Summer• 2 0 0 8$4.00

10 Renaissanceof Islam - 100 years

of Khilafat

14 Khilafat inthe times of Moses

and Jesus

37 Paradise onEarth through

Khilafat

42 Selecting aKhalifa in Judeo-

Muslim history

“In the latter days, the sun shal l r ise from the west” • Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him)

2 MuslimSunrise

TTTTT he Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a religious organization,international in its scope, with branches in over 189 countries inAfrica, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in 1889 by HadhratMirza Ghulam Ahmadas (1835-1908) in Qadian, a small and remote village inthe Punjabi province of India. He claimed to be the expected reformer of thelatter days, the Awaited One of the world community of religions (The Mahdiand Messiah). The Movement he started is an embodiment of the benevolentmessage of Islam – peace, universal brotherhood, and submission to theWill of God – in its pristine purity. Hadhrat Ahmadas proclaimed Islam as thereligion of man: “The religion of the people of the right path” (98:6).TheAhmadiyya Muslim Community was created under divine guidance withthe objective to rejuvenate Islamic moral and spiritual values. It encouragesinterfaith dialogue, diligently defends Islam and tries to correctmisunderstandings about Islam in the West. It advocates peace, tolerance,love and understanding among followers of different faiths. It firmly believesin and acts upon the Qur’anic teaching: “There is no compulsion in religion”(2:257). It strongly rejects violence and terrorism in any form and for anyreason.

After the passing of its founder, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community hasbeen headed by his elected successors. The present Head of the Community,Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, was elected in 2003. His official title isKhalifatul Masih V or Fifth Successor of the Promised Messiah.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

EditorFalahud Din Shams

Editorial BoardImam Mubasher AhmadDr. Shanaz ButtHasan HakeemAmjad Mahmood Khan, Esq.Naveed Malik

Staff EditorsMaham KhanNaser Shams

Staff WritersSaad AhmadArif HumayunDr. Zia H. ShahShazia Sohail

Hasan Hakeem, Design/LayoutFateh Shams, CirculationShuaib Shams, Circulation

Editor's Notes:The Muslim Sunrise is published by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA,15000 Good Hope Road, Silver Spring, MD 20905, Phone 301.879.0110, Fax301.879.0115, under the auspices of Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar, Ameer and NationalPresident. The views and opinions expressed by individual contributers in thispublication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity, USA.

The Muslim Sunrise welcomes letters to the editor, questions and submissions. Emailus at MuslimSunrise@Ahmadiyya.us or go online to www.MuslimSunrise.com.

Library of Congress Call Number BP195.A5 M8

Mailing Address: The Muslim Sunrise, 2 S 510 Route 53, Glen Ellyn, IL60137, Phone: (630) 790-4100, ext. 206, Fax: (630) 793-4100.

Muslims follow the name of God’s prophets with the prayer alaehis salaam or‘may peace be upon him,’ and for the Holy Prophet Muhammad, sallallahualaehi wasallam or ‘may peace and blessings of God be upon him.’ Companionsof prophets and righteous personalities who have passed away are saluted byradhi-Allaho anhu/a or ‘may Allah be pleased with him/her.” While suchsalutations are not set out in the text for readability, we encourage readers tooffer these prayers as if set out in full.

Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq (1872-1957) was the first Ahmadiyya Muslim missionaryto arrive in America. In 1921, he founded the Muslim Sunrise, which stands todayas the longest running Muslim publication in America. The magazine seeks to opendiscussions on Islam and topics relating to religion in general. It highlights the roleof Islam in an ever changing global society. It provides a platform for publicopinion on contemporary issues and presenting their solutions from an Islamicperspective.

www.muslimsunrise.com

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

SUMMER 2008 3

Summer 2 0 0 8 • V o l u m e 8 8 • I s s u e 2

Departments

5 Opening Commentary

6 Editorial

7 The Friday SermonWorship of God

Features

11 Renaissance of IslamOverview of the Ahmadiyya Khilafat’s first 100years

14 Khilafat in the Dispensations of Mosesand JesusSuccessorship among the Israelite tradition

28 Khilafat in the Holy Qur’anQuranic verses describing the role of Khilafat

30 In their Own WordsPerspectives of Ahmadi Khulafa on Khilafat

33 The Split: Anjuman or KhilafatOn the Ahmadi leadership dispute which resulted ina factional division

36 Paradise on Earth through KhilafatFulfillment of the prophecy about the PromisedMessiah

41 Selecting a KhalifaEstablishment of leadership in Judeo-Muslim history

50 Khilafat and CaliphateDiscussion of Khilafat as viewed in the West and inthe Muslim World

In This Issue

18 Poetry Corner“Jewel of Jalsa”

19 From the ArchivesKhalifatul Masih II on the Islamic form ofgovernment

21 Religion & ScienceEvaluating Original Sin against scientific discoveries

39 InterviewDr. Ahsanullah Zafar, Ameer of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community, USA

45 Questions and AnswersExtremism and militancy, women’s roles, andthe five daily prayers

News, Views and Reviews

46 Press PublicationsOn Pakistani democracy, Danish cartooncontroversy and Obama’s name

47 ViewpointOn Justice in Islam

48 Film ReviewOn the “Fitna” documentary

57 Perspectives“Apes and Angels : Where Did We Come From?”

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From the Holy Qur'anChapter 24 : Verse 56-57

“Allah has promised to those among you who believe and dogood works that He will, surely, make them successors in theearth, as He made successors from among those who were beforethem; and that He will, surely, establish for them their religionwhich He has chosen for them; and that He will, surely, givethem in exchange security and peace after their fear; They willworship Me and they will not associate anything with Me. Thenwhoso disbelieves after that, they will be the rebellious.

And observe Prayer and give the Zakat and obey the Messenger,that you may be shown mercy.”

SUMMER 2008 5

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

Opening CommentaryThe Second Manifestation

So dear friends!Since it is the Sunnatullah [practice

of Allah] from time immemorial, that GodAlmighty shows two Manifestations sothat two false joys of the opponents beput to an end, it is not possible now thatGod should relinquish His Sunnah of old.So do not grieve over what I have said toyou; nor should your hearts be dis-tressed. For it is essential for you towitness the second manifestation also,and its coming is better for you be-cause it is everlasting the continuityof which will not end till the Day ofJudgment. And that second Manifes-tation cannot come unless I depart. Butwhen I depart, God will send the sec-ond manifestation for you which shallalways stay with you just as promisedby God in Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya. Andthis promise is not for my person.Rather the promise is with reference toyou, as God [addressing me] says: Ishall make this Jama’at (community)who are your followers, prevail overothers till the Day of Judgment. Thusit is inevitable that you see the day ofmy departure, so that after that day theday comes which is the day of everlastingpromise. Our God is He Who keeps Hispromise and is Faithful and is the Truth-ful God. He shall show you all that He haspromised. Though these days are the lastdays of this world and there are many adisaster waiting to happen, yet it is nec-essary that this world continues to existuntil all those things about which God hasprophesied come to pass. I came from Godas a Manifestation of Divine Providenceand I am a personification of His Power.And after I am gone there will be some

other persons who will be the manifesta-tion of the second Power [of God]. So,while waiting for the second manifesta-tion of His Power, you all together keepyourselves busy praying. And le t aJama’at of righteous people, one and all,in every country keep themselves busy inprayers so that the second manifestation

may descend from the Heaven and showyou that your God is such a Mighty God.Consider your death to be close at handfor you never know when that hour willstrike.

Let the r ighteous persons of theJama’at who have pure souls acceptBai’at (initiation) in my name. God Al-mighty desires to draw all those who livein various habitations of the world, be itEurope or Asia, and who have a virtuousnature, to the Unity of God and unite Hisservants under one Faith. This indeed isthe purpose of God for which I have been

sent to the world. You, too, therefore shouldpursue this end, but with kindness, moral pro-bity and fervent prayers. And till that time whensomeone inspired by God with the Holy Spiritis raised by Him, all of you should work inharmony with one another.

And you, too, should partake of the HolySpirit by compassion and by purifying your

souls. Because without the Holy Spirit trueTaqwa cannot be attained. And, totally shed-ding all base desires of the self, choose forthe sake of winning the pleasure of God thatpath compared to which no path can be nar-rower and straighter. Don’t fall in love withthe pleasures of the world, for they take youaway from God. Choose a life of austerityfor the sake of God. The pain which pleasesGod is better than the pleasure which makesHim angry. And the defeat which pleasesGod is better than the victory which invitesthe wrath of Allah. Renounce the love whichbrings you nearer to the wrath of Allah. Ifby purifying your hearts you come to Him,He will help you whichever path you treadand no enemy shall ever be able to harmyou. You can never ever win the pleasure of

Allah unless you, relinquishing your desires,abandoning your pleasures, sacrificing yourhonor, disowning your wealth, discarding yourlife, bear such hardships in His way as makeyou suffer the pangs of death. But once yousuffer such hardship you will sit in the lap ofGod like a beloved child. And you will be madeheirs of the truthful who have preceded you.The door of every blessing will be opened toyou. But there are few who belong to this cat-egory.

-The WillFor full content, please go to Alislam.org

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Editorial

In the Holy

Quran, God has

d e s c r i b e d

Himself as the

“Light of the

Heavens and the earth”

(24:36). Further in the

same verse He describes

how this light is

disseminated to the

people and how it ends up

glowing in the houses of

the select people.

To explain this, God has used asimilitude, which can be explainedwith an example of a “flashlight” forthe modern era. God is the Light--the original light--and can be com-pared to the wire inside the bulb thatilluminates, or gives light. It is the origi-nal light and without it there is noother source in the flashlight thatcould possibly emanate any lightwhatsoever. The bulb can be likenedto a prophet who protects the lightof God helping it become visible inits hiterto darkened surroundings.However, it is not spread far andwide but can only reach out to a lim-ited sphere, because of the limita-tion of the efforts of a prophet. Thereflector can be explained as theKhalifa (Successor of the prophet)who follows the prophet and reflectsthe light of God, enhanced by theprophet, to far and wide places.

The strength of the reflector dic-tates the distance and quality of thelight to be spread. The strength ofthe reflector depends on the peoplewho join the Khalifa and give thesystem of Khilafat (Successorship)the love and sacrifices it requires.

The system of Khilafat to whichGod refers, must be built upon rev-elation from God to a prophet. Itcannot be a system that is set up bymere individuals as a means of gov-ernment or a social or religious sys-tem for running affairs just like anyother secular system.

On May 27, 1908 a Divine sys-tem of Khilafat was established inthe Ahmadiyya Muslim Communityafter the passing of its founder, thePromised Messiah, and has been inplace now for 100 years. It hasworked as a reflector, spreading thelight of God to 189 countries fromthe tiny village of Qadian. It is re-markable in our eyes when we con-sider that the town where this lightwas lit did not even have a post of-fice, bus stop, train station or anymeans of modern communicationssuch as a telegraph or telephone.

God has promised in the HolyQur’an (24:56) that He will estab-lish Khilafat among the people whoare “believers and do good works.”It needs to be pointed out that sincethe particular Khilafat system Godis referring to (on the basis of rev-elation) is only established in the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community, it is

clear that in the Eyes of God thiscommunity is comprised of believersand people who do good works.

It is the 100 years of Khilafat thathas proved that this community doesreflect the light of God. It is spread to189 countries across geographicalboundaries, racial lines, gender linesand consists of all nationalities acrossthe globe. Amazingly, it has not pro-duced a single terrorist anywhere in theworld. Its people are tortured, pun-ished, incarcerated and even murderedsolely because of their beliefs. Thiscommunity does not respond in likemanner but reflects patience, persever-ance in belief in God and prays for itenemies. This community has pro-duced, however, a person who becamethe president of the General Assemblyof the U.N.O. and the chief justice ofthe International Court of Justice inHague. It has also produced a personwho became the first Muslim to earnthe Nobel Prize in physics.

This light of God keeps on shin-ing in peoples’ houses all over theworld and keeps on multiplying thehouses that it illuminates. It is pru-dent and essential for people of allreligions to look into this communityand learn firsthand about the Light ofGod in the modern era that has beenilluminated for the benefit of thewhole of mankind.

In celebrating the first 100years of the Ahmadiyya Khilafat,the editorial board of the MuslimSunrise congratulates HadhratMirza Masroor Ahmad, the cur-rent Khalifa and prays that mayGod strengthen his hands so hecontinues to guide this communityin the efforts of illuminating thelight of God in houses throughoutthe world.

SUMMER 2008 7

On 15 April 2008, Khalifatul Masih V (FifthSuccessor of the Messiah) embarked on a3 - w e e k t o u r t o W e s t A f r i c a c o m m e -morating the Khilafat Centenary beingcelebrated by Ahmadis around the world.During the historic tour, Hadhur travelledto Ghana, Nigeria and Benin. The followingi s h i s f i r s t s e r m o n d e l i v e r e d a t t h eG h a n a i a n J a l s a S a l a n a ( An n u a lConvention).

The Khalifa’sFriday Sermon:THE WORSHIP OF GOD

Hadhur delivered his FridaySermon from Bagh-e-Ahmad near Accra, Ghana.

Hadhur drew attention to the worship ofGod which he mentioned in his inauguraladdress given the day before at the JalsaSalana (Annual Convention) in Ghana.He said the best way Muslims couldworship God is to observe the five dailyprescribed prayers. The Holy Qur’an isreplete with commandments regardingthis and it identifies a righteous person asone who believes and observes Salat(prayer).

Hadhur instructed how prayers should beperformed. They should be offeredpunctually, in congregation, and should notbe influenced by any worldly reason. In short,Salat is a most fundamental component offaith for a Muslim. Hadith describe Salat asthe core or kernel of faith. Hadhur said itshould be the objective of a Muslim to attainthis core.

Hadhur said his experiences during Jalsadays indicate that men, women, girls and boysare regular in observing Salat. However, heencouraged that this habit should continueon lest returning home they disregard Salatfor distracting domestic chores, businessesand leisure activities.

As explained the previous day, this is thevery objective of man’s creation as describedin the Holy Qur’an. The Promised Messiah(on whom be peace) had also mentioned thisas one of the primary purposes of his advent;to develop a living connection between manand God. Therefore, all Ahmadis should bediligent in their five daily prayers and theyshould not be offered as if relieving a burden.

Hadhur said that if we are to bring the entireworld into the fold of Ahmadiyyat, we mustknow what Ahmadiyyat is about. Ahmadiyyatis to establish the Kingdom of the One andOnly God in the hearts of people. His King-dom can be established only when His Being

is deemed over and above everything else,and His worship is carried out in the waystaught by Him. If after accepting the Prom-ised Messiah (on whom be peace), we do notexperience a revolutionary change within our-selves and fail to establish a living relation-ship with God, then our faith is meaningless.

Hadhur commented why there was a needfor the Messiah to come in this era. It wasbecause the world had forgotten God. In ac-cordance with the prophecy of the HolyProphet (peace and blessings of Allah be onhim), the essence of Quranic teachings hadfaded from people’s hearts.

Hadhur said there are hundreds of millionsof Muslims in the world, some of whom areextremely wealthy with oil resources. How-ever, they have failed to take the world to theOne True God. They erroneously await ablood-thirsty Mahdi (Guided One) who wouldspread Islam with the use of force.

Hadhur said Ahmadis, on the other hand,are a small community but pledge to take Is-lam to the ends of the earth, relying on itsown merits. Today many African countries

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V, MirzaMasroor Ahmadatba observes Jalsa Salanaproceedings with the Amir Jama’at Ghana,Maulvi Dr. Abdul Wahab Adam.

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V, Mirza Masroor Ahmadatba met with His Excellency, thePresident of Ghana, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor at Castle Ossu in Accra. During themeeting President Kufuor acknowledged that Ghana’s development was a direct resultof Hadhur’s prayers. He attended the Jalsa Salana and praised Ahmadiyyat in Ghana.

8 MuslimSunrise

are being represented at the Jalsa: BurkinaFaso, the Congo, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Guineaand Gambia. None of these countries has theresources in terms of numbers or funds neededto take the banner of Islam all over the world.However, we have the power which was givento all the Prophets by the God Who is the Lordof the heavens and the earth.

When we Ahmadis boast such a huge claimthen it is our utmost obligation that we turn toGod and pray to Him. It is our Salat and prayersthat will grant us success. Hadhur added thatreligion cannot spread with wealth and might.

Some falsely allege that Islam was spreadthrough force. This is an ignorant allegation,easily disproved. What kind of worldly mightwas in the hands of Muslims when theyfought the battle of Badr, the battle of Uhudor the battle of Ahzab? In fact, they hardlyhad enough food, much less fighting appa-ratus. Their victory against all odds camefrom the prayers of the Holy Prophet (peaceand blessings of Allah be on him). Hisprayers brought about a revolution in theworld, and his example illustrated that thetriumph of Islam would not come throughmight, but sincere prayers.

Might can win territories but not hearts.Addressing the large Jalsa gathering, Hadhursaid they must win over the hearts of theircountrymen so that they may be offered toAllah. For this, they would first have to be-come regular in Salat and prayers.

This year we are commemorating the cen-tenary jubilee of Khilafat. We should committo bringing ourselves closer to God throughprayers as an expression of our gratitude. Thissense of gratitude of blessings will further en-hance Divine beneficence.

In the verse following the mention ofKhilafat, the Holy Qur’an states, “And observePrayer and give the Zakat and obey the Mes-senger that you may be shown mercy.” (24:57)

Hadhur said the above verse proves thatin order to benefit from the blessing of Khilafatthe first condition is to observe Salat. This isthe reason Hadhur was emphasizing prayersso much. Allah had promised the PromisedMessiah (on whom be peace) that this Khilafatis to remain for the rest of time. However, onlythose will derive benefit from it who will makea living connection with God through worship.

Hadhur said the Quranic verse also men-tions financial charity. With the Grace of Allahthe Jama’at of Ghana is gaining strength fromtheir financial sacrifices. Hadhur said that char-ity is for the reformation of the self (nafs). Else-where in Qur’an financial charity other thanZakat is mentioned in terms of reforming the

self. God never wastes the any good act orfinancial sacrifice aimed at seeking His Plea-sure. Hadhur said he is most grateful that Al-lah enables the Ghanaian Jama’at to make fi-nancial sacrifices.

Many sincere and well-off Ahmadishave facilitated the construction of hugemosques. Materialistic people spend theirwealth in worldly matters, but today, thou-sands of miles away from Qadian, Allah has

given the Promised Messiah (on whom bepeace) sincere people whose hearts areopen for financial charity. The youth andnew converts should always remember thatfinancial giving is a commandment amongthe commandments of Allah and it has beenspecifically mentioned in relation to theblessing of Khilafat.

Allah states, “Obey the Messenger so thatyou may be shown mercy.” Hadhur said the

Ghana Jalsa Salana (Annual Convention) Photos by Abu Bakr, Zion, IL

SUMMER 2008 9

Might can win territories but not hearts. Addressing the large Jalsagathering, Hudhur said they must win over the hearts of their countrymenso that they may be offered to Allah. For this, they would first have tobecome regular in Salat and prayers.

10 MuslimSunrise

Messenger commands what Allah commandsand this is repeatedly stated in the Qur’an. Thiscommand to obey Allah and His messenger alsoapplies to the Messiah of the latter days, whowill follow the Shariah of the messenger (peaceand blessings of Allah be on him).

Hadhur said the Promised Messiah (onwhom be peace) drew our attention to the factthat Ahmadi young women should marryAhmadi young men so that Ahmadi future gen-erations are preserved. Children are confusedwhen they have to deal with dual aspects [offaith]. If the father is not an Ahmadi, the childtends to depart even if the mother is an Ahmadi.Sometimes parents with conflicting beliefs turnchildren away from religion altogether.

Similarly, Ahmadi young men should marryAhmadi young women. Firstly, they deprive therights of Ahmadi young women by marryingoutside. Secondly, children suffer from the sametwo-faceted situation. Hadhur said if peoplewish their children to enjoy the blessing ofKhilafat, then personal preference should notbe the only option to consider.

Hadhur said many young women write tohim from Ghana and other African countriesseeking guidance or permission for marriage pro-posals from non-Ahmadis. Hadhur said the veryfact these young women ask is a testimony thatthey give precedence to their faith over theworld. So long as these young women give pre-cedence to faith over worldly matters, they andtheir husbands will be the recipients of Allah’sblessings.

Hadhur said each Ahmadi should promiseon the fulfillment of a hundred years of Khilafatin Ahmadiyyat, that they will always give pre-cedence to Allah’s pleasure and His commands.

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace)

said that no one can be in his community un-less they adopt righteous ways. He said theyshould observe their five daily prayers with suchawe and devotion as if they are seeing God,should keep their fasts for Allah with sincerity,pay the Zakat, and perform the Hajj. He saidthat no deed holds merit with God if it is devoidof taqwa (righteousness).

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace)

also stated to his community to rejoice in thatGod is with them. People who remain firm intruth will be helped and taught by the angelsand heavenly tranquility will descend uponthem.

Hadhur prayed that Allah always keep ourfaith firm, make us observe His worship andcontinue to bless us with His Grace andBlessings.

Huzur said each Ahmadi should promise on thefulfillment of a hundred years of Khilafat inAhmadiyyat, that they will always give precedenceto Allah’s pleasure and His commands.

“I have great expectations of Ghana. It is my prayer, that may you always march forward. Perhaps theseaspirations are because I spent part of my life here.” -- Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V, Mirza Masroor Ahmadatba

SUMMER 2008 11

By Monsura A. Sirajee

In a rare dars or speechdelivered by HadhratKhalifatul Masih II in 1921,Hadhur stated “ThePromised Messiah has sownthe seed. The blessedseedling is destined tobecome a mighty tree,which would be laden withabundant fruit. Rememberthat these futureadvancements depend onthe Khilafat.” Indeed as theAhmadi Communitycelebrates the KhilafatJubilee, the fruits of thismighty institution arepalpable and plentiful. Thecommunity has beenblessed with guidanceunder the leadership of fiverespected Khulafa, eachwho have successfullycatered to the needs of thetime. Unity, structure,security, increasedbrotherhood, and assurancehave respectively been theresults of this blessedinstitution.

The morning of May 27th, 1908, immediately following the passing of thePromised Messiah on May 26th, gave

birth to a new era in Ahmaddiyat. At this fate-ful hour in history, the young community be-came apprehensive about the future of theMovement. Although there were many whobelieved that the death of Hadhrat Ahmadwould consequently herald the death of theMovement, by the Grace and Mercy of Allah,as Islam was protected by the Guided Khilafatafter the death of the Holy Prophet

Muhammad, Allah provided this same bless-ing for Ahmadiyyat in the form of anAhmadiyya Khilafat. Like Hadhrat Abu Bakr,Hadhrat Hakeem Nuruddin, Khalifatul Masihthe First was destined to establish the muchneeded unity for the vulnerable community.The spirit of the time called for a leader whocould provide solidarity, and according toHadhrat Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, divinegrace enabled Hadhrat Nuruddin to performhis role so well. By the time of his death, inMarch of 1914, the Movement had been fullysafeguarded against disruption and disinte-gration. Hadhur laid special emphasis on edu-cation and spreading the Promised Messiah’smessage through the pen. During the lifetimeof the Promised Messiah, it was decided thata new generation of Islamic scholars to re-place the old ones was vital to continue thepropagation of Islam. Because of this,Khalifatul Masih I gave the Taleem (Educa-tion) department special status and by March1st, 1909, the foundation stone for MadrassaAhmadiyya was laid. Although his Khilafatwas relatively short, the amount of workHadhrat Nuruddin accomplished was unprec-edented. The community boldly defied thechallenges thrown by some prominent mem-bers of the Movement and marched forwardtriumph after triumph under the stirring guid-ance and nurturing care of the First Khalifa.

Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin MahmudAhmad, the Promised Reformer, faced even

more opposition than the First Khalifa, andjust days before the passing of the FirstKhalifa, the Mahmud Ahmad perceived theimminent danger of a schism. Many were de-termined to anathematize the institution ofKhilafat. When he was elected, some allegedthat his election was a result of human ma-neuvering and manipulation. Despite theseinitial obstacles, under the dynamic leadershipof this Khalifa, the Ahmadiyya communityprogressed by leaps and bounds. His 52-yearKhilafat was full of extraordinary achievementsand landmarks that demonstrated divine help.The community had united under the FirstKhalifa and it was now time to branch out,while also organizing internal departments.

Soon after becoming Khalifa he announcedthat his first task would be the propagation ofIslam. One of his greatest achievements wasthe unmatched translation of the Holy Bookof Islam. During his Khilafat, the Holy Qur’anwas translated into several different lan-guages. With the concept of the universalityof Islam—a religion for all mankind—in mind,Hadhur’s intention was to broaden the acces-sibility of the Qur’an, so that those who didnot know Arabic could appreciate the gloryand wisdom of the divine book in their ownlanguage.

Unbelievably, the accomplishment of thismiraculous feat was just the tip of the icebergfor the Jama’at (community). More than 30mosques were constructed in East and WestAfrica alone. Many more were built in placeslike Washington DC, Hamburg, Frankfurt,Zurich, The Hague, London, Denmark, andSweden during his Khilafat. 57 colleges andschools operated successfully in variouscountries and 112 newspapers and magazineswere published in various languages aroundthe globe. One such newspaper was the Al-Fazl Newspaper, which quickly went from aweekly, to a tri-weekly, and finally to a dailynewspaper. As a result of the adjuvant natureof so many Ahmadi brothers and sisters un-der the guidance of their editor, HadhratMusleh Ma’ud, this eight page daily paperserved as a vehicle for the moral upbringingof the community, preaching of Islam, and pres-ervation of the history of the Movement.

In addition to the propagation of Islam,the 2nd Khalifa engineered immense internalimprovements to the structure of the Jama’at.In order to consolidate and organize the com-

The Renaissance of Islam: An Overviewof 100 years of Khilafat in Ahmadiyyat

Like Hadhrat Abu Bakr, HadhratNuruddin, Khalifatul Masih theFirst was destined to establishthe much needed unity for thevulnerable community.

12 MuslimSunrise

munity he established central and regionalAnjumans that were arranged in such a wayas to make them capable of successfully shoul-dering the assignments and responsibilitiesof the community. Organizations likeKhuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya, Ansaar-ullah, andLajna Ima-ullah were established so that es-sential moral training could be imparted onfirm grounds. Because of the ebullient and im-passioned spirit of the Jama’at, much was ac-complished and the institution of Khilafat pre-vailed.

By the passing of the 2nd Khalifa, theJama’at had moved past any further threats ofschism within the community. Uniformity andorganization had been the primary focus ofthe 1st and 2nd Khulafa. Now the AhmadiyyaJama’at had a different challenge: the sea oforthodox Muslims which lacked the enlight-ened leadership emanating from the institu-tion of Khilafat. By the Grace of Allah, thestrength of the Jama’at under the leadershipof Hafiz Mirza Nasir Ahmad, KhalifatulMasih III, endured. Within the first couple ofyears of his term, the 3rd Khalifa was able tointroduce several new projects including theWaqfe Arzi (Temporary Devotion) initiative,which was created to promote the learning andteaching of the Holy Qur’an as well as impart-

ing religious knowledge to local members.Furthermore, in 1965, Khalifatul Masih III es-tablished the Fazl-e-Omar Foundation inmemory of Khalifatul Masih II. The main ob-jectives of this foundation are assistance inresearch work, missionary venture, education,and economic welfare. During this time, anappeal was made by Hadhur to raise 2.5 mil-lion rupees as the capital of the foundation.The community participated in this endeavoroverwhelmingly and the actual contributionsturned out to be 5.2 million rupees! In the1970s, the Jama’at once again displayed itsstaunch devotion when Khalifatul Masih IIIannounced a scheme to expand the activitiesof the Movement in West Africa through theestablishment of a number of schools andhospitals. The new scheme was named NusratJehan Scheme [after the Promised Messiah’swife] and the Khalifa appealed to the commu-nity to raise 100,000 pounds sterling over athree year period. He also appealed to theAhmadi teachers and doctors to volunteerthemselves for service in these African coun-tries. Once more, the response of the commu-nity in making financial donations as well asvolunteering their services was staggering.Schools and hospitals were established inNigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Gambia and Sierra

Leone. The effort of the Movement has notonly provided educational and medical ser-vices in remote regions which were completelydevoid of any such facility, but, more impor-tantly, the close contact of Ahmadi doctorsand other workers with the local populationhas forged strong bonds of internationalbrotherhood. The community’s altruistic na-ture and perfervid dedication to all schemes isa testament to the Jama’at’s incrediblestrength—strength that was (and still is) vitalto meet the challenges the Jama’at faced frommainstream radical Muslims.

