i shall cause thy message to reach the corners of the earth · beauties of islam. the sun is rising...

SUMMER • 2 011$4.00

I Shall Cause Thy Message toReach the Corners of the Earth

13 The MuslimSunrise:

Ninety Diverse Years

44 The Rising ofthe Sun From the

West

22 The Growth ofAhmadiyyat in

America

38 Muslims forPeace 1921 to

2011

“In the latter days, the sun shal l r ise from the west” • Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be on him)

2 Muslim Sunrise in America

T he Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a religious organization,international in its scope, with branches in 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 HakeemSardar Anees Ahmad

Staff EditorsMaham KhanAtif MirNaser Shams

Staff WritersLubna MalikSardar Anees AhmadDr. Zia H. ShahShazia Sohail

Religion & Science Dept.Dr. Zia H. Shah

Hasan Hakeem, Design/LayoutMuneeb Ahmad, WebsiteShuaib 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 [email protected] 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 sometimes are not set out in the text for readability, we encouragereaders to offer 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 2011 3

Summer 2 0 11 • V o l u m e 91 • I s s u e 2

Features

7-8 Special Commemorative Messages

13 Ninety Diverse Years

19 The Muslim Sunrise, First Issue

22 Growth of Ahmadiyyat since 1920

26 Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra

29 Early Years of Islam in America

31 The Editors of The Muslim Sunrise

33 The Muslim Sunrise - Historical Editions

37 How I Accepted Ahmadiyyat

38 Muslims for Peace 1921 to 2011

44 Rising of the Sun from the West

52 Fruits of a Sown Seed - Inspiration fromIslam’s Intellectual Invasion

58 The Muslim Sunrise Vision

61 Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khanra

In This Issue

Departments

5 In The Words of the Promised Messiahas

6 Editorial

10 Friday Sermon-“Intercession”

17 From the Archives 1921

55 Religion & ScienceAllah the Protector of Life on Earth

46 Book ReviewIslam and Ahmadiyya Jama’at:History, Belief, Practice

48 Poetry CornerAblaze

49 News, Views and Reviews

41 Question and Answer

65 PerspectiveFollowing the Faith of Our Forefathers

Muslims who believe in the Messiah,Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, QadianiAS


From the Holy Qur'an

Dost thou not see how Allah sets forth the similitude of a good word? It is like a good tree, whoseroot is firm and whose branches reach into heaven. It brings forth its fruit at all times by the

command of its Lord. And Allah sets forth similitudes for men that they may reflect. And the case ofan evil word is like that of an evil tree, which is uprooted from above the earth and has no stability.Allah strengthens the believers with the word that is firmly established, both in the present life and

in the Hereafter; and Allah lets the wrongdoers go astray. And Allah does what He wills.

Chapter Ibrahim: 25-28

Summer 2011 5

In the Words of the Promised Messiahas

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908)

“..God has said,“A Warner came intothe world but theworld accepted himnot. God, however,will accept him andmanifest his truth bymighty signs.”

These words proceed notfrom the mouth of man.They are God’s words,words of the Mighty LordHimself. The mightyattacks mentioned in thisprophecy are near.

But these attacks are not by physicalweapons, not swords or guns. These arespiritual weapons, which will come ashelp from God. A battle with the Jews ofour time will ensure. And who are theseJews? They are worshippers of externalforms who have acquired completeresemblance with the Jews of yore. Thesword of heaven will cut them up; theJewish ways will be destroyed. All thosewho resemble the Anti-Christ, thosewho love this world overmuch and whohave only one eye, having lost the eye forspiritual truth, all of them will end by thesword of solid unanswerable arguments.Truth will prevail. A new bright day willdawn again for Islam. Same as it didbefore. The sun of Islam will rise in fullbloom, same as it did before. But this willnot be at once.

Imperative it is that this should not happenuntil we have proved our worth by devotedhard work, by offering our lifeblood, bysacrificing our rest and peace, byaccepting all indignities for the dignity ofIslam. The new life of Islam demands agreat Sacrifice from us. What is thisSacrifice? It is our lives: on this Sacrificedepends now the life of Islam, the life ofMussalmans, the Manifestation of God inour time. Sacrifice is of the essence ofIslam. And this is the Islam that Godwants to restore. To bring about thisgreat transformation, it was necessarythat God Himself should establish aworkshop, adequate and efficient in allrespects. So, He the Most Wise, MostPowerful, let this workshop come intobeing by sending this humble one toundertake this work of reforming

mankind. This workshopHe had divided intoseveral branches, alldevoted to thedissemination of truth, thepropagation of Islam. Ofthese branches one branchis concerned with thepreparation of books, oneof the tasks assigned tothis humble one. Toperform this task I havebeen gifted with specialknowledge. Knowledgewhich is not within man’scapacity, which can beacquired only by the help

of God, which comes not of humaneffort but through the Holy Spirit.Instruction by the Holy Spirit hasdissolved our difficulties.

A second branch of this workshopis concerned with the publication ofleaflets which, also under divinecommand and for satisfaction andconviction of all concerned, has alreadybeen undertaken; More than 20,000leaflets on Islamic truths and argumentshave been published. The process iscontinuing according to need in thefuture.

(To see the full text go to Al-Islam.org,Book: Victory of Islam)


Editorial

N inety years ago, in July 1921, thefirst issue of The Muslim Sunrisewas published. It was a mere 26pages of 8 1/2 X 11 paper folded

in half and stapled in the middle. There were nographics to speak of and most of the borders andeven the map of the USA was hand drawn. Intoday’s standards, it could possibly be considereda substandard newsletter. This humble publicationbecame the longest running American Muslimmagazine.

From the very first issue, its secret was the powerful

message of the Messiah, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas of

Qadian, India. He had prophesied more than 70 years

before 1921 that God was going to spread his message to

the corners of the earth. He had also expressed his desire to

have publications in the English language to introduce Islam

to the West. It was his disciple, Dr. Mufti Muhammad

Sadiqra who came to America and spread his message. He

walked on the streets of Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago

with a green turban and Hindustani attire delivering the

message. The Muslim Sunrise was one of his tools in

delivering the divine message to the West.

In his own words in the first issue he announced:

“There is but one God, Muhammadsa, the master

prophet is His messenger. Ahmadas of Qadian is the

Promised Messiah and the holy reformer of the day.

Quran is the final sacred law. Buddhaas and Krishnaas

of India, Zoroasteras of Persia, Confuciusas of China,

Mosesas of Egypt, Jesusas of Nazareth, all were the holy

men and prophets of God. We honor and respect all of

them. The blessed prophet Jesus’ tomb is in Cashmere

(India), where he lies buried in peace. The door of

revelation and inspiration is never closed. God still

speaks to his people. His Hazrat Mahmudra is the

present leader of the Ahmadia Community, and a

living example of the godly men. Sadiqra is the

authorized missioner of the Movement to initiate the

followers into the order from all classes and nations.”

Ninety years later, the editorial staff of The Muslim

Sunrise is trying to keep this purpose alive. We have

opened the doors to enriching interfaith dialogue and

continue to invite the Western people to look into the

beauties of Islam. The sun is rising in the West and people

have started to discover Islam. Sunrise is only a small part

of the process in place by God to bring sunshine to the West.

The mission started by the first editor of The Muslim

Sunrise has expanded now to over 70 chapters of the

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in America and many

devoted missionaries spreading the message.

We hope and pray that we will continue to do our part to the

best of our abilities.

Summer 2011 7

T h e r e i s n o d o u b t t h a tt h e p r e s e n t d a y m e d i atechnology and communication

system was invented through Allah’sgrace to assist Hadhrat Aqdas MasihMa’oodas in his quest to bring to anexcellence the propagation ofrighteousness.

Hadhrat Aqdas Masih Ma’oodas hasstated:

“So, He the Most Wise, MostPowerful, let this workshop comeinto being by sending this humble oneto undertake this work of reformingmankind. This workshop He had di-vided into several branches, all de-voted to the dissemination of truth,the propagation of Islam. Of thesebranches one branch is concernedwith the preparation of books, one ofthe tasks assigned to this humble one.To perform this task I have beengif ted wi th specia l knowledge.Knowledge which is not within man’scapacity, which can be acquired onlyby the Help of God, which comes notof human effort but through the HolySpirit. Instruction by the Holy Spirithas d issolved our d i f f icul t ies .”(Fatah Islam, Roohani Khazain ,Vol. 3, pp 11-12)

“It is also true that the plan hasbeen promised special assistance. Itrelies completely on God’s specialgrace and help. But, again, it is withGod’s command and on hints re-ce ived f rom Him that a l lMussalmans are being addressedthis invitation to help and this is inkeeping with the practice of proph-ets of the past. To meet with diffi-culties in the way they have alwaysinvited people to help in their pro-grams. Following them I say it is ob-vious what scale of assistance by the

general body of Mussalmans will berequired to promote work in the fiveparts of this plan. Take the compila-tion of books etc., for instance. Whatsize of finance will be required for thepublications of books alone? If we areinterested in a wide circulation ofbooks, we should see that they reachpeople who most need them and in asshort time and in as large number aspossible. Our books are compiled af-ter due research and after a full analy-sis of facts. They are designed todraw seekers of truth to the path oftruth. They must reach people whohappen to have been infected by hos-tile writings, some of them on thebrink of spiritual ruin.” (Fatah Islam,Roohani Khazain, Vol. 3, pp. 26-27)

The aim behind publishing all theJamaati organs/periodicals is pre-cisely the same – that is to constitutea wide awareness of Tabligh andTarbiyyat. This charge and privilegeis being faithfully achieved by theJamaati newspapers and journalswithin their own circles. I am confi-dent that The Muslim Sunrise musthave endeavored to accomplish thisobligation with full merits. It is ex-pected of the journal to always pub-l i sh inf luent ia l a r t ic les of both

T h e M u s l i m S u n r i s e i se n t e r i n g the final stretchtowards its own centenary

celebration. This is quite a reflection onthe efforts of the man who landed alonein Philadelphia and right away landedin prison. He received this treatmentonly because he professed his faith inthe final Book, the Qur’an.

This periodical is committed toaddressing issues which are relevant tothe people around us because we aretied to their lives and expressions asfellow citizens in this part of the world.

In reality our message remains themessage of the Qur’an, as understoodand explained by the enlightenmentgiven to Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas ofQadian, India. It is remarkable that theteachings of the Qur’an, though stillmisunderstood by many, are nowdiscussed without persecution for thefollowers of the Promised Messiah andMahdias.

This issue is a compliment to thecurrent team taking care of thispublication. May Allah guide and helpall those who are supporting theseefforts, the editors and contributorsalike. Ameen.

Khalifa’sMessage to theMuslim Sunrise

Amir’s Message to theMuslim Sunrise

Mirza Masroor Ahmad

Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar

Tarbiyyat and Tablighi nature. MayAllah Almighty grant this magazinethe flair to acquire and maintain theseexpectations with excellent results.May Allah’s blessing be upon TheMuslim Sunrise for the distinguishedservices it has extended loyally for avery long time.

Mirza Masroor AhmadKhalifat-ul-Masih V


In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

I Shall Cause ThyMessage toReach the

Corners of theEarth

All praise truly belongs to Allah, the Lordof all the worlds.

Naseem MahdiNational Vice President and

Missionary Incharge, AhmadiyyaMuslim Community, USA

This, the longest running Muslim publi-cation in America, was started in 1921 byHadhrat Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra. He was,without a doubt, an extraordinarily learnedman constantly in motion. His faith was per-fectly reflected in his actions. He was a de-voted companion of Hadhzrat Mirza GhulamAhmadas of Qadian, who claimed to be the

Promised Mes-siah and Mahdiforetold by theHoly ProphetMuhammadsa.E v e r y t h i n gSadiqra did - hisactions, histravels, his writ-ings, his relent-less toiling inthe way of God,his constantsearch for thoselooking for God

– testified to his utter faith in the truth of themessage of the Promised Messiahas and hisfull conviction that it was what mankindneeded to attain peace.

In those early days in Qadian, India, I tryto imagine how this early revelation must havesounded: I shall cause thy message to reachthe corners of the earth. It was first publishedin Al-Hakam, vol 2, nos. 5-6, March 27 andApril 2, 1897, p. 13. A short 23 years later,Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra was halfway acrossthe globe, personally witnessing the fulfillmentof that early revelation.

In those early days the Ahmadiyya Mus-lim Community had to put forth great effort

and sacrifice to generate the means to printleaflets, and even if some money was arrangedfor printing such leaflets, another biggerstruggle was to raise funds to send them some-where. And when the message did miracu-lously begin to get out into the world, a stormof opposition arose, the like of which is rarelywitnessed by mankind. The whole world hadsuddenly come together, it seemed, to opposethe message that God had revealed He wouldcause to reach the corners of the Earth!

The Holy Founder of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community had prophesied that hehad been sent to simply sow the seed andthat that seed had now been sown by his handand that it would now flourish and none wouldbe able to retard its progress. He had proph-esied that after him God would manifest HisPower in the manner in which it had been mani-fested through Hadhrat Abu Bakrra at thedeath of the Holy Prophetsa by establishingkhilafat on the pattern of prophethood. Hehad prophesied that those given this mantlewould continue his mission until Islam wouldbecome prevalent throughout the world as

Colonization of the Western world. If youwill work with the same love, zeal, sincer-ity and loyalty as they did your honor andrespect and name will be still greater thantheir’s, as you will have moreover the Re-ward at the Last day and Allah’s pleasure,the grandeur and beauty of which no onecan estimate in this world.”

Today, under the directions of HadhratMirza Masroor Ahmadaya the message ofIslam-Ahmadiyyat is being delivered tomillions of Americans daily. And the paceis quickening. Just in the past one yearover 60 million Americans have heard thismessage. Now the message appears onbillboards and newspapers and on the elec-tronic media daily with ever increasing fre-quency and greater visibility. National tele-vision shows with the highest viewer rat-ings regularly invite spokespersons of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community to comeand talk about Islam and its message asadvanced and interpreted for the modernage by the Promised Messiahas to be ex-plained to their audiences. The Ah-madiyya Muslim Community has nowtranslated the Holy Qur’an into the larg-est number of languages in the entire his-tory of Islam. The 50 million Spanish speak-ing Americans are heeding this call and justtwo months earlier the first ever Spanishissue of The Muslim Sunrise was printedand is being distributed all across thelength and breadth of the United States ofAmerica and parts of Central America.

How true then were the words of thePromised Messiahas when he had predictedjust at the dawn of the 20th Century:

“Hear ye people carefully, andremember that these prophecies arefrom God Almighty, Who made theheavens and the earth. He willspread this, His Own Communityinto all countries of the world, andwith reason and argument, He willmake it prevail everywhere. …..Ihave come only to sow the seed, andthis has been accomplished by myhand. The seed shall now grow andflourish; it will now bloom and bearfruit and there is none to stop it fromso doing.”

[Tadhkirat-us-Shahadatain , pp. 64 – 65]

Our last word is all praise belongs toAllah, Lord of all the worlds.

foretold in the Holy Qur’an:

[61:10] He it is Who has sent His Mes-senger with the guidance and the Reli-gion of truth, that He may cause it to pre-vail over all religions, even if those whoassociate partners with God hate it.

And so it came to pass. Upon hisdeath in 1908 khilafat was again estab-lished and it was under the guidance ofthe Promised Messiah’s second khalifathat Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra

had arrived in the United States in 1920.And the message that Hadhrat MirzaBashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad ra,Khalifat-ul-Masih II had sent to the Mus-lims in America was published boldly inthe very first issue of The Muslim Sun-rise:

“The Pioneers in the Colonization ofAmerican land are always looked backupon with great honor and respect. Theirwork was temporal but now, my dearBrothers and Sisters, Allah, the Almightyhas made you the Pioneers in the spiritual

Imam Naseem Mahdi

Summer 2011 9

Famous scientist,Dr. Hafiz SalehMuhammadAlladin passesaway in IndiaJammu Kashmir NewsPointWritten by Newspoint Bureau | Amritsar

Dr. Hafiz SalehMuhammad Alladin( 1 9 3 1 - 2 0 1 1 )

President of AhmadiyyaMuslim Community of Indiachapter and famous Indianscientist Dr. Hafiz SalehMuhammad Alladin passedaway on 20th March after abrief illness at the Age of 80.

The news was announced in apress release issued by the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community of India.

Famous Astronomer was born inHyderabad (India) in 1931, accord-ing to the press release.

Dr. Alladin had completed PhD in1963 from University of Chicago inthe USA and joined as a professor inOsmania University of Hyderabad,India where he was later elected asthe director of Centre of AdvancedStudy in Astronomy.

He was among the famous 100 As-tronomers of the world and served asthe educational advisor to formerPresident APJ Abdul Kalam of India.

He wrote many books, pennedhundreds of articles and publishedmore than 50 research papers.

Dr. Alladin’s famous researchwas on the Solar / Lunar Eclipse of1894 and has remained in differentfamous Committees like InternationalAstronomical Union, AstronomicalSociety of India, Plasma Science So-ciety of India, and Indian Associationfor General Relativity and Gravitation,Indian Association of Physics Teach-ers.

Dr. Alladin was awarded withMeghnad Saha Award 1981 fromUGC New Delhi, Man of the Year2000 American Biographical InstituteUSA, 2000 Outstanding PeopleMedal, International Biographical

Centre Cambridge UK 2003, BharatExcellence Award, Friendship Forumof India, 2006, 500 Great Leaders Di-ploma, American Biographical Insti-tute USA 2008.

At the time of his death, he was thePresident of Ahmadiyya Muslim Com-munity, India Chapter.

Dr. Alladin visited Los Angeles in1994 where he presented his scholas-tic speech on the occasion of the 100thanniversary of the great Celestial signof Sun and Moon Eclipse of 1894.

"He was a very humble,unassuming and a Godly man," saidAnwer Ahmad Khan of Chino Hills,California, who is brother-in-law ofthe deceased.

Dr. Alladin died at Escort HospitalAmritsar and his body was brought toQadian, District Gurdaspur, Punjab.

The funeral prayers were per-formed as thousands of people fromall over India participated.

As an astronomer, Dr. Alladin’s was noted for his famousresearch on the Solar / Lunar Eclipse of 1894

"He was a very humble,unassuming and a Godlyman," said Anwer Ahmad

Khan of Chino Hills,California, a brother-in-law

of the deceased.


Hudhur recited AyatulKursi at the beginningof his Friday Sermon

and gave a discourse on thecorrect Islamic viewpoint ofintercession. The translation ofAyatul Kursi reads:

‘Allah — there is no God but He, theLiving, the Self-Subsisting and All-Sus-taining. Slumber seizes Him not, norsleep. To Him belongs whatsoever is in theheavens and whatsoever is in the earth.Who is he that will intercede with Him ex-cept by His permission? He knows what isbefore them and what is behind them; andthey encompass nothing of His knowledgeexcept what He pleases. His knowledge ex-

tends over the heavens and the earth; andthe care of them burdens Him not; and Heis the High, the Great.’ (2:256).

Hudhur said a while ago he had men-tioned the erroneous practices by someMuslims to visit shrines of Pirs and ascet-ics as well as some saints and ask in a man-ner that one asks God. Due to lack of edu-

cation, a large majority in India and Paki-stan assume that Pirs can fulfil their wishesand some exceed in this wrong practice tothe extent of prostrating before graves ofPirs and saints and women maintain thatthey have been blessed with child throughthe help of a dead saint. While the teachingof Islam focuses on the Oneness of Godand demands of its adherents to be believ-ers in it, unfortunately many are embroiledin shirk (associating partners with God). Attimes the extent of their involvement inshirk makes them closer to idolaters.

It was God’s great favor on us that Hesent the true and ardent devotee of the HolyProphetsa so that he could guide us awayfrom the deteriorated state of the teaching.He was the Hakm (Judge) and the Adl (Ar-biter) of the age and as such in order to ridus of the infestation of shirk, he guided usprecisely in light of the teaching of theQuran, which had established the Onenessof God and which tells us about the trueteachings of the Holy Prophetsa as well asIslam’s superiority over other world reli-gions.

Christianity claims that through theatoning death of Jesusas his followers are‘reconciled’ to God. Some saints are alsothought to be means of intercession. It hasbeen recently said about the previousPope, John Paul II that owing to a miracle

‘Allah — there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting andAll-Sustaining. Slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep. To Him belongswhatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is

he that will intercede with Him except by His permission? He knowswhat is before them and what is behind them; and they encompassnothing of His knowledge except what He pleases. His knowledge

extends over the heavens and the earth; and the care of themburdens Him not; and He is the High, the Great.’ (2:256)

INTERCESSIONChristianity claims thatthrough the atoning deathof Jesusas his followersare ‘reconciled’ to God.Some saints are alsothought to be means ofintercession.

Summary of a Friday Sermon deliveredMay 6, 2011 by Hadhrat Mirza MasroorAhmad at, the Head of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community

Summer 2011 11

healing of a woman he had reached thestation of intercession with God, while inParadise. Hudhur said, these are theirviewpoints, whereas the reality is that theirteaching is contrary to the teaching ofJesusas and is based on shirk.

The Promised Messiahas informs us:‘Remember, it is wholly calumnious toascribe divinity to Jesusas. He certainly didnot make any such claim. Whatever he saidas regards himself did not go beyondintercession. As such, who can deny theintercession of Prophets? Many timesIsraelites were saved from raging tormentbecause of the intercession of Mosesas AndI have experience of this myself. Manyesteemed people of my Community knowvery well that due to my intercession someembroiled in problems and illnesses wererelieved of their grief and they had beeninformed of this beforehand. For Jesusas tobe crucified for his followers and for thesins of his followers to be imputed to him isa meaningless creed that is far-removed fromreason. It is beyond the Divine attributesof fairness and justice that the punishmentof the sin of someone should be given toanother. In short, this creed is a collectionof errors’.

Explaining the requisites of intercession,the Promised Messiahas wrote: ‘Firstly, it isessential that an intercessor has a perfectconnection with God, so that he can attainbeneficence from God. And [he] also has anintense connection with mankind so that hecan take to mankind the beneficence andthe good that he attains from God. Unlessboth these connections are not intense, onecannot be an intercessor…unless these twomodels are not to be seen, there can be nobeneficial outcome’.

The Promised Messiahas also wrote thatJesusas could not even reform his disciples.By contrast, through his perfect model, ourProphetsa saved his followers from physicaland spiritual chastisement and transformedtheir world. The intercession of Mosesas hadsimilar outcome. However, after Jesusas thecondition of his followers deteriorated.

Hudhur sa id thus the PromisedMessiahas illustrated the facts about Chris-tianity. In his lifetime, Jesus could not re-form his disciples, his death on the Crosswas also considered accursed by the Jews,although we Ahmadi Muslims do not acceptthis concept and say that God saved HisProphet from all the accusations that theJews wanted to ascribe to him. He lived a

long life and was successful in the ob-jective for which God had sent him.Hudhur explained that he had spokenregarding the Pope [John Paul II] be-cause there is a lot of debate going onthese days in schools about h is‘miracles’ and Hudhur wished to informour youngsters about the facts. Theylisten to what is said out there and canat times be influenced by it. Always re-member that the lofty station of theHoly Prophet Muhammadsa is the realstation of intercession. And his miracleshave taken place from his lifetime to thisday. People are being born among hisfollowers who can show miracles. WeAhmadis, firmly believe that God con-tinues to manifest His Powers throughadherence to the Holy ProphetM u h a m m a d s a .We are also firmon the belief thatthere is no needfor any saint orany recommen-dat ion; God isfound by follow-ing the teach-ings of the HolyQuran and thecommandmentsof the HolyP r o p h e tMuhammadsa . Whereas Christians arebeatifying the Pope, after his death, formiracles the validity of which is dis-puted. A Polish newspaper has raisedobjections regarding this, stating it ispossible that the team of doctors whichascertains the legitimacy of ‘miracles’did not research the matter properlyabout the woman about whom it is saidthat she suffered from Parkinson’s dis-ease. It is possible that she had someother illness which naturally is curedafter a while.

Hudhur said he wished to speak onthe correct Islamic viewpoint on inter-cession and what should a Muslim con-sider intercession. The Qur’an mentionsthis subject in many places and thePromised Messiahas has explained theconcept to us in light of its verses. TheHoly Prophet Muhammadsa called theverse reci ted a t the beginning byHudhur, Ayatul Kursi as the chief of allthe verses. According to another tradi-tion Satan runs away from the home of

one who reads the first four verses ofSurah Al Baqarah, Ayatul Kursi and itstwo adjoining verses and the last threeverses. Hudhur said of course this entailsthat one reads these verses while fullyunderstanding them and also tries to putthem in practice. God has thus placedblessing in these verses. Ahadith provethat in spite of their human frailties,people who try and abide by these mat-ters , are the recipients of the HolyProphet Muhammadsa intercession.

The Promised Messiahas explained inlight of Ayatul Kursi that God is that Be-ing Who combines all perfect attributesand is free from all defects. He is trulyWorthy of worship and He alone is Liv-ing, Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining.All else is given life and ultimately dies.

