A Vote a Day Keeps the Ahmedi Away By Yasser Latif Hamdani 12 Sep, 2011 What I can gather from

the Ahmedis now is that, while they consider the treatmen t meted out to them as unjust and immoral, they are willing to go about their li ves if they are allowed to do so with dignity and the freedom to live their live s according to their own rights As if widespread kidnappings and deteriorating law, order and sanitation were no t enough, the Khadim-e-Aala-led Punjab government, on September 7, allowed yet a gain a large mass of Ulema to gather in and terrorise the Ahmedi community in Ra bwah officially known as Chenab Nagar lest we recognise that those forced non-Mu slims may also worship the same god. Surprisingly, and mercifully, the Punjab po lice managed to maintain law and order despite a rather unflattering reputation. Consider that, if you Google the terms police and clueless worldwide, the first 10 or so links are related to the Punjab police and its bloopers. Amazingly, the Ah medis are not allowed to organise their own ijtimaas (gatherings) at any time du ring the year. Another interesting fact about Rabwah is that, despite being heavily populated b y the Ahmedi community, it has invariably been electing non-Ahmedi legislators f or both provincial and federal legislatures since 1985 because the state has sys tematically disenfranchised them. This is because, from 1985 to 2001, elections were held on the basis of an unfair separate electorate system designed to margi nalise minorities, which defeated the purpose of separate electorates in the fir st place. Ahmedis refused to be recognised separately from Muslims a position ba sed on their own opposition to the non-Muslim tag forced upon them. In 2002, Gen eral Musharraf restored the joint electorate system but the irony is, that while Shias, Sunnis, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, etc, were put on one general list, a supplementary non-Muslim list was prepared for the Ahmedis in particular. In ot her words, only the Ahmedis are, for purposes of voting, non-Muslims. This is ab surd on so many levels, not the least of which is the fact that Jinnah, the foun ding father, had on several occasions refused to give in to the calls by right w ing fanatics to expel the Ahmedis from the League. Even the classic consociation alist counterpoise that was the Two Nation Theory prescribed a test of nationali ty based on cultural and social distinctions between Hindus and Muslims such as names, cultural holidays, language, historical imagination and certainly not per sonal religious beliefs, which would have served to divide Muslims doctrinally. It was on this basis that the Muslim League laid claim to Qadian as a Muslim hol y place both as a counterblast to Nankana Sahib and to argue that Gurdaspur shou ld fall in Pakistan. Incidentally, Gurdaspur that sob story we are all taught as kids was Muslim majority only if you counted those Qadianis as Muslims. However, from what I can gather from the Ahmedis now is that, while they conside r the treatment meted out to them as unjust and immoral, they are willing to go about their lives if they are allowed to do so with dignity and the freedom to l ive their lives according to their own rights. The community as a whole is law a biding and constitutional in its approach. So, for example, when our courts deci ded that the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 did not apply to them, they set up their own family arbitration councils. The state forbids them from calling thei r places of worship mosques and they oblige. So what then is the fear that our r eligious priestly class has in allowing them to vote like the rest of us? Their numbers, though significant, are not nearly enough to overturn the 1974 amendmen t.

The class component in this marginalisation cannot be ignored. As far as I know, Ahmedis, by and large, are part of the middle class. A great number of them are educated but socially conservative. They thus have the same concerns as any oth er member of the middle class in this country, i.e. the economy, corruption, opp ortunities and a better life. So who precisely would gain and who would lose if they were to vote in the elections? The mullahs can rest easy because Ahmedis ju st do not have the numbers to overturn the institutionalised discrimination agai nst them. They do have the numbers however to upset the biradari and feudal poli tics in places like Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The idea of Ahmedis voting sc ares our entrenched status quo politicians who balk at any mention of the middle class, corruption, justice, etc. Many Ahmedis I have spoken to admire Imran Khan as an honest and fair man. His s tated agenda of a fair and just society based on justice appeals to them and man y of them, if they were free to vote, would vote for him. Consider: according to the BBC, in the 2002 elections, the Ahmedis of voting age in Pakistan numbered between two and three million, when the total number of votes then was less than 30 million -you do the math. Ahmedis can afford to remain aloof from the electo ral process but can Pakistan afford to keep them out? The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore. Source: The Daily Times, Lahore URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamAndSectarianism_1.aspx?ArticleID =5519

Forward to a friend

Print

COMMENTS 9/21/2011 3:13:27 PM Ghulam Mohiyuddin "In 2002, General Musharraf restored the joint electorate system but the irony i s, that while Shias, Sunnis, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, etc, were put on one general list, a supplementary non-Muslim list was prepared for the Ahmedis in part icular. In other words, only the Ahmedis are, for purposes of voting, non-Muslim s." This is both shameful and ridiculous. When will sanity be restored to Pakistan? When will they get over their despicable Ahmadi-bashing?