Undoubtedly, Hadhrat Mirza NasirAhmad’s golden achievement is the guidancehe offered to the community when Pakistandeclared Ahmadiyyat a “non-Muslim minor-ity.” After several violent countrywide anti-Ahmadiyya riots, Pakistani Prime MinisterBhutto found it politically advantageous toforcibly declare Ahmadis a minority throughlegislation. During this time, even shopkeep-ers were told not to sell indispensible provi-sions to Ahmadi Muslims, and as a result,Ahmadis were deprived of basic necessitieslike food and drink. In 1974, the Jama’at faceda second wave of anti-Ahmadiyya activities.During this period, many Ahmadi homes werelooted and burned, the community was boy-cotted, and a number of the community mem-bers were put to death. Nevertheless, theKhilafat of the Age assured the Jama’at overand over again that this treatment should onlystrengthen their faith as the beloved HolyProphet Muhammad and his righteous follow-ers were tried in a similar fashion. By the Graceof Allah, the Jama’at under Hadhrat MirzaNasir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih III, met all ofthese horrendous challenges steadfastly.

The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam con-tinued its rapid progress under the leadershipand guidance of its fourth Khalifa, HadhratMirza Tahir Ahmad, who was elected in 1982.The Jama’at truly grew exponentially duringhis Khilafat. More than 5,200 mosques werebuilt around the world including in countrieslike Guatemala, Indonesia, Mauritius, Germany,Trinidad, and the Fiji Island; as a result, theAhmadiyya Jamaat is now established in 189countries.

On April 3rd, 1987, Hadhur proposed tothe community a scheme that would allowAhmadis to dedicate their children to the causeof Islam before their birth. The community hasenthusiastically received this initiative fromits inception. In 2000, 20,515 children wereenrolled into this project and the numbers areincreasing by the day.

When the infamous fomer dictator of Pa-

Like the First Khalifa, HadhratMirza Bashiruddin MahmudAhmad, the Promised Reformer,faced even more opposition anddays before the demise of theFirst Khalifa, the Second Khalifaperceived the imminent danger ofa schism.

By the Grace of Allah, the strengthof the Jamaat under the leadershipof Hadhrat Mirza Nasir AhmadKhalifatul Masih III endured. InWest Africa, he established anumber of schools and hospitalsunder a program named NusratJehan Scheme.

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kistan, General Zia-ul Haq, banned the publi-cation of many books, magazines, and news-papers of the Movement, Hadhrat Mirza TahirAhmad launched the first ever Muslim Televi-sion satellite station (MTA) on August 21st,1992, from London. MTA is watched by mil-lions of people in five continents and it is safeto say that there is no leader in the world whosesermons are seen with such yearning and regu-larity by his faithful followers. It is worthy tonote that the weekly Friday sermon is trans-lated simultaneously into six languages. A yearafter its creation, the first International Bai’attook place and it is now held every year dur-ing the UK Annual Convention in July. It iswatched by millions of members all over theworld. Under MTA, the voice of Ahmadiyyatis reaching the ends of the Earth by the Graceand Bounty of God Almighty.

In the same year MTA was established,the Jama’at established another munificent or-ganization called Humanity First, which is ahumanitarian organization that provides aidto all regardless of race, religion, or politicalallegiance. What is distinctive about Human-ity First is the fact that it is essentially a com-pletely volunteer driven disaster relief andhuman development organization. Not a singleone of their volunteers receives any monetarycompensation for their countless hours ofwork and personal expenses; yet the organi-zation has effectively responded to numerousdisasters including the 1999 earthquake in Tur-key, Hurricane Katrina and Rita, the Asian Tsu-nami, the Bangladesh Monsoon, the PakistanEarthquake, and many more. This uniquestrength allows Humanity First to direct morethan 93% of all funds raised towards the hu-manitarian projects they pursue. By creatingan organization that focuses on necessity ratherthan nationality, goodwill and brotherhood isdeveloped between both the supplier of aid aswell as the recipient of aid thus replacing anyreservations or prejudice each party might have.Hence the Ahmadiyya community is one stepfurther on the path of righteousness.

In the face of this new zeal that started topervade the community, the government andthe Muslim clergy in Pakistan mounted anotherwave of opposition, restrictions and persecu-tions. The Khilafat of Mirza Tahir Ahmad faceda new level of national and international oppo-sition and discrimination and was even forcedto escape from Pakistan. Despite all of thesesetbacks, the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islamcontinued to make significant progress in theareas of missionary work, translations of theHoly Qur’an, publishing of Islamic literature andincreasing spiritual fervor among its members.

As mentioned earlier, there are numeroussimilarities between the first generation ofMuslims and Ahmadi Muslims. Both were(and still are) persecuted relentlessly, bothhad leaders that were forced to leave theirhomeland, and most importantly both flour-ished incredibly under the guidance ofKhilafat. What sets Ahmadis apart fromthese early Muslims is in 2003, Allah con-tinued to bless the Jama’at with the institu-tion of Khilafat, past its fourth office holder.Early Muslims were forced to forfeit theestablishment of Khilafat after the FourthKhalifa because they drew the displeasureof Allah. Unlike these Muslims, on April 22,2003, with the election of Hadhrat MirzaMasroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih theFifth, may Allah strengthen his hand, theAhmadiyya Muslim Community began anew era in Islam, which has distinguishedthe Jama’at from all other religions. In justthe five years of Khilafat, Hadhrat MirzaMasroor Ahmad has accomplished much.He has put great emphasis on the recita-tion of the Holy Qur’an, as it is our Jama’at’sgreatest counselor and Wasaya, so that ev-eryday Muslims can once again rise to thespiritual standards of our forefathers. Thecurrent Khalifa is also guiding the commu-nity with wisdom and patience through atime of great global skepticism and animos-ity towards Islam. Allah has bestowed honor

on the believers by allowing them to par-ticipate in the institution of Khilafat.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle oncesaid, “If you would understand anything,observe its beginning and its develop-ment.” Indeed as we celebrate the KhilafatJubilee, what better way to glorify thisblessed institution than to reflect on ourrich and progressive history? Much hasbeen accomplished in our 100 years ofKhilafat—so much, in fact, that it was diffi-cult to pick and choose which scheme andevent is worthy of mention. Certainly, allare worthy and that is why it is important toremember that the institution of Khilafat isnot a short term favor but a long term bless-ing with multiplying rewards. Each day ofthe Khilafat is another day for Ahmadis topraise Allah for what He has provided us.May He enable us to hold fast onto theRope of Allah, so that the mighty tree ofKhilafat can continue to be laden with abun-dant fruit. InshaAllah. Allah had promisedto those among you who believe and dogood works that He will surely make themsuccessors in the earth, as He made suc-cessors from among those who were beforethem; and that He will surely establish forthem their religion which He has chosenfor them; and that He will surely give themin exchange security and peace after theirfear. (Surah Al-Nur, Verse 56)

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Communitycontinued its rapid progress underthe leadership and guidance of itsfourth Khalifa, Hadhrat Mirza TahirAhmad.

On April 22, 2003, with the electionof its fifth Khalifa, Hadhrat MirzaMasroor Ahmad, the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community began a newera in Islam.

14 MuslimSunrise

Mubasher Ahmad, M.A., LL.B.Mubasher Ahmad, M.A., LL.B.Mubasher Ahmad, M.A., LL.B.Mubasher Ahmad, M.A., LL.B.Mubasher Ahmad, M.A., LL.B.

TTTTThe Qur’an is unique in its claimthat God sent His guidanceto al l the people of theworld: “There is no nationto whom a warner has not

been sent” (35:25). “And, surely, We sentMessengers before thee (Muhammad) totheir own people, and they brought themclear Signs” (30:48). Some of these Mes-sengers, like Abraham and Lot, Ishmaeland Isaac, Moses and Aaron, were con-temporaries of each other; some workedin close geographical vicinities, and oth-ers were raised at different times amongthe people living in various isolated partsof the world. The Qur’an also makes clearthat all the Messengers of God met strongresistance at the hands of their ownpeople; the reason being multifarious:The people were “evildoers” (zalimeen),“sinners” (mujraimeen), “disbelievers”(kafireen), “oppressive’ (jabareen), “ig-norant” ( jahi leen ) , “poly the is t s”(mushrikeen), “rebellious” (fasiqeen),and “ in manifes t e r ror” ( f i za la l inmubeen). They disputed with the Mes-sengers, rejected their truthful guidance,persecuted them, and even attempted tokill them. Nevertheless, the arduous pro-cess of reforming such people continuedthroughout the lifetimes of the Messen-gers, and after their death, the task wasassigned to others to carry on their mis-sion. From the Islamic perspective, allMessengers of God had their successorselected or nominated for completion oftheir missions. I t was through theirkhulafa that the goal was achieved forwhich the Messengers were sent. Elabo-rating this point, the Promised Messiah(peace be on him) writes:

“It has always been the way of God,ever since He created man in the earth,that He helps His Messengers and theProphets, and grants them victory – asHe has said ‘Allah has decreed that Heand His Messengers shall certainly pre-vail’ (58:22)...God manifests with power-ful Signs the truthfulness of their claims,and sows at their hands the seed of righ-

teousness which they want to spread inthe world. However, He does not fullycomplete this mission at their hands, caus-ing them to die at a time when it is fearedthat apparently they had not fully suc-ceeded. He gives to their opponents achance to heap ridicule on them. Whenthese opponents have had their laugh,He then shows another manifestation ofHis powerful hand, creating a situationwhich works for the full attainment of theaims that were partially achieved.” (TheWill, pp. 4-5).

Among God’s Messengers, whose as-s igned miss ion was kept sus ta inedthrough their successor (khalifa), let usstudy the dispensations of two importantMessengers: Moses and Jesus. Moseswas assigned the mission to liberate theChildren of Israel from the slavery of thePharaoh, and to bring them back fromEgypt to Canaan — the Promised Land.To avoid an armed conflict with the war-like people of the Philistine, Moses chosenot to go through their country, and ledthe Israelites through a longer route thatpassed through the wilderness of Sin. Onarriving at Mount Sinai, he received thedivine Laws, including the Ten Command-ments. During the time that Moses spentat Mount Sinai, he designated Aaron, hiselder brother, the duty to supervise theChildren of Israel. Aaron acted as hisdeputy for forty days and nights. Refer-ring to this event, the Qur’an states:“And We made Moses a promise of thirtynights and supplemented them with ten.Thus the period appointed by his Lordwas completed – for ty n ights . AndMoses said to his brother, Aaron, ‘Take

my place amongst my people in my ab-sence, and manage them well and follownot the way of mischief-maker” (7:143).The Arabic words used in this verse for“Take my place” are ‘akhluf-ni’ for thatthe root word is ‘kha-la-fa’, the sameroot from where the term ‘khalifa’ is de-rived. “Khalifa” not only means a “suc-cessor,” who comes after his predeces-sor, but it also means a “deputy” whomight be appointed in the lifetime of anauthority.

Moses and the Children of Israel leftSinai and moved forward toward Canaan.Due to their constant fault-finding andrebelliousness, the Children of Israel re-mained a continuing source of frustra-tion and exasperation for Moses. TheQur’an confirms: “None believed inMoses , save a seed of h is people”(10:83). For forty years the care and bur-den of the Children of Israel remainedheavy upon the mind and heart of Moses.Once near the land of Canaan, Mosesstarted to plan on how to conquer theland of Canaan, and to do so, he senttwelve chiefs to Canaan to collect intelli-gence. One of them was Joshua. On theirreturn, ten of them gave discouraging in-formation, but Joshua, along with anotherchief named Caleb, gave a positive re-port, and exhorted the Israelites to pro-ceed and possess the land. Moses him-self did not reach the land of Canaan inhis life. Before passing over to Jordan,he died in the valley of Moab.

On Moses’ death, Joshua succeededhim as the new leader of the Israelites.He had been a c lose companion ofMoses, remaining always on his side

Khilafat in the Dispensations of Moses and Jesus

From the Islamic perspective, allMessengers of God had theirsuccessors elected or nominatedfor completion of their missions.It was through their khulafa thatthe goal was achieved for whichthe Messengers were sent.

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faithfully, assisting him all along for fortylong years. He belonged to the tribe ofEphraim. He was a fearless soldier, and asuccessful military commander. After theExodus from Egypt, he had defeated theAmalekites at the battlefield of Rephidim.When Moses was away at Mount Sinaito receive God’s commandments, Joshuahad accompanied him part of the way, andwas the first to receive him on his return.When the Children of Israel engagedthemselves in worshipping the goldencalf, Moses removed the tabernacle (thesacred tent-shrine) from their camp, andappointed Joshua to safeguard it.

Under God’s instructions, beforethe conquest of Canaan started,Moses made Joshua his deputy,

and announced his future leadership asGod’s choice. As Moses had led the Chil-dren of Israel out of Egypt, Joshua wouldlead them into Canaan. Moses was 120years old when he received revelationthat his death was near, and was askedby God to appear in the tabernacle alongwith Joshua. The Old Testament de-scribes the event as follows:

The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, thedays approach when you must die; callJoshua, and present yourself in the tab-ernacle of meeting, that I may inauguratehim.” So Moses and Joshua went and pre-sented themselves in the tabernacle ofmeeting. Now the Lord appeared at thetabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and thepillar of cloud stood above the door ofthe tabernacle (Deuteronomy 31:14-15).

First, God revealed to Moses the fu-ture rebelliousness of Israel, their moraland sp i r i tua l decadence , apos tasy,breach of the Covenant, and their con-tinual idolatry that would result in arous-ing God’s wrath against them, and thatGod would forsake them (Deuteronomy31:16-18). After that:

The Lord said to Moses: “Take Joshuathe son of Nun with you, a man in whom isthe Spirit, and lay your hand on him; sethim before Eleazar the priest and before theentire congregation, and inaugurate him intheir sight. And you shall give some of yourauthority to him, so that all the congrega-tion of the Children of Israel may be obedi-ent” (Numbers 27:18-20).

Moses called Joshua and said to himin the sight of all Israel, “Be strong andof good courage, for you must go withthese people to the land which the Lord

Death of Moses : Joshua receives the leader's staff

Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of allIsrael, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must gowith these people to the land which the Lord has sworn

to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them toinherit it. And the Lord, He is One who goes before you.He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake

you; do not fear nor be dismayed (Deuteronomy 31:7-9).

has sworn to their fathers to give them;and you shall cause them to inherit it. Andthe Lord, He is One who goes before you.He will be with you. He will not leave younor forsake you; do not fear nor be dis-mayed (Deuteronomy 31:7-9).

In this way, Joshua was declared to

be the first khalifa of Moses by Moseshimself under God’s command. God as-sured Joshua that He will be with him asHe was with Moses. Consequent ly,Joshua defeated the Canaanites withGod’s miraculous help, and settled theChildren of Israel in the Promised Land.

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Thus, he successfully completed the mis-sion of Moses. He lived an irreproach-able life, always remaining loyal to Godand His commandments. He proved to bea great military and spiritual leader, dis-charging all his duties vigilantly, alwaysseeking guidance and help from God. Hewas a calm and impartial judge, and ledthe people in religious rituals. After re-maining Israel’s leader for three decades,he died of old age.

As was revealed to Moses just before his death, the Israelites onceagain under the influence of

Canaanites took to idolatry and startedworshipping Baal, the false Phoeniciangod. As a Divine punishment, they lostseveral territories, including the city ofDebris in the south-west of Hebron tothe i r oppress ive enemy, Chushan-rishathaim, the king of Mesopotamia. Un-der the tyrannical subjugation, the Isra-elites cried out to the Lord, repented oftheir sins. God listened to their cries andraised Othniel, son of Kenaz, as their de-l iverer. Caleb, the contemporary ofJoshua, was assigned the task to re-con-quer the city of Debris. He offered a prize,the hand of his daughter Achsah, to begiven in marriage to the one who wouldcapture the city. Othniel achieved a stra-tegic victory, conquered the city of Debir,liberated the captive Israelites, and wonthe prize.

Othniel succeeded Joshua as the nextkhali fa in the Mosaic dispensat ion.Joshua and Othniel, among others arecalled ‘Judges’ in the Jewish tradition.But the term ‘Judge’ should not be con-fused as if it was restricted only to a mem-ber of Judiciary. The duties of a ‘Judge’included variety of administrative obli-gations, including the defense of the Is-raelites from their enemies and the pres-ervation of domestic unity through main-taining law and order. A Judge was like agovernor, an administrative head of acommunity or a tribe. As a tribal leader,administration of justice was an essen-tial requirement; therefore, a Judge be-ing in highest administrative position ofauthority had to dispense impartial jus-tice, taking care of the widows, the or-phans, and the strangers. The BiblicalJudges were in fact military rulers whowere raised by God to deliver Israelitesfrom their enemies. After Joshua andOthniel, there was a chain of Judges who

provided leadership to the tribes of theIsraelites. Among them, some prominentfigures called the “Major Judges,” wereEhud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah andSamson. Meanwhile, many Prophets weresent to the Children of Israel as their spiri-tual leaders. The Qur’an says: “And ver-ily We gave Moses the Scripture, and Wecaused a train of Messengers to followin his footsteps after him” (2:88). “Wemade a Covenant of old with the Chil-dren of Israel, and We sent unto themMessengers” (5:71).

With the ensuing of monarchy in thelater years of the Judges (1200-1000BCE), the Israeli kings acted as the su-preme Judges as the heads of the state.Saul was the first Israelite king who ruledthem for 20 years (1020-1000 BCE), andDavid was the second and the greatestof all the kings, and he ruled for 40 years(1000-961 BCE). David founded a dy-nasty that lasted for four centuries. Davidand his son Solomon were not only thekings of Israel, they were Prophets ofGod as wel l ; and as such were thekhalifas in the dispensation of Moses.The Holy Qur’an confirms this positionof khilafat among the Israelites, and callsDavid as a khalifa: “And indeed he hada position of nearness with Us and excel-lent resort. Then We said to him, ‘ODavid, We have made you a khalifa inthe earth; so judge between men with jus-tice, and follow not vain desire, lest itshould lead you astray from the way ofGod” (38:26,27). His son Solomon (961-922 BCE), a king and a Prophet of Godamong the Israelites, succeeded David ashis khalifa. He built the First Temple inJerusalem in 950 BCE. After his death,his kingdom was divided among two ofhis sons – Northern Israel (with TenTribes) was ruled by Jeroboam, andSouthern Judah (wi th the t r ibes ofJudah and Benjamin) came under the ju-risdiction of Rehoboam. A majority ofpresent day Jews claim their descentfrom the tribe of Judah.

Two hundred years after Solomon’sdeath, in 722 BCE, the Assyrians con-quered the Northern kingdom of Israelthat was ruled at that time by an Israeliking named Hoshea. The Assyrians de-stroyed the Temple built by Solomon, andenslaved the Israelites. They scatteredthe ten Jewish tribes into the easternzones such as Persia, Afghanistan, Kash-mir and India. In the Jewish tradition,

these are called the Ten Lost Tribes. In587 BCE, the Israelite king Zedekia lostthe Southern k ingdom of Judah toBabylon. After five more centuries, theRoman Empire emerged, and they startedto expand their territories. They annexedSyria in 64 BCE; and next year they con-quered Jerusalem. In 37 BCE, Herod wasappointed as the king of Judea by theRoman Sena te on behes t o f MarkAntony. Romans annexed Egypt in 31BCE, and thus the entire Mediterraneanarea was under their control before thebirth of Jesus.

According to the Gospels, Jesus(peace be on him) started hisministry after getting baptized by

John the Baptist who had been proclaim-ing the near approach of ‘the Kingdomof Heaven.’ Jesus claimed to be theawaited Messiah of the Israelites, and assuch, he can be considered as the lastkhali fa in the Mosaic dispensat ion.However, the majority of Israelites re-jected him, because they were expectinga political leader, a king and an army com-mander like David to lead them to free-dom out of the Roman rule. Contrary totheir expectations, Jesus initiated a Mes-sianic dispensation, without any politi-cal or military struggle against the Ro-mans! The Jewish rel igious leadershatched a plot to get him killed on thefalse charge of subversion against theruling Roman authorities. But he sur-vived the attempted crucifixion, and se-cretly migrated towards India in searchof the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Beforehis departure from Jerusalem, he nomi-nated his closest disciple Peter to beh is deputy in h i s absence , and in -structed him to complete his missionamong the Jewish people who lived inPalestine and its vicinities.

According to the Gospels, Jesus an-nounced Peter to be his successor say-ing, “You are Peter, and upon this rock Iwill build my church, and the gates ofHades shall not prevail against it. And Iwill give you the keys of the kingdom ofheaven, and whatever you bind on earthwill be bound in heaven, and whateveryou loose on earth will be loosed inheaven” (Math. 16:18-19). Thus, Jesusprayed for Peter that forces of evil maynot hinder his preaching of righteousnessto the people, and that he may succeedin opening the gates of the Kingdom of

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God to other people. Peter was ahumble fisherman from Galilee. Hisformer name was Simon, son ofJonas. He and his brother Andrewwere originally disciples of Johnthe Baptist (Yahya). When Johnthe Baptist announced Jesus to bethe Messiah, and said, “He mustincrease, but I must decrease. Hewho comes from above is aboveall; he who is from the earth isear th ly and speaks of theearth…For he whom God has sentspeaks the words of God, for Goddos not give the Spirit by mea-sure,” Andrew and Peter both rec-ognized Jesus as the Messiah,and accepting his call, both be-came his committed followers.Later on, Peter and eleven otherdisciples received the formal title“Apostles” from Jesus.

Peter the Apostle succeededJesus as his appointed khalifa.Like Jesus, he did not hold anypolitical or military power. Peter’skhilafat can be defined as ‘ser-vant of the servants of God: a ser-vant of his brother bishops, a ser-vant of the whole People of God.’The Christians call it ‘Petrine Min-istry.’ He tirelessly remained en-gaged in preaching the messageof Jesus among the Jewish com-munities in Palestine, and traveledextensively to the Greek city ofCorinth, and to Antioch in Syria toform early Christian communitiesamong the Jews. It is noteworthythat once Peter became the khalifaof Jesus, his whole personalitywas transformed in an amazingmanner. He had denied Jesus threetimes when Jesus was capturedand tormented; but from that timid dispo-sition, he changed into a fearless and ag-gressive preacher, and turned into a de-termined and courageous leader, ready toendure pain and oppression for the sakeof his mission. Later in his life, he went toRome, where he was imprisoned, and wascrucified in 63 CE by the order of the Ro-man king Nero. Historically, Peter is rec-ognized by Roman Catholics as the firstBishop of Rome, and as such the firstpope.

Saint Linus succeeded Peter as thesecond pope, but very little is knownabout him in Christian history. Both

Peter and Paul had ordained him to bethe head of the early Christian Com-munity in Rome, which mostly com-prised of converts from the Gentiles –the non-Jews. He had worked closelywith Paul in Rome, trying to preach tothe pagans. When Paul wrote his lastletter before his death to his protégéTimothy, he mentioned the name ofLinus and his father Claudian as send-ing greetings to Timothy (2 Tim.4:21).St. Linus is considered to be the sec-ond pope after Peter, being the bishopof Rome. As such, one of his main du-ties was to maintain the unity of the

r a p i d l y e x p a n d i n g C h u r c h . H i skhilafat lasted for 12 years – from66 CE to 78 CE.

St. Anacletus (78 CE – 91CE), whowas of a very humble origin, was thethird successor to Jesus. He probablybelonged to a slave family. He initiatedsome organizational structure in theearly Roman Christian communities,and sub-divided Roman Church intotwenty-five parishes. It was like estab-lishing small Jamaats among an ex-panding community of believers in ab ig c i ty and i t s v ic in i t ies . The“church” meetings were conducted inprivate houses. The list of successionof Christian leadership that followedis long, and, at times, some of thepopes have been controversial figures.The Roman Catholics tradition keeps arecord of all the popes. There has beena long chain, and presently, BenedictXVI is the 265th Pope by virtue of hisoffice of Bishop of Rome. He waselected on 24 April, 2005 after the de-mise of John Paul II who had led theworldwide Roman Catholic Christiansfor 27 years.

T he Roman Catholic Church considers the pope to be the Vicar of Peter, who carries on

Peter’s ministry by keeping alive theChristian faith. A pope is also calledthe Vicar of Jesus Christ. The title‘Vicar’ can be understood to mean as a“subs t i tu te .” In o ther words , thepopes stand in for Peter and Jesus, butdo not replace them. Originally, allthose who were appoin ted as“bishops” to oversee a Chr is t iancommunity were considered “vicars”of Christ, but later, in mid-twelfthcentury, the title ‘Vicar of Christ’ was

exclusively given to the Bishop of Rome.Almost after half century of that decision,Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) startedusing that title to augment his universalpower over religious as well as politicalauthorities. However, in 1964, the SecondVatican Council pronounced that allbishops were the ‘vicars’ of Chris tbecause they administrated churcheswi th in the i r jur i sd ic t ion as theambassadors of Jesus . The pope ,therefore, is “Vicar of Christ” being abishop (that is, the Bishop of Rome), andnot because he is a pope. His distinctivetitle is the Vicar of Peter.

According to the Gospels,Jesus announced Peter to be

his successor saying, “You arePeter, and upon this rock I

will build my church, and thegates of Hades shall not

prevail against it.”

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The Jewel of JalsaPoetry Corner

By Micah Taair

Editor’s Note: “Jalsa” is Arabic for gathering, and references annual gatherings held by the Ahmadiyya Communityin every country they are established.

Entering the city of SalaamI’m calm and I’m cool and I’m collected.Ready to get introspective.Lug my age to my room,My temporary tomb for a hopeful resurrection.Rising from out of it I’m confronted with a moment for reflection -A sunset.Just one of many al-hamdu’illah moments that would occur.Baqwa bound towards the masjid and I’m sure

That I’m seeing what I’m seeing.A sign, a sign to plant seeds for believingFor this hajji from the Chi.Because I spy descending down from the sunset skyA rainbowEnding right into a huge pot of goldWhere carpets burn piety into foreheads and prayers are sent up.(Perhaps on that same rainbow along its green middle path.)And I feel like a leprechaun,Lucky to hold so many shiny gold coins -My Muslim brothers - in my handsAnd appreciate their spiritual worth.And inside the pot is where the rebirth began.Gold melted down and became a stew with chunks of diamonds -Past khalifas adding flavor in the form of photons from heaven.And even though Mahgrib had set the sunA star encapsulated in a diamond entered the room.And I am with you O light in the darkness,O diamond in the rough of a world gone mad,As best I can.May Allah guide you and bless youWith the spiritual hand of The ProphetTo grip the massive rocks of nations and their black coal heartsAnd pressure it into a collective diamond.You were the jewel of JalsaWho hangs from the unbroken gold chain.The 9-piece diamond necklace hung round the prophethood of Muhammad(peace and blessing of Allah be upon him)

(This poem I wrote after my trip to Canada where I met the current head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for the first time. I arrived in Peace Village,a residential neighborhood populated mostly by Ahmadi Muslims, when at sunset and as I walked towards the masjid there really was a rainbow in the sky

ending right into to mosque. )

SUMMER 2008 19

From the ArchivesIslamicForm ofGovernmentBy Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din MahmudAhmad, Khalifatul Masih II, Head of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community

Muslim Sunrise, May, 1938

In dealing with this subject the firstquestion with which we are faced is,how does Islam define the Sovereign,

or the State? In Islamic terminology, theSovereign or Khalifa is that representativeindividual whom the people of a country electfor the protection and supervision of theirindividual and communal rights. Islam doesnot acknowledge any form of Governmentother than representative Government. TheHoly Quran has used the word “Amanat”(trust) in describing the Islamic conception ofGovernment, that is to say, the Khalifaexercises the power that is entrusted to himby the people, and not the power which isassumed by him of his own will or which isinherited by him as a birth-right. This wordalone is sufficient to illustration the nature andpower of an Islamic government. The HolyQuran does not speak of the right ofgovernment as something proceeding from theSovereign to the subject but as somethingproceeding from the subject to the Sovereign.For full appreciation, however, of the Islamicconception of the State, it is necessary to quotethe verse, which in brief but comprehensiveterms describes the nature and duties of therulers and the ruled. The Holy Quran says: —

“God commands you to entrust the re-sponsibility of government to those worthyof it, and those of you who become rulers,should rule justly; God admonishes you withthat which is excellent, verily He is Hearing,Seeing.” (IV:58) In the first part of this versethe people are told that it lies with them tochoose their rulers, and that nobody else canappoint a ruler over them, that is to say, Sov-ereignty is not hereditary and nobody is en-titled to become a Sovereign merely becausehe happens to be the son of a previous Sover-eign. Rulership is then defined as a trust andpeople are admonished not to entrust it to aperson who is not worthy of the trust, but toplace the responsibility on the shoulders ofhim who would discharge it honestly and

The Holy Qur’an has used the word“Amanat” (trust) in describing theIslamic conception of Government,that is to say, the Khalifa exercisesthe power that is entrusted to himby the people, and not the powerwhich is assumed by him of his ownwill or which is inherited by him as abirth-right.

Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih II

20 MuslimSunrise

faithfully. Then, we are told that Governmentis not an independent thing in itself, but is amere delegation of powers for the purpose ofenforcing and protecting certain rights whichthe people cannot individually enforce andprotect owing to the large number of personsconcerned. It is, therefore, a trust, and not inthe nature of property. The ownership of therights concerned is vested in him is by way oftrust and that he must not abuse or misuse it,and must hand it over to the beneficiaries atthe time of his death without deterioration ordiminution, that is to say, he must be vigilantin the protection of national and individualinterest and rights, and that he would have nopower to surrender or damage any portion ofthem. Rulers and officials are next told to dis-charge the respective duties of their officesjustly and faithfully. The verse then goes onto indicate that the Muslims would forsakethis mode of Government and would, in imita-tion of other people, revert to the monarchialand hereditary form of Government, but thatthe admonition of God, vis., that the Muslimsshould stick to the representative form of Gov-ernment, choosing their best brains to ruleover them and to avoid the hereditary systemof Government, is the best advice. The con-cluding words of the verse indicate that Godhas prescribed this mode of Government see-ing evils of other forms of Governmentadopted by men and hearing the prayers ofthose who suffered under them, and that theMuslims should, therefore, adhere to it andthus show their gratitude for the favour thatGod had done them.

From this it is clear that the Islamic form ofGovernment must be based on an elective andrepresentative basis, and that the Sovereignis regarded as the representative of the peoplein their collective and not their individual ca-pacity. I shall now draw a brief sketch of theIslamic form of Government, so as to illustrateits different functions and aspects.

Islam requires the Muslims to elect astheir ruler a man whom they regard as bestfitted to discharge the responsibilities of thatoffice. Such a man, when elected, holds of-fice, not for a period of years like the Presi-dents of the Western Republics but for life,and God alone can remove him from office,i.e., by means of death. In this man is investedall the power and authority of Government,but it is his duty to devote the whole of hislife to the promotion of the welfare of hiscountry and not to the seeking of his ownaggrandisement. His control over the trea-sury is limited to the spending of money fornational needs and requirements, and he can-

not, therefore, fix his own allowance. Thismust be done by his Advisory Council. It isthe duty of the Sovereign to ascertain theviews of the people through this Council. Onspecial occasions and with reference to spe-cial matters the opinion of the people may beascertained by means of a general referen-dum, so that any differences between theopinion of the people and their representa-tives may come to his knowledge. He is ex-pected to respect the opinion of a majority ofthe representatives, but as he is above allkinds of political partisanship and has nopersonal interests to serve, his own opinionis believed to be entirely impartial and influ-enced only by considerations relating to thewelfare of his country and his people. Be-sides being the true representative of hispeople, Islam promises special Divine Graceand Help to the Khalifa. He is, therefore, au-thorized under special circumstances and inmatters of special importance, to overrule theopinion of the majority of his advisers.

He is absolute in the sense, that he can,in certain cases, override the opinion of therepresentatives; on the other hand, hispower is limited in the sense that he has nocontrol over the Islamic constitution by whichhe is bound, and he cannot repeal or over-rule any portion of it. He is bound to take theadvice of the people and is bound to pre-serve the elective character of his own of-fice. He is an elected ruler in the sense that,under the will and guidance of God, he isappointed to his office through the agencyof the people in the sense that he is expectedto follow the advice of their representativesexcept when compelled to differ from it byurgent or extraordinary necessity. He cannot,by his own authority, spend a penny out ofthe public funds on his own person or for hispersonal needs. He rules by virtue of a Di-vine Right in the sense that he cannot beremoved from his office, and is promised Di-vine aid in the discharge of his duties and inthe carrying out of his undertaking.

The details as the method of the electionor appointment of the members of the Advi-sory Council and the appointment of the Gov-ernors and other officials, etc., have been pur-posely omitted by Islam so that they may bedecided according to the exigencies of thetimes and so that human reason may havescope for work and expansion, a principlewhich is essential for the intellectual develop-ment of man. The Holy Quran prohibited theMuslims from questioning the Holy Prophet(on whom be peace and blessings of God)concerning every little detail for many matters

are purposely left to the reason and judgmentof men. If the smallest detail had been laiddown by the Holy Quran or the Holy Prophet(on whom be peace and blessings of God)there would have been no scope left for theintellectual development and progress of manand this serious injury would have been doneto mankind.

There are several forms of Government atpresent in existence, but everybody who stud-ies the constitution laid down by Islam will becompelled to acknowledge that it is not pos-sible to devise a better form of Government.On the one hand it comprises the best form ofthe representative Government, and on theother it is entirely free from party spirit, for theSovereign is not dependent upon the aid orthe co-operation of any particular party. Heconfines and devotes himself to the study ofthe welfare of his country is not deprived ofthe services of its best brain after a specifiednumber of years.

We believe that this is the only perfectform of Government, and we are confident thatas the circle of the Ahmadiyya Movement wid-ens and its membership increases, people willof their own free-will acknowledge the excel-lence of this form of Government, and evenSovereigns will renounce their hereditary rightsin the interests of the welfare of their coun-tries and will confine their privileges to thosewho they enjoy, and to which they are en-titled as individuals.

As the Promised Messiah (on whom bepeace and the blessings of God) was only aspiritual Khalifa his successors will also, sofar as possible remain above politics, even ata time when Sovereigns and States have joinedthe Movement. They will perform the func-tions of a real League of Nations, and will en-deavour, with the help and advice of the rep-resentatives of different countries, to regu-late international relations. Their principalfunctions will, however, be to look after thereligious, moral, social and intellectual welfareof the people, so as to avoid their attentionbeing monopolized by political matters, andimportant religious and moral affairs beingneglected as was the case in the past. I havesaid, that they will so far as possible, remainaloof from and above politics. I have madethis reservation to meet exceptional caseswhere the people of a particular country in atime of difficulty or crisis may request the aidof the spiritual Khilafat, and it may becomenecessary to make temporary arrangementsfor the Government of that country. But sucharrangements would be confined to the short-est possible period of time in each case.

SUMMER 2008 21

By Zia H Shah, MD

The American populationconsists of 26.3% EvangelicalProtestant Christians, 18.1%Mainline Protestant Christians,23.9% Catholic Christians and6.9% population belonging tohistorically Black Churches.These numbers imply thatapproximately 75% of thepopulation is Christian. The restof the 25% includes the largestshare of unaffiliated, whichmakes 16.1% of the totalpopulation,1 and second groupof 9.9%, comprising of all theother religions, including Islamand Judaism. There are 66%Caucasians, 15% Hispanics, 12%African-Americans, 4% Asiansand 3% others. These aret h e r e l i g i o u s a n d r a c i a lbreakdowns. But, the mostrevealing demographicinformation for Americansmay be: “Forty-five percent ofAmericans believe that ‘Godcreated man pretty much inhis present form at one timewithin the last 10,000 years.’Forty percent believe that ‘mandeveloped over millions ofyears from less advancedforms of life but God guidedthe process.’ Ten percentbelieve that God had no partin the process.”2 3

Religion & ScienceOriginal Sin

Neanderthal Man provided the first clearindication that modern humans have a rich andcomplex family tree that includes now-extinct

relatives. Neanderthals died out less than 30,000years ago—not long after modern humansarrived in Europe. So after all, the Prophet

Adam, who lived 6000 years ago according to theBiblical records, was not the first human.

22 MuslimSunrise

Sixty percent of Republicans are cre-ationists while only 11 percent acceptevolution, compared to 29 percent ofDemocrats who are creationists and 44percent who accept evolution. Similarly,a 2005 Harris poll found that 63 percentof Democrats but only 3.7 percent of Re-publicans believe that humans and apeshave a common ancestry.4 Why 45% ofpopulation does continue to believe inyoung earth, despite overwhelming evi-dence for many aspects of the theory ofevolution? For the answer to this mys-tery and riddle, let us turn to our ancientbrethren Neanderthals:

The Neanderthals were a remarkablegroup. First appearing about 200,000years ago, Neanderthals dominated Eu-rope and parts of western Asia untiltheir lineage died out less than 30,000years ago.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica:

“Neanderthals are the most recent ar-chaic humans, who emerged between200,000 and 100,000 years ago and werereplaced by early modern humans be-tween 35,000 and 28,000 years ago. Ne-anderthals inhabited Eurasia from theAtlantic regions of Europe eastward toCentral Asia and from as far north aspresent-day Belgium southward to theMediterranean and southwest Asia. Simi-lar human populations lived at the sametime in eastern Asia and Africa. BecauseNeanderthals lived in a land of abundantlimestone caves, which preserve boneswell and where there has been a long his-tory of prehistoric research, they are bet-ter known than any other archaic humangroup. Consequently, they have becomethe archetypal “cavemen.” The name Ne-anderthal (or Neandertal) derives fromthe Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, Ger-many, where quarrymen unearthed por-tions of a human skeleton from a cave in1856.”5

Their discovery came about threeyears before Charles Darwin’s On theOrigin of Species was published. Theworkers who recovered this material origi-nally thought it to be the remains of abear. They gave the material to amateurnaturalist Johann Karl Fuhlrott, whoturned the fossils over to anatomistHermann Schaaffhausen. The discoverywas jointly announced in 1857. Thebones of over 400 Neanderthals have

been found since. These and other dis-coveries led to the idea that these remainswere from ancient Europeans who hadplayed an important role in modern hu-man origins.

Neanderthal Man provided the firstclear indication that modern humans havea rich and complex family tree that in-cludes now-extinct relatives. Neander-thals died out less than 30,000 yearsago—not long after modern humans ar-rived in Europe. So after all, the ProphetAdam, who lived 6000 years ago accord-ing to the Biblical records, was not thefirst human. So he could not have passedon the Original Sin to the whole of hu-man race even if the rules of genetics al-lowed for such a phenomenon. So whatwas the Original Sin? It was an inven-tion of medieval ages when the inventorscould not foresee how their invention willbe discredited.

Neanderthals were sophisticated tool-makers and even prepared animal hides,which they used as clothing. Indeed, Ne-anderthals were probably less brutish andmore like modern humans than commonlyportrayed. There is evidence that theycared for the elderly and the sick, for in-stance.

Fossil evidence indicates that modernhumans first evolved in sub-Saharan Af-rica sometime prior to 100,000 years ago.Subsequently they spread northward af-ter 40,000 years ago, displacing or ab-sorbing local archaic human populations.As a result, the southwest Asian, Cen-tral Asian, and central European Nean-derthals were absorbed to varying de-grees into those spreading modern hu-man population.6

To get the first Neanderthal DNA, re-searchers drilled into a piece of the firstNeanderthal fossil find, an arm bone un-earthed in 1856 in western Germany’sNeander Valley. Researchers handlingancient DNA take great care to avoid con-taminating their samples with DNA fromtheir own skin, saliva or hair. DNA is adelicate molecule—an animal carcass ina temperate climate might have no read-able DNA after only 50 years. Yet in 1997,researchers extracted and sequenced40,000-year-old DNA from a Neanderthalfossil. Since then, several other Neander-thal fossils have yielded DNA sequences.This Neanderthal DNA confirmed whatmany scholars already believed: Neander-thals and modern humans are two sepa-

rate species. By comparing Neanderthaland modern human DNA sequences, re-searchers estimated that the last commonancestor of the two species lived roughly500,000 years ago.7

ORIGINAL SINDid Neanderthals genome reveal the

gene of ‘Original Sin’? Perhaps not! Forthey predated the Prophet Adam!

In the words of his holiness MirzaTahir Ahmad, in his epic making book,Christianity a Journey from Fact to Fic-tion, “Mankind existed long before Adamand Eve came to be born. Western scien-tists themselves discovered the remainsof many a prehistoric man and labeledthem under different distinctive titles.Neanderthal man is perhaps the mostwidely known of them. They lived be-tween 100,000 to 35,000 years ago,mostly in the regions of Europe, Near Eastand Central Asia. A carcass of a fully de-veloped human being has been discov-ered, who happened to roam the earthabout 29,000 years before Adam and Eveare known to have begun their shortlived sojourn in paradise. At that time,human beings were physically just likeus and lived in Europe, Africa and Asia,and later during the Ice Age they spreadto the Americas as well. Again in Austra-lia, the authentic cultural history of Ab-origines is traceable up to 40,000 yearsago.

Compared to these relatively recenttimes, a skeleton of a female from Hedarin Ethiopia has been discovered which is2.9 million years old. Now according tothe Biblical chronology, Adam and Evelived around six thousand years ago. Onemay look back in wonderment at the re-ported history of human beings, or HomoSapiens as they are titled in scientific jar-gon.”8

No wonder, Kierkegaard, who cross-ing the boundaries of philosophy, theol-ogy, psychology, and li terature, hadcome to be regarded as a highly signifi-cant and influential figure in contempo-rary thought, had the nerve to suggest:

“It is not the business of any Chris-tian writer or preacher to dilute Christian-ity to suit the general educated public.The doctrine of the incarnation was tothe Jews a stumbling block and to theGreeks foolishness, and so will it alwaysbe, for the doctrine not only transcendsreason; it the paradox par excellence; and

SUMMER 2008 23

it can be affirmed only by faith, with pas-sionate inwardness and interest. Thesubstitution of reason for faith means thedeath of Christianity.”

But what Kierkegaard could not fore-see is the information age with its mil-lions of websites. It will be hard to hidebehind the veil of ‘faith’ alone and runaway from reason and rationality. It isself evident that faith cannot be divorcedfrom reason. If man needed faith alone,any cult would be as good as any reli-gion and all human affairs will completelycollapse. Therefore, let us continue withour discussion of ‘Original Sin’ and ‘Evo-lution’.

Here is the exact quote, about ‘Origi-nal Sin’ from Encyclopedia Britannica:

“In Christian doctrine, the conditionor state of sin into which each humanbeing is born; also, the origin (i.e., the

cause, or source) of this state. Tradition-ally, the origin has been ascribed to thesin of the first man, Adam, who dis-obeyed God in eating the forbidden fruit(of knowledge of good and evil) and, inconsequence, transmitted his sin andguilt by heredity to his descendants.

The doctrine has its basis in the Bible.Although the human condition (suffer-ing, death, and a universal tendency to-ward sin) is accounted for by the storyof the Fall of Adam in the early chaptersof the book of Genesis, the Hebrew Scrip-tures say nothing about the transmissionof hereditary sin to the entire humanrace. In the Gospels also there are nomore than allusions to the notion of theFall of Man and universal sin. The mainscriptural affirmation of the doctrine isfound in the writings of St. Paul and par-ticularly in Romans 5:12–19, a difficultpassage in which Paul establishes a par-allelism between Adam and Christ, stat-ing that whereas sin and death enteredthe world through Adam, grace and eter-nal life have come in greater abundancethrough Christ.

The doctrine is the prerequisite forthe Christian understanding of the mean-ing of Jesus’ crucifixion and atonement.Despite its importance for understand-ing Jesus’ sacrifice, the doctrine of origi-nal sin has been minimized since the Eu-ropean Enlightenment.”9

The biggest reason of minimizing itsince the European Enlightenment mayhave to do with the theory of evolution.We applaud this positive attitude towardsthe truth, of minimizing this doctrine inthis age and this article is about propos-ing the next logical and reasonable step.Here is another quote from Wikipedia onthe subject with the exclusion of the ref-erences:

“The Western tradition, both Catho-lic and Protestant, concerning original sinis largely based on writings by August-ine of Hippo, who, in the belief that theonly definitive destinations of souls areheaven and hell, concluded that unbap-tized infants go to hell because of origi-nal sin. The Latin Church Fathers whofollowed Augustine adopted his position,and it became a point of reference forLatin theologians in the Middle Ages. Inthe later mediaeval period, some theolo-gians continued to hold Augustine’sview, others held that unbaptized infantssuffered no pain at all: unaware of being

deprived of the beatific vision, they en-joyed a state of natural, not supernaturalhappiness. Starting around 1300, unbap-tized infants were often said to inhabitthe ‘limbo of infants’. The Catechism ofthe Catholic Church, 1261 declares: “Asregards children who have died withoutBaptism, the Church can only entrustthem to the mercy of God, as she does inher funeral rites for them. Indeed, thegreat mercy of God who desires that allmen should be saved, and Jesus’ tender-ness toward children which caused himto say: ‘Let the children come to me, donot hinder them,’ allow us to hope thatthere is a way of salvation for childrenwho have died without Baptism. All themore urgent is the Church’s call not toprevent little children coming to Christthrough the gift of holy Baptism.” Butthe theory of Limbo, while it ‘never en-tered into the dogmatic definitions of theMagisterium ... remains ... a possibletheological hypothesis’. Augustine’sformulation of original sin was popularamong Protestant reformers, such asMartin Luther and John Calvin, and also,wi th in Roman Cathol ic i sm, in theJansenist movement, but this movementwas declared heretical by the RomanCatholic Church.”

ATONEMENTWhat is married to ‘Original Sin’ is the

doctrine of ‘Atonement’.Here is the exact quote about ‘atone-

ment’ from Encyclopedia Britannica:“The term atonement developed in the

English language in the 16th century bythe combination of “atonement,” mean-ing to “set at one,” or “to reconcile.” Itwas used in the various English transla-tions of the Bible, including the KingJames Version (1611), to convey the ideaof reconciliation and expiation, and it hasbeen a favorite way for Christians tospeak about the saving significance at-tributed to the death of Jesus Christ onthe Cross. Various theories of the mean-ing of the Atonement of Christ havearisen: satisfaction for the sins of theworld; redemption from the devil or fromthe wrath of God; a saving example oftrue, suffering love; the prime illustrationof divine mercy; a divine victory over theforces of evil. In Christian orthodoxythere is no remission of sin without “theshedding of [Christ’s] blood” (Hebrews9:26).”10

The Western tradition, bothCatholic and Protestant,

concerning original sin islargely based on writings byAugustine of Hippo, who, inthe belief that the only defini-tive destinations of souls areheaven and hell, concludedthat unbaptized infants go tohell because of original sin.

Augustine of Hippo

24 MuslimSunrise

Atonement is a novel idea that doesnot find mention in any other religionand not even in Judaism, whose scrip-ture makes a formal part of the Bible.Again in the words of EncyclopediaBritannica:

“In Judaism vicarious atonement haslittle importance. For a traditional Jew,atonement is expiation for his own sin inorder to attain God’s forgiveness. He mayachieve this in various ways, includingrepentance, payment for a wrong action,good works, suffering, and prayer.”11

What the figures of rejection of evo-lution tell us is that the nonscientific,demographic reasons for rejecting evo-lution, most notably the belief in ‘origi-nal sin’, are very strong and are the driv-ing force. People do not reject evolutionfor a lack of evidence for theory but fortheir pre-ordained religious beliefs. Inthe recent years as fundamentalism hasincreased all over the world so has cre-ationism found resurgence? It is, how-ever, believed that this is a temporaryphenomenon and eventually rationalitywill prevail in human affairs.

POPES AND THEORY OFEVOLUTION

Before we get to the Popes a wordabout St. Augustine. Augustine, aroundthe turn of the 4th century, presentedChristianity as God’s answer to the fallof the Roman Empire, which the sin ofhumans was affecting.12 At the age ofthirty-two he converted to Christianityfrom Manichaeism, and the one time skep-tic became an ardent proponent of Chris-tianity. Michael H Hart in his famousbook, The 100: A ranking of the most in-fluential persons in History, calls St Au-gustine the 53rd most influential personin human history. He writes, “Accordingto Augustine, all men are stained withAdam’s sin. Human beings are unable toattain salvation through their own effortsand good works: the grace of God is nec-essary for salvation. Similar ideas hadbeen expressed previously; however, Au-gustine amplified the earlier statements,and his writings solidified the Church’sposition on these points which thereaf-ter became fixed.”13 Pelagius, a contem-porary of the saint, who had claimed, “Weare each without the Original Sin, and arefree to choose good or evil,” was excom-municated.

The ramifications of Original Sin weremany. It was only in the last century thatmen were telling women they should notuse anesthetics in childbirth becauseGod had decreed that pain was Eve’spunishment for sin.14 These historic factsand a lot more, are the baggage that thePopes are carrying on their weak humanshoulders.

Pope Pius obviously knew about thisand all the writings of the Church over thecenturies. That made him very uncomfort-able about the theory of evolution but itwas gaining momentum and it could nolonger be ignored. So he had to talk aboutit. Therefore, he directly addressed the is-sue of evolution in a 1950 encyclical,Humani Generis.15 This was the Encycli-cal Letter, titled, Concerning Some FalseOpinions Which Threaten to Underminethe Foundations of Catholic Doctrine.The document makes plain the pope’s fer-vent hope that evolution will prove to be apassing scientific fad, and it attacks thosepersons who “imprudently and indiscreetlyhold that evolution …explains the origin ofall things.”16 Nonetheless, Pius XII statesthat nothing in Catholic doctrine is contra-dicted by a theory that suggests one spe-cies might evolve into another, even if thatspecies is man. The clauses 35-37 are ofspecial interest to us here. His discomfortwith the subject of evolution can be judged

in the clause 35:“It remains for Us now to speak about

those questions which, although they per-tain to the positive sciences, are neverthe-less more or less connected with the truthsof the Christian faith. in fact, not a few in-sistently demand that the Catholic religiontake these sciences into account as muchas possible. This certainly would be praise-worthy in the case of clearly proved facts;but caution must be used when there israther question of hypotheses, having somesort of scientific foundation, in which thedoctrine contained in Sacred Scripture orin Tradition is involved. If such conjecturalopinions are directly or indirectly opposedto the doctrine revealed by God, then thedemand that they be recognized can in noway be admitted.”

He is opening the door a little for nego-tiation with the theory of evolution; this isin the clause 36:

“The Teaching Authority of the Churchdoes not forbid that, in conformity with thepresent state of human sciences and sa-cred theology, research and discussions,on the part of men experienced in bothfields, take place with regard to the doc-trine of evolution, in as far as it inquiresinto the origin of the human body as com-ing from pre-existent and living matter —for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold thatsouls are immediately created by God. How-

He recognized that science and Scripturesometimes have “apparent contradictions,”

but said that when this is the case, a“solution” must be found because “truth

cannot contradict truth.”18 Pope is right inexpressing this truism. But the catch is that

Bible is not all truth. It is not evenhistorically preserved. Many a

documentaries on History channel andNational Geographic have shed light on this.Moreover, Christian Church espouses manybeliefs for example ‘Trinity’ and ‘Original

Sin’ that are not even named in Bible.

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ever, this must be done in such a way thatthe reasons for both opinions, that is, thosefavorable and those unfavorable to evolu-tion, be weighed and judged with the nec-essary seriousness, moderation and mea-sure, and provided that all are prepared tosubmit to the judgment of the Church, towhom Christ has given the mission of in-terpreting authentically the Sacred Scrip-tures and of defending the dogmas offaith.[17] Some however, rashly transgressthis liberty of discussion, when they act asif the origin of the human body from pre-existing and living matter were already com-pletely certain and proved by the factswhich have been discovered up to now andby reasoning on those facts, and as if therewere nothing in the sources of divine rev-elation which demands the greatest mod-eration and caution in this question.”17

In quoting the clause ‘17’ of the samedocument above he is reasserting the au-thority of Church over science. Pius XIIcautioned, however, that he considered thejury still out on the question of evolution’svalidity. It should not be accepted, with-out more evidence, “as though it were acertain proven doctrine.” It seems thatPope wants to have both sides of the is-sue; in the very next clause he takes anabout turn, and effectively closing the doorthat he was reluctantly opening, by statingthat no matter what the scientific facts maybe he is keeping his “Original Sin”. Readthe clause 37:

“When, however, there is question ofanother conjectural opinion, namelypolygenism, the children of the Church byno means enjoy such liberty. For the faith-ful cannot embrace that opinion which main-tains that either after Adam there existedon this earth true men who did not take theirorigin through natural generation from himas from the first parent of all, or that Adamrepresents a certain number of first parents.Now it is no way apparent how such anopinion can be reconciled with that whichthe sources of revealed truth and the docu-ments of the Teaching Authority of theChurch propose with regard to original sin,which proceeds from a sin actually commit-ted by an individual Adam and which,through generation, is passed on to all andis in everyone as his own.”

He insisted on a role for Adam, whomhe believed committed a sin that mysteri-ously passed along through the doctrineof Original Sin; that has affected all subse-quent generations. He is not going to al-

low that there are any present day humansthat are not the direct descendents of Adamfrom 6000 years ago; otherwise he loses hisprecious little doctrine of “Original Sin”.Either he is asking the question what theterm human means or he intends to teach anew principle of genetics, wherein, the geneof ‘original sin’ is so pervasive and ubiqui-tous that all humans have inhaled or swal-lowed it whether or not they descendedfrom Adam or not! The mysteries of Origi-nal sin, atonement and Trinity are indeedmysterious and beyond humanconceptualization. These are indeed mat-ters of blind faith and beyond reason!Kierkegaard was indeed very right, ‘thedoctrine of the incarnation ….. transcendsreason; it the paradox par excellence.’ Yetwhenever critics like Dawkins accuse Chris-tianity of irrationality the apologists ofChristianity take offence to that.

Pope John Paul II revisited the questionof evolution in a 1996 in a message to thePontifical Academy of Sciences. UnlikePius XII, John Paul is broadly read, andembraces science and reason. He won therespect of many scientists in 1993, when inApril 1993 he formally acquitted Galileo, 360years after his indictment, of heretical sup-port for Copernicus’s heliocentrism. Thepontiff began his statement with the hopethat “we will all be able to profit from thefruitfulness of a trustful dialogue betweenthe Church and science.” Evolution, hesaid, is “an essential subject which deeplyinterests the Church.” He recognized thatscience and Scripture sometimes have “ap-parent contradictions,” but said that whenthis is the case, a “solution” must be foundbecause “truth cannot contradict truth.”18

Pope is right in expressing this truism. Butthe catch is that Bible is not all truth. It isnot even historically preserved. Many adocumentaries on History channel and Na-tional Geographic have shed light on this.Moreover, Christian Church espousesmany beliefs for example ‘Trinity’ and ‘Origi-

nal Sin’ that are not even named in Bible.When the pope came to the subject of

the scientific merits of evolution, it soonbecame clear how much things had changedsince the Vatican last addressed the issue. Pope John Paul said:

“Taking into account the state of scien-tific research at the time as well as of therequirements of theology, the encyclicalHumani Generis considered the doctrine of“evolutionism” a serious hypothesis, wor-thy of investigation and in-depth studyequal to that of the opposing hypothesis.Pius XII added two methodological condi-tions: that this opinion should not beadopted as though it were a certain, provendoctrine and as though one could totallyprescind from revelation with regard to thequestions it raises. He also spelled out thecondition on which this opinion would becompatible with the Christian faith, a pointto which I will return. Today, almost half acentury after the publication of the encyc-lical, new knowledge has led to the recog-nition of the theory of evolution as morethan a hypothesis. ….. It is indeed remark-able that this theory has been progressivelyaccepted by researchers, following a seriesof discoveries in various fields of knowl-edge. The convergence, neither sought norfabricated, of the results of work that wasconducted independently is in itself a sig-nificant argument in favor of this theory.”19

Evolution, a doctrine that Pius XII onlyacknowledged as an unfortunate possibil-ity, John Paul accepted forty-six years later“as an effectively proven fact.”20

In the above mentioned 1800 word dec-laration by Pope John Paul, evolution wasnow accepted as a fact. The declarationhad the title ‘Truth Cannot ContradictTruth’, but any mention of the words ‘Adam’and ‘original sin’ or even ‘sin’ was conve-niently missing. Bravo! The Pope had of-fered a magical wand by which Christianswill find some unconscious way of believ-ing in both ‘Evolution’ and ‘Original Sin’ at

Bravo! The Pope had offered a magical wand by whichChristians will find some unconscious way of believingin both ‘Evolution’ and ‘Original Sin’ at the same time.The Catholics found some way of having their cake and

eating it too, but the Evangelicals could not!

26 MuslimSunrise

the same time. The Catholics found someway of having their cake and eating it too,but the Evangelicals could not! Accordingto a 2005 Pew Research Center poll, 70 per-cent of evan-gelical Christians believe thatliving beings have always existed in theirpresent form, compared to 32 percent ofProtestants and 31 percent of Catholics. Inother words whereas 70% of theEvangelicals are Creationists only 31% ofthe Catholics are.21 Pope John Paul will besatisfied; his address ‘Truth Cannot Con-tradict Truth’ had mysteriously served himwell, by overlooking the elephant in theroom.