Hudhur said how could one who has lim-ited life span listen to prayers and grantchildren? Ayatul Kursi states from thevery start that God alone is worthy ofworship, therefore if one wishes to seekthe beneficence of intercession, oneshould avoid open and hidden, overt andcovert shirk. It is God alone Who doesnot slumber or sleep and is running theentire cosmos and this does not tire Him.Our Pirs certainly get tired, in fact theGaddi Nasheens (keeps of tombs of saintsetc.) pay no attention to Salat and wor-ship; they are only interested in eating,drinking, amusement and sleeping.

Ayatul Kursi also mentions interces-sion. Hudhur said intercession cannottake place without God’s permission. Whocan make a claim today of intercessioneven among the Muslims, who practicethe faith fully, that anyone has permis-sion to intercede? As it is, those [Mus-lims] who have not accepted the PromisedMessiahas do not fulfil God’s commandment.No matter how devout an Ahmadi is, they will

The Qur’an states: ‘Say, ‘Ifyou love Allah, follow me:

then will Allah love you andforgive you your faults. And

Allah is Most Forgiving,Merciful.’ (3:32)


never claim to have knowledge of intercession.The Promised Messiahas related that once

Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan sahib’s son fellvery ill and he requested the PromisedMessiahas for prayer. The prayer was not an-swered favourably, so the Promised Messiahas

said if the prayer did not work, he would tryintercession. On this God told him who washe to intercede without being granted per-mission to do so. Promised Messiahas wasleft trembling upon this. Seeing his condi-tion, after a short while, God told the Prom-ised Messiahas ‘You are given permission tointercede’. With the grace of God, NawabMuhammad Ali Khan sahib’s son was bet-ter and lived a long age.

Hadith also inform us that the HolyProphet Muhammadsa interceded when Godgave him the permission to do so. Once aperson came to the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa and said, ‘O Prophet of God, Ihave a need, which is that on the Day ofJudgement you intercede for me’. TheProphetsa asked who had drawn his atten-tion to this, to which the person replied, ‘myLord’. The Prophetsa answered, ‘why not,you should help me with a profusion of pros-tration [to God]’. Explaining, Hudhur said ifintercession is desired then we need to of-fer prostrations to God in abundance. Inter-cession does not come about by prostrat-ing before graves; rather it is sincere anddevout worship of God which can facilitatethis blessing.

Another hadith narrated by Hadhrat AbuHurairara relates that the Prophetsaw wasasked: O’ Prophet of God who is the fortu-nate one among people for whom you willintercede on the Day of Judgement?’ TheProphetsa replied, ‘Abu Huraira, I hadthought that no one would ask me this ques-tion before you. For I have seen the eager-ness you have regarding Hadith. On the Dayof Judgement, that person among others willbe fortunate through my intercession whohas said with the sincerity of heart: there isnone worthy of worship except Allah.’Hudhur explained that when it is said withsincerity: ‘Allah — there is no God but He’,that alone is of significance in terms of in-tercession.

The Qur’an states: ‘Say, ‘If you loveAllah, follow me: then will Allah love youand forgive you your faults. And Allah isMost Forgiving, Merciful.’ (3:32). This verseis an open declaration for the Jews and theChristians and is also a challenge for us notto be Muslims in mere name but try andfollow the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa. If

we wish to have a measure of hisintercession, we must follow the blessedmodel of the Prophetsa and implement thecommandments of the Qur’an in our lives,because as Hadhrat ‘Aishahra said theProphetsa was a personification of the HolyQur’an.

The Promised Messiahas said the Qur’ancites the intercession of the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa in various places, as in theaforementioned verse (3:32). He said thatthis verse tells us that man can become God’sbeloved by following in the footsteps of theProphetsa with love, respect and obedienceand his sins are forgiven. He said: ‘If onehas consumed the toxin of sin, then theantidote of love and obedience andadherence removes the effect of this toxin.Just as through medicine one can be free ofdisease, similarly a person becomes free ofsin. Just as light dispels darkness andantidote removes the effect of toxin and fireburns, similarly, true obedience and love hasits effect’.

The Promised Messiahas furtherunfolded the subject: ‘It should never bethought that intercession is of nosignificance. It is our belief that intercessionis truth and hence it is evident: ‘… And prayfor them; thy prayer is indeed a source oftranquillity for them…’ (9:103). This is thephilosophy of intercession; that the passionof selfishness of sin is cooled off. Theoutcome of intercession tells that deathdescends on life of sin and selfish impulsesand desires cool off. This puts an end tosins and in their place, virtues begin. Thus,the issue of intercession has not rendereddeeds useless, rather it inspires goodworks.’

As regards the difference betweenintercession and atonement, the PromisedMessiahas wrote: ‘Atonement frees onefrom good works and intercession inspiresone towards good works’. He also said:‘How does intercession stimulate goodworks? The answer to this question is alsofound in the Holy Qur’an and it is proventhat it does not have the connotation ofatonement as the Christians believe,because that which produces indolenceand idleness has not been relied on. Rather,it is stated: ‘…I am near. I answer the prayerof the supplicant when he prays to Me…’(2:187)…this verse also tells of a secret ofacceptance of prayer, and that is toinculcate perfect belief in the Power of Allahthe Exalted and to always believe Him tobe near’.

The Promised Messiahas also said thatprayer can only be beneficial for thatperson who also reforms himself. If theProphetProphet sa intercedes but theperson for whom he intercedes does notcome out of life of negligence, intercessioncan not avail that person.

Hudhur prayed that may God truly makeus and our generations to come, part ofthe Ummah of the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa so that we may seek thebeneficence of intercession.

Next Hudhur presented a few prayersof the Promised Messiahas as regardsintercession:

‘Grant this noble Prophet from us themost excellent reward that can be given toanyone among creation. And let deathovertake us while we are in his followingand raise us on the Day of Judgementwhile we are in his Ummah and make usdrink from his fountain and make hisfountain a source of satiation for us. Andmake him in this world and also in theHereafter an intercessor for us; whoseintercession is accepted. O’ our Lord,accept this prayer of ours and give us placein this abode of refuge.’

‘O Allah, send grace and peace on thisintercessor, whose intercession isaccepted and who is the saviour ofmankind.’

‘O my Lord, listen to my prayer for mynation and my supplicat ion for mybrothers. I seek from you through theagency of Your Prophet , KhatamunNabiyeen and successful intercessor ofsinners.’

Hudhur read another extracts from thewritings of the Promised Messiahas statingthat now there is no Book other than theQur’an for mankind and no other Prophet,but the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa, thusefforts should be made to attain true loveof the Prophetsaso that one is grantedsalvation. He is the intercessor for truesalvation and it is through his spiritualbeneficence that the Promised Messiahas

was sent.Hudhur explained that now the only

living Prophet is the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa and it is through seekingbeneficence of his beneficence that thePromised Messiahas came. It is thusimperative for us to remain connected tohim. May God enable us to make thisconnection stronger and stronger and maywe continue to seek God’s grace.

Summer 2011 13

90Since its creation Since its creation Since its creation Since its creation Since its creation in theearly 1920’s, The MuslimSunrise, which was thentitled The Moslem Sunrise,has been a continuous re-source provided by theAhmadiyya Muslim Commu-nity for the American publicregarding not only Islam butother topics as well. Everyissue expressed Islamicdoctrines through the lens ofAhmadiyyat , yet even thosetopics are varied in content.The magazine has been asource for interfaith dialogueas other religions and theirdoctrines were examined,compared and contrastedwith Islam. The MuslimSunrise also addressed amultitude of “hot” topicssuch as social issues, sci-ence and matters relevant tothe time period in which theywere published, such asWorld War II, Cold War andterrorism. For over 90 yearsThe Muslim Sunrise hasprovided a diversity of sub-ject matter to its readersfrom the point-of-view of thetrue Islam.

Being a publication from theAhmadiyya Muslim Community,readers already expected articlesin each issue to be about Islam

and Ahmadiyyat. The articles written delvedinto a variety of areas within the religion. Forthe most part, the topics of these articles werenot repetitive; however, it was necessary toreview in some way the subject matter for thenew generations receiving the magazine.

Issues included articles on the Holy Qur’an,the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa, the five pillarsof Islam and prophets, to name just a minusculeamount.

In relation to Islam, articles about theworldwide community, the khalifa of the timeand the members were published, includinglists of new converts, stories from them andletters from the khalifa of the time welcomingthose new members. The earlier issues of The

Ninety Diverse Yearsof The Muslim SunriseBy Valerie Bhatti

The magazine has been a sourcefor interfaith dialogue as otherreligions and their doctrines

were examined, compared andcontrasted with Islam.


Muslim Sunrise tended to include articlesabout missionary work, Islam in America andconverts’ stories. In the second publication,not only was there a photo of the first Ameri-can Ahmadi convert, Mirza Ahmad Anderson,but also a response from a woman in Iowa tothe first issue. She writes:

“It is so instructive and gives a person aninsight into things which no matter how preju-diced they may be, cannot but help to makethem believe the facts of Divine power. But mydear Mufti, such is the way of the world, it ishard to convince us or to replace an imageonce deeply implanted in our bosom.”1

Immediate and rather positive feedbackwas received on the message sent to the Ameri-can public.

Published in the United States, a Westerncountry, The Muslim Sunrise examined theWestern faiths, predominately Christianity.Numerous articles were printed regarding Chris-tian doctrines, prophets, and practices. Ex-amples of the some of the titles were Jesus andModern Christians, Christianity versus Athe-ism, Catholic Dogma in the Making and Jew-ish Christianity and Pauline Christianity.Within these articles, often times, there was acomparison with Islam. In a 1957 issue, TheMuslim Sunrise reviewed a book on Muslim-Christian relations called The Call of the Mina-ret. The review praises the book for its attemptsto bridge the gap between Christians and Mus-lims, yet corrects the many errors found withinsuch as the crucifixion of Jesusas.2

The Muslim Sunrise has also discussedseveral social issues found within society thatcan be answered by Islamic doctrine. There isa logical, Islamic way to deal with all problemsfound in life and many of these articles pro-vided an explanation to the readers. In the veryfirst issue of The Muslim Sunrise, the first ar-ticle was entitled No Polygamy and deals witha huge concern many Americans have withIslam. At the turn of the century through the1920s, Americans were still entrenched in theirVictorian Christian values, so the thought of aman having multiple wives was appalling. Dr.Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra sahib explains in thisarticle Islam’s stand on polygamy:

“ ‘I have not come here to teach pluralityof wives. If a Moselm [sic] will ever preach orpractice polygamy in America he will be com-mitting a sin against his religion.’ This was myreply to the immigration officer’s first questionput to me when I reached the American shore.In the religion of Islam there are some Com-mandments and some Permissions. I must al-ways follow the commandments, but the per-missions can be avoided.” 3

There was a dire need for an explanationregarding polygamy as it was the first ques-tion asked to Dr. Sadiqra upon his arrival; how-ever, his explanation cannot only be applied topolygamy but other concerns about Islamiclaw that would not coincide with the Americanlaw; this being a value that the Ahmadiyyacommunity has continued to the present day.

The Muslim Sunrise also used stories tolook at different issues. In a story entitled TheStep-Mother Complex from a 1941 issue, a girlnamed Ellen reflected about her experience withstep-mothers and later becoming a mother her-self. Ellen wrote that her only knowledge ofstep-mothers was only the frightful ones seenin movies and how her perception of all step-mothers had thus been affected. When it cametime that she had her own step-mother, Ellenlearned that all step-mothers are not evil andshould be loved and treated with respect.When she became a mother, Ellen rememberedthat she was raised by two women and if herchild needed to be raised by another woman inher stead, she would be grateful to that other

woman. There were two morals to this story,do not buy into negative propaganda withoutinvestigation and that the point of motherhoodis to train and develop a child to his or herfullest possibility, whether done by the bio-logical mother or another mother.4 With theconcept of motherhood being important in Is-lam, the story about Ellen points out themother’s desire to have her child reared to thebest possibility even if cannot be done by her-self.

In a time where science became a majorfield of study not only in America but in theworld, The Muslim Sunrise provided articlesregarding where the field stands in Islam andother religions. A 1956 edition contained ex-cerpts from an Islamic Culture colloquium de-livered by Professor Miller Burrows atPrinceton University. Burrows noted that “re-ligion and science deal with different aspectsof the same reality.” He also went on to dis-cuss the difficulties some have in acceptingboth their traditional beliefs and scientific facts.5In a later 1970’s article, Science and Religion,

Fall• 2 0 0 8

ISL

AM

Summer 2011 15

Islam’s and Christianity’s views were com-pared: “..many religionists of the west haverejected some of the most cogent proofs ofscientific discovery; - not because they areuntenable, but because they are, according tosome Christians’ interpretation, inconsistentwith Biblical text.”6

Many additional articles that focusedstrictly on Islam and science have made theirway to the pages of The Muslim Sunrise.These articles, found throughout the years,examine excerpts of the Qur’an and the say-ings of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa. In 1990,Dr. Abdus Salam wrote an extensive articleentitled Islam and Science, which pulledverses from the Holy Qur’an, Ahadith and his-tory to describe the rise and fall of science in

the Islamic world.7 Several other articles werealso published regarding Islam’s contributionto science in the 1980s and the 1930s.

The Muslim Sunrise featured assortedunique article topics. In the 1932-33 issue, aninteresting article entitled Religion and Art waspublished. This article examined mankind’sneed for religion, and that art and architecturewere inspired by all the beautiful thoughts andfeelings one receives from worshiping. Theauthor then compared the confusion that manyhave when first exposed to art to Islam. Onemay not understand a symphony or paintinguntil it is explained by someone else who isknowledgeable on the topic. The same can besaid for Islam in America. It has not been prop-erly explained but when it is by someone whotruly knows the religion, the “Holy Quran willeventually cast its dominant influence west-

ward just as it has done for centuries in theOrient.”8

Islam and the liquor problem focused onAmerica’s enjoyment of this intoxicating bev-erage, despite its known downfalls. The articlelooked at the United States government’s failedattempt to rid society of the evil drink throughProhibition and the various praises Islam hasreceived for its complete abstinence to alco-hol. “Islam came to the scene and vetoed allintoxicants. Never again has drinking beenprevalent in a strictly Moslem Society. Such isthe power of Islam. Dr. A. W. Martin says inhis famous book, ‘The World’s Great Reli-gions.’”9

The Muslim Sunrise remained contempo-rary with its respective time period, publishing

articles that would bebeneficial for that par-ticular audience. Dur-ing World War II, sev-eral articles that per-tained specifically tothat wartime were writ-ten such as Best Wayto Win War, IslamicPrinciples on the PostWar Reconstruction,Reveal Nazi Steps toKill Christianity,Mussolini on Trial andChronology of WWII.In the 1942 article, Is-lamic Principles onthe Post War Recon-struction, SirMuhammad ZafarullahKhan, who was later tobecome Pakistan’s first

Foreign Minister (1947-1954), President of theUN General Assembly (1962-1963), and Presi-dent of the International Court of Justice (1970-1973), delivered his advice to a small crowd.He suggested to first remedy the underlyingproblem then to stop exploiting the nationswith monetary interest, a concept forbidden inIslam. Finally he concluded that no man isabove any other man and the most noble is theone who is the most God-fearing.10

As America advanced into the Cold Warand the world saw the rise of Communism, TheMuslim Sunrise clarified Islam’s stand on Com-munism. Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad dis-cussed this in his article Islam and Commu-nism. He indicated it was not an event betweenthe United States and the Soviet Union, but awar between Communism and Capitalism, Gogand Magog. Islam is the happy medium and

Dr. Abdus Salamwrote an extensive

article entitledIslam and Science,which pulled verses

from the HolyQur’an, Ah-Hadith

and history todescribe the rise andfall of science in the

Islamic world.

solution to both of these extremes. 11

America and the world continued to changeand The Muslim Sunrise has persisted in pro-viding a true Islamic point-of-view. Post 9/11and into today, articles regarding terrorism havebeen printed, with the entire winter 2010 issue,Terrorism has No Religion dedicated to thetopic. With the rise of Islamophobia within theUnited States and the world and with terroristattacks sporadically occurring, the topic issurely one that needed to be addressed.

All of these diverse articles proved to be avaluable resource for the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity and Americans interested in Islam.Many of the articles have been used and citedin academic sources as an authority on Islamin American history. It is extremely difficult tosum up all the different article topics that havebeen published within the 90 years of TheMuslim Sunrise. The few titles and topics high-lighted within this article can barely do justiceto all that has been covered in this publica-tion. The beauty of these articles is that manyof them can still be used as resources today.Through all the variety of topics, the messageof the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has notchanged. The message of the true and peace-ful Islam has continually been portrayed andexplained in an effort to educate the Americanaudience.

(Endnotes)1Sadiq, Dr. Mufti Muhammad. “Brief Report of the Work inAmerica.” Moslem Sunrise (1921): 36. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1921_issue_2.pdf>.2 “A New Period in Muslim-Christian Relations.” Muslim Sunrise24.2 (1957): 9-13. Web. 27 Mar 2011. <http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1957_iss_2.pdf>.3Sadiq, Dr. Mufti Muhammad. “No Polygamy.”MoslemSunrise 1.1 (1921): 9-10. Web. 13 Mar 2011. <http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1921_issue_1.pdf>.4 Dover, Ellen. “The Step-Mother Complex.” Moslem Sunrise (1941): 26-31. Web. 13 Mar 2011. <http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1941_iss_1.pdf>.5 Burrows, Professor Miller. “Religion and Science.”Muslim Sunrise (1956): 21-25. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1956_iss_2.pdf>.6 Qasim, Muhammad. “Science and Religion.” Muslim Sunrise (1970): 10-12. Web. 25 Mar 2011. <http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1970_issue_1.pdf>.7 Salam, Dr. Abdus. “Islam and Science, Concordance or Conflict?.”Muslim Sunrise (1990): 3-17. Web. 30 Mar 2011. <http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1990_iss_3.pdf>.8 Stauffer, Nina. “Religion and Art.” The Moslem Sunrise 5.1-2(1932-33): 22-24. Web. 13 Mar 2011. <http://muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1932_33_iss_1_2.pdf>.9 Bengalee, Sufi M. R. . “Islam and the Liquor Question.” MoslemSunrise 4.3 (1932): 13-14. Web. 13 Mar 2011. <http://Muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1931-32_iss_3.pdf>.10 Khan, Sir M. Zafrulla. “Islamic Principles on the Post WarReconstruction.” Moslem Sunrise (1990): 18-20. Web. 13 Mar 2011.<http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1942_iss_4.pdf>.11 Ahmad, Hazrat Mirza Bashir. “Islam and Communism: AComparison.” Muslim Sunrise (1952): 2-17. Web. 13 Mar 2011.<http://www.muslimsunrise.com/dmddocuments/1952_issue_4.pdf>.

The writer is working on a Master’s inHumanity and she is the current editor,Ayesha Magazine.

Summer 2011 17

“Help! Help!!” begins a plea towards the end of this issue of The Moslem Sunrise. Thefull announcement reads:

“Religious propaganda against Islam and Muslim Nations in this country require a strongdefense by publishing and free distribution of Islamic pamphlets and leaflets in millions all overthe country. I cannot do all I want to do and I ought to do for want of funds. May Allah inspiresome good hearts to help me. –Editor”

The first Muslim Sunrise, July, 1921


By Humera Malik

I n July of 1921, MuftiMuhammad Sadiqra sat at 75Victor Avenue in HighlandPark, Michigan, putting the

final touches on the inaugural issueof the first issue of The MoslemSunrise. A short while later it wasprinted, making it available to allAmericans for a mere 25 cents. Atthat time, who could have known thata magazine started by “MuftiSahib” with the help of a few newfriends would still be going strongninety years later, and that it wouldhave grown to incorporate writersfrom the length and breadth ofAmerica, and that it would continueto be the longest running Muslimmagazine in the United States ofAmerica?

When one looks at the first issue of The Mos-lem Sunrise one cannot doubt that it forever setthe bar by which future issues would be judged,even now, 90 years hence. In this article we take

a look both at the issue’s content andthe trials through which its editor,Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra, had to passthrough in order to publish it.

The Life of anAhmadi in 1921

Much of the inaugural issue puttogether by Mufti Sahib was devotedto reporting on the progress of thenascent Ahmadiyya Muslim Commu-nity in America. To read through it isto step back in time and experience thelife of an American Ahmadi Muslimalmost a century ago – when America,a few years after World War I, was ayoung and triumphant nation about toenter one of its darkest economic pe-riods, yet still bustling as a meltingpot of immigrants, then more than everbefore, all clamoring on its city streetsto make a life for themselves in the“new world.” To read these pages isto share in celebrations with them, tofeel their pain and understand theirstruggles and to receive valuableknowledge not only about their faithbut also their country, and about thelife of their devout Christian neigh-bors.

Celebrations

In 1921, the Ahmadi Muslim Com-munity in America not only partook inIslamic celebrations but they alsoshared in the joyous occasions markedby their neighbors, and reported onboth in The Moslem Sunrise.

In a short announcement reporting

on how the Ahmadi Muslim Commu-nity shared in the world’s celebra-tions of New Year’s Day, Mufti Sahibacknowledges the difficulty of par-ticipating in non-Muslim ceremo-nies. He found a novel way to “re-spect the feelings of the people [i.e.,society] in which we have to work.”The announcement repor ts thepoem reproduced below was printedonto green paper and sent alongwith literature on Islam to all thekings in the world, as well as presi-dents of every country and notablemen and women of America:

I wish you all happiness in theNew Year,

And may you obtain all theblessings, my dear,

Which Allah the Gracious hasordained to send

Through Ahmad, the Guide,the Prophet, the Friend

And his Master and TeacherMuhammad, the elect

Who was the Prophet, the mostPerfect

Further along in this introduc-tory issue, Mufti Sahib also reportson Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations.

“Eid ul Fitr is a period of rejoic-ing among Muslims, where all Mus-lims are bidden to assemble forprayer and listen to the teachingsof the Koran,” explains Mufti Sahib.

This short article, entitled Mos-lems celebrate Feast of Eid ul Fitrgives us a glimpse into the activi-ties of the community on this “sol-emn festival of Mohammedenism,”as Mufti Sahib describes it. Apartfrom assembling for prayer and lis-ten ing to the teachings of theQur’an, the small Ahmadi MuslimCommunity in Detroit also orga-nized a parade through the city andpartook in a feast at their localmosque, which was still under con-struction at the time.

Anti-Islamic Sentiment

“Help! Help!!” begins a plea to-

The MuslimSunrise,First Issue

Summer 2011 19

wards the end of this issue of The Mos-lem Sunrise. The full announcementreads:

“Religious propaganda against Islamand Muslim Nations in this country re-quire a strong defense by publishingand free distribution of Islamic pam-phlets and leaflets in millions all overthe country. I cannot do all I want to doand I ought to do for want of funds.May Allah inspire some good hearts tohelp me. –Editor”

It is interesting to note that, 90 yearsla ter, Musl ims face much the samestruggles in America.

Letters Sent and Received

Another central theme of the first is-sue of The Muslim Sunrise is the corre-spondence both sent and received byMufti Sahibra. The writers and recipi-ents of these letters range from newconverts to heads of state and royalty.Statistics provided within the magazineshow that Sadiqra received 4,000 corre-spondences and that he and his smallteam of dedicated converts sent out15,000 letters and cards in the span ofless than one year!

Through these cor respondences ,Sadiqra made himself known to peoplethroughout America. He received manyresponses expressing recipients’ grati-tude at having been contacted. Belowis a response the magazine’s staff re-ceived from Queen Mary of England,which was printed in The Moslem Sun-rise.

“Sir, I am directed by the Secretaryof State for India to inform you thatyour letter of 7th July to the Queen hasbeen laid before Her Majesty, who hasgraciously expressed her thanks for thecongratulations of the Ahmadiyya Com-munity in America on the escape of HisRoyal Highness, the Prince of Wales,from injury in a railway accident.

I am Sir,Your Obedient Servant(Sd) L. D. Dunlop”

This letter, and others like it, reflectsMufti Sahib’s bold yet gracious attitudein reaching out to ruler and ruled alike,with equal vigor and respect.

Virgin Birth

As mentioned earlier, the articles inthe 1921 issue of The Moslem Sunrisecovered topics of Islamic, Christian andAmerican interest. One of the lengthier,more in-depth articles presented in theissue is entitled Virgin Birth.

It begins by explaining that a virginbirth is an exceptional phenomenon of thelaw of nature. It prevails in men, animalsand the vegetable kingdom. Furthermore,readers are informed that “there havebeen many born of virgin recorded in thesacred histories of different religions.”After covering the basics of a virgin birth,the writer goes on to explain that it is notthe manner of birth which determines thecondition of man.

“A man is not good or bad, holy orprofane on account of the way he is born.Man is responsible for his actions andnot for the things out of his control.”

The author explains that Jesusas, aswith all other prophets “gradually awak-ened” to his consciousness irrespectiveof the way he was born. Rather than con-sider Jesusas the most important prophetbecause God chose him to be born of avirgin, the author explains that we do notmake any difference between prophets as“they are all raised by God.”

Mufti Sahib’s Struggles

Publishing and issuing a magazinewould be a challenge for anyone, but topublish it in a foreign language in a coun-try where you had lived for less than ayear without an endowment or funds oreven a staff is a whole other ball game. Areport of “One Year’s Muslim Mission-ary Work in America,” which makes up alarge portion of the first issue, outlinessome of the difficulties Mufti Sahibra en-countered in the run up to publishing TheMoslem Sunrise.

