Muslims Condemn Blasphemy Charges against Christian Teen in Pakistan

Blasphemy has become a tool of harassment to a few who have nothing better to do than create chaos. We ask the people of Pakistan to seriously debate the blasphemy laws. Islam is about free will and as Muslims we need to stand against any oppression towards any human being following in the footsteps of the prophet.

Full article at: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/muslims-condemn-blasphemy-charges-against-pakistan-christian-girl_b_1815127.html

Vanishing Girls of Pakistan

Insecurity determines one's behavior and not religion. No matter what the religion says, people do what is expedient to them. It's happening in India and now I read that in Pakistan, I shudder to hear from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.  Every religious group is guilty of it, and Aamir Khan's show Satyamev Jayate put that right through.    

Honor killing is pretty bad in India and Pakistan. It has nothing to do with Muslims or Hindus; it has to do with people.

If everyone got his or her religion right, a lot of misery would subside. Religion is about justice, truth and treating other humans on an equal footing.

Please read and watch Aamir Khan's showhttp://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2012/05/aamir-khan-is-god-sent.html 
  

Mike Ghouse

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/06/vanishing-girls-of-pakistan.html

Abandoned, Aborted, or Left for Dead: These Are the Vanishing Girls of Pakistan

By Habiba Nosheen & Hilke Schellmann
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/abandoned-aborted-or-left-for-dead-these-are-the-vanishing-girls-of-pakistan/258648/ 

Jun 19 2012, 7:46 AM ET11

Rough estimates, backed up by the scenes at clinics and orphanages, suggest there may be millions of "missing" women and girls due to families' preference for boys.

Young girls attend class at a school in Peshawar. (AP)

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Dr. Saida Zafar, an 86-year-old gynecologist at the Race View Clinic, hovers over a female patient as she performs an ultrasound on her pregnant belly.
Within minutes, the patient asks a question that haunts most pregnant women in Pakistan, "Is it a boy, doctor?"


It's not a boy. The woman is expecting a girl.
Zafar says that when she finds herself in this position, she has to balance the patient's right to hear the truth against her own desire to save the female fetus from the risk of sex-selective abortion, as many families here prefer sons. So, often, she lies.


"I tell everybody, 'You are having a boy,"' Dr. Zafar tells us in English, so the patient won't understand.
Other doctors at the clinic face this same challenge every day, and many share similar frustrations.


"Only for the first child [do] I tell them if it's a girl or a boy. But after that, if it's a boy, it's alright, but if it's a girl, I don't say anything," says Dr. Ain-ul-Ghazala, 58, another gynecologist at the clinic.


Zafar says she withholds the sex of female babies from expecting mothers, as the news will almost always lead to cries of sorrow. And those cries can lead to action, as evident in Pakistan's sex ratio at birth.
Globally, a country's sex ratio can naturally range as high as 104 or 105 newborn male children for every 100 newborn female children. But, as in neighboring India, Pakistan's sex ratio is thought to exceed even that, suggesting that such anecdotal experiences as Dr. Zafar's are part of a larger trend.


According to one estimate by the CIA World Factbook, Pakistan currently has 6 percent more males than females. But Stephan Klasen, the Chair of Development Economics at the University of Goettingen in Germany, says he suspects the problem is actually much worse. Klasen studies the phenomenon of "missing girls," a term he uses for the shortage of girls in some countries, typically caused by parents' preference for boys. And because Pakistan hasn't had a census in 14 years, which typically provides the most reliable data, he says he's concerned that the real disparity between the sexes in Pakistan might be even higher.


"The main factors causing this 'missing women,'" phenomenon, he says, "are basically sex-selective abortions and female neglect in early age, mostly neglected healthcare."


Visiting the clinic on another day, we go to the second floor to watch the doctors and nurses deliver a baby by caesarian section. The mother lies nervously on the operating table. When the doctors pull out the baby, she asks excitedly, "What's the sex of the baby?"


"It's a girl," responds Dr. Ain-ul-Ghazala, the gynecologist, in a quiet voice.
The mother's smile disappears as she turns her face to the wall. This is her second daughter.

The doctors clean the baby, wrap her in a blanket, and take her to the nursery, where families usually gather to see their child for the first time. An hour later, a large group comes here to celebrate the birth of a boy. A few cribs away, the newborn girl lays crying. The doctor explains that no one has yet come to see her because the family is still in mourning.


"The mother is upset, it's the second daughter, they expected a son," Ain-ul-Ghazala says, "The mother was crying, it was quite upsetting."


Her reaction is hardly unusual here, "It's still a bad thing to have girls," Zafar explains.
Still, she says she's not too worried about the family's reaction. She's used to it. In a few days, she predicts, the family will come to terms with the birth of their daughter and learn to love her.


But families who walk out of clinics like Race View don't always come to terms with the birth of their daughter. Bilquis Edhi, a 64-year-old woman we spoke to who runs an orphanage in Karachi, has seen proof of that first hand.


Along with her husband, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Bilquis runs their orphanage in the bustling Saddar Town neighborhood, and a quick glance at the shelter makes clear that it's mostly girls who get left here.
"Since the beginning, more girls come here than boys," she says. "I think people don't like to give boys away."
These girls are often the lucky ones.


At the entrance of the orphanage is a silver-framed crib, where parents can leave unwanted children, no questions asked. Above it, an Urdu poster reads, "Don't kill the baby, leave the baby alive in the cradle."
Edhi says she sometimes finds dead baby girls in the crib in front of the shelter. She suspects that families worry that, if they leave their daughter alive, someone will come looking for them to ask why they abandoned the child, or even ask them to take her back.


She pulls out a photo of a baby girl that had been left in the crib recently. "Look, they have burned her to death," she says. The photo shows a newborn, its umbilical cord still attached, whose tiny body is fully blackened.

"Pakistan is more or less a failed state. The government is not doing anything about this problem."

But, even amid this despair, there is some hope. Edhi proudly notes that her orphanage has helped almost 20,000 boys and girls. "The children I have taken care of have become engineers, doctors, believers of Quran, good human beings," she tells me. "I have even sent girls to America," she adds with a smile.

Son preference, and its contribution to shifting the balance of the sexes, has been heavily studied in India and China. Klasen says that Pakistan has a similar problem but is often overlooked.


"If you look at the world, you see that India and Pakistan and China really stick out," he says.
But Pakistan rarely faces the same scrutiny as India or China, he notes. One reason might be that experts like Klasen haven't been able to adequately study the problem here, because Pakistan hasn't had a census since 1998, making reliable information difficult to come by.


Census data from India and China have allowed experts to closely monitor the sex ratios, watching how they change by region and over time. Pakistan's lack of solid data has left the problem there largely hidden.
"We don't have numbers for Pakistan," says Klasen. "Pakistan has been in the news for many other things and it's a very unstable country," he adds, "I don't think we will get more information soon."


