The Light

May 2012

May 2012

Web-casting on the World’s first real-time Islamic service at www.virtualmosque.co.uk Editors:

vice to the Jamaat at that time. He joined the movement at the hands of Dawood Sydow. In the late 80's, in his capacity as a member of Parliament and Councillor, he finally suc-

Shahid Aziz Mustaq Ali

Contents:

Page

Announcements and News

1

Our missionary activities

3

A letter to Mr Obama

3

Berlin

3

Sri Lanka

6

Mothering Sunday

7

Sunni Muslims in the British army 8

‫ﱠحيْم‬ ِ ‫ِبس ِْم ﷲِ الرﱠحْ مٰ ِن الر‬ Announcements and News Friday

Sunday

Prayers Dars/speech

13:00 13:45

06-05-2012

15:00

Webcasts: Please note that the Friday khutba and prayers, the dars, as well as all meetings are broadcast over the Virtual Mosque (www.virtualmosque.co.uk) at the time stated above.

‫اجعُون‬ ِ ‫اِنﱠا ِ ﱠ ِ َو اِنﱠا اِلِ ْي ِہ َر‬ Mr Sulaiman Ebraheem passes away.

Mr Suleiman Ebrahim returned to his maker on March 22nd at 5pm, in Cape Town, South Africa. He has been suffering from cancer for a while now.

Suleiman was very active during Sh. Jassiem’s court case and provided invaluable ser-

Hazrat Maulana Sher Muhammad and Suleiman Ebrahim cumbed to Ulema and family pressure and parted ways with the Movement. He nevertheless kept contact with me for the purpose of obtaining books, especially the Holy Quran and Religion of Islam.

He took many photographs of the people involved in the case, and with his own hand wrote the names of overseas participants. “We will never forget you. This is to make sure you remember us as well.” He said.

Postponement of convention in the United Kingdom The centenary of the Woking Muslim Mission in the UK, which was to take place this year, has been postponed to next year because of the difficulties of fitting in the conventions in the UK and Surinam. The Executive of the UK

May 2012

2 decided to postpone its commemoration in order to facilitate our brothers in Surinam and help those who wished to participate in both events.

From Ebrahim Mohamed (South Africa) Thank you for sharing your experience during the “Jassiem” trial in South Africa. I am sure there are still many untold stories of events leading up to the case, during the case and post the case which makes us all the more grateful to Allah for all the help he afforded us, especially the efforts of those directly involved.

The person you refer to in your article who was able to attend proceedings daily, is Nuredeen Bell, a devoted member.

Some messages on publishing of The Light in French Hazrat Amir Dr Abdul Karim Saeed – President of the World-Wide Jamaat My heartiest congratulations on your success in producing The Light in French. It has wonderful contents and a very motivating article by our young convert from Auckland. I have had personal email exchange with him and find

him a very spiritually motivated young man. The information on Buddhism is going to be a useful addition to my lecture on this religion, which is one of the eight religions I teach to the ‘missionary students’ in our Centre in Lahore.

I have really enjoyed reading the issue in

French as it has become a source of reading, as I go through my study of the French language.

Jazak Allah. I pray that this issue will be a regular one and always contain useful articles, and be source of information to all the French speaking peoples of the world.

Mr Akbar Abdullah, editor of HOPE Great effort! God bless you. For your information, French is spoken in the following countries of the world: “French is widely spoken, either as a first or official language, in several countries of Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the AsianPacific region. Apart from being the national language of France, French is spoken in Switzerland (in the Swiss region called Romandie, to be specific), Belgium (in the Belgian region called the Walloons), Luxembourg, Valle d'Aosta in Italy and the principalities of Monaco and Andorra.

“In North America, French is the official language of the Canadian province of Quebec, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, St Martin, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and the US states of Louisiana and Maine.

French is spoken in several African, Asian and Asia-Pacific countries, such as Algeria, Tunisia, the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville, formerly known as Zaire), Niger, Senegal, Haiti, Lebanon, Martinique, Vietnam, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Togo, Mauritania, Morocco, Laos, Lebanon, Syria, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mayotte, the Reunion Island, Vanuatu, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia and the union territory of Pondicherry in India (Pondicherry, Mahe, Karikal and Yanam).

“About 150 million people of the world speak French; 60 % of those are found in France.”

Shaukat Ali, Co-ordinator South-East Asia and Pacific regions Jazak Allah for copying the message and the attachment of the first issue of The Light in

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3 French. My hearty congratulations for all those involved with this initiative and the efforts made in getting it ready for finalization.