SOME OF THE EVIDENCETHAT CONVINCED POPE

JOHN PAULThe theory of evolution has been pro-

gressively accepted by researchers, follow-ing a series of discoveries in various fieldsof knowledge. The convergence of proofscoming from several different lines of in-vestigations has convinced almost all re-search biologists that species have had acommon origin. In this article we just wantto briefly review two proofs from Biochem-istry of molecular biology:

According to Encyclopedia Britannica:“The field of molecular biology provides

the most detailed and convincing evidenceavailable for biological evolution. In its un-veiling of the nature of DNA and the work-ings of organisms at the level of enzymesand other protein molecules, it has shownthat these molecules hold information aboutan organism’s ancestry. This has made itpossible to reconstruct evolutionaryevents that were previously unknown andto confirm and adjust the view of eventsalready known. The precision with whichthese events can be reconstructed is onereason the evidence from molecular biologyis so compelling. Another reason is thatmolecular evolution has shown all livingorganisms, from bacteria to humans, to berelated by descent from common ances-tors.”22

The Human Genome Project has shownthat human genome is made of 26000-50,000genes that are made of DNA. The humanDNA is 98% similar to our biological cous-ins chimpanzees, a strong pointer for theircommon origin. The similarity extends toother apes also to varying degrees.

Cytochromes are enzymes that are pro-teins and are subdivided into three classes

(a, b, c) depending on their light-absorp-tion spectra. At least 30 different cyto-chromes have been identified; they are des-ignated by letters or combinations of let-ters and numbers, such as cytochrome a3,cytochrome c, and cytochrome B562. Cyto-chrome c is the most stable and abundantmember of the class, and it has been themost thoroughly studied. All proteins aremade of molecular units called amino acids.Cytochrome c contains about one hundredof them, of twenty different varieties.

It has been discovered that cytochromec are remarkable similar across most animalsand even plants. By comparing the se-quences of amino acids in cytochrome ctaken from different species, we can makean estimate of the evolutionary distancethey have traveled from each other. To givea concrete example, human cytochrome c isidentical to that of rhesus monkeys savefor a single amino acid, but there are forty-five differences between human and wheatcytochrome c. Everybody knows that hu-mans are more closely related to monkeysthan to wheat; this study shows by howmuch. The important point, though, is thateven species as different as humans andwheat share enough structure in their re-spective cytochrome c molecules to con-firm that we have a common ancestor, wayback.23

A DYNAMIC SITUATION: ASURVEY OF 35,000

AMERICANSOne generally assumes that most

people do not change their religion. Butthat is only part of the story. The real situ-ation is far more dynamic. In a recent ar-ticle, in time magazine, titled, America’sUnfaithful Faithful, it is suggested, “Amajor new survey presents perhaps themost detailed picture we’ve yet had ofwhich religious groups Americans belongto. And its big message is: blink and they’llchange. For the first time, a large-scalestudy has quantified what many expertssuspect: there is a constant membershipturnover among most American faiths.”24

An extensive new survey by the PewForum on Religion & Public Life detailsthe religious affiliation of the Americanpublic and explores the shifts takingplace in the U.S. religious landscape.Based on interviews with more than35,000 Americans age 18 and older, theU.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds

that religious affiliation in the U.S. isboth very diverse and extremely fluid.

More than one-quarter of Americanadults (28%) have left the faith in whichthey were raised in favor of another re-ligion - or no religion at all. If changein affiliation from one type of Protes-tantism to another is included, 44% ofadults have either switched religious af-filiation, moved from being unaffiliatedwith any religion to being affiliated witha particular faith, or dropped any con-nection to a specific religious traditionaltogether.

The survey finds that the number ofpeople who say they are unaffiliatedwith any particular faith today (16.1%)is more than double the number who saythey were not affiliated with any par-t icular rel igion as chi ldren. AmongAmericans ages 18-29, one-in-four saythey are not currently affiliated with anyparticular religion.25 This is mainly theChristian exodus. One thinks that theseindividuals are becoming atheists butthat is far from true. The Pew Forumsurvey showed that the 16.1% unaffili-ated can be broken down further intoatheist 1.6%, agnostic 2.4%, and noth-ing in particular 12.1%. This again re-flects that atheism is not an emotion-ally fulfilling paradigm as is examinedin an article, longing for Consolation:A dilemma for Dawkins. Despite the tallclaims by the atheistic science authorslike Dawkins they have not had muchinfluence in winning the minds andhearts of Americans.

It is expected that large numbers ofChristians will be leaving the false doc-trines of Christianity in a mass exodusin this century. As the facts displayedon Discovery channel, National Geo-graphic and the History channel, sink inthe common psyche, the space for thefalse doctrines of Trinity26 and OriginalSin27 is squeezed. This mass exodus wasnot possible in the previous centuriesbecause of lack of other choices. Nowthey have other choices, not only athe-ism and agnosticism but clearly the mostrational choice of Islam.

While those Americans who are un-affiliated with any particular religionhave seen the greatest growth in num-bers as a result of changes in affiliation,Catholicism has experienced the great-est net losses as a result of affiliationchanges . While near ly one- in- three

SUMMER 2008 27

Americans (31%) were raised in theCatholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) descr ibe themselves asCatholic.

The quarter of 18-29 year olds whoare not currently affiliated with any par-ticular religion are indeed the only ra-tional ones, who have not buried theirheads in sand. They do not find Chris-tianity satisfying and they have had thewisdom not to fall for atheism either.They did not find the rationality of Chris-tianity satisfying. They are the individu-als who should be open to study otherreligions and their specific claims to ra-tionality. The fact of the matter is thatonly two religious groups proselytize.So once they are not sat isf ied withChristianity the only other real optionthey need to research is Islam.

CONCLUSIONThe human condition is, as Plato

would make Socrates say in the Republic(7.514a ff.), comparable to that of prison-ers of an underground cave, whose un-fortunate fate is to confuse reality withpassing shadows created by a fire insidetheir miserable abode and kept in motionby clever manipulators, who in the nameof politics, religion, science, and tradi-tion control the human herd.

This is what the Church has done forthe last two millennia, in controlling thethoughts of the innocent and the gull-ible masses. But, the Church cannot con-tinue to do the same, in the age of infor-mation, in the era of the internet. Thewell informed and the well intentioned areawakening to the truths and finding thatindeed, ‘Truth Cannot Contradict Truth’,and the presumptions that the whole ofthe Bible or all its interpretations are ‘thetruth’ are no longer sustainable.

‘Original Sin’ and ‘Evolution’ are notcompatible with each other as Pope PiusXII had suspected and all the Christianliterature of last century and even thepresent day Encyclopedia Britannica willsuggest. You cannot have your cake andeat it too. One has to choose between‘Original Sin’ and ‘Evolution’. The wisewill choose, ‘Evolution’ and they are.Those with a college education, thosebetween the ages of eighteen and fifty-four, and those from the Northeast andWest are more likely to accept evolution,whereas those without a college degree,

aged fifty-five and older, and from theSouth are more likely to believe in cre-ationism.28

President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Laure-ate, who has had such a positive impacton recent political human history, a greatson of Abraham, who identifies himselfas an evangelical Christian, has said, “Asa Christian, a trained engineer and scien-tist, and a professor at Emory University,I am embarrassed by SuperintendentKathy Cox’s attempt to censor and dis-tort the education of Georgia’s students,”he wrote. “The existing and long-stand-ing use of the word ‘evolution’ in ourstate’s text-books has not adversely af-fected Georgians’ belief in the omnipo-tence of God as creator of the universe.There can be no incompatibility betweenChristian faith and proven facts concern-ing geology, biology, and astronomy.There is no need to teach that stars canfall out of the sky and land on a flat Earthin order to defend our religious faith.”29

Today, as the well informed Muslims,the scient is ts and the atheis ts keeppushing the facts about evolution andthe natural ramifications and implica-tions of the theory, the Christians willf inally awaken to the fullest conse-quences of the facts of evolution, theywill stop going unknowingly on theirway. They will give up the irrationalparts of their faith, namely, Trinity, Origi-nal Sin and Atonement. One can hopeand expect a big exodus in this centuryof free information. One can hope andpray that as they find the fundamentalbeliefs of Christianity counter to theirrationality they will increasingly becomeMuslims. The older Christians are toose t i n the i r ways and they canno tchange. But the 18-29 year olds, whoare presently religiously unaffiliatedwho are comfortable voting in politicallife across the racial and gender lineswill be open to study Islam and will findthat the linking of the faith of the Mus-lims to violence was after all only pro-paganda, the last ploy against Islam!The less fortunate ones will give upeven the rational parts of their Christianfaith, namely God the Father, His revela-tions over the millennia, their influenceon human history, His Moral code andHis consolation in the time of need andhorror and slip into the atheistic camp.It is hoped that this will be the smallerof the two groups as suggested by the

above quoted fact, that only 10% of UScitizens believe that God had no part inthe process of life on the planet.

Once we clean, Christianity of thefalse doctrines of Trinity, Original Sin,Atonement, and Monasticism introducedby St. Paul and St. Augustine then whatremains is purely a true subset of Islam.What wonderful news for bringing threebillion people, Muslims and Christians,almost half the world population to-gether! It is only for the, Divinely re-vealed,30 31 historically preserved32 andscientifically accurate33 34 Quran that thecompliment can be extended, ‘Truth Can-not Contradict Truth’! The Holy Quransays about itself that had it been fromanyone other than Allah they wouldsurely have found therein much contra-diction.35 It is only the precisely re-corded and properly understood wordsof All Knowing God that are free of con-tradictions and misinformation and arefully in keeping with His ‘works’ whichare studied in science.36

(Endnotes)1 http://religions.pewforum.org/affiliations2 Ian G Barbour. When science meets religion. Haper CollinsPublisher, 2000. Page 1.3 US data from Gallup poll, Nov, 1991, see US News and WorldReport, 23 Dec, 1991, p 59.4 http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=5815 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9055126/Neanderthal6 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-250001/Neanderthal7 www.amnh.org8

http://www.alislam.org/library/books/christianity_facts_to_fiction/chapter_2.html#pgfId-1006090, emphasis added by the writer.9

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9057375/original-sin. The emphasis added by the writer.10 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9010139/atonement11 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9010139/atonement12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics#Notable_apologists13 Michael H Hart. The 100: A ranking of the most influential personsin History. Hart Publishing Company Inc, 1978. Pages 278-280.14 Professor Michael Ruse introducing a book of Bertrand Russell. InIntroduction to Religion and Science by Bertrand Russell, reprintedby Oxford University Press in 1997. Page xv.15 http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_pi12hg.htm16 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/vaticanview.html17 http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_pi12hg.htm18 (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/vaticanview.html19 http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_jp02tc.htm20 (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/vaticanview.html21 http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=98822 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-49850/evolution23 Paul Davies. The 5th

Miracle. Page 81.24 http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1716987,00.html?xid=newsletter-weekly25 http://religions.pewforum.org/reports26 http://www.alislam.org/library/christ.html27 http://www.alislam.org/library/books/christianity_facts_to_fiction/index.html2 8

Michael Shermer. Why God matters. Times Books, 2006. Page 129.2 9

Michael Shermer. Why God matters. Times Books, 2006. Pages127-128.30 http://www.alislam.org/library/books/ISLAM-ItsMeaningForModernMan.pdf31 http://www.alislam.org/quran/32 http://www.alislam.org/egazette/eGazette-Feb2008.pdf33 http://home.swipnet.se/islam/quran-bible.htm34 http://www.alislam.org/library/books/revelation/index.html35 The Holy Quran 4:83.36 The Holy Quran 30:31.

28 MuslimSunrise

Khilafat inthe HolyQur’anBy Waqas Malik

Astate of deep fear and a senseof happiness eschews whena Prophet of Allah passesaway. Fear is in the hearts ofProphet’s followers– Happiness in the hearts of

the Prophet’s opponents. The followers of theProphet feel the death was untimely. They donot know who will lead them and continue themission of the Prophet. The opponents rejoiceover their victory thinking that as the Prophetis dead, so is his mission. They have beensuccessful in their plans. These two feelingsrun in parallel among these two circles; thefollowers and the opponents. However, thesefeelings are transient in nature and soon re-versed into lasting and real feelings. Thischange happens due to a divine sign by Al-lah. This sign brings security and peace tothose who were in fear, namely the followers,bringing them true lasting happiness. Thesame sign brings fear upon those who werehappy, namely the opponents. This is men-tioned in the Holy Qur’an where Allah says:

“Surely, they plan a plan. And I also plan aplan. So give respite to the disbelievers. Ayerespite them for a little while.” (Chapter 86:Verses 16 -18)

These verse mentions that in due time allthe plans of the disbelievers are frustrated.They also explain that sometimes believershave to give respite to the disbelievers in ap-parent situations where they might be stron-ger or victorious. However, the assurance ofAllah’s support for His Prophets and believ-ers comes with the triumph of Allah’s plan. Allapparent small victories of disbelievers areturned into disappointments and losses.

The time of fear for the believers is just atime of trial. It’s a trial of steadfastness andpatience. Trials of this nature are mentionedin the Holy Qur’an as:

“O ye who believe, seek help through per-severance and Prayer; surely, Allah is withthose who patiently persevere.” (Chapter 2:Verse 154)

History has witnessed this many times. It isa time in which many a faithful turn away be-cause of doubt and fear. When Moses died

short of his destination. His followers wereenveloped in grief and fear. It is reported inTorah that they wept and wailed for 40 days.Similarly, at the time of Jesus when he was takenby his opponents, there was a state of fear andgrief amongst his followers. The fear was sogreat that Peter, who was one of the closestcompanions of Jesus, renounced his faith inJesus three times and then fled the scene.

This fear was also witnessed at the pass-ing of the Noble Prophet Muhammad. WhenProphet Muhammad died, his companionswere in a state of extreme grief and fear. ‘Umarwielded his sword and said that whoever saysthat the Prophet of Allah has passed awaywill be dealt with. This was ‘Umar who was amountain of faith, who later on became thesecond successor to the Prophet. Even hecould not bear the grief and the fear of theloss of the Prophet. But it is in these times offear that Allah manifests His signs and greatmiracles. These miracles are witnessed bythose who are patient and steadfast. Thosewho show perseverance in the wake of anapparent loss are the ones who feel and seethe Glory of Allah Almighty.

Just as the Holy Qur’an says:“…that after fear we will establish them

again…” (Chapter 24: Verse 56)In this verse Allah Almighty says that

whoever passes this time of trial and tribula-tion will be established again. Allah’s powerwill manifest in their support. This is due to

the divine attribute of Raheemiyyat (Mercy).Allah never leaves any sacrifice unrewarded,and the body of believers who pass throughthis great trial after the passing of a Prophetare bestowed this establishment. This estab-lishment is the office of Khilafat. This is ex-plained vividly in the following verse:

“Allah has promised to those among youwho believe and do good works that He will,surely, make them successors in the earth, asHe made Successors from among those whowere before them; and that He will, surely, es-tablish for them their religion which He haschosen for them; and that He will, surely, givethem in exchange security and peace after theirfear; They will worship Me and they will notassociate anything with Me. Then whoso dis-believes after that, they will be the rebellious.”(Chapter 24: Verse 56)

This verse is a promise by Allah Almightyto those who believe and do good works. Hewill grant them true peace and security. Thisverse mentions that Allah will create Succes-sors. These successors will be established forthose who persevere in adversity. The veryfoundation of Islam, worship of one God, ismentioned and associated with Khilafat in theabove verse. The object of man’s creation isto worship Allah; and to attain that goal Allahwill establish Khilafat for the believers. ThisKhilafat is vital for bringing man closer to thegoal of his creation. Khilafat will also dismissany shirk (disbelief) among the believers. They

SUMMER 2008 29

will be turned wholly to Allah alone. Khilafatwill be a rope to which all those who believewill be tied--a rope extending towards the di-rection of Allah.

Peace and security are mentioned as thegreat rewards bestowed by Allah whenKhilafat will be established. The followers ofKhilafat will not fear any persecution, adver-sity, hardships, trials and tribulations becauseof their firm faith in Allah. The faith of believ-ers will be multiplied many folds after witness-ing the Glory and Succor of Allah in the formof Khilafat.

The Holy Qur’an mentions three types ofKhilafat:

1. The Prophets of Allah who are termedHis Khulafa, such as Adam. Allah says aboutAdam: “I am about to place a vicegerent[Khalifa] in the earth” (Chapter 2: Verse 31).They are called Khulafa’ullah, or Successorsof Allah, who are commissioned to the officeof Prophethood.

2. Prophets who are Successors of othergreater Prophets are also mentioned asKhulafa in the Holy Qur’an, just as the Israel-ite Prophets were Khulafa of Prophet Moses.This is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an as:

“And verily We gave Moses the Book andcaused Messengers to follow in his footstepsafter him; and to Jesus, son of Mary, We gavemanifest Signs, and strengthened him withthe Spirit of Holiness. Will you, then, everytime a Messenger comes to you with whatyou yourselves desire not, behave arrogantlyand treat some as liars and slay others?”(Chapter 2: Verse 88)

While the above verse is addressed to theIsraelites, it explains that the Prophets whofollow a greater Prophet are to follow in thepredecessor’s footsteps, using the sameteachings and the law. In this way, the Prom-ised Messiah was a Khalifa of the HolyProphet. Indeed he was bestowed the title ofKhatamul Khulafa, or Seal of the Successors,by Allah Himself. Such Khulafa come to re-vive the teachings of the earlier Prophets.They do not bring any new law, but to bringback the people to the original teachings.

3. Non-Prophet Khulafa come after Proph-ets to continue their mission. They are asource of continued support by Allah for themission of His Prophets. They uphold all val-ues of the true religion and lead their follow-ers to higher spiritual grounds. The HolyQur’an mentions this type of Khilafat as:

“By it did the Prophets, who were obedi-ent to Us, judge for the Jews, as did the godlypeople and those learned in the Law, becausethey were required to preserve the Book of

Allah, and because they were guardians overit.” (Chapter 5: Verse 45)

This verse mentions that learned righteousand godly people are made successors toProphets.

Khilafat is a divinely appointed station.In the verse “He will, surely, make them suc-cessors in the earth”, the Holy Qur’an saysthat Allah Himself will make Successors. Thehearts of believers, those who are persever-ing and in a state of fear will be inclined to-wards acceptance of Khilafat. Non-ProphetKhulafa appointed by Allah may be chosenby a body of righteous men, but are in actual-ity a completion of Allah’s plan.

Khilafat is deeply associated with obedi-ence in the Qur’an, as the ones who do notbelieve in it and termed as rebellious, “Thenwhoso disbelieves after that, they will be therebellious”. The four verses preceding theaforementioned verse about Khilafat all havethe word obedience used in them. This indi-cates the importance of obedience in relationto Khilafat. Allah say is verse 52 of Chapter24 Surah Al-Nur:

“All that the believers say, when they arecalled to Allah and His Messenger in orderthat he may judge between them, is that theysay, ‘We hear and we obey.’ And it is theywho will prosper.” (Chapter 24: Verse 52)

One of the qualities of believers is to hearand obey in accordance with the above verse.The next verse says:

“And whoso obeys Allah and His Mes-senger, and fears Allah, and takes Him as ashield for protection, it is they who will besuccessful.” (Chapter 24: Verse 53)

In this verse the key to success is tied toobedience. In the very next verse obedienceis again mentioned as follows:

“And they swear by Allah their strongestoaths that, if thou command them, they willsurely go forth. Say, ‘Swear not; what is re-quired of you is obedience to what is right.Surely Allah is aware of what you do.” (Chap-ter 24: Verse 54)

In this verse, obedience to what is right isset as a requirement for the believers by Al-lah. Again the precedence is on obedience.The following verse yet again mentions obe-dience as:

“Say, ‘Obey Allah, and obey the Messen-ger.’ But if you turn away, he is responsiblefor what he is charged with and you are re-sponsible for what you are charged with. Andif you obey him, you will be rightly guided.And the Messenger is only responsible forthe plain delivery of the Message.” (Chapter24: Verse 55)

In the above verse, obedience is beingset as a condition for right guidance. Thosewho obey in the context of the above verseare termed as rightly guided. Obedience hasbeen made fundamental to Khilafat by men-tioning it in four consecutive verses beforethe verse of Khilafat. Moreover, those whodo not believe in Khilafat are mentioned asrebellious and disobedient. The concept ofKhilafat has been strongly knit with obedi-ence. Those who believe in Khilafat must giveunstinted support and obedience to Khulafa.This is fundamental to bring cohesion andsolidarity among Muslims. Indeed the Mus-lims can only be united through the divineoffice of Khilafat.

The relationship between the Khalifa andhis obedient followers is that of a spiritualfather to his children. Ahmadi Muslims ev-erywhere have witnessed how grown men willburst into tears of joy upon meeting theKhalifa; how confident men become speech-less in the majesty of the Khalifa; how menwill not raise their eyes in respect to theKhalifa; how a group of young men wouldstand in a long line in blistering heat for hourson end, just to greet and welcome the Khalifato their country; How a woman carrying achild in her arms runs alongside his car sothat her child can catch a glimpse of theKhalifa; how hundreds of people sit down ongravel roads upon hearing such instructionsof the Khalifa; how thousands of people worktirelessly day and night without any compen-sation or recognition because of their love ofKhilafat; how someone travels far and awayto catch just a glimpse of the Khalifa; how aman cries, praying in the quiet dark of night,for the Khalifa. These are just a few personalexperiences of members of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Jama’at, in relation to Khilafat. Wordscannot do justice to the feeling one gets whenone meets the Khalifa of the time. These feel-ings are the ‘peace and security’ mentionedin the verse above.

These feeling are met with the ferventprayer of the Khalifa for his followers. Heprays for us as a father prays for his children.

Being Ahmadis, we have witnessed thisgreat manifestation of Allah Almighty in theform of Khilafat. We extend our unconditionalsupport and obedience to our Khalifa andstand united under the banner of Khilafat.Khilafat is truly one of the greatest bless-ings of Allah for mankind. It brings peace toa community of believers. This is the trueand lasting inner peace, the like of whichcannot be found anywhere in the worldtoday.

30 MuslimSunrise

Khatamul KhulafaMirza Ghulam Ahmad

Prior to his passing, the Promised Messiah,upon whom Allah bestowed the title ofKhatamal Khulafa, or Seal of the Succes-sors, wrote the following on Khilafat.

“The Sufis have said that the person whois to be the khalifa after a Shaikh or Messen-ger or Prophet is the first one who is inspired

by God toaccept thetruth. Thedeath of aMessengeror Shaikh isa severeearthquakeand is a timeof great dan-ger. But Godprovides re-a s s u r a n c ethrough akhalifa, and

that khalifa revives and strengthens afreshthe purpose of the advent of the deceased.Why did the Holy Prophet not appoint akhalifa to succeed him? It was because heknew well that Allah Himself would appointa khalifa, for the appointment of a khalifapertains to Him, and His choice is unexcep-tionable. Thus He made Abu Bakr khalifa,having inspired his heart as the first one toaccept the truth.” (Al Hakam April 14, 1908)

“It is the practice of God Almighty, andsince He created man on this earth, He hasbeen demonstrating this practice, that Hehelps His messengers and grants them as-cendancy. He has said: kataballahula’aghlebanna ana wa rusulee

Allah has decreed: Most surely I willprevail, I and My Messengers. Verily, Allahis Powerful, Mighty. (58:22)

Here prevail means as it is the intentionof messengers and prophets that God’s wordmust be established on earth and no oneshould be able to fight it, thus God mani-fests their truth with His mighty signs. Thetruth which they want to disseminate in the

world, He sows its seeds with their hands.But He does not accomplish it through them.Rather He causes them to die at a time whenthere is the fear of their collapse. Thus Hegives his enemies to laugh, jeer, ridicule andscorn. When they have done this, then Heshows His hand of might and brings aboutgrounds with which the goals that were alittle unfinished reach their zenith. Thus Hemanifests two kinds of power:

1. He shows His hand of mightthrough the prophets.

2. Secondly at the time of the demiseof the prophet when difficulties mount andthe enemy is in full might and thinks thatthey (the followers of the prophet) are in adisarray and is sure that now this commu-nity will be destroyed. Even some within thecommunity become hesitant and their backsare broken and some unfortunates amongthem even apostatize, then God manifestsHis strong hand of might and sustains thecollapsing community. Thus he who showspatience till the end, watches this divinemiracle.

(Al-Wassiyat, pp. 6-7)

Khalifatul Masih IHakeem Nuruddin

On being asked by the leading members ofthe Community to assume the office of FirstSuccessor to the Promised Messiah,Hakeem Nuruddin retorted with the namesof several others he said were more thancapable. After that he continued:

“This is a heavy, a perilous responsibil-ity, which can be carried only by a commis-sioned one of God, who has wonderful prom-ises of divine support which sustain himagainst backbreaking burdens. At this timeit is necessary that men and women shouldbecome united. To achieve this, pledge yourallegiance to any of the revered personagesI have named; I shall also do so along withyou. I am feeble, do not keep good healthand my temperament is not suited to the task,which is heavy and not easy to perform.

Hadhoor [literally “His Presence”; a termof endearment used here in reference to thePromised Messiah] performed four functions

(1) The discharge of his personal obligationsas a servant of God. (2) Looking after hisfamily, (3) Hospitality, (4) Propagation of Is-lam, which was his real purpose. Of these he

has carried thefirst with him. Ashe served here, sowill he serve in thehereafter. Of thisyou may consideryourselves re-lieved. Of the re-maining three, thepropagation of Is-lam is most impor-tant and very dif-ficult. Besides

atheism, Islam is beset with internal dissen-sions and differences. God has appointedour community for the removal of these dis-sensions and differences. You may considerthis easy, but for him who may have to carrythis burden it is most difficult. I promise yousolemnly that if you choose any one of thoseI have named, I shall pledge my allegianceto him along with you.

But if you insist on pledging your alle-giance to me then note carefully that thispledge means total commitment. On oneoccasion Hadhoor indicated to me indi-rectly to think no more of my home. Fromthat moment all my honor and all my think-ing became centered on him, and I neverthought of home. Thus pledging allegianceis a solemn and grave matter. He who takesthe pledge subordinates all his freedomand the flights of his fancy to the will ofanother, that is why Allah, the Exalted, hasnamed man His servant. It is difficult foran individual to discharge the personal re-sponsibilities entailed by this servitude,how and to what degree can he assumeand discharge such responsibilities on be-half of another? Having regard to the di-versity of temperaments a high resolve isneeded to bring about accord. I alwayswondered at the works of Hadhoor. Heenjoyed indifferent health and yet carriedsuch a heavy burden comprising diversetypes of activities. But he enjoyed con-tinuous divine support, and I, almost ofhis age, find myself empty. It is Divine

In Their Own Words: On KhilafatA compilation of selected commentary on the concept of Khilafat,or successorship, by the Promised Messiah and his successors.

Hadhrat Mirza GhulamAhmad, Qadiani

Hadhrat HakeemNuruddin

SUMMER 2008 31

bounty that had made us all brethren. Noth-ing can be achieved without His grace. Iwish to draw your attention to a great eventin the history of Islam. In the time of AbuBakr the whole of Arabia, with the excep-tion of Mecca, Medina and one or twoother places, was carried away in a revolt.The Meccans also hovered over the edge,but he rallied them with the admonition:‘You were the last to believe, why do youwish to be the first to renege?’ His daugh-ter ‘Aisha said: ‘If the mountain that hasfallen upon my father had fallen upon any-one else, he would have been crushed.’Twenty thousand able-bodied men wereavailable in Medina, but as the HolyProphet had intended to send an army tothe north, Abu Bakr dispatched them ac-cordingly. In that stark situation God Al-mighty manifested His power and demon-strated the fulfillment of His promise: Hewill surely establish for them their religionwhich He has chosen for them (24:56). Weare today faced with a similar situation. Idesire that before the burial of the body ofthe Promised Messiah accord may be es-tablished between us.

After the death of the Holy Prophet hiscompanions had, under the direction of AbuBakr, to carry into effect several greatprojects, of which the greatest was the com-pilation of the Holy Quran in book form. Aparallel activity today would be to concen-trate on putting it into practice. Then AbuBakr organized the collection of Zakat. Thatis a grand project which calls for a high de-gree of obedience; and there are severalother duties and obligations which have tobe discharged. Now whatever may be yourindividual inclinations you will have to carryout my orders. If this is acceptable to you Ishall undertake this responsibility willinglyor unwillingly. The ten conditions of thepledge laid down by the Promised Messiahshall continue in force. I shall include amongthem and would emphasize the teaching ofthe Holy Quran, the collection of Zakat, thetraining of preachers and such otherprojects as Allah may be pleased to inspireme with. Religious instruction and thecourses of study in the theological semi-nary will require my approval. I undertakethis responsibility solely for the sake ofAllah, Who has ordained: Let there be fromamong you a body of persons who shouldenjoin good and forbid evil (3:105).

Remember, all good proceeds from ac-cord. A leaderless people are dead.” (BadrJune 2, 1908)

Khalifatul Masih IVMirza Tahir Ahmad

In response to the question: “In this age,the world, especially the Muslim world,direly needs the Institution of Khilafat.What is its importance?”

