SYLHET DISTRICT IJTEMA

SYLHET DISTRICT IJTEMA REPORT


Ahmadiyya Times: Humanity First: Regina doctor travelling to Haiti to help those in need

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Humanity First: Regina doctor travelling to Haiti to help those in need

Dr. Habib Rehman said he has been encouraged by the willingness of Canadian people to contribute to charities in Haiti's time of need.


Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: Edmonton Journal
By Angela Hall, Leader-Post | January 21, 2010

REGINA — A Regina doctor leaves for Haiti on Friday to help with the enormous task of tending to the injured.

Dr. Habib Rehman is making the long journey to the earthquake ravaged country on short notice, where he'll work in makeshift facilities with limited essential medical supplies. But Rehman was quick to volunteer.


Ahmadiyya Times: Faith & Common Sense: Earth Hour 2010 Saw Enormous Participation

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Faith & Common Sense: Earth Hour 2010 Saw Enormous Participation

Europe’s all popular landmarks like – Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, Rome’s Colosseum, and others fell dark during the earth hour on Saturday following other major landmarks like Sydney’s Opera House, Beijing’s Forbidden City and others.


Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Green+
Source & Credit: Seven-Sided Cube | March 27, 2010

The ‘Earth Hour 2010’ was extensively celebrated across the world on Saturday night and almost all nations joined the fight against the Climate Change for the fourth year in row.

According to reports the observations of black out or switching of lights from 8.30 PM to 10.30 PM this year saw more participants from all groups of society than last year. Though such movements always see enthusiasm among school children and college students, but this time adults too had show keen interest and lights went out and festivities under candle light or any other modes of illumination began. Such celebration of Earth Hour shows one single commitment from all these groups and nations – the commitment to save and protect ‘Mother Earth.’


Ahmadiyya Times: Tourists flock to 'Jesus's tomb' in Kashmir

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Tourists flock to 'Jesus's tomb' in Kashmir

...And in Islam, in which Jesus is the penultimate prophet, there is also a minority tradition adopted by the controversial Ahmeddiya sect, that Rozabal does contain the grave of Jesus.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: BBC Radio 4 | March 27, 2010
By Sam Miller | Srinagar | for BBC Radio 4

A belief that Jesus survived the crucifixion and spent his remaining years in Kashmir has led to a run-down shrine in Srinagar making it firmly onto the must-visit-in India tourist trail.

In the backstreets of downtown Srinagar is an old building known as the Rozabal shrine.

Ahmadiyya Times: Muslim women don’t need saving from themselves

Ahmadiyya Times: Muslim women don’t need saving from themselves

Friday, March 26, 2010


Muslim women don’t need saving from themselves

Everyone seems to have an opinion. Julius Grey, the civil rights lawyer who defended Sikh students’ right to wear a ceremonial dagger, said that Amed’s request to wear a niqab was unreasonable. Grey is effectively comparing a type of clothing to a dagger, a potential weapon, and deciding that the former is more unreasonable and more threatening than the latter.


Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Opinion
Source & Credit: The McGill Daily | Commentary
By Sheetal Pathak | March 18, 2010

Accommodation is a word with baggage in Quebec. In 2007, the public sphere was overtaken by debates about what accounts for reasonable and unreasonable accommodation. Who were we afraid of accommodating too much? Generally speaking, immigrants and their children, people of different faiths and customs whose demands were, some felt, unreasonable.

If you recall, the media had a party, as did the politicians. Action Démocratique du Québec’s popularity rose in the polls. All of a sudden, we heard countless tales of clashes between well-meaning Quebeckers and demanding immigrants. While we heard rational arguments aimed at clarifying the code of conduct in a pluralist democratic society, we also heard what amounted to thinly-veiled racism, and calls for a return to “Quebec values.”


