Terrorists, Islamophobes and Our Faith

CURBING VIOLENCE & RETURNING TO ISLAM

No one can deny the fact that terrorism, barbarism and violence are among the “malaise” from which the Islamic world is suffering in today’s fast growing global world. The rush and invested energy to seek and work for material progress has on the other hand brought about the moral and spiritual decline of human beings, including Muslims. They find their spiritual foundations shaken and to further complicate the situation, it is not a secret to anyone that a few Muslim countries have become the greatest producers of drugs and other intoxicants which are exported to African and Asian countries where there exist a majority of Muslim countries, and this despite the fact that Islam condemns the consumption and sales of intoxicants.

Modern psychologists and specialist doctors in the field had discovered that an excess of drugs and other intoxicants lead to terrorism and violence in the various forms they exist. Under these circumstances, the American and European mass-media have caught the golden chance to present the Muslims as a band of terrorists in the late 20^th Century for the simple reason of frightening the non-Muslim world and to tarnish the image of Islam. And, during the 1990s, the mass media embarked on an aggressive campaign to accuse the Muslims as barbaric people who are still living in the pre-Islamic age and given to debaucheries by frequently using the connotation “Jihad” in their own distorted comprehension. This campaign of theirs have gained all the more weight at the turn of this new era (the 21^st Century) when a so-called or well-planned venture to depict Muslims as terrorists was put into execution with the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (the World Trade Centre and Pentagon Attacks).

Islam's Legacy: Non-violence

The greatest Muslim and non-Muslim historians can bear testimony to the fact that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has never, on any single occasion during his prophetic mission in Mecca or Medina used violence to counteract his enemies’ persecutions, but it can be safely said, without exaggeration, that he was the first leader to have taught “non-violence”. However, today “non-violence” is associated with Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela when people at large tend to forget the teachings of Islam which are universal. It is equally true to mention that with the present situation, almost all religions in this modern age are in a state of crisis; but Islam being a complete code of life does not lack solutions to the problems of violence affecting society. 

'No' to Aggression; Only self-Defence'

Asad Shah Murder and the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya

The Murder of Asad Shah Sahib 

Before ending my sermon today (Khutba Jumu’ah), I would like to say few words on Syead Asadul Islam Shah Sahib who was murdered March 24 last. He was born in Rabwah on 31 January 1976 (he just reached his 40 years) and he was the son of Syead Naeem Shah who was a Pakistani. Asad Shah Sahib did his FSc at the Nusrat Jahan Academy in Rabwah and his family went to establish in Glasgow, Scotland in 1998. He had a business which he ran and was regular in his financial contribution in the Jamaat (Ahmadiyya), and I have even learnt that he was in Wassiyat and that according to the Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya, he was regular in Ijtema and Jummah.

Motive Behind the Murder

That imbecile who stabbed and killed him 30 times with a kitchen knife was 32 years old Tanveer Ahmad, an extremist who worked as Taxi driver. (Inset on the right: first pictures of the accused Tanveer, who made a public statement on his responsibility for the murder). He confessed to killing Asad Shah Sahib not because he wished the Christians Happy Easter, but he confessed during his private hearing that he killed Asad Shah Sahib because he proclaimed to be a prophet and thus did not show any respect to prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

The newspapers (the media in general) have seized this opportunity to state that it was because of his wishing his fellow Christian citizens that a Muslim of another sect came to kill him. For the moment, Tanveer Ahmad has appeared twice in the High Court, the first at the end of March and the second time on 05 April 2016 wherein he confessed to killing Asad Shah Sahib. He moreover instructed his lawyer, John Rafferty to make an official statement on 06 April 2016 to clarify his real reasons behind the murder, the main cause being he declared himself to be a prophet. There are other details which have been mentioned in that statement to justify his crime.

Murder for 'Blasphemy' in Islam?

In other words, he targeted the Jamaat Ahmadiyya whereby according to his line of thoughts, as well as those of the other fanatical Mullahs of the group ‘Khatme Nabuwwat’ and the others from the Anti-Ahmadiyya circles, prophets cannot come after the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). And thus these people have published declarations that Asad Shah Sahib was a false prophet and they even posted videos online in November 2014 to denounce that he was a false prophet. And their websites also are filled with hatred against Islam Ahmadiyyat. For them, we Ahmadis are out of the pale of Islam.

God Forbid! Is that the teaching of Islam? Is that what Allah (swt) and His Messenger (pbuh) have taught you? If he has declared himself to be a prophet and if he is false (in his claim), then he is accountable for that claim/ proclamation to Allah alone. Is that the way of a good Muslim (to kill)? When have they receive the patent to judge the faith of others. Do you give the guarantee that you are yourselves on the right path and that your faith is firm, that your belief in the teachings of Islam is as solid as concrete? Is that barbarous deed committed truly Islamic?

Through their barbaric actions, they are depicting a very wrong image of the teachings of Islam. It is those kinds of extremists who are committing anti-Islam deeds, and are attacking and killing innocent people in various countries. Is that the teaching of Islam? 

Are you taking yourselves as greater judge than Allah (swt)? Allah (swt) have put it clear in the Quran that it is He alone who knows the hearts of His creatures, His servants, and that the domain of faith and to judge faith belongs only to Him, not to others who are declaring and judging people as non-Muslims. Verily, through their twisted and wicked minds, they are trampling all the more the true teachings of Islam.

'Show Prudence, Be Good and Do Good'

Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam- Kerala (India) organized a special Spiritual Gathering of our members at the historic Noor'ul Islam Masjid, Mathra on March 24-25, 2016- coinciding with the the august occasion of the Massih Maoud Day. 

Hazrat Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius issued a special message of advice for the benefit of all those who gathered there on the occasion. In his message, Hazrat Khalifatullah (atba) underscored the historic responsibility of our Jamaat to restore the true spiritual order of Islam in an age in which all ethical values and religious teachings are trampled to dust and the great legacy of Divine servants destroyed from within by their own so-called disciples and followers. As the momentous task of upholding the Torch of Truth and illuminating the world with the Light of Faith requires extraordinary patience and sustained hard work over a long period of time for the desired transformation-"arise and create a new world"- Hazrat Saheb (atba) advocates the wisdom of displaying foresight in all actions; showing prudence against evil and the need for blazing a trail of good conduct and deeds in our everyday lives. 

Reproduced below is the Official Text of the Address:

My dear brothers and sisters, Assalamoualaikum Warahmatullah Wabarakaatuhu.