Thanks but no thanks Mr. Murray

Douglas Murray - Image from bbc website

In the aftermath of the horrendous and barbaric attacks in France in recent weeks, many Muslims turned out in their numbers to attend church services across France and Italy. This made headlines.

Muslims attending Mass in Rome. Image from Massimo Percossi—EPA

Not known for his impartiality or balanced opinion, Douglas Murray has issued what appears to be a deeply cynical take on these news stories.

He has a theory. A conspiracy theory.

He thinks that there is a media conspiracy to push a positive, feel-good story about Muslims soon after the horrors of the latest ISIS inspired episode have been covered on a 24/7 loop by all news channels. He also seems to imply that somehow Ahmadi Muslims, a small sect founded in 19^th century India and rejected by the mainstream Muslims are in on this conspiracy.

I don’t exactly know what compels news outlets to crave for a 'positive Muslim story'.

In this Orwellian dystopia, as Murray imagines it to be, is it for the sake of the sanity of a society at the brink of mental breakdown? Or is it the ratings? Keeping the hit counts growing and message boards and phone lines busy with anguished contributors trying to make sense of things in line with their personal worldviews? It could be a deliberate attempt to engineer public opinion – to keep it just left of the fascist scale, but enough to keep the white working-class scared with a slight tinge of hope to keep them going with their daily lives?

These are mainstream Sunni Muslims.

 

But Murray's conspiracy theory is more fantastic than that. He thinks that the media and the marginalized Ahmadiyya Muslims are in-fact masquerading these feel-good stories to keep the public dis-informed about the irredeemable evils of the Islamic religion; to hoodwink them into believing in the so-called ‘religion or peace’ narrative so that they can sleep walk into a Europe ruled by Sharia law with mosques at every street corner.

Murray's latest post is a masterpiece of shameless obfuscation of plain facts. French and Italian Muslims attending Mass to show solidarity with Christians was not an engineered story. It was plain to see from the news coverage that Muslims belonging to various groups, sects and organizations were represented at many churches, including the Ahmadiyya Muslims who appear to have attended a church event with their famous banner stating Love for All, Hatred for None.  

Ahmadi Muslims pay their respects outside a Church. Image courtesy JACKY NAEGELENREUTERS

Murray doesn’t want to believe that mainstream Islam has any redeeming features and in his recent posts has highlighted that only the marginalized, persecuted and rejected Ahmadiyya sect is the only source of positive news stories about Islam.

As an Ahmadi Muslim, I couldn’t disagree more.  It is true that Ahmadi Muslims have been at the forefront of this battle against bigotry of extremist Islamophobes as well as the militant Islamists. But there are Muslim groups in the western world, representing the mainstream Sunni and Shia sects who do respond to such tragedies with gestures of solidarity and goodwill. They may be small in numbers now, but this is a good sign of things to come.

For example, in France, the call to solidarity was led by CFCM, the French equivalent of the MCB. The BBC news story, of which Murray is so critical, shows a number of photographs with Imams belonging to mainly Sunni sects clearly.

I know the garbs, headdresses and other distinctive features of Sunni Imams, something of which Murray may not be cognizant. If I was commenting on various Islamic sects and there validity in the public discourse, I would take care to find out more about their distinctive features. White round hats, conical Qaraqul caps, long gowns, long beards, short beards, black turbans; you can distinguish between various denominations if you know what you are looking at. And if you see all of these turbans, gowns and beards in a news story, from across the European continent, it is not a media conspiracy, but a true show of humanity and solidarity.

Ahmadi Muslims are only a tiny minority in France and it appears that they did attend a service. They would have attended regardless of CFCM appeal, but that is beside the point.

Murray says that Ahmadiyya efforts in reaching out to the wider European community are meaningless as they are shunned and dismissed by the rest. Nothing could be further from the truth.

They say that mimicry is the best form of flattery. You can see that mainstream Muslim sects are adopting the Ahmadiyya ways of dialogue and social intercourse which has been missing in the past.

In Britain, more and more progressive Imams are visible in the media and are challenging the orthodox positions on many subjects. It is also true that the traditionalists and literalists still hold sway in most communities, especially the ghettoized ones. But you can’t ignore the fact that Ahmadiyya Muslims have paved way to some reform in the Muslim communities across Europe.

Not long ago, hardly any cleric in any of the Sunni or Shia mosques in Europe would have dared to denounce the violent interpretation of Jihad. Ahmadis have been branded as ‘deniers of Jihad’ by the orthodoxy since their sect was founded in 1889.  It was because their interpretation of the Quranic verses differed from the misguided political definition of Jihad. To them Jihad is not an armed rebellion, but a struggle, a long and personal journey to find God.

Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V, Mirza Masroor Ahamd. A champion for peace and Caliph of the Ahmadiya Muslim Community.

I am happy to see that those clerics and Imams who traditionally reject the Ahmadiyya message of reform are accepting this very same definition. They may be hesitant to admit to it, but they are reforming themselves, very slowly.

Mr. Murray should be happy too. But unfortunately he has chosen to believe in a bigoted view of history. He sees Islam and the message of the Quran as the problem. While he praises the Ahmadiyya Muslims, he ignores the fact that Ahmadis do believe in the Quran as the literal word of God and they do believe that Muhammad, the Prophet was a perfect exemplar for all of mankind.

Mr. Murray, please don’t use Ahmadi shoulders to shoot your Islamophobic gun. We are doing fine without your support.

And if you so wish to find out what an Ahmadi Imam looks like, come visit us at the Jalsa Salana UK,  12-14th  August. It is our 50th annual convention in the UK with over 30,000 guests anticipated to attend for three days.  There will be many Ahmadi Imams in attendance from all around the world, including a contingent from France who will be happy to educate you about Islam and the Ahmadiyya reform efforts.

 

Over 30,000 Ahmadi Muslims attend #JalsaUK at Alton, Hampshire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#JalsaUK

The 46th annual convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, UK took place between 7-9 of September, 2012. It happens every summer. Every year, for three days around 30,000 delegates converge in a large Hampshire farm, called Hadeeqat-ul-Mahdi. These delegates comprised of more than 80 nationalities this year, but the largest contingent to this Jalsa comes from Pakistan. Majority of British Ahmadis are also of Pakistani origin most of whom have immigrated not for economic reasons, but to escape persecution in Pakistan.

46th Jalsa Salana UK, which is held near Alton, Hampshire.

Around 30,000 men, women and children from 88 different countries were in attendance this year

This year's Jalsa Salana went as planned. There were speeches from scholars, messages from the PM and the leader of the opposition, a couple of MPs also addressed the gathering. But people come to the Jalsa to listen to something much more important than any of these speakers. They make the journey to be in the presence of their spiritual guide, the Khalifatul Masih V, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. When he arrives at the main Marquee the whole place erupts for a few minutes in slogans from his devoted followers. When he takes his seat, the whole crowd falls silent, eagerly waiting for him to speak. Their attention never wanes, their sights fixed at the stage in devotion and respect. 'They love their Khalifa' is an observation often heard by external visitors to the Jalsa.

Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V

This year saw another expression of this love. Every time the Khalifatul Masih started to speak, #JalsaUK started to trend on Twitter in Pakistan. For the first two days, it trended for a few hours. Also followed by Germany and Canada. On the third day, #JalsaUK was trending in Pakistan for the whole afternoon. And it stayed at number 2 spot for almost the whole evening. Scrolling through the messages you could read the desperate longing in the messages. A longing to be at the Jalsa Salana; a sense of loss and helplessness. Something that Pakistani Ahmadis have felt constantly after the promulgation of draconian Ordinance XX in 1984 by General Zia, which forced the Khalifatul Masih IV to leave the country. In 1983, close to 250,000 had attended the Jalsa Salana at Rabwah. No Jalsa Salana has been held there since then. It has been banned under the law in addition to many other basic human rights for Ahmadis. 

The generation of Ahmadis tweeting their messages at this Jalsa has not seen a Jalsa Salana. They have only heard of its stories through their parents and elders. When they see their Khalifa meeting their fellow Ahmadis in Africa, North America and Europe in their annual conventions, the feeling of being persecuted multiplies manifolds.



#JalsaUK trending at #7 in Pakistan, 9-Sep-2012. It went upto #2 spot later.

It is important to understand that for Ahmadis, their lives revolve around the institution of Khilafat. The spiritual leadership which has continued after the demise of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the community. Khilafat is nothing new in Islam. Every Muslim knows how important it is for their guidance and unity of the'Ummah'. But that Khilafat was lost long time ago, and ever since all Muslims await the day when Mahdi or Messiah will come to re-establish it. Some are even trying now to elect a Khalifa who can be a central religious and political authority for Muslims all around the world. But for Ahmadis, their Khilafat is already here, because Mahdi and Messiah has already come.

A view of Jalsa Salana in Rabwah, 1983. More than 250,000 people attended.

This twitter trend which was seen on Jalsa days was just another sign of how deeply Ahmadis of Pakistan are attached to the institution of Khilafat. Ahmadis do not partake in street protests or violence and effigy burning to  vent their frustrations. But #JalsaUK was perhaps also a protest of sorts. A protest to remind the 2 million twitter users of Pakistan that a UK based event of little public interest should not be trending in their country. It should have been #JalsaRabwah, where people from all over the world flocked before 1984. Trains and buses laden with the faithful arrived in Rabwah in late December to enjoy the hospitality of its residents. For them, it was a sign of hope for Pakistan which had just suffered yet another coup and its society was to change for the worst.

