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Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo Mainstream Muslims’ Misconceptions of Islam Versus Ahmadi Muslim Revivalist Thoughts (3) Misconceptions of Socio-religious Doctrines and Concepts [A] Mainstream Muslims’ Misconceptions of Islamic Jihad The belief and practice of conversion of the whole humanity and the establishment of Islamic states in the world through the use of force and violence is a deep-rooted and widespread agenda in the contemporary mainstream Muslim world. Muhammad Abdussalam Faraj, citing authority of the medieval Muslim scholar, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, declared that: “the saying of the Prophet: “I have been sent with the sword”, means that Allah sent him for the call of Tawheed of Allaah by the sword after his call for it by evidence. Sowhoever does not accept the call of tawheed (the Oneness of Allaah)by the Quran, evidence and eloquence, he will be called by thesword.” [41] Similarly, Maududi insists that ‘Anyone who wants to uproot mischief and disorder from the world and wants to reform mankind should realize that he cannot do so by mere sermonizing and counseling. It is useless. He should rise against the government of false principles, he should seize power, remove the wrongdoers from author and set up a government based on sound principles and just administration.’[42] Again, he declared that ‘If their Islamic state has power and resources it will fight and destroy non-Islamic government and establish Islamic states in their place.’ [43] Ahmadi Muslim Revivalist Thought Ahmadi thought opines that the philosophy and true nature of Jihad is a matter both complex and subtle. Grave errors have been made both in our age and in the middle age [of Islam]because people failed to understand the subject. [44] The Holy Quran clearly forbids the use of force for the spread of the faith and directs its propagation through its inherent qualities and good example of the Muslims. It maintains that people should not be misled by the notion that in the beginning the Muslims were commanded to take up the sword. That sword was not taken up for the spread of the faith, but in self-defence against the enemies of Islam and for the purpose of establishing peace and security. It was no part of the purpose of taking it up to have recourse to coercion in the matter of faith. [45] Ahmadi thought builds this position on various Qur’ānic verses among which is the verse that provides Muslims with the rationale and permission to fight in defense of the faith and freedom of religion and worship: “Permission to fight is given to those against whom war is made, because they have been wronged and Allah indeed has power to help them. Those who jave been driven out of their homes unjustly only because they say our Lord is Allah. And if Allah did not repel some people by means of others, there would surely have been destroyed clusters and churches and synagogues and mosques. (Q. 22: 40-41) It further maintains that, because the conditions for the Jihad with the sword do not currently exist, the Jihad with the sword is not permissible these days. [46] This is constructed on the conviction that swords can win territories but not hearts; force can bend heads but not minds. [47] [B] Mainstream Muslims’ Misconceptions of Ideal Martyrdom in Islam Another Islamic doctrine that has been subjected to such extremist re-interpretation and radically applied is the concept of martyrdom in Islam. This is evidenced by the so-called contemporary radical Islamist-Jihadists’ martyrdom operations or suicide terrorism, or the erroneously tagged ‘Islamic martyrdom’ achieved through the various terrorist groups and operations, internal civil wars or inter-state political wars being engaged in by some Muslim individuals, groups and governments in the name of Islam. This has come as a result of a major reinterpretation of the theological basis and religious law on martyrdom and the military jihad advanced by Shi’ite theologians and jurists in Iraq and Iran between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s.” Prominent among such Shia scholars were Ayatollah Taleqani, Dr. Ali Shariati, Nimatollah Salihi Najaf-abadi, Ayatollah Khomeini. Particularly, having invented a typology of Imam Husain’s martyrdom, which they re-interpreted as a self-imposed kind of martyrdom, they therefore went ahead to propound a new concept of martyrdom which