Ahmadiyya Times: Faith & Logic: No monopoly of truth

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Faith & Logic: No monopoly of truth

Some Distinctive Features of Islam was a lecture delivered by Hadrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih IV, of blessed memory at the University of Canberra, Australia. It was first published in UK in 1985 and then in 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1995 respectively.


Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Excerpt
Source & Credit: Some Distinctive Features of Islam | AlIslam.Org
By His Holiness Mirza Tahir Ahmad (1928-2003)

While speaking on the subject of the distinctive features of Islam, the first and most attractive feature that strikes one, is its most endearing disclaimer that Islam has a monopoly of truth, and that there have been no other true religions. Nor does it claim that Arabs alone have been the recipients of God's love. Islam is the only religion that totally rejects the notion that truth is the monopoly of any single faith, race or people; instead, it professes that divine guidance is a general bounty that has sustained humanity in all ages. The Quran tells us that there is neither a race nor a people, who have not been blessed with the bounty of divine guidance, and there is neither a region of the earth nor ~ body of people who have not received prophets and Messengers of God [Al-Quran: 35:35].

Ahmadiyya Times: Indonesia: 'Infidel’ Not to be Said Lightly, NU Cleric Says

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Indonesia: 'Infidel’ Not to be Said Lightly, NU Cleric Says

...Prophet [Muhammad] would never use violence. We talk to people. The Prophet would never physically attack people because they were not Muslims.” Masyhuri Na’im, Chairman, Nahdlatul Ulama legal advisory board.


Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: The Jakarta Globe | March 27, 2010

Senior cleric and deputy chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama’s legal advisory board Masyhuri Na’im said on Friday that Muslims should not use the term kafir , or infidel, lightly.



Friday Sermon - Divine bestowment without measure and God’s swift reckoning

Divine bestowment without measure and God’s swift reckoning

Summary of Friday Sermon
Delivered by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad at, the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
March 26 th, 2010
NOTE: Alislam Team takes full responsibility for any errors or miscommunication in this Synopsis of the Friday Sermon

Hudhur gave a discourse on Divine bestowment without measure as well as God’s swift reckoning in his Friday Sermon today. Hudhur explained the subject by citing examples of ahadith as well as incidents of the companions of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace).

INAUGURAL AHMADIYYA MUSLIM PEACE PRIZE AWARDED TO LORD ERIC AVEBURY

LONDON, 21 MARCH 2010
PRESS RELEASE
INAUGURAL AHMADIYYA MUSLIM PEACE PRIZE AWARDED TO LORD ERIC AVEBURY

At a Peace Symposium held at the Baitul Futuh Mosque on 20 March 2010 the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, spoke at length about how to achieve global peace. He also presented Lord Eric Avebury with the inaugural Ahmadiyya Peace Prize in recognition his continued efforts to protect human rights across the world.

PRESS RELEASE - Inaugural Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize awarded to Lord Avebury

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sunday

Yesterday evening, Lindsay and I attended the Ahmadiyya Muslims' Annual Peace Symposium. The keynote speaker, His Holiness Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, spoke about the duty of Muslims not only to proclaim that Islam is a doctrine of peace, but to put the principle of 'Love for all, and Hatred for none' into operation in their own lives, and he reviewed the effects of strife in various parts of the world on the victims.

Ahmadiyya Times: Faith, loyalty to country - no conflict, in multicultural Canada

Ahmadiyya Times: Faith, loyalty to country - no conflict, in multicultural Canada

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Faith, loyalty to country - no conflict, in multicultural Canada

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at has held World Religions Conferences and interfaith symposia across Canada, for the past 28 years, "to bring different faiths closer to one another."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Canada Desk
Source & Credit: Bradford Times | Canada
By Miriam King

The first World Religions Conference held in Bradford, on March 17, was billed as an evening of "thought-provoking discussion", as scholars from Judaism, Christianity and Islam came together to discuss the topic, "Reconciling Faith and Loyalty to the Country."

