Muslim Chaplains Work to Reform

Reprinted from the Racine Journal Times

Commentary: Muslim prison chaplains work to reform, not radicalize

Hasan Hakeem | Posted: Thursday, June 16, 2011 

The danger of Islamic radicalization inside U.S. prisons “remains real and present,” alleges Republican U.S. Rep. Peter King of New York in his second congressional hearing on the threat of Muslims within America radicalizing. 

It appears to me that Rep. King has never been inside a county jail or prison to meet incarcerated Muslims. If he had been, I suspect that Rep. King would not have made such an outlandish statement.

As a Muslim chaplain, I tend to prisoners of all faiths, not just Islam, and the common theme is that such people are seeking a new beginning through God. 

Clearly lost upon Rep. King is the story of Malcolm X, a fellow New Yorker, who through Islam gave up his criminal ways to become one of this nation’s most honored civil rights activists. 

Prisoners who convert to Islam in jail do so to find a new path, one that is far from the world of hate and violence that is often the cause of their incarceration. 

To suggest that Muslim chaplains are radicalizing prisoners is to betray one’s own ignorance of the institutions of corrections in the United States. Books are screened for content, and chaplains interviewed and monitored. 

But if Rep. King wishes to address incarceration, then let’s do that honestly. It is disgraceful that we, as Americans, place more emphasis on incarceration than on education.   

In the past 20 years, state spending on prisons has grown at six times the rate of spending on higher education. And one in 31 Americans is under some form of corrections control. 

Federal research shows states spend more than $50 billion annually on government-run correction programs. With more than 2 million people incarcerated in jails and prisons in the United States today, it would be more helpful for Rep. King, the House Homeland Security Committee chairman, to focus on issues of judicial and prison reform than on imaginary threats that are in reality thinly veiled attacks against Islam. 

You do your job, Rep. King, and I’ll keep doing mine.

Hasan Hakeem is a Muslim chaplain for Kenosha County Jail and president of the Zion, Ill., chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

I Don't Know How to Live Out There

Our challenge as Americans is what do we do about the thousands of men and women incarcerated in prisons? When they are relased how do we reintegrate them into society? Listen to what this inmate is saying to the listener.  It is a cry for help.  How do we help him to be a productive and better citizen in contemporary society, or should we just keep him locked up in an enviroment he has come to understand and survive in since he was a teenager?

His admission is a reality for men and women throughout our nation, who have no hope for a sustainable lifestyle in society, especially if they are on probation or parole conditions. They are subject to a brief freedom if they fail to adhere to the rules and regulations on "paper." 

Prison Reform is the real deal in USA

Michigan Rep. Clarke hits it right on the head. The problem is not Islam in prisons. It's the judicial system and the prison industrial complex that continues to suck the life out of our communities.  Why not focus on the hatred that's created by inequality and injustice in the judicial system.  What is needed is real justice -- Aboslute Justice For All Americans, regardless of creed, color, culture or race.

Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI) used his question period to deliver an impassioned address about the broader problem of prison reform, at times holding back tears as he discussed how the issue impacted his own life.

"We talk about political correctness, you know what pisses me off? I'm a damned member of Congress here and my friends have rotted in prison and those that have gotten out, they've never been the same again," he said. "Some of you who are Tea Party members, this is the waste we got to stop. We're spending too much money incarcerating young men, young black men, whose lives can be saved. It's not about Islam, it's abut the sentencing policy, it's about this prison system. We got to change that."

He added that based on his own discussions with prisoners who converted to Islam, inmates did so largely to gain protection from dangerous gangs and to make a clean break from their criminal past, not to engage in any kind of radical behavior.

Media Neglects Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Got news? Ahmadiyya refugee edition

Posted by Mollie

I love all most of our reader submissions, but the other day we received one that sounded pretty surprising. It comes from Hasan Hakeem, a member of the Ahmadiyya Community and the Chaplain of the Kenosha County Jail in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I’ll go head and just quote it:

This week after spending almost 7 months at a refugee prison in central Bangkok, 96 Ahmadiyya refugees from Pakistan were released by Thai authorities, a landmark development in a country that does not formally recognize refugees despite the fact that it is currently coming to the end of its tenure as president of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The released Ahmadiyya are members of a minority Muslim group that is oppressed in Pakistan, where they are not recognized as Muslims and are often victims of sectarian violence. US Media completely ignored the story despite the fact that members of the American Ahmadiyya Community has actively fought for and provided resources for the release of the detainees.

I certainly hadn’t heard word one about this story. Had you? I did a quick Google search and not only do I not see any American media coverage of the time spent in detainment, the U.S. media isn’t even covering the release. If we can’t be bothered to cover stories such as this, which tell us not only about a dire religious situation but a political one as well, this is a problem.

Precisely the only story I found in the U.S. media came from MSNBC.com. A photo blog posting included several pictures of detainees being released, followed by this blurb:

Ninety-six people, most of whom were arrested in December, will be released from a Bangkok detention centre on Monday, an immigration officer said.
The detained group are from Pakistan’s Ahmadi Muslim community, who suffer violence and persecution in their home country, according to the Thai Committee for Refugees, which helped organise the release.

I’m glad that MSNBC.com covered the release, but wow do we need much more information. We’ve seen other stories on the Ahmadiyya, but a dramatic incident such as this needs context and analysis and much more insight and background.

Just from the reader submission alone, we see several angles that could be pursued.

Written by: Mollie on June 8, 2011.

Murder in the Name of Allah

Comment: It's only the Ahmadies who strugle to improve the image of Islam where as the rest of the Muslims do nothing but disgrace Islam with their violence, foul language and disgracefull interpretation of Islam.

8th Annual Ahmadiyya Peace Conference

Peace Symposium 2011 - Address by Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Peace Symposium (8th Annual) held on 26th March 2011 at Baitul Futuh Mosque, London, England.

His Holiness concluded his address by speaking about the persecution faced by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. He said that in May last year 86 Ahmadi Muslims were brutally martyred whilst offering their Friday prayers. Similarly in February this year 3 Ahmadi Muslims in Indonesia were martyred in the most barbaric manner. His Holiness said that despite such cruelties and injustices the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat never responded with anything other than with peace. He said:

"We have always implemented the teaching of Islam that you should never take the law into your own hands and always keep the best interests of your country in view and never create disorder, because this is a requirement of true love for your country. Wherever in the world Ahmadis reside, no matter which country they originate from, be they Asian, or African, or Arab or European or American, their behaviour is always the same. For the sake of attaining Allah's pleasure they always steer clear of all forms of disorder. And this is the conduct that one day will not only save the world from anarchy, in fact it will be its guarantor for world peace."

A Favorite Video of Mine

I love this video: In Your Face, "Haters."

The Importance of Jail Ministry For Muslims: Ahmadiyya Zion Project

Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once. These are among the key findings of a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The Zion Project has impact on a two-state (Illinois and Wisconsin) three county area, Lake, Kenosha and Racine County. The reasons people give for changing their religion - or leaving religion altogether - differ widely depending on the origin and destination of the convert.





The group that has grown the most in recent years due to religious change is the unaffiliated population we have identified through our jail ministry efforts. Two-thirds of Christian converts to Ahmadiyyat, mostly Baptist denomination, say they left their childhood faith because they stopped believing in its teachings. Our research (interviews with 20 inmates) has additionally found that many people who left a religion to become unaffiliated say they did so in part because they think of religious people as hypocritical or judgmental, because religious organizations focus too much on rules.

The influence of Islam in jails, prisons.