sanctions self-annihilation, a suicide martyrdom which does not see martyrdom as shahadah i.e. a death unjustly and violently inflicted upon Muslim faithful by their opponents, but, as istishhadah i.e. one which Muslims personally desire for themselves as an expression of self-sacrifice for the cause of the faith. [48] Ahmadi Muslim Revivalist Thought Ahmadi thought redefined the pristine meaning of a true Islamic martyr or Shaheed “as the person who attains the power of steadfastness and resolve from God, that no upheaval or shock can shake him or move him from his stand. He bravely faces adversities and difficulties to the point that if, just for the sake of God, he has to give his life, then, he is given extraordinary resolve, and ever prepared to presents his head without any sorrow or disappointment. [49] In this light, it is thus obvious that the fundamentally true and ideal Islamic martyrdom as sanctioned by the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet is the one which is attained principally as a result of peaceful profession of, adherence to and advocacy for one’s faith in Allah; conditionally, because one is engaging in struggle [jihad] to defend the cause of Allah; and objectively, because one desires to establish the supremacy of the Word of Allah on earth. Thus, Ahmadis safely conclude with conviction that there is no valid Quranic and Prophetic evidence which provide sanction and justification for conceiving or depicting as fundamentally Islamic martyrdom: (1) the deaths of Muslim soldiers, rebels and insurgents who fall in the course of political wars waged for gaining political power or other worldly objectives; (2) the martyrdom operations or suicide terrorism being perpetrated by various so-called Muslim Jihadist/Islamist groups of Al-Qaida or the ISIS or Al-Shabbaab and Boko Haram etc. Furthermore, Ahmadi thought insists that, although

Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo Mainstream Muslims’ Misconceptions of Islam Versus Ahmadi Muslim Revivalist Thoughts (2) Misconceptions in Islamic legal-religious doctrines and laws [A] Mainstream Muslims’ Misconceptions about Freedom of Belief and Apostasy Widespread and deep-rooted misinterpretations of Islamic teachings on freedom of belief and conscience and Islamic attitude to apostasy abound in the mainstream Muslim thought. For example, Abul Ala Maududi declared that, ‘In our domain we neither allow any Muslim to change his religion nor allow any other religion to propagate its faith’.[23] The Quranic ordinance that ‘there shall be no compulsion in religion’ is explained away as ‘This means we do not compel anyone to embrace our religion. This is true. But we must warn anyone who wishes to recant that this door is impassable to free traffic. If you wish to come, do so with the firm decision that you cannot escape’. [24] As for the penal law for apostasy, mainstream Muslim jurists, like Abdul Qader ‘Oudah, in his Criminal Law of Islam, maintain that there are two punishments of apostasy: the one is primary punishment which is death penalty and the other is subsidiary which is the confiscation of property. [25] Maududi further elaborates that there are only two methods of dealing with an apostate. Either make him an outlaw by depriving him of his citizenship and allowing him mere existence, or end his life. The first method is definitely more severe than the second, because he exists in a state in which ‘he neither lives nor dies’. Killing him is preferable. That way both his agony and the agony of society are ended simultaneously. [26] Ahmadi Muslim Revivalist Thought Ahmadi thought re-states Islamic provision and advocacy for freedom of belief and conscience and maintains that Islam does not prescribe any physical punishment for apostasy. The punishment for apostasy lies in the hand of God Almighty, against Whom the offence has been committed. Apostasy, which is not aggravated by some other crime, is not punishable in this world. [27] According to this thought, Surah Al-kafirun, revealed in the early period of the Prophet’s [saw] ministry, is a direct statement of policy on the subject of freedom of conscience. The Prophet [saw] was asked to tell unbelievers there was absolutely no meeting-point between their way of life and his. As they were in complete disagreement, not only with regard to the basic concepts of religion, but also with regard to its details and other aspects, there could not possibly be any compromise