This is very encouraging news for the Jamaat and we pray for the blessings of Allah upon all those associated with this project.

Our Missionary Activities A Letter to the US President – from Shahid Aziz (The White House email facility to write directly to the President was used to send the following to Mr Obama.)

I was born in Pakistan and I am now settled in the United Kingdom. I am a Muslim by religion and I visit the USA at least once a year to see family or as a tourist. I promote Islam as a modern, liberal

The Muslims afraid to mention their religion in public are also US citizens. and peaceful religion.

Every time I visit the US I find an increase in anti-Islam and anti-Muslim feeling. It has now got to a point where I now find my relatives who are settled in the US are afraid of mentioning their religion in public. I've been told not to mention the "j" word in public.

I fully understand that it is your duty to protect your citizens but those afraid to mention their religion are also US citizens. I found it sad that during your election campaign you had to bend over backwards to show that your were not a Muslim. I wonder how founding fathers of America, who fought to separate religion from the government, would have reacted to your actions.

My visit to the Mosque at Berlin January 2012 by S. M. Khalid Iqbal, UK I arrived this time on the evening of Monday the 23rd of January 2012. It was quite a cold evening. Brother Yunis was very kind to be at the Airport to pick me up.

Tuesday the 24th A busy day. As the computer at the Mission House was not working, I went to the Library to use the Internet to send some messages to Lahore and UK. I had to hasten back as I knew that the team of architects were to come to the Mosque to do their assessment work. When I came back they were waiting outside the Mosque with their heavy equipment. I introduced myself and opened the main gate in front of the Mosque. It took them a couple of hours to bring the huge trolley lift inside the Mosque. While they were bringing their heavy equipment inside, I made some last-minute arrangements by reshuffling the carpets on the floor of the Mosque so that they can start their work.

Wednesday the 25th January One of their specialists came to start his work at 9.00 am. I was curious to see the working of the trolley and its purpose. The lift was set up right under the dome in which one person could go up and down and work at the ceiling of the Mosque.

The purpose was to assess dampness, cracks and the damage to the ceiling and the dome of the Mosque. I went up with my camera to see if I can take some snapshots from the top, which I did. To touch the roof was an exciting experience but as the trolley moved with your movement, it was a little scary too. I wish I could have a movie camera or a better one to make full use of the facility.

Thursday the 26th January Builders arrived early in the morning and started their work for the day. The weather was still too cold to snow as say in England.

As the specialists were busy doing their work I utilised this opportunity to do some shopping and left the Mosque open for public as well. I fixed a big basket at the back of Brother Yasir’s bicycle and went for shopping to the Turkish shop, and bought meat and other stuff for the week in case heavy snow falls as it was the forecast for next few days.

As soon as I came back, some visitors were waiting for me, and while the builders were working inside the Mosque I had to go out to welcome the guests. Meanwhile, I also answered the queries made by the builders who were doing assessment

May 2012

4 translation of the Holy Qurans for the two colof the repairs they intend to do inside the leges in Russia and asked me to sign and stamp Mosque. It was quite hectic to attend the visitors these, as from the Berlin Mosque. I gave them as well as to serve the visitors and builders with The Religion of Islam and some other small tea at the Mission House and it was pretty cold booklets as a free gift. They paid for these books too. I do not mind this sort of challenge but I felt as well and showed keen interest in the activithat you need someone else to help you on such ties of the Mosque. By the time they left it was days. quite late in the evening and they expressed A German visitor came who was very much their wish to visit again and that they will keep interested about the history of the Mosque and in touch and send their college friends to visit while I was talking to him the bell rang and to this mini Taj Mahal . The my surprise there were visitors took lot of picfour Malaysian Medical tures of the Mosque Students at the Gate. from inside as well as These girls came espeoutside and appreciated cially to see the Mosque our hospitality. and wished to say the Namaz. It was the secFriday the 27th January ond group of doctors After the Friday congrewho came to visit the gational prayers some Mosque during my stay Arabs, Sufis, Afghanis at the Mosque. After and 6–8 Germans stayed they offered their Salah on. The German visitors we came to the Mission had brief talk and took house and talked about photos of the Friday the Lahore Ahmadiyya prayer and various Movement and the views of the Mosque Propagation of Islam it and Mission House. is doing in the West The Berlin Mosque Among the people who through various Misstayed on were two Afghani visitors. One of sions in the world in particular the Berlin them was a Qari who joined us in the Maghrib Mosque. It was interesting that they knew the prayer. They were also entertained with the eveMosque through internet and were more curining meal. We discussed about the Lahore ous about the movement which was running it.