9/20/2011 11:47:13 PM mohammed yunus In an audaciously dramatic assumption of divine authority, the Pakistan parliame nt back in 1974 passed a constitution amendment redefining a Muslim by adding th e Quranic pronouncement on our Prophets status as the seal of Prophets or the last among the Prophets (33:40). Having done, that they inferred that since the Ahma dis did not subscribe to this additional tenet of faith, they lose their religio us identity as Muslims! This raises a fundamental question: Can a core tenet of faith, such as definitio n of a muslim be altered by consensus (shura)? Here is a list of the Quranic pronou ncements with logical commentaries that answer this question loud and clear. (Gods reward is) for those who believe and put their trust in their Lord (42:36), a nd who avoid grave sins and abominations and forgive (even) when they are angere

d (42:37), who respond to their Lord, keep up prayer, (conduct) their affairs by mutual consultation (shura), and spend (in charity) of what We have given them ( 42:38). The prohibition of grave sins and abominable deeds in the verse 42:37 limits the role of mutual consultation or consensus: it cannot justify a grave sin such as questioning one of the fundamental dicta of the Quran. Now let us look at these verses: Indeed! Whoever commits (asslama) his whole being [lit., face] to God, and does g ood deeds - will get his reward from his Lord. There will be no fear upon them n or shall they grieve. (2:112). And who can be better in religion (din) than the one who orients (asslama) his wh ole being [Lit., face] to God, and does good deeds, and follows the way of Abrah am, the upright one, and God took Abraham as a friend (4:125). And who is finer in speech than the one who invites to God, does good deeds and s ays: I am of those who submit to God (muslimun) (41:33). These verses demonstrate that in Quranic perspective, anyone who submits to, or o rients himself/herself to One God regardless of religion, and does good deeds is a Muslim. Some of the Quranic verses categorically refer to the posterity and by inference, the followers of the past Prophets as muslimun. When his Lord said to him (Abraham), Submit (aslim), he said, I submit (aslamtu) to the Lord of the worlds. Abraham enjoined his sons to do so, as did Jacob: O my so ns, God has chosen the religion (din) for you; so you should not die unless you have submitted (muslimun). Were you witnesses when death came to Jacob? He said to his sons, What will you serve after I am gone? They said, We will serve your God ; the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac - the One God; and to Him we have truly submitted (muslimun) (2:131-133). They say, become Jews or Christians and you will be guided. You say, (Ours is) the creed of Abraham, who was truly devoted to God, and did not associate anything with Him (2:135). You say, We believe in God, and in what was revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isac, Jacob, and the Tribes and what is given to Moses and Jesus and to the Prophets from their Lord, and We make no dis tinction between any of them and we have truly submitted (muslimun) (2:136). [See also 3:52, 3:64, 3:80, 3:83, 28:53] Thus the said Quranic amendment purports to add a clause or alter the Quranic def inition of a Muslim in both its generic and specific sense. In the course of the revelation (610-632), there were moments when the Quraysh p ut enormous pressure on the Prophet to alter some wordings or contents of the re velation. This is how God spoke to the Prophet on the matter: If he [Muhammad] attributed to Us anything other than what is said (baad al aqawil ) (69:44), We would seize him by the right hand (45), then We would sever his ao rta (46) and none of you could prevent it (69:47). On the matter of its textual integrity, the Quran declares: The Words of your Lord will be fulfilled truthfully and justly: none can change His Words, for He is All-Knowing and Aware (6:115). Surely We have sent down this Reminder, and surely. We will protect (preserve) it (15:9). [See also verses 6:34, 18:27, 41:42.]

Conclusion: The author may only say, that were Allama Iqbal to come alive today, he may readily recall this poetic imagery of his epic poem, taswire dard: zamin kiy a asmaan bhi teri kajbini pe rota hai - ghathab hai satre Quran ko chalipa kar di ya too nein [What to speak of this world, even the heavens cry at the crookedness of your sight It is a curse that you have distorted the lines of the Quran.] Given the growing violence and sectarian fragmentation in Islam, it is high time for its Parliament to revoke the clause redefining a Muslim, before it may be f orced into it by the Brother or historical realities. The writer, of course, is not an Ahmadi/ qadyani, but he does not have the audacity to think of them as a non-Muslim.