certain knowledge of the Tauheed, 

Oneness of Allah. This final Messenger of Allah 

was thus raised to bring all of the humanity 

back to the straight path that leads directly to 

the One, Universal God. The God Who has no 

partners, amidst Jewish, Christian, Hindu, 

Atheistic, Agnostic, and Satanic based 

influences and ideologies that prevail alongside 

Islam in the world we live in. Therefore it is extremely 

important that the name of Muhammad 

is mentioned in the Kalima Shahada of a Muslim 

as it distinguishes us from such other influences, 

ideologies, and belief systems that lay 

equal claim on the human psyche. It is not to 

worship Muhammad or to put him on the same 

pedestal as Almighty Allah like some petty faultfinders 

allege. 

Besides, the Book of Allah itself describes 

the inseparable relationship of the Almighty 

with His noble Messenger (s), and the latter’s 

superior spiritual rank in the sight of Allah in 

several places: 

“Say: Obey Allah and the Messenger; but if 

they turn back, Allah surely loves not the disbelievers.” 

3:32 

“And obey Allah and the Messenger, that 

you may be shown mercy. “ 3:132 

“Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed 

obeys Allah.” 4:80 

“O you who believe, be not unfaithful to Allah 

and the Messenger, nor be unfaithful to your 

trusts, while you know.” 8:27 

“The heart was not untrue in seeing what he 

saw.” 53:11 

“Do you then dispute with him as to what he 

saw?” 53:12 

“And certainly, he saw Him in another descent,” 

53:13 

This is the highest darajat (spiritual rank) 

that a human being can reach. It is referred to 

by the Sufis (Mystics) as fanaa fillaah (complete 

surrender to Almighty Allah). The Holy Prophet 

Muhammad (s) is the only person that is 

recorded in the Holy Quran as having reached 

such a high spiritual rank, a rank bestowed on 

him by Almighty Allah Himself. 

Last, but by no means least: 

“So, believe in Allah and His Messenger 

and the Light which We have revealed. And Allah 

is Aware of what you do.” (64:8) 


Creation of Pakistan 

Iqbal’s Explanation 

“And keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate 

and obey the Messenger, so that mercy may be 

shown to you.” 24:56 

“And on the day when the wrongdoer will 

bite his hands, saying: Would that I had taken a 

way with the Messenger!” 25:27 

“And We have not sent thee (Muhammad) 

but as a mercy to the nations.” 21:107 

“Certainly, you have in the Messenger of Allah 

an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in 

Allah and the Latter-day and remembers Allah 

much.” 33:21 


In his address to the All India Muslim 

League at Allahabad on 29 December 1930 Allama 

Sir Muhammad Iqbal asked for the creation 

of a new state on the northwest frontier of 

India. This was to consist of the Muslim majority 

states, Punjab, Sind, North West Frontier and 

Balochistan. In the UK, Iqbal was criticised for 

this demand. During a subsequent trip to the UK 

Iqbal wrote to the Times and explained the reasons 

for his demand. A scan of his letter is in the 

next column with the typed version below it. 

“Sir, Writing in your issue of October 3 last, 

Dr E. Thompson has torn the following passage 

from its context in my presidential address to



the All-India Muslim League of last December, 

in order to serve as evidence of Pan-Islamic 

plotting:- 

I would like to see the Punjab, North-West 

Frontier Province, Sind, and Baluchistan 

amalgamated into a single state. Self-government 

within the British Empire or without 

the British Empire, the formation of a 

consolidated North-West Indian Muslim 

state appears to me to be the final destiny of 

the Moslems, at least of North-West India. 

May I tell Dr Thompson that in this passage 

I do not put forward a “demand” for a Muslim 

state outside the British Empire, but only a 

guess at the possible outcome in the dim future 

of the mighty forces now shaping the destiny of 

the Indian sub-continent. No Indian Muslim 

with any pretence to sanity contemplates a 

Muslim State or series of States in North-West 

India outside the British Commonwealth of Nations 

as a plan of practical politics. 

Although, I would oppose the creation of 

another cockpit of communal strife in the Central 

Punjab, as suggested by some enthusiasts, 

I am all for a redistribution of India into provinces 

with effective majorities of one community 

or another on the lines advocated by both 

Nehru and Simon Reports. Indeed, my suggestion 

regarding Moslem provinces merely carries 

forward this idea. A series of contended 

and well organised Moslem provinces on the 

North-West Frontier of India would be the bulwark 

of India and the British Empire against 

the hungry generations of Asiatic highlands. 

Yours faithfully, 

Muhammed Iqbal 

St James’s Court, S W 1 Oct. 10.” 


Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore (UK) 

Founders of the first Islamic Mission in the UK, established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission. 

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

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E-mail: info@aaiil.uk 

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


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The Light English Edition November 2017

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