Ahmaddiya Movement and what it stands for.

They also, accepted my offer to stay for the They promised to keep in touch with us in fudinner, so I left them to finish the cooking and ture and expressed their willingness to help us if lay the table in the kitchen while I was busy with we need them especially the person who was the builders. The other German guest also bewell educated and Hafiz as well. came interested in our discussion and accepted my offer to join this informal dinner. He was a Saturday 28th January structural architect and a keen student of art and history of the world. He changed his schedA lady Teacher came to see if she can bring 10/15 Kindergarten students to spend a couple ule and joined the conversation with the proof hours at the Mosque. I agreed to see them on spective doctors who could speak Malay, RusMonday the 30th January. Regina Harisch. the sian and of course English. These girls already knew about Maulana Muhammad Ali’s Translateacher, was married to a Moroccan and had a teenage Muslim boy. She was familiar with Istion of the Holy Quran but they were not aware lamic values and the sanctity of the Mosque. She of his other books and the Lahore Movement. In came to see this Mosque for the first time and the end they bought two copies of the Russian

May 2012

5 was amazed to see a Mosque with the Minarets in one of the best suburbs of Berlin.

Sunday the 29th January I kept myself busy preparing the side-room of the Mosque as an office-cum-interview-cum small meeting room for the Imam. I shifted the small fridge with oil-filled electric radiator in the room as well. It took me some weeks to prepare this room as I was working on this project since last year. I also cleared the small room upstairs of the Mission House so that it can be used as a comfortable bedroom.

Monday the 30th January Two teachers and 10 Kindergarten children wrapped up in their woolly hats and duffle coats with their small rucksacks arrived on time. I prepared the Mosque by laying a red carpet on the stairs. They reached the Mosque after a long train journey, so I brought them in the Mission house and let them relax on the sofas in the lounge soon after they visited the Mosque for a short time. The teacher told me that about 4 children could not come as they were ill. They were all children of students in the University Colleges in Berlin. The Kindergarten School cater for the professional couples in the University Colleges in Berlin. It is a day school for the children and I was interested to know that these children were from various social, cultural and religious backgrounds, i.e., Muslims, Christian and mixed religious background.

When other schoolchildren come to see the Mosque they spend 45 minutes to an hour in the Mosque and leave, but these five-year-olds spent quite some time to see the Mosque and then were invited to the Mission House for lunch and drinks and they enjoyed the time for relaxation.

It was a cold morning and these children had a long travelling in the train to come to the Mosque.

They took their Wellington boots and coats off and came in the lounge with their lunch boxes and drinks. I brought the tea and biscuits and cakes for the teacher to share. Some of the children knew Islamic salutation Assalam o alaikum or Bismillah whereas a Christian girl could

say the Lord’s Prayer in full.

I hope that the next trip of the children from the same school will be more interesting and informative for them. The visits of students from various schools and colleges and universities provides a good opportunity to tell them about this beautiful Mosque and its history built in Berlin in 1927. This Mosque tries to promote inter-religious understanding and mutual exchange of visits.

Tuesday the 31st January The other interesting visitor this week was an Iraqi student of a University College from England. He was in Berlin with forty other students for a Media Studies tour with their teachers. Bro. Ahmad decided to do a documentary on one of the Islamic Institutes in Berlin so he came to see the Mosque and to check whether we would allow the filming or not. He wanted a German- an Arabic- or Turkish-speaking person to be with me so that he could have simultaneous translation of the English version into German and Arabic.

He gave me the following three topics of his project. I was lucky to have a guest from Frankfurt who could speak both languages, i.e German and Arabic: Islam in Germany The History of the Berlin Mosque The German Muslim Converts Wednesday the 1st February The media film of the Iraqi student from England came to the Mosque. Bro. Ahmad came with his equipment but no lights, so I offered him our spotlights and asked him to set them up. Then we checked the sound system and moved furniture to suit the requirements. He started his interview with the Adhan called by him. He could do the Adhan in various dialects like Iraqi, Saudi, Egyptian and Moroccan as well.

He spent almost the whole day in the Mosque and left after saying the Maghrib prayer with us.

He purchased copies of the German Translation of the Quran and The Religion of Islam for the College Library. For the history and other details about the Mosque and the activities of the Mis-

May 2012

6 sion I found A Brief History of The Berlin Muslim Mission (Germany) 1922–1988' by Bro. Nasir Ahmad very useful and handy. This report is worth reading for anyone connected with the Mosque or working there. To me it provides all that I should know about why our forefathers chose Berlin to build a Mosque and set up a Mission to propagate Islam in Berlin.