between them. Hence, ‘For you, your religion, for me, my religion. [Q. 109:7] Similarly, the first Medinite Surah, Al-Baqarah, in its 257th verse, also declared in the clearest pronouncement on the subject of freedom of conscience thus: ‘There shall be no compulsion in religion. Surely guidance has become distinct from error. [28] Again, freedom of conversion is the acid test of ‘no compulsion in religion’. It cannot be a one-way freedom – the freedom to enter Islam, but not to leave it. There are ten direct references to recantation in the Quran: one in the Meccan Surah of Al-Nahl and the remaining nine in the Medinite Surahs. In none of these verses is there the slightest hint of capital punishment for those who recant. [29] Another reference is in Al-Nisa verse 138. It says: Those who believe then disbelieve, then believe again, then disbelieve and then increase in their disbelief will never be forgiven by Allah, nor will He guide them to the way.’ A recanter cannot enjoy the repeated luxury of believing and disbelieving if the punishment is death! [30] Furthermore, Ahmadi thought re-emphasize the Qur’ānic declarations that: “And say, ‘It is the truth from your Lord. Wherefore, let him who will, believe, and let him who will, disbelieve.” (Q. 18:30) Again, “And if your Lord had enforced His will, surely, all who are on the earth would have believed together. Will you, then, force men to become believers? (Q. 10:100) Ahmadi thought also carefully examined the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet [saw] and found no capital penalty for conversion from Islam to have been meted out by the Prophet [saw]. [31] [B] Mainstream Muslims’ Misconceptions about Islamic Law of Blasphemy It is true that Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (ra) (d.728/1328) strongly believed and adduced painstaking evidences to prove that the punishment from Sabb Allah wa Sabb al- Rasul (blasphemy) was death, and this view was shared by the Maliki jurist, Qadi ‘Iyad al-Yahsabi (d.544/1149) [32] Our modern era has also seen how the committal of blasphemy has found Muslims from East to West, campaigning for death or corporal punishment to be meted out for its offenders.[33] Consequently, a number of modern Muslim states and scholars have thus prescribed death penalty for blasphemy. Ahmadi Muslim Revivalist Thought Ahmadi Thought maintains that although blasphemy is condemned on moral and ethical grounds, no doubt, and it has been mentioned not less than five times in the Holy Quran [4; ; 4: ;6: ; 18: ; 63: ] but no physical punishment is prescribed for blasphemy in Islam despite the commonly held view in the contemporary world. [34] The cases of Ka’b bin Zuhayr and Ibn Zaba’ra are good examples. Both of them were gifted poets who composed satires against the Holy Prophet. [35] Similarly, the case of blasphemy committed by Abdullah bin Ubayy has been mentioned in the Quran [63:9]. In all the above cases, however, no physical punishment have been recorded against them, rather, they were all forgiven by the Holy Prophet. [36] In fact, the orthodox Qur’anic pronouncement on the punishment for blasphemers is clearly stated: “Verily, those who malign Allāh and His Messenger – Allah has cursed them in this world and in the Hereafter, and has prepared for them an abasing punishment.” (Q. 33:57-58). Thus, as to how the Holy Prophet and his followers should react to blasphemy, a number of Qur’anic verses stipulate bearing blasphemy with patience, adopting boycott as a protest against blasphemers or a gathering of persons where blasphemy is

Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo Introduction Taking a look at the trajectory of Islam, a phenomenal experience evident throughout the centuries of Muslim history is the fact that, the farther Muslims moved away from the time of the classical era of the Prophet [saw] and the Righteous Caliphs, and the wider Islam became spread in the world and Muslims came in contact with foreign peoples, religions, cultures, civilizations and novel challenges, the more they faced challenges in their conception, interpretation and, ultimately, application of Islam in response to the emerging cosmic challenges. As a result, over the past centuries, Islam has been existentially made to pass through various periods of historical formation, deformation and reformation, of misinterpretation and re-interpretation, of decline and revival, and of deconstruction and