“The Muslims who should have beenunited and be in harmony, are divided incountless sects and divisions. It is not onlyin religious field but in politics too. Whenthere is schism, they can achieve nothing inthe world, which a united and harmoniouspeople can do. By discord and disharmonythe power of the Muslim world has not onlydisintegrated, but also they are using thisbroken strength against one another. Whensuch are the conditions, the aggregate willbe below zero.

The groups may be very powerful, butif they will oppose and counter-act eachother in minor and majorissues and remain busy infighting, their power willbe scattered and strengthbroken.

This is happening inevery Muslim country.Unfortunately it is beingnamed as Jihad. What willthey gain from all this?What resources will re-main for their own nationbuilding, defense of Islamor fighting the enemy?Therefore, it is incumbentthat Muslims should uniteon the hand of One Imam.There should be one Imamof the Muslims of thewhole world. But withoutKhilafat, it is just impossible. Khilafat is thesuccessor after the prophet in the form of aperson who is representing the deceasedprophet and Khalifa is the vicegerent andhis subordinate. He is the central authority.This is the basic principle of Khilafat.

Muslims do understand its need as wellas importance. This need was felt after thesad demise of the Holy Prophet (peace andblessings of Allah be on him) also. In Islamthis is quite clear like broad daylight and is apart of Islamic teaching that without unityand harmony you cannot rightly work on theteachings of Islam. When you go to themosque for Namaz [prayer] five times a day,there must be an Imam. Standing behind an

Imam is a demonstration of unity amongpeople. That is why the Holy Quran espe-cially emphasizes the need of congregationalprayer. Imam is given so much importancethat if the Imam falters, the entire congrega-tion must follow his mistake even if theyknow that a mistake has been committed.What better instance can be presented forthe need of an Imam and unity in his follow-ing? If Imam is mandatory in a small mosque,then how can the whole of Muslims Ummahsurvive without an Imam.

As far as the Ummah is concerned, thereis commandment in the Holy Quran to turntheir faces towards Qiblah. For the Muslimsthroughout the world, there is one and onlyone Qiblah. You may go anywhere in theworld, the Qiblah remains the same. This isa pointer that it is incumbent for the MuslimUmmah that they should be united under oneImam. Had this not been the sole purpose,there would have been no Khilafat at all be-cause the spiritual condition of Muslims in

the days of the HolyProphet was a thousandtimes better than theMuslims of today. If theyneed to follow an Imam,how can we live withoutan Imam today when thecondition of Muslims iscrying for it. This is theanswer why Khilafat isneeded.

The issue is thatonce Khilafat is termi-nated, then it is notwithin the power of thepeople to introduce itagain themselves. This isa dilemma, which theMuslim world is facingtoday. Khilafat starts af-

ter the passing away of the prophet and ifunfortunately once it is destroyed, it is im-possible that it restarts without a prophet.As far as Muslims are concerned, they arevictims of dual issues. According to a largenumber of Muslims, the chain of Khilafatended with the Khilafat of Hazrat Ali. Afterhim, there was no Khiafat-e-Rashida. It wasmonarchy in the name of Khilafat and major-ity of Muslims agree that Khilafat-e-Rashidaended after Hazrat Ali. So how can you startthis Khilafat once again?

As far as Shia Imams are concerned, thereis no problem for them because majority ofthem believes that Imamate continued till thetwelfth Imam. Some believe it up to the

Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

32 MuslimSunrise

sixth Imam. Some think that it is con-tinuing till today. But majority of Mus-l i m s d e p r i v e d o f t h e b l e s s i n g s o fKhilafat. Even if we accept the conti-nuity of Imamate t i ll today, they areunable to unite the whole Ummah onone hand. We are discussing the is-sue of uniting the whole Ummah onone hand and i t cannot be achievedby partial or regional Khilafat. It canbe achieved only by universal or glo-bal Khilafat, which will unite the wholeUmmah.

Muslims believe that no prophet, ofwhatever category, can come now. Thismeans that the single avenue to openthe way of Khilafat has been barred.This is the big issue, which the Mus-lim Ummah is facing today.

The non-Ahmadi Ulema present theonly solution of this problem and saythat they also believe in the comingof a prophet. No doubt, he will be anold prophet, but they say that whenhe will come, he will be a prophet.Thus the los t Is lamic Khi lafa t wi l lonce again be revived by Jesus Christof Nazareth when he will descend withhis old form and body. But the prob-lem is tha t four teen hundred yearshave passed, and there is no trace ofsecond coming of that Jesus. Therei s n o s i g n v i s i b l e o f h i s d e s c e n t .Wo r l d c o n d i t i o n s h a v e t o t a l l ychanged. Musl ims have passed andare st i l l passing through their worstphase of decl ine . But no Jesus hasdescended from the sky so far.

Now, the majority of Muslims areso much frustrated that they say thathe has died or is living they are leastinterested. The scholars of al-AzharUniversity have repeatedly expressedthe i r we l l t hough t and cons ide redopinion that according to the HolyQuran, Jesus Christ has died and hiss e c o n d a d v e n t i s a b s o l u t e l yimpossible. It may be in their fancies,but practically, they have completelyclosed this door.

No one wi l l eve r descend f romskies, and this is the big and difficultproblem, which the Muslim world isfacing today. With this they have notonly des t royed the mos t impor tan tinstitution like Khilafat but they havea l s o b l o c k e d t h e e n t r a n c e o f t h ebeginning of Khilafat .” (AhmadiyyaGazette, Canada . May 2001)

Khalifatul Masih VMirza Masroor Ahmad

Excerpts from a series of sermons on theTen Conditions of Bai’at established by thePromised Messiah.

“Now, in this time and age, Khilafat-e-Rashidah (Righteous Khilafat) has been es-tablished after the passingaway of the Promised Mes-siah. Therefore, go to theKhalifa and his decision willalways be good, insha’Allah(God willing), and will be inaccordance with the com-mandments of Allah and HisMessenger. As I have saidearlier: Rejoice! Now you shallalways remain under direc-tives that are based on good-ness. Insha’Allah, there willnot be any decision which isnot based on goodness.”(Conditions of Bai’at p. 206)

“Thus, just as a Prophetdoes not deviate from thecommandments of Allah theAlmighty, his Khalifah—whois appointed by Allah the Al-mighty through a party of be-lievers—also perpetuates thesame teaching, the same commandmentsthat Allah the Almighty has conveyed tous through the Holy Prophet. In this age,they have been explained to us by the Prom-ised Messiah in accordance with the proph-ecies of the Holy Prophet. So now, this sys-tem of Khilafat has been established in theJama‘at through the Promised Messiah inaccordance with the prophecies of the HolyProphet, and it will last, insha’Allah, till theend of time. Through it, decisions have beenmade according to shari‘ah (Islamic law) andwisdom and will continue to be this way,insha’Allah. These are the ‘good deci-sions’. If, at any time, the Khalifah of thetime makes such a decision because of amistake or misunderstanding, that carriesthe risk of causing some harm, then Allahthe Almighty will bring about such meansthat will prevent bad consequences. In thisregard, Hadrat Musleh-e-Mau‘ud (i.e., Sec-ond Successor of the Promised Messiah)states:

It is possible that the Khalifah of thetime makes a mistake in personal matters.But in such matters on which depends the

physical and spiritual progress, even if hecommits an error, Allah the Almighty safe-guards His Jama‘at and somehow makes himaware of the error. In the terminology ofsages, it is called ‘lesser sanctity’. Thatmeans, the Prophets enjoy a ‘greater sanc-tity’ but the Khulafa’ have ‘lesser sanctity’and Allah the Almighty does not permit anysuch major mistakes by them that may causedisaster for the Jama‘at. Their decisionsmay have partial and minor mistakes, but in

the end, the result willbe victory for Islam anddefeat for its enemies.

Thus, because theKhulafa enjoy ‘lessersanctity’, their policywill emanate fromAllah’s. While it is truethat they will be theone speaking, theirtongues will be in mo-tion, their hands willmove, their minds willwork, yet behind all ofthis will be the hand ofAllah. They can makeminor errors in finerdetails. Sometimestheir advisors can givethem wrong advice.But crossing these in-termediary obstacles,

they will be the one who will be victorious.And when all the links are put together, theresulting chain will be good and it will beso strong that no power will be able to breakit. (Tafsir-e-Kabir, Hadrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, vol. 6, pp. 376–377)

From this, it is evident that ‘not good’is that which is a blatant violation of com-mandments of Allah the Almighty and theinstructions of the shari‘ah. Hadrat ‘Alinarrates that the Holy Prophet sent awayan expedition and appointed a leader for itso people should listen to him and obeyhim. This leader had a fire set up and com-manded his companions to jump into it.Some people did not obey him and said,‘We have become Muslims to escape thefire.’ But some people were prepared to jumpinto the fire. When the Holy Prophet heardof this, he observed that, ‘If they hadjumped into the fire, they would have stayedin it forever.’ He also said, ‘No obedience isobligatory if it involves disobedience to Al-lah. Obedience is necessary only in ‘gooddecisions’.” (Sunano Abi Dawud, Kitab-ul-Jihad, Babun fit-Ta‘ati)

Hadhrat MirzaMasroor Ahmad

SUMMER 2008 33

BBBBBy most accounts, the secondhalf of the NineteenthCentury was one of thedarkest hours in Islamichistory: a time characterized

by the decline and fall of the Great Muslimpowers in Asia and Europe and generalspiritual stagnation in the Islamic world. It wasalso a time of transition, with most parts of theworld coming under colonial subjugation atthe hands of the new European empires. Thespiritual shine and intellectual appeal of Islamcame under relentless attack at the hands ofan ascendant Christianity, glittering with thezeal of the missionaries and the material powerof the European empires. It was at this momentof despair and doom in the Muslim world thatHadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad rose on thereligious horizon in defense of Islam, a religionthat was under siege not just fromunscrupulous enemies, but also frommisguided adherents.

Hadhrat Ahmad claimed under divine guid-ance that he was indeed the Promised Mes-siah and Imam Mahdi and Divine Teacher asforetold in the traditions of many of the world’sgreat faiths, including Christianity and Islam.He expounded the profound beauty and deepmeaning of the teachings of Islam, with inci-sive wisdom and consummate skill. Manyprophesies of Hadhrat Muhammad regardingthe revival of true spirituality and rejuvena-tion of the Islamic faith were fulfilled at thehands of Hadhrat Ahmad. The extraordinarily

powerful claims and compelling arguments ofHadhrat Ahmad, coupled with his magneticpersonality and charisma, attracted the atten-tion of many seekers after Truth and as-sembled in its wake, a galaxy of eminent dis-ciples in his Jama’at. Indeed, the founding ofthe Ahmadiyya Muslim Community byHadhrat Ahmad, in 1889, was one of the mostremarkable events in the spiritual history ofthe Age.

In May 1908, the Ahmadiyya Communitychose the illustrious Maulvi Hakim Nuruddinas Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I to lead the Com-munity out of the shattering impact of the deathof the Promised Messiah. With his deep pietyand profound learning, Hadhrat HakimNuruddin courageously led the Communityat a time of transition and served it with dis-tinction till his death in March 1914. The dark-est hour in the history of the Community wasyet to come: the split in its ranks following thedeath of Khalifatul Masih I shook the founda-tional beliefs and traditions of the communityto its core.

This essay seeks to revisit this importantevent in the history of the Ahmadiyya Com-munity with the objective of identifying thepersonalities involved and to understand thenature of debate on the central question ofthe authority of the Khalifa over the Anjuman,an issue that eventually led to the separationof ways. Part B of the essay provides a briefaccount of the main developments leading upto the split. Part C discusses the question of

supremacy and the authority of Khalifa overthe Anjuman as it evolved within the commu-nity at the time of split. Part D contains somereflections on the event from the subjectiveview of the writer.

The Split: A MomentFrozen in Time

The immediate cause for the split in thecommunity was the question of leadership,occasioned by the death of Maulvi HakimNuruddin on March 13, 1914. The precedentset by the election of Hadhrat Khalifatul MasihI, at the time of the death of the PromisedMessiah, clearly showed the path to be fol-lowed in the event of such extraordinary cir-cumstances. Following in the noble tradition,the Ahmadiyya Community elected MirzaBasheeruddin Mahmud Ahmad to be the Sec-ond Successor to the Promised Messiah andstood solidly behind the leadership of the newKhalifa.

However, a party of believers led byMaulana Muhammad Ali, refused to endorsethe decision of the bulk of the community, norto take the oath of allegiance at the hands ofthe new Khalifa. They separated themselvesfrom the main body of the Jama’at and createdthe Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at-i-Islam,Lahore ( also known as the Lahore AhmadiyyaMovement). In a tract published in English in1918, entitled The Ahmadiyya Movement – IV:The Split the Maulana claimed that the splitwas not due “to a desire to work separately”and accused the Second Successor to thePromised Messiah, of “drift(ing) away fromthe basic principles of the Islamic faith” andthe “true doctrines of the Promised Messiah,Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.”

Viewed in retrospect, the accusations andthe vertical division in the ranks was a naturalcorollary to a series of developments whichwere taking place within the Ahmadiyya Com-munity for almost close to a decade. Some ofthese issues concerned the nature of leader-ship and the status of Khalifa and his author-ity over the Anjuman. While the dissidentgroup sought to create for themselves the ideo-logical high ground of being the “real” de-fenders of the faith, they were essentially at-tempting to invent a new theology for the com-munity. It is interesting to note that the intel-lectual revolt against the authority of theKhalifa was led by a bunch of professionallyqulaified lawyers who cared deeply for thescholarly receptivity and popular acceptanceof the community’s doctrines and beliefs and

The immediate cause for the split in the community was the

question of leadership, occasioned by the death of Maulvi

Hakim Nuruddin on March 13, 1914. The precedent set by the

election of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I, at the time of the death

of the Promised Messiah, clearly showed the path to be

followed in the event of such extraordinary circumstances.

By Fazil Jamal

‘The darkest hour is before the dawn’.

The SplitAnjuman Khilafat

34 MuslimSunrise

wanted to refashion it in their own line of think-ing. It is not inconceivable that the dominantpolitical ideas of the day, such as the notionof separation of powers between religioushead and administrative bodies, parliamentarysupremacy and legal accountability, seem tohave a determining effect on their religiousoutlook as well. Indeed, Maulana MuhammadAli wanted to dilute the doctrinal claims of thePromised Messiah, so as to conform to, whathe perceived, the level of plausible generalacceptance by the ‘standards’ of the Muslimorthodoxy of the day.

Anjuman v. Khalifa:The Debate Within

We shall presently examine the guidanceof the Promised Messiah on the issue offuture direction of the Community and thepractice of the Jama’at upon his death. Withclear intimations from God of his impendingmortality, Hadhrat Ahmad published a book-let in Urdu, entitled Al-Wassiyyat in 1905. Inthis testamentary declaration, the PromisedMessiah referred to the enduring characterof the work of the Community and gave clearindication that God would help the Commu-nity after his death, with the Second Mani-festation of His Power, as had happened atthe death of Holy Prophet Muhammad. Thehistorical reference was to the time whenAllah had raised Abu Bakr to rally the Mus-lim community at a critical point in the his-tory of Islam. Hadhrat Ahmad further gaveguidance to the Community to sustain andexpand the larger goals of his mission, thepropagation of Islam as expounded by him.

Hadhrat Ahmad established the SadrAnjuman Ahmadiyya with the task of ad-ministering the community’s expandingrange of affairs and appointed MaulawiHakim Nuruddin its President. Apart fromthe President, among the prominent mem-bers of the Anjuman in the early days wereMaulana Muhammad Ali, BashiruddinMahmud Ahmad, Maulawi SayyidMuhammad Ahsan, Khawaja KamaludDinand Doctor Sayyid Muhammad Hussain.While there were clashes of personal viewsabout the functioning and orientation of theAnjuman and associated matters betweenMaulana Muhammad Ali and MaulawiHakim Nuruddin , they never took a largerideological color during the lifetime of thePromised Messiah.

Upon the death of Hadhrat Ahmad,

Maulawi Hakim Nuruddin was elected to theoffice of Hadhrat Khalifatul Messiah. Whenthe institution of Khilafat was in the contem-plation of the Community, MaulanaMuhammad Ali agreed to go along with theprevailing consensus: to enter the Bai’at ofHadhrat Khalifatul Messiah I. It is also instruc-tive to note the Maulana was one of the origi-nal signatories to the Statement issued byKhwaja Kamaluddin , member and secretaryof Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya, on the institu-tion of Khilafat in the community, part of whichis reproduced below: “Before the funeralprayer for the Promised Messiah all membersof the community who were present in Qadianand whose number was twelve hundred, ac-cepted Hadhrat Haji Hakim Nur-ud-Din, mayAllah keep him, as his Successor and Khalifa,according to the directions set out in Al-Wassiyyat and in conformity with the recom-mendation of the members of the SadrAnjuman Ahmadiyya then in Qadian and therelatives of the Promised Messiah, and withthe permission of Hadhrat Ummul Mu’minin;and took the pledge of allegiance to him”.

While being a signatory to the new orderof Khilafat, Maulana Muhammad Ali had hisreservations on the issue. The Maulana laterwrote: “The Promised Messiah died in Lahore.When his body arrived in Qadian, KhawajaKamal-ud-Din told me in the garden that it wasproposed that Hadhrat Maulawi Nur-ud-Dinshould be his Successor. Then he told me thatit was also proposed that all Ahmadis shouldswear allegiance to him. On this I observedthat this was not necessary. Only new mem-bers of the Movement had to take the oath ofallegiance, and that was what was laid downin Al-Wassiyyat. I am still of the view that thosewho had sworn allegiance to the PromisedMessiah are under no obligation to swear al-legiance to any one else. Yet I took the pledgein order to maintain accord in the Community.”

This oath of allegiance at the hands of theKhalifa created a problem of complementarityfor the Maulana with his own line of thinking.For the time being, he was forced by the pre-vailing circumstances to go along with thedominant view within the Community. The stra-tegic calculations of the dissident group wasapparent to keen observers of the scene. AsSir Zafrullah Khan astutely observed later:“Under the stunning impact of the suddendeath of the Promised Messiah, they had com-mitted themselves too far to leave room for abare-faced volte-face. They had themselvestied their own hands too tightly. They soonrealized that they had made a mistake, and

began to cast about for devices to help thempull back from a difficult situation with theminimum loss of face. A direct confrontationwith the Khalifa would not be tolerated bythe bulk of the community and would, there-fore, be unwise”.

It was this unedifying predicament that ledthe dissidents to rationalize their critiqueagainst Khilafat and legitimize their rejectionof the system on grounds of doctrinal revi-sion and purity of the faith. In course of time,the nature of power and authority wielded bythe office of Khalifa began to be questionedby at least by a section of the influential mem-bers of the Anjuman. The idea that the officeof the Khalifa was purely spiritual and thatfor the purpose of the regulation of the com-munity and the administration of its affairs theSadr Anjuman was the successor of the Prom-ised Messiah began to gain some advocatessuch as Khwaja Kamaluddin . They maintainedthat “Promised Messiah had given the statusof finality to the decision of the Board of Trust-ees of Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya.”

Two developments helped to muddle theissues further. First, the fact that HadhratKhalifatul Messiah I was also the Presidentof the Anjuman created an ambivalent situa-tion and even confusion about the respec-tive roles and responsibilities of both offices.For instance, as noted by Sir Zafrullah Khan, “in the minutes of the proceedings of theAnjuman the directions of Hadhrat KhalifatulMessiah were referred to as the directions ofthe President”. Secondly, and more impor-tantly, as per the existing rules of theAnjuman, it was a “self renewing body”: “byits rules, which were approved on the recom-mendation of Khawaja Kamalud-Din, a va-cancy among the members of the Anjuman,arising from the death or resignation of amember, was filled by nomination by a major-ity of the remaining members. So that, onceas many as eight members, out of a total offourteen, found themselves in accord witheach other, they formed a majority whichcould perpetuate itself by filling every va-cancy by nominating a like-minded person”.

The self renewing character of theAnjuman made it susceptible to the perils ofgroupism and partisanship. The growing as-sertion of authority by the Anjuman createdclouds of confusion on the question ofsupremacy of the Khalifa. The Khalifacalled for a comprehensive meeting ofthe Community, which was duly con-

SUMMER 2008 35

vened on 31st January 1909, when mem-bers and delegates from far and widewere present. The meeting gave every-one concerned the opportunity to freelyand frankly air their views and test thelegitimacy of their opinions against thestandard of public acceptance. Reflect-ing on the question, in that historic set-ting, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I finallymade it clear to the minority dissidentgroup that created the confusion, in nouncertain terms: “You cannot deriveany benefit from this controversy. Noone will make you Khalifa, nor can any-one else become Khalifa in my lifetime.When I die only that one will arise whomGod chooses, and God will Himselfraise him.”

It is instructive to note that the great-est bulwark in the revolt against the au-thority of Khilafat at the time was thepersonal stature and authority of thethen Khalifa himself. Furthermore, byconsulting the bulk of the community onthe matter, the Khalifa adhered not justto the Islamic principles of democraticdeliberation and consultation, but alsoblunted the ‘parliamentary’ argument ofthe diss ident group. While HadhratKhalifatul Masih I was alive, the dissi-dents could not directly confront theinstitution of Khilafat, primarily becauseof the personal reputation of piety andscholarship and the remarkable esteemin which he was looked up to by the rankand file of the community. In a way itwas the great fortune of the AhmadiyyaCommunity to have been led by such anaugust figure in the spiritual world ofthe time.

In Lieu of Conclusion

Test of character is a recurring themein religious experience and spiritual his-tory. Perhaps no other single event over-whelms a bunch of believers than thedeath of their prophet or spiritual master.The experiences of disciples at the timeof Moses, Jesus and Muhammad pointto the complex questions and forces atwork at a time of crisis. For the Ah-madiyya Community, the Split was botha test of character and a blessing in dis-guise. While faith is a framework to lookfor directions at crossroads of con-science, it is important for believers tobe constantly on the alert and to examinetheir own inner urges and external stimu-

lations. You never know which way chan-nels of vanity and material interests mayovercome pure belief and corrupt yourfaith in God. No wonder, one of the mostpoignant prayers that the Holy Qur’anteaches us, is as follows:

“Our Lord, let not our hearts becomeperverse after Thou hast guided us; andbestow on us mercy from Thyself; Surely,Thou Alone art the Bestower” (Surah AlImran, v. 9).

Apart from fervent supplication ofprayers, the believer must also distrustthe human intellect and its vagaries or inany case, be critically aware of one’sown subjectivity. As Maulana JalaluddinRumi observed in Mathnawi: “Would hehad been less full of borrowed knowl-edge! Then he would have accepted in-spired knowledge from his father. When,with inspiration at hand, you seek book-learning, Your heart, as if inspired, loadsyou with reproach. Traditional knowl-edge, when inspiration is available, Is likemaking ablutions in sand when water isnear. Make yourself ignorant, be submis-sive, and then You will obtain releasefrom your ignorance.”

This is especially relevant when oneref lec ts on the s ta ture of MaulanaMuhammad Ali whose considerable graspof religious subjects and the intellectualfoundations of Islam, coupled with hiscommand of English language made himan especially able ambassador of thecommunity in its early days. His scholar-ship and learning was so much that thePromised Messiah himself advised him towrite books in English to spread his ideas

in Europe and America. During his life-time, Hadhrat Ahmad, however, alsowarned the community against the sin ofarrogance and defined it in the followingterms: “Everyone who looks down upona brother because he esteems himselfmore learned, or wiser, or more proficientthan him is arrogant, inasmuch as he doesnot esteem God as the Fountainhead ofall intelligence and knowledge and deemshimself as something”( Nuzulul Masih,pp. 24-25 , quoted in The Essence of Is-lam, Volume II).

Instead of a deeper realization of thevagaries of the human nature and induc-ing humility, knowledge and scholarshipmade Maulana Muhammad Ali ambi-tious and power- thirsty. From the ma-jestic tower of the Maulana’s learningand scholarship, the young Khalifa ap-peared to be a “mere sapling,” an ob-ject to be contemptuously dismissedand disregarded as inconsequential. Itis instructive to observe that plants andtrees appear in the Holy Qur’an as ametaphor of divine blessing. When “asapling” grows up to be a big tree withdeep roots in the land and its branchesstretch out to the clouds, it testifies tothe blessings of Allah in its own way.(Surah Ibrahim, v. 25-26)

The extraordinary progress that themainstream Ahmadiyya Community hasmade since the Split and that too, underthe “sapling,” is perhaps the single mostimportant testimony to the blessings ofAllah and the truth and vitality of a di-vinely inspired Khilafat system. The dark-est hour is before the dawn.

While Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I was alive, thedissidents could not directly confront the institution ofKhilafat, primarily because of the personal reputationof piety and scholarship and the remarkable esteem inwhich he was looked up to by the rank and file of thecommunity. In a way it was the great fortune of theAhmadiyya Community to have been led by such an

august figure in the spiritual world of the time.

36 MuslimSunrise

EEEEEver since human beingsdecided to live under astructured society, debateshave been taking place as towhat is the best way to

accomplish it. Human beings want to makesure that their basic needs for existence,security, continuity of their race and overallhappiness is guaranteed under such a system.

Initially, human beings were scattered invarious geographical areas and did not havemuch contact with each other’s societies.Under those circumstances, a system of tribesand clans evolved. Each tribe came up withtheir own rules to live by, which provided themsecurity and peace from each other as well asfrom the outsiders. Some societies are still ruledunder this system such as in remote areas ofAfrica and Asia.

When human beings started to travel andtribes started to gather to make larger societ-ies, it gave rise to a new system of kings takingover large areas. Eventually, it evolved into com-bining kingdoms into bigger political structures,and then emperors ruled over many kings.

Under all of these systems, the conversa-tions and debates still took place as to whatwas the best system for the human race. Thedebates over Democracy, Communism, Social-ism, separation of Church and State all relateto the same subject. The opinion of the gen-eral population needed to be heard under allthese systems; the debate then startedwhether it is better under a Parliamentary sys-tem or a Republic, etc. The main clash of ideasin these discussions involved the public goodversus the individual desires in a society. It isstill debated which should take precedent andto what level.

God’s System

According to the Holy Qur’an, God pre-sented a plan for the human race for their bet-terment as a society. God declared that thesystem He proposed is the best system forthem because He is the All-Knowing. God ap-pointed Adam as his first Khalifa (successor)on earth and taught him knowledge directly.

The very first responsibility of the gov-erning body was established to guarantee allhuman beings food, clothing, shelter and wa-ter. It is amazing that what God established asthe basic and rudimentary responsibility for agovernment is what today’s worldly govern-ments consider as their ultimate goal. Alongwith the basic necessities of human beings,God also provided spiritual guidance throughHis Khalifa Adam because it was fundamentalto the inner peace and happiness of the hu-man beings.

As human beings developed physicallyand spiritually, God responded with series ofHis Khulafa (successors), which we refer toas the Prophets, to keep raising human under-standing and achievement. Prophet Noah wastaught to further the spiritual status of humanbeings. Prophet Abraham established theunity of God in an unprecedented manner, in

anticipation of uniting the human race in asingle bonded society.

The Prophet Muhammad brought the fi-nal teachings in the shape of the Holy Qur’anthrough which God gave all of humanity acomprehensive, detailed and clear message tolive by. It also established all the rules andregulations to structure a human society on aglobal basis and bring about the eventualpeaceful society that humans wished for fromtime immemorial.

Khulafa Of God &Khulafa of the Prophets

The Khulafa of God (Prophets) had a limi-tation. As human beings, they had a limitedlifespan. Sometimes it was not enough time toaccomplish all the objectives assigned to them.Therefore, a system of Khulafa of the Prophetsevolved. In some cases the Prophets appointedtheir Khalifa in their own lifetime, and in othercases, the followers of the prophet elected oneafter his passing. The function of the Khulafaof the prophets was to continue the mission ofthe particular prophet and do their best in meet-ing the objectives set forth by the prophet un-der the guidance given by God.

Paradise onEarth through

KhilafatBy Falahud Din ShamsBy Falahud Din ShamsBy Falahud Din ShamsBy Falahud Din ShamsBy Falahud Din Shams

SUMMER 2008 37

Joshua, the first Khalifa of Prophet Moses,took over his mission and brought the Israel-ites to the Promised Land and thus accom-plished the mission of Moses. St. Peter as theKhalifa of Jesus took his message to otherlands where the Israelites had establishedthemselves. The Khulafa of ProphetMuhammad, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, Uthman and‘Ali, expanded the Islamic way of life to thePersian Empire on the East and the RomanEmpire towards the West.