In its 1998 census, Pakistan showed an overall sex ratio of 108 males to 100 females. India, in its census in 2001, had 107 males to every 100 females. In an academic article from 2003, Klasen estimated that 7.8 percent of Pakistani women and 7.9 percent of Indian women are "missing." His research, he says, suggests that Pakistan's situation has not improved since then. In a country with an estimated population of 177 million, those "missing" women and girls could number in the millions.


Researchers like Batool Zaidi, the senior program officer in Pakistan for the Population Council, an international NGO that studies reproductive health, say it won't be easy to tackle the problem without first getting hard information. "We desperately need census data to get more accurate estimates of several demographic indicators, sex ratio being one of them," she says.


There's an economic aspect to son preference in Pakistan: it costs less to have a son, as daughters require large dowries to marry off, and sons are often a pension plan for parents.


"A general low status of women in these societies, plus these marriage and old-age arrangements that favor sons, combined, create this problem," says Klasen.


A recent United Nations reporton sex selection cites the Population Council's research that only 20 percent of females in Pakistan enter the labor force. This means that most women in Pakistan can't support their parents financially after they retire. Because the government offers little or no assistance for retirees, someone has to take care of Pakistan's elderly, and that responsibility typically falls on sons. For parents here, having a son often means having a retirement plan, while having a daughter can mean losing your savings to the dowry.
As Pakistan's population boom continues to slow, its skewed sex ratio could worsen, Zaidi predicts. "Before, skewed sex ratios were not that much of an issue in Pakistan because fertility was high, so to put it crudely people were having lots of sons and daughter, but now that the demographic transition has begun and fertility has started declining we are seeing more evidence of skewed ratios," she says. "So this is the time to address this issue, because if left unattended it is only likely to get worse."


As more women get access to ultrasounds in Pakistan, Klasen adds, sex-selective abortions could become even more common. In China, access to ultrasounds is already widespread and the sex ratio is predicted to improve over the long term. "For example, in China we strongly believe that it will get better in the near future. But the worst is yet to come in Pakistan," Klasen says. "Pakistan is more or less a failed state. The government is not doing anything about this problem."


Abortion is illegal in Pakistan except in cases where the pregnancy puts the mother's life in danger. But the law has done little to stop doctors and midwives from routinely performing abortions.


The Population Council's research found that educated women and women from wealthy families, who likely have easier access to ultrasounds, are also more likely to give birth to sons.


Such women are a common sight at the Race View Clinic in Lahore. Here, Zafar says that mothers tend to become pickier about the gender of their babies as they have more. "One girl is quite alright, but after that people don't like to have girls."


This story was made possible by a South Asian Journalists Association Reporting Fellowship, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

Teaching Intolerance in Saudi Arabia

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/05/teaching-intolerance-in-saudi-arabia.html

NOTE ADDED May 25, 2012 - Apparently this is old News prior to correction, however, I have asked the writers in Saudi Arabia to present the new and improved curriculum, we must be fair, it happened with us, our California text books were wrong about Hinduism, much of it is corrected now. Mike Ghouse
=====================


The following is a report about what is taught in Saudi Arabian schools. It amounts to giving sewer to children as a drink… to ruin their minds and hearts in the long haul.

What they are teaching in Saudi Arabia is a major concern, however, it should not be looked as an opportunity to laugh at them, but an opportunity for all of us to examine about ourselves and find a solution to bring about a world wide change, we are all in this together. 

Let’s never forget the words of wisdom from the first pluralist of the world; Jesus Christ, who said, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” As a society we should not rejoice the badness of others, instead we need to ponder and find ways for all of us to move towards “treat others as you would want to be treated.” We are all guilty of our own.

Even here in the United States, the most advanced nation, our school books at one time were derogatory towards Hinduism that I know of and have written about it with concern. Our own military was teaching hatred of Muslims in a civil society.  In Pakistan and Bangladesh children were taught to hate Indians, in Palestine and Israel same thing goes; denigration of each other. I am sure some where in India, they teach hatred towards Pakistanis, as it spills out in the language of a few Indians. A few parents still teach (by their attitudes) their children prejudice against Mexicans, African Americans, Muslims, Mormons, Jews, Gay and Lesbians…. the hate business is everywhere. No one is free from it.

We may have ugly feelings towards others, do we need to dump this on our children? What if they turn around and tell us to go hell for teaching them hatred towards.......  are you guilty of using words, comments and examples that amounts to giving sewer to your children to drink? It is time to reflect. 

Is this what we want to teach our children?

We are our children’s number one enemies, with our teaching and observing our stinky examples, they learn to become difficult people and perhaps live in misery their whole lives. They cannot relate with the real world out there.

Nations are no exception to this – the leaders of most of the nations spend their damned time in scheming and destroying others, instead of building bridges and living and letting others live.

This is a serious issue, we need to come together to find solutions. Lets’ begin with ourselves – take a few minutes to assess your own feelings after you read the following piece and then seriously evaluate if those feelings add to the well being of the world or aggravate it further. The choice is always yours, about how you feel – hateful, resentful, avengeful, merciful, solutionsful or full of compassion and desire to change ourselves first before we think about changing others. If we are crappy, how can we expect others to be not?

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies where no one is apprehensive of fearful of the other.  

Teaching Intolerance

You should see what even first graders have to read in Saudi Arabia.

BY EMAN AL NAFJAN | 

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — In the years just before the 9/11 attacks, I spent two semesters at a public school in Riyadh for my training as a teacher. I was stationed each day at the campus gates, instructed to inspect the girls' abayas as they left school. For each student older than 12, I checked: Was she wearing the tent-style cloak over her head and down to her ankles? Was her face fully covered, no slits for her eyes? I felt like a hypocrite, penalizing girls for violating a custom I don't support -- and one that the majority of Islamic scholars say is not a religious obligation.

The mandate was and still is part of the government-issued curriculum taught in Saudi public schools; it was in their textbooks that the girls were told they should cover their faces in order to be good Muslim women.

Much is made about the role of Islam in Arab societies -- how different interpretations of the Quran can shape laws and conventions. But less often do we consider how these interpretations reach our children: at school and, ultimately, in the textbooks they read. Since Saudi Arabia's first national textbooks were issued in 1937, the controversies they have inspired have mirrored the country's most fundamental debates -- about religion, the treatment of women, the influence of the West. Over time, textbooks have become instruments of the country's religious conservatives, replete with calls to jihad and denunciations of non-Muslims. Yet despite periodic reform efforts, and even though these efforts have escalated amid the global outrage that followed 9/11, in many ways the books remain stubbornly impervious to change. Even in the past two years, they have instructed first graders not to greet infidels and warned 10th graders of the West's threat to Islam.

The Saudi education system wasn't always destined for orthodoxy. King Abdulaziz, the kingdom's founder, established the precursor to today's Education Ministry in 1925, seven years before officially founding the country in 1932. The first national textbooks were heavily influenced by Egyptian and Lebanese curricula, and their chief author, the researcher Omar Abduljabbar, was considered a progressive, opening one of Saudi Arabia's first private girls' schools at a time when only boys could attend public schools.