reconstruction. Instructively, however, the unprecedented phenomenal proportion in which it has been, and is being, subjected to misconceptions and misinterpretations at the hands of some of its adherents and detractors alike in our modern and postmodern times calls for critical reassessment and, of course, reinterpretation and restatement. This piece attempts an analytical assessment of some of the misconceptions and misinterpretations of Islam in the modern time vis-à-vis the contemporary Ahmadi Islamic revivalist thought and ideology. Islam – Foundational Basis and Historical Formation Islam emerged on the global scene in the seventh century A.D. as a world religion [Quran, 25: 2] and a recrystalization of the ancient Mesopotamian and Abrahamic family of religious traditions. [Quran, 5: 16, 49; 22:79] It proclaimed a mission that seeks to actualize what it christened as ihyaa al-ardh ba’da mautihaa i.e. a revolutionary renaissance of the cosmos, of all ramifications of human intellectual, religious, social, economic and political existence [Quran, 57: 18]. Likewise, it envisions a globalization of the world order of Allah on earth [Quran, 61: 10], as well as, a realization of both terrestrial and celestial paradisiacal existence for the human race [Quran, 55: 47]. Recognizing the weak nature inherent in humanity [Quran, 4: 29], Islam set about to explain and guide mankind to the best course of human life, history and destiny [Quran, 4: 27]. Muhammad bin Abdullah (saw), the Holy Prophet of Islam, who is represented as the Seal of the Prophets [Quran, 33: 41], is the recipient of the Holy Quran [Quran, 25:2], the Divine Scripture of Islam, which embodies the fundamentals and details of the theological teachings, the legal doctrines and legislations, as well as, the socio-political and economic principles and systems of Islam [Quran, 16: 90]. In the 23-year span of his prophetic mission at Makkah and Medinah, Muhammad [saw], through his Sunnah [Practice], proffered divinely-sanctioned model prophetic conceptions, interpretations and applications of the Quranic teachings and worldview for the Muslims [Quran, 33: 22]. Thus, consensus exists that all the theological, theosophical, jurisprudential and ideological foundations of Islam are based on Divine Scriptural and Prophetic sources that are not only logical, reasonable and rational, but are also simple, humane, comprehensive, universal, realistic and responsive to the requirements of human and cosmic needs and demands. Based on this perspective, both the Quranic and Sunnatic conceptions and interpretations of the Divine Will and Commandments therefore serve as both the primary and secondary bases, the benchmarks, against which the correctness or otherwise of any human future conception and interpretation of Islam will always have to be judged. Consequently, at the culmination of the ministry of Muhammad [saw], the Quran proclaimed the perfection of the Islamic religion, and the completion of the Divine providence upon the Muslim world [Quran, 5:4]. Notwithstanding, however, alongside this proclamation exists the various predictions about: [1] the future misconceptions, misinterpretations and misapplications that would bedevil Islam, reducing it to a nominal existence [1], on the one hand, and on the other hand, [2] the emergence of divine religious reformers at the head of every century [2], and ultimately, the coming of the Imam Mahdi and the Promised Messiah for the global renaissance of Islam and the Muslim world of the end times. [3] Leveraging on the available commonwealth of the perfect conceptions and interpretations of Islam given by the Holy Prophet of Islam, the early Muslim caliphates, first the Arabs, then the Persians and later the Turks set about to interfere in human history and create classical Islamic civilization. Later, in the 13th century, both Africa and India became great centers of Islamic civilization and soon thereafter Muslim kingdoms were established in the Malay Indonesian world while Chinese Muslims flourished throughout china. However, by the nineteenth century – which we may view as virtually signaling the spatio-temporal rise of modernity – a global eclipse had dawned upon the global Muslim religion and civilization as a result of the misconceptions and misinterpretations with which Muslims and others have bedeviled Islam. What are those misconceptions and misinterpretations? Any resurgence or renaissance after the eclipse? ……..to be continued.

Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo To the Muslim children, those modern psychologists who say that the ages from 9 to 21 years are the most fertile periods for memorizing things and during which the memory can effectively keep the information, have said nothing but the truth. For, this is what they could prove by way of their experience which they have been able to get through the act of memorizing the Holy Qur’an. While both the young and old ones from among the Christians, the Hindus, and the Zoroastrians etc. have been unsuccessful to learn the entire texts of their respective Scriptures by hearts, it is a matter of fact that many Muslim children right from the earliest periods of Islam have memorized the Qur’an with ease at an age as low as 9 years. Indeed there have been hundreds of thousands of such children memorizers of the Qur’an while the number keeps on increasing every day. In fact, as Hazrat Mirza Bashirudeen Mahmūd Ahmad (ra) noted in his Introduction to the Study of the Holy Qur’ān, it is only among Muslim communities you would find that even “children who were born blind or who lose their sight during infancy are encouraged to commit the Qur’an to memory. This is done out of a feeling that as a blind person is not competent to adopt a normal occupation he can turn his handicap to account by becoming a guardian of the text of the Qur’an.” I see it worthwhile to relate here the story of ‘Amr bin Salama (ra) and the wonderful situation through which he committed the Qur’an to memory. Amr bin Salam was a young boy who lived during the time of the Holy Prophet (saw) but whose case is that of a little child of 7 years who had memorized large potions from the Qur’an at a time when Islam had not even reached his village and there was no Muslim living there at all, he himself has not accepted the religion at that point in time. One would definitely be interested to know how then he was able to learn the Qur’an by heart. Below is how ‘Amr himself told the story. He relates thus: “We were at a place which was a thoroughfare for the people, and the caravans used to pass by us and we would ask them, “What is wrong with the people? Who is that man?” They would say, “That man claims that Allah has sent him (as a Messenger), that he has been inspired divinely, that Allah has revealed to him such-and-such.” I used to memorized that (Divine) Talk, and feel as if it was inculcated in my chest. The Arabs (other than Quraish) delayed their conversion to Islam till the Conquest (of Makka). They used to say, “leave him (i.e. Muhammad (saw) and his people Quraish: if he overpowers them then he is a true Prophet.” So, when Makkah was conquered, every tribe rushed to embrace Islam, and my father hurried to embrace Islam before (the other members of) my tribe. When my father returned from the Prophet (saw) to his tribe, he said, ‘By Allah, I have come to you from the Prophet (saw) for sure!” The Prophet (saw)afterward said to them, ‘Offer such and such Salat (prayer) at such and such time, and when the time for the Salat (prayer) becomes due, then one of you should pronounce the Adhan [for the Salat (prayer)], and let the one amongst you who knows Qur’an most, lead the Salat (prayer).” So they look for such a person and found none who knew more Qur’an than I because of the Qur’anic material which I used to learn from the caravans. They therefore made me their Imam to lead the Salat (prayer) and at that time I was a boy of six or seven years, wearing a Burda (i.e. a black square garment) proved to be very short for me and my body became partly naked. A lady from the tribe said, ‘Won’t you cover the buttocks of your reciter for us?” So they bought (a piece of cloth) and made a shirt for me. I had never been so happy with anything before as I was with that shirt.” Truly, if the act of committing the entire Qur’an to memory is one of those distinctive glories of Muslims that make them and their Holy Scripture to be so unique among all other peoples and scriptures, then those among Muslim children who have memorized the entire Qur’an are indeed the very pride of Islam and the Qur’an because of the glory, the blessings and the good fortune which they have got. Similarly, if it is the will of Allah that the Qur’an be preserved till the Day of Judgment through the process of committing its entire text to memory by Muslims, then again, those among Muslim children who have been able to achieve Tahfiz-ul-Qur’an in their life are, in fact, the very pride of Allah the Most Exalted because they have used their talent, time and lives to fulfill the will of Allah in this world. Indeed such Muslim children are the delight of their parents and their future glory. They are the joy of their life and the satisfaction of their souls. And such children would indeed grow up to become the champions of Islam. Having embellished their childhood with the light of the Qur’an, they would certainly grow up to be the inheritors of the legacy of the Prophets and so become the successful and the prosperous. Culled from p. 35-37 of my book titled: Memorization of the Holy Quran: Merits and Methods