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the prison system. About 30,000 to 40,000 conversions among federal prisoners take place each year, according to a study for the Justice Department by Mark S. Hamm, a criminologist at Indiana State University. About 6 percent of the nation’s 173,000 federal prisoners are Muslim.
Mr. Hamm’s study, published in December 2007, says that most inmates convert in prison for one of five main reasons: because they are in personal crisis, seek a spiritual dimension, are looking for a group to protect them, want to manipulate the system or are influenced by the outside world.





It is a fact, a disproportionate number of African-Americans are in prison. According to Human Rights Watch, 9% of all black adults are in corrections or on parole or probation. For black men between the ages of 20 and 29, the rate jumps to 33%. This translates to blacks comprising 49% of the prison population. Given a total incarcerated population of 2 million, this suggests up to one million African-American prison inmates (source).




It is estimated that as many as 30% of African-American inmates are Muslims and have converted to Islam in prison (source). That makes about 300,000 Muslim inmates. Not only is this a substantial number in and of itself but it comprises about 5% of all Muslims in America and 12% of African-American Muslims.


Ignore African-American Muslims and African-American Muslims in corrections and you are ignoring a major part of the experience of Islam in America.

Zion Project Jail Ministry

In Zion, our casework provides an intimate look at a variety of behavioral, attitudinal, emotional, and lifestyle variables. The acceptance of Islam/Ahmadiyyat can result in profound, life transforming changes in mid-level functions such as goals, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors, and in the more self-defining personality functions such as identity and life meaning.




The Zion Project strategies encourages inmates to maintain their religious conversions included developing close bonds with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community through mentor contact. Several Jama’at members with social service experience have become volunteer Chaplains. They encourage inmates to avoiding people who are negative influences by using incarceration time in educational classes, daily prayer and meditation.




It has been our experience in working with those incarcerated that the overwhelming majority of inmates who convert to Islam/Ahmadiyya, the experience increases self-discipline and helps them interact in a positive way with other inmates and staff, thereby making a meaningful contribution to their rehabilitation.

"After they are here for a while, some inmates come to understand the need for a higher power," said Chaplain Alpha Bah. “Some start studying and attending the Friday serve and eventually they sign Bai’at. You can see the difference almost immediately. You see the difference in their comportment, in their tolerance of others.”

Ignore African-American Muslims and African-American Muslims in corrections and you are ignoring a major part of the experience of Islam in America.

Of Sacred and Secular

Of Sacred and Secular

From the Mosque: Bait-ul-Muqeet and the mourning Ahmadiyya community

By Joshunda Sanders | Saturday, June 5, 2010, 02:42 PM

Religious groups and sects that I rarely ever see and, therefore, never write about exist just out of my comfort zone. I realized that this week when thinking about Gaza and the flotilla and also, while visiting the Bait-ul-Muqeet Mosque for Friday prayers yesterday.

I’ve been reading Stephen Prothero’s latest book “God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run The World And Why Their Differences Matter.” So far, it’s been a great read and a helpful primer on religious differences. I’ve just gotten to the chapter on Islam, and when I read this passage, it rang true, at least for me:

Is Islam a religion of terror? Are Christianity and Islam now engaged in a clash of civilizations? Or do Muslims stand peaceably alongside Jews and Christians as siblings in one tripartite family of religions?

Unfortunately, this crucial conversation rarely advances beyond a ping-pong match of clichés in which some claim that Islam is a religion of peace while others claim that Islam is a religion of war. One side ignores Quranic passages and Islamic traditions that have been used to justify war on unbelievers, while the other ignores Islam’s just-war injunctions against killing women, children, civilians and fellow Muslims (hundreds of whom died in the Twin Towers on 9/11). The reason for all this ignoring is our collective ignorance. We are incapable of reckoning with Islam because we know almost nothing about it.

I told Aziza Faruqi, a member of Austin’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community, something similar to the above passage yesterday. She wrote on Monday to invite me to Friday prayers at the Round Rock mosque. There, Ahmadis were still mourning nearly 100 members of their community killed in attacks on two mosques in Lahore, Pakistan on May 28.

The Ahmadi Community is religious minority group within Islam that believes in a messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who came after the Prophet Muhammad, a fact that separates them from most Muslims. While it is believed that Prophet Muhammad died in 632, the Ahmadis believed their prophet died in 1908. As a result, the minority sect has been persecuted and discriminated against for decades in India and Pakistan, where there are more than 2 million adherents (in America, there are more than 4,000, according to adherents.com).

“We are a small Muslim sect which is persecuted in Pakistan and some other Muslim countries because we believe in the Messiah,” Faruqi said. “We are a peaceful and progressive-minded community with a motto, ‘Love for all, Hatred for none.’”

Faruqi and others that I talked to at the Round Rock mosque believe this is why those killed during Friday prayers in Lahore were targeted, because the Muslim extremists who wanted to send a message knew the Ahmadiyya community would be unarmed. So, Muslims sprayed bullets from their AK-47s from a top a minaret, blew themselves up inside the mosque and killed 94 people.

Maqbool Ahmad told me on Friday that in 1984, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws declared Ahmadis non-Muslims and that it is illegal for Ahmadis to declare themselves Muslim in Pakistan. Those laws protect the perpetrators of crimes like the mosque attacks he said, “because they are protected under the law.”

Even while recounting the bias against Muslims in Pakistan, Ahmad and Iftikhar Naghmi, said that the community here would remain true to the convictions of their faith and pray for their lost loved ones, who they now consider martyrs. They said they would not consider retaliation, which is a contradiction of their faith. “Our youth group will donate blood soon,” Naghmi said, noting that the biggest need in the aftermath of the attacks was blood donation because so much had been shed.

The women in the community echoed that same resolve, as leaders and laypeople alike said prayers asking for strength and understanding in the face of such loss and sadness. Husna Ahmad, 41, lost a first cousin in the attacks. “Our community is like one body so that if one part of the body hurts, we all hurt,” Ahmad said. “The fanatics, they don’t know the Quran. They talk against us and say we deserve death, but all religions are good if they are practiced in their original way.”

Comments

Austinites love to be heard, and we're giving you a bullhorn. We just ask that you keep things civil. Leave out the personal attacks. Do not use profanity, ethnic or racial slurs, or take shots at anyone's sexual orientation or religion. If you can't be nice, we reserve the right to remove your material and ban users who violate our Visitor's agreement. Click here to report comment abuse.

By Hasan

June 10, 2010 8:46 AM | Link to this

The scale of discrimination practiced against Ahmadis is simply mind-boggling. It is simply a grotesque form of modern-day apartheid. When the state itself discriminates against a section of its people and humiliates their religious icons, it takes discrimination to a whole new level.

By Hasan

June 10, 2010 8:44 AM | Link to this

The scale of discrimination practiced against Ahmadis is simply mind-boggling. It is simply a grotesque form of modern-day apartheid. When the state itself discriminates against a section of its people and humiliates their religious icons, it takes discrimination to a whole new level.

By Hasan

June 10, 2010 8:44 AM | Link to this

The scale of discrimination practiced against Ahmadis is simply mind-boggling. It is simply a grotesque form of modern-day apartheid. When the state itself discriminates against a section of its people and humiliates their religious icons, it takes discrimination to a whole new level.