Statistics provided within themagazine show that Sadiqra

received 4,000 correspondencesand that he and his small team ofdedicated converts sent out 15,000letters and cards in the span of lessthan one year!“Sir, I am directed by the Secretary of State for

India to inform you that your letter of 7th July to theQueen has been laid before Her Majesty, who has

graciously expressed her thanks for thecongratulations of the Ahmadiyya Community inAmerica on the escape of His Royal Highness, the

Prince of Wales, from injury in a railway accident.”

-- A response the magazine’s staff received from Queen Maryof England, which was printed in The Moslem Sunrise.


“It being the very first attempt to ap-proach the Americans with the mission ofIslam I had to pass through all the diffi-culties that always confront a beginner ofa work,” he begins.

Mufti Sahib’s challenges in a foreignland arose as soon as he set foot on Ameri-can soil, in the form of the immigration of-ficers he encountered. (Again, 90 yearslater, how little has changed!) He was or-dered to return to India on the very ves-sel on which he had completed his long,arduous and miraculous journey to a for-eign land. Mufti Sahibra states that thereason given for ordering him to returnwas merely that he was a missionary ofthe Islamic faith. He remained strong, how-ever, refusing to return and asked for per-mission to appeal this decision to higherauthorities. As a result of this, he wasplaced in a detention house for a periodof seven weeks. Although this period oftime was full of difficulties and trials,Mufti Sahibra relates, “I count them as thedays of blessings” because he was giventhe opportunity to offer prayers to God,to meditate, and to plan his future schemeof work, until he received permission to

enter America. Mufti Sahibra did not wastethe time he spent in the detention centre.In fact, he began quietly preaching to theother detainees, calling them to the faithof Islam. Through his efforts to spread theword of Islam, he was able to convert 21fellow detainees to Ahmadiyyat. Thenames of all these converts as well asmany other converts are given in the in-augural issue of The Moslem Sunrise.

“No Polygamy”

Sadiqra explains that the first questionposed to him by the immigration officershe encountered was regarding whether hewas here to teach plurality of wives. Hestates that the response he gave to themwas, “I have not come here to teach plu-rality of wives. If a Muslim will ever preachor practice Polygamy in America he willbe committing a sin against his religion.”

This article is most relevant even to-day, for, within it, Mufti Sahibra beauti-fully explains the importance of adheringto and respecting the laws and values ofthe country in which a Muslim resides.

The concept presented here is sosimple that it does not invite any argu-ment. Mufti Sahibra explains that withinIslam certain commandments are given aswell as certain permissions. To give up thecommandments of Islam is unacceptable;however, if the permissions of Islam con-tradict the laws and practices of the coun-try within which you reside, these can beavoided. He presents polygamy as onesuch permission.

This article ends on a humorous lighternote. Mufti Sahibra finds and reprints anarticle from the Tribune newspaper en-titled “2 wives; will keep both; cops let itgo at that” (April 30th 1921), in which aChristian Italian immigrant man namedGuiseppa is reported to have taken a sec-ond wife in America when his first fromItaly never arrived. Well she finally ar-rived after World War I and at least in thisinstance, the authorities allowed this manto practice bigamy.

The Muslim Sunrise magazine had ahumble start, assembled by a small team,which typed out its content in black inkon white paper, stapled its pages togetherand manually distributed it. But it wasapparent from the very start that it was adiamond in the rough, a magazine full ofgems of knowledge. Mufti Sahibra re-mained its editor for less than ten issues,but in establishing the magazine’s vision,raising funds, training staff, writing, re-porting and living in its pages, he hasinked his legacy and set the bar by whichall future editors and issues would bejudged. The present and indeed every is-sue is a testament to his and all the earlyAmerican Ahmadi Muslims’ efforts tospread the message of Islam in America.

Humera Malik holds a degree in Lan-guage, Literacy and Communicationfrom the University of Manchester and isdiplomatic attaché posted to the U.S.Embassy in Kuwait with her husband,Naveed. She has been published in UKDaily Mail.

The Muslim Sunrise magazine had a humble start,assembled by a small team, which typed out its contentin black ink on white paper, stapled its pages togetherand manually distributed it.

Hadhrat MirzaBashir-ud-Din

MahmudAhmad,

Khalifat-ul-Masih IIra sent

Dr. MuftiMuhammad

Sadiqra toAmerica in

1920.

Summer 2011 21

On July 7, 1492, a manset sail from the shoresof Spain in search ofthe far eastern riches

of the world with his three ships, theNina, Pinta and the Santa Maria.After a long arduous journey ofseveral months and a blatantmutiny of his colleagues, heannounced on October 11, 1492that if he did not reach land in afew days, he would turn back. He

was fortunate that he was able toland the very next day on the shoresof the Bahamas. This brave manwas none other than ChristopherColumbus, and thus began thephysical discovery of America.

The spiritual discovery ofAmerica, however, had to wait fivemore centuries for the advent ofthe Promised Messiah, HadhratMirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadianas.One of Ahmad’s companions,

Hadhrat Mufti MuahammadSadiqra, took an ocean voyagefrom England and arrived on theshores of Philadelphia on Febru-ary 15, 1921. His arrival washardly cordial; indeed, the authori-ties arrested him for being a Mus-lim. As this news arrived in Qadian,Khalifat-ul-Masih IIra, the secondsuccessor to the PromisedMessiahas, upon hearing the news,grew deeply perturbed and stated:

The Growth ofAhmadiyyat in America

Since 1920By Anwer Mahmood Khan


“America, a country that claims to bethe strongest nation, may have challengedmany a nation and may have even defeatedthem. But if it dares challenge the spiritualKingdom, it will find out that it can neverdefeat us because the Almighty Allah is onour side. We will propagate Islam in thecountries surrounding America and afterconverting their people, we will send theminto America. America will not be able tostop them. And we hope that one dayAmerica will resound with the proclamation:‘There is none worthy of worship exceptAllah and Muhammad is His Messenger.’”

This prophetic statement set the begin-ning of the spread of Ahmadiyyat, the trueIslam, in America. While imprisoned,Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra con-verted fifteen inmates to Islam. This intimi-dated the authorities, and they released himin haste.

These fifteen new converts to Islam ini-tiated the spiritual journey of Islam and Ah-madiyyat in the United States. HadhratMufti Muhammad Sadiqra traveled to NewYork, then Detroit, and finally settled inChicago where he established the firstmosque and mission house at 4448 WabashAvenue. From this center he initiated themonthly magazine The Muslim Sunrise in1921. At the same time, Hasan MoosaKhan, a pioneering Ahmadi in Australia,initiated a magazine in Australia called TheMuslim Sunshine. He would write toHadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra andshare the activities and progress of Ah-madiyyat in America with his fellow Ah-madis in Australia.

Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra emu-lated the life of the Promised Messiahas andadopted his ways for preaching in bothhis writing and speeches. For example, Hedispatched 2,800 letters in a few monthsand received 646 during the same time. Hedistributed some 300 books and leaflets.During his short stay in America, approxi-mately 1,000 people joined the fold of Ah-madiyya. The names of 400 new convertswere published in The Muslim Sunrise.

Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra heldweekly training meetings at the MissionHouse. His classes had such a magneticcharm that all the rooms of the MissionHouse had standing room-only crowds.He received 91 honorary degrees fromreputable universities and educational in-stitutions in America.

Hadhrat Maulvi Mohammad Dinra

followed Hadhrat Mufti MuhammadSadiqra as the second missionary toAmerica. He, too, was a companion ofthe Promised Messiahas and extensivelytoured America in search of new av-enues of tabligh or preaching. Since1921, over 35 missionaries have spreadthe message of Islam across the nation.Some of them passed away in America,i nc lud ing Mau lv i MuhammadMunawar, who is buried in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania.

Since the early Ahmadi Muslim mis-sionaries first sowed the seeds of Is-lam and Ahmadiyyat in America, theAhmadiyya Muslim Community USAhas seen tremendous growth. Thisgrowth can be charted in various cat-egories: (1) the building of mosquesand mission houses; (2) the giving offinancial contributions towards globalschemes for the spread of the messageof Ahmadiyyat; (3) the developmentand dissemination of religious publi-ca t i ons ; ( 4 ) t he ho ld ing o f Ja l saSalanas (or annual conventions) andother historical conventions; and (5)the visits of the Khulafa (or spiritualsuccessors). Each is discussed in turn.

Mosques and Mission Houses

Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra es-tablished the first mosque and missionhouse in the United States in Chicago, Illi-nois in 1921. In the ensuing thirty years,eight new mosques or mission houses wereestablished. Since 1951, that number hasincreased over six fold – with a presenttotal of fifty-two mosques or missionhouses across some forty states and overseventy chapters.

A few key watershed years led to therapid expansion of mosques and missionhouses. In 1982, the fourth Khalifa,Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh, announceda special scheme to build five mosques infive metropolitan cities in the United States:Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, Metropoli-tan D.C. and New York. He set a collectiontarget of $2.5 million for this purpose. Thisspecial scheme invigorated the AhmadiMuslim membership in America and helpedusher in an unprecedented era of expan-sion in the 1980s and 1990s, in which someforty-two news mosques or missionhouses were purchased or constructed. Inparticular, the western United States sawthe construction of three new mosques

Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra

established the first mosque and mission

house in the United States in Chicago, Illinois

in 1921. In the ensuing thirty years, eight

new mosques or mission houses were

established. Since 1951, that number has

increased over six fold – with a present total

of fifty-two mosques or mission houses across

some forty states and over seventy chapters.

Summer 2011 23

built from scratch beginning in 1987: Bait-ul-Hameed (Los Angeles), Bait-ul-Rizwan (Port-land) and Yusuf Mosque (Tucson). Bait-ul-Hameed, a 25,000 square foot structure built ona 5-acre parcel of land, was inaugurated in 1989.In 1994, Bait-ur-Rehman, now the Jama’at head-quarters, was built in Silver Spring, Maryland.Among purchased properties, Bait-ul-Zafarstands out, as this synagogue has been con-verted to a mosque in Queens, New York, at acost of $6 million.

Some mosques were completely funded bya handful of dedicated Jama’at members, in-cluding Yousuf Mosque in Tucson, Arizona,Bait-ul-Baseer in Milipitas, California, and Bait-ul-Samee in Houston, Texas. Another notableevent was the conversion of a church into amosque in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where in-terfaith harmony was on display as members ofthe church assembled with the members of theJama’at to perform the inaugural celebration ofthe mosque. It was extensively covered by themedia and created an environment of compas-sion and true brotherhood among the neigh-bors of the mosque. A similar display of human

interaction was manifested at the opening ofBait-ul-Jaamay in Glen Elyn, Illinois, where mem-bers of the neighboring churches welcomed themosque and its members with affection andhospitality.

Financial Contributions

Since the early 1990s, the United StatesJama’at has been among the leading contribu-tors to the Tehrik–e-Jadid and Waqf–e-Jadidschemes initiated by the Second Khalifa. In2010 alone, the Jama’at collected almost $2.5million in Tehrik-e-Jadid and Waqf-e-Jadid con-tributions.

At the instructions of Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh, and later our present Khalifaaba,many members of the Jama’at contributed gen-erously to the construction of Tahir Heart Insti-tute in Rabwah, Pakistan, donating over $4.2million. Over a hundred Ahmadi physiciansand surgeons from America have offered theirtime and services at the hospitals in Rabwah, aswell as in Africa.

Publications

The aforementioned The Muslim Sunrisehas been in circulation since 1921. A Spanishversion has recently been added for the grow-ing Hispanic population in America. Commemo-rative souvenir publications were printed on theoccasion of the 50th Jalsa Salana and the Cen-tenary year in 1989. The publications of TheAhmadiyya Gazette, and Al Noor (Urdu Ver-sion) have been in print since 1980. Auxiliariesof the Jama’at also print magazines, includingMujahid, Ayesha Magazine, and Al Hilal.

Pictorial books showcasing mosques world-wide have been published by the Jama’at in1994 (at the occasion of the inauguration of theBait-u- Rehman Mosque in Silver Spring, Mary-land) and 2008 (at the centenary celebration ofKhilafat). Wikipedia has featured the 2008 pub-lication online and it has been widely cited bysome 200 publications. IPod and IPhone appli-cations featuring the book are also in the works.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IIIrh visited in1976 and again in 1978. In his second trip,he also visited the West Coast, and a missionhouse was established in California.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh laid thefoundation stone of many mosques and mis-sion houses during his visits to the UnitedStates in 1987, 1989, 1994 an 1998. In theabove photo, he visited with the the lateChicago Mayor Harold Washington.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih Vaba paid hishistoric first visit to the United States in2008 at the occasion of the 60th Jalsa SalanaUSA in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Some10,000 people attended this historic event.


Historic Events

The 1920s and 1930s in America saw con-siderable racial tension in America. AhmadiMuslim missionary Sufi Mutee-ur-RahmanBangalee saw these tensions as an opportunityto propagate the peaceful message of Islam. InNovember of 1931, he arranged for a large con-ference at a temple in Chicago entitled: “Howcan we overcome color and racial prejudice?”Over 2,000 people attended the lecture. In thisconference the Dean of the University of Chi-cago declared that Christianity had essentiallyfailed to address the racial issue in America.Many Christian ministers agreed with the Dean.

In 1932, at the occasion of the World Fel-lowship of Faiths, Bangalee Sahib read outHadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih’sra message toAmerica. Hadhrat Chaudhry Zafarullah Khanra

also addressed the conference. At the time,The Muslim Sunrise reviewed the issue of seg-regation in churches and published its findings.Of the approximately 13,597 white churches inAmerica, only 1,331 included non-white mem-bers. The magazine also condemned and de-nounced the racial riots in Detroit in late 1930s.

Jalsa Salana, also known as “annual con-vention,” is an institution that was founded bythe Promised Messiahas in 1891. Since that time,Jalsa Salanas are annually held in over sev-enty-five countries of the world.

In the United States, the first Jalsa was or-ganized in 1948 in Dayton, Ohio, under the lead-ership of Dr. Khalil Nasir. The Second Jalsawas held on September 17 and 18, 1949 inPittsburg, Pennsylvania. Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IIra sent a special message for this con-vention:

“So, I advise you with all the love I bear foryou, to avail yourselves of this great opportu-nity of being pioneers of truth in your countryand set a grand example of being true obedi-ent to God and His religion for your contem-poraries and for the coming generations. Somuch so that you become in the eyes of God thedeliverers of your country and your people,and become like the first disciples of the proph-ets of old.”

Hadhrat Chaudhry Zafarullah Khanra, a wellknown member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Com-munity, also addressed this second convention,and the local Lajna offered $ 525 to the Khalifaas a gesture of their love and a token of sacri-fice.

In 1976, the 29th Jalsa Salana was organizedat the Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.This convention was graced with the presenceof Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IIIrh. The Daily

record of Morris County covered this event andpublished some text of his address. Over 600people attended this conference.

In 1982, with the permission of the Presidentof the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community inAmerica, Hadhrat Mirza Muzaffar AhmadSahibrh, the West Coast Jalsa Salana was initi-ated and to date is held annually. The annualwest coast Jalsa started with seventy-five par-ticipants in 1982, and in 2010 hosted a record1,319 participants.

In 1983, the 35th Jalsa Salana was held inMichigan. Four days prior to the occurrence ofthe Jalsa, one of the prominent local membersof the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, Dr.Muzaffar Ahmad, was martyred. Through theKhalifa’s instructions the Jalsa was held in anopen field with over 1,000 attendants. HadhratKhalifat-ul-Masih IVrh sent a moving messagein which he said:

“See the intelligent insight: Muzaffar is evenalive today! Nay he got a life far greater than hehad! O Muzaffar! Peace be upon you! At yourback are millions of Muzaffars ready and anx-ious to move forward and fill in your place. Oyou who quenched the flame of Muzaffar’s life,you have given him a cup of everlasting life todrink. To him life is guaranteed, and to you noth-ing but death.

Friday Sermon, Aug.12, 1983

In 1994, Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh

graced the US Ahmadiyya Muslim Communitywith his presence during the 46th Jalsa Salanaand inaugurated the Bait-ur-Rehman Mosquein Silver Spring, Maryland. More than 7,000delegates from over thirty countries participatedin this auspicious Jalsa.

In 1998, Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh

again graced us with his presence for the 50th

Jalsa Salana of USA. This was his last visit toour country, as he passed away in 2003.

In 2000, the Jama’at organized a historicevent to commemorate the fulfillment of the di-vine prophecy of John Alexander Dowie, in Zion,Illinois. The “Messiah 2000” conference, as itwas called, was held near the site of the fulfill-ment of the prophecy a century prior. Over 1,500attended the conference. An extensive exhibi-tion showcased the historic and extensive U.S.media coverage of the famous prayer duel be-tween the Promised Messiahas and Dr. Dowie.A book was also published detailing the proph-ecy and its historical significance.

In 2006, Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih Vaba, ina live two-way MTA satellite transmission ad-dressed the final session of the 58th Jalsa Salana

of USA Jama’at.In 2008, Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih Vaba

participated in the Khilafat Centenary celebra-tions and joined the 6oth Jalsa Salana USAthat was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Over35 U.S. newspapers and magazines covered thehistoric visit.

In 2010, the 62nd Jalsa Salana was held atthe expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Over 100dignitaries and public officials participated inthis Jalsa for the first time.

Visits ofKhulafa-e-Ahmadiyyat

In the past nine decades, three Khulafahave made eight visits to the United States.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IIIrh visited in1976 and again in 1978. In his second trip, healso visited the West Coast, and a missionhouse was established in California. He ad-vised the members to buy large parcels of landfor mosques and mission houses. HadhratKhalifat-ul-Masih IVrh formally made this intoa scheme in 1982 during his first visit asKhalifat-ul-Masih.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih IVrh laid thefoundation stone of many mosques and mis-sion houses during his visits to the UnitedStates in 1987, 1989, 1994 an 1998.

Hadhrat Khalifat-ul-Masih Vaba paid hishistoric first visit to the United States in 2008 atthe occasion of the 60th Jalsa Salana USA inHarrisburg, Pennsylvania. Some 10,000 peopleattended this historic event.

Future Growth

Ninety years have passed since the Jama’atfirst laid its roots in America. Those roots havegrown robust through the efforts of the earlyAhmadi Muslim missionaries and early AhmadiMuslim da’een and the historic visits of thekhulafa–e-Ahmadiyyat. But the Jama’at inAmerica has only laid the groundwork for afuture upsurge in the spread of true Islamicteachings throughout America. May the nextcentury of Ahmadiyyat in America see the ulti-mate fulfillment of the Second Khalifa’sra grandvision. Ameen.

Anwer Mahmood is the National Secre-tary, Terik-i-Jadid, and is a member of theChino, California branch of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community.

Summer 2011 25

T hhhhhe early 1900se early 1900se early 1900se early 1900se early 1900swas the time whenracial riots againstblack Americans

rocked several cities across theUnited States. Racialdiscrimination against Indianand Asian immigrants was alsoat an all time high. ManyMuslims, Sikhs and Hinduswhom white Americans called“ragheads” because they woreturbans, were refused entry intothe United States and thosewho were already in the countrycould not become citizens ofAmerica as they were neitherCaucasians nor Africans.The widespread hostilityagainst Asians resulted in thepassage of the OrientalExclusion Act, which excludedall laborers from the ‘AsiaticBarred Zone’ (Arabia,Afghanistan, India, Indochina,the East Indies, and otherAsian nations). The JohnsonAct of 1921 established strictannual quotas for Asianimmigrants, and finally theJohnson-Reed Act of 1924closed the door to most non-European immigrants bysetting up a “national originsystem” that gave North andWest Europeans a hugeadvantage over other groups.

Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad SadiqThe Founder and First Editor of The

Muslim Sunrise

Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra came to win the people’s hearts to Islam

By Dr. Khaula Rehman

Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra


This was the challenging climate intowhich, Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra came towin the people’s hearts to Islam. He facedimmense difficulties. When his ship, the S.SHaverford, arrived in Philadelphia on Feb.15th , 1920, The United States immigrationauthorities interrogated him for hours andestablished that he was a citizen of Indiaand representative of a religious group thatpracticed polygamy. The authorities askedhim to leave the United States on the shiphe had just arrived. Mufti MuhammadSadiqra refused to return and appealed tothe Secretariat in Washington, D.C. He wasconfined to the Philadelphia DetentionHouse for several weeks.

The American press covered Sadiq’s ar-rival in America with headlines such as“Picturesque Sadiq,” “Hopes to convertUS.,” “Speaks seven Tongues,” “Optimis-tic in Detention,” and “East Indian withNew Religion.”

Press, A Philadelphia newspaper, Feb.19th, 1920, probably gave the most accurateaccount of Mufti Muhammad Sadiq’s or-deal and his intentions in America:

‘While many religious sects in UnitedStates are spending thousands of dollarsand sending hundreds of philosophers andteachers to the wild of Tibet, the far reachesof Arabia and Hindustan and to the unex-plored regions of Africa and China, Mufti

Muhammad Sadiqra, after traveling thou-sands of miles, alone and friendless, hopesto begin his crusade to convert Americansto the doctrines taught by the prophetAhmad, of whom he is the principle dis-ciple.’

Indeed he began his crusade! Nothingcould come in his way, not even detentioncould stop him from preaching the messageof true Islam. His passion and devotionattracted others in detention towards Islam.They curiously watched an elderly, lightbrown complexioned man with a dark greenand gold turban, praying five times a dayand reciting the Holy Qur’an. They wereeager to learn about this exotic stranger’sreligion and his plans of an Islamic missionin America. Twenty one people convertedto Islam in the detention house, whosenames are mentioned in the first volume ofThe Muslim Sunrise.

Mufti Sahibra wrote about those earlydays:

“Almost every night I meet with thePromised Messiahas, or his first Khalifa orHadhrat Fazl-e-Umar. I am with my own fam-ily at night and my days are spent amongthe strangers.”

After two hard months of confinement,Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra was al-lowed to enter the United States in April of1920 on the condition that he will not preach

polygamy. He set up his mission on Madi-son Avenue in New York. In October 1920,he moved the Ahmadiyya mission to Chi-cago because of its central location.

He was a learned man, a graduate ofUniversity of London, a philologist of in-ternational repute, and an expert in Arabicand Hebrew. His work was published inPhilomath. In Dec.1920, Lincoln JeffersonUniversity of Chicago, Illinois, awarded himan honorary degree of Doctor of Literaturebecause of his attainments as a scholar,success as a leader of men, and his devo-tion to promoting the higher and nobler re-lations between man and man.

He believed that religious propagandaagainst Islam required a strong defense bythe publishing and free distribution of Is-lamic pamphlets and leaflets in millions allover the country.

In a month he contributed twenty ar-ticles on Islam to various American peri-odicals and news papers, including the NewYork Times. During his first year, he deliv-ered fifty public lectures on a variety ofsubjects in American cities, including Chi-cago, New York, Detroit, and Grand Havens.

In July 1921, Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra

published the first issue of the Muslim Sun-rise. Its primary purpose was refuting themisrepresentations of Islam in the media.The Muslim Sunrise was one of his biggest

In July 1921, Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra published the firstissue of The Muslim Sunrise. Its primary purpose wasrefuting the misrepresentations of Islam in the media.

The American press covered Sadiq’s arrival in America with headlines suchas “Picturesque Sadiq,” “Hopes to convert US.,” “Speaks seven Tongues,”

“Optimistic in Detention,” and “East Indian with New Religion.”

Summer 2011 27

achievements as it brought the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community’s “Jihad of pen” to theforefront of Islamic identity in America.

During the first quarter of journals’publication, from July through Oct. 1921, theAhmadiyya Muslim Community, received 646communications and sent out 2000 pieces ofmail, including the journal. Five hundredletters about Islam were mailed to Masoniclodges in the United States, along with thecopies of the Muslim Sunrise. Also, onethousand pieces of Ahmadiyya literature weresent to major libraries. Literature was alsomailed to many celebrities in the United Statesand abroad. Among them were ThomasEdison, Henry Ford and President WarrenHarding.

The newspaper, Ashland Daily Indepen-dent of Kentucky, published an article on MuftiMohammad Sadiq’s visit in 1923, titled, Pic-turesque Oriental Missionary here to winAshland Converts to Mahomet, Dr MuftiSadiq, Native of India, Tells of Faith, Daz-zling Dress Draws Crowds Attention:

“Ashland today entertains a Muslim mis-sionary, a man seeking converts for the faithof Muhammadan doing in this country a simi-lar task to the men and women America sendsto Africa, India and Burma, a learned man whois the head of the Moslem faith in the UnitedStates.

“As he walks about the streets of this city,attention is attracted by the bright green tur-ban adorning his head, his heavy gray beard,and his general demeanor.

“A passerby nudges his companion whis-pering, ‘Who is that man?’ The answer thathe is a Mohammedan missionary, increasesinstead of satisfies natural curiosity. ‘A Mo-hammedan missionary? Why, what is he do-ing here?’ These questions are not unexpectedas the friend explains that the man is inAshland to convert men and women to theMoslem faith. Perplexity grows as the pass-erby remembers that only a few Sundays ago,he made a contribution in his church to senda missionary to Arabia, the home of the Mo-hammedans.”