The evening was organ-ized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, inviting the community to hear Muslim scholar Mubarak Nazir, Missionary-in- Charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Canada; Terry Weller, Interfaith Christian Minister and publisher of the Interfaith Unity News; and Mark Freiman, former Deputy Attorney General of Ontario, and President of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

"This will be a learning experience for many here," said Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Doug White, who moderated the discussion, and welcomed the capacity crowd to the Bradford Community Centre Auditorium.

All three speakers addressed the issue from not only a different religious standpoint, but personal perspective. Freiman pointed out, "I am not a rabbi, or any sort of religious authority" - although he cited the Torah, in speaking for the CJC and secular Judaism.

Weller brought his understanding as an Interfaith Minister, therapist and counsellor, and Nazir - his understanding as a scholar, a father, and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at.

In the end, there was no disagreement. For all three, there was no conflict between faith and civil society – as long as civil society itself did not attack the faith and dignity of the individual.

Freiman said that being Jewish in Canada "does not involve conflicting identities or conflicting values. We are Canadian and we are Jews." The Jewish faith, he said, requires "precisely this union of civic and religious identities," and the Torah makes "inclusion of minorities and respect for their rights a key legal prescription."

All members of a society are seen as having civic duties and obligations, and "morally and ethically, the people owe a duty to secular authority. ... Civic authority plays an individual role in our daily lives," Freiman said. "There are, however, limits, and those limits come when the demand for loyalty" encompasses a demand for the abandonment of faith. "My freedom ends where it demands the abrogation of your freedom... Loyalty to Canada involves loyalty to the concepts of legal equality, tolerance and respect for others."

For Weller, faith includes a call to "active social action through passive resistance," when the State attacks faith's basic principles, although he said, "These are my beliefs – I do not present them as a credo for others to follow," and acknowledged that with "more than 12,000 different approaches to Christianity," it has been all too easy to reshape the message of Christ. "History is full of examples of how people have shaped Jesus and his words."

Through multiculturalism and his interfaith studies, Weller said that he has come to understand that "underlying the layers of dogma and symbolism were the same spiritual truths... They all spoke of faith, God, humility and peace," and the basic principle: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

"In living true to my faith, I am demonstrating my loyalty to my country," he said – though that doesn't mean staying silent if the country moves away from its core values and ethics, which include multiculturalism. "The God that I love, loves diversity," Weller said. "Just look at the world he created."

Mubarak Nazir spoke of the shared traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam – and of the opportunities offered by Canada, to all who come to its shores, regardless of origin. For the immigrant to Canada, "tomorrow he could be a Member of Parliament, he could be Prime Minister – such unparalleled opportunities."

And when religion conflicts with the demands of country? "Our religion demands that we follow God, follow His Messenger, follow those who are in authority," he said. "Conscientious objection is there, but... are we allowed to have mutiny? No. Riots? No. Suicide bombings? No.... The Prophet says, Love of your country is part of your faith." Those who are offered shelter, justice and welcome by a country, owe that country their love and loyalty, he said.

Nazir told the crowd that he has 5 children, "all different." But when there is a crisis in the family, "we come together like a molten wall of lead – that is what Canada is."

And he praised Canada's multicultural society. "The strength of this country depends on all of us. That is the beauty of Canada – it is the envy of the whole world."

The evening concluded with questions from the audience.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at has held World Religions Conferences and interfaith symposia across Canada, for the past 28 years, "to bring different faiths closer to one another."

Ahmadiyya Times: Canada: Quebec Law Bans Burqas in Gov't Settings

Ahmadiyya Times: Canada: Quebec Law Bans Burqas in Gov't Settings

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Canada: Quebec Law Bans Burqas in Gov't Settings

...[G]iven that Muslims make up such a small portion of the population, some have questioned the need for the legislation.



Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: CBN | March 25, 2010


A new law requires Muslim women in Quebec, Canada, to remove their head coverings while applying for government services in the province.