By Zebr

June 7, 2010 7:12 PM | Link to this

Great thoughts and interesting facts. Its just a matter of extending one’s hand to experience so many diversities around. And indeed, this counts as a strong step in building bridges at a time when we need many more. It is surprising, however to see the hate mongerers among the commentators, one wonders if there is anyone who actually takes the time to listen to, or care about anyone anymore. Maybe the world is now a satirical soapbox theatre and all the good people have taken to be silent mimes. Maybe we need take the step you took and actually test the water some too.

By Alex H.

June 7, 2010 1:07 PM | Link to this

The Muslims I have met in Austin are good people. I worked for one for several years and I am an Orthodox Jew. We had no problems. Other Muslims I have met in Austin have been friendly and good. I have trouble squaring what I know in Austin to what I see happening around the world in the name of the same religion. It must be like how Catholics and Protestants felt when there was so much fighting in Ireland. There seemed to be a difference. What they did in Ireland did not spill into the USA. If it had, I would have expected some accounting by those groups in the USA but I would not have expected them to suddenly jump up and join the violence. Each religion has had their violent episodes and each had to find a way to square up their religious edicts with reality. As a Jew, I’ve done that. Christians are well on their way to doing it and Muslims are lagging. No surprise. They are the the youngest religion.

By deed

June 6, 2010 12:23 AM | Link to this

Oh joshunda al-talibani, how sweet it must be securing your place among us—the infidels. Hope you get your wish soon, so you can just be at home barefooted and having kids, cause you won’t be able to drive, little thing…hope you get it.

By SJ

June 5, 2010 11:27 PM | Link to this

“Islam has bloody borders.” — Samuel P. Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs magazine, Summer 1993

By ThinkCrimson,Horns!

June 5, 2010 9:41 PM | Link to this

Ah, yes, the weekly muslim apologetic installment from Joshunda.

Great picture, Joshunda! Such a diverse group. Of the eighteen congregants in the photo, I count eighteen dark-skinned men wearing funny hats. Celebrate diversity! COEXIST! proclaims the popular bumper sticker. It’s on all the Priuses these days.

“in 1984, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws declared Ahmadis non-Muslims and that it is illegal for Ahmadis to declare themselves Muslim in Pakistan”. You can’t make this stuff up. 1984. Ironic that the blasphemy laws were passed in that year. How about this:

“in 1984, America’s blasphemy laws declared the Amish non-Christians and that it is illegal for the Amish to declare themselves Christian in America”.

And this:

“the Episcopalian extremists who wanted to send a message knew the Amish community would be unarmed. So, Episcopalians sprayed bullets from their AK-47s from a top a steeple, blew themselves up inside the church and killed 94 people”

Maybe that would draw your attention, Joshunda, in your dogged pursuit of “Religious groups and sects that I rarely ever see and, therefore, never write about exist just out of my comfort zone”

By TXatheist2

June 5, 2010 5:47 PM | Link to this

“…but all religions are good if they are practiced in their original way” Yikes, killing for working on the sabbath, adultery or for taking god’s name in vain would make society very barbaric and I’m glad we ignore most of the 10 commandments in the 21st century. You are naive if you think having ‘no other gods before me’ would have allowed islam to be invented. Thank you Enlightenment Era. And on a lighter note do the Ahmadis think Joseph Smith was a prophet or has anyone told the mormons Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet?

By Lubna Qureshi

June 5, 2010 5:16 PM | Link to this

Thank you Joshunda for a very well written article! I admire you to come forward and share the pain of the grieving community by spreading the word out. I just wanted to make a clarification that Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believes in Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the last law bearing prophet and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Promised Messiah of the latter days. The Promised Messiah founded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in 1889 and passed away in 1908 leaving behind an ever growing community that, at present, spans to 180 countries.

Lubna Qureshi Interfaith Coordinator

Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Association, Austin

The Dark Shame of Pakistan

Pakistan: A Nation Complicit

COMMENT: Zaair Hussain

We cannot possibly claim, as a country, that we value freedom of speech above all else. If we did so, we would choke on the magnitude of our hypocrisy. When, in human history, has the oppression of a country’s own citizens paid dividends to either the oppressed or the oppressors?

In recent times, we as Pakistanis have developed not an immunity, but a resistance to the mental strain of terrorism. This is a tragedy of the times, and a triumph of our spirit. Recently, however, we encountered a new horror, one that I hope we shall never inure ourselves to: shame.

On May 28, some 100 Pakistani citizens became the victims of deranged and blasphemous sociopaths and bled out into holy ground. This was horrific, but not in itself shocking. There will always be the frighteningly insane, the desperately misguided, the irredeemably hateful who will inflict death and horror upon innocent human beings, shatter families and snuff out lives in some service to an “ideal” that makes a mockery of the word itself.

What was shocking was the aftermath; the heartbreaking sound of silence. As our people vehemently decried Facebook as the root of all human malfeasance and rightly protested the shockingly cavalier attitude of Israel towards international law and the sanctity of human life itself, more than a hundred Pakistanis were brutally murdered upon the soil of their own nation.

Nary a whisper.

We as a people are so quick to take to the streets in protest that it may soon be our official national sport. Where, then, were the wildfire demonstrations against those who wage war on Pakistani citizens; the slogans, screamed with a raw hate reserved for the murderers of innocents; the burning effigies of Taliban leaders?

The victims were Ahmedis.

They were Ahmedis and so, when scores of Pakistanis lay dead and dying, when the inability of our state to protect us was thrown into harshest relief, where there should have been a flood of grief and sympathy from every human heart still capable of sensation, there were sparse smatterings of cold and careful condolences.

One of the most difficult concepts to impress upon the minds of outsiders is that Pakistanis and Muslims are not terrorists; we are the victims of a tiny and fringe group of rabid madmen.

But in these killings, we were complicit.

A banner proclaiming Ahmedis the enemies of Islam has hung, obscenely, right outside the Lahore High Court. Pakistani talk show hosts have made thinly veiled suggestions that members of that community are literally unworthy of life, and were severely punished for their hateful and dangerous comments with precisely zero consequences.

Recently, the major religious parties declared the attacks to be conspiracies in order to provoke debate about the Ahmedi laws. Allow this to sink in for a moment: legitimate political parties in Pakistan, composed of actual adult politicians, are implicitly accusing the Ahmedis of killing a hundred of their own to further a political agenda.

These gut-wrenching incidents are exceptional only in profile; they fit far too neatly into the context of oppression and contempt that we have been party to.

We cannot possibly claim, as a country, that we value freedom of speech above all else. If we did so, we would choke on the magnitude of our hypocrisy. But whereas we had an eruption of full-throated protests from every corner of the country regarding the Facebook fiasco, there were little more than polite murmurs of “steady on now” when full-blown hate speech incited (and continues to incite) people to violence against our own citizens.

Hate speech is not only a weapon, it is a coward’s weapon, urging the desperate and misguided and insane to commit heinous acts that the speaker himself does not have the stomach to commit.

At a time when militant killers rend daily our national fabric, determined to recreate it in their own nightmare vision, at a time when being a Muslim has become a stigma the world over, at the precise moment that we need all the allies and all the goodwill we can garner, we seem hell-bent on the alienation and eventual destruction of a peaceful community that resides within our borders and has never agitated or taken up arms against our state.

When, in human history, has the oppression of a country’s own citizens paid dividends to either the oppressed or the oppressors?

Once the covenant between the state and its citizens break down, it breaks down for everyone. It will not end with the Ahmedis. A haunting quote from Martin Niemöller rings true in today’s Pakistan:

“They came first for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

To intervene for the Ahmedis is not charity, and it is more than common human decency. It is at its core a policy of self-preservation.