Despite the perplexity and amazement andat times hostility of his audience, he was ableto convert more than 700 people to Islam andAhmadiyyat in three years of his stay in theUnited States. When he initially came toAmerica he was advised that he should notassociate himself with the African-Americanslest he loses favor among the Caucasians. ButSadiqra was above and beyond these racialdifferences. He was all too aware of the Qu-ranic teachings that the prophets treat all hu-

mans with equality; it is only their oppo-nents that obsess over race and classdivisions. As is recorded in the HolyQur’an about the Prophet Noahas, “Theysaid, ‘Shall we believe thee (Noah), whenit is the meanest that follow thee?’” (AlQur’an 26:112)

Richard Brent Turner writes in hisbook Islam in African American Experi-ence:

“During the 1920s positive social andreligious interaction between Muslims ofdifferent racial and ethnic groups wasencouraged by the Indian missionariesof the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam.The Ahmadiyya was unquestionably oneof the most significant movements in thehistory of Islam in the United States inthe 20th century, providing as it did thefirst multi-racial model for American Is-lam. The Ahmadis disseminated Islamicliterature and converted black and whiteAmericans. They attacked the distortionsof Islam in the media, establishedmosques and reading rooms, and trans-lated the Quran into English. They alsoconstituted the link between the immi-grant Muslims (whose number includedArabs, Persians, Africans, Tartars, Turks,Albanians, and Yugoslavians) and blackMuslim groups such as the Nation of Is-lam and the Moorish Science Temple ofAmerica. Thus, their goal was to alterpermanently the historic patterns of ra-cial and ethnic separation that existedamong the Muslims in America.”

Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra was a pio-neer and a beacon of guiding light for allgenerations to come. He introduced a re-

ligious revolution in America and helpedhundreds to join the true Islam. But he wasa humble man and never attributed his suc-cesses to his knowledge or personal ef-forts. He went back to India in October 1923.There were tears in his eyes when his shipwas about to depart: not because he didnot want to leave. He cried in humility be-fore God Almighty, as he wrote:

“I have not been able to do full justiceto my assigned duty and I confess my fail-ing in my service.”

He further wrote:“I prayed for three things when I left

England for America: a sincere Jama’at ofAhmadi Muslims, construction of a mosqueand starting a new journal. In spite of allthe difficulties, God Al-mighty has an-swered my prayers and gave me a sincereJama’at during the first year. The MuslimSunrise in the Second year and a mosqueand a house was constructed in the thirdyear.”

The publication The Muslim Sunrisethat he started continues to be the oldestMuslim periodical in the USA and is in the90th year of its publication. The society thathe started has grown into thousands andwe believe the Ahmadiyya Muslim Commu-nity will continue to invite fellow citizensto genuine spirituality and a true vision ofUniversal Brotherhood, rising above racial,ethnic and class differences that divide manand man.

Dr. Khaula Rehman, is a sleep medicinespecialist working in upstate New York.

Despite the perplexity andamazement and at times

hostility of his audience, he wasable to convert more than 700

people to Islam andAhmadiyyat in three years ofhis stay in the United States.


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

S ince the fifteenth century, smallgroups of Muslims had startedarriving in North America, butfrom the 16th century onwards the

largest numbers — at least 2 to 3 millionMuslims — were brought as slaves fromAfrica. Unfortunately, most of them and theirlater generations lost their Islamic identity.They were converted to Christianity underduress. However, by the mid-nineteenthcentury, Muslims from Europe and MiddleEastern countries started migrating toAmerica, and their numbers had steadilyincreased to thousands by the time HadhratMufti Muhammad Sadiqra arrived in New Yorkin 1920 as an Ahmadi missionary of Islam.Prior to his arrival, a few white Americans hadaccepted Islam through their personalreligious enquiries. The most famous wasAlexander Russell Webb (1846-1916), ajournalist and diplomat, who hadcorresponded with Hadhrat Mirza GhulamAhmadas of Qadian, India. Mr. Webb had tried

to propagate Islam in America by establishinga publishing company in Broadway,Manhattan, starting an Islamic magazineMoslem World, founding a mosque, andinitiating study circles in various cities, suchas Manhattan, Chicago, Philadelphia,Pittsburg, Cleveland and Washington, D.C.Also, he had represented Islam at the firstmeeting of the World Parliament of Religionsheld in Chicago in 1893. Unfortunately, hisefforts did not bring any lasting fruit. NoMuslim was available even to lead his funeralPrayer when he passed away in 1916. Anothereffort in missionary work in America was madeby a Muslim mystic and musician from India,Inayat Khan (1882-1927). He toured the UnitedStates preaching the message of love,harmony and beauty, but again with no lastingresults. He returned to India in 1926.

By the 1920s, approximately 20,000 Mus-lims were scattered in many towns and citiesin America, but they were disorganized. Theirmain concentrations were in New York,Dearborn, Detroit, Chicago, and Ross (NorthDakota). They were mostly from Albania,

Bosnia, Poland, Turkey, Kurdistan, Yemen,Palestine, Lebanon, and the Punjab, India. Thereason of their migration to America wasmainly economical, not religious, and they re-mained engaged in earning their livelihoodsas workers and small businessmen. The firstmosque was built in Biddeford, Main, in 1905.At few places the immigrant Muslims tried toorganize some societies. The Bosnian Mus-lims, for example, were well established in Chi-cago, and in 1906 they established a socialservice organization called Dzemijetul-Hajrije (The Benevolent Society). Similarly,in 1907 the Polish speaking Tartar Muslimsfounded the American Mohammedan Societyin New York.

Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra arrivedin Philadelphia in 1920, but the ImmigrationOfficers put him in jail! Here is the story in hiswords:

“The first difficulty I had to encounter waswith the Immigration Officers, who orderedme to return on the same steamer on which Ihad come, merely because I was a Mission-ary of the Moslem Faith, and on my refusal to

The early years of Islam in America

Summer 2011 29

return and asking permission to Appeal toHigher Authorities in Washington I was placedin the Detention House for about seven weeks.Those were the days of great trial, but I countthem as the days of blessings, because I foundthe opportunity of offering prayers to God andMeditation and planning the Scheme for fu-ture work. Moreover, I began my work ofpreaching quietly among others detained likemyself.”1

Indeed, while imprisoned, he preached tothem with great success, and converted 21 de-tainees to Islam. After he was released fromthe detention house, within his first year in theUnited States he delivered about 50 public lec-tures in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Dowagiac,Michigan City, Sioux City, and Sioux Falls.Among his earliest converts in New York wasMrs. S. W. Sobolewski, the first indigenousAmerican lady to accept Islam. She was giventhe Islamic name Fatima Mustafa by HadhratMufti Muhammad Sadiqra. Later, he settled inHighland Park, near Detroit, Michigan, andmade a tour through Toledo, Fort Wayne, andBremen, delivering lectures and giving inter-views to the press and the public. In July 1921,he published the first issue of The MuslimSunrise (at that time, spelled as The MoslemSunrise), and three thousand copies wereprinted and distributed free of cost. Names ofall new converts to Islam, along with some pic-tures, were published in the magazine. Quota-tions taken from the Holy Quran, Hadith andthe writings of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas

and articles on Islam were regular features ofthe magazine that became popular amongAmerican readers.

United States was a great country to livein, and the Muslim Sunrise magazine wishedmillions of Muslims to come over and settlethere, make it their home-land, and “enjoy theprivileges of the citizenship in this free, fertileand rich land.”2. However, special efforts weremade to protect the Muslims residing in theUnited States from losing their Islamic iden-tity. Their past mistakes were identified, andrelevant advice was given to take practicalsteps to bring Islam in their daily lives. Theywere asked to make their five daily Prayers,learn Arabic, preach Islam to others, keep theirIslamic names, and not become ‘Sams’,‘Georges’, ‘James’, ‘Mikes’, etc. Hadhrat MuftiMuhammad Sadiqra counseled them that mar-riage to Christian or Jewish girls was lawful inIslam even if they remained in their own faith,but they should try their best to prove to themby kind treatment, love and clean and pure lifethat Islam was the true religion from God for

the welfare and prosperity of humanity. Spe-cial emphasis was given to bring up their chil-dren as good practicing Muslims. In addition,they were advised to build mosques in everytown to worship One God.

In 1921, a wealthy Muslim real estate agent,Muhammad Karoub of Highland Park, built amosque in Detroit, Michigan. Its opening cer-emony was to be conducted on the occasionof Id-ul-Fitr. Not only Hadhrat MuftiMuhammad Sadiqra led the Eid-ul-Fitr Prayer,but later in the afternoon, he also led a paradeof Muslims in the vicinity where the newly builtmosque was located. This shows that HadhratMufti Muhammad Sadiqra also rejoiced and cel-ebrated the happy occasions along with otherMuslims.

From Highland Park, Michigan, he movedto Chicago, Illinois, and sustained a success-ful missionary organization there. In 1922, heestablished a mosque and headquarters atSouth Wabash Street in the Bronzeville neigh-borhood in the city of Chicago. Very soon herealized that African Americans were far moreresponsive to the message of Islam as com-

pared to the white Americans. He also recog-nized the discrimination that was perpetuatedagainst them. Most of the African-Americancould not vote in 1920s. His effort was to uplifttheir spirit and to motivate them in self-reli-ance and self-respect, and his message to themwas clear that Islam would be a wonderful spiri-tual force in their lives, uniting them in a bondof common sympathy with all the Muslims ofthe world. The African-Americans could seethat social justice and equality for all were ex-tremely attractive features of the universal re-ligion of Islam. He also made his presenceknown among the African-American politicalmovements, such as UNIA-ACL (Universal Ne-gro Improvement Association and AfricanCommunities League) founded by MarcusGarvey (1887-1940) that aimed at the Black Na-tionalism and Pan-Africanism. Many ofMarcus Garvey’s followers found Islam as avalid solution to their problems, and becameMuslims.

Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra alsotrained the new coverts to attain leadershippositions in the newly emerging unified Ah-madiyya Muslim Community. For example, onesuch convert by the name P. Nathanial Johnsonwas made the Imam of an Ahmadi Mosque inSt. Louis, Missouri. He was given an Islamicname – Ahmad Din, who, in turn converted thou-sands of Christian African-Americans to Islam.Similarly, Fatima Mustafa, the first lady convert,started learning Arabic, studying Islamic litera-ture, and lecturing on Islam in New York. Someof the new converts would help him in his cor-respondence work. In the first 15 months of hismissionary work, each month an average of 1000letters were dispatched to various church lead-ers, heads of civil organizations, dignitaries andnewspapers. In the same time period, at least 30articles penned by him appeared in various repu-table newspapers and journals. Calling them“Missionary Epistles”, Hadhrat MuftiMuhammad Sadiqra wrote letters to royalty andrulers all over the world, including celebritiesand nominated Presidential candidates in USA.After three years of pioneer work, other Ah-madi missionaries started arriving from India,and on September 18, 1923, Hadhrat MuftiMuhammad Sadiqra returned home as a suc-cessful missionary of Islam in the USA.

Endnotes1.The Muslim Sunrise, Vol. 1, No. 1, page 12.2.The Muslim Sunrise, Vol. 1, No. 1, page 29.

Mubasher Ahmad is a Missionary of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community stationed inthe west coast of the U.S.A.

In 1922, he established amosque and headquarters atSouth Wabash Street in theAfrican American Bronzevilleneighborhood in Chicago. It washere that Sadiq soon realized thatthey were far more responsiveto the message of Islam


By Naveed A. Malik

Editors of The MuslimSunrise have been makingtheir unique mark on thepublication for 90 years.Sixteen individuals, mostlymissionaries, have led themagazine since itsinauguration in 1921,including two companionsof the Promised Messiahas.This article looks at the livesof its 10 longer runningeditors and how theyshaped the magazine.

The Archives:A Treasure for Seekers

A few years ago, I had the privilege of digi-tally archiving past issues of The MuslimSunrise. I owe a special debt of gratitudeto Nur Ahmad Makin of Chicago, who lentme his private collection of the first severaldecades of the magazine on microfiche, andto MS Editor Falahud Din Shams, who sup-ported the archiving, website developmentand provided many rare issues as well.While the collection that is now online con-tains the vast majority of past issues, it iscertainly not comprehensive. Conse-quently, I may have missed some editorsfrom the 15 years in which there is no issueon record. For this, I beg their pardon.

Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra

(1921-23)This ardent companion of the Promised

Messiahas was the first missionary to arrivein the United States, in 1920. Within oneyear he established The Moslem Sunrise,along with the Arabic title Shams-ul-Islam,

meaning “The Sun of Is-lam.” Sadiqra raised fundsfor the magazine both inthe U.S. and abroad, pric-ing it at $0.25 per issue, orone dollar for an annualsubscription. At that time,Sadiq was based in High-land Park, Michigan, where

the longstanding Arab Muslim communityproved hospitable and generous. He re-settled at 4448 S. Wabash Ave. in Chicagobefore returning to India in 1923, havingedited the magazine’s first nine issues.(Sadiq’s life and the inaugural issue are de-tailed in separate articles in this issue.)

Maulvi Muhammad Dinra

(1923-24)

It was not long before another prominentAhmadi Muslim missionary joined Sadiq inAmerica, by the name of Muhammad Din.

Sadiq entrusted both themission and the magazineto Din, who carried on itspublication. Din, like Sadiq,was a companion of thePromised Messiahas. Heserved in numerous capaci-ties in Qadian and then inRabwah, Pakistan (the

Community’s new international headquartersfollowing Pakistan’s founding in 1947) afterhis brief stint in America.

The early issues included contributionsby zealous converts and reprinted news clip-pings covering exploits of the first two mis-sionaries across the nation. Sadiq and Dinwere often the first “Mohammedans” thatAmericans had ever encountered, and theearly issues the first statement of Islamic doc-

trine. In addition to fundamental articles ofthe Islamic faith, content focused on Chris-tian doctrine, and took engaging approaches,like placing Matthew and Luke in the “wit-ness box,” subjecting each to cross-exami-nation, exposing their many contradictions.Din was recalled to Qadian after editing justthree issues of the Sunrise.

Sufi Mutiur RahmanBengalee (1930-47)

In 1928, Sufi Mutiur Rahman “Bengalee”(signifying he was from modern-dayBangladesh), became the third missionary toarrive in America. He arrived to the “WindyCity” in August, and took up the work of themission, including raising funds to resumeThe Muslim Sunrise, which had not beenpublished since Din’s departure in 1924.

Bengalee appealed to members in theU.S., India and around the world to supportthe magazine’s expenses, and despite “aheavy burden of debts,” he managed to re-vive the publication in 1930 – no small feat

considering it was theheight of the Great De-pression. For most of histenure, Bengalee was theonly missionary inAmerica, but made greatinroads, helping to estab-lish the Community ineight cities by just 1933.He also began an Arabic

publication entitled, Al-Bushra, to preach toArab Americans. By 1940, Bengalee esti-mated 30,000 Muslim immigrants and upwardsof 10,000 converts to Islam (Ahmadi and oth-erwise) were living in America. 70 years later,estimates range from two to ten million.

Bengalee served as editor for an impres-sive 18 years, traveling and lecturing exten-sively. It is not possible to do justice to hiseditorship in this article, but suffice it to saythat the Sunrise was not just a magazine inhis era, but served as a critical tool in preach-ing to, teaching, reporting on and bringingtogether an entire generation of converts toIslam.

The Editors of the Muslim SunriseSince its inception, 16 editors have been at the editorial helm ofthe Sunrise, including two companions of the Promised Messiah

Summer 2011 31

Khalil Ahmad Nasir(1948-59, 1978-83)

In 1946, Chaudhry Khalil Ahmad Nasirarrived to America and took up advancedstudies at Northwestern University. In1948, he became missionary-in-charge andeditor of The Muslim Sunrise. He contin-ued publishing the magazine from down-town Chicago, but in 1950 moved it to Wash-ington, DC along with the national head-quarters. In order to raise funds, Nasir pub-lished ads in the Sunrise, including one forthe still-running Christian Science Moni-tor.

Nasir took the helm at a time of war andthe birth of nations. Heengaged in vigorous andwell-publicized debateswith Jews over Palestine,and was a permanentspeaker at the Council ofForeign Relations. Nasir,and so the Sunrise, wasan astute political ana-

lyst, providing detailed coverage on new na-tions and leaders as part of its content. In themid-70s, Nasir became Director of InternationalStudies Institute at the C.W. Post Center ofLong Island University in New York.

His long list of services include helping tofound Majlis Sultan-ul Qalam, known as theMuslim Writers Guild, an active group eventoday, defending Islam in the press, whosemembers’ articles comprise much of the News,Views and Reviews section of The MuslimSunrise. Nasir led the magazine for 18 yearsand contributed to it for almost 20 more years,making him the longest-serving editor in his-tory.

Abdul Rahman KhanBengalee (1964, 1970-71)

A.R. Khan, like Sufi Mutiur Rahman“Bengalee” (no relation), was an Ahmadi mis-sionary from the Bengal. Khan served as anEnglish teacher at Ta’leem-ul Islam HighSchool in Rabwah prior to coming to America.

His first stint as editor began while he wasbased in Pittsburg, along with co-editor B.A.Munir who was in Athens, Ohio. They are onrecord as having published just one issue to-gether, though Munir has been active in pub-lications work for more than five decades, stillprinting most American publications from hisprinting press in Athens. Their issue con-tained just two lengthy essays, one of which

was Khan’s “Why 400 Million FollowMuhammad,” giving readers (then and now)an idea as to Islam’s unprecedented progress,from 400 million by the 1960s to nearly twobillion just one generation later.

Khan’s second stint began after MaqboolAhmad Qureshi, missionary-in-charge and

editor in 1969, returned toPakistan, elevating Khanto missionary-in-charge.By 1970, the annual sub-scription had risen to$3.00. This time, Khanpublished the magazineout of Dayton, Ohio, thede facto national head-quarters of the Community

and site of the first ever annual convention,held in 1948. Khan spent what appears to bea decade or so of his life in the U.S., and passedaway in Dayton.

Mian MuhammadIbrahim (1973-77)

Ibrahim was a prominent missionary fromRabwah, where he served as Headmaster ofTa’leem-ul Islam High School. He oversawthe magazine during the dreadful events of1974, when the Pakistani government declaredAhmadis as “non-Muslim,” providing issuesdetailing Ahmadis’ beliefs in relation to those

of mainstream Muslims.He also provided detailedcoverage (including manyphotos) of the thirdKhalifa‘s historic U.S. visitin the summer of 1976.Ibrahim was recalled toRabwah in late 1977 orearly 1978, prompting

Nasir (mentioned earlier) to resume editorship.His son, Mian Muhammad Ismail Wasim, is


the current president of the Washington, DCchapter.

Sheikh Mubarak Ahmad(1989)

Of African missionary fame, SheikhMubarak Ahmad arrived to America in 1983as the ameer and missionary-in-charge, posi-tions he held until retiring in 1991. Amonghis many contributions to the Community, heedited The Muslim Sunrise’s “Special Cente-nary” issue in 1989, marking the 100-year an-

niversary of the Ah-madiyya MuslimCommunity (re-viewed in a separatearticle in this issue).

Sheikh Mubarakbegan his career in1934, serving as mis-sionary-in-charge ofEast African missionsuntil 1962. During this

time he oversaw the Community’s establish-ment in several countries and the translationof the Holy Qur’an and other books intoSwahili. He then returned to a new country,Pakistan, where he served in senior adminis-trative positions for the Community until be-ing appointed by the Third Khalifa as Imamof the London Mosque in 1979, where he re-mained until arriving to America.

Mubasher Ahmad, LLB(1991-1995)

Upon retiring from his legal career,Mubasher Ahmad dedicated his life in ser-vice of the Community in 1988, with his firstassignment being translation of the Khalifa’ssermons from Urdu into English. SheikhMubarak then sought and received theFourth Khalifa’s approval to allow Ahmad

to serve as a mission-ary, which he has donesince, currentlyposted to the North-west Region. SheikhMubarak also ap-pointed Ahmad as edi-tor of The MuslimSunrise in short order,

which he published out of DC, until movingto Philadelphia in 1994, where he publishedit until 1995. By the 90s, the cost of theannual subscription had risen to $5.00. In2006, Imam Ahmad rejoined the Editorial

Board in 2006 and remains a most active con-tributor.

Syed Sajid Ahmad(1998-2004)

After a two-year hiatus, the magazinestarted up again in 1998, this time with SyedSajid Ahmad at the helm. Prior to migrating toAmerica in 1977, Ahmad spent more than threeyears serving Islam in West Africa, where hetaught at the Ahmadiyya Secondary Schoolsin Ghana, and was succeeded in that capac-ity by Mirza Masroor Ahmad, now worldwideHead of the Community.

One of the few editorsnot a missionary, SyedSajid Ahmad continuedpublishing the Sunrise asa journal, featuring one ortwo scholarly, in-depthessays. Notable issuesprinted under his aus-pices include: “The HolyProphet Muhammad,” anessay by Imam M.A.

Cheema; “The Cairo Debate: Muslim vs. Chris-tian”; and “Jihad against a Just Ruler?”.Ahmad remains active in publications workfor the Community, having edited Al-Nahl andbooks for Majlis Ansarullah since 1993.

Falahud Din Shams(2006-Present)

In 2006, Falahud Din Shams, CPA by pro-fession, son of distinguished missionaryMaulana Jalal-ud-Din Shams, took chargewith a mandate to renew the publication.Shams’ vision was to transform the Sunrisefrom a scholarly journal into a contemporarymagazine that would attract both the mindand eye of the general American public. He

committed to so-liciting and pub-lishing onlyoriginal material,and in doing so,built a base ofwriters that con-tinues theSunrise’s legacyof addressingcurrent issuesfrom an Islamicperspective.

Under hisleadership, the Muslim Sunrise established

its own website, where more than 200 pastissues are available for download, and wherereaders can subscribe to the magazine (nowat a cost of $15). The staff mails the maga-zines to libraries, universities and governmentofficials across the nation in an effort tospread the message of Islam Ahmadiyya. In2010, The Muslim Sunrise published six is-sues, the most ever, including its first in an-other language, Spanish, and a special issuefor new converts to Islam. Shams served aspresident of the Chicago chapter for three de-cades, and continues his service in numer-ous capacities, including as the National Au-ditor.

The Editor

The editor bears ultimate responsibility forthe vision, content, finances, and timely publi-cation of the magazine. His goal is to presentIslamic guidance in a way that the people of thetime will find accessible, interesting and useful.At times, this meant the use of humor, and oth-ers, solemnity. Some editors targeted scholars,publishing one or two in-depth essays on reli-gious topics, and others sought to reach theaverage Joe, commenting on contemporary is-sues from an Islamic perspective.

The editor manages the writing, editorialand layout process from start to finish. Thisentails countless hours of coordinating staff,writing and editing. Historically, this time-con-suming responsibility has gone to full-time mis-sionaries of the Community (missionary-in-charge, in fact), but in recent times, dedicatedvolunteers have assumed this role. An opensecret to success is the editor’s supporting cast:the board and staff – both writers and editors –have been an integral part of the publicationprocess since Mufti Muhammad Sadiq’s time.Now, as then, writers and editors alike strive tomaintain the legacy that Sadiq established in ahome-turned-mosque on the south side of Chi-cago 90 years ago.

Naveed A. Malik served as Editorial Board memberof the Muslim Sunrise from 2006-09 and is editor-in-chief of By the Dawn’s Early Light: Short Storiesby American Converts to Islam (MKA, 2009),available at www.alislam.org/books. He works asan American diplomat and lives in Kuwait with hiswife, Humera.

Summer 2011 33

Since itsince itsince itsince itsince itsinception, inception, inception, inception, inception, ninetyyears ago, TheMuslim Sunrise

has covered varioushistorical occasions of theAhmadiyya MuslimCommunity. This articlewill, in chronologicalorder, look at the fourmemorable incidents inthe history of theAhmadiyya MuslimCommunity for whichMuslim Sunrise publishedspecial editions. Firstly itwill look at the specialedition on Khalifat-ul-Masih III’s visit to NorthAmerica to bring themessage of Ahmadiyyat tothis continent. Then it willlook at the two specialissues on the importantmilestones in the historyof the community so far:one hundred years ofAhmadiyyat and onehundred years of Khilafator the Caliphate. Finally, itwill look at the recentspecial edition on thetragic May 28th massacrein Lahore, Pakistan,displaying the need forfreedom of worship.

Visit of Khalifatul-Masih III toNorth America

During the summer of 1976, HadhratMirza Nasir Ahmadrh, the third successorof the Promised Messiahas, visited theUnited States. It was the year that the“message of hope, peace and spiritualrevolution” was brought to the westernhemisphere, as well as “long-awaited spiri-tual nourishment” (The Muslim SunriseEditorial, 1976) for the Ahmadi Muslimsof the United States and Canada. Duringhis three week stay, he visited WashingtonD.C., Daytona, Ohio, Madison, New Jer-sey and Toronto. His visit consisted ofmaking plans on how to introduce the U.Sto Islam, holding press conferences, en-gaging in fervent prayers with members ofthe community, and presiding over annualconventions.