The question that needed to be ponderedover was why the system of Khilafat underone prophet succeeded and not under someothers. For example, after ProphetMuhammad’s first four Khulafa, the systemchanged into a kingdom and it was not a puresystem of Khilafat as it had started out. Onthe other side, the system that started with St.Peter has existed for over two thousand yearsand has continued regardless of its weak-nesses and problems on the way. The HolyQur’an has pointed out the previous ap-pointments of Khulafa so we can analyzeand learn from the experiences of varioussocieties that evolved under these systems.

The Promised Messiah

Hadhra t Ahmad appeared as theKhalifa of Prophet Muhammad for thelast one thousand years of the currentcycle of human life. He also fulfilled theprophecies of the second coming of theMessiah. In all the prophecies of theChristian tradition as well as the Islamictradition, it is clear that peace on earthand the establishment of paradise onearth will take place after the appearanceof the Messiah in the Latter Days. Un-der the Islamic tradition, it will take placethroughout the world as one family un-der one Prophet (Muhammad) and underthe final Law given by God in the shapeof the Holy Qur’an.

This mission is again of such magni-tude that it could not be fulfilled in thelifetime of the Promised Messiah, but willtake place under his Khulafa. A system ofelecting Khulafa was established to con-tinue his mission throughout the world ahundred years ago, and we are currentlyliving in the time of his fifth Khalifa. As

the Promised Messiah foretold, this sys-tem of Khilafat will stay with us for therest of this cycle of the human race.

System of Khilafat

The system of Khilafat under thePromised Messiah is based on the guid-ance from God. The person who is giventhis position is not obligated to anyonefor his position. He is not desirous ofthat position and therefore does not runa campaign for election. One who votesfor him at the election fulfils his duty anddoes not confer any favor on him andtherefore, the Khalifa does not owe any-thing to him for his vote. This systemwas es tab l i shed by us ing the goodthings in the long running Catholic sys-tem of elections but in considering theIslamic principles as laid out in the HolyQur’an.

Under this system of Khilafat, thereare no taxes; it is run exclusively withvoluntary contributions of the membersof the community. This precludes out-side influences. The members of the com-munity are not forced by any law to sharetheir wealth, unlike a system of govern-ment where the public is forced to payand the individuals keep on striving toavoid payment. Under the Khilafat, mem-bers pay voluntarily and consider it ablessing.

The relationship of the Khalifa withhis members is a combination of love andauthority. The Khalifa is the ultimate au-thority under this system. However, theKhalifa has direct contact with all themembers and there is a mutual feeling oflove on both sides because there is noarmy that enforces allegiance to him--itcomes from the hearts. Members knowand feel that their Khalifa loves them andhas their interest in mind at all times.

System of Government

Alongside the system of Khilafat,there will always be a system of govern-ment. So the question arises, “Whichsystem is better for human beings?” TheHoly Qur’an gives preference to and pro-motes a system which is based on con-

sultation but does not rule out any othersystem, as long as it is based on truejustice. There were kings such as Davidand Solomon whom God declared asProphets (His Khulafa on earth) becausethey ruled with justice.

Islam also establishes that a vote inconsultation or elections is a trust thatneeds to be discharged. It is not a rightor a privilege that can be sold or bought.A person discharging his duty by vot-ing is answerable to God alone as to whyhe voted in the manner that he did. Heshould not and cannot expect anythingin return from the person that he votedfor. There are not to be any negative cam-paigns but only good things can be saidabout a proposed person. It also rulesout one voting for oneself (or speakingin their own favor) because a person de-sirous of a position should not be giventhat position. It declares that God’s bless-ing will not be with such a person.

Regardless of the system, justice mustprevail in exercising the duties of thegovernment. Great power is given tojudges in the Islamic system, underwhich they have the power of callinganyone, powerful or weak, to the witnessstand. The second Khalifa of ProphetMuhammad established the salary sys-tem for the government employees. Heassigned the highest wages to Justicesto reduce the temptation of bribery intheir decisionmaking process.

Alongside all these systems of gov-ernment, the Khalifa is in an advisory po-sition and not a ruler. This clarifies theIslamic stand on the relationship ofchurch and state.

Promised Messiah’s Khulafa

It was a model city to be copied, until1974, when the laws were changed andit was no longer under the full adminis-tration of the Community. However, it isan example of how a town can be estab-lished and run under the laws estab-lished by God for the betterment of so-ciety, even in a third world country whereresources are scarce.

38 MuslimSunrise

Establishment ofParadise on Earth

The Promised Messiah announced aNew Wor ld Order in h i s book Al -Wasiyyat (The Will) under the Divineguidance. Under the program outlined,human beings would accomplish tran-quility, peace and paradise on earth un-der the system of Khilafat after him. TheKhulafa are not the government and areonly answerable to God. They do notbelong to a political party, country, raceor tribe. Their view of the world is basedon one human race regardless of thecolor of the skin, creed or origin. Theyhave no borders to protect, no taxationto enforce. They are also the interna-tional central location for intelligence,information and consultations becauseof their personal relationships with in-dividuals in their worldwide community.

Narrated Um Salama:The Prophet said, "I am only a humanbeing, and you people have disputes. Maybe someone can present his case in a moreeloquent and convincing manner than theother, and I give my judgment in his favoraccording to what I hear. Beware! If I give(by error) somebody something of hisbrother's right then he should not take it asI have only given him a piece of Fire."

A New World Order can only be es-tablished when there are no borders norpolitical priorities, and the needs ofpeople can be looked after regardless ofselfish attitudes of individual communi-ties. It can only be established througha single entity covering the globe with-out ambitions of power and glory. Thatentity has been designated as the Com-munity of the Promised Messiah. Underhis Khulafa and in accordance with hisprophecies, it will one day, God Willing,establish Paradise on earth.

Invitation to All

We invite people of all nations and inparticular the Christians and the Muslimsto accept the Promised One who has beensent in the spirit of Jesus. He is the way,the light and the path for salvation underthe guidance of the Holy Prophet

Muhammad and the final Message of God,the Holy Qur’an. Jesus told his followersto judge the tree by its fruit. So it behoovesall Christians to come and taste this fruitbefore passing judgment . The HolyProphet had commanded his followers thatwhen the Messiah appears, go to him andgive him his greetings of peace, even ifone must travel on their knees in snow.You will find that for today’s problems,the only acceptable interpretation of reli-gious principles is what the PromisedMessiah has presented, because it camethrough the Holy Ghost. So come and seethe fruits of the tree of the second Mes-siah through his Khulafa and join in theeffort of bringing peace, tranquility andparadise on earth. This is the real pursuitof happiness for all mankind. If not you,your next generation or the one after thatwill accomplish this goal because, “It hasbeen written and so shall be done”.

SUMMER 2008 39

MuslimSunriseInterview

Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar, Ameerof the Ahmadiyya Muslim

Community, USA

Please tell our readers a littleabout yourself.

I was born in Sarghoda, Pakistan. I movedto the United States in 1966. I did my medicalschool studies in Pakistan, and my residencyand training in New Jersey. I reside with myfamily in Willingboro, New Jersey.

You are the Ameer, or Presi-dent, of the US chapter of the

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. What is the role and responsi-

bilities of the Ameer?

The “Ameer” serves as the president ofthe Ahmadiyya Muslim Community inAmerica. This means that I oversee the or-ganization and operations of approximately68 chapters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Com-munity across America. In addition, I over-see the activities of the missionaries of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community acrossAmerica.

How does one become theAmeer and how long is theoffice’s term? Since whenhave you held this office?

Based on the recommendations of theShura (electoral body) of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community, USA, the “Khalifa” orSpiritual Head of the Worldwide AhmadiyyaMuslim Community appoints the Ameer.The Shura consists of representatives fromall chapters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Com-munity across America. The current Khalifaof the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, HisHoliness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, appointedme as the Ameer in 2003.

Khilafat is a distinctly spiritualoffice. In Islamic history,

however, a Khalifa also servedas the office of the head of

state. So what does Islam say inregards to the notion of

“separation of mosque andstate”? And what role does

Khilafat have in the world today?

The essence of Khilafat is spiritual leader-ship. This is the unique promise of Allah inthe Qur’an – that He will surely establish suc-cessors in the Earth from among those whoare righteous. It is true that in Islamic historythe Khulafa after the advent of the Prophet of

Islam also served as heads of state. Secularrule, however, is incidental to Khilafat. TheProphet of Islam himself was a ruler for only asmall part of his life. The important point tobear in mind is that Khilafat is designed tobring widespread benefits to society at large.With Khilafat as the divine manifestation, itbrings about the spiritual rejuvenation of hu-manity. It carries with it widespread prosper-ity in spirit, inventions, discoveries, and Bless-ings for all mankind, not just the followers ofthe Khalifa.

The founder of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity taught that a true Muslim mustboth be a righteous soul and a loyal citizen.Religion and secular rule thus both occupyimportant roles in Islam. While they are sepa-rate and distinct, secular rule must always beguided by what is just and proper.

The current Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, MirzaMasroor Ahmad, appointed Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar (right) as theUSA Ameer in 2003. (photo by Hasan Hakeem, Zion)

40 MuslimSunrise

Let us presume that the majorityof Americans belonged to the

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. What relationship would the

Khalifa have to the government?

In this scenario, the government will haveto stay separate. It will be run by the prin-ciples of mutual consent, deliberation and rep-resentation as delineated in the Qur’an. Ofcourse, the Khalifa will offer spiritual guid-ance to the government, but the governmentwill run independently.

Would you discuss the issue ofallegiance in Islam? Is a Muslimobliged to obey the government

and its laws? The Qur’an and itslaws? What about when they

conflict?

The Prophet of Islam has said: “Lovingone’s country is a part of one’s faith.” Loy-alty is very important in Islam. One must beloyal to one’s faith, family, profession andgovernment. In a situation where the laws ofa country conflict with Qur’anic dictates, thenone should not violently rebel against thegovernment. Instead, one can migrate andleave that country. For example, many AhmadiMuslims fled Pakistan to America on accountof draconian and un-Islamic laws.

Critics of Islam charge it is abackward religion. They oftencite the deplorable condition ofwomen’s rights in several Arabcountries. How would you re-

spond to the charge that Islam isa backward religion and why is it

that so many so-called Muslimcountries refuse women their

God-given rights in the name ofIslam? And where doesAhmadiyyat fit into this?

This is a deep, multi-faceted question.Suffice it to say, backwardness is a relativeterm. What is forward or modern by West-ern standards may not be so in the rest ofthe world. For example, the West may viewsexual permissiveness as a byproduct of aforward and modern society, but the Islamicworld would strongly disagree with such a

characterization. Islam is the last of themajor religions. It attempts to incorporatethe innumerable aspects of many religioustraditions. It also continues to react andadapt to certain advancements in the West.

As far as the issue of women’s rights inthe Islamic world is concerned, I submit theissue is far more complex than the Westmakes it out to be. Islam champions equal-ity of all people, including women and mi-norities. Unfortunately, certain puritanicalinterpretations of shari’ah law result in dis-parate treatment of Muslim women, particu-larly in the Arab world. By and large, how-ever, Muslim women are afforded the samerights and privileges as all citizens, includ-ing the right to education and economicopportunity. For its part, the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community strives vigorously toempower Muslim women for the good ofsociety.

How many Ahmadi Muslims arethere in America?

Approximately 15,000.

How long has the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community existed in

America?

Since 1921 – almost 90 years.

What contributions has the

Community made to Americansociety over this time?

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community hasmade many contributions to this country. First,the early missionaries of the Ahmadiyya Mus-lim Community planted the seeds of Islam inAmerica. Indeed, by many historical accounts,the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is creditedfor spearheading the spread of Islam in thiscountry, particularly among African-Americans.It instituted one of the oldest and longest run-ning American-Muslim periodicals: The Mus-lim Sunrise.

Second, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Commu-nity laid the critical infrastructure necessary tofacilitate the mass immigration of thousands ofMuslims from abroad. These Muslims havebecome active and engaged United States citi-zens.

Third, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Communityhas given back to this country through manysocial services. For example, the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community routinely organizes blood,food and clothing drives for our fellow Ameri-cans most in need. Through its humanitarianwing, Humanity First, USA, the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community also has provided criticalrelief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina andRita and other disaster-struck regions. Finally,the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has beenand continues to be a leading voice of modera-tion within Islam in America.

SUMMER 2008 41

Selectinga KhalifaContrasting theJewish andIslamic history ofelecting orappointing a leaderNaser-ud-Din Shams

Divinely appointed organizations areestablished by prophets, who arethe elect of God. However, when

a prophet passes away the communitymust select a successor, or khalifa inArabic (pl. khulafa). This leadership iscritical to the congregation’s unity, successand survival. The selection process for the

khalifa must be well established inaccordance with religious precedents inorder to mitigate the risk of dissension.These methods form the selection basis ofleadership of all religious communities,including those of Moses and Muhammad.This is the foundation used in Ahmadiyyatwhen selecting a khalifa.

Prophets Elected by God

The Holy Qur’an makes it clear that proph-ets are appointed by God. They are com-manded to either establish religious commu-nities, or sustain previously established com-munities. The community is a fundamentalsocial structure for the progress of a faith, andis seen throughout nature to attain a commongoal. The Holy Qur’an states, “There is notan animal that moves about in the earth, nor abird that flies on its two wings, but they arecommunities like you…” [6:39].

The community’s ability to remain humblyunited with a single leader mirrors God’s Maj-esty in relation to His subservient Kingdom.However, after the demise of a prophet, the“fire” of arrogance and disobedience carves

up the community into self-destructive sectar-ian differences. Addressing the messengers,God says in the Qur’an, “..Know that your com-munity is one community, and I am your Lord.So take Me as your Protector. But the peoplehave cut up their affair among themselves, form-ing themselves into sects, each group rejoic-ing in what is with them” [23:53-54].

The next chapter of the Holy Qur’an prom-ises success and progress to those who obey,believe and do good works. Specifically, itstates, “..God will surely make them succes-sors in the earth, as He made successors fromamong those who were before them; and Hewill establish for them their religion which Hehas chosen for them; and He will surely givethem in exchange security and peace after theirfear..” [24:55-56].

Successors among the Israelites

The Bible illustrates several examples ofhow successors were selected. In the case ofMoses, God’s help was requested. Mosessaid, “Let the Lord...set a man over thecongregation…who may lead them out andbring them in, so that the congregation of the

42 MuslimSunrise

Lord may not be like sheep which have noshepherd” [Num 27:16-17].

Joshua the son of Nun was God’s responseto Moses. Moses was commanded to inau-gurate Joshua in the presence of the commu-nity and the priest Eleazar, son of Aaron.Joshua was given some of Moses’ authorityto promote obedience while Moses was yetalive. However, when Joshua died, he did notappoint his successor and the people soughtGod’s guidance for who should lead themagainst their enemy, the Canaanites.

In times of crisis, this divine guidance wassought from the chief priest’s divination. TheBible tells us that the chief priest would useUrim (Hebrew: lights) and Thummim (Hebrew:perfection) to seek God’s will. These were putin the “breastpiece of judgment” worn by thepriest (Ex 28:30). Although there are variousexplanations, these items may have been gem-stones which indicated a yea or nay, muchlike the divining arrows stored in the Ka’ababy the pre-Islamic Arabs. The outcome wasconsidered God’s will.

After Joshua’s death circa 1,390 B.C., thechief priest, who at the time was eitherEleazar or in the event of Eleazar’s death,his son Phinehas (as Josephus the histo-rian believed), performed this divination.The response was the tribe of Judah, asopposed to a single leader. Thus, the tribeof Judah led the Israelites to victory againstthe Canaanites.

The twelve tribes of Israel were governedby their respective elders until they were uni-fied once again as a community. This occurredwhen the prophet Samuel was raised to spiri-tually lead the Israelites circa 1,100 B.C. Hecalled on them to repent and renew their de-votion to the Lord, and led them to victoryover the Philistines. However, their elders re-quested Samuel to appoint a king over thetribes. Samuel was displeased by this requestas it was a rejection of God’s Kingship, butconceded when God later asked him to granttheir request (1 Sam 8:4-9). Samuel anointedSaul as their king.

Saul gradually fell out of divine favor whenhe disobeyed the prophet Samuel’s instruc-tions. Ultimately, Saul was wounded in a battleagainst the Philistines and committed suicidein order to avoid capture. The reins of leader-ship were transferred to the great king proph-ets David (c. 1,010-970B.C.) and Solomon (c.970-930B.C.). David was anointed by Samuelunder divine direction, and Solomon was ap-pointed by his father David, and then anointedby the prophet Nathan. Their rule was thegolden age of the Israelite Kingdom.

The kingdom split after Solomon’s death.Ten tribes formed the Northern Kingdom calledIsrael, and the other two tribes, Judah andBenjamin, formed the Southern Kingdomcalled Judah. As the community spirituallydecayed to the extent of idolatry and material-ity, they deprived themselves of God’s pro-tection and were carved up with dissension.They became vulnerable to attack. TheAssyrians defeated Israel in 722B.C. and ex-iled them, and the Babylonians defeated Judahand exiled 10,000 Jews to Babylon in 597B.C.The Jews were scattered as sheep without ashepherd.

The Spiritual King & Shepherd

The Jews became lost both, spiritually andgeographically. They were subjected to for-eign powers and returned to their lowest ma-terial state, akin to when they were Egyptianslaves in the time of Moses. Similarly, Godwould respond to their suffering by re-estab-lishing their kingdom. However, this was nota material kingdom. God would send them aspiritual king, Jesus Christ, and he would bethe Khatam-ul-Khulafa, or Seal of the Suc-cessors for the Israelites.

Jesus’ mission was to fulfill the Mosaic

Law. He stated, “Think not that I have cometo destroy the law, or the prophets: I am notcome to destroy, but to fulfill” [Matt 5:17 & Lk16:17]. The Greek word pleroo means to ful-fill, complete, perfect and/or bring to realiza-tion.

Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law in threeways. First, he fulfilled the prophecies of theMessiah documented by the earlier prophets.Second, as a rabbi, he perfected the Law byteaching its full essence and the true beauty,love and spirit that lay behind the letter. Third,he exemplified the Law in practice.

Jesus rebuked those whose actions wereempty, only to be seen of men. He fought thishypocrisy and urged people to develop a lov-ing relationship with God and His creation.We see this throughout the New Testament.For example, in Romans we read, “…the onewho loves another has fulfilled the law” [Rom13:8]. In this way the Israelites could experi-ence spiritual rebirth and attain the ultimatefruit of the Law – Eternal Life.

The Holy Qur’an paints a metaphoric pic-ture of Jesus’ mission. He took clay, repre-senting humble people, and metaphoricallyshaped them in the form of a bird with the Lawof the Old Testament. Then, when he“breathed into” them the spirit behind the Lawin the form of the New Testament, they cameto life and soared into the heights of spiritual-ity. Born again, the early Christians adornedthe heavens and, like birds, sang hymns inpraise of the Lord (5:111). They perched uponthe tree of good news (i.e. the Gospel) plantedby Jesus, and ate of its fruits. The Gospelbecame their tree of life.

Islamic ParallelsThe Holy Prophet had said that his com-

munity would mirror the history of the Israel-ites. In similar fashion, the Law andprophethood established the Muslim commu-nity, it was sustained by successors, deterio-rated into materialistic dynasties, and wasspiritually rejuvenated after 1,400 years. TheHoly Prophet said, “Prophethood will remainamong you as long as Allah wills. Thenkhilafat on the lines of prophethood shallcommence and remain as long as Allah wills.Then corrupt monarchy would take place, andit will remain as long as Allah wills. After that,despotic kingship will emerge and remain aslong as Allah wills. Then, the khilafat on theprecept of prophethood shall return” [MusnadAhmad bin Hanbal].

When the Holy Prophet passed away, hedid not name a successor. Muslim elders gath-

Jewish high priest wearing thebreastpiece of judgment with twelve

sections - one for each tribe.

SUMMER 2008 43

ered together and, after a short dispute, electedAbu Bakr as the first Successor to the Mes-senger or Khalifa-tur-Rasul. Shortly after theProphet’s death, some Arab tribes revoltedagainst established injunctions like Zakat (thepoor tax). Abu Bakr defeated the rebel tribesand successfully kept the Muslim communityunited. When Abu Bakr neared his death, hesought counsel from leading Muslims aboutUmar, who he felt should be his successor.Although concerns were raised about Umar’sharsh temperament, Abu Bakr trusted him andappointed him as his successor.

Umar became the second khalifa in Islam.His official title was Khalifa-tul-Khalifa-tur-Rasul, or Successor to the Successor to theMessenger. As this title was long, it waschanged to Amir-ul-Momineen, or Leader ofthe Faithful, during the Umar’s reign.

The Assassination of Umar

Umar’s caliphate witnessed amazingvictories against the Roman and Persianempires. However, defeated populationsharbored ill-will towards Muslims. Under thetribal system, prisoners of war were eitherransomed or sold into slavery. For securityreasons Umar disapproved of non-Muslimadult captives living in Medina, the Muslimcapital. However, he made exceptions to thisrule, as he did in the case of one Persian namedFeroz (also called Abu Lulu), the slave of al-Mughirah bin Shu’bah.

Feroz was a craftsman and complained toUmar that his taxes to Mughirah were too high.Umar investigated with Mughirah andconcluded that the taxes were reasonable.This festered Feroz’s humiliation into rage. Heplanned to kill Umar.

According to one witness, Amr binMaimun, Umar was checking the prayer linesto ensure they were straight. As soon as Umarbegan the prayer by reciting takbir sayingAllah-ho-Akbar (God is Greatest), Amr said,“I heard Umar say, ‘The dog has killed me oreaten me’.”

Feroz had stabbed Umar six times. Ferozcontinued his rampage stabbing anotherthirteen Muslims, seven of whom died. Amidstthe confusion, one Muslim realized what wasgoing on and threw a cloak over Feroz.Realizing he was caught, Feroz committedsuicide in desperation.

Meanwhile, Umar had fallen to the ground,profusely bleeding. He reached for the handof Abdur-Rahman bin Auf and gestured himto complete the prayer. The multitude ofMuslims in the mosque was confused. Theyno longer heard Umar’s voice and suddenlyheard Abdur-Rahman’s. People were saying,“Subhan-Allah! Subhan-Allah!” (Holy is

Allah!), and Abdur-Rahman quickly led themthrough the rest of the prayer.

A bewildered Umar ordered, “O Ibn Abbas!Find out who attacked me.”

Ibn Abbas searched around and returnedto say, “The slave of al-Mughira.”

Umar questioned, “The craftsman?”Ibn Abbas said, “Yes.”Umar said, “May Allah curse him. I did not

treat him unjustly.” Then Umar praised Godfor the fact that his assailant was not a Muslim[Sahih Bukhari, Book of the Companions of theProphet, Hadith 50].

Umar’s Successor

The ailing Umar was carried to his home. Hedrank some milk that was given him, but whenit seeped forth from his abdominal wounds,the people realized his injuries were fatal.Umar asked his son, Abdullah bin Umar, toseek permission from Aisha, a widow of theProphet, to be buried next to the Prophet andAbu Bakr (respectively, her husband andfather). Abullah rushed to Aisha and foundher weeping. When Abdullah asked herpermission on behalf of Umar, Aisha said thatshe was saving the spot for herself, but on thisoccasion she preferred Umar to herself. Whenthe news of her permission reached Umar, hesaid, “All praise belongs to God! There wasnothing more important to me than this.”

Realizing these were Umar’s final moments,the people urged him to nominate a successor.One account states that someone proposedhis son Abdullah. Umar responded, “MayGod curse you for tempting me withnepotism…when I am about to meet my Maker!Khilafat impacts the entire Muslim communityand I dislike it to become an inheritance to myfamily. I swear by God that I never covetedkhilafat for myself. Thus, what I never desiredfor myself, I would not desire for my family.”

Umar refocused on the issue of naming hissuccessor. He addressed those around himsaying, “If I appoint my successor, one better

than me (i.e. Abu Bakr) did so, and if I leave thematter undecided, one better than me (i.e.Muhammad) did so” [Bukhari, Book ofJudgments, Hadith 325].

Eventually, Umar combined both situationsinto one. He nominated a committee of sixcandidates: Ali bin Abi Talib, Uthman binAffan, az-Zubair bin Awam, Talha binUbaidullah, Sad bin Abi Waqas, and Abdur-Rahman bin Auf. Umar’s son Abdullah wouldact as a witness but could not be a candidate.

Soon thereafter Umar died (Inna lilaahewa inna alaiha raajioon – To Allah we belongand to Him we return) and was buried next tohis two companions, the Prophet and AbuBakr. The committee of delegates met todeliberate upon the next successor. Abdur-Rahman suggested they reduce the candidatesto three. Az-Zubair gave up his right to Ali,Talha gave up his right to Uthman, and Sadgave up his right to Abdur-Rahman. Abdur-Rahman faced Uthman and Ali and asked ifeither was willing to relinquish his right, bearingin mind that God will be his Witness. Bothremained silent. Abdur-Rahman then askedthe two, “Will you both leave this decision tome, and I will take Allah as my Witness that Iwill select the better of you?”

Uthman and Ali agreed to abide by Abdur-Rahman’s decision. Abdur-Rahmanapproached Ali, praised his merits, and askedhim to promise that if selected he would rulewith justice, but if not selected, he would obeythe other. Ali agreed. Abdur-Rahman tookUthman aside and asked for the same oath.Uthman agreed. Then Abdur-Rahman selectedUthman by taking his hand and giving him thepledge of allegiance. Ali did the same andthereafter so did the community of Muslims.Uthman was the third khalifa after Muhammad.

Spiritual Decay

Unfortunately, Uthman and his successor,Ali, were both assassinated by rebels claimingto be Muslims. The Muslim khilafat eventually

Realizing these were Umar’s finalmoments, the people urged him tonominate a successor. One accountstates that someone proposed hisson Abdullah. Umar responded, “MayGod curse you for tempting me withnepotism…when I am about to meetmy Maker!

44 MuslimSunrise

deteriorated into dynastic monarchies. Muchlike the Israelite community, as Muslimsgravitated towards material pursuits, theysuffered God’s wrath. Muslims divided intotwo broad categories: Sunni and Shiia.Sunnis followed their khulafa and the Shiiatheir imams.

The Holy Prophet had prophesiedeventual success of the community. Heforetold the coming of reformers (Arabic:Mujaddideen, sing. Mujaddid) at the head ofevery century to revive the faith (Sunan AbuDawood). These men would be spiritualkhulafa who would guide the community inreligious matters. They would culminate inthe coming of the Promised Messiah in the14th century, whose mission would be to killthe antichrist and sow the seeds for unitingthe divided Muslim community. For thesetwo roles he would be called the Messiah andImam Mahdi, respectively.

The Muslim Messiah

Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad appearedat a time when Muslims found themselvessubdued by foreign domination, just as theJews found themselves when Christ appearedto them. Centuries of dynasties invading andbeing invaded took their toll. Europeanpowers took advantage of the vulnerablesituation and carved up the Muslim empiresfor themselves.

As was the case for the Israelites, God senta spiritual king to the Muslims to fulfill theirLaw. He would revive their faith and perfecttheir Law, the Quranic Sharia, as did Christfor the Jewish Law. Ahmad explained the trueessence of Islam and taught the spirit behindconcepts such as jihad, divinity and death ofJesus, and scriptural integrity of the Qur’an.

He also defended the moral character andsuperiority of the Holy Prophet against theallegations made by the Christianmissionaries.

Unfortunately, Ahmad was rejected bythe clergy of his day as was Christ. Therewere two primary reasons for this. First,the religious clergy interpreted theprophecies literally, whereas there wereseveral metaphoric references. Second,the clergy misunderstood his claims. Inthe case of Jesus, they misrepresentedhis claims and falsely accused him ofclaiming to be God, whereas he nevermeant it in that context. Similarly, in thecase of Ahmad, the Muslim clergymisunderstood his claim to prophethoodas blasphemy.

Khilafat in Ahmadiyyat

The opposition faced by Ahmad failed tohinder his progress. He established theAhmadiyya Muslim Community. After hisdeath, the khilafat on the pattern ofprophethood flourished in accordance withthe prophecy of the Holy Prophet.

The First Khalifa, Hadhrat Hakim Nur-ud-Din, was elected unanimously just as AbuBakr was. He lived up to the age of thePromised Messiah, as Abu Bakr lived up tothe age of the Holy Prophet. His official titlewas Khalifat-ul-Masih or Successor to theMessiah.

The Second Khalifa, Hadhrat MirzaBashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, wasnominated by the First Khalifa when he felthe was going to die, just as Umar’s name wasproposed by Abu Bakr. However, when thetime for selection arrived, the Second Khalifawas elected by an overwhelming majority of

Ahmadis. In his later years he was attackedby a knife-wielding man while he was leadingprayers, just as Umar was.

