From the Markaz Khuddam group from Germany meet Huzooraa
100 Years Ago...
From the Archives
Two publications’ websites
News from Jamaats around the world
First UK Shura called by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra
launched by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V
Al Fazl, 21 June and 24 June 1919 Page 6
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THE WEEKLY
www.alhakam.org AL HAKAM | Friday 21 June 2019 | Issue LXVI Ahmadiyya Archive & Research Centre (ARC), 22 Deer Park Road, London, SW19 3TL. UK info@alhakam.org | F: +44(0)208 544 7673
Fear of Allah above everything else
Huzoor addresses 40th UK Shura After Hazrat Amirul Momineen’saa arrival in Tahir Hall, Baitul Futuh at around 13:07 local time, the concluding session of the National UK Majlis-e-Shura commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran and its translation. Thereafter, Huzooraa took to the rostrum and addressed the national Shura. After reciting Tashahud, Ta‘awuz and
Surah al-Fatihah, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa said that he was confident that all members of the Shura, in their individual capacities, will have taken full part in the proceedings of the Shura. Huzooraa said that initially, some of the members will have given suggestions in their respective subcommittees, and after having discussed them, they will have been
presented to the full house. Huzooraa said that in the concluding session, he would elaborate on the responsibilities of Shura members in light of a speech given by Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, Musleh-eMaudra, in a Majlis-e-Shura. Continued on page 3
Hadith-e-Rasul – Sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa
The Virtue Of Going To The Masjid The Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “When a man goes out of his house to the Masjid, one foot records a good deed and the other erases a bad deed.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, In His Own Words The Meaning of the Islamic Veil In the current day, objections are raised against the veil. However, people do not realise that the Islamic veil is no prison. It is only a barrier which prevents the free mixing of men and women. The veil saves them from stumbling. A just-minded individual would appreciate that if non-mahram men and women were to mix without any hesitation and concern, and if they were to go about together, they would surely succumb to the flare of their inner-passions. It has often been heard and observed that certain people see no ill in a non-mahram man and woman remaining alone behind closed doors. Civilisation they call it. It is to counter these very adverse effects that the Founder of Islam has forbidden an individual altogether from approaching anything that may lead them to stumble. In this relation, the Holy Prophetsa has stated that where a non-mahram man and woman sit in seclusion, the third of them is Satan. Just reflect on the harrowing outcomes that Europe is having to bear as a result of this non-restrictive and unbridled teaching. In certain places, an utterly shameless life of promiscuity is led. This is due to teachings of the sort just mentioned. If you wish to protect a thing from misuse, it must be safeguarded. However, if one does not watch over a possession – and considers the world to be innocent – then keep in mind that it will surely be ruined. The Islamic veil is a truly holy teaching indeed, which through segregation, saves man and woman from stumbling. It has delivered mankind from a grievous and bitter life, on account of which Europe has seen domestic disputes and suicides every other day. The fact that noble women drift into lives of promiscuity is the practical outcome of the permission to gaze freely at non-mahram women. (Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, Malfuzat, Vol. 1, pp. 33-34)
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
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This Week in History 21 - 27 June
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27th National Majlis-e-Shura France
21 June 1908: The Promised Messiah’sas last written work, Paigham-e-Sulh (A Message of Peace), was read out for the representatives of different faiths in Punjab University Hall, Lahore by Khawaja Kamaluddin Sahib. 21 June 1913: Hazrat Khalifatul Masih I announced the nikah of his son Abdul Hayy Sahib. ra
21 June 1920: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra established Muballighin Class and appointed Hazrat Hafiz Roshan Alira as its first teacher. 21 June 1928: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra set off on his journey to Dalhousie and stayed there until 5 August. Huzoorra appointed Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmadra as amir-emuqami back at the headquarters (Qadian). 21 June 1931: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud’sra article about the financial difficulties of farmers was read out in a conference of agriculturists held in Lyallpur, present-day Faisalabad.
Mansoor Ahmed Mubashir France Correspondant
T
he 27th Majlis-e-Shura of France was held on 15 June 2019 at the Mubarak Mosque, Saint Prix, the national headquarters of the Jamaate-Ahmadiyya France. There was one proposition “Make a tarbiyat plan so that Ahmadis become aware of the traditions and values of the Jamaat” along with the annual Jamaat’s budget. The opening session started with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by the opening speech by National Amir, Ashfaq Rabbani Sahib. In his speech, he read some extracts from a speech of Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra about Shura. The secretary Shura later on presented the previous year’s report followed by this year’s agenda. The national secretary finance then presented the budget. Two subcommittees were formed, one for the proposition and one for the budget. During the meetings of subcommittees, a seminar was held by the manager of Al Fazl International Tahir Mahdi Sahib for increase in sales and awareness of Al Fazl International. In the evening, the subcommittees presented their reports in front of the Shura. After the respective reports, the elections for the national amila for the years 2019-2022 were held. A silent prayer was led thereafter by Amir Sahib France and the proceedings of this year’s Shura concluded.
21 June 1950: Hazrat Pir Manzur Muhammadra passed away. He had beautiful handwriting and had the privilege of writing with hand the first copy of many of the Promised Messiah’sas books. Hazrat Pir Sahibra introduced the unique system to teach children how to read the Quran – Qaida Yassarnal Quran. 22 June 1927: To poison the already tense atmosphere of the Indian subcontinent, a shameless member of the Arya Samaj, Rajpal, published a most scurrilous and disgraceful book concerning the Holy Prophetsa of Islam, called Rangila Rasul (The Flamboyant Prophet). A Hindu journal called Vartman of Amritsar also published an equally offensive article against the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra raised his voice against this and guided the masses at large and his Jamaat especially about how to react to this. The government prosecuted Rajpal for the offence. On this day, Rajpal was convicted and sentenced but was later acquitted by a high court judge, who took the view that the publication of the book did not fall within the scope of the relevant section of the Indian penal code. This entire case and a related contempt of court case against the Muslim press is worth studying. The services rendered by the Ahmadiyya Jamaat and Hazrat Chaudhry Zafarulla Khanra at the time are worth studying. 22 June 1948: Missionary in France, Malik Ataur-Rahman Sahib received official clearance and related documents from the concerned authorities to propagate the message of Islam in the country. 22 June 1957: Hazrat Sir Chaudhry Zafarulla Khan inaugurated an Ahmadi mosque in Hamburg, Germany. ra
22 June 1964: The Promised Messiah’sas book Eik Ghalati ka Izala (A Misconception Removed) was confiscated on the orders of government officials of Pakistan. This ban was lifted on 16 August. 23 June 1929: Hazrat Hafiz Roshan Alira (left) passed away. He was a saintly individual and one of the stalwart scholars of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. He was famous for reciting the Holy Quran in a melodious voice. Two
of his renowned students were Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Shams and Hazrat Maulana Abul Ata. He accompanied Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra in his journey to Europe in 1924. 23 June 1937: Hazrat Dr Syed Abdul Sattar Shahra passed away. He was the father of Hazrat Syeda Umm-e-Tahirra – wife of Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmadra and mother of Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh. 23 June 1944: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra instructed the young generation of the Jamaat to develop the habit of offering Tahajud prayers regularly. 25 June 1921: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra set out for his tour of Kashmir, which lasted a few months. 25 June 1956: At the start of the year, a small town was planned and developed near District Sarghoda’s town of Jaba. This settlement was named Nakhla. On this day, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra arrived here for the first time to stay. However, this area was ransacked and looted in May/ June 1974 by opponents during anti-Ahmadiyya riots. 26 June 1937: During the Khilafat of Hazrat Muslehe-Maudra, many conspiracies were hatched against the Jamaat. Some of these plots were so alarming that in all likelihood, the Jamaat could have been wiped off the face of the earth. Huzoorra overcame every obstacle with amazing courage. He foretold that every plot would fail. Every prediction made by Huzoorra came true. In 1937, Sheikh Abdur Rahman Misri, former principal of Madrasa Ahmadiyya started creating a rift in the community. He wrote vilifying letters and tried his utmost to create disorder within the Jamaat. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud’sra wise reply was published in this day’s issue of Al Fazl along with the announcement of his expulsion from the Jamaat. 26 June 1942: With the expansion of war fronts, the flames and horrors of World War 2 started engulfing the Middle East, Egypt and other neighbouring areas. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra asked his followers to sincerely pray for the security and sanctity of sacred places located in the Muslim world. 26 June 1952: On this day, the famous Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm dedicated a column to Hasanein bin Makhlouf, a scholar of the country. This article contained many misleading ideas regarding the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. To defuse the impact, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra prepared an article under the title, Al-Youm. Moreover, Huzoorra issued a pamphlet for the Pakistani public in an attempt to save them from going astray. 26 June 1953: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra laid the foundation stone of an academic block and hostel building of Talimul-Islam College Rabwah. A brick from Dar-ul-Masih Qadian was used for this purpose. 27 June 1905: Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Nuruddinra celebrated the completion of the first reading of the Holy Quran by his son Abdul Hayy Sahib. Under the guidance of the Promised Messiahas, he also arranged food for people. 27 June 1925: Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra sent Hazrat Syed Zain-ul-Abidin Waliullah Shahra and Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Shamsra to Syria to establish the Ahmadiyya Mission there. They reached their destination on 27 July.
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM Continued from page 1
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra said that Shura members should inculcate the fear of Allah in them. No matter how eloquent or well-spoken a person is, this cannot be a criterion for their success in life. True success and victory in this life and the Hereafter demands that we live our lives with the belief that our lord is Allah. Huzooraa then quoted a verse of the Holy Quran: ُ َ َ ْ ْ ْ َ ُّ ً َ ُ َ ْ َ َ َّ َ َّ َ َ َ َّ ٰ َ ُ ان ا ْن ٰا َِمنوْ ِابرَ ِّبک ْم فا َمنا َر ّبنا ِ ربنا ِاننا سمعنا منا ِدیا ینا ِدی ل ِلاِیم َ َ َ ّ َ َ ٰ َّ ّ َ َ ُ ُ َ ِ ْ َ و ک ِف ْر َعنا َس ِّیا ِتنا َو توَفنا َمع الْا ْبرَارِ۔ َ فاغ ِف ْرلَنا ذنوْبَنا “Our Lord, we have heard a Crier calling [us] unto faith, ‘Believe ye in your Lord,’ and we have believed. Our Lord, forgive us, therefore, our sins and remove from us our evils, and in death, join us with the righteous.” (Surah Al-e-Imran, Ch.3: V.194) With this, Huzooraa said that we Ahmadi Muslims should endeavour to live our lives in this way with true righteousness. If we do not, then we should ask ourselves what our worth is. Today, when our Jamaat has millions of members across the world, the truth remains that we represent a very small proportion of the world’s Muslims. Our Jamaat’s population is, in contrast, a mere drop in the ocean. Our Jamaat is, thus, seemingly insignificant. However, there is one thing that we can take pride in; that we have heard the cry of a caller and that we listen, and we obey. This is our true value and a great blessing that should remain at the forefront of our minds. It should remain embedded in our hearts at all times. As members of the community of the Promised Messiahas, Huzooraa said that our views and opinions and beliefs should be rooted in the fear of Allah the Almighty. The fear of Allah should take precedence in every sphere of our lives. Thus, every decision we make in our lives should be made with the fear of Allah. If, in the world today, people perceive our truth and significance, it is only due to the fact that we are a united community that stands together in all circumstances at the hand of Khalifatul Masih. They attest to the fact that we live our lives according to the true teachings of Islam, that are peace, love and humanity. We are the group that preaches the true Islam as taught by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Many people, as a result of this, are drawn to the Jamaat each year. Thus, all Shura members have an immense responsibility on their shoulders. Another profound point made by Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra was that if a person makes a wrong decision, it would not be detrimental to the Jamaat so long as a person made it with the best intention and fear of Allah. On the contrary, if a person makes a good decision and they do not have the true fear of Allah in their hearts, it will lead to harmful and negative consequences. If we make an error of judgement whilst having the fear of Allah in our hearts, Allah will rectify the mistake Himself. Through His grace and mercy, He will forgive us and lead us towards success.