Banning the Jalsa in Pakistan and making the lives of Ahmadis unbearable is considered as achievement by many in Pakistan.Something that even the ex-Prime Minister celebrated this year. But when the educated, social media savy Pakistanis saw #JalsaUK trend in Pakistan, they did not even bother to take any notice or find its cause. Could it be that one Rao Abdul Ghaffar, an Ahmadi teacher was killed in Karachi, or another Ahmadi gravely wounded in Sindh? Or was it the defacing of many graves in Punjab during the same week? Was it because their mosques are being modified and whitewashed to make sure they do not look like mosques anymore?

When it comes to individual events of brutality and persecution like above, some individual liberals will raise their voice and condemn it. But when it comes to a collective expression of feelings like this, all these liberals kept silent. A couple of them when goaded by Ahmadis on twitter were callous enough to respond negatively. Callousness and lack of respect could explain such behaviour, but more importantly its a lesson for young Ahmadis in Pakistan. No one in Pakistan wants to know how it actually feels to be an Ahmadi in such a country. A country ravaged by religious bigotry, brought to its knees by the same people who persecute Ahmadis, but still a country which fails to feel your pain.

And unless they feel your pain, they will not undo the injustice that has been done to you.

Why British Muslims should wear a Poppy?

War is the greatest injustice mankind can inflict on itself. Unfortunately, not a day has passed for centuries when somewhere and somehow one nation was not at war with the other. It appears that war is a natural state of being for our species. And as we are still learning to attain peace in our world, we sometimes have to take sides in such wars. Especially when our country, nation or way of life is under threat. It also becomes necessary to use moral judgement when taking sides in war. For example, one must not initiate a conflict or show aggression without a just cause. A just cause according to the principles of Islam is to defend one’s life, property, territory and freedom.

90 years ago, the Royal British Legion started to commemorate the war dead of the WW1. The poppy appeal, which collects funds to support war veterans and serving personnel of the British armed forces is in the noble tradition of being grateful for the “sacrifices of a few”. In essence, it is a very Islamic idea fulfilling our duties to be charitable, thankful and loyal to our country.

Many British Muslims do not feel obliged to participate in the appeal. One reason for this could be the fact that NATO contributes to so much misery in the Islamic world. I do not disagree with this criticism of our opportunistic foreign policy based on greed and make-belief sense of moral duty. But Poppy appeal is not to support our politicians or their allies in Brussels and Washington. This fund is to pay our respect to the courage which saved our country and the countries of our fathers twice. These red plastic flowers are not to show the world who was the victor; but to show that we respect our soldiers who risk their life and limb to serve our country. If these poppies are to be taken as a symbol of something more than this, then these are a symbol of defiance against aggression and totalitarian and fascist ideologies.

British Muslims should wear the poppy with pride to show their non-Muslim countrymen that close to 80,000 Muslim soldiers laid down their lives in both world wars. These soldiers were all volunteers who left their homeland to fight in the battlefields of Europe and Africa and died along with their comrades from the commonwealth.

We should wear the poppy with a renewed sense of duty to remind our fellow countrymen about the idea of sacrifice. That one must look for ways to contribute to the peace we have in today’s Britain.

We should wear the poppy with a feeling of gratitude for all the freedoms we have in this country. Freedom to worship, practice and preach our faith; and live without the fear of persecution and discrimination.