The Second Khalifa set up an electoralcollege called Majlis Intikhab, similar to thecommittee that Umar set up to elect hissuccessor. This electoral group was utilizedto select the third, fourth and fifth successorsto the Promised Messiah. The contemporarykhalifa maintains the authority to modify themembers and rules governing the MajlisIntikhab.

On May 1, 1908, the Promised Messiahsaid, “Khilafat has been extended by theAlmighty until the Day of Judgment, and thisis a special honor and distinction in Islam forits corroboration and revival, reformers(Mujaddideen) have been coming everycentury, and will continue into the future…”[Malfoozat, Vol. X, p. 262 (published Nov. 20,1984)].

Conclusion

The Jewish and Muslim communitiesparallel each other’s history. They bothhave enjoyed the rich rewards of complyingwith God’s Law, and the harsh defeats whenstraying towards materiality. ThroughoutJudeo-Muslim history, a leader selected hissuccessor in one of three ways: 1) Remainingsilent and allowing the community to electtheir own leader after his death, 2)Nominating a leader prior to his death, or 3)Appointing a committee to elect a successoreither before or after his death. These arethe methods used by the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community to select khulafa, andinsh-Allah (God willing), will continue to beused so long as we are favored with divineblessings.

Narrated Abu Huraira:Allah's Apostle said, "Not to wish to be the like except oftwo men. A man whom Allah has given the (knowledge ofthe) Qur’an and he recites it during the hours of night andday and the one who wishes says: If I were given the sameas this (man) has been given, I would do what he does,and a man whom Allah has given wealth and he spends itin the just and right way, in which case the one whowishes says, 'If I were given the same as he has beengiven, I would do what he does.' "

SUMMER 2008 45

TheMuslimSunrise

QWhat is the general viewpointamong the Is lamiccommunity regarding extremism

and militancy? Are their viewpoints gen-era l ly unders tood ye t d iscouragedand why or why not?

AIn general, Muslims are like anyother community. You will havesmall extremist groups, either

ultra-conservative or liberal, but themoderate majority mirrors the traditionalvalues of people all over the world. Inregard to militancy, the Holy Qur’anmakes it clear that fighting is forbiddenexcept in cases of se l f -defense oroppress ion. The Holy Qur’an a lsoca tegor ica l ly forb ids any k ind ofcompulsion in matters of faith.

These views are generally under-stood, but areas in the world where Mus-lims are being exploited (e.g. Iraq, Pales-tine, Bosnia, and Kashmir) lend sympa-thy to insurgents who respond with mili-tancy.

QWhat is the role of women inIslam today? Is there a moremodern regard toward equality

for women being promoted and why orwhy not? Can educat ion andadvancement coexist with the tenets ofIslam for women?

Is lam def ines the pr imaryresponsib i l i ty of women as ra is ingchildren and maintaining a peaceful homeenvironment. Whether she chooses totake on this role herself, or work and paysomeone else to do it, is up to her.

Islam grants tremendous rights towomen, and arguably, i t can berecognized as the first organized women’srights movement. The example of theProphet Muhammad suppor ts th is .Before their marriage, his wife Khadija

owned a caravan business and employedthe Prophet. She was so impressed withhis honesty and work ethic that sheproposed to him, and he accepted. She was40 and he was 25. She was twice married beforewith children, and he was a virgin.

In terms of education and women, the twohave co-existed hand in hand since the incep-tion of Islam. The Prophet stated that allMuslims, men and women, should seek knowl-edge even if they have to go to China. Inaddition, he said that God grants Paradise to aman who educates his daughters.

QWhat avenues or resources areavailable for non-Muslims who wishto acquire a better comprehension

and/or appreciation for the true Islamic faithand the Muslim community?

AAnyone interested in Islam may emailus and request free literature. Ourwebsites are MuslimSunrise.com and

alislam.org.

QWhy are prayers recited five times aday?

AInterestingly, this question was posedto the Prophet himself. He respondedwith a question, “Who can call him

dirty, who bathes five times a day?” In otherwords, prayer, which is the remembrance andworship of God, places one in constant stateof spiritual purity throughout the day. Themore one remembers God, the less one errstoward sin.

Q How would you explain thesignificance of the veil? Do moreMuslim women today embrace its

symbolism without resentment or shame?

AHead coverings predate Islam.Assyrian and Persian women before Islam wore veils to address

the nuisance of gawking men. It was alsoJudeo-Christian tradition before Islam.The Bible states that women who praywithout covering their heads, dishonorthemselves (I Cor 11:5-6), and nuns stilldress as Muslim women do. Note everydepiction of Mother Mary.

More important is the essence of theveil – modesty – and it applies to both

men and women. People tend to scruti-nize how Muslim women dress, but over-look how Muslim men dress in the sameculture. They dress almost identical toone another.

The West tends to view the veil as asymbol of oppression, but convenientlyignores its own treatment of women.Western culture enslaves women in thebondage of objectification. We can’teven air a car commercial without plac-ing some bodacious woman in it, andpornography runs rampant in America.Much of a woman’s success and self-es-teem depends upon the very thing shehas least control over: her looks. Womenare victimized by these pressures to thepoint of self-inflicted eating disorderslike anorexia and bulimia. Although it’s ashame, it reveals how powerful these so-cial pressures can be. Many others arevictims of date rape and assaults by menthey formerly trusted, or teenage moth-ers who were abandoned by men theythought were in love with them. Is thisthe sort of freedom you want for yourdaughters?

A Christian woman getting a breastaugmentation jokingly asked one of oureditors what Islam would say about this.His answer was “Islam is not concernedwith the size of your chest, but rather thesize of your heart.”

The cover article for the March 2008issue of Christianity Today is entitled,“Addicted to Sex” and describes thes t ranglehold pornography has overChristian men. Although this is a coura-geous attempt to address the problem,note the irony: The solution is the verypractice they criticize so much – the veil.

Jesus stated, “You have heard that itwas said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’But I say to you that everyone who looksat a woman with lust has already commit-ted adultery with her in his heart” [Matt5:27 to 28]. Islamic teachings put thisbeautiful teaching in practice and preventthe objectification of women. This, in anutshell, is the essence of the veil.

(Adapted from a recent Q&A session heldby the Zion chapter of the Ahmadiyya Mus-lim Community.)

Q&A

46 MuslimSunrise

News, Views and Reviews Press PublicationsORIGINALLY PRINTED IN THE 4/1/08ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

“PAKISTAN LOOKS TO DEMOCRACY”By Qamar Ahmad,Duluth, Georgia

As a Pakistani immigrant in the UnitedStates, I keep tabs on the political scene inPakistan. The political process is back ontrack. A democratically elected prime ministeris in place. The judges are no longer underhouse arrest. Yet this is only a partial solu-tion. To be a sustainable democracy, Pakistanwill need to restore the constitution of 1973 asa start. This means doing away with dictato-rial powers of the president of Pakistan, grant-ing full citizen status to religious minoritiesand enforcing the law without religious, po-litical or social discrimination.

Only then can we start marching towardfulfillment of the dream of founder MuhammadAli Jinnah, who saw Pakistan as a secular andjust democracy.

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN THE 3/14/08 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

“REPRINTED CARTOONS REPRESENTHYPOCRISY”

By Sohail Husain,New Haven, Connecticut

Regarding the March 10 article, “DanishCartoons: One Afghan’s peaceful protest”:

When I think about Denmark, usually theimage of savory butter cookies comes to mind.But there is nothing sweet about Denmarkthese days. Several Danish newspapers lastmonth reprinted cartoons that offensivelydepicted the holy founder of Islam, the prophetMuhammad. The editors of the originatingnewspaper, the Jyllands-Posten, justified re-printing the cartoons in response to an allegedplot to murder one of the cartoonists by a fewMuslim extremists. As pointed out by HadhratMirza Masroor Ahmad, head of the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community, “what was theneed to reprint the cartoons when the policehad already apprehended the three peoplewho were alleged to be plotting against oneof the cartoonists?”

What’s even more troubling is that thesame newspaper in 2003 vetoed the publish-

ing of a cartoon relating to Jesus Christ, withthe reasoning that caricatures of Jesus wereoffensive and not funny. We wish the samedecency and forbearance were extended in thecurrent situation. Instead, twisted revenge anddouble standards plague the decision to re-print the cartoons of the prophet of Islam.Sadly, perhaps Shakespeare’s Marcellus wasright in saying, “Something is rotten in thestate of Denmark.”

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN THE 2/28/08 OSHKOSH NORTHWESTERN

“OBAMA CAN BE PROUD OF HISMIDDLE NAME, HUSSEIN”

By Saad MianOshkosh, Wisconsin

What’s in a name? Hussein is the last nameof a notorious dictator Saddam. It is also themiddle name of the US presidential hopefulBarack Obama, and it is a favorite topic forconspiracy creators. Mr. Obama has been de-nying the frivolous allegation of him being aMuslim. But his opponents have consistentlyattacked his faith and his middle name.

So, what’s wrong with this name? To setthe records straight, the name Hussein was

not invented by Saddam. The very firstHussein recorded in history was the grand-son of Prophet Muhammad. About fifty yearshad passed since Prophet Muhammad’s de-mise and Muavia, a provincial governor, hadset aside the democratic electoral process andassumed the control of Muslim Arabia. AfterMuavia, his son Yazid inherited the throne.This was not acceptable to one man, Hussein.He stood up against the dictator and decidedto move to a remote province in search of like-minded friends. Yazid sent his thirty five thou-sand men strong army to stop Hussein andhis hundred or so family members and friendsfrom reaching their destination. The battleensued near the place called Karbala, Iraq.

The forces of Yazid brutally killed Husseinand many of his family members including in-fants. Yazid delayed the inevitable for a fewmore years, but his rule was over soon. Mus-lims learned from the sacrifice of Hussein thatdying fighting for freedom and choice is bet-ter than living without it.

I sincerely request Mr. Obama to readabout the great sacrifice of Hussein and thecourage he showed in the face of dictatorshipand oppression. Mr. Obama will get valuablelessons from this man’s life and he would beproud to associate himself with this great man,even if only in name.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama has been denying the frivolousallegation of him being a Muslim. But his opponents have consistentlyattacked his faith and his middle name.

SUMMER 2008 47

News, Views and Reviews Viewpoint

“JUSTICE IN ISLAM”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE OR-EGONIAN, FEBRUARY 17, 2008

By Harris Zafar, Portland, Oregon

Imagine this scene: Agroup of colleaguesenters Starbucks to usethe wireless Internet.They order coffee, find atable and sit down withtheir laptops. They arethen approached by amob of men known asthe “religious police,”who arrest the onewoman in the group forsitting with men who arenot related to her. Incourt, instead of beingdeclared guilty or notguilty, she is called asinner and thrown in jail.

How does this sound? Unrealistic? Well,believe it because this is exactly what hap-pened recently to a U.S. businesswoman inSaudi Arabia who went to a Starbucks with anunrelated male colleague. Though wearing thetraditional headscarf and long black coat, shewas arrested, strip-searched, forced to signfalse confessions and called a sinner.

This is an impractical attempt to force reli-gious practices onto people. Saudi Arabia hasbecome infamous for its religious police(known by the Arabic word “mutaween”), whohave the power to arrest unrelated men andwomen caught socializing; seize products re-garded as “un-Islamic”; and enforce Islamicdress codes and dietary laws.

In March 2002, these police forcibly barredschoolgirls from escaping a burning school inMecca because the girls were not wearingheadscarves and black coats. Consequently,15 girls died and 50 were injured.

Last summer, they also arrested and de-ported every member of the minority Ah-madiyya Muslim Community, who were pray-ing in a private residence, simply because theydisagreed with the sect’s moderate views.

As a Muslim who understands and followstrue Islamic tenets, such cases sadden and infu-riate me. The whole idea of “religious police” isabsurd. Religion cannot be imposed on anyone.The Holy Quran openly declares in Chapter 2,verse 257: “There shall be no compulsion in reli-gion.”

Islam finds its roots in Saudi Arabia. Yetwomen in that kingdom particularly face discrimi-nation in matters like education, employment andthe justice system. Although they make up 70percent of university enrollment, women com-prise just five percent of the Saudi work force.They cannot travel abroad, be admitted into ahospital, examined by a doctor or leave thehouse without permission or company of animmediate male relative.

Women also face discrimination in the Saudilegal system because of the country’s strict in-terpretation of Shariah law.

Recently, seven men abducted a teenagewoman with an unrelated man from a mall in SaudiArabia and raped her. In October, the seven men

were sentenced to two to nine years in prison,but the woman was also convicted of breakingthe law by not having a male guardian with herand for being alone with an unrelated man. Shewas sentenced to six months in prison and 200lashes.

Where is the justice in that? A victim of gangrape, she must face legal punishment?

Nowhere in Islamic jurisprudence will youfind such a rule. This is not Islam. The ProphetMuhammad came to give more rights to women;not to take away their rights. This case drewinternational outrage, resulting in the woman’spardon by Saudi Arabia’s king.

It is so sad to see the definition of justiceso skewed in Saudi Arabia. I openly declarethat these enemies of justice are not follow-ing any Islamic principles related to justice.Islam says that everyone is answerable fortheir actions to God only. The right to im-pose religiousness has not been granted toanyone, especially to those who do not evenunderstand the religion.

Harris Zafar, a business analyst in theinformation technology industry, ispresident of the youth organization withinhis mosque in Southwest Portland.

Saudi Arabia has become infamous for itsreligious police (known by the Arabic word“mutaween”), who have the power to arrestunrelated men and women caught socializing;seize products regarded as “un-Islamic”; andenforce Islamic dress codes and dietary laws.

48 MuslimSunrise

Fitna BY GEERT WILDERS

Review bySardar Anees Ahmad,

Waterloo, NY

After months of publicity andanticipation, Geert Wilders’short documentary, Fitna, canbe summed up in even shorterwords: totally disappointing.

“Fitna” lacks depth and is so haphaz-ardly prepared that any filmmaker woulddo well to take Wilders’ piece as a primeexample of what not to do when making adocumentary.

For starters, “Fitna” is only 16 min-utes long. Wilders completely fails to ac-knowledge the complex issues that facili-tate Islamic extremism. For a member ofparliament who deals with complex issueson a daily basis, it is shocking to observejust how naive Wilders assumes the pub-lic to be.

No intellectual is interviewed and noeffort is made to understand issues froma geo-pol i t ica l perspec t ive – onlythrough the convoluted lens of the“mullah.” Context is simply not part ofWilders’ vocabulary. In fact, Wildersperversely simple approach unveils hisbyzantine ways.

Wilders begins by citing Chapter 8,Verse 61 of the Qur’an – a detailed expla-nation of how Muslims should preparefor battle should the situation arise.What Wilders’ fails to mention is theverses preceding and following this versestress arbitration, diplomacy and an un-dying inclination to peace. Only if theother party is unwilling to resolve mat-ters through peaceful means is the verseWilders cites applicable. In simpler terms,Muslims are commanded to live in peace

and resort to fighting only to preservethe state. Is this not the exact positionof the US Department of Homeland Secu-rity? Wilders, somehow, also finds thefollowing verse to promote terrorism:“And fight them until there is no perse-cution and religion is wholly to Allah.But if they desist, then surely Allah isWatchful of what they do” (8:40).

Then Wilders makes an even boldermove. Footage of churches being de-stroyed is accompanied by a mullahs roar-ing approval. Somehow Wilders over-looks Chapter 22, Verse 41 of the Qur’an,which not only commands Muslims toprotect all houses of worship from attack,but orders Muslims to give priority toevery other religions place of worshipbefore a mosque.

Wilders also shows a mullah declar-ing that Allah will reject every religionother than Islam. What Wilders fails tonote is the Qur’an specifically mentionsthat non-Muslims are fully capable of at-taining salvation (2:63; 5:70).

Clips of mullahs calling for death sen-tences for adulterers , apostates andhomosexuals are never accompanied bya single Quranic verse. That is becausethe Quran never gives man permissionto k i l l an adul te rer or even harman apostate or homosexual. Perhaps Mr.Wilders forgot that it is the Bible, notthe Quran, which prescribes death foran adulterer and homosexual (Leviticus20:10 , 13) as wel l as an apos ta te

(Deuteronomy 13:6-18). Moreover, as aRoman Catholic, Wilders should note thatthe Pilgrims cited (Psalms 2:8) and (Ro-mans 13:2) to validate their conqueringof the Native Americans. Should theDutch then ban the Bible as well?

Showing mullahs maligning and call-ing for the death of Jews, Wilders at-tempts to blame the Qur’an for their be-havior. What Wilders fails to acknowl-edge is the Qur’an does not categoricallycondemn the entire Jewish people. Onlythose who violate the sanctity of the Sab-bath – that is, only those Jews who ma-lign the message of Prophet Moses – fallinto the category of “apes” (2:66; 7:167).Moreover, i f I s lam promotes ant i -Semitism, why did the Jews find peace inMedina during Prophet Muhammad’sreign or in Moorish Spain, where it was

the Christians, not the Muslims,who persecuted and killed theJewish people?

Every single verse dubbed“extreme” is followed by clips ofextremist mullahs who comprisea very small party of the 1.2 bil-lion Muslims worldwide. Not asingle reference is made as tohow Prophet Muhammad or hiscompanions unders tood andprac t iced these teachings .Would i t no t behoove Mr.Wilders to present Islamic teach-ing through the lens those whoknew it best?

Indeed, the same mullahsWilders cites to validate his claim are thevery same miscreants ProphetMuhammad completely dissociated him-self from, declaring the clergy of the Lat-ter Days to be “the worst of creatures onearth ... fitna (disorder) will initiatef rom them and re turn to them. . .”(Mishkat Kitabul ‘Ilm). What a fittingtitle “Fitna” would have been for thisdocumentary if only Wilders had identi-fied the real culprit – the Mullah.

Totally failing to address the rootcause of extremism, and offering no vi-able solution, “Fitna” literally does noth-ing to sway a Muslim, and just as equallyfails to move any critic of Islam.

But hey, at least the graphics wereimpressive.

News, Views and Reviews Film Review

SUMMER 2008 49

Aishah describes his (The Holy Prophet Muhammad) beddingas a sack of hide filled with leaves. She says: " We never atebread made of wheat for three consecutive days. There weretimes when months would pass and we did not eat meat or bread,instead filled our bellies with dates and some milk, except for anodd present when someone would slaughter a sheep and send usa piece of meat."

Umar narrates: "I went into a small room which wasoccupied by the Holy Founder of Islam. He was lying on a strawbedding so rough in nature that on the side he was leaning, I sawstraw marks all over his body. I scanned the room and it wasempty, there was nothing except for a small bucket for water andone or two odd things. I knew him to be the most beloved of God, aperson who had reached the summit of humanity. This contrast sooverwhelmed me with sorrow that I started to cry." The HolyProphet turned to me and said: "Umar, what has ailed thee?" Isaid: "O Messenger of God, God loves you so much, you are thebest ever created by Him, yet I see you in this state of extremeausterity. You don't have proper bedding, you don't have anyarticles to decorate your house, there is nothing." The HolyProphet smiled and said: "Umar, would you prefer worldly thingsof this life to what is in store for us by God in the life to come?"Umar replied: "Surely the things to come will be better".

The simple life of the Prophet...

50 MuslimSunrise

F or our discussion, we wouldlike to make a distinctionbetween “khilafat” and“caliphate” for reasons otherthan mere etymological

development of the words. In Arabic “khalifa”means “successor/deputy/vicegerent”, and“khilafat” is the dominion of a khalifa, or theinstitution that runs under the leadership of akhalifa. In English, “caliph” is the chief civiland political Muslim ruler regarded as asuccessor of Prophet Muhammad (peace beon him). But in the Holy Quran, the wordskhalifa (in singular) and khulafa or khalaa’if(in plural) have wider connotations than“caliph” and “caliphs” in English. For example,the Holy Quran uses the title of “khalifa onthe earth” for Prophet Adam as “God’s deputyor vicegerent on the earth” (2:31). In Arabicwe can call him Khalifa-tul-Allah, but wecannot call him as ‘God’s Caliph.’ Similarly,David is called a “khalifa”, a vicegerent ofGod in the Holy Quran: ‘O David! We havemade you a khalifa (vicegerent) in the earth;so judge between men with justice and follownot vain desires, lest it should lead you astrayfrom the way of Allah.’ (38:27). But we neversay “Caliph David” in the English language;he is called “King David”. Moreover, in theHoly Quran the words khalaa’if and khulafa(plural of khalifa) have been used for somenations or specific generations in the sense

that God did a great favor to them and madethem dominant over the earth: “And rememberthe time when He made you as khulafa afterthe people of Noah, and increased youabundantly is constitution.” (7:75). “Andremember the time when He appointed you askhulafa after ‘Ad, and assigned you an abodein the land.” (7:75). But in English we do notrefer to any nation or generation as “Caliphs.”

The Holy Quran specifically uses the termkhulafa indicating a special favor of Allah tothe people not only by granting them worldlypower, but more specifically as a spiritual re-ward for their righteousness. In this sense, toretain the blessing of khilafat, vigilance is re-quired as it is a test and a trail for righteouspeople. “And He it is Who has made youkhalaa’if (successors to win favors of God)on the earth, and then exalted some of youover the others in degrees of rank, so that Hemay try you by that which He has given you”(6:166). “Then We made you khalaa’if (suc-cessors) in the earth after them (i.e. the earliergeneration), that We might see how you wouldact.” (10:15). “Who answers the distressed

Khilafat & CaliphateBy Mubasher Ahmad, M.A., LL.B.

Midwest Regional Missionary

The commonly used English words ‘Caliph’ and ‘Caliphate’ are both taken and transformed from the Arabic terms ‘khalifa’and ‘khilafat’. The term ‘caliph’ is in English use since 1393, and ‘caliphate’ since 1614. One of the reasons for therichness of English vocabulary is its ability to borrow and absorb foreign words and phrases in abundance. English speakingpeople use words taken from almost every other language in the world. For example, from Indo-Pakistani languages suchas Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit, English has obtained ‘camphor’, ‘ginger’, ‘musk’, ‘sugar ’, ‘punch’, ‘guru’, ‘nirvana’, ‘bungalow’,‘jungle’, ‘cheetah’, ‘thug’, ‘pundit’ and ‘Aryan’. From Farsi are ‘bazaar ’, ‘caravan’, ‘dervish’, ‘jasmine’, ‘magazine’, ‘rook’and ‘checkmate’. From Hebrew are the words ‘Amen’, ‘jubilee’, ‘kosher ’, ‘Satan’ and ‘messiah’. Similarly, numerous names,phrases and terms are taken from Arabic language. To mention only a few: Admiral (Amir-ul-bahr, or amir-ar-rahl), alchemy(al-kimiya), alcohol (al-kohl), algebra (al-gebro-wal-maqabilah), algorithm (al-Khowarazmi), arsenal (dar-as-sina’ah), assassin(hashishin), coffee (qawah), El Cid (al-Sayyid), elixir (al-iksir), emir (Amir), fakir (faqir), genie (jinn), minaret (minarah),Ottoman (Uthman), Saracen (sharqiyien), sherbet & syrup (sharbah, sharaab), sofa (suffah ), talisman ( talism), and zero(sifr).

The Concept of Khilafat in the Holy Quran

person when he calls upon Him, and removesthe evil, and makes you khulafa (successors)in the earth? Is there a God besides Allah?Little it is that you reflect” (27:63). In this versethe blessing of khilafat is closely connectedwith God’s answering prayer of the distressed,and removing a sorrowful state. Again, “Ver-ily, Allah knows the secrets of the heavensand the earth. Verily, He knows full well allthat lies hidden in the breasts. He it is Whomade you khalaa’if (successors/vicegerents)in the earth. So he, who disbelieves, will him-self suffer the consequences of his disbelief”(35:40).

In the above quoted verses, the HolyQuran lays emphasis on the moral, ethical andspiritual aspects as a requirement for the be-lievers to receive the favor of khilafat fromGod. “Allah has promised to those among youwho posses faith, and do good works, that Hewill surely make them Successors in the earth,as He had made Successors from among thosewho were before them; and that He will surelyestablish for them their religion which He haschosen for them; and He will surely give them

The Holy Quran specifically uses the term khulafa indicatinga special favor of Allah to the people not only by grantingthem worldly power, but more specifically as a spiritual

reward for their righteousness.

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in exchange security (and peace) after theirfear: They will worship Me alone, and theywill not associate anything with Me. Thenwhoso is ungrateful after that, they will berebellious” (24:56).

God’s promise to establish khilafat as ablessing for mankind is firmly rooted in themoral and spiritual condition of sincere be-lievers. In this specific sense, we make a dis-tinction between khilafat and caliphate. Ca-liphate deals with civil and political domain ofthe rulers in Islamic history, but khilafat dealswith moral, religious and spiritual leadershipof mankind. Khilafat exerts to establish theworship of One God, to see that the peopleremain prayerful, do good works, live freely,and maintain peace. Therefore, a political rulerwho might be called “Caliph” may not be aKhalifa in the true Quranic sense of the word.

A Prophetic HadithIn the famous book of Ahadith, Musnad

Ahmad by Imam Ahmad bin Hambal, there isone prophetic Hadith narrated by HadhratHuzaifa (may Allah be pleased with him) thatthe Messenger of Allah (peace and blessingsof Allah be on him.) said: “Prophethood willremain among you as long as Allah wills. Thenkhilafat on the lines of Prophethood shallcommence, and remain as long as Allah wills.Then corrupt/erosive monarchy would takeplace, and it will remain as long as Allah wills.After that, despotic kingship would emerge,and it will remain as long as Allah wills. Then,the khilafat shall come once again based onthe precept of Prophethood.” In this Hadith,the promise of khilafat is connected withProphethood on two separate occasions. Inbetween the two eras of khilafat, the refer-ence to “the corrupt/erosive monarchy” and“despotic kingship” is what we would like termas “Caliphate.” Most of the Muslim monarchsused the title “khalifa”, but they had in factdigressed from following the precept ofProphethood. The Arabic words showing therelationship between khilafat andProphethood are “khilafat -ala- minhaj-e-nabuwwat”, that is, khilafat on the lines ofProphethood. This means that a Prophet’s trueSuccessors (Khulafa) would continue to fol-low the example of the Prophet and lead thebelievers in the same way as the Prophetguided them. This elucidates the principle thatkhilafat in its essence is a continuation of themission of the Prophet. The objectives ofkhilafat and Prophethood remain the same.The Holy Quran makes it clear that the mainobjective of Prophethood is the moral andspiritual development of mankind. With re-

gards to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (maypeace and blessings of Allah be on him), theHoly Quran declares: “We have sent to you aMessenger from among you, who recites Ourverses/signs (ayaat) to you, and purifies you,and teaches you the Book and wisdom, andteaches you that which you knew not”(2:152).This verse enumerates four functionsof the Prophet:

1. Recital of God’s verses/signs (ayaat)to establish firmness of faith in the existenceof One God and to worship Him alone.

2. Purification of souls by bringing a moralchange in human conduct by creating mutuallove, sympathy and unity among the believ-ers, and by eradicating sinful inclination fromthe hearts of the believers.

3. Teaching the Book, that is, the HolyQuran which contains Law and command-ments of God to establish a just and benevo-lent society.

4. Teaching wisdom that underlies naturaland social laws to increase human knowledge.

Indeed, these four objectives — related tospiritual, moral, societal and intellectual en-hancement of mankind — continued to be themain objectives of the righteous and “rightlyguided” khilafat in the footsteps of theProphet of Islam.

The Rightly Guided KhilafatAfter leading his followers for 23 years on

‘the straight path’ of Islam, the Prophet (peaceand blessings of Allah be on him) passed awayin 632 AD. His companions elected HadhratAbu Bakr (Allah be pleased with him) as hisfirst khalifa by a majority of votes. HadhratAbu Bakr continued to uphold the unityamong the Muslims, leading them in follow-ing the principles of Islamic teachings in fullobedience to Allah and His Messenger. Afterhim, the next three successive khulafa –namely, Hadhrat Umar ibn al-Khattab, HadhratUthman bin Affan and Hadhrat Ali ibn AbiTalib (may Allah be pleased with them all) –were among the most devoted and the closestcompanions of the Prophet. They carried onhis mission under very difficult and complexcircumstances. Thus “khilafat ala minhaj-e-nabuwaat” was firmly established when theProphet was no more among the believers.Khalifa would lead the prayers as Imam-us-Salat. He would impart religious and spiritualknowledge to the fellow Muslims; maintain

justice and piety in society, and remain aboveany party-politics. In addition, he administeredall matters with mutual consultation (Shura)as was ordained in the Holy Quran. He wasalso the commander-in- chief as Ameer-ul-Momineen.