Thursday the 2nd February Builders are still working daily and I think they will continue their work next week as well.

A little quiet but there is plenty of work at the Mission House – to fix various lightings and bulbs and in the Mosque as well.

Friday the 3rd February Builders and architects came as usual and continued their work. They stopped during the Friday prayers but we asked them to stay behind if they wish to observe the Service, so they did as a matter of curiosity.

Friday Sermon was about the Birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the message it should carry to the Muslim Ummah in general. After the prayers we stayed in the Mosque till the Asr Namaz as usual. A German couple came to ask for Du'a-i Maghfirat for their aunt who died as a Muslim Lady. I requested our guest Mr Zafar Iqbal to do this prayer. He did it by reciting Sura Yaseen and various other prayers and all of us present joined in this service. The couple donated some amount and appreciated our readiness to do the prayers at such a short notice which was a sort of mini memorial service. I have to be there in London on the 5th of February 2012.

To end this report I must say that every time I come to Berlin I meet people of different faiths and cultures who come to this Mosque from all the corners of the world and they ask for books in Russian, German, French, Persian, Arabic, Turkish and of course in English as well. Therefore, we should set up stock of books in all the languages of the world. In my experience at the Woking Mosque I never came across this sort of varied demand as in Berlin. I see great scope

for activities and interfaith interaction at this unique oriental mosque which is rightly called the Berlin Mosque (‘Jewel in the Crown of Berlin’).

Sri Lanka, by our new member I met my friends and preached them about LAM. They said that you may come with us to Temple on Full Moon Poya Day (event they celebrate every month), we will meet a monk there.

I went to temple, that monk took my phone # email ID and Website (virtualmosque.co.uk) and also gifted me a book on Buddhism. Their religion makes no sense. They have five main things to believe in. First one is that a Buddhist will not only worship Buddha he will also worship Monks. Second one is that no one will misuse their holes. Third one is “Do not kill any living creature” (this sounds crazy). I had a debate on this topic with a scholar. They believe that if anyone kills a creature he will go to hell. I said to them that you recently killed lots of terrorists.

What about your army then... Will your army go to hell because they tried to save the nation?

Even they don't like the word slaughter… but they still eat fish… I said,”Why do you eat fish?”

He said, “Because there are no words for fish in our book.” Some of my friends were with me.

They used to eat other kind of meat too… I asked them “Why do you eat?” they said that “We buy from Muslims’, Christians’ or Hindus’ shop. We are not killing. Muslims, Christians and Hindus are killing…” I said that a person who supports terrorist is also a terrorist… Next week I will meet a bigger monk in main city.

They believe that there is no God. Buddha was a man who told us how to live. He was the greatest scientist. He said that “If you follow me you will get good results. If you don't follow me you will get bad results in your life.” I asked the scholar who will be the Judge on the Day of the Judgement. He said everything is automatic. No one needs to Judge. If we did good work we will be automatically sent to heaven, otherwise hell. https://www.facebook.com/damith.ranaweera2? ref=ts This guy is helping me a lot. This person cares a lot about religion.

They have the biggest temple in the city

May 2012

7 Kandy that’s almost 250 km far away from me.

They call that temple the Tooth Temple because their Buddha tooth is there. I will try to go there too.

Mothering Sunday and my perspective on motherhood Miss Bushra Ahmed As we all know living In UK for decades we have systematically celebrated Mother’s Day once every year. And my mother is lucky enough to have received gifts from all three daughters, and when sonin-laws arrive they also provide a token of their appreciation. Now that the three third generations have arrived, they also without fail remember their grandmother on mother’s day. And I hasten to add, give to me for being their best Auntie!

As far back as I can remember my mother has been one for hard work. First she raised three girls, taking and collecting all three of us from school and juggling that with the various jobs she undertook.

Instead of resting when she arrived home she would cook clean and wash as well as undertaking other domestic maintenance duties.

This harsh routine is not easy, especially with the religious obligation of Ramadaan, but as far as I can remember she has never missed one fast in all of this time. Especially the very long summer Ramadaan that came about in the 80’s.

So no wonder mothers are so special to everybody not just in UK but the whole world over.

Mostly every country celebrates Mothers Day albeit on different dates.

Now, Mothers Day has become somewhat commercial and businesses profit as we all rush to make our own mothers happy with cards and gifts.

The underlying meaning of this special day appears to be fading.