The decree also applies to women who work in offices that supply government services.

The law, which covers all garments from the face veil to the burqa, says such coverings are unacceptable if they hinder communication and visual identification.

According to Premier Jean Charest, the new rule is intended to defend both gender equality and secular public institutions.

"This is a symbol of affirmation and respect - first of all, for ourselves, and also for those to whom we open our arms," Charest said during a news conference.

"This is not about making our home less welcoming," he added. "But about stressing the values that unite us."

An accommodation cannot be granted unless it respects the principle of equality between men and women, and the religious neutrality of the state," he said.

However, given that Muslims make up such a small portion of the population, some have questioned the need for the legislation.

"It is a knee-jerk reaction to the opposition and vote-grabbing more than anything else," concluded Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal.

Ahmadiyya Times: Faith & Common Sense: Malaysia - the model Muslim country?

Ahmadiyya Times: Faith & Common Sense: Malaysia - the model Muslim country?

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Faith & Common Sense: Malaysia - the model Muslim country?

If one were to be cynical, perhaps Malaysia truly has become a model for other "Islamic countries". In an electoral democracy and plural society such as ours, it is an achievement indeed for Islamic religious authorities to increasingly influence the justice system, government and public opinion.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Opinion
Source & Credit:The Nut Graph | March 26, 2010
By Shanon Shah | shanonshah@thenutgraph.com

Malaysia, the model Muslim country
BACK when he was deputy prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak pledged that Malaysia would become "a role model to the Islamic world". He said this in the middle of the 2009 Kuala Terengganu by-election, which Najib's Barisan Nasional (BN) eventually lost to Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

Najib's pledge was poetic, since a "role model" is supposed to be an outstanding example of its kind, or an example of excellence that others might want to emulate. Could Najib have foreseen events such as the infamous cow-head protest, the "Allah" controversy, the ensuing arson attacks on churches and other houses of worship, and the syariah caning of three Muslim women when he promised this? It would be unfair to expect Najib to be clairvoyant. Still, he is now the prime minister.

And as premier, surely Najib has to reconcile these events which happened under his watch with the lofty promise he made more than a year ago. After all, a model Muslim country cannot be one where citizens' rights and liberties, including the right to be safe from violence, are trampled on by the state or non-state actors in the name of Islam.

Violence and silence

Malaysians had a taste of violent threats in the name of Islam in August 2009 when the cow-head protesters threatened bloodshed over the planned relocation of a Hindu temple to a Muslim-majority area. And then in January 2010, several churches, and also other houses of worship, became targets of arson and vandalism in the midst of the "Allah" controversy.

It could be argued that these violent incidents were the work of fringe community actors, which exist even in the most democratic of countries. The troubling thing is that Malaysia's state authorities, too, appear complicit, or at the very least immobile in handling violence in the name of Islam.

Take the legitimate public outcry over the syariah caning of the three Muslim women for "illicit sex" including in the media. The Star's piece by one of its editors, P Gunasegaram, was one such example of the media voicing out concern over how religion was being used by the state to perpetuate violence and compulsion. For speaking up, several police reports were lodged against Gunasegaram for "insulting Islam", and not just by fringe community actors.

Indeed, even state bodies descended into the ring. The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) was one body that lodged the report. The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) upheld Mais's actions via Friday sermons in mosques all across Selangor.

If one were to be cynical, perhaps Malaysia truly has become a model for other "Islamic countries". In an electoral democracy and plural society such as ours, it is an achievement indeed for Islamic religious authorities to increasingly influence the justice system, government and public opinion.

But on the other hand, this influence has not spread as a result of reasoned and open public debate. It has rather been the result of Islamist groups — both within state and community spheres — telling all those with doubts or differing opinions, "Shut up, or else."