If we allow the Ahmedis to be punished for who they are and what they believe, rather than what they do, we have placed our feet upon a blood-slick slope that leads into a frightening place, a place where nobody is ultimately safe because nobody, ultimately, has rights.

Are you so certain you, your friends, your loved ones, your family will not be next? That you will not have to bury your fallen, ringed by the indifference, suspicion and even hatred of your neighbours? That you will not have to barricade your doors at night against a street, a city, an entire country hostile to you?

How certain are you?

I am far from the first voice to speak against this shameful affair, and I pray I am not the last. This is less than the smallest thing we can do for the victims of a staggering crime: to say that they are human, and our countrymen, and that our heart is broken for their incalculable loss.

Even if they are not part of the green they are surely part of the white, part of Jinnah’s Pakistan, more so by a thousand-fold than those that slaughter our people in cold blood.

The majority of Pakistanis are Muslim. With our sensitivity to the systematic violence and oppression in Kashmir, in Gaza, in Gujarat, in a hundred other places, we should know better than most the injustice of being targeted for what we are and what we believe.

For shame.

Zaair Hussain is a Lahore-based freelance writer. He can be reached at zaairhussain@gmail.com

The Ahmadiyya Position.Ahmadiyya teachings prohibit protests, demonstrations,

The Ahmadiyya Position.Ahmadiyya teachings prohibit protests, demonstrations, industrial strikes and agitations
Posted on June 10th, 2010

Dr. Ifthikhar Ahmad Ayaz, OBE

1.(Officer of the Excellent Order of the British Empire)
2. Consul General of Tuvalu Island in the United Kingdom
3. Senator World Nations Congress
4. Ambassador of Peace appointed Universal Peace Foundation
5. Recipient of International Peace Prize
6. Member UN Human Rights Council Committee in the Rights of
Minorities – Rights of Woman / Rights of Children
7. Member World Poverty Alleviation Forum

8. Honored as the 2010 Man of the Year in Human Rights.

9. An eminent member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam.

The Ahmadiyya Muslims are now a well recognised and a well respected community in the world. They are known to be law abiding, peace loving and completely non violent. Their teachings prohibit protests, demonstrations, industrial strikes and agitations. They have shown great dignity in enduring the pangs of persecution in Pakistan and elsewhere. Just end of May over a hundred of their members while offering the weekly Friday prayers in the two mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, were barbarically massacred but they have sustained this catastrophic tragedy in silence. They are also unique being a community of over 200 million people representing all races, nations, cultures and languages heralding from over 190 countries of the world but solemnly united under one spiritual leader divinely designated as ‘Khalifa’. The community was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India, who claimed to be the Promised Messiah.

The present khalifa, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth Successor of the founder of the community, was compelled to reside in London, U.K. because of the legislation passed by the Government of Pakistan prohibiting Ahmadis to practice as Muslims in Pakistan.

In this brief article it is my intention to review the services of the Ahmadiyya community to humanity in general and to Pakistan in particular. The founder of the community, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, clearly stated the importance of good relationships with fellow human beings. He said:

“I admonish you to adhere to two primary principles- Keep your affairs with Allah on the straight path and treat the human beings with sympathy and good manners.”

(Malfoozat, Volume 9, page 35)

The Ahmadi Muslims strongly supported and struggled for the creation of Pakistan and along with other Muslims migrated from Qadian, their headquarters in India. The editor of the Newspaper “Rangin,” Mr. Arjan Singh, writes in his book, Sair-i-Qadian:

“So far as our information goes we could say with confidence that the Ahmaddiya community is a strong supporter of the activities of the Muslim League. It is well known that they have besides contributing thousands of rupees, devoted their efforts for the success of the Muslim League.”

The Ahmadi Muslims were at the forefront of safeguarding the Muslim Political Rights during the Montague- Chelmsford Reforms of 1917, when the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith had recognised the increasing demand for India’s self-rule. The then Imam of the Ahmaddiya Muslims, Mirza Bashirudeen Mahmood Ahmad, was invited by the Governor General of India, Lord Frederick, to address the special conference on the subject which was held in Delhi on 13th November 1917. Subsequently, the Ahmadiyya Community played a prominent role in the political developments leading on to the creation and formation of Pakistan.

An eminent Ahmadi leader, Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, also played a key role in the politcal negotiations representing the Muslims of India at the Round Table Conference. Sir Zafrullah was the President of the All India Muslim League in 1931-1932. Khawaja Hasan Nizami of Delhi in the Urdu Newspaper ‘Munadi,’ writes in its 24th October 1934 issue about Sir Zafrullah:

“His political sagacity is greater than any Muslim in India. The Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for India, the Viceroy, and all British politicians admire his ability and Hindu leaders too, though reluctantly, acknowledge that this man is their rival- a very able, effective and accomplished rival. During the Round Table Conference, every Hindu, Muslim and Englishman acknowledged Chaudhry Zafrullah Khan’s merit and confessed that amongst the Muslims, Chaudhry Zafrullah is a person who has full command over the complexities of politics. Zafrullah is faultless and his character is irreproachable.”

History speaks for itself and there is no room in this brief exposure to go into detail. However, it is evident that from the very inception of the All India Muslim League in the Punjab in 1907, to the partition of the subcontinent in 1947- for forty long years- the Ahmadiyya community and its eminent members faithfully and persistently rendered crucial and outstanding services towards the freedom movement which culminated in the creation of Pakistan.

Sir Zafrullah Khan also had the distinguished honour of being the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan and in that capacity he eminently served the cause of the Muslims in Kashmir and Palestine. After the most disgusting legislation of 1974, when Bhutto declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and then the shameful Ordinance passed by General Zia ul Haq in 1984, the wife of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, had this to say as reported in the Daily Dawn, Karachi, July 10th 1985:

“During the past one year, Newspapers have reported murders of Ahmadi notables in mysterious circumstances. More recently, hundreds of arrests have been made of members of this peace loving Community. Those arrested have been reportedly subjected to physical torture, while the charge against them is usually that of wearing Kalima Tayabba badges. This situation deserves to be condemned forthrightly without any reservations. It is known history that while the Ahmadiyya Community supported the cause of Pakistan, most of Mullah Community, their present persecutors, opposed the creation of Pakistan tooth and nail. The two great Quaids, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, appreciated the contribution of Ahmadis towards the Muslim cause and recognised it by appointing Chaudhry Muhammad Zafrullah Khan as the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan. In those great days, Pakistan had not been reduced to a theocratic State, and not only Muslims, regardless of the auxiliary beliefs, but even Hindus, were given Cabinet posts. The rights of minorities and small groups were not paid just lip service, but were protected with deliberate effort.” (Daily Dawn, Karachi, July 10th 1985)

Alhumdullilah! The Furqan Force Battalion

Soon after the formation of Pakistan, the Ahmadiyya community raised a voluntary ‘Furqan Force Battalion’ for deployment on the Kashmir border. The Battalion was placed at the disposal of the Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army on 10th July 1948. Some of the Army Officers in this Ahmadi unit were Major Waqiuz-Zaman, Major Hamidullah and Capt. Nehmatullah Sharif. The entire cost of maintaining Furqan Force Battalion at the Kashmir front was borne by the Amadiyya community. The Furqan Force Battalion established a high reputation for discipline, courage, bravery and an eager spirit of service and sacrifice.

The Ahmadiyya community has always been at the forefront of services in the cause of the freedom of Muslims, particularly the Palestinian Arabs. This was acknowledged by the ‘Nawa-e-Waqt’ Magazine of 6th March 1982. It stated:“In their struggle to win their freedom, the Arab nations were fully represented by Zafrullah Khan at the International Forum of the UN General Assembly.”