By the 1950s, however, religious ultraconservatives had begun putting down roots in the Education Ministry. Despite the ministry's efforts to recruit members of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt and Syria, who were seen as proponents of a more liberal form of Islam, the more powerful Saudi religious establishment ensured that textbooks and school policies would become more intolerant and conservative, which the government's 1968 educational policy document solidified formally. In the following decades, those brave enough to criticize the government-mandated curriculum were scarce if not nonexistent. Saudis who were unhappy with the public education system could send their children abroad; even private Saudi schools were (and still are) required to teach Arabic and the government's religious curriculum.

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Back to School

Things went on this way with few changes until 15 of the 19 hijackers responsible for the 9/11 attacks were revealed to have been Saudis. Suddenly, outsiders began asking questions and pointing fingers, wondering what exactly was being taught in our schools. A 2002 Boston Globe report, for instance, bearing the headline "Saudi Schools Fuel Anti-U.S. Anger," quoted inflammatory passages from a government textbook, such as, "The hour will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews, and Muslims will kill all the Jews." Saudis, too, began to reconsider: What kind of messages were we teaching our children?

The question was blown wide open in 2006 with the publication of a Freedom House report titled "Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance," which was translated into Arabic and published in the local newspaper Al-Watan. The report analyzed 12 Islamic-studies textbooks, concluding that "the Saudi public school religious curriculum continues to propagate an ideology of hate toward the 'unbeliever'" -- most egregiously in a 12th-grade text that instructed students to wage violent jihad against infidels to "spread the faith." Many Saudis bristled at a foreign organization meddling in their internal affairs, but the findings managed to rekindle the debate about Saudi education. The pages of Saudi schoolbooks were finally submitted to a new, unfamiliar scrutiny -- not just from outsiders but also from Saudis themselves.

The Education Ministry responded to the criticism, appearing to commit itself to reform by relegating 2,000 teachers it deemed extremists to administrative roles far from the classroom. The ministry also instructed principals to report anyone preaching extremism.

Yet textbooks remained largely untouched, with only the most explicitly intolerant material removed. Now and then a journalist today picks up one of the government-issued schoolbooks only to find that extremism has sneaked back into Saudi schools.

In the 2010-2011 academic year, the new first-grade jurisprudence book (yes, "Islamic jurisprudence" is taught in the first grade, along with a subject called "monotheism") condemned saying hello to non-Muslims. The lesson was presented as a dialogue between a teacher and a student named Ahmed. Ahmed asks, "Should I say hello to people I don't know?" The teacher replies, "Yes, you say hello to Muslims you know and Muslims you don't know."

The news caused an uproar in the Saudi media that prompted the Education Ministry to recall the books and remove the offensive portion. But the new copies suspiciously omitted the names of the book's authors, replacing them with the phrase "Authored and revised by a team of experts." Among the book's creators had been Sheikh Yusuf al-Ahmad, known for suggesting that the Grand Mosque in Mecca be rebuilt to ensure complete gender segregation and for calling for a boycott against supermarkets that planned to employ female cashiers. (The sheikh is currently in prison for speaking out against the government's practice of imprisoning political dissidents indefinitely and without charge.)

Just last year, new interpretations were introduced in the boys' 10th-grade hadith, the book of the Prophet Mohammed's sayings and traditions. (Ever since a 1958 royal decree that allowed Saudi girls to attend public schools, boys and girls have been required to use different textbooks.)

The move seemed progressive on the surface: The new subjects included human rights, Westernization, globalization, and international scholarships -- but under these headings lay more propaganda. Westernization, for instance, was described (in a mouthful) as a policy "exerted by the dominant forces by tools such as the Security Council and the United Nations in order to implement Westernization strategies in poor countries, especially Islamic nations, under the slogans of reform, democracy, pluralism, liberalism, and human rights, particularly with regard to women and religious minorities." The book also warned that by obtaining an education in the West, Saudi students were at risk of adopting beliefs, values, and behaviors at odds with Islam.

The hadith additions were widely thought to be an underhanded way of criticizing Saudi King Abdullah's scholarship program, which since 2005 has funded 130,000 Saudi students to study in countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States. That such anti-Western language made it into the hadiths proves how embedded Saudi ultraconservatives are in the Education Ministry -- they were able to modify textbooks even against official national programs.

The Education Ministry ultimately held its ground, revising the textbooks to exclude the intolerant subject matter. Still, teaching extremism is only one facet of a much larger, more persistent problem. In a 2009 study on education reform in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh-based researcher Ahmed al-Eissa found that the lion's share of the average male Saudi student's class time -- about 30 percent -- is still in religion. It's no wonder then that Saudi Arabia ranks so poorly in other core academic subjects. In the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, published by the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, only Ghana and Qatar fared worse than Saudi Arabia in eighth-grade math scores across 48 countries. In science, Saudi students only performed better than those in Ghana, Qatar, Botswana, and El Salvador.

A study published last year by religious scholar Abdulaziz al-Qasim found that Saudi religion textbooks "have focused far too much on the lowest educational and skill objectives, such as rote memorization and classification, and neglected entirely the objectives of analysis, problem-solving, and critical thinking," leading to "passiveness and negativity." But Eissa's 2009 study noted that there is widespread refusal within the Education Ministry even to acknowledge the need for an overhaul.

It has been more than a decade since the Education Ministry began working on a plan to address these problems. Known as the Comprehensive Curricula Development Project, it is expected to be implemented across the kingdom in the next year, according to its website. Yet, if one reads the project's mission statement for religious textbooks, it is difficult to be optimistic. It calls for the books to require that "the learner grasp his membership and loyalty to Islam and derive all his affairs within it and renounce all that goes against it," as well as to "protect himself in facing deviant sects, creeds, false interpretations of sharia with reason, evidence, and politeness." Nowhere in the statement's 28 points is there any mention of tolerance or peace. 

Somehow "time management," No. 28, is a bigger priority.

Even if the ministry's changes materialize, education reform in Saudi Arabia is not simply a matter of revising textbooks. It's a matter of changing the minds of whole generations. Saudis who were taught to believe a very narrow interpretation of Islam are now foisting it onto millions more students. They will have to determine a way forward -- but they won't find the answer in their textbooks.

Muslims condemn the bigotry of Maulana Zahidur Rashidi against Ahmadiyya Muslims.

As Muslims we question the statement made by Maulana Zahidur Rashidi, it goes against the very grain of Islam; Peace. He offers two choices to fellow Pakistanis, “Be Killed or Repent and Accept Islam.”

Maulana needs to be taken into custody for inciting violence against a people for their belief. The Ahmadiyya Muslims are being terrorized in their own country.

Shame on our hypocrisy, we rightfully scream against Israel for the mistreatment of Palestinians, what is wrong with us not do the same against other human beings, whether they are Muslims or not? Why should anyone stand up for you, if you are not willing to stand up for others?