Huzooraa said that some people may query this statement as to how a correct decision can lead to harm or a negative decision can have positive results. In answer to this, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra said that once the Holy Prophetsa saw in a dream that he was performing the tawaf [circuit] of the Holy Ka‘bah and thus, he set out for the Holy Ka‘bah. This was not done for any personal benefit or to increase his own personal influence among people. The Holy Prophetsa did this with the best of intentions, yet as it was not the decree of Allah, it was an innocent mistake. The decision was made with the complete fear of Allah. As a consequence, in Chapter 48, verse 2 of the Holy Quran, Allah the Almighty states: ً ُ َ َ َ َ َّ ِانا ف َت ْحنا لَک ف ْت ًحا ّم ِب ْینا “Verily, We have granted thee a clear victory.” Allah the Almighty stated that instead of causing harm, this decision would result in the progress of Islam. Through this, the entire world saw how the innocent mistake foreshadowed a glorious victory of Islam. At the Battle of Uhud, the Holy Prophetsa stationed a group of Muslims at a certain place, he instructed them that they were not to leave their assigned posts under any circumstances. However, when the enemies of Islam were in a state of defeat and retreat, the Muslims disregarded the instruction of the Holy Prophetsa and left their posts. True obedience, however, required that they followed the instruction, no matter the circumstances. Thus, the victory of Muslims turned into the defeat of Muslims. Huzooraa said that he wished to remind each member of the Shura that they must always remain true to themselves and Allah at all times. The members should be ever ready to live their lives for the sake of the cause of Islam and they should never be motivated to desire the praise of others. For instance, when giving Chanda or giving other financial sacrifices, they must ensure that it is done for the sake of Allah and not to impress others. The work of a spiritual community is far greater than worldly companies. The goals of a worldly company are limited and remain focused on limited areas. However, if the Promised Messiahas or his Khulafa had followed such worldly goals, our tabligh would have stopped long ago. For example, if it was ever decided that funds could only be used in the area they were raised, then success would never have been seen in the Jamaat. If it was decided that we should stop building mosques in order to save money, then we would see that our spiritual success would come to a halt and we would no longer witness the blessings of Allah the Almighty. The national budget should be drawn in a way that enables the work of the Jamaat to be fulfilled. Above all else, before allocating resources and making plans, the fear of Allah should be at the centre of our minds. If plans are made with the fear of Allah and according to the desire of Khalifatul Masih, then we will be successful. The budget should be used to help all needy people. If we look at the
Some participants of the 40th UK Shura with Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa
budget, however, one marvels on how this can be possible. The Jamaat’s budget is different to worldly organisations. Where worldly groups gather huge sums of money, the Jamaat is able to achieve huge tasks with minimal resources. Huzooraa added that Shura members should set the best example for people to follow. Only when this has been achieved can others be inspired to better their examples, increase in financial sacrifice and offer time for the Jamaat. Shura members should recognise that their duties do not end after walking out of this hall but remain throughout the year. As Shura members, it is an obligation to remind members of the Jamaat about the importance of financial sacrifice so that the tasks of the Jamaat can be achieved. Members of the Shura must remember that our opponents are taking all possible measures to impede the growth and success of the Jamaat. Around the world, schemes are being hatched to achieve this. Despite their cruel and unjust endeavours, Allah grants us unending success. Many of the members migrated here from abroad, while others were born and raised here. Allah has, in any case, granted everyone the opportunity to represent their respective Jamaats at the Shura. It is up to the members, Huzooraa said, that they prove not only as representatives
in name but through their conduct and righteous examples too. A true Shura member is he who talks truthfully and sincerely for the betterment of the Jamaat. Another element of fulfilling the duties of representing the Jamaat is to be a righteous example for members of their respective localities and encourage them to take part in Jamaat events and activities. At the end, Huzooraa reiterated the fact that the duty of all representatives would continue throughout the year and if the decisions of the Shura were approved by Huzooraa, then every effort must be made to fulfil these decisions and others should be motivated to do so. Huzooraa prayed toward the end that the fear of Allah remains firmly ingrained in the hearts of members of the Shura and that they strive to fulfil their obligations as members of Majlis-e-Shura. Thereafter, Huzooraa led the congregation in dua, after which group photos were taken with the delegates. Huzooraa then proceeded to examine the construction work of the new complex at Baitul Futuh, after which he led congregational prayer at Baitul Futuh Mosque. (To read the entire speech, please visit www.reviewofreligions.org/16098/ governing-principle-of-the-fear-of-allah/)
Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
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From the Archives
First UK Shura called by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II e have discussed the roots of MajlisW e-Shura (central consultative body of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya) in a number of issues
over the last year. That was usually with reference to the central institution coming into being as a twin of the institution of Jalsa Salana. As the Jamaat spread to countries outside India (and later Pakistan), the institution of Shura evolved naturally and started off on informal grounds, developing later in a more formal and organised manner. Jamaat UK held its 40th Majlis-e-Shura last weekend on 15-16 June. We decided to go through the annals of history to see how this Majlis-e-Shura came into being in the UK. We are pleased to share with our readers the pleasant surprise that we received during this research. The first ever Shura of the UK Jamaat was held not only under the instruction of Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IIra but was also graced by his august presence. The research took us back to 1924 when this historic Shura of the UK Jamaat took place in London – 6 Chesham Place in Belgravia, London, to be precise. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra had delivered his lecture before the Conference of the Living Religions of the Empire on 27 September. This had been his primary motive behind the travel from Qadian to London and it was now out of the way. The next big milestone was to be the foundationstone laying of the Fazl Mosque. This Majlise-Shura was called by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra between these two landmarks. Who would have thought that it was to become a landmark of the Jamaat’s history in its own capacity? The Ahmadi missionaries had been around in the UK since 1913 and their
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra leading prayer at 6 Chesham Place in Belgravia, London where the first UK Shura took place
reports – regularly published in Al Fazl and Al Hakam, Qadian – show that they worked with mutual consultation, but we do not find an organised form of Shura to have taken place in the decade leading up to the one in 1924. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra called a mushawarat (a session of mutual consultation) on 3 October 1924 to meet after the Isha prayer at 6 Chesham Place – his rented residence in London during the 1924 tour of England. The main matter at hand was the launch of the Review of Religions from London – originally launched by the Promised Messiahas in 1902 from Qadian. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra drew detailed guidelines regarding every aspect of the journal; from the nature of the content, the size of the publication, to printing and circulation. Among other matters discussed was the number of missionaries required in London, their duties, their obedience to the newly appointed missionary in-charge, Maulana
Abdur Rahim Dard, and the allowances of missionaries who were to reside in London thereupon. (For details: Safar-e-Europe 1924 by Hazrat Bhai Abdur Rahman Qadianira) This historic event marked the first Majlis-e-Shura of the London mission. Shall we call it informal as there was no institution of Shura established by then in London? Or shall we call it formal because the session was called directly by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih who was also present and rendered guidance to the missionaries and others present? We opt to go with the latter. The second session of a Majlis-e-Shura is found in a report by Syed Safiruddin Bashir Ahmad Sahib published in the Al Fazl of 25 December 1949. It is reported that the London Jamaat wrote to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra seeking permission to hold a national Jalsa of the UK Jamaat. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra not only granted permission but instructed that a Majlis-eShura of all European missionaries be called on this occasion (referred to as “conference” in the report).
The Jalsa was held on 29 and 30 October 1949, with the conference (or Shura) on the second day. Starting after the Zuhr and Asr prayers, the session ended at 7pm. Some of the recommendations made by the house are recorded as follows: 1. Every member of the Jamaat should devote a week, a month or as much as time as possible for the service of the Jamaat. (Presented by Hazrat Mir Abdus Salam Sahib and seconded by Syed Safiruddin Ahmad Sahib) 2. The financial contribution (Chanda) should be done in line with the guidelines of the Markaz. (Presented by Abdullah Sahib and seconded by Abdul Karim Herbert Sahib) 3. A syllabus to be set out that every member of the Jamaat should study to enhance their understanding of the teachings of the Jamaat. (Presented by Maqbool Ahmad Qureshi Sahib and seconded by Dr Omar Suleiman Sahib) 4. Every Ahmadi should actively participate in tabligh and a plan should
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
Two publications’ websites launched by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V Delegates of the conference (Shura) with Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra, London, 1955
be made to facilitate their endeavors. (Presented by Bilal Nuttall Sahib and seconded by Abdul Aziz Deen Sahib) 5. The Lajna auxiliary be established for the Ahmadi women of the UK. (Presented by Janet Wells Sahiba and seconded by all female members present at the session) The second major turning point in the history of the UK Shura is again in the time of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra during his second visit to England in 1955. While in London, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra called for an international conference of Ahmadiyya missionaries serving in Western countries. This conference was held from 22 to 24 July 1955. A day before the conference commenced, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra sent a telegraphic message to all the Jamaats around the world to request Ahmadis to pray for the success of the conference. The message read: “Putney, 21 July: After the time of the Companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, a very important conference will commence tomorrow in London to ponder over and plan the propagation of
Islam worldwide. Ahmadi missionaries from almost all major countries of America, West Indies, Africa and Europe will participate. “Chaudhry Muhammad Zafrulla Khan will also participate on 22 July. Members of the Jamaat are requested to cordially pray for a significant and broad success of this conference. (Signed) Khalifatul Masih” Five sessions of the conference were held and all sessions were blessed by the presence of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IIra. Every mission’s report was thoroughly discussed along with plans for further strengthening missionary activity, publication of literature in respective languages, establishing new mosques and other means of extending the message of Islam to the Western world. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra listened to each and every single proposal and granted the house with guidance. A telegraphic message sent from London to Al Fazl, Rabwah reported the conference (Shura) in detail and mentioned that all missionary-delegates formally pledged to dedicate their whole lives for the service of Islam. (Al Fazl, Rabwah, 27 July 1955)
14 June, London: After leading the Friday prayer at the Baitul Futuh Mosque, Hazrat Amirul Momineen, Khalifatul Masih Vaa launched the new Al Taqwa website and the new Al Fazl International app and website. Though Al Taqwa – the first Arabic magazine of the Jamaat – has been in publication for a long time, it was realised that its outreach and readership could be further facilitated. Therefore, Huzooraa gave the magazine the task of digitising every article in its archive in a blog format which would increase access. By the grace of Allah the new website has been launched as www.altaqwa.net and contains a treasure trove of articles for the Arabic speaking world. Abada Barbouche Sahib – Editor in Chief of Al Taqwa – stated: “I am confident there will be a lot of Arabs coming towards the Jamaat through this website Insha-Allah. And this is really another demonstration of the truth of Hazrat Masih-e-Maudas.” This was followed by the launch of the new Al Fazl International app and revamped website. Al Fazl International was launched in 1994 as a means of reading the words of the Khalifa of the time and is a central Urdu newspaper of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community having its roots established over a hundred years ago by
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra. The new app features individual articles in blog format as well as previous issues of the newspaper with the updated website – www.alfazl.com – adopting a similar style. The app is available on iOS and Android devices. Hafiz Muhammad Zafrullah Aajiz Sahib – Editor in Chief Al Fazl International – said: “Whenever Huzooraa guides on anything and takes interest in anything it automatically brings blessings of Allah the Almighty. At the same time, Huzooraa has a vision and it is a very wide and vast vision; the vision of Huzooraa is to serve mankind and to take the message of the Promised Messiahas across to the whole world.” Hafiz Zafrullah Sahib told Al Hakam that the first issue of Al Fazl International was published in the month of June over a hundred years ago and when possible dates of the launch were presented to Hazrat Khalifatul Masihaa, today’s date was selected by Huzooraa. He also stated that Huzooraa had been encouraging and motivating towards achieving new heights. After viewing and launching both websites on two separate smart-screen monitors, Huzooraa led a silent prayer before returning to Islamabad.