Appreciating the Ahmadiyya community’s services to the Muslims of Tunisia, Morocco, Iran, Egypt and Jordan, the famous Egyptian leader Al Sayad Mustafa Momin stated in an interview to the Associated Press of Pakistan published in various Pakistani Newspapers of 24th and 25th March 1952: “Chaudhry Muhammad Zafrullah Khan holds an enviable position in the world of Islam. He is looked upon as a top most Statesman in the Middle East in general and in Egypt and other Arab countries in particular. By his forceful support of Tunisia, Morocco, Iran and Egypt at the United Nations, he has served the cause of Islam in a way no other leader has been able to do so.”

Of the many Ahmadis who have rendered selfless sacrifices to the nation of Pakistan, the eminent one is Dr. Abdus Salam who was a world renowned nuclear physicist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Nuclear Physics. His significant contributions towards the development of scientific research in Nuclear Physics have been universally acknowledged.

Commending Dr Salam’s services, Mr. Ishrat Usmani once the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, said:

“Most of the scientific effort in Pakistan is in a large measure due to Salam’s imagination and the weight of his personality. Salam is a symbol of the pride and prestige of our nation in the world of science.”

General Ayub Khan appointed Dr. Salam as Chief Scientific Advisor to the President of Pakistan (1961-1974). Dr. Salam was also the founder and Chairman of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Committee (1961-1964).

Dr. Abdus Salam served as a Scientific Secretary at the first Atoms for Peace Conference convened by the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. Later, he also served the cause of world science as the Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy.

In recognition of his unique services, in addition to the Nobel Prize, Dr. Salam was awarded several other prizes from 19 different nations.

It is very unfortunate for Pakistan that on account of submission to Islamic extremism, fanaticism, and Mullah hatred against Ahmadis, Pakistan, by passing legislation in 1974 declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims , lost the unique services to the country of its two distinguished sons, Sir Chaudhry Muhammad Zafrullah Khan and Dr. Abdus Salam.

The prejudice against Ahmadis was so strong, that even after the demise of Dr. Abdus Salam, the Government removed the word ‘Muslim’ engraved on his epitaph. What a disgrace and what a shame!However, such acts of animosity and ruthless discrimination have never deterred Ahmadis from serving and sacrificing for Pakistan.

The Ahmadiyya community offered to the Pakistan Army 15000 soldiers and 199 Officers who were well trained in the battlefield during the Second World War. They offered unique sacrifices in the cause of the motherland. In this article, only a sampling of their valiant and splendid services can be mentioned.

Major Gen. Akhtar Hussain Malik’s extraordinary planning and speedy execution put the rival troops to flight in the Chamb Sector during the 1965 War with India. Brigadier Abdul Ali Malik stood like a rock in the path of the heaviest armoured advance of the elite Indian War machine.

Squadron Leader Khalifa Muniruddin Ahmad served in the Air Force with great distinction. Thousands of Ahmadi officers and ranks in the Armed Forces of Pakistan helped in the defence of the motherland. The names of Major Munir Ahmad and Major Qazi Bashir also stand out prominently. There are countless examples of the valour and the dauntless courage of many Ahmadi soldiers standing tall with their comrades in arms. Other Ahmadis whose loyalty and devotion were inspiration included Gen. Chaudhry Ahmad, Gen. Iftikhar Janjua and Air Marshall Nasir Zafar Chaudhry.

Today, the Ahmadiyya Muslims are doing all that they can to appease the suffering of humanity, to appease poverty, and provide health facilities, education, clean drinking water, alternative energy sources and training in skills leading to economic development in Africa, Asia, the Far East, the Pacific and other Regions of the world. They have established a special unit, Humanity First, to respond to all such needs and also to natural disasters and catastrophes. For the moral and spiritual education of the world they run a Satellite Television Station (MTA), which broadcasts in seven languages around the clock every single day.

Such is this community, with love for all and hatred for none, serving Islam and humanity devotedly with the determination to raise the banner of Islam and the dignity of humanity all over the world and do whatever it can for the welfare and wellbeing of all, without any discrimination whatsoever.

The Ahmadiyya Muslims have won respect and admiration from all sections of the world community for their loyalty and peace loving practices. They have a golden heart for humanity. They have a track record of people who are honest, hardworking, innovative, reliable, responsible, and with high morals. They are a treasure for the nation wherever they are, but unfortunately Pakistan has shelved this treasure of human resources on account of sheer, meaningless, damaging religious prejudice, extremism and hatred by passing deliberate legislation and ordinances against Ahmadis.

Alas! Pakistan would open its eyes at this very critical juncture in its history and get the Ahmadiyya Muslims on board to extinguish the rising flames of terrorism, corruption and devastating situation of law and order in the country.

Phenomenon of satanic forces and God's chosen people

Summary of Friday Sermon

Delivered by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad ^at, the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

May 28 ^th, 2010

NOTE: Alislam Team takes full responsibility for any errors or miscommunication in this Synopsis of the Friday Sermon

Hudhur recited verses 72 – 75 of Surah Sad, the translation reads: ‘When thy Lord said to the angels, ‘I am about to create man from clay, ‘And so when I have fashioned him in perfection, and have breathed into him of My Spirit, fall ye down in submission to him.’ So the angels submitted, all of them together. But Iblis did not. He behaved proudly, and was of those who disbelieved.’ And delivered a Friday Sermon on the phenomenon of satanic forces and God’s chosen people, His Prophets helped by hosts of angels.

Hudhur said from the beginning of time Satan and man have been contending with each other. In religious account God’s love for Adam (on whom be peace) caused Satan to declare war with him with much ferocity. This enmity was repeated in the era of each Prophet of God and indeed is still being repeated. Prophets of God guide to ways leading to God and Satan has always tried to spoil this process and continues to do so. He frightens and misleads people with all manner of pretext, greed and terror. The Holy Qur’an cites in many places that from the creation of Adam (on whom be peace) Satan started using ploys. From Surah Al Fatiha to Surah Al Nas, God has mentioned Satan to alert believers from his attacks, and has commanded to protect themselves from him through prayer.

The aforementioned verses declare the creation of God’s beloved and His command to angels to completely submit to man and the arrogance of Satan in declining to submit to one who was, in his view, created from lesser matter. When God created man, He put the capacity in him to imbue Divine qualities and thus attain nearness to God, and go on to attain a high point in this nearness where angels would be commissioned to serve him. God sends His Prophets who attain the greatest nearness to Him and as a result the entire system of angels arises to help and support them. God’s special decree comes into action for this purpose. God created man as the most eminent of all creation and pressed the entire creation in his service. When man is granted prophethood he becomes the Adam of his age, imagine the support and succour he would receive in such instance.

During the time of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) he and the believers were bitterly persecuted and the pagans of Makkah marshalled aggression in order to eliminate Islam. In the Battle of Badr it was God’s angels whose help turned the tide in favour of the Muslims. There are several other instances from the time of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) which illustrate that an army of angels was always with him and the believers. Indeed, the Muslims lost their lives as well as suffered from loss of property etc. however; the mob of Iblees (Satan) could never achieve their objective. Those who follow Satan try their utmost to create doubts and suspicions in people’s hearts through murder and mayhem, financial loss, both overtly and covertly putting terror in people’s hearts. Opponents of good fall into the control of Satan because of their arrogance. Their argument is that those who claim prophethood and who call to God are in fact poor and lowly and it is them who are knowledgeable and conversant, how could they then take their bai’at? Hudhur said it is again arrogance of those who do not accept the Imam of the age that is preventing them from accepting him.