This edition consisted of the manynews stories published in America andCanada on the Khalifa’s visit. The articlesgave an introduction to Ahmadiyyat; be-liefs, teachings and practices, and itsfounder, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas.Some articles introduced their local Ah-madi communities and others also gave abrief bio of Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmadrh.Most importantly, the articles covered thepurpose of his visit to the Western hemi-sphere. His visit came at a time that theworld was witnessing the shortcomings ofcommunist and capi-talist societies, hencehe stated “as is thecase with Christianity,the two leading eco-n o m i c - p o l i t i c a lmovements, capital-ism and communism,have come up short ofproviding fulfillmentfor mankind,” (TheHudson Dispatch, August 6, 1976). Thus,“Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad is visiting theUnited States to expand the propagation ofIslam. He views Islam as the only remedyto the agonizing and complex ills of theAmerican society,” (The News, 1976).

The edition had many photos of his visitincluding photos with the mayors of Day-ton and Madison, a representative of CBCtelevision, missionary-in-charge and na-

tional and local amirs, representatives andmissions to the U.N.O, Canadian parlia-mentarians, counselors to ambassadors,and community members.

In order to demonstrate to the readerthe significance of this historic occasion,impressions on the Khalifa’s visit by Ah-madis were also included in this edition.These showed the anticipation of the com-munity prior to his visit, the divine inspi-ration bestowed on them during his stayand the gratefulness they experienced forthis blessed opportunity as they reflectedback on it. “The incredible experience ofbeing with the Hadhrat Ammir-ul-Momineen brought us closer than we haveever been to the Holy Presence of the Cre-ator who is All-Knowing and All-Seeingand exceedingly Merciful”, (Sharif, Y.,Amir of Central Pennsylvania, 1976). Inaddition, non-Muslim VIPs who met withhim expressed that it had been a great honorto be a part of this memorable occasionand that they had been left with a deeplymoving impression of the leader.

Special Centenary Issue:Celebrating 100 years of

Ahmadiyyat

On March 23, 1889 Mirza GhulamAhmadas initiated the “pledge of bai’at” withall those who accepted him as the PromisedMessiah and Mahdi of the age. Thus March

23, 1989 marked thecommunity’s firstcentenary. This edi-tion showed that thehistoric junction wascelebrated with vari-ous events throughoutthe year in the 122countries where Ah-madiyyat had by then,been established (Ah-

madiyyat has now been established in morethan 190 countries). A day of fasting, andcongregational tahajjud prayers for the com-munity were carried out worldwide and na-tional conventions were organized in all thecountries, hosting exhibitions for fellowcountrymen. The message from HadhratMirza Tahir Ahmadrh, the Khalifa at that timeon this occasion, was to invite all fellow hu-man beings to study Ahmadiyyat and accept

Muslim Sunrise Historical EditionsBy Bushra Bajwa


Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas as the PromisedReformer awaited by followers of all re-ligions.

As stated in the editorial, this issue “of-fers its thanks by rededicating itself to con-veying the message of Islam in a befittingmanner to the West in general and to thepeople of the United States in particular”,(Ahmad, 1989: editorial). For this purpose,some of the distinct and outstanding fea-tures of Ahmaddiyat were shared. Ah-madiyyat was founded through the revela-tion of God, it conveys the same messageof Islam as was conveyed by the ProphetMuhammadsa, and it has reinstated the sys-tem of khilafat. Also, the excellent quali-ties of the Promised Messiahas, the founderof Ahmadiyyat are given such as his un-matched tolerance and compassion towardsothers in the face of hardship and opposi-tion, and his firm faith in God. With its goalof conveying the message of Islam, therewas a strong focus in this edition on thebeautiful social teachings of Islam. Islamrequires the eradication of prejudices andteaches universal brotherhood. Race andcolor do not matter. In addition, social re-quirements of Islam such as the status ofwomen, the observance of purdah, prohi-bition of alcohol and gambling lead to thepure and healthy development of man rather

than a materialistic life that leads to ruin.At the end of this issue there were per-sonal accounts by some Ahmadis on howthey came to accept Islam. Motives for ac-ceptance included the book “Ahmadiyyatand True Islam,” prayers for divine guid-ance, and being inspired by Ahmadi broth-ers and sisters.

Special Issue on Khilafat

On May 27, 1908 a Divine system ofKhilafat was established in the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community after the passing of itsfounder, the Promised Messiah. In 2008, thecommunity celebrated the first one hundredyears of Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyyat. The spe-cial issue on Khilafat explained the pur-pose of successorship. The prophets of Godas human beings have a limited lifespan.Sometimes it was not enough time to ac-complish all the objectives assigned tothem. Therefore, a system of Khulafa of theProphets evolved (Shams, 2008, p.36). ThePromised Messiah stated that on the deathof a messenger, “God provides reassurancethrough a khalifa, and that khalifa revivesand strengthens afresh the purpose of theadvent of the deceased.” (Al Hakam, April14, 1908). According to Islam all prophetshad successors to enable the completion

of their missions. This publication in par-ticular looked at two important Messen-gers: Moses and Jesus and how throughtheir khulafa, the goal for which they weresent was achieved (Ahmad, 2008, p.14).

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community hasrevived the institution of Khilafat, as fore-told in the Quran “Allah has promised tothose among you who believe and do goodworks that He will, surely, make them suc-cessors in the earth, as He made succes-sors from among those who were beforethem” (24:56). On the countless sects anddivisions in Islam, Khalifatul Masih IV,Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh stated that“it is incumbent that Muslims shouldunite on the hand of One Imam. Thereshould be one Imam of the Muslims ofthe whole world. But without Khilafat, itis just impossible. “(Ahmadiyya Gazette,Canada. May 2001).

This publication showed that in theseone hundred years, the community hasmade great progress under the leadershipof five respected Khulafa. Some of the nu-merous achievements include unmatchedtranslations of the Holy Quran into severalother languages during the time of the sec-ond Khalifa, the building of 5200 mosquesworldwide during the time of the fourthKhalifa, uniformity and organization of the

Special Centenary Issue: Celebrating 100 years of Ahmadiyyat

Summer 2011 35

community and the building of manyschools and hospitals in third world coun-tries. On the fulfillment of a hundred yearsof Khilafat in Ahmadiyyat, KhalifatulMasih V said each Ahmadi should promisethat they will always give precedence toAllah’s pleasure and His commands.

Black Friday - May 28, 2010

Most recently, Muslim Sunrise issued aspecial edit ion publicat ion t i t led“Pakistan’s Black Friday” commemoratingthe tragic May 28 massacre. On May 28,2010, terrorists attacked two of the Ah-madiyya Muslim mosques in Lahore wherecongregations were gathered to offer Fri-day prayers and killed over 80 worship-pers and injuring several others. This pub-lication related the history of intolerance,prejudice and hatred against Ahmadis inPakistan. It explained the problematic Or-dinance XX of Pakistan which allows Ah-madis to be punished for calling them-selves Muslims or practicing the religionof Islam. A separate art icle labeledPakistan’s constitution as “medieval” forbeing the only Muslim country to definewho is or is not a Muslim.

Personal accounts of eye witnesses andfamily members and media reports of theMay 28 attack displayed the unjustifiablekillings of innocent worshippers. Yet thesestories and the words of the Khalifa ofthe Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in re-sponse to this incident demonstrated thepeaceful, patient and steadfast nature ofthe community. Unlike the general reactionof the Muslim world in the face of assault,“the founder of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity, Hadhrat Mirza GhulamAhmadas had instructed his followers tocounter the attacks on his community andon Islam not through violence but throughwriting and verbal expression” (Bashir,2010, p. 14). Furthermore whereas Ahma-dis have been given the status of non-Muslims in Pakistan, Ahmadis view otherMuslims as their brothers.

As in the other special editions ofMuslim Sunrise mentioned above, this edi-tion too, focused on the “what now?”What does this incident mean for the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community and where dowe go from here? The incident of May 28in Lahore, Pakistan, reiterated the need toend religious discrimination and grant con-stitutional freedom to Ahmadis in Pakistan.

As in the other special editions of Muslim Sunrisementioned above, this edition too, focused on the “whatnow?” What does this incident mean for the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community and where do we go from here?The incident of May 28 in Lahore, Pakistan, reiteratedthe need to end religious discrimination and grantconstitutional freedom to Ahmadis in Pakistan.

Black Friday: May 28, 2010

The U.S., having already passed two reso-lutions to restore freedom of religion inPakistan, and producing annual reportson human rights practices in Pakistan,should urge the Pakistani government torepeal the blasphemy laws and prioritizeprevention of religiously motivated andviolence, punishing the perpetrators.

These four special editions of MuslimSunrise have covered four importantevents in the history of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community thus far. During thesesignificant events the magazine enabledthe community and other readers to readand learn more about the occasion or inci-

dent including the history related to theevent, in-depth analysis of the occurrenceitself, implications of the incident, and thereactions of the community and others. Welook forward to many more years of greatcoverage on special events of the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community.

Bushra Bajwa is the Tarbiyyat Secretary ofthe women’s auxiliary of the Ahmadiyya Mus-lim Community’s Seattle, WA chapter. Sheholds a Bachelor’s Degree in InternationalManagement from the University of Manches-ter, UK, and a Master’s Degree in Student De-velopment Education from Seattle University.


I was born a Sunni Muslimbut little did I know that atthe tender age of 19 Iwould become part of the

fastest growing Muslimcommunity in the world. I didn’tknow much about the differentsects in Islam. I only knew the“Sunni way.”

Growing up we would regularly attend themosque for jumu’ah, and I, along with mybrothers and sister, would attend Qur’anclasses on the weekends. When I was 17 mycollege exposed me to a diverse group of reli-gious faiths. I was amazed at how open mindedthe people were. I was raised to believe that Ishould only associate with other Muslims, butthe unity that I experienced that first day,sparked an interest in my young curious mind.

As the semester went on, I joined a groupfor all Muslim students, and I was introducedto an eclectic variety of Muslims of differentsects. I had already known about the Shi’abut that day I was introduced to Ahmadiyyat.When I got home that night I questioned myparents about Ahmadiyyat. Who are they?What are their beliefs? And why hadn’t I heardof them before?

My father was born and raised in Pakistanand my mother was born in Afghanistan butraised in Pakistan. Coming from Pakistan theyhad already had a major misconception aboutAhmadiyyat. My mother responded and toldme that there are many sects and that this wasjust one of them. My father, on the other hand,was very strict and quick to respond nega-tively. He forbade me to ask questions aboutAhmadiyyat and told me that Ahmadis are notMuslim. He told me never to mention the nameagain and to disassociate myself from anyonewho was an Ahmadi. Being 17 and hearing thehatred and prejudice coming from my father

made me wonder why everyone was so againstAhmadiyyat. What was so wrong with callingan Ahmadi a Muslim? It really bothered methat I didn’t get a proper response about Ah-madiyyat from my parents but it inspired meto research.

Every day and every chance I had I wouldread about Ahmadiyyat online. I would readboth the positive and negative things peoplehad to say. The more I read the more I noticedthe similar struggles that the Muslims of thetime of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa andAhmadis had to face. Both were persecutedmercilessly and were shunned from their com-munities only because they were following theword of Allah. The more I read about HadhratMirza Ghulam Ahmadas the more I fell in lovewith the love he had for the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa.

How can anyone claim that this noble andpious man does not follow the teachings ofthe Holy Prophetsa, when in fact, he is the per-fect example of how a Muslim should be? Af-ter studying Ahmadiyyat, the life and writingsof Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas of Qadian,and praying for divine guidance, it becameevident to me that Ahmadiyyat is indeed thetrue Islam and that Hadhrat MirzaGhulam Ahmadas of Qadian is that same Mes-siah and Imam Mahdi prophesied by the HolyProphet Muhammadsa.

By the Grace of Almighty Allah, I have seenmany powerful and faith increasing dreams,which I believe were shown to me by Allahthe Almighty. I have met the Holy Prophetsa

twice in my dreams, once as a young man whoreceived my embrace, and another time ap-pearing middle aged at the end of a long corri-dor. I have also met the Promised Messiahas

in another dream who was inside a tent in themiddle of a desert at night and gifted me witha gorgeous green head scarf from under hisbed of straw. I also met our elegant Hudhur inanother one of my dreams where he gifted mewith a white head scarf and received me with adaughter-like embrace. These inspiring dreamsare direct personal proof that Ahmadiyyat isthe true Islam.

I had longed to see the Holy Prophetsa inmy dreams and the fact that I seen him in mydream after accepting Ahmadiyyat just in-creased my faith and confirmed my decision.

By the Grace of Allah, I joined the holyCommunity of the Promised Messiah andMahdi and signed my bai’at form in 2009 atthe age of 19, at Bait-ul-Aman mosque in Con-necticut, Alhamdulillah! Even though myparents do not support me and want nothingto do with me, the Connecticut Jama’at hasshown me love, respect and welcomed me withopen arms. Every time I attend the mosque Ifeel a sense of wholeness that I was search-ing for. I was not afraid or sad to leave myfamily because every member from my Jama’atmade me feel like I was not alone.

I love and respect my parents and do notwant to disobey them, but I will not turn myback on Ahmadiyyat which I know is the trueIslam. No one can convince me otherwise. Fi-nally my life was moving forward and in theright direction. Ever since I accepted Ah-madiyyat, I feel I am receiving direct bless-ings from Allah both religiously and secularly. Being an Ahmadi convert, I encounter oppo-sition for my beliefs from my very own familyand friends. It is very difficult for me to live ina home surrounded by people whom I lovebut do not accept the message. Some familymembers try to set me back, but I feel muchremorse for them, for they do not know wheretheir salvation lies. To all my sisters, if youencounter similar difficulties, try and resisttheir efforts to entice you back to your formerhabits. Suffering and trials strengthen spiri-tual progress. Even if you make mistakes, keeppraying for guidance because Allah is MostForgiving, Ever Merciful and The Acceptor ofRepentance. I would like to end with a versefrom the Holy Qur’an which states:

“Verily, you (O Muhammad) guide notwhom you like, but Allah guides whom Hewills” [al-Qasas, 28:56].

And Allah had guided this Sunni Muslimwoman to the true Islam. My name is SyedaSana K. Shah, I am 22, and I am proud to say Iam an Ahmadi Muslim.

For thelove ofIslam

By Syeda Sana ShahHow I accepted Ahmadiyyat

The more I read about HadhratMirza Ghulam Ahmadas the more Ifell in love with the love he had for

the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa.

Summer 2011 37

The Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity has openlyand consistently beenpreaching the message ofpeace for over a hundred

years. In 2010, under the Muslims forPeace campaign, this message wasdistilled into six distinct componentsfor clarity of communication to theAmerican public. A perusal of thepast issues of The Muslim Sunrisewill show that this message of peacehas been a consistent theme in forthe past 90 years. While it is notwithin the scope of this issue to listall the articles that were writtenaround the central message of peace,I will briefly highlight some examplespertaining to this theme, taken fromthe The Muslim Sunrise issues of the1920s.

Islam Is Peace

The inaugural issue of The Mos-lem Sunrise, published in July 1921,states at the outset:

BUDDHA AND KRISHNA OFINDIA, ZOROASTER OF PERSIA,CONFUCIUS OF CHINA, MOSES OFEGYPT, JESUS OF NAZARETH, ALLWERE THE HOLY MEN AND PROPH-ETS OF GOD. WE HONOR AND RE-SPECT ALL OF THEM.

In the October 1923 issue of TheMoslem Sunrise an article entitled TheReligion of Peace was published. Hereare a few phrases from it:

“Islam is preeminently the religion ofpeace...the primary significance of theword Islam is “Peace with God and peacewith man” . . .According to the HolyQuran “a Moslem is one who has madehis peace with God.” (ii, 106) And as aMoslem is “at perfect peace, he enjoyspeace of mind and contentment” (xvi,105).”Peace” is the greeting of a Mos-lem to another and “Peace” shall also bethe greeting of those in paradise (x, 10).Nay in the paradise which Islam depictsshall no word be heard but “Peace,Peace”, say the holy word: “They shallhear therein no vain words or sinful dis-course, but they shall only hear thewords , peace , peace” (Lvi . , 26) .ASSALAAM i.e. The “author of Peace”is the God in the Quran (Lix, 23), and thegoal to which Islam leads is Darressalaami.e. “the abode of Peace” as is said in thecapter (v, 25). Peace is therefore thedominant note and essence of Islam,peace being the root from which i tsprings and the fruit it yields.

….for says the Holy Quran: “There isno compulsion in religion.” Nay we areenjoined “to strive hard to remove all thedisturbing elements and to establishfreedom of worship and freedom of con-science so that every one may worship

God according to his own way.” TheProphet Muhammad says that “a Mos-lem is one from whose hands, tongue,and thoughts others are free.”

We Condemn Terrorism

The following was the advice givenby the Second Head of the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community to the students atQadian, India:

Live in Peace, taking no partWith those who trouble create;Cause no anxiety nor disturbanceFor the rulers of the State.(The Moslem Sunrise, July 1921, page 7)

In Our Loyalty to Our Principlepublished in The Moslem Sunrise ofJanuary 1924, the Editor, in responseto a false allegation against the com-munity, makes clear the position of theAhmadiyya Muslim Community:

“Our position is clear; we are loyalto ourselves and to our principles. Ifwe are loyal to any government it isnot for the sake of that government,but because (of our) strict adhesion toour principles. Now one of those prin-ciples is that on no account are we tocreate or countenance any distur-bance, riot, or revolution; for we knowfull well that whenever and wherever

1921 to 2011Muslims for Peace

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

By Shazia Sohail


such elements are let loose, a flood-gate of worse elements and human pas-sions is let upon the world and thegreatest sufferers from these are thepoor and the working class people whoare alternately exploited and made fod-der for guns to serve the ends of thefew ambitious, reckless souls. For thisour principle we take our stand uponthe Holy Quran which we regard as thevery word of God. We read in this bookto the following effect: “Don’t lookfor disturbance in the earth”; “Do notmake mischief in the land after the es-tablishment of peace”; “God forbids re-bellion and evil of all kinds.”

Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra writes inIslam Defended: A Denial That ItTeaches Its Adherents to Hate and toKill (originally published in The Sunand N. Y. Herald, dated April 9th, 1921)as reproduced in the July 1921 issueof The Moslem Sunrise:

Mr. Hormuz’s criticism on Islam andits sacred book, the Koran, is not at allbased on facts. The Koran neverteaches “to hate and kill unbelievers,”as claimed by Mr. Hormuz. Moreover,it says that, “there is no forcing in thematter of religion.” The wars wagedby the Master-Prophet Mohammad andhis successors were all defensive andthe Moslems were allowed to fight withand kill only those unbelievers whocame down upon them with sword….“Even the defensive religious wars areno more allowed in Islam,” proclaimsthe latest prophet of Islam, Ahmad ofIndia, “as no one now interferes withthe religious beliefs of the Moslems.”

We Are Loyal To Our Country

In the article Be Moslems and De-fend America in The Moslem Sunriseof April 1924 the author asserts thatthere is no religious conflict in the mindof a Muslim fighting to defend hiscountry due to the injunction of theHoly Qur’an, “Fight against those whofight against you, but exceed not thelimit.”

Also, in Our Loyalty to Our Prin-ciple in The Moslem Sunrise of the

January 1924 issue, the Editor states:We are loya l to law and order

wherever we find it. We tell each otherto be loyal to his own government. Weteach Ahmadies who are subjects ofgovernments other than the British to beloyal to the i r own sys tems ofgovernments and defend them if need bewith their lives. We don’t tell the Germansto be loyal to the British any more thanwe tell a Britisher to be loyal to any othergovernment but his own. This indeed isour position and we mean to stick to it,God-willing.

The True Meaning of Jihad

According to the teachings of theHoly Qur’an and the Holy Prophetsa thegreater Jihad is overcoming one’s ownbaser self:

“Purify your connection with God.Give up va in mockery, der i s ion ,vengeance, obscene language, avarice,

ly ing , wickedness , ev i l g lances ,worldly-mindedness, vanity, disdain,se l f -approbat ion and a l l o therin iqui t ies , and you wi l l ge t theassistance of Heaven which will investyou with true morals.” (The MoslemSunrise, July 1921, page 6)

Fol lowing i s an excerpt f romJEHAD by Mirza Kabi r -ud-DinAhmad, published in The MoslemSunrise of April 1922:

Islam never allowed the use of thesword for spreading the religion. Onthe other hand it strictly prohibitscompulsion in matters of faith….When the idola tors of Arabia ,exasperated at the progress of Islam,came down upon the Moslems inMedina to extirpate them, only thenthe Moslems took up the sword todefend their women and children andthemselves f rom the aggress ingenemy... It must also be stated herethat permission for self-defence and

We are loyal to law and orderwherever we find it. We tell each other tobe loyal to his own government. We teachAhmadies who are subjects of governments

other than the British to be loyal to theirown systems of governments and defend

them if need be with their lives. We don’ttell the Germans to be loyal to the British

any more than we tell a Britisher to beloyal to any other government but his own.This indeed is our position and we mean to

stick to it, God-willing.

Summer 2011 39

murdering the enemies of Islam was notgiven to the Moslems until the Arabshad, on account of their excessiveoppressions and outrages and innocentbloodshed, rendered themselvesculpable and liable to be punished withdeath. But a clemency was even thenshown to such of them as embracedIslam. The unity of religion establisheda relation of brotherhood and all pastwrongs were forgotten. It is here thatsome opponents of Islam have stumbledand from this they have drawn theconclusion that the new religion wasforced upon the unbelievers. In fact thecase is just the reverse of what theobjectors have thought.

Also, in Our Loyalty to Our Prin-ciple in The Moslem Sunrise of theJanuary 1924 issue, the editor states:

We believe in the Jihad as much oreven more, as anybody else. All we sayis “Don’t misinterpret the word.” Jihadmeans a strong effort in the way of Al-lah. This effort may require even ourlives , but it should not be misconstruedinto the sense of waging war to forciblyconvert the Non-Moslems. It is ex-pressly forbidden by the word of God.“There is to be no compulsion in reli-gion” runs one of the express injunc-tions. We never say or believe that de-fensive wars are illegal. But rebellionand defensive war should never be con-fused.

Separation of Religion and State

Regarding polygamy, which is ille-gal in America but allowed in Islam,Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra writes in theJuly 1921 issue of The Moslem Sunrise:

“I have not come here to teach plu-rality of wives. If a Moslem will everpreach or practice polygamy in Americahe will be committing a sin against hisreligion.” This was my reply to the im-migration officer’s first question put tome when I reached the American shore.In the religion of Islam there are someCommandments and some Permissions.I must always follow the commandments,but the permissions can be avoided…..Islam commands that “I must obey thelaw of the Government under which I

live.” And Polygamy, even if allowed withall its limitations and conditions, falls un-der the category of permissions and notcommandments. And that permission istaken away under the commandment that Imust obey the law of the Ruling Govern-ment of the country.

Human Rights for All

Women were granted the right to votein 1919. It seems more than just a coinci-dence that the opening verse of the firstissue of The Moslem Sunrise should bethe one that testifies to the equality of menand women in the eyes of God. The fol-lowing note appeared at the end of the ex-planatory translation of the Qur’anic verse33:36 in the July 1921 issue.

God has prepared for all such men aswell as the women His gracious and freeforgiveness out of His vast Treasureswhich never decrease, and a grand mightyReward.

Note:- Sex makes no distinction in therules for the uplift of the soul to higherrealms of purity, calmness and union withAllah. Men and women - we are all chil-dren of God. To Him we belong and to Him

we return. Thus says the Holy Book - ElQuran.

Below are the sentiments of the edi-tor in The Only Solution of Color Preju-dice published in The Moslem Sunriseof October 1921:

What sad news we come across ev-ery now and then about the conflict be-tween the Blacks and the Whites in thiscountry. It is a pity that no preaching ofequality or Christian Charity has so farbeen able to do away with this evil. Inthe East we never hear of such thingsoccurring between the peoples. Thereare people fairer than North Europeansliving friendly and amicably with thoseof the darkest skin in India, Arabia, andother Asiatic and African countries andin fact there is no question of color at allever heard of. In Islam no Church hasever had seats reserved for anybody andif a Negro enters first and takes the frontseat even the Sultan if he happens tocome after him never thinks of removinghim from that seat. “I tread under thefeet the Racial prejudice” said the Mas-ter Prophet Muhammadsa once and thusobliterated those great tribal differenceswhich so badly used to affect arabia inpre-Islamic days.

Women were granted the right to vote in 1919. It seems more than just acoincidence that the opening verse of the first issue of The Moslem Sunrise shouldbe the one that testifies to the equality of men and women in the eyes of God.


vider, The Forbearing, The Com-passionate, the Healer, The Bene-fac tor, The Pardoner, the Equi -table and in fact The Loving (Al-Wadood). Thus, if the Christian Godis a kind and loving heavenly father,the Islamic concept of God is no lessloving. God is loving and kind andeverything else that these two at-tributes imply. (His love and kind-ness is translated into wrath and an-ger when needed for the purposes ofjustice, as to be unjust would be un-kind and cruel).