Killing one person is like killing the whole humanity, says the Quraan, do these men believe in it? Maulana needs to be charged for abusing Quraan, however due process must be followed, he is innocent until proven guilty, and if he is found guilty, he needs to be in the prison.

Islam is a religion of peace and not a religion of bullying, harassing and terrorizing others. It is men like him who bring disgrace to the religion of peace and we should not let him destroy the character of our religion.

There is a saying that evil exists not necessarily because of evil men, but because good men do nothing about it. Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, reiterated the least you can do, is to speak up, and I am doing my share of the work. 


Link -  http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/02/muslims-condemn-bigotry-of-maulana.html 

Reference  - http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6107.htm 

Mike Ghouse

Muslims together for Peaceful Islam

www.WorldMuslimCongress.org  

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MEMRI TV - http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6107.htm

At Conference against Ahmadi Muslims, Renowned Pakistani Cleric Zahidur Rashidi Gives Two Scenarios for Future: Be Killed or Repent and Accept Islam

Pakistani cleric Zahidur Rashidi

Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan were declared to be non-Muslims under a law enacted in 1974 by Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The law paved the way for social ridicule and religious discrimination of Ahmadis in Pakistan, who are pejoratively dismissed as Ahmadis or as Qadianis, after the town of Qadian in northern India where the Ahmadiyya movement began. Islamic clerics accuse the Ahmadi Muslims of not believing Prophet Muhammad to be the final prophet, and hence a strong religious movement is underway in Pakistan and also in India against Ahmadi Muslims.

In recent decades, Ahmadi Muslims have been publicly ridiculed in Pakistani society, attacked by Islamic extremists, and implicated under the blasphemy laws of Pakistan, which carry the death penalty. Islamic clerics have demanded that they be removed from government and military jobs, and Ahmadi Muslim students have been expelled from schools.

Ahmadi Muslims are legally prevented from calling themselves Muslims or describing their places of worship as mosques. Nobel Prize laureate for physics Dr. Abdus Salam, an Ahmadi Muslim, was not celebrated in Pakistan for his achievement; rather, even his grave in Pakistan was declared to belong to a non-Muslim.

In a recent article published on the popular Pakistani blog "Pak Tea House," Lahore-based lawyer Yasser Latif Hamdani called for recognizing Ahmadis as Muslims in line with the viewpoint of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. In the article, titled "Are Ahmadis Non-Muslims?" Hamdani stated: "I am forced to say that I am inclined to accept Jinnah's view and reject the collective wisdom of our sovereign legislature [that declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims]."

In another article, titled "Qadianis Should Join the Mainstream of Muslims," renowned Pakistani Islamic scholar Maulana Zahidur Rashidi, secretary-general of Pakistan Shariat Council, cited a case of a local mosque in Gujarat where "Muslims and Qadianis [Ahmadi Muslims] used to pray together, until 1974, when the Pakistani parliament banned them as non-Muslims."

Islamic clerics say that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), the spiritual leader of Ahmadi Muslims, claimed to be a prophet. In his article, Maulana Zahidur Rashidi recalls a conference in which he says he told Ahmadi Muslims of two scenarios for the future that awaited those claiming prophethood: "Addressing them, I told them that at the time of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) four people had claimed to be prophets and had gathered a crowd of their followers; two of them were killed, while the others expressed repentance and accepted Islam."

Following are excerpts from Yasser Latif Hamdani's article[1]; following that are excerpts from Islamic scholar Zahidur Rashidi's article:[2]

Article by Yasser Latif Hamdani, December 15, 2011

"Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's National Assembly Imagined Itself the Islamic Equivalent of the Council of Nicaea; [It] Saw It Fit – Primarily at the Instigation of the Prime Minister [Bhutto] and His Law Minister – To Declare an Entire Sect [of Ahmadi Muslims as] Non-Muslim"

"This week [in mid-December 2011] the Large Hadron Collider at CERN [in Switzerland] inched closer to the discovery of the Higgs Boson, or the God Particle as it were. In this extraordinary story of human achievement, Dr. Abdus Salam is a key player who put Pakistan on the map of theoretical physics. In his homeland though, a group of self-styled champions of Islam have started a posthumous campaign of scurrilous slander claiming that Dr. Salam was giving out nuclear secrets.

"Forget that even a confirmed bigot like General Zia [-ul-Haq, the military ruler of Pakistan] held a ceremony in our only Nobel Prize winner's honor, or that no one ever accused Dr. Salam of any such thing; in Pakistan to be a hero you have to actually transfer technology to Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

"Now consider the case of 11-year-old Sitara Akbar [who set world records passing O-Level mathematics, English, and science]. Every Pakistani and his mother in law are citing her as a crowning national achievement, blissfully oblivious of the fact that she is an Ahmadi. To them her religion is suddenly unimportant or irrelevant, or is it? How many Sitara Akbars have been expelled from our schools for being Ahmadi? How many productive citizens of this republic have been killed and maimed for believing differently?

"Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's National Assembly imagined itself the Islamic equivalent of the Council of Nicaea [council of bishops]. Just as that ancient bastion of Christian orthodoxy excommunicated Unitarian Christians for not believing in the trinity of the father, son and the Holy Ghost, the National Assembly [the lower house of Pakistani parliament] saw it fit – primarily at the instigation of the Prime Minister [Bhutto] and his law minister – to declare an entire sect [of Ahmadi Muslims as] non-Muslim.… Pakistan's National Assembly located Islam in the principle of the finality of Prophethood [i.e. that Muhammad was the last prophet of god].

"This act of our sovereign legislature stood in sharp contrast to the view of this nation's founding father. On 5 May, 1944, in response to demands of the orthodox vis-a-vis Ahmadis, [Pakistan's founder M. A.] Jinnah made it absolutely clear that anyone who professes to be a Muslim is a Muslim and [is] welcome in the Muslim League and that those who were raising the issue [of Ahmadi Muslims not being Muslims] were trying to divide the Muslims."

"Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founding Father of Pakistan [Said] that Ahmadis are Muslims, If They Say They are Muslims and No One, Not Even the Sovereign Legislature, has the Right to Say Otherwise"

"Here I am forced to say that I am inclined to accept Jinnah's view and reject the collective wisdom of our sovereign legislature. There are several reasons which may be cited in this regard:

"First and foremost, Pakistan is bound by the United Nations charter. Therefore, Pakistan is bound to ensure freedom of religion for all its citizens; and freedom of religion means freedom of religion according to the definition of the subject of the said freedom.

"Identity is subjective, not objective. The state of Pakistan or any other state cannot tell an Ahmadi that he is not a Muslim because it is intrinsic to the faith of an Ahmadi. This is an inviolable, inalienable right as part of right to life which every state in the world is bound to protect. If Ahmadis say they are Muslims, they ought to be accepted as such.

"Pakistan is a signatory to the ICCPR [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] and without reservations since June 2011. Therefore every piece of legislation that discriminates against Ahmadis or forces a label upon them [of being non-Muslim] is ultra vires the ICCPR.