Prayer after launch of Al Taqwa website and Al Fazl app and website
Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
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From the Markaz
Khuddam group from Germany meets Huzoor
n 15 June, a group of Khuddam from Germany had the privilege of meeting O with Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V . Among aa
the Khuddam were some who were either meeting Huzooraa for the very first time with some meeting Huzooraa after a very long period. Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa then graciously opened the floor to the Khuddam who began asking questions they had. One Khadim, who is serving as a qaid, told Huzooraa that there is a lot of diversity among members of the Jamaat. Some members are from Pakistan, while others are born and raised in Germany. The Khadim asked Huzooraa how they could further strengthen the brotherhood among
members of the Jamaat. Answering the Khadim’s question, Huzooraa stated: “You should make different types of interactive programmes for all members. For those who are interested in studies, there should be an informative programme for them.” Huzooraa further stated: “You should make programmes on contemporary issues and religious topics; talks on common subjects should be chosen to have interactive discussions on, such as ‘Is there a need for religion?’ Discussions should be held on various other topics too such as how one can make time for the five daily prayers. By doing this you will be able
to cater to everyone’s needs and this will be more beneficial and interesting for all members.” Another Khadim asked Huzooraa why God puts man through various trials. Answering the Khadim’s question, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa stated: “Did God not also put prophets through trials. God’s most beloved prophet was the Holy Prophetsa and we can see through history how many hardships he had to endure.” Huzooraa further gave examples of the Holy Prophetsa in which he had to endure hardships in Mecca, Taif and Medina. Huzooraa further stated: “If the Holy Prophetsa endured
hardships, then who are we that we should not be tried.” One Khadim, after requesting Huzooraa for prayers, asked if it is permissible to break Salat due to certain circumstances. Upon this, Huzooraa replied in the affirmative and stated: “If you are offering your prayers and you hear a child cry out of pain, you should leave your Namaz and cater to the child and take him to hospital [or provide the appropriate medical attention]. This is allowed.” Huzooraa added, “It should be taken into consideration what the circumstance is.” The Khadim further asked if this was permissible even if it is relating to work or business. Huzooraa replied, “No, this is not permissible for business or worldly matters”. Huzooraa said to the Khadim that he should read the last 3 verses of Surah alJumuah and the answer will be clear. Another Khadim asked Huzooraa regarding the Atfal who, when asked what they wish to do when they are older, reply that they wish to become footballers or athletes. He asked what our response should be to this. Answering the question, Huzooraa stated: “If they are interested, then it is fine; you should not discourage them.” Huzooraa added, “You should remind them that whether they decide to become a footballer, a doctor or an engineer, they should always remember God, never leave their prayers and also serve their religion. When you lay emphasis on this, then they will begin to slowly understand.” Huzooraa added that these are things a child desires and when a child who is studying in year five reaches year 10, they usually would have changed their aspirations 6 times. That is why it is important to not discourage children from the beginning and instead, listen to them and encourage them in a profession where they can help mankind. In the end, the Khuddam had the opportunity to take a group picture with Huzooraa.
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
Machine Speaks: Rise of 5G Technologies Dr Ataul Habib Khalid Lecturer in sensors and sensor systems
e may all remember listening to Professor Stephen Hawking speak W with a synthesised human-like voice
created by his eye movement, to selecting and feeding the words to a machine. The mechanical robotic sound was produced through an electronic synthesis process, but it was the human who was creating those words. The voice was unique and the message was interesting, so it always stood out of the noise and grabbed the listener’s attention. There is something different about hearing a mechanical voice, though we are approaching a point where differentiating between a human and machine voice will become impossible. The Holy Quran talks about a similar machine that was producing a mechanical or lifeless voice that grabbed people’s attention and let them go astray from the truth. Allah says in Holy Quran: َ َ ٰ ْ ُ ُ ٰ َ ْ ُ ُ ٰ َ َ ْ ُ َ َ ٌ َ ُ ُ َّ ً َ َ ً ْ ْ ُ َ َ َ ْ َ َ سی فن ِس َی فا�رج لهم ِعجلا جسدا لہ خوار فقالوا ہذا ِالهکم و ِالہ مو “Then he produced for them a calf — a mere body which emitted a lowing sound. Then [he and his companions] said, ‘This is your god, and the god of Moses but he forgot [to mention it to you].” (Surah TaHa, Ch.20: V.89) The inventor of that machine was Samiri. He used a technology to grab people’s attention and follow him to worship the machine as if it was a god left behind by Mosesas for them. That machine synthesised the sound most likely through mechanical means, but the message was surely idolatry and hence the Holy Quran says it was a lifeless sound. However, the machine only produced lifeless sounds to attract people, a product that Samiri engineered to control the minds of the masses. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh, in his Friday Sermons of 30 September and 7 October 1988 gave a detailed account of the Samiri incident as one of the most painful eras during the time of Mosesas
and mentioned that the ideas of the “Samirism” stayed among the followers of Mosesas for a long time despite its apparent destruction. On this backdrop of history, it will not be difficult to foresee that after over 3,000 years later, we are once again witnessing the world starting to listen and worship another type of machine where the basic concept is same – Samirism: ambitious plans of technological achievement to take the masses away from their Creator. The idea of connected machines or networked machines is not new, and the basic technology existed long before we actually built the machine communication network. Many scientists had already anticipated the existence of worldwide networks of information through networked machines. The real machine to machine communication started in the 1970s, when Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf developed Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol – TCP/IP – a communications model that set standards for how data could be transmitted between multiple networks. This is like developing grammar for networked machines. This led to the development of the concept of “packet switching” or “data,” a method for effectively transmitting electronic data that would later become one of the major building blocks of the internet. The Internet Protocol (IP) requires that every machine on the network have a unique address to deliver a data/packet. The information controller on the network reads the sender and receiver addresses, just like postal services where millions of items come from different places but are eventually sorted and finally delivered to the correct address. While networked machines connected with hard wires started to communicate to build the information highway – i.e. the internet – the wireless networked machines also start emerging. The first wireless 1G, or the first generation of wireless protocols, gave
birth to mobile telephony in 1979 in Japan, and in a short space of time, the wireless telephone or mobile phones generations grew quickly with each new generation, becoming better than the previous one. We are all familiar with this progress as 2G, 3G and 4G enabled devices are in our pockets. Recently we have started hearing more and more about 5G in news and print media, where the world’s technology giants are competing to build the infrastructure of this technology. At the same time, talks are already underway for the 6th generation or 6G to evolve around 2030. The big question is, what exactly is 5G and all the fuss surrounding it? The simple answer is that 5G will be amazingly faster and full of new capabilities; for example, the typical download time of a 1GB size picture on a 1G device was more than 1.5 months; on the other hand, on a 4G device it is just 1.5 minutes. However, in 5G it will be just less than a second. So what’s the problem if things happen fast? This is a good thing, right? This part of the question is not so simple to answer in terms of “yes” or “no”. Before answering the question, it
would be useful at this stage if we discuss some details regarding the processes of how machines talk to other machines. All machines connected on a network adhere to the protocol for the information transmission and receiving, allowing our wireless devices to communicate with each other. Put simply, when you dial a number on a mobile phone, a set of processes takes place from your mobile phone to the receiving phone. Yet your phone is already talking to other machines all the time. Just because we don’t “hear” them does not means they’re not talking! Therefore, until the receiving phone rings and the user picks up and says hello, both machines (calling and receiving mobile phone) are talking to each other and agreeing to establish a link to communicate the user’s voices. Since early 1990, 2G and 3G mobile phone communication protocols became digital to merge seamlessly with any available network, wired or wireless. A digital transmit and receive means that all information that humans produce or consume, like voices and images, is Continued on page 8 5G will greatly benefit driverless cars as they require multiple data communications links at very high speeds to keep everyone safe on the roads
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
Jamia UK Annual Prize Distribution Ceremony 2019
Waseem Ahmad Fazal Lecturer, Jamia Ahmadiyya UK
O
n 12 June 2019, Jamia Ahmadiyya UK was once again given the blessed opportunity to host its Annual Prize Distribution event for the academic year 2018-2019 in Haslemere, Surrey. This event highlights the remarkable achievements made by students in academic competitions throughout the year. Competition judges, office bearers and other respected members of the Jamaat around the country, as well as parents of students
obtaining first positions in competitions were cordially invited to attend this event. Jamia Ahmadiyya UK follows a traditional houselike system consisting of 5 groups, namely Sadaqat, Shaja‘at, Rafaqat, Amanat and Dianat. The history behind the selection of the above house names derives from Jamia Ahmadiyya in Rabwah and Qadian, as they were the pioneering international Jamias to put this structure into action, thus inspiring Jamia UK to put this house-system into practice, too. Parents, guests, judges and dignitaries made their way to this long-awaited event at around 6pm, allowing the Annual Prize
Continued from page 7
converted into a digital format. A digital format means that every information i.e. data or packet on the network is just numbers and when these numbers move from one place to the other, they have to be coded and decoded to keep the integrity of the information they carry. When we speak or send a picture on a mobile phone for example, every word is converted to numbers and then encoded to release on the network towards the other phone, one packet after other, and on the receiving end, the same process is repeated in reverse to decode the voice or picture. This coding and decoding is the most time-consuming part because these tasks are serial in nature, as if a pipe conveys water from one place to another. For example, if we have a water pipe onecentimetre wide in diameter, there is a limit on how fast we can fill a bucket on the other end. However, if we increase the diameter from one centimetre to one metre, it will fill a tanker in the same time as a bucket. This is effectively what is going to happen when 5G will start rolling out later this year. So why didn’t we do it earlier? Scientists were too busy to solve this problem, to increase the diameter of the data pipe so to speak, but it was not a trivial problem. A Turkish scientist, Dr Erdal Arikan, was the inventor of polar codes for 5G network to increase the “diameter” i.e. a multichannel coding process for over 20 years. He finally discovered a breakthrough technique that enabled his
Distribution to promptly start at 6:20pm. As per custom and tradition, the programme commenced with tilawat, followed by an Urdu nazm, upon which the Chairman of Majlis-e-Ilmi (organising body of this event) Waseem Ahmad Fazl Sahib gave an introductory address to the audience, providing fine details of the academic year. Towards the end of the report, Waseem Sahib paid gratitude to each and every judge and touched upon the significance of being desirous to achieve higher. By the grace of Allah, from a total of just over 130 students, more than half of the students participated in various competitions throughout the year, ranging from conventional competitions such as tilawat, nazm and Azan, to competitions like the general knowledge quiz and presentation competition. Positions were to be acquired by both, individuals and groups, subject to the style of competition. After the opening address, Ataul Momin Zahid Sahib announced the prize winners of this year’s Annual Prize Distribution, whereupon students made their way to the stage and were presented with their respective awards by the chief guest, Abdul Majid Tahir Sahib, Additional Wakil-utTabshir. Towards the end of the prize distribution, outstanding awards were presented to joint
IoT – Internet of Things, where machines talk to other machines without human intervention – is growing faster than we can imagine; Siri by Apple is an example of this
miracle codes using a relatively cheap hardware to achieve this. Here you can understand that this is the key development because it enabled high speed data coding, so whoever will manufacture the hardware will potentially have the keys for the backdoor to our communications. Thanks to these new polar codes, data speed will be a hundred times faster and so it would remove the bottlenecks of information flow for machines to talk to other machines. You may now ask what the big deal is if we get to download a video in one second instead of one hour? Apparently, this is a good thing, but there is another side of the ultra-high-speed machine-to-machine communication. The first answer is that due to this increased bandwidth of data flow, a huge number of devices can be connected to network at all the time. These machines will be helping us by monitoring medical
implants to everyday tasks using its sensors network. The net will be cast on every human being on the planet whether they use the network or not. This is excellent news for the upcoming autonomous cars (driverless car). This technology will be the biggest beneficiary of this development because each autonomous car needs multiple data communications links at very high speeds to keep everyone safe on the roads. The next important beneficiaries are those of the “Internet of Things” (IoT). They are slowly creeping up in our homes like connected devices, for example the one marketed by Amazon – Alexa – or Siri by Apple. The IoT is growing faster than we can imagine and this is where machines talk to other machines and do not need any human intervention most of the time. This is changing our world in front of our eyes and the world is sleepwalking to embrace this technology
best speakers, Musab Rashid Dogar and Nasar Arshad, as well as best student, which was awarded to Mashood Adeeb. These results were decided according to results collated from various competitions. Subsequently, the last award of the day to conclude this session was presented to Amanat group for securing themselves a firm position as the best group in overall competitions. In order to receive this prize, group secretary, Sohaib Ahmad and group leader, Mansoor Zia Sahib were ultimately presented with the annual shield. To conclude the event, Abdul Majid Tahir Sahib delivered a speech on a very thoughtprovoking address which Hazrat Amirul Momineen, Khalifatul Masih Vaa delivered to missionaries in the United States. Majid Sahib referred to many crucial pieces of advice our beloved Huzooraa alluded to, which a missionary must act upon in order to become a successful representative of the Jamaat. This event was brought to a close with dua led by the guest speaker, Abdul Majid Tahir Sahib, followed by dinner at 7:10pm.