Islam teaches that all religionspay homage to the One and SameGod (albeit in different forms) andtherefore all faiths deserve respect:“And if Allah did not repel somemen by means o f o thers , therewould sure ly have been pu l l eddown cloisters and churches andsynagogues and mosques, whereinthe name of Allah is oft commemo-rated.” (Qur’an, Ch. 22; Verse 41).Pa r t i cu la r ly, in the case o f the“Christian” God—since Islam de-c la res Jews and Chr i s t i ans a sPeople of the Book—a reference tothe “Christian” God in the view of aMuslim is a reference made to theircommon God (as is the case with aMuslim and any reference to God inthe context of any faith).

Allegation 2

Pol i t i ca l ly—No. Because hemust submit to the mullahs (spiritualleaders), who teach annihilation ofIsrael and destruction of America,the great Satan.

Let’s be clear. Muslims must sub-mit to the Will of God (not to the willof any mullah). The fundamentalbreak of Islam from Christianity wasnot only in reference to the Trinity,it was also in reference to the priest-hood. Islam condemns the idea thata believer (man or woman) needs amedium to hold rapport with God.Each individual is endowed with theability to approach and access God

if s/he should so will, and must notbe made subject to a middle man.The abusivie mullah is a novel oc-currence who relies on the ignoranceof the masses and their weakness infaith—they act in contradiction totheir faith and then seeking solaceseek out the help of one who is sup-posedly nearer to God than they are.This is an abject disgrace to the trueIslamic doctrine of faith whereinforgiveness must be sought out firstand foremost by the s inner andh e a r t f e l t r e p e n t a n c e a n d k i n d

As Jews andChristians are

consideredPeople of the

Book, theirannihilation is

simply notwarranted by

Quranicinjunction.

Again, somemullahs are a

disgrace toIslamic teachingand their words

must not bemistaken for

Islamiccommands.

Prepared By: Rabia Mir

The following are generalallegations raised againstMuslims related to thequestion of loyalty to the USAor Canada - spiritually,politically, scripturally,religiously and/or socially.

Allegation 1

Spiritually—No. Because whenwe declare ‘one nation under God,’the Christian’s God is loving and kind,while Allah is NEVER referred to asheavenly father, nor is he ever calledlove in the Quran’s 99 excellentnames.

The idea that the “Islamic God” isnot the same as the “Christian God”because of a lack of reference to lovein Islamic doctrine is invalid. Love isa highly vague word and implies agreat number of things within itself.Love can be manifested through actsof kindness, forgiveness, friendship,mercy, and graciousness and eventhrough anger. (A child must be pun-ished for bad deeds, lest s/he continueupon the path of bad actions.)

The 99 Names of Allah include allthose elements that are in fact mani-festations of love. God is The MostForgiving , The Friend , The Gra-cious, The Merciful, The Source ofPeace (no doubt Jesusas, the son ofMary, would agree that peace andlove are inextricably tied), The Pro-

Summer 2011 41

deeds towards the needy tend to besufficient to that end.

As Jews and Christians are con-sidered People of the Book , theirannihilation is simply not warrantedby Quranic injunction. Again, somemullahs are a disgrace to Islamicteaching and their words must notbe mistaken for Islamic commands.Would one ever, even for a mo-ment, mistake the Crusades and theInquisition and the general perse-cution of non-Christians and theparticular persecution of Jews, by me-dieval Christians, in line with Christ’steaching of love and “turn the othercheek?” No. The rogue actions ofself-professed followers must be un-derstood as distinct from those of theirteacher.

Muslims are required to abide bythe laws in the state in which they live.Divergence from state law is only per-mitted when Muslim subjects are pro-hibited from practicing the central te-nets of their faith. Beyond that, theyare bound by loyalty to the land inwhich they acquire their bread andbutter and which offers them protec-tion and freedom of faith. There is ahadith (i.e., saying of the ProphetMuhammadsa: Loyalty to one’s home-land is part of faith.

Allegation 3

Scripturally—No. Because his al-legiance is to the five Pillars of Islamand the Qur’an.

The cornerstone of Western De-mocracy is that all citizens are free tofollow their own faith, as long as theyabide by the secular laws of the state.Why should citizenry, in any secular de-mocracy that permits religious free-dom, be required to follow the Chris-tian scripture? There is no such re-quirement for loyalty to a secular West-ern state. And how does loyalty tostate contradict a Muslim’s allegianceto her/his faith when her/his faith re-quires allegiance to the state? (Asstated in answer to allegation 2)

Allegation 4

Religiously—No. Because noother religion is accepted by his Allahexcept Islam.

Muslims do believe that Islam is theperfect religion and is therefore theonly acceptable religion by God. Thisis no different than the similar claimsof all other religions. However, theQur’an makes it clear that people, re-gardless of faith, can be acceptable byGod through His Mercy in light of theirintentions, actions and knowledge.

For example: “Surely, the Believers,and the Jews, and the Christians andthe Sabians — whichever party fromamong these truly believes in Allahand the Last Day and does good deeds— shall have their reward with theirLord, and no fear shall come uponthem, nor shall they grieve” (2:63).

It also states: “Surely, those whohave believed, and the Jews, and theSabians, and the Christians — whosobelieves in Allah and the Last Day anddoes good deeds, on them shall comeno fear, nor shall they grieve” (5:70).

Thus, according to Islam, God sendsreligions for the guidance of humanity,but if those faiths are corrupted by man,they can no longer be acceptable byGod. Nevertheless, the adherents ofcorrupted religions can be accepted byGod after being judged for their ownbeliefs, actions and intentions.

Allegation 5

Socially—No. Because his alle-giance to Islam forbids him to makefriends with Christians or Jews

Christians and Jews are consideredPeople of the Book and therefore aredeserving of great respect and regard,according to Islam, as the verses statedin answer to the previous questionclearly indicate (in addition to manyothers). The verse the accuser is re-ferring to is: “O ye who believe! takenot the Jews and the Christians forfriends. They are friends one to an-

other. And whoso among you takesthem for friends is indeed one of them.Verily, Allah guides not the unjustpeople” (5:52).

Considering the Quranic emphasisregarding the noble status of Mosesas,Jesusas son of Maryra,and the refer-ences to the Christians and Jews asbeing People of the Book and beinggranted salvation provided “they be-lieve in God, the Last Day and do gooddeeds,” this verse is taken completelyout of context.

The verse is not meant to preventkindness and justice towards membersof the two faiths. It refers specificallyto that period in Prophet Muhammad’sministry when Islam was gaining su-premacy in Arabia, and the Jews andChristians conspired with the paganMeccans to bring ruin upon the earlyMuslimsra. Plots were hatched by Jew-ish and Christian tribes and at that time,friendship was discouraged so as toprevent the Muslims becoming subjectto any political ploys of deception.

But, in general Jews and Christiansbeing People of the Book, being thefollowers of revered prophetsas and be-ing under the kind gaze of God’s Mercyas long as they act with justice and dogood deeds, are to be favored asfriends.

The Qur’an states (60:9):

“Allah forbids you not, respectingthose who have not fought against youon account of your religion, and whohave not driven you forth from yourhomes, that you be kind to them andact equitably towards them; surely Al-lah loves those who are equitable.”

In conclusion, a Muslim can be agood Canadian or American, or West-erner in general in every way de-scribed: politically, religiously, spiritu-ally and socially.


The Holy Prophet Muhammadsa said, and it is

common knowledge in Muslim circles, “In the

Latter Days, the sun shall rise from the

West.” The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

believes that this hadith implies that the

religion of Islam will spread in the West

during our times.

Summer 2011 43

Rising ofthe Sunfrom the

West in theLatter Days

Zia H Shah MD

The Holy ProphetMuhammadsa said and it iscommon knowledge amongthe Muslim circles, “In theLatter Days, the sun shallrise from the West.” TheAhmadiyya MuslimCommunity believes thatthis hadith implies thatreligion of Islam will spreadin the West in our times. Isthis wishful thinking or arethere reasons to believethat this prophecy from 14centuries ago may cometrue soon? In Europe as awhole, the Muslim share ofthe population is expectedto grow by nearly one-thirdover the next 20 years,rising from 6% of theregion’s inhabitants in2010 to 8% in 2030. Inabsolute numbers, Europe’sMuslim population isprojected to grow from 44.1million in 2010 to 58.2million in 2030. In theAmericas the population isprojected to increase fromfive million to 11 million.1

Man has always been dependenton the Providence of God.2

However, the prosperitygenerated by the industrial

revolution in the last two centuries created anillusion of human self-sufficiency. Thisillusion and the reaction against thecontradictory and irrational Christian dogmagave rise to Deism of the Founding Fathers ofour beloved USA, especially the stalwarts likePresident Thomas Jefferson and ThomasPaine. Deism in the philosophy of religion isthe standpoint that reason and observationof the natural world, without the need fororganized religion, can determine that asupreme being created the universe. Furtherthe term often implies that this supreme beingdoes not intervene in human affairs.

Our universe came into being at the time ofthe Big Bang and is after all not eternal as Aristotleproposed, which created a basis for atheism untilthe discovery of the expansion of the universeby Edwin Hubble. It is now becoming increas-ingly known in the scientific circles that there arecountless physical constants in the blue print ofour universe that make our universe biophyllicor suitable for life, once again highlighting theCreator of our universe. All these scientific dis-coveries highlight the need of a Deist God whocreated our universe.

But, does He have anything to do with Hiscreation? Is He a Personal God who participatesnano-second by nano-second in the affairs ofone species among the millions on the planetearth? The recent natural disasters one after an-other with an increasing frequency in the lastdecade have, if nothing else, emphasizedthevulnerability of human life and the need for aconsoler; if not for every human then at least forthose who have been immediately affected bysuch calamities. In the first three months of 2011alone we have seen disasters in Australia, Braziland New Zealand and now in Japan.

If Tsunami and earthquakes were not enough,the concern for a nuclear disaster is looming largeafter several explosions in the Fukushima nuclearplant. The agnostics and atheists can preachtheir theology from the security of their ivorytowers but as there is a saying there are no athe-ists in the foxholes or the observation that theatheists start praying when their plane hits tur-bulence, the vulnerable who are suffering in thesecalamities find no choice but to pray for helpfrom Almighty God.

To move from Deism to Monotheism andPersonal God in a rational fashion, one needs toconsciously decide between Islam and Christian-ity, rather than fall back in a mindless fashion to

the religion that one inherits. The followers ofJudaism and Sikhism, the other monotheisticfaiths, do not proselytize, perhaps a subtleacknowledgement of lack of universality andperfection. At any rate here the focus is on Chris-tianity and Islam.

The lack of the preservation of the word ofGod in the Bible is becoming increasingly wellknown in the West, thanks to the universityscholars of the New and the Old Testament.3 4 5

Likewise, the dogma of Christianity, like Trinity,atonement and resurrection are increasingly be-ing scrutinized in the light of modern science andrationality of the information age.6 7 8 9 10 To giveyou a sample of these profound and relativelynew developments, let me present to you a quotefrom one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine,the legendary writer of Common Sense in 1776, atthe time of independence of USA:

“From the time I was capable of conceivingan idea, and acting upon it by reflection, I eitherdoubted the truth of the Christian system, orthought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knewwhich it was: but I well remember, when aboutseven or eight years of age, hearing a sermonread by a relation of mine, who was a great devo-tee of the church, upon the subject of what iscalled Redemption by the death of the Son ofGod. After the sermon was ended, I went into thegarden, and as I was going down the gardensteps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I revoltedat the recollection of what I had heard, andthought to myself that it was making God Al-mighty act like a passionate man, that killed hisson, when he could not revenge himself any otherway; and as I was sure a man would be hangedthat did such a thing, I could not see for whatpurpose they preached such sermons. This wasnot one of those kind of thoughts that had any-thing in it of childish levity; it was to me a seriousreflection, arising from the idea I had that Godwas too good to do such an action, and also tooalmighty to be under any necessity of doing it. Ibelieve in the same manner to this moment; and Imoreover believe, that any system of religion thathas anything in it that shocks the mind of a child,cannot be a true system.”11

The theological vulnerability of Christianityis being increasingly exposed in the West and alarge portion of sensible population is becomingunaffiliated with Christianity or agnostic.12 If theygenuinely review the basic beliefs of Islam andits scripture they will realize that Islam does notshare the vulnerabilities of Christianity outlinedabove.

It is not only theology of Christianity that isdefenseless but we find that there is melting awayof institution of marriage in the West and break-


down of other family values, with numerous del-eterious effects including almost two million chil-dren in foster care in USA. Also, with millions ofpeople losing their homes the reevaluation offinancial and economic thinking cannot be overemphasized.

At a time when we in the West are exportingfreedoms to the Middle East our own religiousfreedoms are being questioned in USA as well inEurope, with banning of minarets in Switzerlandand considerations to do the same in Italy. At atime when the West is introducing democraticvalues at the point of sword in Iraq and Afghani-stan, the very institutional instrument of thesewars, the United Nations, remains deeply un-democratic; with five countries with veto rightsto crush the common conscience of all the other200 countries.

Notwithstanding these vulnerabilities, theWest has certainly been the creator of the indus-trial and the information age and it will be a greathuman loss if the West were to implode like theRoman Empire in the fourth and the fifth centu-ries. Here we are not only reassured by the hu-man efforts in the broad spread of science andtechnology in our global village, but by the veryword of God, the Holy Quran promises that what-ever is useful for humanity is given permanencein the world:

He (Allah) sends down water from the sky,so that valleys flow according to their measure,and the flood bears on its surface swelling foam.And from that which they heat in the fire, seek-ing to make ornaments or utensils comes outfoam similar to it. Thus does Allah illustrate truthand falsehood. Now, as to the foam, it goes awayas rubbish, but as to that which benefits men, itstays on the earth. Thus does Allah set forthparables. (Al Quran 13:18)

Whatever is frivolous in the Western civili-zation will fade away over time, but the usefuland essential will be preserved as the sun of Is-lamic teachings will rise from the West. The HolyProphet Muhammad (Pbuh) had provided thelight for the Dark Ages of Europe and the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community believes that hisrevelations also offer the necessary solutions forour contemporary world.13 14 All this informationis not meant to serve as fuel for the Islamophobesto drum up their hate mongering. It is not aboutpolitics as the Ahmadiyya Muslim Communityclearly believes in the separation of Mosque-Church and State.,

The future of humanity, Islam and the West-ern world has been prophesized in the Holy Quranand in Hadith.15 The Hadith, from the famousbook of Bukhari, “In the Latter Days, the sunshall rise from the West,” is not the only proph-

ecy about the Latter Days in Islam and Christian-ity, but, is a part of several prophecies about theLatter Days. 16 Many have been fulfilled in theform of new means of transportation, printingpresses, and technologies to transform our planetinto a global village and making of zoos, this giveshope to the Muslims that others in the scriptureswill be fulfilled in due course of time.17 18 Islamwill play a pivotal role in the development of theWest and the whole of humanity at large.

New ideas to transform the humanity havealways come from minority groups; this idea isgenerally attributed to the famous British histo-rian Arnold Toynbee. The Pope Benedict XVIwrites in his book Without Roots: The West, Rela-tivism, Christianity, Islam:

“We do not know how things will go in Eu-rope in the future. The Charter of FundamentalRights may be a first step, a sign that Europe isonce again consciously seeking its soul. Herewe must agree with Toynbee that the fate of asociety always depends on its creative minori-ties. Christian believers should look upon them-selves as just such a creative minority, and helpEurope to reclaim what is best in its heritage andto thereby place itself at the service of all human-kind.”19

The key question is whether the CatholicChristianity, any other group or the AhmadiyyaMuslim Community is the ‘creative minority,’ forthe future of mankind? To repeat the words ofthe Pope, “Here we must agree with Toynbeethat the fate of a society always depends on itscreative minorities. Christian believers shouldlook upon themselves as just such a creativeminority, and help Europe to reclaim what isbest in its heritage and to thereby place itselfat the service of all humankind.” To state theobvious, with 1.3 billion Catholic Christians inthe world, the Catholics are not minority. Also,the Catholic Church has been reactive to theforces history for centuries. The fact that theChurch has been a timid follower rather than aleader, especially in the last few centuries sincethe Enlightenment and European renaissance,does not leave her with creative credentials.Therefore, the role of rescuing mankind doesnot belong to her. We believe that the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community is that creativeminority, given its 125 years of non-violent tra-dition, its constant emphasis on UniversalBrotherhood, its genuine interpretation of plu-ralistic message of the Holy Quran and the richtradition of annual Hajj in Islam. This is also aDivine promise:

“He (Allah) it is Who has sent His Messen-ger with the guidance and the Religion of truth,that He may cause it to prevail over all religions,

even if those who associate partners with Godhate it.” (Al Quran 61:10)

Epilogue

When it comes to ethical and moral teaches,there is more that joins Islam and Christianitythan separates them. Once we clean Christianityof the false doctrines of Trinity, Original Sin, andAtonement introduced by St. Paul and St. Au-gustine then what remains is purely a true subsetof Islam. What wonderful news for bringing 3.5billion people together, Muslims and Christians,almost half the world population, as the sun risesfrom the West in accordance with the prophe-cies of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa.

In the words of Sir George Bernard Shaw,who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literaturein 1925, “I have always held the religion ofMuhammad in high estimation because of itswonderful vitality! It is the only religionwhich appears to me to possess that assimi-lating capacity to the changing phase of ex-istence which can make itself appeal to everyage. I have studied him - the wonderful manand in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Hu-manity.”20 At another occasion he said, “Ihave prophesied about the faith ofMuhammad, that it would be acceptable tothe Europe of to-morrow as it is beginning tobe acceptable to the Europe of today.”21

(Endnotes)1http://pewforum.org/The-Future-of-the-Global-Muslim-population.aspx2Al Quran 96:7-8.3http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/limitations-of-oral-traditions/1qhnnhcumbuyp/321?collectionId=1qhnnhcumbuyp.217#4 http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/how-many-gospels-did-we-have-in-the/1qhnnhcumbuyp/305?collectionId=1qhnnhcumbuyp.217#5http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/the-new-testament-how-was-it-compiled/1qhnnhcumbuyp/87#6http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/william-lane-craig-makes-false-claims/1qhnnhcumbuyp/332#7http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/christianity-should-it-evolve-into-islam/1qhnnhcumbuyp/217#8http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/the-god-of-jesus-christ-meditations-on/1qhnnhcumbuyp/289?collectionId=1qhnnhcumbuyp.217#9http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/maria-pope-benedict-xvi-on-the-mother/1qhnnhcumbuyp/302?collectionId=1qhnnhcumbuyp.217#10http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/is-god-the-father-the-creator-the/1qhnnhcumbuyp/301?collectionId=1qhnnhcumbuyp.217#11Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine Collections. Forgotten Books, 2007.Page 335.12http://religions.pewforum.org/affiliations13http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/muhammad-the-light-for-the-dark-ages-of/1qhnnhcumbuyp/309#14http://www.alislam.org/library/books/IslamsResponseToContemporaryIssues.pdf15 Al Quran 5:113-116.16http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_time#Islam17Al Quran 81:1-12. See different commentaries of the Holy Quran.18http://www.alislam.org/quran/19Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) and Marcello Pera. Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam. Basic Books,2007. Page 80.20 Sir George Bernard Shaw in ‘The Genuine Islam,’ Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.21 Sir George Bernard Shaw in ‘The Genuine Islam,’ Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.

Zia H. Shah is a doctor practicing in sleep andlung disorders in upstate New York. Shah is alsothe editor of Alislam eGazette and the MuslimTimes, Ahmadiyya online news sites.

Summer 2011 45

In this edition of The MuslimSunrise, Simon RossValentine’s book Islam and

the Ahmadiyya Jama’at: History,Belief, Practice, is a befitting read.A very honest piece of workdetailed under his “respectfulscrutiny,” this book puts forththe daily practices of membersof the Ahmadiyya Jama’at, whathe considers “contemporaryIslamic reformism.”

Valentine recalls his interaction with manyAhmadis as well as other non-Ahmadi Mus-lims in the United Kingdom, where he firstcame across the Ahmadiyya Jama’at in 2001.Drawing parallels between them and main-stream Muslims, he has written about all thatis fundamental in practice as well as in belief,to the Ahmadis. He dwells upon their belief inthe survival of Jesusas from the cross and hisburial in Sri Nagar, Kashmir, which he visited.Their devotion to God and matters divine andthe Khalifa was emphasized. He describes theexcitement that overcomes the Jama’at dur-ing the annual convention or Jalsa Salaana,where he recognized how tasks were carriedout by hundreds of volunteers with “militaryprecision” under the system of waqar-i-amal(dignity of labor), instituted in the Jama’at.

Their passion for practicing homeopathywasn’t ignored either. This penchant thatAhmadis have for prescribing homeopathictreatments, Valentine realized, comes from thefact that the founder of the sect, Hadhrat MirzaGhulam Ahmadas and his successive khulafaahad a zeal for herbal medicine. Hence they sin-cerely try to master the subject, not necessar-ily qualifying in it legally. Valentine met with

an Ahmadi in Bradford whoregularly offered homeopathicmedicines to visitors, free ofcharge and records of him: “‘If I have a problem in assess-ing the right medicine to use,’he said laughingly,’I ring upmy son who is a fully qualifieddoctor in Pakistan.’ “ ‘

Becoming an “adoptedbrother” of the Asian commu-nity that was around him, in-cluding Muslims of variedsects, Valentine grasped at theopportunity of watching aMuslim live his life up-closeand personal. He was livingonly 600 yards away from anAhmadi mosque which he fre-quented often. Here he got toattend the customary Friday orJumu’ah Prayers and watchhundreds of worshippersunited in prostration behindone Imam. The holy month ofRamadhaan was no differentwhen he observed memberspray more often and diligentlyrecite the Qur’an as well. Get-ting invited to Eid-Milan par-ties and family gatherings wasalso a warm added advantage.

Becoming an “adopted brother” ofthe Asian community that wasaround him, including Muslims ofvaried sects, Valentine grasped atthe opportunity of watching aMuslim live his life up-close andpersonal. He was living only 600yards away from an Ahmadimosque which he frequented often.

Book ReviewIslam and the Ahmadiyya Jama’at: History, Belief, Practice

By Maham Khan


Valentine devotes a whole chapter tothe major difference between the main-stream Muslims and the AhmadiyyaJama’at: Jihad. He has admitted that Ah-madis repudiate the teaching of spreadingIslam by aggression and that ‘the pen ismightier than the sword.’ This chapter isfinely complemented by another chapterdescribing the persecution Ahmadis arefacing all over the globe; since they don’tbelieve in physical disobedience to asserttheir demands or even their rights, theyhave resigned themselves to persevere andremain patient in suffer-ing. Turn the othercheek, Valentine is toldby an Ahmadi, is the bestway. However, the au-thor also makes it clearthat Ahmadis are notpacifists and that manydo join the armedforces and consider it anhonor to defend theircountry in a just war.

While Valentine hascertainly done justice inpic tur ing the Ah-madiyya Jama’at in itsessence, he has not re-frained from mentioningthe opinions of non-members about them, orciting his own opposing views on theJama’at’s beliefs and writings, concern-ing the death of Jesusas, the concept ofJihad and the treatment of women, toname a few issues in concern. When inall honesty and innocence, detailed re-ports or organizational magazines areshared with him, Valentine has no qualmsabout s ta t ing the lamentat ions ofJama’at officials, for example, regardingtheir low tabligh or faith propagating ef-forts in the U.K. and then personally com-menting that, “such has been the rhetoricof most messianic sects throughout his-tory.”

During his research on the Ahmadis,Valentine made a trip out to Rabwah, Pa-kistan, the headquarters of the Jama’at.He most certainly appreciates all that hewitnesses there, including the “quietnessand serenity of the Mubarak mosque.”But he questions the presence of a smallchurch belonging to the Salvation Army.Though the Christian congregation wasall praises for the amicable relations they

had with the local Ahmadi community,Valentine wondered if this relationshipwas “mere tokenism” considering the in-tolerance minorities face in other Muslimcountries. The book is filled with quite afew cryptic descriptions of his percep-tions as well as visits to various Jama’atrelated places and festivities, includinghis meeting with the current khalifa ,Hadhrat Mirza Masoor Ahmadaba.

Furthermore, besides his doubts andmeanderings, he has not hesitated tomention the “deviant” behavior membersof the Jama’at take to and how officials,within the Jama’at frown upon suchtrends. He also writes, “blatant contra-dictions often exist between faith andpractice,” which he admits is not uniqueto Islam alone.

The author has also highlighted vari-ous incidents where the Islamic identityof an Ahmadi was questioned. While hefound the Ahmadis to be “meticulous intheir observance of the religious duties,”he notes that it is ironic for mainstream

Muslims to call them disbe-lievers. Here he describes acourt case in South Africawhere a non-Muslim Courtdecided in favor of the Ahma-dis, declaring their sect to beMuslim. However, all Ahma-dis are not as fortunate asthose in South Africa, as Val-entine discusses the prob-lems that Ahmadis face inPakistan and elsewhere, inhis book.

