Peshawar bleeds yet again

Today, on 22nd September 2013, around 60 people were killed and over a 100 were injured when two blasts occurred near a church in the Peshawar Kohati's gate area. Many women and children, including a three year old child, also died, and most of them are in a critical condition. 

What was their fault? What possible sin did they commit? What could they possibly have done to deserve something so horrific to happen to them? They were Christians. They were not Muslims. They did not believe what the 'official Muslims' of Pakistan believe in. Their fault is that they exist. Their fault is that they were born in Pakistan, the country which does not believe in the rights of minorities, rather it believes in the right to make their life a living hell. Their fault is that they are helpless. Their fault is that they are basically not Muslims. 

Today once again, the government has failed to provide adequate security to the minorities of Pakistan. Today once again people have died due to their beliefs. Today, children and women, for whom it was just an ordinary Sunday with ordinary church meetings, have died merely because they went to church to practise their beliefs. Now, they'll be returning home without their loved ones. Many of them will be returning to empty homes. But heartbreakingly, many of them will not be returning at all. 

All this commotion, all this haphazardness, all this chaos but the government just sits and does nothing. The government fails to provide adequate security to its minorities. It also fails to prevent hate speech against the minorities, all of them including Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis and Shias. It fails to give them their basic right - the right to live. No one can declare that any minority has been given that basic right, because that would be an outright lie. All the government can do when something like this happens is to fake a sad face, look grim and condemn the attack and demand for the victims to be brought to justice. They won't take any action against any perpetrators, they won't TRY to investigate the incident. Why? Because they're just minorities. 

So I ask the government and the politicians and everyone who just gave a statement condemning the attack - What will condemning the attack do? The victims, they don't need your fake sympathies. They don't need your phony statements about condemnation. They don't need your stupid statements to the press. They need security. They need justice. They need to be assured that this will not happen again. Can you provide it? Can you promise them this won't happen again? How can you when you don't even give a damn what happens to the minorities in Pakistan anyway? As long as no one hurts you and your family, why would you even care?

We demand justice. We demand basic rights to be given to all minorities to be able to freely practise their religion, we demand them to be able to live without the fear of constantly look over their shoulder for someone who wants to kill them in the name of Islam. We want guarantee that all their rights will be safeguarded and that they will be provided security. We demand justice for each and every person who has been affected by those monstrous attacks in the name of Islam. This is not what Islam teaches. Islam is a religion of peace and love, it is not the religion of forcefulness and hatred and bloodshed. 

Today, Peshawar bleeds. Today Pakistan bleeds. You may not call them Pakistanis, you may even pass judgements that Christians have always been secretly working against Pakistan, but you know deep down that Christians are as Pakistani as they come. Today, they have lost over 60 members of their community. Just condemning an attack will not do. What good does it do to them? Will it bring their loved ones back? Will the perpetrators get what they deserve? Will the police even bother investigating? Or will they let it be, because after all, they're Christians, just another minority of Pakistan. 

Yesterday, the Kalima was removed from an Ahmadi mosque in Sialkot. Today, a massacre of Christians took place in Peshawar. What is next? Which minority is going to be targeted next? Shias? Hindus? Or back to Ahmadis? This is never going to end. This will keep on going until the extremists wipe out every minority from Pakistan and then live in the 'land of the pure'. That pure land which is now full of the blood of innocent men, women and children. The same pure land which all of these minorities helped to make. The same pure land which now has no place for anyone except the religious extremists inciting hatred against minorities and the greedy politicians, who only care about money and power. 

To the minorities, I say run. Run and do not look back. Pakistan is not the place to live right now, or anytime in the near future. Live somewhere where at least you will be treated like a human, at the very least. At least you would be able to live without the constant fear that you'll be murdered at that very spot. Run. 

To the attackers and the government, I say you can kill people and murder them in the name of Islam and you can condemn these incidents all you want, but God knows what is in your hearts. Fear the day when you will be judged in front of Him for murdering innocent people. Fear the day when He encompasses you in His Wrath. Because no wrath is greater than His. Fear that day. May some sense be knocked into you. 

So long. Till the next blast. Till the next minority attack in the name of Islam. 