"The Islamic argument: According to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) anyone who utters the Kalima Shahadah is a Muslim. None of the Kalimas, including the Primary Kalima Shahadah contains any reference to the principle of the finality of Prophethood as understood by the Muslim majority today.

"Finally, because by conduct and promise, [the] Pakistani state is stopped from claiming otherwise. In 1947, Pakistan laid claim to Qadian [now a town in Indian Punjab] as a Muslim holy place, a counter-blast to Sikh claims on Nankana Sahib and Hassan Abdal [both in Pakistan now]. Similarly in the 1946 elections, which is the basic referendum on the question of Pakistan, Ahmadi votes were instrumental in getting Muslims Pakistan. These are undeniable facts of history.

"Therefore, fully aware of the stigma attached to this statement, I concur with Quaid-e-Azam [Great Leader] Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan that Ahmadis are Muslims if they say they are Muslims and no one, not even the sovereign legislature, has the right to say otherwise."

Article by Zahidur Rashidi, January 2, 2012

"Muslims and Qadianis Used to Pray Jointly in This Mosque [in Gujarat District] … Until 1974, When the Parliament [of Pakistan] Declared Qadianis to be Non-Muslim"

"I had an opportunity to attend a meeting held in memory of the martyr Master Sarfaraz Ahmad, at Goleki village in Gujarat district [Pakistan], on December 24 [2011]. Master Sarfaraz Ahmad was martyred two months ago, on October 20, 2011, by indiscriminate shooting, and it is said that about 40-50 bullets were found in his body.

"Goleki is an old village where an ancient mosque is the apple of discord between Muslims and Qadianis [followers of the Ahmadiyya sect]. Master Sarfaraz Ahmad's two cousins were also martyred earlier in this regard. One Qadiani [i.e. Ahmadi Muslim] was also killed in this dispute, while another Muslim, Farhan Qayyum, was martyred.

"The mosque, which is about 350 years old, had been a prayer place for the Muslims from its very inception, but in 1922 the imam 'Imamudin' of this mosque became a follower of the Qadiani [sect], and then Qadianis got hold of the mosque. A member of his family, Akmal Qadiani, earned much fame due to a notorious couplet that he wrote in praise of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani [the founder of the sect]. The couplet makes a part of his poem in which, God forbid, he has said: 'Whoever wants to see Mohammad, [he] should see Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian.'

"Muslims and Qadianis used to pray jointly in this mosque… until 1974, when the Parliament [of Pakistan] declared Qadianis to be non-Muslim and the two – Muslims and Qadianis – began praying separately, and separate arrangements were made in the mosque itself.

"In 1992, at the time of the reconstruction of the mosque, the dispute between Muslims and Qadianis took a severe turn, and Qadianis forcefully dislodged Muslims from the mosque. [In return], the Muslims went to court, and the magistrate of the area, Iliyas Gul, sealed the mosque, which is still sealed to this day.

"The martyr Master Sarfraz Ahmad was a plaintiff from the Muslim side, and that is why he became the target. His second 'crime' was that he held a lecture of the emissary of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat [movement, which enforces the belief that the Prophet Muhammad is the last Prophet], Hazrat Maulana Manzoor Ahmad Chineoti, inviting him to Goleki village. That is why Master Sarfaraz Ahmad was pressured by various corners to drop the case, but he did not agree to it.

"It is reported that he was attacked five times… and that in the last attack he was martyred. He was seriously wounded, along with his younger brother, in an attack in 1999, while one of his cousins was martyred. In 2001, another of his cousins was martyred. Farhan Qayyum was martyred in a clash in 2001 and Master Sarfaraz Ahmad was arrested on charges of killing a Qadiani that year, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, but the High Court released him."

"[At An Anti-Ahmadi Conference, Two Islamic Clerics Expressed] Their Solidarity and Unanimity with the Martyrs of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat [i.e. Those Who Died Fighting Ahmadi Muslims], and the Two Leaders Assured Them Full Cooperation"

"Against this backdrop, a 'Conference of the Martyrs of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat' was held in Goleki on October 20, 2011 [the writer seems to say December 24, 2011] to remember these martyrs. This [conference] was held by Jamiat Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat of Gujarat district. Jamiat Ahl-e-Sunnat is an organization of the youth clerics of Gujarat. The youth clerics of the Deobandi school of thought have also been associated with the united religious campaign. One of my dear ones, Maulana Mohammad Umar Usmani, a young cleric and a graduate of Jamia Nusratul Uloom [seminary], is at the fore of this campaign, and belongs to my in-laws' village Galiana in Khariyan Tehseel.

"I very much like three or four things being done by these young clerics of Gujarat district. One, they take interest in any kind of religious and sectarian issues and play a proactive role; second, they make efforts to hold conferences from time to time by inviting the clerics from their school of thought, especially those young clerics who are fresh graduates from different Jamiat [religious institutions]; and the third is that they work under the aegis of old clerics rather than keeping away from them; they constantly keep consulting with them and also accept their suggestions in practice.

"There is one more good thing that they do: They keep in contact with various internal coteries of the clerics of the Deobandi school of thought; they don't differentiate between their struggles and try to make efforts taking them along, which also increases their strength.

"In my view, these three and four things are so important that if they are put into practice at any place with sincerity then the distance and void due to the majority of the Deobandi school of thought in different intellectual and training circles, which has increased more, could be lessened to a great extent.

"However, I attended the Conference of Martyrs of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat at Goleki. The chief of Alami Majlis Khatm-e-Nabuwwat [the International Council for Protecting the Finality of the Prophethood], Maulana Allah Wasaya, gave a detailed lecture, and another prominent leader of the Majlis, Maulana Azizur Rahman Sani, also spoke. Expressing their solidarity and unanimity with the martyrs of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat [i.e. those who died fighting Ahmadi Muslims], the two leaders expressed their condolences to the families of martyrs and assured them of their full cooperation, and exposed the anti-national designs of the Qadianis."

"I Told Them [i.e. Ahmadi Muslims] That At the Time of the Prophet Muhammad… Four People Had Claimed to Be Prophets and Had Gathered a Crowd of Their Followers; Two of Them Were Killed, While the Others Expressed Repentance and Accepted Islam"

"Taking advantage of the occasion, this writer spoke on other aspects of the issue, keeping in view the large Qadiani population in that village, and invited them to think with a cool head about their future with regard to this world and Hereafter.

"Addressing them, I told them that at the time of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), four people had claimed to be prophets and had gathered a crowd of their followers; two of them were killed, while the others expressed repentance and accepted Islam. Those who were killed were Musailmah Kazzab and Aswad Unsa, while those who entered into the fold of Islam were Taliha bin Khawilad Asadi (RA) and a woman called Sajjah.

"The two came into the fold of Islam and spent their last days as good Muslims. I call upon the Qadianis to follow the path of Taliha and Sajjah, leaving the path of Musailmah and Aswad Unsa and repenting of their false faith, and come back into mainstream Islam; they will be our Muslim brethren.