Happy Kelantan

We could put this down to the BN government's authoritarian strategy. But are the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)-led states better Islamic role models for Malaysians? Take the Selangor government. In 2009, state religious exco Datuk Dr Hassan Ali wanted mosque officials to nab alcohol-consuming Muslims. He also tried to squeeze the minority Ahmadiyah community out of its Selayang headquarters.

Nevertheless, the PR maintains that it can be a better role model than the BN when it comes to Islamic governance. Take the PAS-led Kelantan government. During the 2009 Bagan Pinang by-election, PAS held an expo, Kenali Kelantan, to sing the praises of happy, Islamic Kelantan. According to the expo, Kelantan is peaceful, corruption-free and devoid of immoral activities.

And yet, strange things in the name of Islam have been happening in Kelantan, too. Although Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat questioned their motives, two under-aged Muslim girls were married to adult men in Kelantan recently. In 2005, Kelantan was also in the headlines when it emerged that a 20-year-old Muslim woman was taken away by a bomoh after she was allegedly forced to marry someone else. In 2000, a 17 year-old girl, raped by her 36 year-old father, was prosecuted by the Kelantan Syariah Court for zina — the court considered her a willing partner rather than a rape and incest survivor.

Surely there is a disconnect here somewhere. After all, the Kelantan government has not let up in strictly policing personal morals, especially of women. Yet these disturbing instances of violence against women and girls — Muslims at that — continue. Incidentally, Kelantan also has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in Malaysia, although the link between this and the state's Islamic policies remains unproven.

Real Islamic role models

Advocates of greater Islamisation in Malaysia will likely see this analysis as an attack on Islam. It is not. All across the Muslim world, we can witness inspiring, or at the least encouraging, developments where Muslim governments and societies have elevated the rights of their citizens with Islam as their inspiration.

Take the sweeping, egalitarian reforms to Morocco's Islamic family law in 2004, or the pronouncement by Saudi Arabia's grand mufti in 2005 that forced marriages are un-Islamic. And even as syariah advocates in Malaysia defend child marriages in Islam, the Yemeni government is trying to eradicate the practice despite staunch opposition from Yemeni Islamists.

Certainly, if Malaysia were at the forefront of these bold, Islamic reforms to make society more just, we could pat Najib on the back for a promise well kept. Sadly, we are not.

The reality is that Malaysia's version of Islamisation is leaving too many of its citizens out in the cold. What's worse, Malaysia's nascent Islamic state is actually propagating violence and discrimination against Muslim girls and women. And yet, non-Muslims are expected to trust and have confidence in an Islamic state.

And to top it all, when these instances of violence, coercion and injustice in the name of Islam are highlighted by concerned sectors of civil society, they are told, "Shut up, or else." Even when their criticisms are about the human application of Islamic laws and policies, and not about insulting or slandering the religion itself.

Perhaps that is just the Malaysian way, for now. Church arsons, child marriages, canings, and threats against public debate notwithstanding, we are a role model Islamic country. Agree, or else...

Clearly, calling Malaysia a model Muslim country is off the mark, no less because the intensifying Islamisation of Malaysia has been accompanied by divisive controversies and even threats of violence towards dissenters. And those who continue to insist that we are a model Muslim country are not just disingenuous. They are also complicit in perpetuating the perception that Islam is a religion that exhorts violence, discrimination and hatred.

Read the original article here: Malaysia, the model Muslim country

Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Bharat

Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Bharat

Laheamaleng.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

Laheamaleng.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

Lah-e-Amal of MKA Bharat in English.

YouTube - Shotter Shondhane: 25th February 2010 - Part 13 (Bengali)

YouTube - Shotter Shondhane: 25th February 2010 - Part 13 (Bengali)

Shotter Shondhane

Ahmadiyya Bangla - Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Ahmadiyya Bangla - Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Bangla website of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community - Al Islam Online - Official Website

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community - Al Islam Online - Official Website

Official website of the world wide Ahmadiyya Muslim community headed by the Khalifatul Masih.