Nevertheless, Valentinehas remained true to his in-tentions of presenting the‘real Islam’ and overcame im-mense obstacles to remove

“media stereotypes.” For this solitaryreason, as far as presenting the faith ofthe Ahmadis, Valentine’s work is com-mendable. Touching upon the conver-sions of notable Ahmadis in the U.K.such as Bashir Orchard and Bi la lAtkinson and truly appreciating their de-votion to Islam and the Jama’at, his viewwas not tainted by a shadow of doubt. Hisgeneral opinion of Ahmadi members wasthat they “submit totally to pleasing theirGod.” Their good demeanor is what at-tracts many around them and hence thepath to conversion begins for many non-Muslims. He truly has done justice to hisclaim of “participant observation” byfai r ly present ing the AhmadiyyaJama’at.

Now the owner of the signature ringof Ahmadis, on which is inscribed Is Al-lah not Sufficient for His servant?, givento him by Imam Naseem Bajwa ( BradfordMosque), Simon Ross Valentine rever-ently claims, “I believe I have his friend-ship for life.” And his book will remain anarticulate biography of the AhmadiyyaJama’at, for time to come.

The author has also highlighted variousincidents where the Islamic identity of anAhmadi was questioned. While he foundthe Ahmadis to be “meticulous in theirobservance of the religious duties,” henotes that it is ironic for mainstreamMuslims to call them disbelievers.

Summer 2011 47

Ahadith (Sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsa)

“Seek the guidance of thy soul! Seek the guidance of thysoul! Seek the guidance of thy soul! The virtuous deed isone whereby thy soul feels restful and thy heartcontented, and the sinful act is one which rankles in thysoul and which contracts thy heart even though theother people endorse it as lawful.”

(Masnad Ahmad, narrated by Hadhrat Wabnisa bin Ma’dadra )

“By God Who holds my life in His Hand, none of youcan be a truly faithful Muslim, unless he liked for hisbrother what he liked for himself.”

(Sahih al-Bukhari, narrated by Hadhrat Anasra)

“Shall I apprise you of the three great sins?Hearken! The biggest sin is setting up equals to Allahand then disobedience to parents and neglect of duty tothem.”Then leaving the cushion he was leaning against, andsitting up in a roused manner, he said with great force,“Hearken! And lying.”

And he repeated it so many times that we wished he hadleft it off at that and not strained himself so much.(Sahih al-Bukhari, narrated by Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiqra )


Poetry Corner

AblazeFor the May 28, 2010 Martyrs of Ahmadiyyat

by Rabia Munawar Mir

A Single Source of Burning LightSurrounded by the thundering soundOf a thousand angels in flight

Join this orbit oh martyred oneBreathing in the Awe that emanatesFrom that Light that is the True Sun

Therein a passage shall open to theeA glorious pathway of burning starsUnto that Intangible Entity

And when thy journey is completeA single question shall be askedWhereupon thy reply shall be:

I did not kill for my faithAlthough for my faith I diedAnd thus:

Break free from the orbit that bindsBreak free from the chorus of flightUnto that Single Source of Burning Light

Summer 2011 49

News, Views & ReviewsInterview of VicePresident andMissionary In-Charge, NaseemMahdi by Roy Green

December 19, 2010

Roy Green: Speak to us pleaseabout the “Muslims for Peace”initiative that you put in place.Naseem Mahdi: Roy, for the last one

year, we have been trying everything and any-thing possible for us to convey this mes-sage to the American public that Islam is

not the religion ofterrorism. Islam doesnot promote killingof innocent civiliansin the name of reli-gion. In reality Islamis a religion of peace.So, we have startedthis campaign whenFaisal Shehzad, a Pa-kistani wanted todetonate a bomb inTimes Square and

we said that from Times Square we will startour campaign and this is going all acrossthe country. About 1 million flyers have

been distributed allacross the country,going door to door,knocking on thedoor and tellingpeople that this iswhat we believe andyou should not be-lieve that Islam is areligion of terrorismand that Islam is a re-ligion of peace.

Now, we have another big initiative thatthis big electronic screen which is 520 sqft. screen and will show this message, Mus-lims for Peace, Love, Loyalty to the home-land and Muslims for Justice, etc. So, as Isaid that we are trying to do everythingand anything to make this known to every-body that Islam is a religion of peace.

Roy Green: How is it being received?How is the initiative being received, whenyou talk to individual Americans? I under-stand that is being face to face contact, aswell on the streets on New York. What isthe reaction?

Naseem Mahdi: The reaction hasbeen so heartwarming. We did not expectthat a big majority of the people will take itpositively. We thought there will be argu-ments on the streets or at the doorsteps.Wherever we have gone, all across thecountry, people have said that this was longoverdue. It is a good initiative. You aredoing a great job. Some people have takenmore flyers so that they will distribute itthemselves among their friends, familiesand neighbors. We are also bringingpeople together for interfaith dialog. Weare inviting Christians, Jews, Hindus andother natives, Sikhs and all sorts of repre-sentative from all different religions and weare requesting them to come and speakabout the beauties of their religion becausethere are more commonalities in religionthan differences. So, we are highlightingthose commonalities and bringing peopletogether on the same platform and this isamazing that how people are accepting thismessage and they say that let us work to-gether and let us highlight the commonali-ties of each religion.

Roy Green: Naseem, what about thegreater Muslim community in the UnitedStates. You are one movement, the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community. Have vari-ous Muslim organizations signed on withyou or are you doing it as a separate en-tity?

Naseem Mahdi: As organizationsthey are not on board but individually, theindividual Muslims are coming to us andsay that they want to work with us, espe-cially the next generations, the young-sters. They like this message and not justmessage of peace but we are promotingmessage of loyalty to the homeland and abig initiative is starting from January 11from Washington, where we will have ourmessage on buses and metro and on oneday when we will first have our press con-ference and I will address from the nationalpress club, we will distribute by handabout 100,000 flyers by 200+ volunteerson that day.

Roy Green: The issue then becomesloyalty to the homeland.

Naseem Mahdi: Yes, because thisis the issue which some Muslims havemisunderstood. Some Muslims say that itis required only from us to be loyal to aMuslim government. The AhmadiyyaMuslim Community, we believe in theMessiah, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ofQadian and he has taught us that wher-ever you live, you should be loyal to thatgovernment and we are promoting this loy-alty that the Canadian Muslims should beloyal to the Canadian government and theUnited States Muslims should be loyal tothe United States government.

Roy Green: Let me ask you this, howmuch resistance. Are you meeting any re-sistance on that, you said that a minuteago that there are some Muslims who be-lieve that the loyalty has to be only to theMuslim government? You are saying thatwe want you to be loyal to the secular gov-ernment of United States and Canada. Howis that message being received within theMuslim Community and you know thegreat concern is about the homegrown ter-rorism, perhaps extremists being able toeffect and in fact if you will young Mus-lims into becoming these homegrown ter-rorists.

Naseem Mahdi: Unfortunately, theMuslim leadership is not on board withus. They do not promote loyalty in theirMosques and in their sermons but the in-dividuals, the great number of people,those who, the vast majority of Muslims,you know, those who are moderates andthey love peace and harmony and they areaccepting this message and they say thatthis makes sense. How can we live in acountry where we enjoy the freedom ofreligion, freedom of expression, freedomof choice, where we can have the bestpossible education for our kids, we enjoya beautiful life here but we are not loyal tothis government and our loyalties aresomewhere else. So, we are telling themthat this is a life of hypocrisy and youcannot do this. You are going to lose yournext generation if you will continue to dothat. This message is being accepted byindividual masses in much greater numberbut unfortunately the Muslim leadershipis not on board on this initiative.

Naseem Mahdi

Roy Green


News, Views & ReviewsDuluth News Tribune

5/14/11, Opinion Editorial,

In Wake Of BinLaden: FalseImpressions

By Imran Hayee

A f t e r a n n o u n c i n g O s a m a b i nLaden had been ki l led, Pres identObama reminded us, “America is notat war against Islam. Bin Laden wasnot a Muslim leader; he was a massmurderer of Muslims.”

As a Muslim-American, I whole-h e a r t e d l y a p p r e c i a t e d O b a m a ’swords. He made a clear and absolutedistinction between terrorism and Is-lam. In fact, no religion teaches ter-rorism, and terrorists don’t followany religion. Terrorists always havebeen deviants of one religion or an-other, exploiting religion for theirperverted worldview or simply foreconomic and political motives.

Osama bin Laden killed thousandsof innocent people throughout theworld, including 3,000 Americans onSept. 11. Victims of bin Laden and al-Qaeda do not belong to a certain coun-try or a certain faith. According to areport by West Point’s Combating Ter-rorism Center, the vast majority of al-Qaeda’s victims between 2004 and 2008were Muslims, and from 2006 to 2008,98 percent of those victims were fromMuslim countries.

Bin Laden sanctioned these cold-blooded murders in the name of reli-gion, portraying himself as a Muslimleader. Obama, in contrast, reasonedthat bin Laden could not be a Muslimleader precisely because he was a massmurderer. Naturally, bin Laden’s actionstarnished Islam’s image. A 2009 Pewsurvey revealed that most Americansbelieve Muslims to be discriminatedagainst more than people of any otherfaith. But at the same time, they stillbelieve Islam is very different thantheir own beliefs and promotes moreviolence than other faiths.

Does Islam real lyDoes Islam real lyDoes Islam real lyDoes Islam real lyDoes Islam real lypromote v io lence?promote v io lence?promote v io lence?promote v io lence?promote v io lence?

Bin Laden certainly attempted todemonstrate that, suggesting Islam isthe driving force behind his inhumaneand barbaric mission. The truth is com-pletely opposite. The Quran says thatkilling one innocent human being is akinto killing the whole of mankind. BinLaden indiscriminately killed scores ofinnocent people throughout the world.The Quran forbids creating disorder onEarth. Bin Laden created unparalleledchaos in much of the world. ProphetMuhammad stated that patriotism is partof one’s faith. Bin Laden not only com-mitted treason against his own countrybut also inspired many more individu-als to betray their countries.

Bin Laden neither followed Qurannor Prophet Muhammad in advancinghis atrocious agenda of hatred and kill-ing. Bin Laden did not represent Islam.

Bin Laden was a terrorist. OnMay 1, this terrorist was cap-tured and killed.

But will the world be morepeaceful without Bin Laden?

Bin Laden’s death is cer-tainly an important milestone inan effort to defeat al-Qaeda.But the world peace can onlybe achieved with the elimina-tion of bin Laden’s philosophyof hatred and killing.

The task ahead is not easy;the destination is far and theroad is treacherous. But if thereis a will, there is a way. JohnBrennan, the president’s ad-viser on homeland security andcounte r te r ro r i sm, cor rec t lypointed out, “This is a strate-gic blow to al-Qaeda. It is a nec-essary but not necessarily suf-ficient blow to lead to its de-mise, but we are determined todestroy it.”

While our brave men andwomen in uniform are continu-ously engaged in military op-erations, a huge responsibility

falls on the shoulders of the rest of us.Whether we belong to one culture oranother, whether we are believers of aparticular faith or of no faith, we allneed to engage in a peaceful dialogueand stand united against the elementsof hatred in our civilized society. Kill-ing innocent people in the name of reli-gion is indeed reprehensible. Stereotyp-ing all people of faith as intolerant isequally wrong.

As a Muslim-American, belonging tothe Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Ishare an additional responsibility to re-store the peaceful image of Islam whichbin Laden’s perverted ideology ma-ligned. Unless all Muslims follow thesuit and demonstrate — through wordand deed — that Islam promotes peace,not violence, bin Laden’s legacy willcontinue to be a threat.

We could all use the Quran’s advice,“For you, your religion and for me myreligion,” to peacefully coexist in ourdiverse and multicultural society.

Summer 2011 51

Fruits of a Sown SeedRashid Ahmad American:

Finding Inspiration From Islam’sIntellectual Invasion

By Naser-ud-Din Shams

T he 19th century introduced itself as a time oftremendous change. Science stretched the bordersof imagination and innovative technology broughtthe world within reach. Global interaction embraced

a pace never before seen.

Western nations competed with one an-other for colonial conquests and quicklyfound themselves in the forefront of anin te l lec tua l ba t t le f ie ld wi th the i rnewfound Muslim subjects. Christianmissionaries added fuel to that fire withflagrant criticisms of Islam and religiousdebates were as enriching as they wereenraging. A philosophical survival of thefittest ensued as Christians and Muslimsinterchangeably played the roles ofpredator and prey.

An Intellectual Invasion

It was in this turbulent time that oneman raised his pen against the onslaughtof allegations aimed at the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa and Islam. Mirza GhulamAhmadas of Qadian, India not only dis-armed the slanderers, but began a colo-nial invasion of his own, fighting igno-rance with intellect. Ahmadas inspired anarmy of Muslim missionaries to sow theseeds of the message of Islam to thespiritually famished across the globe.

Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiqra was thefirst missionary to arrive upon the shoresof the United States and he founded TheMuslim Sunrise magazine as one of theweapons of this intellectual invasion.

In the first issue, dated July 1921,Sadiqra included a message from the Sec-ond Khalifa, Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmadra, to the AmericanMuslims:

“Greetings! The Pioneers in the Colo-nization of American land are alwayslooked back upon with great honor andrespect. Their work was temporal butnow, my dear Brothers and Sisters, Allahthe Almighty has made you the Pioneersin the spiritual Colonization of the West-ern world. If you will work with the samelove, zeal, sincerity and loyalty as theydid your honor and respect and name willbe still greater than theirs, as you willhave moreover the Reward at the Last dayand Allah’s pleasure, the grandeur andbeauty of which no one can estimate herein this world.”

The Muslim Sunrise plantedintellectual seeds in fertile minds, which borefruit in the form of devotion. Rashid Ahmadquickly fell victim to its powerful arguments.He accepted Islam and was inspired to


become the first American born student toattend the Jami’ah, the missionary schoolin Rabwah, Pakistan. This is his story.

Family Background

Rashid Ahmad, originally named RudolphThomas, was born March 26, 1923 to AlbertThomas and his wife, Octavia (maiden nameJackson). They lived in East St. Louis, Illi-nois, where Albert was a chemical engineer in

the manufacture of moth balls. Octavia wasa stay-at-home mother. Their other son,Alvin, was born two years prior to Rashid.

Rashid recalls his search for God early inlife. Although his family was Christian, heinsists this was a culture they followed with-out thought. Rashid found himself constantlysearching and asking questions about God,but seldom did he find satisfaction.

Encounter with Islam

After a series of frustrating experiencesin search of God, Rashid followed the onlything he truly valued – money. Engulfed inan environment of hustlers, drugs, and crime,Rashid came across an unusual sight on thestreets of Chicago. A man was crying outthat Jesus did not die on the cross. Rashidwas intrigued enough to ask where he couldget more information. The man told Rashidto go to The Muslim Sunrise on 220 South

State Street or the mosquelocated at 4448 SouthWabash.

In 1946, Rashid de-cided to visit the mosquelocated on Wabash Av-enue in Chicago where hemet an Ahmadi mission-ary named Ghulam Yasin.Unlike the fancy attire oforganized criminals,Yasin’s clothes weresimple and arousedRashid’s suspicion thatthis was some kind of setup to channel drugmoney. His suspiciongrew as he mistook thearoma of cooking curry asthe preparation of narcot-ics. He also ran into somePunjabis who inhaledtheir cigarettes in an un-usual fist formation withthe cigarette sticking outthe other end of the fist –a method Rashid sur-mised was unique forsmoking opium. Rashidwas determined to get tothe bottom of this money-making scam, so he keptcoming back at all thetimes for prayers.

Rashid eventually wasconvinced of the truth of

Ahmadiyyat and accepted it in the course ofthe year. He frequented The Muslim Sunriseoffice on a daily basis to respond to lettersand mail out issues to interested Ameri-cans.

He had written to the Second Khalifa,Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din MahmudAhmadra who told him to come and visitPakistan. Rashid worked the next yearearning $550, enough to purchase a

freightliner ticket. However, the Khalifainformed him that would take too long andarranged for a Pan American flight goingfrom New York to London to Rome toBrussels to Damascus to Karachi. With$50 in his pocket, Rashid was off to a landwhere he couldn’t speak the languageand didn’t know anyone. He completelytrusted Khalifat-ul-Masih and droppedeverything in obedience to his word.

Journey to Pakistan

Rashid’s journey to Pakistan in 1949was anything but smooth. Instead of theflight landing in Damascus, Syria, itlanded in Basra, Iraq. Rashid, not think-ing anything of it, left the airport only tobe confronted by officers who interro-gated him on suspicion of being a spyfor the recently created state of Israel.Moreover, the fact that Rashid did nothave an Iraqi visa worsened the situa-tion.

Needless to say, Rashid missed hisconnecting flight to Karachi and thegrand reception which was awaiting him.The Karachi Ahmadi Jama’at was at theairport en masse, eagerly expecting towelcome its American visitor. One canonly imagine their anticlimactic surpriseof a no-show!

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, the wildimagination of the investigating officerswas spurred on by the personal giftsRashid was transporting. These weregifts from his newfound Ahmadi broth-ers to their relatives in Pakistan. The of-ficers initially contested Rashid’s iden-tity as an American claiming that Ameri-cans don’t carry two overcoats (he waswearing one and the other was a gift).The officers alleged that the secondovercoat was for when Rashid would setup shop in the desert and needed some-thing to sleep on. They alleged that thetransistor radio could be rigged as a wire-less unit to communicate to his contactsin Israel. In attempts to explain whyRashid only had $50 cash, the officersclaimed his Parker pen was to sell in theevent he needed petty cash.

After a few days in detention, Rashidwas released. The Pan American Airlinesoffice manager, upon questioning Rashid,recalled a similar situation with a previ-ous Ahmadi traveler, Dr. Khalil AhmadNasir. The office manager then con-

Rashid was featured in the July 1960 Sepia magazine, a nowdefunct African American national magazine, describing hisconversion to Islam and his activities as a Muslim.

Summer 2011 53

vinced the Iraqi colonel that Rashid wasnot a security threat. Thereafter, Rashid,unable to contact anyone in Pakistan, em-barked upon a KLM flight to Karachi.

Upon reaching the Karachi Airport,Rashid received limousine service to takehim to the address he had writtendown: “Latif Ahmad Tahir ’shouse, opposite the boy’sschool.” However, the limousinedrivers were confused, thinking“opposite the boy’s school” wasthe street name, and couldn’t lo-cate it. During the course of theride, the two men asked Rashidwhy he would come to Pakistanof all places. Rashid respondedthat he intended to go to school.This perplexed the men. Whywould a man leave the UnitedStates where the best schools are,to go to Pakistan – a newborncountry with a hardly developedinfrastructure – to get an educa-tion?! The men concluded Rashidwas insane. They determined toquickly rid themselves of thisproblem by throwing him to theMirzais (a condescending mannerof referring to Ahmadi Muslims).When Rashid saw the picture ofthe Promised Messiahas hebreathed a sigh of relief and toldthe men that this is exactly wherehe wanted to go and they couldleave. It was two o’clock in themorning.

Experiences with Khilafat

Rashid was greeted with tra-ditional Muslim hospitality. Menpolished his shoes, made himbreakfast, and arranged a meetingin which he addressed the KarachiCommunity (Jama’at).

Rashid then took a train toLahore, where he was received by hun-dreds in the Lahore Ahmadi Community.They arranged for him to speak and meetthe press. However, he insisted on goingdirectly to Rabwah. In response to theirsurprise that Rashid desired to leave sosuddenly, Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmadra

said, “If the man is so determined to seehis master, we should not hold him back.So let him go.”1 They then arranged for

his immediate departure to Rabwah.Upon arrival at the Rabwah train sta-

tion, Rashid was greeted by Khalifat-ul-Masih ath-Thaanee ra and the AhmadiCommunity. When I asked Rashid how itfelt to be in the presence of the SecondKhalifa, he said, “How can I describe it?

It’s like trying to explain the sweetness ofsugar to someone who has never tasted it.The man had an aura about him whichmade you want to be in his company. Itdidn’t matter what he was saying or doing– all of your cares and concerns left andyou simply felt the contentment of a childin the arms of its mother.”

Rashid would accompany the SecondKhalifa for the next five years of his life.

The Khalifa took Rashid to all big affairsand dinners in his own car, the Khalifasitting in between Rashid and the Khalifa’swife. After every event he would askRashid two questions, “What did you eat,and who did you talk to?” From thisRashid learned the importance of continu-

ously meeting people to con-vey the Message of Ah-madiyyat.

Rashid described the mag-netic impact of the SecondKhalifa. In the Jalsa Salaana(Annual Gathering) the Sec-ond Khalifa could speak forhours while audience mem-bers would hold still, fearingthey could miss some of thepearls of wisdom that flowedfrom his mouth. His intellectwas unusually keen and ob-servant. At times of praise,his words gave life, but intimes of anger, his wordswould hit someone as if theywere being flogged. Rashidrepeatedly witnessed men inboth circumstances.

Personal Gift

The Second Khalifa nar-rated an incident in which theSecond Khalifa to the HolyProphetsa, Hadhrat Umar ibnKhattabra, gave a ruler suffer-ing from migraines, his oldcap as a remedy. Although theruler was accustomed to wear-ing lavish garments, the capwas old and worn. However,the ruler continued to wearthe cap because it remediedhis migraines, which would re-turn when the cap was takenoff.

After telling Rashid this story, the Sec-ond Khalifa gave him his old kulla, thecap around which the turban cloth iswrapped. A piece of a shirt of the PromisedMessiahas was sewn into it by the hands ofthe Khalifa’s wife, Umme-Nasir, the motherof the Third Khalifa, Hadhrat Mirza NasirAhmadrh. Rashid attributes many of the per-sonal miracles in his life to this cap.

photo by Hasan Hakeem


Marriage

While in Pakistan, Rashid’s teacher,Master Muhammad Ibraheem Khaleel, of-fered him his youngest daughter in marriage,Sairah Qudsia, who was 18 years old.Muhammad Khaleel was departing to SierraLeone for missionary work and wished tosee all of his three daughters married beforehe left. When Rashid informed the SecondKhalifa that he planned on marrying thiswoman, he was questioned how he couldknow her character when the observance ofpurdah (veil) was so strong in Rabwah. TheSecond Khalifa then arranged for his wifeto look into the marriage proposal, and theywere satisfied with Sairah’s background.

However, Rashid had a dream whichtroubled him about this proposal. He hadseen three bottles of milk and the one withthe oldest date was being presented to him,while the other two were more fresh. Rashidinterpreted that he was getting the least de-sirable of the three daughters as fresh milkis better than old milk. He brought this tothe attention of the Second Khalifa.

The Second Khalifa interpreted Rashid’sdream much differently. He stated that ifmilk represents Islam, then the oldest Islam,that of the Holy Prophetsa, is the best. There-fore, Rashid was getting the best of thethree. The Second Khalifa proceeded toarrange Rashid’s marriage with SairahQudsia, and paid for all accommodations,including the bride’s dress and ring. Sairahgave birth to three children: Mureed Ahmad(1952), Nasirah Ahmad (1953), and MahmudAhmad (1954). As it turned out, SairahQudsia outlived both of her sisters, and wasmost active in the Jama’at serving as ateacher in Nusrat Girls Academy and in theLajna (women’s auxiliary).

1953 Disturbances

In 1953 there were disturbances through-out the Punjab against Ahmadi Muslims.There were hearings by the Pakistani gov-ernment to investigate the situation. Rashidwas privileged to receive a court floor passby the court secretary and sat along withthe Second Khalifa and the Jama’at repre-

sentatives defending the Ahmadi position.Rashid witnessed Chief Justice Munir as

he pointed out the inability of Muslim schol-ars to agree on something as fundamentalas the definition of Muslim. He, therefore,would not rule Ahmadis as non-Muslimsbecause the non-Ahmadi Muslims couldn’tagree on what a Muslim was. This case washeard in the English language.

Assassination Attempt

On March 10, 1954 when the adhaan hadjust been called, Rashid arose to go to themosque. There was a place in MasjidMubaarik he regularly occupied behind theKhalifa and all understood that Rashidwould pray there. However, Rashid’s wifewent into labor and requested Rashid to findthe midwife. On his way to find the midwife,Rashid had discovered that the SecondKhalifa had been stabbed in the neck whilein prayer. Rashid rushed to the mosque.There he saw a group of Ahmadis pouncingupon the would-be assailant and the Khalifaholding the back of his neck with blood drip-ping down his hand and arm saying, “Don’tkill the fool.”2

In accordance with the instructions ofthe Second Khalifa, the would-be assailantwas not harmed, but was handed over tothe authorities. As it turned out, the would-be assailant sat in the very space whichRashid always occupied in the mosque.However, as Rashid’s wife was in labor thatday, he was unable to attend the prayer.

When I asked Rashid about the midwife,he gave me this pensive look and said, “Youknow, I don’t know how the midwife gotthere because I had become so concernedabout the Khalifa that I forgot to get her;but when I returned home my wife had al-ready delivered my son.” Rashid’s son wasborn on the day the Second Khalifa wasstabbed, and was named Mahmud Ahmad.

Last Letter before Return

Before returning to the U.S., the SecondKhalifa gave an English hand-written letteraddressing Rashid as follows:

“Here is something for yourjourney.3 I am old and weak.Maybe it is our last meeting. Ifso I entrust you to God. Remem-ber if I was ever angry with youit was for your sake and if I waspleased with you it was for God’ssake. Be steadfast and foreverstick to the center in all condi-tions. May God help you to dieas a Muslim. Be compassionateto your wife and children. Godbe with you.