"I call upon the Qadianis or Lahoris [residents of Lahore] saying, whatever group they may come from, to think over this aspect: that the official doctor of Nawab of Khairpur, the [Khairpur] state that had not been accessed in Pakistan at that time, was one of our respected revered man Maulana Hakim Hayat Ali Chishti, who belonged to Mirpur in [Pakistan-controlled] Azad Kashmir and was a disciple of Mufti Kefayatullah Dehlavi [of Delhi]. His son Maulana Dr. Akhtaruzzaman Ghauri, who lives in Birmingham, in Britain, told me in person that the official doctors of Nawab of Khairpur along with Hakim Sahab were Qadianis and used to meet each other based on those grounds.

"One day, Hakim Sahib told Dr. Sahab that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani had explicitly written that he was a melancholia patient, and both of us are well aware that a melancholic considers himself no less than a god, and that due to this mental disease, he is helpless not to make such claims. I can understand the reason behind such claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani due to his continuous melancholia, but you, on the other hand, are not suffering from this disease of melancholia, and you are well aware of the disease, and so I wonder how you can believe the claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani.

"Dr. Ghauri said that Maulana Hayat Ali Chishti hit the target, and that two or three days later, Dr. Sahab came to Hakim Sahib and told him that now he could understand things better; therefore he made repentance over Qadianiyat [the Ahmadiyya faith] and accepted Islam.

"In my view, if today's Qadianis think over the issue from this angle, then they will also understand things."

Sacramento's Pakistani Americans declare war on terrorism

Three ways of looking at the situation;

As Muslims we need to continue to remain alert, if we have an inkling of some one who 'wishes' to hurt another being, it is our religious duty to pounce on him/her and stop it at once unequivocally. The Qur'aan says saving one life is like saving the whole humanity. The only sin God does not forgive is shirk, that is assigning some one to do God's job; one of them is to give life and take life. This is where we need to do our Jihad, to prevent a Bin Laden or another idiot to take over God's job. This is Shirk, unforgivable by God.

Continued: http://mikeghouseforamerica.blogspot.com/2010/05/pakistani-americans-declare-war-on.html

Muslim Condemn beheading of Sikhs by Taliban

PRESS RELEASE

Muslims Condemn beheading of Sikhs by the Talibans

Dallas, Texas, February 24, 2010.

In behalf of the World Muslim Congress and Muslims in general, we strongly condemn the Talibans for killing two members of the Sikh community in Pakistan. Jaspal Singh and Mohan Singh, who were beheaded for not converting to Islam.

Theses thugs wanted ransom from the two Sikh business men to re-divert the protection money to the rival factions. This is a criminal act to begin with and to add the name of religion is shameful and warrants severe punishment.

Islam is clear on the issue: Qur’aan, 2:256 “THERE SHALL BE no coercion in matters of faith”. It is a clear violation of Islam and the civic rules of the society. We demand that the Government of Pakistan find these criminals and punish them per their law.

The civility of a society is measured by how the weak and the minorities are treated. Prophet Muhammad had described it as a society where an individual, man or a woman, young or old can travel from Medinah to Damascus without any fear. We urge Pakistan to bring the law and order and protect and gaurantee the lives of every Citizen, particular the minorities of the nation.

Link: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/02/muslim-condemn-beheading-of-sikhs-by.html

Mike Ghouse, World Muslim Congress
To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker, one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence of humanity. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; Life and Matter. We are driven by the Qur'an, Al-Hujurat, Surah 49:13: "O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. The noblest of you, in sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Allah Knows and is Aware."

Sikh community offers final prayers for two Sikhs beheaded in Pakistan

http://news.oneindia.in/2010/02/27/sikhcommunity-offers-final-prayers-for-two-sikhsbeheaded.html

Amritsar, Feb 27(ANI): Hundreds of Sikh community members here on Saturday offered 'Antim Ardas' (final prayers) in memory of two Sikhs youths, who were beheaded by the Taliban in Pakistan. oneindiain121:http://news.oneindia.in/2010/02/27/sikhcommunity-offers-final-prayers-for-two-sikhsbeheaded.html

The prayers were organized at the conclusion of the "Akhand Paath" (continued recitation) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs, at the revered Golden Temple.The prayers were organized under the aegis of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC), the main body responsible for religious affairs of the Sikhs."We organize these final prayers for Bhai Jaspal Singh and Bhai Mahal Singh who were brutally killed, so that their souls rest in peace...the Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee is also praying for a quick release and wellness of the other two who are still in the captivity," said Avtar Singh Makkar, president of the SGPC.It may be recalled that Taliban militants killed two Sikh traders for ransom in Pakistan's tribal region on Sunday. (ANI)

The Sikh Conundrum

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264453

This 28-year-old father of three owned a grocery store in Bara, Khyber Agency, but lived in Peshawar

He and three others were kidnapped by the TTP’s Tariq Afridi faction. The group operates in Orakzai Agency, but abducted them in Khyber, the turf of Mangal Bagh Afridi. Mangal, who has broken away from the Taliban, had imposed jazia on the Sikhs and was responsible for their protection.

Jaspal’s beheading has heightened tensions between Mangal and Afridi.

It’s February 21, Sunday, and an impenetrable fog of sorrow seems to have enveloped Mohala Jogan Shah, in the heart of Peshawar’s old city. It’s here that Jaspal Singh lived, the 28-year-old Sikh beheaded by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the Terah valley. It’s here that his body was brought for the last rites, before it was taken for cremation on the banks of the Indus near Attock. Outside Jaspal’s house are Sikhs and Muslims, all mourning the dead man, perplexed at the bloody turn of events in this land of the Pashtuns.

In a small room in the house sits Jaspal’s father, Piyara Singh, his head bowed, hands clasping his knees. He meets everyone who walks in with an impassive glance, palpably shocked into stillness. In between the silence breaks. “I have no clue who killed my son...or even why. I am ruined,” he keeps repeating. A cousin of Jaspal adds, “We can’t say a word about this brutality. It’s better to keep mum.” He wouldn’t reveal his name. The fear of further reprisals hangs heavy.

The Sikhs were driven out of Orakzai after they couldn’t raise the Rs 12 mn jazia demand of Hakimullah Mehsud.

Among the crowd waiting outside are also Muslims, some of them neighbours, others whom the family have never met. For them, Jaspal’s beheading has somehow come to symbolise the death of certain values they have grown up cherishing. Present here is also Nasir Khan Dawar, a senior journalist who fled North Waziristan (one of the seven autonomous tribal agencies that together constitute the Federally Administered Tribal Area, FATA) because of threats to his life. Dawar says warily to Outlook, “We have all been living together for centuries, there’s never been any discrimination. Those who came here under the protection of the Pashtuns (the foreign militants on the run from Afghanistan) have now become our masters. There’s a continuous effort now to subsume our culture.”