because it “sounds” so nice! The IoT is a technology designed to distribute almost everything that connects to network, or in other words, it will connect together all machines to talk to each other without human interaction. This means that we will all be immersed in the gazes of these machines at all times without any chance to escape. The key driver for this technology is machine intelligence or artificial intelligence that has almost all of the capabilities of humans but is ultimately lifeless and devoid of spirituality. It is just matter of time before this marriage of 5G capability and machine intelligence will give birth to new machines that will have far superior capabilities than humans. Now there is a philosophical debate whether such machines will remain in human control or will go rogue. One thing, however, will remain: they will be lifeless and devoid of spiritual insight. The Holy Quran is very clear about the wicked plan and outcome of Samiri’s machine. Although it took people away for a while from the remembrance of Allah and they followed falsehood, ultimately the end of such machines was doomed. As I have mentioned at the start, the fascinating insight of Samirism described by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IVrh teaches us to be aware of the dangers of falsehood, which is all around us, and seek Allah’s forgiveness to help us stay on the path of righteousness.
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
Annual Peace Symposium held by the women’s auxiliary of Jamaat Queensland, Australia
Letters to the Editor
Deepest appreciation Assalamo Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatohu I have been meaning to write to Al Hakam for some time now and I find that my inner yearning can hold it off no more, and so I put my thoughts [in writing]. It is indeed a phenomenon that living in a “connected world” and wanting bitesize pieces of information (or just the facts) through the plethora of social media apps and online content, I find myself deeply and intrinsically hooked to the Al Hakam newspaper. Upon reading the many articles, especially those focused upon our beloved Imam, Syedna Hazrat Khalifatul Masih (may Allah be his Helper), the sheer impact that it leaves upon me is like that of a beautiful perfume or musk, where it leaves a trail of fragrance even after the person wearing it has gone. The fragrance continues to be smelt and the pleasure such a fragrance gives continues to invigorate. I find when reading the writing in Al Hakam that it comes to life and it is as if one can live, or is living through, that moment and I find myself visualising that moment as I read the many incredibly spiritually uplifting articles. Not only has Al Hakam helped me to garner knowledge that I was previously not privy to, but it has also given me a most dramatic unquenchable thirst of wanting more and more. The highlight is certainly every Friday after Jumuah whereby I look forward to clicking on the app and finding new content. It is like being in a sweetshop when one is of a young age, but certainly this sweetshop is full of the sweets of spirituality and the sweets that enable one to truly feel connected. Thus, most humbly, I wish to take this opportunity to express my deepest and most heartfelt appreciation to the entire team for this incredible newspaper. How fortunate we are that this precious gem that was started in the time of Al-Masih and Al-Mahdi, Hazrat Masih-e-Maudas is now once again alive and awakening so many through its incredibly pertinent, sometimes poignant and, more often than not, exhilarating articles. I do not wish to take more of your time but suffice to say that I have tried to express my feelings above. I cannot do enough justice to expressing the inner pleasure and serenity that I feel when I open Al Hakam.
Indeed, it is a blessing of Allah, and certainly a result of the guidance of our beloved Imam, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih. May Allah continue to bless all the team involved in the composition of Al Hakam. Amin. May Allah reward you all abundantly. Amin. May Allah enable you all to continue to provide service to the newspaper and may He grant you success in leaps and bounds. Amin. Finally, may Allah bless our beloved Imam, Huzoor-e-Aqdas (may Allah be his Helper) with a long, healthy life, and may our beloved Imam lead us to the victory of Islam Ahmadiyyat through the grace and help of Allah. Amin. Wassalam, Dr Atiq Ahmad Bhatti, Slough
Article on historicity of the Holy Prophetsa I pray you and your team are well. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the service you are being blessed to do. May Allah bless you. Amin. I would like to draw your attention to the Grand Mosque in Cordoba. This was built by Abdul Rahman I of the Umayyad dynasty. There are detailed accounts of the construction and arrival of Muslims in Málaga, thus proving the existence of the religion of Islam and also proving the existence of our beloved Imam, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa, peace and blessings of Allah be on him. There is an overwhelming amount of physical evidence on the existence of the Holy Prophetsa. Much is present around the Battle of Yarmouk preserved in Roman history. It is undoubtedly a great shame that the Muslims of today are not even aware of the need to preserve the holy sites of Islam and proofs around the legitimacy of Islamic concepts and authenticity. Therefore, I thank you for bringing this to my attention and I hope and pray that this article is read by those in positions of charge for the protection of such sites and relics and that they heed the warnings raised by the so-called scholars in Germany … Without any attention to a universe of proof in front of them, they deny the obvious. Wassalam, Waqar Ahmad, UK
Bushra Nasir Media Coordinator, Lajna Imaillah Queensland
Imaillah Queensland, Australia held their annual Peace Symposium on L15ajna June 2019 at Bait-ul-Masroor Mosque
in Stockleigh. More than 200 women came together to discuss how women play important roles as nation builders in an effort towards establishing peace within society. Senator for Queensland, Clair Moore; Brisbane City Councillor, Kim Marx; Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Heather Castledine; CEO Access Community Services, Gail Kerr; Logan and Brisbane City Councillors, Australian Federal Police representatives, presidents and members of various community organisations were some of the key dignitaries attending the event. Keynote faith speakers were Judith Gibbons from the Uniting Church in Toowoomba; Prakruthi Gururaj, Multicultural Ambassador and Sabah Janud, representative of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Community of Queensland. As part of this annual event, the women’s auxiliary presents donations to
various community organisations every year. This year, the Refugee Association of Queensland and Logan Helping Hands were recipients of $2000 in donations from the auxiliary. On the event, the president of the auxiliary, Nuzhat Ayesha, commented: “Muslim women play a fundamental role towards the establishment of a peaceful society. Islam teaches us that the responsibility of building peaceful societies and nations depends on the contributions of women in their roles as daughters, wives and mothers. If each one of us as women realise our potential and fulfil our roles within society to the best of our abilities, then no doubt we can nurture peaceful societies.”
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM Responding to Allegations
Prophecies of the Promised Messiahas – Part XII
The Promised Messiah’s challenge to opponents to declare their towns safe from the plague A question posed to the Jamaat by its opponents is why the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat challenged his opponents to announce in their respective towns that they would be safeguarded from the outbreak of plague. The opponents question why – God forbid – a person should ascribe a false proclamation to God when He had, supposedly, made no such promise to him that his town would remain safe from the plague? Turning back the pages of time, we find that Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilanirh shed light on the ways Allah the Almighty showers His blessings through awliyaullah (beloved ones of God), as he states in his book Futuh al-Ghaib regarding God’s beloved ones, when they successively accomplish the stages of attaining nearness to Allah the Almighty: “Thenceforth, you [the beloved of God] will become the successor of every messenger, siddiq [truthful] and prophet of God. You will achieve the highest status of wilayat [saintliness] and the holy men will gather around you. Through your [prayers], difficulties will perish, the clouds will shower rain and the fields will yield harvest. By your prayers, the calamities and troubles will be removed of all and sundry, even of those living in the frontiers, of the rulers and the subjects, of the leaders and the followers and of all mankind. So you will be the chief police officer for the cities and the people.” (Futuh al-Ghaib, Maqala al-Rabia, Maut al-Ma‘anwi) Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilanirh further states: “God says in some of His books, ‘O son of Adam, I am God and there is none worthy of worship besides Me. I say to a thing, ‘Be!’ and it is. [Be obedient towards Me, I will grant you such reward that] if you say to a thing, ‘Be!’ it will start to happen. Verily, it has been His way with many of His Prophets and awliya [beloved ones of God] and the chosen ones from among the sons of Adam.” (Futuh alGhaib, Maqala al-Sadisa Ashara, Tawakal wa Maqamatihi) He then states: “They [the beloved ones of God] serve to prolong the stability of the heavens and the earth, and they are a source of comfort for the dead and the living, as their Lord has made them like pillars for the earth
which He has spread. Hence, each one of them is like a mountain which stands firm.” (Futuh al-Ghaib, Maqala al-Rabia Ashara, Atibba Ahwal al-Qaum) In the above cited extracts, a highly exalted beloved of God, born in the Ummah of the Holy Prophetsa, Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilanirh, has mentioned the way in which Allah the Almighty acted towards him and other seekers of God’s nearness. It is clearly evident from the excerpts that through the blessings of near and dear ones of Allah the Almighty, their towns are safeguarded from calamities and disasters. Precisely for this very reason, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat challenged his opponents that if in their view he was not divinely commissioned and they were the ones near to God, then they should announce regarding their respective towns that Allah the Almighty would safeguard them through their blessings. If nobody had the courage to announce it – and in fact not a single opponent did – then it is a practical indication that neither were they God’s beloved ones, nor did God consider them
His near ones because they were not saved from the catastrophe. However, it is impossible that the entire world becomes completely devoid of holy persons at a given point in time, hence it was only the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat who categorically announced that Allah the Almighty had promised him that He would safeguard him and his spiritual family from the plague epidemic. History bears witness that the Promised Messiahas foretold the great epidemic of plague receiving revelation from Allah the Almighty and in accordance with the prophecy, the plague outbreak engulfed a greater part of the Punjab. It was at a time when there was hardly any plague in the Punjab and there was nothing to indicate that it would spread like wildfire and thousands of people would die on a weekly basis. During those circumstances, the Promised Messiahas received another revelation from Allah the Almighty and declared in the year 1902: َّ ُ ُ َّ ُ ّ اِن ِ ْي ا َحا ِفظ كل َم ْن فِي الدا ِر۔۔۔ و احافظک خاصۃ “I shall safeguard all those who are in
this house … and I shall safeguard you in particular” (Nuzul-ul-Masih, Ruhani Khazain, Vol. 18, p. 401). Moreover, the Promised Messiahas challenged his opponents to publish an announcement, if they believed that Allah was on their side, saying that their abodes would be saved from the calamity of plague. Furthermore, Hazrat Ahmadas said that if any one of them dared to declare that their town would be saved from the plague, it would surely be engulfed by it. On the other hand, by the blessings of Allah the Almighty, the Promised Messiahas, his family and nearly 80 members who dwelled in his house were safeguarded from the great catastrophe and the town of Qadian was miraculously protected as compared to the other parts of the subcontinent. Hence, the divine announcement by the Promised Messiahas was fulfilled with great grandeur. The Ahmadiyya Jamaat was not only safeguarded in abundance from the plague outbreak as compared to others, but in fact its progress took giant strides in those days. The Promised Messiahas states: “I claim with full confidence and