The Text of theHoly Quran Preserved

One of the major tasks in the hands ofthe Khulafa of the Messenger of Allah wasto preserve the text of the Holy Quran. Whenmany hufaaz (those who commit the entireQuran to memory) were killed in a battle, onthe advice of Hadhrat Umar, codification andcompilation of the Holy Quran started un-der the directive of Hadhrat Abu Bakr. Heentrusted the work to Hadhrat Zaid binSabit, a close companion of the Prophet whopresented the Holy Quran in a completeBook form to Hadhrat Abu Bakr. At the deathof Hadhrat Abu Bakr, the compiled Bookpassed into the hands of Hadhrat Umar whoin turn bequeathed it to his daughter HadhratHafsa the widow of the Holy Prophet (peaceand blessings of Allah be on him.). It wasthe same text that later formed the basis ofthe copies distributed on a large scale bythe third Khalifa Hadhrat Usman bin Affaanto every part of the Islamic world.

In less than 30 years, from the deserts ofArabia, the Muslims reached Iraq, Syria, Pal-estine, Jerusalem, Egypt, Cyprus, and Tri-poli in North Africa; Iran, Afghanistan, andSindh in India. The powerful Byzantine Em-pire in the North West and the ancient Per-sian Empire in the East were defeated byMuslims. One of the standing orders ofkhilafat was that the conquered people werenot to be forcibly converted to Islam. TheHoly Quran clearly condemns compulsionin religion, and it specifically respects theScriptures of the Jews and Christians, call-ing them ahl al-kitab, the People of theBook. They, along with Zoroastrians, Hin-dus and Buddhists were considered asdhimmis (protected subjects). Muslims paidZakat (an annual tax to assist the poor), butthe non-Muslim dhimmis were exempted topay zakat. Instead, they paid a poll tax calledjizya. In return, their lives, properties, honorand freedom of religious practice were safe-guarded by the Islamic government underthe system of khilafat.

Dynastic MonarchiesThe rapid expansion of Islamic domain cre-

ated many challenges. There were mischiefmongers who were busy creating discon-

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tent and disunity among the Muslims.Unfortunately, they succeeded in creatinga military rebellion against the thirdkhalifa, Hadhrat Uthman. A group of sol-diers came to Medina (in 656 AD) fromFustat, Egypt, and murdered him in hishouse while he was reciting the HolyQuran. Demands to punish Uthman’s mur-derers were put to Hadhrat Ali who waselected as the fourth khalifa, and this situ-ation subsequently lead to civil wars. Aclose relat ive of Hadhrat Uthman,Muawiyya, who was at that time the gov-ernor of Syria, confronted Hadhrat Ali.After failed attempts at negotiations andarbitration, Muawiyya forcefully tried todepose Hadhrat Ali, declaring him-self tobe the caliph.

Some extremists, known as Kharijies(seceders), rebelled against Muawiyya andHadhrat Ali both. Hadhrat Ali dealt withthem harshly and crushed their armed re-bellion. Later, one of the Kharijies killedHadhrat Ali in 661, thus ending the era ofthe rightly guided Khulafa. By then, Medinathe capital of the Prophet was no more thepower center. Muawiyya, who had takenpower by force, was the first military andpolitical leader to initiate Caliphate in thesense of hereditary monarchy. Damascuswas the capital of his kingdom. Accordingto Professor Hitti, Muawiyya was not onlythe first, but also one of the best of theArab kings. He was shrewd, diplomatic, cooland calculating. In his life-time, not only henominated his own son, Yazid, to be the nextruler, but also made the subject take “Ba’it”(an oath of allegiance) to Yazid in variousparts of the empire. He himself went to theholy cities of Mecca and Medina for thispurpose. The only persons who refused tomake Ba’it were Hadhrat Hussain son ofHadhrat Ali, Abdullah son of Hadhrat Umar,Abdur Rahman son of Hadhrat Abu Bakr,and Abdullah son of Hadhrat Zubair. Theirstand was that Khilafat could not be de-generated into a hereditary monarchy. Nev-ertheless, Yazid, who did not have the moralintegrity for being a Khalifa, inherited thekingship from his father in 680 AD. Thus anew phase in the Islamic history started,leading to kingship to be run by membersof Umayya family. This phase is distinctfrom “Khilafat”. The caliphs were success-ful political leaders, but not necessarily menof moral integrity with full religious knowl-edge anymore; thus, hereditary monarchyeroded the true nature of Khilafat and ittransgressed into royal Caliphate.

In the words of historian KarenArmstrong, “The Umayyad caliphs wouldgradually transform the disparate regionsconquered by the Muslim armies into a uni-fied empire, with common ideology. This wasa great achievement; but the court naturallybegan to develop a rich culture and luxuri-ous lifestyle, and became indistinguishablein many respects from any other class.” (Is-lam: A Short History, p.41.).

The CaliphateAfter the four “rightly guided” Successors

to the Prophet, the “Caliphate” (or dynasticmonarchies) started, and it remained amongthe Muslims for more than 1250 years.Muawiyya founded the Umayyad dynasty in661, and his son, Yazid I, became caliph in 688.The House of Umayyad ruled the Muslimworld for almost a century. In 749, the Abbasid(descendents of Prophet’s uncle HadhratAbbas ibn Abdul Muttalib) overthrew theUmayyad and retained power for next five cen-turies. However, they suffered a great tragicsetback when the Mongols attacked Baghdadin 1258, and the then Caliph al-Musta’sim wasexecuted. Three years later, a surviving mem-ber of the Abbasid family was installed asCaliph at Cairo under the patronage of theMamluk Sultanate; but this remained a“shadow”/titular Caliphate, and mostly limitedto only ceremonial and religious matters.

Turkish Sultans assume theCaliphate

The Turkish Ottoman Muslim rulers usedthe title “Sultan” for themselves, but the sev-enth Sultan of Ottoman dynasty, Mehmed II(1432-1481) and his son Selim I, claimed to beCaliphs to justify their conquest of Islamic heart-land. In the beginning, they used the title “Ca-liph” symbolically, but it took a kind of perma-nency when the Ottoman Empire defeated theMamluk Sultanate in 1517. The last AbbasidCaliph at Cairo, al-Mutawakkil III, was impris-oned and taken to Istanbul, where he report-edly surrendered the Caliphate to Selim I.

The Umayyad, Abbasid and Ottoman dy-nasties ruled in multifaceted forms of admin-istrations. At times, multiple Caliphates wererunning parallel to each other. Internal con-flicts, rebellions and rivalries leading to op-pression and bloodshed were not uncommon.Thus slowly and gradually, the institution ofCaliphate lost much of its legitimacy in theeyes of the Muslim Umma. Clearly, the caliphswere far-removed from the norms set by the

Prophet and the early Khulafa to be seriouscontenders to the leadership of Muslims. Noneof them could claim to be the spiritual andreligious leader of the entire Muslim Umma.The objectives of Prophethood were mostlydiscarded. But in secular matters, cultural ad-vancements were made in various sciencesand arts creating a new and robust civiliza-tion. The moral and spiritual essence ofkhilafat survived to some extent through thereligiosity of conservative Islamic Scholars(Ulama), but was mostly preserved and sus-tained by Aulia (Saints), Imams (spiritual andreligious guides), Mujjaddids (religious reform-ers) and the Sufis (mystics).

Khilafat & the Sufi OrdersThe lavish lifestyle of the elite ruling class

under the monarchical Caliphs had caused areaction, and many pious Muslims were ledtowards mysticism. Many eminent Sufi lead-ers had emerged since the eighth century, andwith the passage of time this trend was fur-ther heightened. The famous Sufi orders ofNaqshbandiya, Qadriya, Yassaviyya,Suhrawardi, Shadilliyya, Badawiyya,Chishtiyya and Mawalawiyya were formed inthe twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The useof the title of khalifa became customary amongthe successors and deputies of the foundersof the Sufi orders. For example, Qutb-ud-DinBakhtiar Kaki (d.1235 AD) was a contempo-rary saint and the principal khalifa (deputy)of Muin-ud-Din Chishti (d.1236) — the founderof the famous Chishtiyya order. Farid-ud-DinMasud Gand Shakar (d. 1265) was a Khalifa(successor) of Bakhtiar Kaki. And his Khalifawas Nizam-ud-Din Aulia (d.1325) of Delhi, In-dia. The Sufi leaders and their Khulafa exer-cised spiritual power over the hearts and mindsof the people by laying emphasis on attainingnearness to God through esoteric doctrines,piety, and resistance to worldly temptations.They were saintly persons with faith in thepower of prayer. They performed miracles andexperienced true dreams, visions and Divinerevelations.

End of the CaliphateDuring the World War I (1914-1918), the

Turkish Ottoman Empire fought against Brit-ain and her Allies, and was defeated. By theend of World War I, the Turkish Ottoman Em-pire was occupied by European allies, and itsterritories were divided among them. MehmedVI, the 36th Sultan was exiled, and after hisdeath the Sultanate was abolished in 1922.However, his cousin, the Crown Prince Abdul

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Majid II, was elected by the Turkish NationalAssembly in Ankara as ‘Caliph’. Later, onMarch 3, 1924, he was deposed and expelledfrom Turkey along with the rest of his family.This was followed by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk)formally abolishing Caliphate and the shariahcourt system. Abdul Majid II, therefore, is con-sidered to be “Aakhir Khalifatul Muslimeen”– the last Caliph among the Muslims.

The Khilafat MovementWhen European allies decided to parti-

tion the Ottoman Empire territories, therewas a strong reaction among the Muslimsof the world. In late 1919, some Indian Mus-lim leaders started ‘Khilafat Movement’, topreserve the integrity of the Caliphate andthe Ottoman Empire. A Khilafat Committeewas formed with two goals to achieve:“First, to urge the retention of the tempo-ral powers of the Sultan of Turkey as Ca-liph, and second to ensure his continuedsuzerainty over the Islamic holy places.”The Khilafat Movement was based on anon-factual premise that the Ottoman Ca-liph was the ‘Universal Caliph’ to whom allMuslims, everywhere in the world, owed al-legiance.

In 1920, a famous Indian Muslim scholarand leader, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,published a book called Masla-e-Khilafat(The Issue of Caliphate), in which he stated:“Without the Caliphate, the existence ofIslam is not possible, the Muslims of Indiawith all their effort and power need towork for this.” Surprisingly, the Muslimleaders of the Khilafat Movement thenasked a Hindu leader, Mohandas Gandhi,to help them with what was purely an Is-lamic cause. To gain strength for his ownpolitical agenda, Gandhi willingly agreedto give his support to the Muslims in cre-ating mass agitations and applying diplo-matic pressure on British Government.However, the Muslim political leaderMohammad Ali Jinnah (who later becamethe founder of Pakistan) was opposed toGandhi’s political tactics, and the Khilafatists

used to jeer at him. However, when the Turk-ish Muslims under the leadership of MustafaKemal Ataturk abolished Caliphate in 1924,the Indian Muslims were deeply hurt andhumiliated and the Khilafat Movement col-lapsed.

Futile Attemptsto Revive Caliphate

Presently there are more than 50 countrieswith predominantly Muslim population, butall are without a Caliph. In 1979, following whatwas an “Islamic Revolution” in Iran, indeedthe secular kingdom of Shah Mohammad RezaPahlavi was replaced by a religious basedpower structure. The Islamic Republic of Iranclaims to run the affairs of the state on ShiaIslamic principles; but the Iranian religiousleaders are unable to call for a global Imamateor Caliphate. They are waiting for the appear-ance of the “hidden Imam” who is the consti-tutional Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran!

Muslims are coming to the realization thatthe root cause for their failure in reviving Ca-liphate is the decline in their observance ofreligious practices and lack of spirituality. Sev-eral Islamic political parties and groups (in-cluding the militant al-Qaeda) are calling theMuslims to get united for the restoration of aglobal Caliphate; but apparently there is noagreement on its methodology. US PresidentGeorge Bush seems to be perturbed aboutsuch calls coming from the terrorist groups.He wants to “open a new chapter in the fightagainst enemies of freedom, against those whoin the beginning of 21st century call Muslimsto restore Caliphate and to spread shariah.”President Bush thinks that the so-calledJihadists/militants “hope to establish a vio-lent political utopia across the Middle East,which they call Caliphate, where all would beruled according to their hateful ideology...ThisCaliphate would be a totalitarian Islamic em-pire encompassing all current and former Mus-lim lands, stretching from Europe to North Af-rica, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.” Butthe Ahmadi Muslims have full conviction thatnothing like that shall ever emerge, and Presi-dent Bush need not have any concerns about

a rising Caliphate of this nature. According tothe Prophecy of the Holy Prophet Muham-mad (may peace and blessings of Allah be onhim) the promised Khilafat on the precept ofProphethood (ala minhaj-e-nabuwwat),which is purely spiritual in nature, has alreadybeen established, since 1908, within the worldof Islam under Divine Will. It is known asKhilafat-e-Ahmadiyya.

The Ahmadiyya KhilafatHadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

-peace be on him - claimed to be the Imam ofthe Age, the Mahdi, and the awaited Messiah— a Prophet of God, but in full subordinationto the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peaceand blessings of Allah be on him). He initiatedthe Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at in 1889.Though he lived in a small village, Qadian, inthe Punjab, India, he claimed that his missionwas universal – to revive faith in One God, toremove the love for materialism, and to unifyall mankind. He declared:

“I have been sent to strengthen faith inGod by proving He exists and by making HisBeing manifest to the people. The conditionof faith has become so weak that the Hereaf-ter is now taken as a mere fantasy, and theactions of men clearly show that the degree ofcertainty with which they believe in this world,and the sort of trust which they put in worldlymeans, they do not posses such convictionabout God and the Hereafter. They pay a lotof lip-service to God, but their hearts are domi-nated by the love of the world alone. There-fore, I have been sent so that Truth and Faithmay again dominate, and fear of God mayagain be kindled in the hearts of men! Theseare the ends for which I have come!” (Kitabal-Barriyya, pp. 293-294.)

He admonished his followers:“Be united, and give up all miserliness, ran-

cor, jealousy and lack of compassion. Thereare two great Commandments of the HolyQuran. One is Unity, love and obedience of theLord, hallowed be His name; and secondly,sympathy with your brethren and with thewhole of mankind.” (Azala Auham, pp.446-452.).

Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) -peace be on him - claimed to be theImam of the Age, the Mahdi, and the awaited Messiah — a Prophet of God, but infull subordination to the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peace and blessings ofAllah be on him). He initiated the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at in 1889. Though helived in a small village, Qadian, in the Punjab, India, he claimed that his missionwas universal – to revive faith in One God, to remove the love for materialism, andto unify all mankind.

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“This age has become empty of truerighteousness and purity. The way of theHoly Prophet, which is the means of pu-rification, has been discarded. Now GodAlmighty des i res tha t the t ime ofProphethood should be revived in thisage, and the same righteousness and pu-rity may be re-established. Thus the pur-pose of God Almighty in setting up this(Ahmadiyya) Community is that the lostunderstanding might be re-established inthe world through this Community.”(Speeches, pp.21-22.)

To achieve these objectives, his meth-odology was clearly defined:

“This humble one is appointed by theOmnipotent and Most Glorious God towork for the betterment of mankind in themanner of the Israeli prophet of Nazareth,the Messiah, with extreme humility, meek-ness, modesty, love and courtesy. Tothose who are unaware of the right way, Iam to show them the s t ra ight pa ththrough which they can achieve true Sal-vation, and feel in this very world thesigns of achieving heavenly life, and ex-perience the enlightenment of being ac-cepted and loved by God.” (TablighRisalat, Vol. 1, p.11.).

Khi la fa t on the Precept ofProphethood Revived

He successfully initiated his mission,and a vibrant Community of believerswas firmly established in his lifetime.Upon his death, on May 27, 1908, his firstsuccessor, Hadhrat Maulana Nur-ud-Deen (May Allah be please with him) wasunanimously elected. He was entitledKhalifa-tul-Masih to continue the mis-sion of the Mahdi and the Promised Mes-siah. On his demise, Hadhrat MirzaBashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (1889-1965) was elected on March 13, 1914, tobe the second Khalifa of the AhmadiyyaJama’at. He constituted an Electoral Col-lege for Khilafat elections, which hasconducted smooth elections in 1965,1982 and 2003 of the successors at thedemise of each preceding Khalifa. Pres-ently, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad(may Allah be his strength) is the 5th

Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Jama’at. Thus,Khilafat is once again firmly establishedon the precept of Prophethood.

Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyyaand Caliphate

Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya is the bona-fide

institution that has set goals to lead man-kind on the path of righteousness, to bringUnity among the nations of the world, andto establish peace and security by safe-guarding freedom, life and honor of all hu-man-beings! The Ahmadiyya Khilafat isdistinct in many ways from the so-called“Caliphate” of the past monarchies. TheKhalifa is elected by means of and withthe help of prayers on the basis of pietyand righteousness. As the Holy Quranguides: “Verily Allah commands you to en-trust authority into the hands of those whoare best fitted to discharge it” (4:59),Khilafat is a responsibility to be en-trusted to the most deserving person whois capable of serving God and His ser-vants, devoting his time and faculties un-der the authority of the Word of God andexamples set by the Holy Prophet of Is-lam. The Ahmadiyya Khilafat believes inpromoting peace and harmony by reform-ing human character from within on moralbasis. It rejects the use of force and vio-lence in matters of faith. According to theAhmadiyya Khilafat , the methods topropagate one’s religious convictionsshould always remain peaceful; that is, en-couraging mutual dialogue and gentle

“...Now God Almighty desires that the time of Prophethoodshould be revived in this age, and the same righteousnessand purity may be re-established. Thus the purpose of God

Almighty in setting up this (Ahmadiyya) Community isthat the lost understanding might be re-established in the

world through this Community.”

Photo by Wahid Khan, Zion, IL

SUMMER 2008 55

persuasion among various faith traditions.It exhorts to establish fundamental humanrights at all levels, and promotes humanhuman services.

The Institution of Shura in Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya

The Holy Quran makes mutual consul-tation (Shura) incumbent upon the lead-ership to utilize in policy making and ad-ministrative matters (3:160). The Ah-madiyya Khilafat, therefore, gives ut-most importance to consultation betweenelected leaders and competent represen-tatives of the Community. Shura is a vi-tally important process under Khilafat.At the same time, the members of theCommunity are fully trained to listen andobey the final decisions made by the lead-ership in conjunction with obedience tothe Commandments of God and those ofthe Prophet (may peace and blessings ofAllah be on him).

Essence of theAhmadiyya Khilafat

The Ahmadiyya Khi la fa t d i ffe rssignificantly from the misplaced aspi-rations of some Muslim groups for po-litical and militaristic dominance over

t h e e n t i r e w o r l d . T h e A h m a d i y y aKhilafat is apolitical; spiritual and re-ligious in nature. Thus, the Ahmadisdo believe in the concept of “separa-tion of the State and Church”. Whilerespecting the will of the people toadopt varying polit ical systems thatmay suit them for beneficial adminis-tration of their public affairs, it doesn o t a s p i r e f o r p o l i t i c a l a u t h o r i t y.Though the ideal Islamic state calls forthe head of the government to exerciseboth the secular and religious author-ity, the institution of Khilafat can andshould remain focused on moral andspiritual matters only, providing nec-essary guidance to the political lead-ers to the maintenance of justice andsocial harmony.

While other Muslims wait for a Mahdiwho would wage a “b loody” J ihadagainst the infidels, the AhmadiyyaKhilafat holds the motto of “Love for all,hatred for none.” Following the teachingsof its founder, it believes and practicesthe Jihad which entails overcoming sin-ful and immoral temptations of one’s ownself, remaining firm in faith, and improv-ing the quality of social life. It abhors

terrorism, and strongly rejects violence.It teaches loyalty to one’s country, andto respect and obey the law of the landwhere one lives. Desired change in lawsshould be brought about through the le-gitimate legal process, and not throughcreating chaos and disorder in a country.The Ahmadiyya Khilafat is fighting thegood fight against ignorance, disease,hunger and immorality. By doing so, itupholds the conviction that it will remainthe recipient of the Divine support aslong as it is working under God’s Com-mandments.

To conclude, the Ahmadiyya Khilafathas successfully emerged as the leadingforce among Muslims to follow the pre-cepts set by the Holy Prophet of Islam. Itis engaged in establishing faith in theUnity of God all over the world. It teachesthe Holy Quran, and promotes knowledgeand wisdom. It is exerting to bring uni-formity among the people belonging tovarious races and ethnic groups. It is pro-moting moral reformation of individuals,teaching mutual love and respect. Aboveall, the Ahmadiyya Khilafat is helping manto establish a living and loving relation-ship with God.

The Jalsa SalanaI’ve got my mind set on the...

60th Annual ConventionJune 20-22, 2008

Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center2300 North Cameron StreetHarrisburg PA 17110-9443

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56 MuslimSunrise

Dear Humanity First supporters:

The situation: If you turned on the television or glanced at a newspaper in the last fewdays, you are fully aware of the devastating natural disasters in Myanmar and China.

In Myanmar, Cyclone Nargis, a Category III Cyclone has taken the lives of more than125,000 victims, and millions of survivors are in dire need of medical help, food and shelter.China's magnitude 7.9 earthquake has resulted in more than 15,000 deaths and nearly26,000 people remain buried under the rubble.

What Humanity First is doing: Humanity First (HF) has sprung into immediate actionand has assembled teams of doctors and other staff volunteers to travel to both China andMyanmar to setup medical camps immediately. These teams consist of volunteers from theUK and several other countries where Humanity First has already been locally established.HF has provided these critical humanitarian services many times in the recent past (theAsian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistan earthquake, Guyanese floods, the Peruearthquake, and Bangladesh cyclone to name a few) and is ready to help victims throughimmediate disaster relief operations, as well as the subsequent rebuilding phases in affectedcommunities.

How you can help: As always, supporters like yourself are stepping up and helping indisaster relief efforts through generous donations, and by volunteering for various roles infield operations.

© 2008 Humanity First USA | registered under section 501 (c) (3) EIN# 20-0464012

usa.humanityfirst.org

SUMMER 2008 57

Perspectives“Apes and Angels”

Where Did WeCome From?

Don’t getexcited, I’m notgoing to talk

about the stork or thebirds and the bees.Fathers used to beembarrassed when theyhad to have aconversation with theirsons about the birdsand the bees. Timeshave changed. They getembarrassed now for adifferent reason. Thesedays when a father tellshis son that it’s timethey talked about thebirds and the bees, theson answers, “Sure Dad,what do you want tok n o w ? ”

Human beings havealways been curiousabout their origin.Darwin came up with thetheory that we camefrom apes. And whileI ’ve certainly knownsome people who couldbe classif ied as ageneration away fromthe apes, that ’s noreason to classify thewhole human race asmonkeys or goril las.

Our quest to find our origin and theprocess involved in getting us where weare has benefited many of us. If it weren’tfor this curiosity, the archaeology de-partments at colleges and universitieswould not exist. The “professional” whogets paid for digging in the dirt with tinytoy shovels and the $1.99 paintbrushwould be out of a job. Isn’t it amazingwhat our government pays for under theendowment funds for educational pur-poses? I know we pay for all of thatthrough our taxes, but I remind everyonewhat Will Rogers said: “Just be glad thatyou are not getting all the governmentyou are paying for.”

For most people, a discussion aboutour origin takes them to Adam, Eve andIblees (Lucifer of the Bible). That’s a prob-lem right there. The confusion comes inbecause we try to mix our origin with theappointment of Adam as the spiritual rep-resentative of God on earth.

Let us just keep in focus here how theHoly Qur’an relates the story, in Sura AlBaqarah.

God created Adam as the Khalifa. Godtaught him certain names. The angels ob-jected that Adam would create blood-shed. Allah said that He knew and thatthey do not. God told Adam to say thenames, to see if he could do it. The An-gels who did not know the names weresurprised and admitted that they had lim-ited knowledge. The Angels prostrated,except Iblees, because he was arrogant.

Our origin as the human species onthis earth and what is being describedabout Adam are two totally differentthings from a time standpoint as well asthe subject matter. Our problem in thisdiscussion stems from the fact that wetry to bring the two into one.

We really don’t know how long agothe human species developed. It couldbe millions of years, or even billions. It’sa long time no matter which guess yougo along with. Adam was on the earthabout six thousand years ago. So there’sa lot of time difference right there. Mil-lions of years or billions minus six thou-sand years equals...well, a whole lot oftime difference.

I have heard the following commentsat more than one gathering in referenceto the quotation of the Holy Qur’an Imentioned above. The following pointsget raised:

The Angels’ reading was thatman would shed blood.

Allah overruled the Angels.

It seems from what we see to-day that the angels were right andGod was wrong (God forbid).

Iblees was an angel.

Adam committed a sin (Godforbid) because he went alongwith Eve.

For most people, adiscussion about ourorigin takes them to

Adam, Eve and Iblees(Lucifer of the Bible).That’s a problem rightthere. The confusioncomes in because wetry to mix our originwith the appointment

of Adam as thespiritual representative

of God on earth.

58 MuslimSunrise

Let me get the process of our evolu-tion out of the way first. According tothe Holy Qur’an, an evolution did takeplace. We started out in the water, withno gender. Then couples were made outof one cell, or specie. Then further de-velopments took place and we wereshaped to live openly on planet earth.The evolution could have taken millionsof years and scientists will continue tofigure out how long ago it was. There’scertainly no question in anyone’s mindthat it was more than 6,000 years ago.

Now let’s discuss the story of Adam.The verses in the Holy Qur’an do not re-late to the creation of Adam. It says thatAllah decided to make him His represen-tative (Khalifa). So the discussion of theAngels and everything else mentioned isin that context. Let us see how it can beanalyzed in view of this particular con-text:

1. Adam was taught by God. Heproved in front of the angels that hecould relate to others what he wastaught. Signs were there of him be-ing a good teacher.

2. The Angels were saying thatby appointing Adam as God’sKhalifa, there will be opposition andthat could result in bloodshed. Theangels were right because Ibleesdidn’t waste any time in voicing theopposition.

3. Allah’s response was that Heknows what it will take for humans

to elevate themselves. His plan ofteaching through revelation andprophets like Adam is the only wayfor them to succeed. The fact is thatthe spiritual, moral and secularprogress of human beings has takenplace at a much faster pace at thetime of the advent of the prophetsthan at any other time in history.

4. Iblees was not an angel. An-gels by definition cannot disobeyGod. He was the opposing forceagainst God’s decision of selectingAdam as His Khalifa.

5. There are angels to obey Godand there those like Iblees who dis-obey because of their arrogance.

The arrogance of Iblees stemmedfrom the fact that he felt, if anyone, itshould have been him to have the posi-tion given to Adam. He is made of fire.He makes things happen, full of energy.Adam is made of clay. You can mold him,reshape him and he is not strong enoughto stand against the opposing forces (ac-cording to Iblees).

This story has been repeated through-out history many times. Change the nameAdam to Moses and Iblees to Pharaoh:same story, different names. Pharaoh wasthe arrogant one who wanted to be theimage of God on earth. There was no wayhe was going to accept a person likeMoses. The same is true in the times ofall the prophets (Allah’s khalifas).

It’s not really that important how manybillions of years ago we started out. Letthe scientists and archeologists continueto work on that. (Everyone’s got to makea living, right?)

What’s important is to understandwhat our part is in the story of Adam.Are we like the angels who bow down tothe person whom Allah sends as His mes-senger and representative? Or are we thefollowers of Iblees to reject him becauseof our arrogance? It is a pattern in theHoly Qur’an, whenever it talks about theprophets of God, it repeats the lines: “Re-member the time, We sent Adam.”

As a side note, Eve got in that troublebecause she was goodnatured, trustingand kind. The nature of woman is such--softhearted and trusting, which is cru-cial for raising her children. The HolyQur’an says i t was an oversight onAdam’s part, not a sin.

You want to know about the “makingof Eve from the rib” theory. It’s just ametaphoric expression. Just like the rib,a woman protects a man’s heart and theorgans essential for his life. She is like aseparate structure, as the ribs seem tobe, yet still part of man’s life. She is alsoflexible, like the ribs, but if you pressureher much, she can break. Man must carefor her sensitivities.

Don’t waste your time on whether wecame from apes or not. Just make sureyou don’t act like them when God’sKhalifa delivers His message.

Falahud Din Shams

God created Adam as the Khalifa, God taught him thenames. The angels objected that it would createbloodshed. Allah said that He knows and that they donot. God told Adam to say the names to see if he coulddo it. The Angels were surprised and admitted that theyhad limited knowledge. The Angels prostrated, exceptIblees, because he was arrogant.

SUMMER 2008 59

The word Khilafat means succession, and the Khalifa is a successor to a

Prophet of Allah whose goal is to carry to completion the tasks of

reformation and moral training that were seeded by the Prophet. The

community of followers of a Prophet of Allah continues to nurture its faith and

practices under the blessing of the institution of Khilafat for as

long as Allah wishes.

KHILAFAT 1908 - 2008Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

KHILAFAT 1908 - 2008

Khilafat Centenary Commemorative Stamp Edition

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