The tribal culture has indeed changed beyond recognition. In FATA, death is a vulture now soaring in the sky, waiting to swoop down on the innocent. On January 16, Jaspal Singh had left Peshawar, along with Gurwindar Singh and Surjeet Singh, for the town of Bara, where he owned a grocery store (the other two were cloth merchants). Jaspal had recently shifted residence to Peshawar after the Khyber Agency had come under the sway of militants, preferring to commute to Bara, a mere 20 minutes drive away from his new home. From Bara, the trio travelled to the Terah valley, also in Khyber Agency, for business purposes.

When the trio reached the Mathra area in the Terah valley, the militants struck. The trio were abducted and soon the demands started for ransom money. Jaspal’s father denies this, but sources in the Sikh community say a whopping Rs 30 million was demanded. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Tariq Afridi group rang up newspapers to claim responsibility for the abduction. Sources say the trio were whisked away to somewhere in Orakzai Agency, adjacent to the Khyber. Here they languished for 34 days before the militants beheaded Jaspal as his two friends watched. (Contrary to media reports, they have not been killed.) His headless body was dumped in Kasha, from where local tribesmen ferried it to Peshawar.

Jaspal’s beheading, though, also reportedly sparked off tensions between two militants groups—the Lashkar-i-Islam headed by Mangal Bagh Afridi of Khyber Agency and the Tariq Afridi faction belonging to Dara Adamkhel in the frontier region of Kohat. Tariq moved his fighters to Orakzai Agency following military operations in the gun-manufacturing town of Dara Adamkhel; his men have now incurred the wrath of Mangal Bagh who perceives in the tragic drama an implicit challenge to his authority.

Of course, this isn’t because Mangal is bound to any noble cause; the Sikhs were paying jazia, the medieval tax non-Muslims paid in lieu for protection and the right to follow their religion. Jazia came into vogue here in April ’09 when militants under the command of Hakimullah Mehsud (the murderous TTP chief who died of injuries after a US drone attack in January) imposed a levy of Rs 12 million on the Sikhs. Incidentally, the community has been living peacefully in Orakzai Agency for decades. Though the ‘imposition’ was much criticised, the Orakzai tribesmen didn’t intervene, fearing reprisals from Hakimullah. The tribal elders also had no authority over him as he belonged to the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan. Since the Sikhs could raise only Rs 3.5 million, the TTP looted the Sikh businesses and houses and then auctioned them. The entire community was ordered out of Orakzai, most of them shifting to Peshawar, a few choosing Khyber as their new home.

In comparison to the TTP’s levy, Mangal’s demand on the 300 Sikh families living in Khyber was a mere Rs 1,000 per head per year. Since the Sikhs paid jazia, there are many in the area who are asking: why exactly was Jaspal kidnapped and beheaded? Will Mangal now retaliate against Tariq? Well, if he did, it wouldn’t surprise anyone here.

Even today, some Sikh families continue to live in the Terah valley, understanding their fate is no different from that of the ordinary Pashtuns here, for they do not have the firepower to combat the militants. Perhaps it’s this that has inspired the Sikhs of Maidan area of the Terah valley to join the Ansar-ul-Islam which is now fighting Mangal’s Lashkar-i-Islam (incidentally, the latter has moved away from the TTP ever since the army launched operations here). “We have nothing to do with the sectarian differences among the Muslim groups, but we have to defend our land...where we were born and where we will live in the future as well,” says one Sikh elder.

But there’s no denying these are hard days for the Sikhs of FATA. Says Arbab Muhammad Tahir Khan, an influential Awami National Party leader, “Our forefathers would always educate us about being gentle towards the vulnerable segments of society. These minorities are very much part and parcel of our life. We cannot discriminate against them. It’s the responsibility of the state to provide justice and protect the lives and property of every citizen, irrespective of their religion.” Sadly, the state is largely missing from Pakistan’s tribal belt.

End product of a culture of violence

Muslims speak out against Harassment of Minorities

Muslims speak out against Harassment of Minorities

By Mike Ghouse

The Talibans have begun harassing Ismaili Muslims in Pakistan. They would not spare any one and will not be satisfied until the last person left obeys them. If this trend is not checked and criticized, they may think that they have the approval from the Muslims. They don't.

They need to know clearly and loudly that their ideology has no currency among Muslims and above all, their cruelty is not Islam, not one bit.

We must also acknowledge that only 1/10th of 1% of a group resorts to extremism, including Muslims. It has nothing to do with religion, it has everything to do with their insecurities, fears and inabilities to dialogue and co-exist.

A few thousand Talibans left in Afghanistan and Pakistan do not value a billion and a half Muslims who differ with them, you don’t mean a thing to them . When they usurp a little power, they take the steps in policing and compelling you to conformity. Please remember that God is about justice and he has not signed a deal with any one behind other people’s back. We have to find peace on our own, it is our individual and collective responsibility. We cannot have peace if we don't contribute any towards it.

Since the late 50's, minorities under Muslim labeled governments have not lived a life of freedom and peace. They are afraid of the majority and shamefully, we the members of the society are letting it happen. However, we have to acknowledge, what Islam says is one thing and what Bully Muslims (in our behalf) do is the other. Mind you, the bullyism is not exclusive to Muslims, you'll find them in every faith, culture, race and nations, Islam is no exception.

The persecution of Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan is a living example; they cannot even say "As Salaam u Aliakum" or call their place of worship a Masjid. The epidemic has now crawled over into Bangladesh and Indonesia as well. Did the Pakistani lawmakers even pause to think about the legitimacy of Hudood Laws? Some thirty years later another Avatar of Zia ul Haq employed the same strategy of fear and got the Patriot Act passed here in the United States. Both the laws are a stain on the civil societies.

The Clerics in Malaysian government attempted to ban usage of the word "Allah" by Sikhs and Christians, how dumb can they be? No one has copy rights to any word of God, they belong to all mankind. Muslims don't own the Qur'aan either, it belongs to any one who seeks wisdom in it, just as other holy books. Did those clergymen know the verse “Alhamdu Lillahi Rabbul Aalameen?” God is the lord of all universes – they should know it, they recite it at least 50 times a day.

How many of us stood up to defend (Islam ) the rights of Minorities? The bully rule was in place in Pakistan with no major protest. The loud mouths (1/10ths of 1%) still defend the draconian, non-Islamic Zia ul Haq rules with the label of Islam on it. It is much like labeling the meat as the oxymoron phrase "Halal Pork". Have the Pakistani Muslims spoken against it? We are supposed to stand for justice, aren't we? Isn’t that what makes us Muslims?

Take it easy, we Americans are no different, we let Bush run all over us during the last six years, we did not even have the guts to speak out for the first four years, not even the rattish Senators and the congresspersons.

There is a request floating around asking the Ismaili Muslims to share their religious practices or have access to their place of worship. At one time I believed that it was a good idea to share it and put things to rest, but would that stop the inquisition? How do you expect the Minorities to share their practices, and why should they? To be persecuted while the majority shamelessly watches it?