However, Islam places a very high place for mothers as authentic Ahadith is quoted as saying that “Heaven lies under the feet of a mother”. According to another Hadith a person asked Our Prophet (pbuh) who is the most important person in the world and he replied three times “Your Mother.” Only the last and fourth time did he say “Father”.

This respect is not unfounded. Mothers carry their babies for 9 months as well as weaning and feeding babies and then all the responsibilities that follow. My mother did all this without a moment’s complaint.

Surah Maryam in the Holy Quran is one whole chapter devoted to Jesus’ mother Mary.

So this speaks volumes about how important mothers are. Also my grandmother had the habit of reciting this particular chapter during any mother’s (family or relatives) time of labour.

According to a proverb: “If a father is educated only he is educated but if a mother is educated the whole world is educated!” It is a mother who is closest to her child very early on and hers is the voice recognised by a newborn child. So she influences him or her the most very early on, and thus education starts from the moment we are born.

As far back as I can remember my older sisters have placed great amount of importance on their children’s education.

With all that Islamic education is also just as important. Mashallah my nephews are all young boys but have learnt to read Arabic and have memorised a lot of Surahs and mashallah they read Namaas. In fact they all lead our Namaas sometimes, at home.

There is a famous story about a very obedient boy whose mother once asked him for a glass of water in the middle of the night. He fetched her a glass of water but as he returned she had fallen asleep. So, he stood and waited until she awoke and then gave it to her. This brought tears to my eyes! And the next day when my mother needed anything I never failed to fulfill her wishes.

Extreme love of mothers is also depicted in another story which relates that a daughter-inlaw out of jealousy asked her husband how much he loved her. When he replied he loved her a lot she set him a challenge. As attest, she asked him to remove his mothers heart physically and bring it to her. While doing so, as he was walking with his mother’s body part which he had carved out, he tripped and a voice emanated from that organ “Oh son are you alright?”

And not forgetting to mention in the story is

May 2012

8

that he killed his mother with her permission!

What a tear-jerker indeed!

One final story is where two women were fighting over a child and both claimed that he was their son. The arbitrator suggested “Why don’t you cut him in half?” One of the ladies agreed straight away but the other hesitated. So we then draw the conclusion about who the real mother was.

So whether young or old please respect your mothers. The stories told have been passed down to generations and they are there to ponder over but most of all to learn so that we never hurt our mothers in any way whatsoever as otherwise surely this is not deemed kindly or right by our Creator.

Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers!

The Sunni Muslims and the British Army

By Dr Zahid Aziz You may be interested in the following news on the website of the present-day Woking Mosque: “The Royal Anglian Regiment Visit “On Wednesday 14th March 2012 Professor Ajmal Nasim, Head of Education, had the pleasure of welcoming C (Essex) Company 1st Batallion, The Royal Anglian Regiment along with distinguished guests such as Captain Afzal Amin from the MOD and Imam Asim Hafiz who is the Muslim Chaplin to HM Forces. The purpose of the visit was to provide a brief insight into the Islamic faith and a chance for the soldiers to ask questions before they are posted out to Afghanistan.

“The Company were welcomed with refreshments and then shown the main hall where they

were able to witness afternoon prayers (Dhur) being performed. This was followed by a lecture on the Pillars of Islam by Professor Nasim in the Shah Jahan Mosque itself where the Professor and Imam Hafiz concluded with a questions and answers session. The day was a great success through helping to gain a perspective and understanding to promote peace in a sensitive way.”

The link to this page is: http://www.shahjahanmosque.org.uk/news/ shah-jahan-mosque-welcomes-royal-anglianregiment The anti-Ahmadiyya groups (including the present-day Woking Mosque clerics) accuse our Movement of being British agents and they denounce our Founder Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad for supporting British rule of India as well as supporting the British armed forces of his time who were sometimes fighting against Muslims. This is their most common and stock allegation against our Jamaat.

So the question arises: What are they themselves doing by holding functions like the above?

You will recall that I spoke about the concept of Jihad at our last monthly meeting. I wonder what answer these people would have given if a British soldier at the meeting had asked: What is Jihad?

Would they have replied: It is to attack and kill you!

Affection is not unique to humans; even rihnos display it.

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam Lahore (UK) The first Islamic Mission in the U.K. established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission Dar- us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, UK, HA0 4JQ Centre: 020 8903 2689 President: 020 8524 8212 Secretary: 01753 575313 E-mail: aaiil.uk@gmail.com Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk Donations: www.virtualmosque.co.uk/donations