We should wear the poppy with a prayer for peace. Ameen

On Iqbal day, 2010

Growing up in Pakistani educational system in the eighties, I was made aware of Allama Iqbal from the first day when I heard "lab pe aati hay dua" being recited in the school. The poem is prayer by a child that God may make his life a guiding light for others. Iqbal teaches the child that he must stand by the poor and help those in need. To be honset, children at school assembley just followed the tune. We had no idea what it meant. This was a generation which will grow up to live the democracy of post-Zia era and post-democracy Musharraf times. And now post-Musharraf democracy. We learnt that our collective lives were not a glowing beacon for people to follow, neither were we a generation to help our nation's poor and downtrodden. Iqbal's first dream is being broken every single day in Pakistan.We have seen enough carnage of racial, sectarian violence, a war in Kashmir, an insurgency in Baluchistan, a mutiny in tribal areas and the rise and further rise of terrorism. We have suffered natural calamaties of Biblical proprotions. Iqbal's prayer, recited by millions of Pakistani children remains unanswered.
During my middle school years, I was told that Iqbal was the person who saw the vision of Pakistan and Quaid e Azam fulfilled his dream. I imagined Iqbal, the wise sage, waking up from his dream in his candle-lit quarters, looking for a piece of paper to write down the description of this Divinely inspired vision. It turned out that this "dream" was a well thought out speech in a political conference, and later explained in a letter to the Daily Times, London. In these days, I became fond of Iqbal and borrowed his poetry books from the library and tried to memorize many of his poems. His Shaheen Momin was my hero, my ideal. His rhetoric of superiority of a praciticing Muslim and his message of revolution was very appeasing to me. At that time, I was also a keen reader of Naseem Hijazi, Barbara Cartland of urdu literature. Except for he was a man, and wrote novels around the glorious Muslim conquests in Middle-East and Europe. The comparison with Barbara Cartland is due to his fixation with just one era and with one aspect of history.
Iqbal's portrait appears in many offices across Pakistan. In many of his protraits, he appears in a contemplative pose with an eagle soaring in the background. The eagle or falcon represents a true Muslim. A soldier of Islam who is proud of his Islamic heritage and superior understanding of the world around him. To us, Iqbal was one of these super-Muslims. How bravely did he stand up to the British and Hindus to guide the Muslims to find their pride and recover their prestige. And Muslims of India did just that by creating Pakistan. I read about Captain Sarwar, Major Aziz Bhatti etc. and thought of them as personifications of Iqbal’s Shaheen. In the 80s, Gen. Zia’s american Jihad was taught in school books. India was always evil, Israel a mortal enemy and Russian was the official language in Hell. Iqbal’s selective poetry in school books, and many religious sunni teachers, no wonder Pakistanis have such a one-sided view of Iqbal.
Then I found Ghalib and Meer. Iqbal’s poetry did not seem as brilliant when I compared them. I discovered in college, that to consider Ghalib better than Iqbal was to confess that you preferred wine and women over your faith. But Ghalib’s poetry agreed with my thoughts more than Iqbal. Ghalib’s honesty and humour had much more to offer than Iqbal’s dry slogans. But when it came to politics, I was still in agreement with Iqbal. Muslims needed the strength of character, the military advantage to win their place in the world. Ghalib was always busy ruing his bad luck and failures. Meer was crying himself to sleep. But Iqbal was challenging the accursed satan himself. He even went as far as questioning God's Wisdom on why Muslims were in decline.
But then I found Faiz. Ghalib had a match. Iqbal was No. 3 in the list. Faiz teaches us to be stubborn in the face of adversity, but he also keeps one foot in the dreamland. He trusts God's Wisdom and accepts that pain and persecution is all a part of our collective experience. He may have been a communist, but his metaphors are more closely connected to the Holy Scriptures than Iqbal's.
What was my reason to demote Iqbal from my list of literary heroes? (He still is on the list.. but somewhere at number 25 or below). I read a comment once that Ghalib resorted to writing Qaseedahs for the British Monarch. I also found a lament Iqbal wrote at the death of Queen Victoria, where he equated the day of her death to Muharram. I have no problems with people writing praises for the Kings and Queens. Both did what they though was right. But Iqbal’s deep study of Greek and modern European philosophy had an impact on his own thinking. He was a student of history, but was not such a great revolutionary as portrayed in the books. He himself denied in a letter that he never wanted a separate homeland for muslims, but was only throwing options to ensure peace in India. I think muslims in India made Iqbal into a celebrity too soon. As soon as he returned after his overseas education, he was treated like a leader. His poetry was lauded as the best in the whole country. But was his phiolsophy as sound as his linguisitic abilities? I find that today, everyone claims Iqbal to be one of them. Secularists love him because he condemned the mullah. Mullah quotes him as he was a Jihadist. Scholars like Ghulam Ahmad Pervez (of Tolu-e-Islam) claim that Iqbal was a rationalist like Sir Syed. Indians revere him, Pakistanis claim the ownership over Iqbal. What was Iqbal? I think, he was a poet, who could never make up his mind.
A freethinker like he was, Iqbal dismissed orthodoxy for most of his life, until he required guidance (or was pushed to seek it) by the Ahrar. In 1935, just three years before his death, Dr. Iqbal felt the urge to oppose the Ahmadiyya Sect, despite his four decades long active relationship with them. His close relatives were Ahmadis. His eldest son, Aftab Iqbal was sent to Qadian to study in the Ahmadiyya boarding school. These last three years of his life, gave Iqbal the popularity among the ultra-orthodox Ahrar, and later Jamaat e Islami and other deobad and even salafi-wahabi movements.
I would like to believe that Iqbal’s vision was a federation of fucntioning muslim provinces who followed rationalist Islamic ideology like his. But who can tell? Our Jihadis find the ailing, angry and vindictive Iqbal more agreeable.