When God commanded angels to prostrate to man it was not a literal command for only God is worthy of prostration. This command meant that one who is commissioned by God should be perfectly obeyed and Satan should not be allowed to succeed in his objectives against him. It meant that the Prophet should be helped in making Satan unsuccessful and an awareness of the message of the Prophet and God’s help and succour for him should be inspired in pious-natured people so that they may recognise the truth and join the community of the Prophet. These people would then go through spiritual enhancement and experience God’s help and succour, as a result their life on this earth and their Hereafter is accomplished and they become the recipients of God’s Paradise. The hearts of pious-natured people are enthused and this is when angels declare: ‘So the angels submitted, all of them together…’ Meanwhile the works of Prophet is blessed in extraordinary ways and one can observe the ‘submission’ of pious-natured people and it is this obedience and submission that is the ‘prostration’ to carry the mission of the Prophet further. By becoming most excellent helpers they take his work forward.

Hudhur said in this age it is the true and ardent devotee of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him), the Promised Messiah, who has been addressed as ‘Adam’ by God. The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said that to affront one commissioned by God is to affront God. Hudhur said today those who oppose the community of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) in fact are contending with God. It was revealed to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace): ‘I determined on the appointment of a Vicegerent and so created Adam, the Vicegerent of Allah the Sultan’ (Tadhkirah p.369). Hudhur said our Khilafat is spiritual rather than temporal and this status was granted to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) because of his subservience to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him). Having granted the status, God commanded angels to submit to him, that is, submit to the special human who had been chosen for faith. In another revelation God thus assured the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace): ‘…I shall stand with My Messenger and angels will help him…’ (Tadhkirah p. 453). Hudhur explained that this ‘help of God’ is not a tale of yore. We witness to this day that Satan is at work and so are the angels. Our opponents oppress us with their persecution in one place and the community grows in many new places.

Hudhur said he read in Al Fazl recently how Hilmi Shafi sahib accepted Ahmadiyyat and how God inclined him. Mustapha Thabit sahib, who was an Ahmadi, lived worked in Sana desert with Hilmi Shafi sahib. Hilmi sahib would watch the then young man as different from the rest and regular in Salat. Gradually they became friends and while discussing Islam Thabit sahib would present reasoning and argument to which neither Hilmi sahib had the answers to nor could his religious leaders help with. When they parted way, Hilmi sahib kept some of Thabit sahib’s books, including the Five Volume Commentary of the Holy Qur’an. Having read the books, he would, as is the way of people outside our community, try and find objections within. Hudhur said these days it seems to be a trend in Pakistan to look for objections in our books where it clearly demonstrates that the ‘objection’ is actually borne out of the lack of knowledge of the objector. So, Hilmi sahib too would try and find fault and when he sought assurance from religious scholars he could not get any. When he read the book ‘Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam’ it excited him. He showed the book to his father and asked what sort of a person could have written it. His father said, ‘certainly a waliAllah’ (friend of God). Hilmi sahib asked his father what if such a person is claiming to be the Messiah. His father replied he could not object to him, only one very close to God could have written it. However, he added he was old and could not accept him. Hilmi sahib’s heart changed and he accepted the truth and took his bai’at.

Hudhur said such incidents take place even now. Many people are given the message of Ahmadiyyat through dreams. All this is the commotion created by angels in help of one commissioned by God which leads pious-natured people turn to the truth. On the other hand, those who follow Satan, exceed in their opposition and create impediments backed by arrogance. It is their arrogance that persuades them to rebellion and to follow Satan. Whereas God’s people try and become a reflection of Divine attributes and enhance their spirituality.

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said that arrogance is an evil that does not give up chasing man. He said arrogance comes from Satan and unless one distances from Satan, one cannot accept the message of truth and cannot avail of Divine beneficence. Unless and until man purifies himself of conceit he cannot win God’s pleasure. It was conceit that led Satan imagine he was superior to Adam and was thus accursed by God. However, when one attains Divine knowledge one comes into the guardianship of God. Hudhur explained that the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said that his opponents may prostrate in his opposition, make cursing prostrations in the process and rub their noses to the ground, their noses would rot but no loss would come to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace).

Hudhur said news are coming in the today, many must have heard it, seen it on TV, severe attacks have been made on two [of our] mosques in Lahore, one in Model Town and the other Darul Zikr. Similarly, rallies have been taken out in Kunri. Likewise, in other places in the world, in various countries, opposition is carried out by following the mullah. Can this opposition finish Ahmadiyyat? Did Ahmadiyyat ever come to an end after earlier opposition? Most certainly not, and it never will, of course it will definitely make those who oppose us the target of God’s chastisement and reprove.

Advising us, the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said that prayer is such that when Adam and Satan contended with each other no other scheme availed but prayer. In the latter-days, again, triumph will come about through prayer. The first Adam was triumphant through prayers and the second Adam too, who will fight Satan in the latter-days, will be triumphant in this way.

Hudhur said enmity against us is increasing greatly. There is tremendous need for us to turn to prayer. Indeed, our community is also progressing and growing in spite of Satan waylaying at every corner. Pious-natured people continue to enter the community.

Hudhur said we need to pay attention to the Quranic prayer: ‘Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves; and if Thou forgive us not and have not mercy on us, we shall surely be of the lost’ (7:24) to gather blessings and for protection against satanic attacks, both on an individual as well as communal level.

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said that in His wisdom God made Adam with two connections: one connection was with God Himself ‘And so when I have fashioned him in perfection, and have breathed into him of My Spirit, (38:73). This verse proves that by breathing His Spirit in Adam, God created a connection with him so that mankind too could have that connection. On the other hand, He created a natural connection in man with the rest of mankind. Hudhur said it is our responsibility to develop this connection. If this connection of ours is correct, the nature of Adam will become a part of our nature. We will be drawn to pay the dues of mankind and will take the mission of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) forward.

Hudhur said the situation regarding the attacks at the mosques in Lahore is not quite clear yet, however there have been many martyrdoms and many have been injured, some of whom are in a critical condition. The situation in Darul Zikr is not clear yet. The number of martyrdoms could increase as people had come there for Jummah, we will know more when the details will come in. May God elevate the stations of all the martyrs. Pray for the injured, some are critically wounded. This was an aim by the opponents to inflict communal loss. Certainly, God has the power to retaliate. Through which source will He demonstrate His decree, how will He seize those who create disorder and persecute, He alone knows. However, may He make those a cautionary sign, who challenge God’s sense of honour again and again and are exceeding all limits in oppression and InshaAllah this will come to pass.

Hudhur reiterated that Ahmadis should enhance compassion in their prayers. May God demolish the arrogance and conceit of our opponents and their presumption of power by demonstrating a manifestation of His Power. May we ever increase in our faith and belief and may this trial never become a cause of weakness for us. All Ahmadis should pray for Pakistani Ahmadis these days. The circumstances there are most adverse. Similarly, pray for the Ahmadis who are imprisoned in Egypt, may God facilitate their speedy release. In Kerala, India, some Ahmadis have also been wrongly imprisoned, remember them in your prayers. In accordance with His promise, God will never let the sacrifices of those who are imprisoned and the injured and the martyrs go to waste. InshaAllah. Satan and his mob will never be successful. May God have mercy on us and keep us safe from every trial in future.