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM emphasis that if one person of our Jamaat dies of the plague, 100 or even more enter into our Jamaat in his place. This plague continues to increase the number of our Jamaat and continues to decimate our opponents. Each month, at least 500 and, at times, 1,000-2,000 new persons enter the fold of the Jamaat on account of the plague. Thus, the plague is a boon for us, but a bane and a chastisement for our opponents. I am sure that if the plague continues to remain rampant as it is now for another ten to fifteen years, the entire country will be filled with the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. It is an established fact that the plague continues to increase the numbers of our Jamaat and decrease those of our opponents. And if someone can prove otherwise, I solemnly declare under oath to God that I shall pay 1,000 rupees in cash to such a person. Is there anyone to challenge this offer and collect the reward from me?” (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation, p. 713 [English Translation of Haqiqatul Wahi]) Similar to the statement mentioned in the above extract, the Promised Messiahas repeatedly stated that only a handful of people would pass away from the Jamaat, particularly those who do not abide by the conditions of Bai‘at. During those days, the Jamaat’s weekly newspapers Al Hakam and Al Badr continued to publish lists of names and addresses of all new Ahmadi converts belonging to different areas of the subcontinent. If the opponents had any kind of doubt regarding this matter, they would surely have pointed out and contended that the names mentioned in those newspapers were not inhabitants of their towns and localities, or that the persons by those names did exist but were not Ahmadis. There is not a single reference which shows that any opponent claimed that the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat was publishing false lists of new Ahmadi converts in the Jamaat’s newspapers and it elucidates the fact that the above statement of the Promised Messiahas is entirely true and valid. It can also be comprehended by the statement of Allah the Almighty in the Holy Quran: َ أَ َفلَا يَرَ ْو َن أَنَّا نَأْتي الْأَ ْر َض ن َ ْنقُ ُص َها م ْن أَ ْط َرافِ َها ۚ أَ َف ُه ُم ال ْ َغال ُِب ون ِ ِ “Do they not see that we are visiting the land, reducing it from its outlying borders? Can they even then be victors?” (Surah al-Anbiya, Ch.21: V.45). Centuries have passed over this declaration, but Muslims are still less in number than the non-believers. Instead of indicating that the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat was false in his claims, the opponents admit on other occasions that the increase in the number of Ahmadis stopped in the year 1906 and their number did not exceed the figure of 400,000, acknowledging that there was an increase in the number of Ahmadis during the years of the plague. The opponents had every opportunity to raise objections that the causalities of Ahmadis were greater in number and their loss was very little. However, even those newspapers that were run by outright
enemies of the Promised Messiahas did not publish any such statement. For instance, an opponent of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat, Maulvi Sanaullah of Amritsar mentioned the details of the devastations and destructions caused by the plague on page 11 of his newspaper Ahl-e-Hadith, published on 26 April 1907: “Apart from last year’s devastations [of the plague], during the month of February and March in the current year, there were 35 casualties in the small town of Qadian ... The list of deaths caused by the plague [is as follows]: 1896: 1704 deaths 1897: 56,055 deaths 1898: 101,853 deaths 1899: 134,789 deaths 1900: 93,150 deaths 1901: 273,679 deaths 1902: 577,427 deaths 1903: 8,510,263 deaths 1904: 1,022,299 deaths 1905: 950,863 deaths January to April 1906: 170,000 deaths”. (Ahl-e-Hadith Amritsar, 26 April 1907, p. 11) Recording weekly deaths caused by the plague, Maulvi Sahib states: “Below are the details of deaths that happened in Punjab Districts (subcontinent) due to the plague in the week that ended on 6 April (1907): “Hisar, 100 deaths; Rohtak, 1979 deaths; Gurgaon, 137 deaths; Dehli, 577 deaths; Karnal, 733 deaths; Ambala, 1678 deaths; Hoshiarpur, 815 deaths; Jalandhar, 2415 deaths; Ludhiana, 2411 deaths; Ferozpur, 1790 deaths; Montgomery, 296 deaths; Lahore, 2170 deaths; Amritsar, 1132 deaths; Gurdaspur, 2275 deaths; Sialkot, 3781 deaths; Gujranwala, 5254 deaths; Gujrat, 2659; Shahpur, 1184 deaths; Jehlum, 527 deaths; Rawalpindi, 436 deaths; Attock, 231 deaths; Multan, 1 death; Patiala State, 527 deaths; Kapurthala, 764 deaths; Malerkotla, 106 deaths; Junaid, 200 deaths; Kalisiya, 119 deaths; Fridkot, 117 deaths and Nabha, 527 deaths, making a total 34,436 deaths. “Last week’s death toll is 29,154 and the deaths in the same week last year amount to 4,275 … Schools in Lahore remained closed due to the increase in the spread of the plague. (We seek refuge in Allah.)” (Ahl-e-Hadith, Amritsar, 26 April 1907, p. 11) One should ponder over this fact that in the above-mentioned newspaper of the arch-enemy of the Jamaat, it was stated that 35 deaths occurred in Qadian, without any mention as to how many of them were Ahmadis or non-Ahmadis. Had there been a single Ahmadi death in those 35, there would have been an uproar and a tempest of mockery accompanying it. This was the time when another opponent’s newspaper, Paisa Akhbar used to publish false news to prove that the
40th Majlis-e-Shura UK Jalees Ahmad Al Hakam Correspondent
On 15 and 16 June, the 40th National UK Majlis-e-Shura was successfully held in the Tahir Hall, Baitul Futuh complex. Registration of delegates and special invitees began at 9am on Saturday, 15 June, and at 10am the Shura commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by the English transition. At 10:20, announcements were made by the UK Jamaat’s General Secretary, Rana Mashood Sahib followed by the recommendations of the 39th Majlis-e-Shura and a report on their implementation. Following this, at 11:45am, Amir Jamaat UK, Rafiq Ahmad Hayat Sahib addressed the Shura after which the subcommittees were formed. After the Zuhr and Asr prayers, the elections for the UK majlis-e-amila were conducted. After the elections, the subcommittees deliberations commenced. The following day, the Shura continued and commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran and translation. Thereafter the subcommittees presented their reports. Before Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V’saa arrival, Amir Sahib UK addressed the Shura in which he thanked all those who helped in contributing and making arrangements for the Shura, especially those who worked behind the scenes. At approximately 1pm, Hazrat Amirul
Promised Messiahas was a false claimant. Even then Ahl-e-Hadith never alleged names or numbers of Ahmadis who might have passed away due to the plague. However, the Promised Messiahas in his book Nuzul-ul-Masih exposed the untruthful and deceitful claims of Paisa Akhbar during the years of its publication and stated that there were three types of false news being published by it. Firstly, names of those people were mentioned to have died from plague who were in fact alive; secondly, those names were mentioned who were not inhabitants of Qadian and thirdly, those deaths were mentioned that had occurred due to some other reasons and not because of the
Momineen, Khalifatul Masih Vaa arrived to address the UK Majlis-e-Shura, the summary of which has been included in this issue. After the concluding address, Huzooraa proceeded to the construction site of the new administrative block of Baitul Futuh to examine the work. Thereafter, Huzooraa led Salat at the Baitul Futuh Mosque before attending a dinner with all Shura delegates and guests.
plague. Despite the fact that the Promised Messiahas announced many times over that if someone considered themselves to be a near one of God, they should declare that their town would be saved from the plague, yet nobody accepted the challenge. On the other hand, the Promised Messiahas declared that his town would be saved, and his claim was proven correct and truthful in every respect, Alhamdolillah.
Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
12 100 Years Ago...
News from Jamaats around the world Al Fazl, 21 June and 24 June 1919 sudden, before getting up, I was whispering the following words: َ َّ َ ّ ُ َ َ َ ُ َ ْ َ ْ َ ار ﻋ ِن ْی ٍد ٍ واﺳﺘﻔ��ﻮا وخاب كل ﺟﺒ “And they prayed for victory, and as a result thereof, every haughty enemy of truth came to naught.” This humble one prays for Huzoor and I request Huzoor from the depth of my heart to pray for me. Wassalam; Huzoor’s humble servant, Qazi Abdullah Qazi Abdullah Sahib’s health A telegram received from Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahib on 16 June indicates that Qazi Abdullah Sahib’s health is relatively better than before, all praise belongs to Allah. Members of the Jamaat are requested to pray that Allah the Almighty grants him full recovery from illness. (Editor Al Fazl) Qazi Abdullah Sahib’s letter to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih on the impact of Haqiqat-ul-Roya My beloved master, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih (may Allah be his helper) Assalamo Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatohu Although Haqiqat-ul-Roya, a collection of Huzoor’s lectures delivered at Jalsa Salana in 1917 was received late, but reading them had a delightful impact on the heart. Every word was refreshing. It served as an extremely sublime spiritual nourishment for the soul. One’s heart is filled with divine light, and an extraordinary energy and contentment is granted for further sacrifice. At this very moment, I find not a single challenging matter which could prove to be a hurdle for me in embarking the most cherished way. Huzoor’s pearls of wisdom had an electrifying effect on me. Efficacy of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih’s prayer An extraordinary sign of the fulfillment of
Huzoor’s prayer was witnessed recently. Apparently, there were no signs of brother (…), a new Ahmadi convert, being released [from prison]. According to the prison governor, several Indians were more likely to be released before him and above all, it was impossible for the governor to recommend his release. Repeated requests were made to the home secretary which were rejected every single time. In spite of the adverse conditions, through the blessings of Allah the Almighty which were absorbed by the prayers of Huzoor, such circumstances were created miraculously that the new Muslim convert was released while the others who were more likely to be released remain behind bars.
Tabligh in the UK The truth of Islam lies in its pure teachings which is being acknowledged by the people of Europe after thorough research. Listening to this week’s lecture of Qazi Abdullah Sahib in the Lecture Hall, Star Street, London, a revered gentleman and his lady who already had a discourse with him in Hyde Park, openly admitted in front of the audience that the lecture was well reasoned and true and that they totally agree with it. Another respected lady, by the name of Miss Bobby South, embraced Islam through Hazrat Mufti Sahib. She was given the Islamic name Maryam and her request of Bai‘at has been sent to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih. Servant of religion; MS Abbasi 4 Star Street, London, W2. (21 May 1919)
Tract for tabligh A short tract has been sent for printing. 10,000 copies have been ordered for the time being. During this time of the year, I intend to carry out tabligh moving about on foot. I observed istikhara [prayer seeking good from Allah] at night and all of a
Recent letter from Malabar Through the blessings of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih’s prayers, a discussion was held with three paighamis [those Ahmadis who had not accepted Khilafat]. By the grace of Allah, truth has become clear upon them and they have sent a request for Bai‘at to be presented
before our Imam, Khalifatul Masih II. Their names are B Muhammad Kunji Sahib, G Muhammad Sahib and K Kunji Ahmad Sahib. Mahmud Ahmad Al Fazl 24 June 1919 By the grace of Allah the Almighty, tabligh is being carried out exceptionally well. According to the weekly report, an English gentleman named Mr Scott, inhabitant of Islington, embraced Islam through Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahib. He was given the Islamic name Ibrahim. All praise belongs to Allah. At the Lecture Hall on Sunday evening, Hazrat Mufti Sahib delivered an address on The Blessings and Qualities of Islam in a very interesting manner. It had a positive impact on the new Muslim converts and the remaining audience which was fairly numbered. This humble one went to Southend-on-Sea on a tabligh visit where a number of people were spoken to about the verities of Islam Ahmadiyyat, aside from a public lecture. Moreover, literature was distributed. Wassalam; Humbly yours, Qazi Abdullah 4 Star Street, London, W2. (28 May 1919) A letter from Malabar A recent letter from Sheikh Mahmud Ahmad Sahib indicates that the health of Maulvi Ghulam Rasul Sahib is on the road of recovery and the wound is healing. However, in spite of extreme weakness and loss of strength, which at times led to unconsciousness, Maulvi Sahib continued to carry out tabligh and sent letters to the chiefs of that region composed in Arabic. Ahmadiyyat in Shimoga (Mysuru) Bombay’s missionary, Hakim Khalil Ahmad Sahib went to Shimoga for some days, [then] part of Mysuru’s region. There was only one Ahmadi, Mir Kalimullah Sahib (thekedar) at that time. By now, through the blessings of Allah the Almighty, a Jamaat has been established there. It has become known from Hakim Sahib’s letter that as per the needs, a mosque has been built in a matter of only a few days. Hakim Sahib will send a detailed report from Bombay.