Until you and I stand up for Justice, stand up for the rights of all human beings, including the minorities in either Sunni or Shia majority governments, we have not lived our religion nor have we contributed towards world peace, which is the purpose of Islam. The words used by the Prophet to describe one aspect of this stance was "Jihad" and the other is the inner struggle to be moral and to be righteous.

Those few among us, who who jump up and down pointing at the injustices done by the people of other faiths, nations and cultures, please know that our morality is not dependent on what others do or not do. We have to do our duty and leave it to God to give guidance to all.

Let the minorities among us have the freedom to share what they want and we should defend that right. Insha Allah, let's begin that with you and I. Will you stand up? Better yet, should others stand up for you when you are threatened?

Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims

Shia Muslims believe that the spiritual leadership of Islam was passed on to Hazrat Ali at Ghadir Qum, when the Prophet was returning to Medina from his last sermon. They also believe that the Prophet had assigned the spiritual leadership (Imamat) to Hazrat Ali pointing towards him when the verse “the Deen is complete now” was revealed. Furthermore, the Shia believe that the Prophet used the word “Aal” meaning family in his last sermon. The Shia Muslims beleive that the Prophet (pbuh) had said that he is leaving the book and his Aal for us to follow.

Ismaili tradition is a branch of the Shia tradition, where one believed the 12th Imam was taken by God, and the Ismaili's believe that the imamat continued down to Aga Khan, the current Imam.

Neither you nor they can judge who is a Muslim or not, that is the prerogative of Allah. However, most Muslims agree that on the Day of Judgment your ID will be simply Muslim and not any prefix or suffix, but more importantly, were you a good human being to God's creation?

The other important value of Islam is freedom. This may come as a rude shock to some Muslims that even the innocuous asking "that I am fasting are you?" "It's time for Salat" are subtle compulsions and Islam does not believe in compulsion. Prayer is between Allah and the individual and not the responsibility of a government or other being.

No one will come to your rescue on the Day of Judgment; neither your clergy nor the prophet would give you a free pass, it is your responsibility to earn it through good deeds.

It would be nice to be a part of the congregational prayer, it has its own beauty and the lord listens to the congregants who come together in peace to do the peaceful thing. There should be no compulsion or even suggestion. Let the individual do his or her duty, it is not you, not me that is going to have to respond to God, it is the follower. If you can recall that the Prophet even told his daughter Fatima that she ain't going to get a free pass to heaven, because she is his daughter, she had to earn it on her own. Prayers should remain one’s choice and no one should compel the other.

As Muslims, we do not have the time to do the Ijtihaad, the consultative decision making process on issues of the day. As a result we Muslims have been reduced to rituals, rather than the spirit. It is time to believe in the prime value of Islam; freedom.

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker, Writer, Moderator and a Blogger on Pluralism, Interfaith, civil societies, Terrorism, Peace, Islam and India. A conflict mitigater and a goodwill nurturer. He is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television networks offering a pluralistic perspective on issues of the day. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website http://www.mikeghouse.net/

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Mike, I am no Islamic scholar, but I must say this. Every religion, Islam no exception, has its own sect(s).But, it's most unfortunate Islam is the only religion under which its minority sects have to live under constant fear of persecution and discrimination in Islamic countries where they too should have equal rights and opportunities as any other Muslim.

Within thirty years of Muhammad's death Muslim Community was involved in a civil war that gave rise to the several sects into which Islam remains divided to the present day. The civil war began with the murder of the Caliph by the tribesmen, and ended with the restoration of imperial unity under a new dynasty of Meccan Caliphs, ruling from Damascus, but it left deep divisions within the community. The largest group was composed of those who recognized the authority of those political chiefs who were able to maintain it, by force of arms if need be. This was the origin of the majority party, called Sunnis or followers of Sunna (practice) of the Community at large. Opposed to them were two dissident groups: one which maintained the sole legitimacy in the headship of the Community after Prophet's death of his cousin and son-in-law 'Ali and his descendants, and held that the Community had erred in electing Abu Bakr and his two successors.-these were called Shi at Ali ( 'partisans of Ali) or Shi'a; the other which rejected both the Sunni and Shia positions and maintained not only the right of the Community to elect its own head but also its duty to depose him if he were found guilty of sin-these were called the Kharijites.(Khawarij) od 'Seceders'.

Ismailism - the branch of Shiism noted for its esoteric philosophy and regards Hazrat Ali as the legitimate successor to the Prophet. After Ali's assassination Islam was divided into Sunnite and Shiite sects.

The Shia believe in the five pillars of Islam, as do Sunnis, but categorize them differently. Shia beliefs include the following:

Theology of Shia (Usul al-Din)
Tawhid (Oneness): The Oneness of God
Adalah (Justice): The Justice of God
Nubuwwah (Prophethood): God has appointed perfect and infallible prophets and messengers to teach mankind the religion (that is, a perfect system of how to live in "peace" ("submission to God"))
Imamah (Leadership): God has appointed specific leaders to lead and guide mankind - a prophet appoints a custodian of the religion before his demise
Qiyamah (The Day of Judgment): God will raise mankind for Judgment

Ismailism is based on Sufism which escaped almost wholly from the Sunni madrasa. Ismailism is the pursuit of spiritual experience by bodily discipline and esoteric intuition. It is resistant to any kind of systematic and exoteric treatment. Under the belief and guidance of their Imam-of-the-Time Shiite law and theology developed independently of the Sunni community esoteric interpretation of the Qur'an and bring their Imam into the direct connection with the Active Intellect and confer on them a divine authority, which Sunnis reject. The Shia Ismaili Muslims, or Batinis ( followers of the esoteric interpretation of the Qur'an) The Qur'an is the word of Allah, which every Muslim must follow, but its commands can be hard to interpret. Therefore, Ismaili Muslims believe their Imam-of-the-Time, Aga Khan is spiritually blessed and empowered to interpret Qur'an.

I have attached herewith Aga Khan's interview on Islam, which I thought might satisfy many a Muslims quest for knowledge.

Aga Khan's Interview on Islam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htx0MkvJzxo

Hasni Essa
Islam for Pluralism
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Date: Friday, June 19, 2009, 6:09 AM

Mike,

I had sent you urdu version of this news other day. Here's in English.

It's so terrifying to imagine what's going to be the future of Pakistan , and fate of minority Muslim sects, if Taliban were to take over Pakistan . According to this news Taliban has threatened Ismaili Muslim Community, which as you know is one of the most prominent Muslim communities whose spiritual leader is Aga Khan lV. His grand father Aga Khan lll was one of the founders of Pakistan , who was responsible for establishment of the All-India Muslim League which lead to the creation of the predominantly Muslim nation of Pakistan . Aga Khan lV has been a great benefactor of Pakistan , who built Aga Khan University Hospital which is a first-rate private academic institution which aims to empower the developing world through quality education, patient care, research and service.Without Aga Khan's beneficence and generosity Pakistan indeed would have been any third world country hard pressed for development.

Let us all pray and help Pakistan to be strong, and not become victim of Talibanization.

Hasni Essa
Islam for Pluralism