Torture A Way of Life in Pakistan

A check on torture

Dawn Editorial
Wednesday, 09 Jun, 2010

Torture is commonplace in Pakistan, with the police and security agencies using it as an instrument of policy. The police normally extract confessions through torture while those picked up by intelligence outfits also receive deplorable treatment. Dawn.com

The ratification by Pakistan of the Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture must be welcomed. It is hoped these international instruments, particularly the convention against torture, will help check the increasingly brutal trends that are prevalent in society.

However, merely signing or ratifying treaties is not enough. The government must demonstrate it has the will to implement the spirit of this convention. Torture is commonplace in Pakistan, with the police and security agencies using it as an instrument of policy. The police normally extract confessions through torture while those picked up by intelligence outfits also receive deplorable treatment.

But it is not just organs of the state that are indulging in torture. Women and children are easy targets for abuse in this society, while corporal punishment in schools and madressahs, domestic violence and abuse of household staff also fall within the broad definition of torture.Torture is already prohibited by Article 14 of the constitution. Signing the convention should force the rulers to take practical steps to eliminate this evil practice. The government should harmonise the protocols of the convention with the country’s laws. But ending torture in Pakistan is an uphill task. The mindsets that encourage brutality have to change first before there can be any significant improvement. It is the state’s obligation to change the culture of brutality; only then can citizens be expected to behave differently.

It must be noted that Article II of the convention says that under “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever” can torture be justified. This includes “war, internal political instability or any other public emergency”. Considering the state is at war with militants, it is increasingly important that these guidelines be followed. If the government is serious about implementing the convention, then ‘forced disappearances’ and other such unsavoury practices must end. It is imperative that action is taken against those who use terror as a tactic. But even in these testing times the civil and human rights of all — including suspected militants — must be respected and legal channels must be used to bring the guilty to justice.

Christian Persecution in Pakistan

06/10/2010 18:30
PAKISTAN
In "Talibanized" Pakistan Christians are victims of yet more attacks. In Punjab a group of Muslims attack a Protestant pastor and his pregnant wife, injuring her in the stomach. In the province 250 Christian families have fled their homes, because they reported sexual abuse against women. Christian couple accused of blasphemy in Karachi.

Khanewal (AsiaNews / Agencies) – There are still cases of religious persecution in Pakistan, a large majority Muslim nation where religious minorities are often victims of abuse and violence. In Punjab a group of 14 Muslims attacked a Protestant pastor and his wife who was expecting a baby. In a district of the same province, the Muslim village chief has ordered 250 Christian families to flee their homes because "Christian women and girls have reported repeated sexual abuse." In Sindh province, finally, a couple was indicted for blasphemy and threatened with the death penalty.

International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that on 3 June in Sahiwal, Punjab, 14 Muslims attacked a Protestant pastor, his pregnant wife and his brother. At the base of the attack were charges of "evangelizing" against Mumtaz Masih, pastor of the Full Gospel Church of Pakistan and his wife Noreen. Imam Ahmed Maqsood led the punitive expedition, injuring the man's legs, and his wife in the stomach and hand. His brother was assaulted while trying to help his relatives. The couple complained to the police, but the police do not want to open an investigation.

Jonathan Racho, ICC chief for South Asia, strongly condemns "the violence against pastor Mumtaz and his family." He adds that Pakistani Christians are victims of assault "because they express their faith in Christ", but the faithful want to stay "with vigour" in their homeland "despite the persecution."

In Khanewal district, also in Punjab, the chief of a village with a Muslim majority has ordered 250 Christian families to leave the area because "they are too vigorously denouncing sexual violence by Muslims against women and girls”. Most Christians in the area are labourers on Muslim owned land and the women domestic servants in homes. The abuses were occurring in homes, almost "daily." "Christians - denounce the displaced - are totally at the mercy of the will of Muslims."

Finally in the town of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, a suburb of Karachi (Sindh), two Christians couples must answer charges of blasphemy. A crowd of Muslims ransacked the garbage of the four, saying they had found torn pages of the Koran. The court issued an arrest warrant and the police started searches. The two pairs of Christians have abandoned the rented house and are still at large. Christian sources complain that officials have threatened the family, to reveal the place where the four are hidden. In Pakistan the crime of blasphemy carries life imprisonment or even death.

Taliban owns Pakistan

Taliban owns Pakistan and soldiers abusing millions , says Amnesty International

Survey of North-West tribal belt by rights group says militants torturing and killing women, aid workers and beardless men

Pakistani soldiers monitor their side of the Afghan border in the tribal belt of North Waziristan. Photograph: Matthew Pennington/AP

Nearly 4 million Pakistanis live under Taliban rule in the north-western tribal belt, where they suffer human rights abuses from both militants and the army, Amnesty International said today.

As if Hell Fell on Me, a report based on interviews with nearly 300 people, says millions live in a "human rights free zone" where militants torture and kill women, aid workers and men without beards.

Soldiers have also committed serious violations, including indiscriminate artillery fire and extrajudicial executions, as the army swept across the tribal belt over the past year, it said.

"The Taliban have been able to assert their ideology through a combination of violence and fear," said Sam Zarifi, one of the authors. "Meanwhile the army seems focused on killing the enemy and not on protecting its own citizens."

At least 1,300 civilians died during conflict in 2009 in north-western Pakistan, an area that spans the seven agencies of the tribal belt and Khyber Pakhtunkwa province, formerly known as North-West Frontier province.

In total, 8,500 people, including soldiers and militants, were killed – a level of bloodshed comparable with Afghanistan. Another 1 million people have been displaced by the conflict. Scattered across towns and camps, their plight was being "largely ignored", Amnesty said.

The report comes days after the Taliban executed a man on a football pitch in North Waziristan, the main hub of militant activity in the tribal belt. The man had been sentenced to death for killing his two brothers in an argument.

The public show of justice was a reminder of Taliban authority in an area dominated by the al-Qaida linked warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, and where government soldiers are largely confined to their bases.

The US wants Pakistan to extend its its anti-militant offensive to North Waziristan.

The government and its western allies must urgently devise a co-ordinated strategy that includes development and political reform, he said.

"They have to put something in place that signals to the people that they haven't been abandoned," he said.

The tribal areas have the worst social indicators of any region in Pakistan – just 3% of women are educated, by some estimates – while the area is still ruled using a draconian, colonial-era law known as the frontier crimes regulations (FCR).

The turmoil presents a rare opportunity to reform or abolish the century-old FCR, Zarifi said, partly because many of the pro-government elders who underpin the system have been killed or forced to flee.

"We need to get away from the idea that this is a crazy area with a litany of horrors, and that we need to wash our hands of it. This is the moment to act."

The report is also critical of the government's reliance on tribal militias in the Swat valley, where the army cleared the Taliban last year. The militias have little accountability and engage in extrajudicial killings, sometimes to settle old scores, it said.

Visiting Peshawar today, the British development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, announced an £8m education programme for the north-west region. He said Pakistan was facing an "education emergency", where two-thirds of women were illiterate.

Under the scheme, 300,000 schoolgirls will be paid an allowance to attend school, and more than 3 million children will receive free textbooks.

Times Square Bomber the Antithesis of Ahmadi-Muslims

Times Square Bomber the Antithesis of Ahmadi-Muslims

By allisonkhan

It's hard to know what to say when the extremists who try to bomb America repeatedly turn out to be Muslim.

Well, if you are a Muslim in America, it puts you in the hot seat! And, to top it off, the bomber, this time, turns out to be from my husband's native country--Pakistan.