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
Friday Sermon 24 May 2019 Delivered from Mubarak Mosque
Khilafat and Obedience After reciting the Tashahud, Ta‘awuz and Surah al-Fatihah, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa recited verses 52-58 of Surah al-Nur and commenced with the sermon:
ّٰ ۤ َ ۡ ۡ َ َ َ َ َّ َ َ ُ ِانما ک ان قوۡ َل ال ُم ۡؤ ِم ِنی َن ِاذا ُد ُعوۡا ِالَی الل ِہ َو َر ُسوۡل ِٖہ ل َِی ۡحک َم بَ ۡین ُہ ۡم ا ۡن ّٰ ُّ ۡ َ َ َ ۡ ُ ۡ ُ ۡ ُ ُ َ ٰٓ ُ َ َ ۡ َ َ َ َ ۡ َ ۡ ُ ۡ ُ َّ َالل َہ َو َر ُسوۡل َ ٗہ و یقولوا س ِمعنا و اطعنا ؕ و اول ِئک ہم المف ِلحون۔ و من ی ِط ِع َۡ ّٰ َ ۡ َ ُ َ ۡ َّ ّٰ َ ۡ َ ۡ َ یَخش الل َہ َو یَتق ِہ فاولٰٓ ِئک ُہ ُم الفٓائِ ُز ۡو َن۔ َو اق َس ُموۡا ِبالل ِہ َجہد ایۡ َمانِ ِہ ۡم ۢ ٌ ۡ َ ّٰ َّ ٌ َ ۡ َّ ٌ َ ُ ۡ ُ َّ ُ َ ُ ۡ َ ُ َ َ َ َ لئ ۡن ا َم ۡرتہ ۡم ل َیخ ُرج ّن ؕ ق ۡل لا تق ِسموۡا ۚ ط اعۃ معرُ ۡوفۃ ؕ ِان الل َہ خ ِبیر ِ َ َ ّ ّٰ ُ ۡ َ ۡ ُ َ ۡ ُ َ ۡ َ َ ّ الل َہ َو اَ ِط ۡی ُعوا ۡالرَ ُسوۡ َل ۚ َف ِا ۡن تَوَلّوۡا َف ِان َما َع َلی ِہ ِبما تعملون۔ قل ا ِطیعوا ّ َما ُح ِّم َل َو َع َل ۡی ُک ۡم َّما ُح ِّم ۡل ُت ۡم ؕ َو ِا ۡن تُ ِط ۡی ُعوۡ ُہ تَ ۡہ َت ُد ۡوا ؕ َو َما َع َلی ۡالرَ ُسو ِل ّٰ َ َ َ ُ ۡ ُ ۡ ُ ٰ َ ۡ َّ ّٰ الل ُہ الَّ ِذیۡ َن ٰا َم ُنوۡا ِم ۡن ُک ۡم َو َعم ُلوا ِالا البلغ الم ِبین۔ وعد الص ِل ٰح ِت ِ َ ّ َ َ ۡ َ َ ّ َ َ ّ ۪ ۡ ل َ َی ۡس َت ۡخ ِل َف َّن ُہ ۡم فِی الۡاَ ۡرض َک َما اس َتخل َف ال ِذیۡ َن ِم ۡن ق ۡب ِل ِہ ۡم َو ل ُی َم ِکنن ل ُہ ۡم ِ َّ َ ّ َ ُ َ َ ۡ ُ َ ٰ َ ۡ َّ ُ ُ َ ۡ َ ً َ َ َ َ ُ ُ ّ ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ ۡ ُ ۡ ِدینہم ال ِذی ارتضی لہم و لیب ِدلنہم ِم ۢۡن بع ِد خوفِ ِہم امنا ؕ یعبدون ِن ۡی ُ ۡ ُ ٰۡ َ ُ َ َ ٰ ً َ َ ََ لَا یُش ِرکوۡ َن ِب ۡی ش ۡیئا ؕ َو َم ۡن کف َر بَ ۡع َد ذل ِک فاولٰٓ ِئک ُہ ُم الف ِسقوۡ َن۔ َو اقِ ۡی ُموا َ َّ َ َ ٰ َّ ُ ٰ َ َ ٰ َّ ُ ُّ َ ّ وۃ َو اَ ِط ۡی ُعوا الرَ ُسوۡ َل ل َ َعلک ۡم ت ۡر َح ُموۡ َن۔ لَا ت ۡح َسب َ ّن ال ِذیۡ َن الصلوۃ و اتوا الزک ُۡ َ ۡ َ ۡ َ َ ُ َّ ُ ُ ٰ ۡ َ َ ۡ َ ۡ َ ۡ ۡ ُ ۡ ُ َ َ ض ۚ و ماوہم النار ؕ و ل ِبئس الم ِصیر ِ کفروا مع ِج ِزین فِی الار These verses that I have just recited are from Surah al-Nur. It includes the verse relating to Khilafat [Ayat-e-Istikhlaaf], in which God Almighty promised the believers to establish the institution of Khilafat. In the preceding verses and also in the verses that follow after this, they draw one’s attention towards showing obedience to God Almighty and His Messengersa. If these conditions are fulfilled, then God Almighty will fulfil His promise of establishing Khilafat, grant security and peace after our state of fear and He will punish the enemy. The translation of these verses is as follows: “The response of the believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger in order that he may judge between them, is only that they say: ‘We hear and we obey.’ And it is they who will prosper. And whoso obeys Allah and His Messenger, and fears Allah, and takes Him as a shield for protection, it is they who will be successful. And they swear by Allah their strongest oaths that, if thou command them, they will surely go forth. Say, ‘Swear not; what is required is actual obedience in what is right. Surely, Allah is well aware of what you do.’ Say, ‘Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger.’ But if you turn away, then upon him is his burden, and upon you is your burden. And if you obey him, you will be rightly guided. And the messenger is not
responsible but for the plain delivery of the Message. Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely make them Successors in the earth, as He made Successors from among those who were before them; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them; and that He will surely give them in exchange security and peace after their fear: They will worship Me, and they will not associate anything with Me. Then whoso is ungrateful after that, they will be the rebellious. And observe Prayer and give the Zakat and obey the Messenger, that you may be shown mercy. Think not that those who disbelieve can frustrate Our plan in the earth; their abode is Hell; and it is indeed an evil resort.” (Surah al-Nur, Ch.24: V.52-58] Thus, God Almighty has clearly expounded upon this subject. No matter how often one claims to be a believer, until and unless one follows the commandments of God Almighty and His Messengersa with complete conviction and full certainty and becomes steadfast in the face of every test and trial, one cannot be granted success. Thus, in order to attain true success and triumph, it is incumbent to show complete obedience to God Almighty and His
Messengersa. In order to attain the pleasure of God Almighty, it is incumbent to follow His commandments with the fear that lest one may incur the displeasure of God due to some action of his. Likewise, it is incumbent to uphold righteousness. Every good deed and excellent moral needs to be adopted as this is a commandment of God Almighty. When one fulfil these conditions, only then can one attain success and be granted the protection of God Almighty. When one reflects upon this, they will observe that on many occasions they fail to maintain the standard of obedience which is expected of them – and even in instances where they do act upon something which is against their wishes, they do not do it with the full contention of their hearts. The instruction to obey the commandments of God Almighty and His Messengersa has appeared repeatedly in these verses. These verses pertain to the continuation of the establishment of Khilafat. Thus, in other words, God Almighty is stating that the institution of Khilafat comes under the commandment of showing obedience to God Almighty and His Messengersa. Hence, it is incumbent for one to act upon the directives of Khilafat as this is also among the commandments of God Almighty. In fact, in order to secure the continuation of
one’s worldly and spiritual life, it is essential for believers to raise the standard of their obedience. The Holy Prophetsa has stated, “One who obeys the Amir appointed by me, in fact obeys me and one who obeys me, in fact obeys God Almighty. One who disobeys the Amir appointed by me, in fact disobeys me and my disobedience equates to the disobeying God Almighty.” (Sahih Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Ahkam, Hadith 7137) The obedience of the Khalifa of the time however is even more important than the obedience one shows to an ordinary Amir. We find accounts of complete and absolute obedience in the lives of the companions of the Holy Prophetsa. I will present one such example. During one of the battles, Hazrat Khalidra bin Waleed was appointed as the leader of the army. However, owing to some reason, Hazrat Umarra replaced him while the battle was at its peak. In any case, the instruction of the Khalifa of the time that came at that occasion was that Hazrat Abu Ubaidahra should take charge. However, Hazrat Abu ‘Ubaidahra initially did not take the charge from Hazrat Khalidra bin Waleed thinking that he was already commanding in an excellent manner. However, Hazrat Khalidra bin Waleed said, “You must immediately take the charge from me because that is the instruction of the Khalifa of the time. I will serve under you with full obedience as you require of me without complaining or any thought of an ill will.” (Tarikh Tabari, Vol. 2, pp. 356-357) Thus, this is the standard of obedience required of a believer and it should not be the case that if a decision is made against an individual’s wishes, they begin to object to it. Or, if an office bearer is replaced by another individual, they stop doing their work. Whoever acts in this manner, does not show any obedience and fails to instil the fear of God Almighty and righteousness. It has now been brought to my attention that there are some presidents
Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
14 [of local Jamaats], who have stopped performing their duties before their actual term ends in June. Since there is a new rule now [where the term officially ends in June] they therefore question why they should now carry on with their duty. However, were they merely performing their duties because they believed that they were permanently going to serve as office bearers? Consequently, they are not paying attention towards the duties they have to perform in the months of May and June. Firstly, such a thought is a dishonesty of one’s religious obligations. Secondly, it is a rebellious way of thinking and it is a matter that will remove one from the sphere of the obedience towards Khilafat. Since the Khalifa of the time has now approved the rule that the term of a president will only be for six years, therefore, some of them feel that they no longer need to perform their duties wholeheartedly. Hence, such people should act with righteousness and fear God. On one occasion, the Holy Prophetsa took the pledge of initiation on the condition that “we will hear and we will obey, whether we like it or not”. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Ahkaam, Hadith no. 7199) Following this, the Holy Prophetsa said, “Whoever disobeys God Almighty, he will meet Him on the Day of Judgment in a state of not having any argument or excuse for being disobedient”. Furthermore, the Holy Prophetsa states, “The person who dies in a state of not having pledged initiation to the Imam of the age will die a death of ignorance and misguidance”. (Sahih Muslim, Kitab-ul-Imaraa, Hadith 1851) Hence, we are fortunate to have pledged initiation to the Imam of the age and are not among the ignorant, who have rejected him. However, after having pledged allegiance to him, if we still behave like those who are ignorant, then it will be as if we are removing ourselves from this pledge and we will also be removing ourselves from the sphere of the obedience towards God Almighty and His Messengersa. Hence, after having pledged initiation, it is extremely important to direct our way of thinking in the right direction and to show examples of complete obedience. What has the Imam of the age said about the standard one ought to acquire after having pledged initiation to him? On one occasion, the Promised Messiahas stated: “A person who makes our teaching his code of conduct and tries his level best to act in accordance with it will be considered to have truly entered the Jamaat. However, one who simply registers his name, but does not act in accordance with the teachings, should remember that God Almighty has intended to make this Jamaat a special Jamaat and an individual, who is not truly a part of this Jamaat, will not remain a member merely by having his name registered in it.” In other words, if one does not act in accordance with this teaching, it is as if one is merely a part of the Jamaat in name only and according to the Promised Messiahas he is not truly part of the Jamaat. The Promised Messiahas further states, “… therefore, you should try your utmost to fashion your deeds in accordance with the teaching that is given to you.”(Malfuzat, Vol. 4, p. 439) “The teaching is the following that you
should not cause any disorder, not commit any evil, show patience in the face of verbal abuse and avoid confrontation.” That is, one should not confront anyone in idle and vain matters. One should not confront others in the sense that as such and such individual has now been appointed as an office bearer, therefore they will no longer remain obedient or that since they have now been removed from an office, they will no longer obey. The Promised Messiahas further states: “One should treat the one who confronts him with kindness and virtue.” This should be in the case of general, day to day circumstances, as well as in quarrels and disputes. Even if someone confronts others in vain and idle matters, one should try and overlook this fault of theirs. As a matter of fact, one should not only overlook this fault of theirs but treat them with kindness. The Promised Messiahas states, “One should demonstrate an excellent example of speaking to others in a kind manner.” One should speak to others with kindness and in a soft tone and demonstrate a good example. “Comply with each instruction with utmost sincerity of the heart so that you may please God Almighty. Moreover, even your opponent should acknowledge that since taking the Bai‘at, this individual has completely transformed. Be truthful when testifying whilst standing in trial. Those who enter the Community should exert all their efforts and strength to remain truthful.” (Malfuzat, Vol. 6, p. 413) Furthermore, God Almighty states that there are some who make a firm oath and claim that if God was to instruct them, they would do such and such. However, when they are instructed to do something, they do not follow through with it. For this reason, God Almighty states that one should not make such great promises and bold claims. In fact, one should simply show ma‘ruf obedience – i.e. what is required is actual obedience in what is right. Even if one was to show such obedience, it would be deemed as fulfilling the commandment. Otherwise, it will be just mere verbal claims and God Almighty is well-aware of one’s deeds as well as the condition of the hearts. Hence, general obedience is that one fulfils the rights due to God Almighty and worship Him in the most excellent manner. These days during the month of Ramadan, many have acquired a greater focus towards worship, and this should continue to be maintained. Furthermore, this obedience entails that one fulfil the rights of mankind in accordance to the commandments of God Almighty. Also, as I just mentioned that the Promised Messiahas stated that one should safeguard themselves from all kinds of mischief, evil, confrontation and disputes. One should improve the standard of their morals. One’s manners should be such that they show a clear distinction between an Ahmadi and a non-Ahmadi. Always remain steadfast on truthfulness. In short, it is essential to perform all types of virtuous deeds, and this in fact is ma‘ruf obedience, which God Almighty has commanded us to establish. This is what the Holy Prophetsa commanded us and the Promised Messiahas also expressed this desire and instructed the members of his Community to uphold