Yours fraternally,Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud AhmadRabwah 12-12-54”

Return to the U.S.

Rashid returned as a missionary to theUnited States with his wife and three children.Since that time he has continued conveyingthe Message in both, word and deed.

Now, at the age of 88, Rashid lives with hissecond wife, Aziza, and both are active mem-bers of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Jama’at.He continues to narrate his experiences withKhilafat with surprising recollection of detail– far more than this article could bear – and isin the process of documenting his memoirs.

As I continued to listen to Rashid’s de-tailed accounts of the Second Khalifa, I be-gan to understand the depth of love for hismentor. Forty-six years after the death ofKhalifat-ul Masih ath-Thaaneera, Rashid talksof him as if he is still alive…but, then again,I’ve come to expect that from the fruits of sucha firmly sown seed – The Muslim Sunrise.

And in the end, all praise belongs to Allah.(Endnotes)1 Spoken in English2 Spoken in Urdu.3 Author’s note: Money was presented as a gift toRashid for his journey.Naser Shams is the General Secretary of the Zion,IL Chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accountancy fromthe University of Illinois and is currently pursuinghis MBA.

Summer 2011 55

By Zia H Shah MD andSardar Anees Ahmad

The Qur’an(86:5) statesthat angels,under God’sc o m m a n d ,

ensure that every natural lawoperates as designed. Again, theQur’an (13:12) states that angelssurround humans, serving asguardians. Together, the versesindicate that angels upholdvarious laws to protect people’slives. Life, therefore, is theexception and death is the norm.

Alluding to the precarious balance be-tween life and death, the Qur’an (21:33; 41:13)declares that the heavens and the upper lev-els of Earth protect the Earth from life threat-ening entities. Referencing the idea of bal-ance, the Qur’an declares, “And We havemade the heaven a roof, well protected; yetthey turn away from its Signs” (21:33). Here,Saqfam-mahfooza (i.e., roof, well protected)is of prime importance.

A Protective Roof

The Qur’an (55:8-10) argues that balanceis universally observable in nature, thereforemankind must always behave in accordancewith this principle. In Arabic, the wordMeezan is employed to indicate that one en-tity is balancing another; in (55:8-10), the heav-ens are given the title of meezan. However, inrelation to the earth, the Qur’an employs an-other word from the same root, Mauzun, whichmeans something which is made perfectlybalanced. “And the earth have We spread out,and set therein firm mountains and causedeverything to grow therein in proper propor-tion” (15:20). So the Qur’an distinguishesbetween the heavens which carry out balanc-ing and the Earth’s ground which is affectedthereby.1

The Qur’an indicates that both, the plan-ets in the solar system and the area nearestEarth, play a role in the operation of this “pro-tective roof” which is in complete balance:

“And We adorned the lowestheaven with lamps (for light)and for protection” (41:13)

“We have adorned the lowestheaven with lamps, and Wehave made them for drivingaway satans, and We have

prepared for them thepunishment of the blazing

Fire” (67:6)“And we sought to reach

heaven, but we found it filledwith strong guards andshooting stars” (72:9)

We find that Earth’s atmospheric regionsdo, in fact, operate in accordance with theprinciple of meezan (balancing), thereby pro-tecting life on earth.

Magnetosphere

A significant surface magnetic field sur-rounds Earth and protects it from radiation.The magnetosphere is formed when theEarth’s field interacts with radiation, particu-larly solar wind, and deflects it around theEarth. One may question the wisdom of hav-ing a Sun which emits such deadly rays. Inreality, the Sun’s near-ultraviolet radiationhelps produce the earth’s beneficial ozonelayer, which we address below. Moreover, softX-rays produce layers of the ionosphere thatallow for short-wave radio communication.Additionally, secondary cosmic rays do reachthe earth and are instrumental in photosyn-thesis – a process fundamental to vegeta-tive life.

Ozonosphere

The ozonosphere is located in the upper

AllahProtector of life on earth

Religion & Science


atmosphere and has significant concentra-tions of ozone (O3). In the ozonosphere,shortwave ultraviolet radiation convertsnormal oxygen (O2) into ozone. Creation ofozone, in turn, prevents harmful radiationfrom reaching the earth. Moreover, withoutthe ozonosphere, the earth’s temperaturewould be unsuitable for life. While blockingout harmful radiation, the ozonosphere per-mits broader radiation wavelengths. Thesewavelengths are actually beneficial for life,such as being largely responsible for vita-min D metabolism.

Mesosphere & Troposphere

The mesosphere serves as a protectivemeasure against heavenly bodies. Perhapsa billion meteoroids daily enter the atmo-sphere. The troposphere is Earth’s lowestatmospheric region and serves as a “protec-tive cushion,”2 warding off constant bom-bardment of heavenly bodies. Recall in (67:6),the Qur’an noted that the lowest heaven is ameans of “driving away satans … (subjectto) the blazing Fire.” The word employedhere is shaiyateen which connotes anythingthat is harmful, and also that which burns.Thus, shaiyateen accurately depicts thewarding off of comets and meteors whichenter the earth’s atmosphere but, due to fric-tion, are burned to nothingness. Also, if thetroposphere’s density were to be tamperedwith, sunlight and other beneficial rays theozonosphere allowed through would neverreach the earth.

Jupiter and Saturn – Guardians

As with the earth itself, the Qur’an alsopoints to the protective role planets play inrelation to Earth: “And we sought to reachheaven, but we found it filled with strongguards and shooting stars” (72:9).

Before understanding the protective roleJupiter and Saturn play, we must understandthe threat asteroids and comets pose. Aster-oids are mostly composed of rocky and me-tallic minerals and range in size from micro-scopic to hundreds of kilometers wide. Com-ets are a frozen mixture of rock, ice and gasthat range from 100m to 40km across. At anygiven time, thousands of these bodies areflying in every direction in our solar system– and a great deal gravitate towards the Sun,because of its gravitational pull.

Along the path to Earth, however, standJupiter and Saturn. Jupiter is 2.5 times more

massive than all the other planets in our So-lar System combined. Saturn has an elabo-rate network of moons and rings. Thesequalities of these two planets play an instru-mental role in protecting the Earth, therebypersonifying the Quranic declaration that theheavens are a protective roof.3

Scientists believe that during the LateHeavy Bombardment period, approximately4 billion years ago, many impact cratersformed on the Moon, Earth, Mercury, Venus,and Mars. Scientists posit that Jupiter andSaturn’s eventual migration farther from theSun counterbalanced the Sun’s gravity. Inturn, scores of asteroids and meteors werediverted away from the Earth.

A recent example further illustrates thepoint. Due to its mass, Jupiter attracts thou-sands more meteor hits as compared to Earth,thereby making Earth biophilic. As an ex-ample, in 1994 a comet dubbed Shoemaker-Levy 9, struck Jupiter – creating explosionsobservable from Earth. Simulated studies

revealed that had a comet of that size struckEarth, the results would have been cata-strophic.

ConclusionConsider that not only has the Qur’an ad-

equately identified various protective mechanismswhich allow for life on Earth, but that thismessage’s recipient was an unlettered man froman unlettered society in 7th century Arabia. Skep-tics reject the claim that Prophet Muhammadsa,was the recipient of divine revelation and insteadclaim that Prophet Muhammadsa himself pennedthe Qur’an. If so, how did an unlettered and un-privileged man know of these facts which remainedunknown to mankind centuries after hispassing?

(Footnotes)1 Ahmad, Mirza Tahir Absolute Justice, Kindness andKinship p. 452 Grolier Encyclopaedia, Vol. 6

(Endnotes)3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjL5d4jerTw

Summer 2011 57

By Maria Andleeb Ahmed

These insightful words by Sir ChaudhryMuhammad Zafarullah Khanra

resonate in today’s world, eventhough they were written decades ago. Wewould be amiss to commemorate the 90th

anniversary of The Muslim Sunrise withoutacknowledging and admiring the life and wordsof Sir Zafarullah.

Sir Zafarullah did his bai’at (allegiancepledge) at the hand of Hazrat Mirza GhulamAhmadas, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Move-ment on September 16, 1907, at the mere ageof 14. Knighted in 1935, he was appointed byMuhammad Ali Jinnah, Qaid-e-Azam, asPakistan’s first foreign minister. In fact, at therequest of Qaid-e-Azam, he represented theMuslim League in 1947 and represented Paki-stan in the United Nations’ General Assemblyas the head of the Pakistan delegation andadvocated the stand of the Muslim world onthe Palestinian issue. He wrote several bookswith topics ranging from the death of Jesusas

to Islam’s solutions to world problems, from

women in Islam to several topics on thefounder of Islam, the Holy ProphetMuhammadsa. As a devout Ahmadi Muslim,his arduous work for Ahmadiyyat and itskhulafaa was equal to his role of fighting fora Muslim state. His speeches have stood thetest of time and his writings are just as rel-evant today.

Khan was a devout member of the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community. He never con-cealed nor feared his association with theCommunity. When India’s Secretary of State

and the Viceroy wanted to appoint him as amember of the Viceroy’s Executive Council,he informed them that he belonged to theAhmadiyya Muslim Community and that otherMuslims had fundamental ideological differ-ences with him. They chose him despite know-ing these differences. This illustrates the highregard others had for his character as a Mus-lim.2

Seventy years ago, Sir Zafarullah probablydidn’t know that he would be writing aboutevents that are so pertinent today. All of his

“Religion is a vitalfactor in the field ofhuman relations and

there is good ground forhope that, rightly

approached, it mightprogressively become

more effective inpromoting unity andaccord rather than

continue to be a sourceof friction and conflict.”

Sir Zafarullah Khan


messages revolved around one centraltheme—without God, there will always bechaos. Therefore, he must have known thathis words contained everlasting truths. Hisarticle “How can Mankind be Saved from De-struction” literally reflects today’s interna-tional events.

He wrote, “Just think, for a moment, of thecauses that have led to the state in whichmankind finds itself today. Nations which re-gard themselves as standard-bearers of cul-ture and civilization are fighting each otherlike waves of the sea in a storm. A trumpet hasbeen blown and millions of men have comeout to destroy each other and to let loose ahell, the very idea of which is terrifying. Whyhas all this happened? Because men haveturned their thoughts away from their Creatorand have become so engrossed in worldly at-tractions and so proud of their achievements

and their skill that they have no time to payany heed to the Almighty. It is as if they havedethroned the All-Powerful and the All-Mer-ciful God and put their fellow men in Hisplace.”3

Although war has always taken place inthis world, the prevalence of nations fightingtoday is unquestionable. It’s awe-inspiring tosee how Sir Zafarullah’s message is just as ap-plicable today, for he spoke about the true Is-lam and its true message.

Sir Zafarullah’s efforts in institutionalizingPakistan as a Muslim state cannot be chal-lenged; however, his efforts for many Arab na-tions is just as imminent. He became a greatfighter of the Arab cause. This love for theArabs was generated in him by his love for theHoly Prophet of Islam. In October 1947, hespoke on the issue of the partition of Palestine.It was a stunning speech and the Arabs were

overjoyed over it. An Arab spokesman sanghis praises after this speech saying, “It was themost brilliant and exhaustive survey of the Arabcase regarding Palestine that I ever heard.”4

From 1948 to 1954, he waged a relentless war inthe Security Council for the Arab cause. Hefought vigorously for the independence ofLibya, Somalia, Tunis, Eritrea, Morocco, andIndonesia. He won universal accolades andrespect for his words and his vigor. The fol-lowing was written in The Statesman, Delhi,dated October 8, 1947:

“For the first time the voice of Pakistan washeard in the counsels of the United Nations ona burning topic of world-wide significancewhen leader of this country’s delegation,Chaudhry Zafarullah Khan, addressed theUnited Nations…Chaudhry Zafarullah did notmerely indulge in rhetoric…he proceeded toprove this by unassailable arguments…We

Sir Chaudhry Muhammad Zafarullah Khanra at the White House for a meeting with the late President John F.Kennedy. He was and remained a devout member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. He never wavered inhis at tachment to the Community, and never concealed his af f i l ia t ion wi th the Ahmadiyya cause.

Summer 2011 59

ShoutIt Out

have little doubt that the Arabs will rejoiceto find the voice of Pakistan so powerfullyraised in the United Nations in defence oftheir cause. The addition of the indepen-dent sovereign state of Pakistan to the co-mity of free Muslim peoples of the World isalready beginning to have its effect on in-ternational affairs.”

Sir Zafarullah never tired in his fight forIslam and peace. He continually spoke andwrote to his fellow Ahmadi Muslims, includ-ing numerous articles for The Muslim Sun-rise. He stressed the importance of educa-tion for all Muslims, not just for the sake ofIslam as a religion, but for pure spirituality,science and a fulfilling life: “Much as knowl-edge enhances virtue, virtue in turn is thevery prerequisite of wisdom.”5

By following the words of the HolyQur’an, he stated that following the beautyand true meaning of Islam can bring forthnot just knowledge, but actual intellect: “Itis characteristic of the Quran that it notmerely teaches and guides, but also in-structs the understanding and satisfies andstimulates the intellect.”6

He continually expressed the need forMuslims and Non-Muslims alike to under-stand the true meaning of Islam and the HolyQur’an. Only then would peace come aboutin the world. In his time on earth, he vigor-ously fought for this understanding and itreflects even more strongly in today’s world.He wrote, “The truth of the matter, however,is that neither the enemies nor these so-called advocates of Islam have really un-derstood, or made any serious attempt atunderstanding the spiritual meaning whichis hidden in every ordinance or practiceenjoined by Islam.”7

Sir Zafarullah truly understood and be-lieved in the Holy Prophet of Islam and thereligion of Islam. That is why his words stillhave pure meaning in today’s world and canbe used by all advocates of Islam. Hecorrelated religion and politics, which havealways been debated amongst nations.“The conception that religion and politicsoccupy distinct spheres which should notbe permitted to overlap is born of failure tograsp the full significance of religion. Its(Religion’s) function is to establish and main-tain the most harmonious relationship be-tween man and his Maker on the one handand between man and man in all aspects oftheir relationship on the other. Politics isonly one aspect of the relationship between

man and man.”8 This is what drove him in hisdesire to educate, fight and produce peace onearth.

Sir Zafarullah can never be forgotten for hisdedicated service to Pakistan, Islam, Ah-madiyyat, Arab unity, or simply humanity. Hefought for what he believed to be right, whichwere the basic principles taught by HazratMuhammadsa and the religion of Islam throughthe Holy Qur’an. His speeches have contestedcenturies of beliefs and facilitated many (this isawkward), his writings stand the test of timeand educate all, and his life is an inspirationalmessage of what one person can do. With all ofhis many accomplishments and successes, healways remained truly humble and modest,which is emphasized in Islam. After receivingaccolades from an admirer of his life’s work, heresponded by saying, “If I could believe myselftruly deserving of one hundredth portion of theencomia that the generosity of your heart haspersuaded you to heap upon me, I would deemmyself most fortunate. Yet I must humbly ac-knowledge with deep gratitude the countlessbounties that Allah, the Lord of immense grace,had bestowed upon me throughout a long lifeunworthy as I know myself to be…Allah has ofHis abundant grace and mercy, covered up themultitude of my defaults and shortcomings.”9

Most people who had the blessing of know-ing him saw his true character. An admirer once

said about him: “If he walked in the sun-shine of fortune and fame all his life, hewalked demurely, modestly, humbly. Thesweet smell of triumph did not ruffle his calm.The foam and froth and the bubble of worldlysuccess neither seduced his self respect, norcorrupted his simplicity, nor poisoned his hu-manity.”

Sir Zafarullah used his own words tomove other Muslims to fight for the cause ofIslam. His eloquent thoughts and views shallalways remain in the hearts of all Muslimsand hopefully will inspire generations tocome.

“A Moslem must never lose courage orgive way to despair. He should ever standfirm like a rock in the midst of trials and mis-fortunes; the winds of calamity should notbe able to shake him and the waves of disas-ter should beat against him in vain. He shouldbattle with failures and defeat until he winshis way to success or dies in the effort.”10

If all Muslims and Ahmadis could try toemulate even a small percentage of Sir KhanSahib’s life devotion, then we could truly be-lieve that peace and, ultimately Islam, canbring us all closer to our Creator and even-tual Paradise.

(Endnotes)1 Khan, Zafarullah, The Muslim Sunrise, “Islam andPeace,” Vol. LII, Issue 2, 4th Qtr. 1985, page 3.2 Embrec, Aislie T. and Wilcox, Wayne,The Reminisces of Sir Muhammad Zafarulla Khan,Maple, Ontario, 2004, page xiv.3 Khan, Zafarullah, The Muslim Sunrise, “How CanMankind Be Saved From Destruction,” Vol. XII,Issue 4, 4th Qtr. 1940, page 8.4 The Statesman, Dehli, October 11, 1947.5 Khan, Zafarullah, The Muslim Sunrise , “IslamicValues in Education,” Vol. LII, Issue 2, 4th Qtr.1985, pgs. 6-7.6 Khan, Zafarullah, The Muslim Sunrise ,“Fundamentals of an Islamic State,” 4th Qtr. 1949,page 14.7 Khan, Zafarullah, The Muslim Sunrise , “TheSpiritual Aspect of Islam,” Vol. X, Issue 2, May1938, page 12.8Khan, Zafarullah, The Muslim Sunrise,Fundamentals of an Islamic State,” 4th Qtr. 1949,page 15.9 As’ad, M.J., alislam.org, Chaudhry MuhammadZafarullah Khan’s Services to Pakistan and theMuslim World,” page 1.10 Khan, Zafarullah, The Muslim Sunrise, “How CanMankind Be Saved From destruction,” Vol. XII,Issue 4, 4th Qtr. 1940, page 8.

Maria Andleeb Ahmed holds a Master’sDegree in English Lit. from NorthwesternUniversity and is a member of the ChicagoWest chapter of the Ahmadiyya MuslimCommunity.


Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar Amir

Naseem Mahdi Missionary Incharge /Naib Amir

Azhar Haneef Missionary/Naib Amir

Daud Ahmad Hanif Missionary/Naib Amir

Dr. Nasim Rahmatullah Naib Amir/ Secretary Audio Video

Dr. hamid-ur –Rahman Naib Amir/Trustee

Munum Naeem Naib Amir

Wasim Ahmad Malik Naib amir

Zaheer A. Bajwa Missionary/Naib Amir

Inamul Haq Kauser Missionary

Zafar Ahmad Sarwar Missionary

Syed Shamshad A. Nasir Missionary

Mubashar Ahmad Missionary

Irshad A. Malhi Missionary

M. Zafrullah Hanjra Missionary

Yahya A. Luqman Missionary

Muhammad Saeed Missionary

Mukhtar A. Malhi Missionary

Masoud A. Malik General Secretary

Ali Murtaza Secretary Tabligh

Nasir Malik Secretary Tarbiyyat

Dr. Faheem Y. Qureshi Secretary Taleem

Hasan Hakeem Secretary Publications

Dr. Farooq A. Padder Secretary Rishta Nata

Amjad M Khan Secretary Public Relations

Shahid S. Malik Secretary Social Services

Amjad M. Chaudhry Secretary Ziafat

Mirza N. Ehsan Ahmad Financial Secretary

Dhul Waqar Yaqub Add’l Financial Secretary

Dr. Khaled Ahamd Ata Secretary Wassaya

Dr. Zaheeruddin Ahmad Secretary Talim-ul-Qur’an

Anwer mahmood Khan Secretary Tehrik-e-Jadid

Waseem A. Syed Secretary Waqf-e-Jadid

Abu Bakr Add’l Secretary Waqf-e-Jadid

Mir Daud Ahmad Secfretary Property

Hafiz Samiullah Chaudhary Secretary Waqf-e-Nau

Chaudhry Mujeebullah Secretary Agriculture

Khurram Fuad Ahmad Secretary Sana’t-o-Tajarat

Khurram Bashir Muhasib (Accountant)

Bashir Malik Amin (Treasurer)

Falahud Din Shams Auditor (Internal)

Dr. Wajeeh Bajwa Sadr Ansarullah

Rizwan Alladin Sadr Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya

The National Management Committee, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA

Summer 2011 61

Perspect ive

Following the Faithof Our Forefathers

Like most people inthe world, I inheritedmy faith from myparents. We are taughtfrom childhood that

the faith of our parents is the best. Ourparents are our teachers, guides and thebest at inculcating the idea in our mindsthat their faith is exceptional and all other

faiths in the world are inferior. Theyexpose us to books, magazines and otherliterature reinforcing their beliefs. So agreat majority of us cling on to our faithmore to honor our parents than out ofconviction of its truthfulness.

The other night I was at a dinner partywith my friends, and a person was say-ing how Islam is the only faith accept-

able to God, and how it was so hard forhim to conceive how the rest of mankindcould be saved. I thought to myself thatin a Christian family’s home, someonewas likely making the same assertionabout Christianity, and that Jesus was theonly savior. Our forefathers do an excel-lent job of passing on their faith to us.

Then there are some people of the

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○


opinion that all faiths are good. Theyall came from the same God and allhave decent and solid principles ofmorality. It is best to respect each faithand not to criticize them or discuss thedifferences among faiths. Life is sim-pler if we all just keep the faith passeddown to us from our forefathers.

I never know what is in the mindsof such people. Maybe they don’twant to have a discussion because theyfeel insecure about their faith. Maybethey are afraid to discuss somethingnew that may challenge them to acceptsome new principle of faith, thus goingagainst the tradition of their forefathers.Maybe they really do want to just dis-cuss the weather.

When we observe human nature,though, it is clear that people are in-vested with an inherent drive to makeprogress. Mankind is bent on makingand promoting discoveries. We wantto invent new toys, better machines,better communication systems andshow them off to the world. Sure, partof it is to generate wealth, but it is pri-marily to prove that we, as humans, arecapable of making new discoveries.

Our approach to faith should be thesame. The faith we inherited is good,and its framework sufficient to manageour lives, but we must look for some-thing better. In that process and questfor a better faith, we may discover thatthe one we already have is the bestthere is. On the other hand, if we findthat there is another faith that has bet-ter values and principles, and that itcould better our lives, then we mustadopt it. Someone could manage theiraffairs using a telex machine, but lifewould be easier and more productiveusing email.

The Holy Qur’an has pointed outthe tendency to rely blindly on inherit-

ance – to the detriment of progress –in a different few places. It says thatevery time God sends a new message,the response of the people is always,“Nay, we will follow that wherein wefound our fathers” (2:171). God re-sponds with the question, “What! Evenif their fathers had no sense at all andno guidance?”

My father was a writer, speaker andmissionary of Islamic faith. I had ac-cess to books, magazines and news-papers that professed that Islam wasbetter in many ways than Christianity.I asked myself the Holy Qur’an’s ques-tion I mentioned above at age of 17. Isigned up for a “correspondencecourse” to learn about Christianity.(This was before computers and theinternet were invented. We didn’t evenhave a VCR at the time. For the i-Podgeneration, who don’t know what aVCR is, I’ve made my point.) I re-ceived the Gospel of Matthew in the

mail, with the instruction to fill out anenclosed questionnaire upon complet-ing its reading. I would not be able toanswer all of the questions unless I firstread the entire Gospel. After I sent inmy questionnaire, they sent me theGospel of Mark, Luke, John and soon. I never told my father about it. Iwould ask him questions on issues thatpopped into my mind while I was read-ing the Gospels. I discovered on myown that my faith was indeed better andthat I had not accepted it just becausemy father and his father passed it downto me.

I have no doubt that each religionhas good principles to offer, but weought to look for the best. We shouldnot be the frog of the well, who thinksthat the horizons of the earth end at thewalls of the well. He has no clue thatthere are oceans out there.

The search for a better faith wouldno doubt widen our horizons. At theleast it would continue the debates, thearguments and discussions among usabout whose faith is more acceptableto God. Indeed the Holy Qur’an hasencouraged such debate by posing achallenge to all human beings, saying,“Bring us your proofs.”

Bring us your arguments if you thinkyou have the truth. We could pass ona better faith to our children than theone received from our forefathers. Wehave passed on a better world from thestandpoint of scientific discovery. Wecould do the same in the spiritual arenaas well. Or we could keep on follow-ing the faith of our forefathers, “even ifthey were ignorant.”

If nothing else, we wouldn’t have todiscuss the weather at dinner parties.

Falahud Din Shams

I have no doubt thateach religion hasgood principles tooffer, but we oughtto look for the best.

We should not be thefrog of the well, who

thinks that thehorizons of the earthend at the walls ofthe well. He has noclue that there areoceans out there.

Summer 2011 63

The Holy Qur’anExhibition

Coming to a State Capitol Near You.

Alislam.orgFor information regarding Islam or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA

If you have any questions, dial: 1.800.Why.Islam

subscribe nowmuslimsunrise.com

Four quarterly issues of the Muslim Sunrise for just $15

For information on Islam: www.alislam.org

LoveFor All.HatredFor None.

The Muslim Sunrise is published by theAhmadiyya Muslim Community, USA2S 510 Rte. 53 Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

This magazine is not to be reproduced without permission from the Muslim Sunrise Editorial Board

i shall cause thy message to reach the corners of the earth · beauties of islam. the sun is rising...

Documents