So it is quite understandable that Americans look at Muslims in general with an air of mistrust. Are you an extremist, the look says? Can you be trusted?

Every morning when I pledged allegiance to the flag at Hillgrove high school in Cobb county, I could feel all the students watching me. I added "Ameen," after my pledge, which means "so be it." Some students didn't bother to stand, but no one was worried about them.

Unfortunately, some Americans decide all Muslims cannot be trusted. Many Americans feel that Muslims are hypocrites.Yes, they want us to practice our religion freely in America, but they don't want to get bombed. Understandable.

Allow me to fill you in on some little known historical data that may ease your mind.

In Pakistan, there are many sects of Islam. Since 1953, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has been terrorized by Muslim extremists. The American government has been aware of this terrorism and they chose not to do anything to help.

Khalifatul Masih the IV, the leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, told the government of Pakistan to stop the bloodshed or they would soon find all the sects engaging in this terrorism.

No one listened. Nothing was done.

The bloodshed did spread to other sects and it continues to spread. In 1974, Ahmadi-Muslims were the only sect to be declared non-Muslim in all of Pakistan, and there are over seventy three sects.

Ahmadi-Muslims left Pakistan for America or Canada if they could. The alternative motivated emigration...beatings, burning the house down or shooting.As a result, there are over 10,000 Ahmadi-Muslims in America at presen.

When someone like this extremist tries to blow up his car in Times Square and he is from Pakistan and he is a Muslim, people want to know --"so what's the difference between you and him?"

They would like to know that there is a difference.

Naseem Madhi recently became the National Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in America. FoxNews interviewed him regarding the Times Square Bomber and he had some refreshingly simple advice for Muslims in America: "if you have divided loyalties, go home."

He is drawing a line in the sand. He is telling America that Ahmadi-Muslims are loyal. We are happy to be here, enjoining our freedom to practise our religion. We pledge allegiance to the flag and we mean it.

Investigators suspect police of helping Ahmedis’ attackers

* Terrorists carrying weapons bypass police to reach targets

By Shahnawaz Khan

LAHORE: Investigations into the Garhi Shahu and Model Town attacks have taken an important turn after information gathered during the interrogation of the arrested terrorist, Muaaz, and clues from various sources, Daily Times has learnt.

Sources said following the information, investigators now suspect police officials and officers deputed at both worship places of the Ahmedis and have started monitoring them as well. Investigators believe certain police officials are acting as facilitators to the terrorists, which is the reason they have been moving around with such ease during the recent attacks.

They said during interrogation, Muaaz revealed that their high command had directed them to work under one Rana, adding that Rana was the one who had led them during the Friday attacks.

Muaaz further revealed that Rana left him and his accomplices a few yards from the worship place in Model Town and told them he will return soon. He said Rana returned in less than 10 minutes and was carrying two sacks full of weapons on his motorcycle, which he handed over to them with the directions to start the operation.

The sources added that during investigation, it was also ascertained that a man named Hafeez had dropped the terrorists at the Garhi Shahu worship place and gave directions the same way, however, Hafeez returned with weapons after more than 20 minutes.

The sources question the role of police officials, considering that the terrorists commuted to and from the target places in such a less time and with such ease, bypassing several police pickets on their way.

The investigation also revealed that during the Jinnah Hospital attack, terrorists used only one entrance to barge in the ICU – one that opened in front of the hospital’s SDO’s office, the sources said. It was also revealed that as soon as the terrorists entered the ICU, they started firing indiscriminately, while a nurse switched off the lights and hid under a bed and informed the police.

Darkness misguided the terrorists, however, security guards accompanying a politician present in the hospital retaliated, due to which one of the terrorists received a bullet injury in his leg.

After the “action”, the terrorists fled from the same entrance they had entered from. Two of the four terrorists, including the injured one, left the hospital from the main gate, while the remaining jumped over the hospital’s iron bars and fled. The sources added that the investigators are also trying to ascertain who had washed the bloodstains of the injured terrorist from the road.

Massacre at Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque; Random act of violence or State Sanctioned Terrorism

The Holy Quran says; “If God did not repel some people by means of others, there would surely have been destroyed cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft commemorated” (22:41). In a true Islamic state, the minorities enjoy freedom to practice and preach their religion without fearing for their lives. It is the state’s responsibility to not only protect the lives and mosques of its Muslim constituents but also protect the places of worship of other faiths.

This is not the case in Pakistan, which claims to be an Islamic state and was founded 63 years ago on the basic principles of equality and freedom for all. Instead, it is a country whose name and the word “terrorism” are today often mentioned in the same sentence. Today, Pakistan has laws written in its books which prohibit a large group of Muslims from practicing their faith and they are made to endure a life full of fear and hardships due to their belief on the Messiah of the later days as prophesied by Islam’s prophet, Mohammad (May peace be with him).

In 1974, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, then President of Pakistan, proclaimed Ahmadis “non Muslims” but allowed them to practice their religion. To further satisfy the unabated appetite of fanatics in the country, in 1984, the government of General Zia ul Haq further tightened the law and with one ordinance snatched the basic human rights from Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Furthermore, they tried to break the spirits of Ahmadi Muslims by taking away their identity and barred them from using the word “Muslim” for themselves.

Ahmadis today are prohibited from calling their religion Islam, their places of worship mosques, making the call for prayer “Adhaan” or even making the most basic proclamation of faith which states that “God is One and Mohammad is His messenger”. In an arrogant gesture, the government tried to erase all Muslim words and phrases from Ahmadi lexicon which were built into the soul and daily life of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

General Zia ul Haq (left), a public flogging during his reign (right), Ahmadis were persecuted even more during Haq's rule.

While I have been greeted many times in America by non-Muslims with the words “Assalamo Alaikum” (may peace be with you), as an Ahmadi Muslim one can be thrown in jail for using the same greeting in Pakistan.

There are hundreds of Ahmadi Muslims languishing in jails for the crime of sending peace to their fellow Muslims. On a daily basis Ahmadi Muslims face discrimination in jobs, schools and military for the crime of believing in the Messiah.

This state sanctioned persecution has encouraged the fanatic elements in the Pakistani society to make the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community a constant target of threats and attacks. Target killing of community leaders and attacks on Ahmadiyya mosques have become a norm and rarely attracts attention or condemnation from the government. These fanatic elements encourage and incite masses to kill Ahmadis, in plain sight on state sanctioned events and in media. Driving through the main roads of Lahore, a culturally bustling city, one can see banners and graffiti on the walls with incendiary slogans against Ahmadis.

The brutal attacks and massacre in two Ahmadiyya mosques on May 28^th are a culmination of years of government policies and an insincere, half hearted effort to control the extremist elements in Pakistan. This heinous attack by Pakistani Taliban has resulted in the death of 95 Ahmadis, while more than 150 are critically injured. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community strictly follows the policy of “Love for All, Hatred for None”. Unlike other religious groups, Ahmadis will not retaliate, they will not raise arms, and they will not come out on the streets to protest or destroy public property. Their 120 year history is filled with patience, tolerance, and non violence. These brutal attacks have however, raised some questions.

How can Ahmadis trust the motives of Pakistan government with the above track record? How can any minority feel protected in a state that has seen Ahmadis literally thrown under the bus over and over again? How can any Pakistani citizen sleep soundly at night with a corrupt government in charge? And how can we Americans trust the motives and sincerity of Pakistan as an ally in this war on terrorism?

- Op-Ed Article Contributed By: Aziza Faruqi