this. Also, Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya has consistently highlighted the importance towards this for the past 111 years. This obedience is not only to be shown in religious and spiritual matters, but it is also important to demonstrate perfect examples of obedience in administrative matters as well, just like we find in the example of obedience shown by Hazrat Khalidra bin Waleed. One should not enter into a dispute of whether an instruction is ma‘ruf or not. Indeed, if a directive is against the commandments of God Almighty and His Messengersa, then it is undoubtedly not ma‘ruf. However, this also does not mean that one should infer from the words of the pledge in which it states: “I shall deem it essential to abide by any ma‘ruf decision made by Khalifatul Masih” that people should now begin to offer their own interpretation and begin to decide what is ma‘ruf and what is not. When Hazrat Khalidra bin Waleed received the instruction from Hazrat Umarra right at the moment when they were in the middle of the battle and both armies were facing one another – Hazrat Khalidra bin Waleed also possessed great astuteness in the art of war which was proving to be beneficial for the Muslims – but despite this he did not say that this was a non-ma‘ruf order. In fact, he displayed perfect obedience to Abu Ubaidahra and considered it a blessing to serve as an ordinary soldier under his leadership. Regarding those people who get entangled in the discussion about whether something is ma‘ruf or not, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira stated: “There is another mistake people make and that is in understanding the words ‘to show obedience in ma‘ruf matters.’ Such people do not obey certain instructions that they consider not to be ma‘ruf.” In other words, they decide for themselves as to what is ma‘ruf and what is not. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira further states, “The word ma‘ruf has also been used for the Holy Prophetsa as well: َ َ ْ َولا ی َ ْع ِص ْی َنک ِف ْی َمع ُر ْو ٍف ‘nor disobey thee in what is right’ (Surah al-Mumtahanah, Ch.60: V.13).” Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira states: “Have such people prepared a list consisting of the Holy Prophet’ssa faults?” Did they make some kind of list for his short-comings and weaknesses, God forbid, whereby one could ascertain as to which of his decisions were ma‘ruf and which were not? Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira states, “Likewise, Hazrat Sahib”, i.e. the Promised Messiahas “has also included the obedience of all ma‘ruf decisions in the conditions of Bai‘at. There is a deep underlying wisdom in doing so.” (Haqaiq-ul-Furqan, Vol.4, pp. 75-76) This is because the prophets and the Khulafa instruct only according to the commandments given to them by God Almighty. On one occasion, whilst explaining the word ma‘ruf , the Promised Messiahas stated that a prophet commands that which is in line with reason and he forbids all that which goes against logic. He deems pure things lawful and all impurities unlawful. God Almighty has clearly stated all of these in the Holy Quran and the
Holy Prophetsa has also explained all the commands and prohibitions, i.e. the acts we should carry out and those we should abstain from. Thus, those who follow Allah and His Messengersa and act upon all these commandments will attain salvation. Therefore, we must always remember that the instructions given by Khilafat are, and will continue to be so, in accordance to the Shariah and Sunnah. God Almighty has stated that if you obey, you shall be rightly guided and there is no other path besides this which leads to salvation. God Almighty then states that He has promised those who believe and do good deeds that Khilafat shall remain with them. Good deeds is not only that one turns all their attention to prayer, are sincere in their worship of God Almighty, abstain from all kinds of shirk [associating partners with God]; not just outward shirk but also to pursue your vain desires and to give faith secondary importance is also shirk; no doubt these are very pious deeds, but in addition to this, to demonstrate obedience is also very important. Hence, if we wish to truly benefit from the promise of the blessings of Khilafat, we must not only safeguard our prayers and stay away from shirk, but it is also incumbent that we obey the Khalifa of the time, otherwise we shall be counted among the disobedient, just as the Promised Messiahas stated that they will not truly be deemed among his adherents. God Almighty states that the Jamaat of believers, who remain firmly attached to Khilafat, also pay attention to observing prayer, populate the mosques, give Zakat, make financial sacrifices for the sake of Allah and His Messengersa and who follow the commands of God Almighty and the practice of the Holy Prophetsa to the best of their ability. When this condition is developed, God Almighty will have mercy on such servants. Therefore, in order to attract the mercy of God Almighty, we must improve our condition and when the mercy of God Almighty covers us in His cloak of rahmaniyyat and rahimiyyat, all the plots and schemes of the opponents will come to naught and they shall come to a miserable end, God-willing. Hence, if we are to attract the favours of God Almighty, we must analyse ourselves as to what extent we possess obedience, are acting upon the commandments of God Almighty, are adorning our prayers, are trying to follow the practice of the Holy Prophetsa and what our level of obedience is. We should reflect upon our conditions in this regard. I will now present some incidents relating to Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra which he narrated at various occasions. He mentioned about the precarious times after the demise of the Promised Messiahas and how the institution of Khilafat granted peace and security. With regard to those who refused to perform the Bai‘at, he has narrated about their lives before the second Khilafat and how they acted after the election took place. Hazrat Muslehe-Maudra has also written about their line of thinking before the second khilafat and after. When the Promised Messiahas passed away, the enemies [of Ahmadiyyat] were rejoicing. However, with the election
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Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira, they expressed dejection and embarrassment. Subsequently, when Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira passed away, the enemies of Ahmadiyyat hoped then that the Jamaat would be destroyed. But once again, God Almighty safeguarded the Jamaat of the believers and changed the atmosphere of fear into peace and tranquillity. These historical accounts are vital to strengthen the faith of the youths as well as of those who are unaware of them. They are also important because everyone should be aware of the events in history to a certain extent. I will present these accounts before you. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra has written that after the demise of the Promised Messiahas, their condition was the same as that of the Muslims at the demise of the Holy Prophetsa. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra writes: “The Ahmadiyya Jamaat was in the same state of mind during the lifetime of the Promised Messiahas as were the Companionsra of the Holy Prophetsa during his lifetime. All of us believed that the Promised Messiahas would not die as yet. As a result, we never thought, even for a moment, about what would happen after his demise. I, at that time, was not a child. I was a young man, I used to write articles, and was editor of a magazine. I say on oath that I never thought, for a minute, or even for a second, that the Promised Messiahas would die, even though in the last years of his life, there were a series of revelations about his demise. In his last days, such revelations increased manifold. Despite the fact that there were revelations and visions specifying the date etc. of the demise of the Promised Messiahas, and we used to read Al-Wasiyyat (The Will), we still presumed that these things would probably happen after two centuries. Thus, the thought of what would happen after the demise of the Promised Messiahas never crossed our minds. “Since we had assumed that he would not die in our lifetime, it was difficult for us to accept the reality of his demise when it happened. I clearly remember that after his demise, he was given a bath and was wrapped in the shroud. As is common, that one’s clothes and moustache etc. move with the blowing of the wind, some of the companions would come running, saying that the Promised Messiahas was alive, and his clothes or moustache was moving. Some said that they saw his shroud moving. Anyhow, the body of the Promised Messiahas was brought to Qadian and was placed inside a house in a garden.” After describing their condition upon the demise of the Promised Messiahas, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra further states: “Around eight or nine o’clock, Khawaja Kamaluddin Sahib arrived in the garden, took me aside, and asked me, ‘Mian! Have you thought of what would happen after the demise of the Promised Messiahas?’ I replied to him, ‘Something should happen, but as to what it should be, I cannot say anything.’ “He said to me, ‘In my opinion, we should give Bai‘at to Hazrat Maulvi Sahib (Hazrat Khalifatul Messiah Ira)’. At that time, due to my age and lack of knowledge, I said, ‘The Promised Messiahas did not
mention anywhere that we should take the Bai‘at of someone after him, so why should we take the Bai‘at of Hazrat Maulvi Sahibra?’” Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra further says: “Though it was mentioned in Al-Wasiyyat, however it did not occur to me at that time.” He further writes: “On this, Khawaja Kamaluddin Sahib started arguing that the Community would be destroyed if the Bai‘at was not taken at the hand of one person. He added that after the demise of the Holy Prophetsa, the people took the Bai‘at of Hazrat Abu Bakrra…” This point raised by Khawaja Kamaluddin Sahib is of great significance. He said that after the demise of the Holy Prophetsa, the Muslims pledged allegiance to Hazrat Abu Bakrra and accepted him as the Khalifa. Khawaja Sahib then further adds: “So the same should be done now, and there is no one more suitable in the Jamaat than Hazrat Maulvi Sahib [Hazrat Khalifatul Messiah Ira].” Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra further writes that Maulvi Muhammad Ali Sahib was of the same opinion, rather it was Khawaja Kamaluddin Sahib who informed Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra that Maulvi Muhammad Ali Sahib also held the same opinion that the Jamaat should pledge allegiance at the hands of Hazrat Maulvi Sahibra. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra writes: “Finally, the whole Community unanimously requested Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira to accept the Bai‘at of the people. Then, all the people gathered in the garden and Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira addressed them and said, ‘I have no wish for imamat [leadership], and in my opinion, the Bai‘at of someone else should be taken’. For this purpose, he first proposed my name, then the name of our maternal grandfather, Mir Nasir Nawab Sahib, then the name of our brother-in-law, Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Sahib, and then the names of some other people, but we all unanimously told him that he himself was entitled to the post of Khilafat. Then, everyone took Bai‘at on his hand.” (Khilafat-e-Rashida, Anwar-ulUlum, Vol.15, pp. 489-491) Furthermore, according to some narrations, Khawaja Kamaluddin Sahib published an announcement in which he stated that in light of the book, Al-Wasiyyat, they ought to elect a Khalifa who is to be obeyed in full and even presented the name of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira. Nonetheless, this was their thinking initially and perhaps this was after assessing the situation and in order to achieve their underlying goal. Although these people pledged allegiance to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira, in reality, they lacked true obedience to Khilafat and were devoid of the true spirit of pledging allegiance. Deep down they had other ideas and were always scheming how they could impose the authority of the [Sadr] Anjuman over Khilafat, thereby gaining complete control to govern through the Anjuman. This was the thinking of those individuals. Mentioning about their intentions, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra writes: “About 15 to 20 days after the Bai‘at (of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira), Maulvi Muhammad Ali Sahib met me and said, ‘Mian! Have you ever considered how the
organisation of the Community would function?’ I replied, ‘What is the point of pondering over this issue, for we have taken Bai‘at at the hand of Hazrat Maulvi Sahibra’. On this, he said, ‘This is the relationship between a ‘pir’ [spiritual mentor] and ‘murid’ (follower of a spiritual mentor), and the question remains, how will the organisation of our Jamaat operate?’ I said, ‘I do not see this matter worthy of discussion, as we have taken the Bai‘at of one person, and he can better explain which type of system should be established in the Jamaat, and there is no need for us to interfere in this matter.’ He stopped his argumentation but added that the point required further consideration.” (Khilafate-Rashida, Anwar-ul-Ulum, Vol.15, p. 491) He [Maulvi Muhammad Ali Sahib] was not content. From these incidents one can gauge their internal condition. It shows that they did not perform the Bai‘at at the hands of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira wholeheartedly, rather they had an agenda. For this reason, they were never at peace and were always anxious. They failed to develop that peace within them that God Almighty has promised to bestow upon those who forge a connection with Khilafat. They refused to show complete obedience and wished to run this spiritual institution in the way a worldly organisation would be run. We are a witness to their outcome; they exist merely by name and are a handful, perhaps a few hundred followers. In fact, it is appropriate to say they are only a handful who follow their self-made organisation. On the contrary, those who remain under the shade of Khilafat, by the grace of Allah, they are now established in 212 countries of the world. Then explaining about what the enemies thought regarding the future of the Jamaat after the demise of the Promised Messiahas, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra says that when the Promised Messiahas passed away, people generally thought that the community would perish. The enemies were jubilant and thought that people would stop paying Chanda – as they thought that people only paid this because of the Promised Messiahas – and as a result the progress of the Jamaat would stop. However, when people witnessed that the Jamaat was continuously progressing in terms of its numbers, sacrifices and propagation of the faith, they concocted that Maulvi Nuruddin Sahib was a renowned scholar in the Jamaat and the entire progress of the Jamaat was owing to his efforts and even during the lifetime of Mirza Sahib [i.e. the Promised Messiahas], he did most of the work but would attribute it all to Mirza Sahibas. In fact, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra states that many people, whose nature and disposition is similar to that of the Maulvis and only have regard for superficial things, would say even during the lifetime of the Promised Messiahas that the community was in fact being run by Maulvi Nuruddin Sahib. Thus, when they witnessed that the Jamaat was progressing even more than before during the time of Maulvi Sahib, the Maulvis completely retracted from their initial claims and instead began to rejoice at the fact that they were right when they said that everything was being done by Maulvi Nuruddin Sahibra. They claimed that a proof of this was that despite the
demise of the Promised Messiahas, it had no impact whatsoever upon the Jamaat. They claimed that the Jamaat was being run owing to the efforts of Hazrat Maulana Nuuruddin Sahibra alone. (Khutbat-e-Mahmud, Vol. 21, p. 413) In relation to a particular Maulvi, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maudra states: “Some members from Gujrat told me that when the Promised Messiahas passed away, an Ahl-e-Hadith Maulvi told them, ‘You are now trapped because the Holy Prophetsa stated that after prophethood, the institution of Khilafat is established. You claim the Promised Messiah is a prophet, but irrespective of whether he is a nonlaw bearing prophet or attained the status of prophethood through his subservience to the Holy Prophetsa, prophethood is succeeded by Khilafat and you will not have Khilafat. You follow the values of the English, therefore will not seek to establish Khilafat.’ The Ahmadi member from Gujrat further stated that the next day they received a telegram.” Nowadays we have the internet and phones and news can be conveyed in a matter of seconds, however in those days they would send information through post office via telegram. At times, it could take up to two to three days to receive a telegram post. “The telegram contained the news that the Jamaat had taken the Bai‘at [pledge of allegiance] at the hands of the Hazrat Maulvi Nuruddin Sahibra and has elected him as the Khalifa. When the Ahmadis told this Maulvi, he said, ‘Nuruddin is a very scholarly person and therefore he established Khilafat in the Jamaat. However, let’s see if Khilafat remains after him.’ When Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira passed away, the Maulvi said, ‘That time was different, now let’s see if Khilafat remains.’ The Ahmadi members there say that the next day they received a telegram stating that Jamaat had taken the Bai‘at at my hands. Upon this, the Maulvi said, ‘You are indeed strange people, no one can tell anything about you.’” (Nabuwwat Aur Khilafat Apne Waqt Pur Zuhoor Puzir Ho Jati Hai, Anwar-ulUlum, Vol. 18, p. 242) However, despite this, he still did not believe. This is exactly what they claim even now and as a result of it they continue to burn in their fire of jealousy. I have previously mentioned on many occasions before as well that during the election of the fifth Khalifa, a Maulvi Sahib said that upon witnessing all the indications it seems that the support of God is with the Jamaat. However, despite witnessing these signs, instead of accepting the truth, it only causes them to increase in their jealousy, opposition and malice. Nevertheless, God Almighty is granting success to this Jamaat which remains attached to its Khalifa. The Jamaat continues to grow and is spreading across the world. There are people who live in distant lands but have a bond of loyalty with Khilafat and continue to increase in it. God Almighty guides those who attach themselves to Khilafat and the Jama’at and He Himself guides them towards Khilafat. I shall present a few examples in relation to how God Almighty Himself guides people towards Khilafat. The Maulvi Sahib had said that by
Friday 21 June 2019 | AL HAKAM
16 witnessing all the indications it seems that this Jamaat has the support of God Almighty, however this is because we are the true servants of the Holy Prophetsa and are propagating the true message of God Almighty in the world. An elderly lady from Guinea-Bissau, which is a country situated in a far-off land, writes:“I once saw in a dream that the local missionary handed me a book and said that the means of my salvation lie in this very book. In my dream, I opened the book and it contained a picture. I enquired from the missionary as to whose image it was and he said that it was Khalifatul Masih, whom God Almighty has now chosen.” The next day, she went to the missionary and related the dream. The missionary told her that her dream did not require any interpretation because God Almighty Himself had guided her to the truth. Upon this, the elderly lady said, “By God, from today onwards, I am an Ahmadi. Indeed, the Khalifa of the Ahmadis is chosen by God Almighty. This institution of Khilafat is from God Almighty.” Thus, she immediately took the Bai‘at. Since accepting Ahmadiyyat, she attends all the programmes of the Jamaat and also pays the Chanda according to her means. She also courageously takes part in tabligh and tells people how God Almighty Himself guided her towards the truth. Similarly, there is a member from Egypt. He says: “I was watching your
sermons on MTA and at the time I was immersed in many ills and was extremely argumentative. However, after watching MTA, I developed an inclination towards faith and subsequently I pledged to become an Ahmadi because this was the only form of Khilafat which was granting true guidance.” Similarly, there are many other examples like this as to how God Almighty in every age guides so many people living in different parts of the world. The missionary in-charge of Cameroon writes: “The people of Maroua, which is one of the cities in Cameroon, regularly watch MTA. In fact, since the launch of MTA Africa, many people now watch MTA, particularly the sermons. After listening to the sermons, they are bringing about a new change in themselves and are drawing closer to the Jamaat. The Ahmadis there are increasing in their faith and are striving to their utmost to attach themselves to Khilafat and demonstrate complete obedience to it.” In any case, one’s deep bond and love for Khilafat is purely due to God Almighty. As long as this attachment and love for Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya remains, the condition of fear will continue to be transformed into a state of peace and God Almighty will continue to grant them the means of attaining peace and tranquillity – Insha-Allah.
People inform me when I visit different countries during my tours and also through letters how, after having accepted Ahmadiyyat, God Almighty has enabled them to develop a strong bond with Khilafat. Moreover, their state of extreme anxiousness and deep worry transformed into a state of complete peace and serenity. Thus, those who remain attached with the institution of Khilafat, adhere to the commandments of God Almighty and His Prophetsa, continue to safeguard their prayers and continue purifying their souls and their wealth, they shall Insha-Allah continue to become the recipients of God Almighty’s grace. It is only through Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya that the world can become one community and it is not possible without this. Therefore, in order to achieve this and to garner the blessings of God Almighty, members of the Jamaat should continue to pray that God Almighty continues to bestow us with this blessing of Khilafat. Through prayers and the grace of God Almighty, may we become the means of the whole world becoming Muslim and forming into one community who stands united under the flag of the Holy Prophetsa. May God Almighty grant us all the ability to do so. In the previous sermon, which marked the inauguration of this mosque, I forgot to mention something. When the foundation was laid for this mosque, I was on tour of Canada at the time. The date which had
been set for the laying of the foundation coincided with my tour, therefore I prayed on the brick which was going to be placed as the foundation stone and gave it to the committee. With prayers and supplications, on 10 October 2016, the late respected Usman Chini Sahib laid the foundation stone of this mosque. This entire project began after the foundation stone of the mosque was laid. Therefore, the foundation stone of this mosque was laid by Usman Chini Sahib. Thus, in one respect we can say that by the grace of God Almighty, the people of China have also contributed towards this through his representation. Therefore, we must also pray that God Almighty may enable the message of Islam to spread swiftly in China. Respected Usman Chini Sahib was extremely passionate about the spread of Islam in China and would always be concerned about this. Whilst we pray that may God Almighty elevate his status, we should also especially pray for the spread of Ahmadiyyat, the true Islam, in china as well as the world over. May God Almighty grant us the ability to do so.
(Translated by The Review of Religions. Originally published in Al Fazl International, 10 June 2019, pp. 5-9)
http://www.alhakam.org/the-islamic-institution-of-shura-mutual-consultation/ Published: 29 June 2018
Editor: Qaasid Muin Ahmad | Design & Layout: Jalees Ahmad | News: Ata-ul-Haye Nasir | © Al Hakam 2019