My love for God

Throughout our life, we are told time and time again by parents, relatives, teachers, friends, everyone basically, to love God. We are told to adore Him and live for Him and die remembering Him. But what does this love mean anyway? Some prayers, some recitation of Arabic words? Here's my experience of the love I have for God. 

Since I was a child, I was constantly ordered by my elders to pray five times a day, to recite the Quran, learn its meaning and to remember Allah in every joy and every sorrow. While seems an easy thing to read, it's much harder to actually put it into actions. Because when you are in sorrow, most of the time you end up questioning God instead of praying to him. When you are happy, you completely forget him. When you are angry, you tell Him that whatever happened was wrong. It's only when you are in trouble and you find no way out, that you seek Him, forgetting about how you have always ignored Him. 

All our lives, we hear of people talking about how other people have used them, how they have just bothered contacting us because they wanted a favour, but isn't that the exact thing that we are doing to God? Don't we ignore him when we're content with our lives, and bow down to Him only when we need something? Not that He needs our prayers, but we do need Him, because our life and everything to do with it does lie in His Hands and His Hands only.  

For as long as I can remember, my prayers have been usually a duty. A responsibility put on me. I have to pray five times a day, so I will. Maybe I'll skip a few since I'm busy with random, worthless things, maybe I'll join them together, maybe I won't bother. When I do pray, I keep thinking of worldly stuff instead of concentrating on God. And I'll pray fast so as to not miss my favourite show. I'm sure most of us have done that, because we are humans, we are bound to err at some point in our life. 

Recently, a friend (literally an angel in disguise) made me realise what love for God is. How you completely submit your whole self to Him and beg for His mercy in all walks of life. How your really start concentrating on the words said during your five daily prayers, and as soon as you do that, you can't stop the tears from coming. How when you pray or recite the Holy Quran, you try and imagine that God is listening to you and you shudder and vow to be true to yourself and your faith. How you do every single act knowing that God is Watching you, and you actually try and be good. 

Normally, you listen to these kind of conversations, apply them on your life for a week, and then find something more interesting. For me, when this conversation ended, I vowed to love God like He has loved me (of course, He probably loves me more). I started praying five times a day with a new fervour, and every time I started praying, I would imagine that God is listening to this humble soul, and I would almost crumble. I would recite the Holy Quran with translation, and start realising the meaning behind the words. I would think about every thing I spoke, careful not to hurt anyone, for God was watching. Hence, in every way, at every time, I would try and remember that God is my Creator, my life is in His Hands. I belong to Him and no one else. 

I could not have asked for a better change in myself. I could not have asked of a more perfect gift in life than seeking out God and submitting yourself wholly to Him. I know I am not religious enough to be a scholar, or have enough religious knowledge or aptitude to teach about it, but God has given me the strength to learn. Every day, I learn something more. Each day brings a new experience, a new reality, a new sign of love from God. And truth be told, this world does seem like a better place now. Yes, I do get upset and depressed at times, but as I mentioned above, I'm human. I am bound to my emotions. But God is so Merciful and Kind that He never lets me be sad for long, as long as I remember Him. He is mine, and I am His. And I pray for this bond to last for as long as I live. 

The end of humanity

A five year old girl was brutally physically and sexually assaulted by unidentified men in Lahore today and was dumped near the Ganga Ram hospital in a semi-comscious state. What was the girl's fault? She was born in Pakistan and she was a girl. And in Pakistan, rapes are usually justified by the phrase - we were provoked because obviously all men are saints. As if a five year old child, who is years away from puberty, can actually provoke grown men into raping her. 

Reading this, I have officially declared that there is absolutely no humanity left, and by this I do not mean in Pakistan, I mean in the whole world. I have heard of rape cases with personal vengeances, rapes due to land disputes, gang rapes, etc. But rarely have I ever heard of a rape of a such a young girl at such an innocent age, with absolutely no idea what rape even is. After this horrible brutality, if she survives this (and I hope and pray she does), what will her future be like? Won't it be constantly affected by every single thing that happened today? Won't she at times wish she had never been born? Won't she hate men her whole life? Won't she stay at a 10 feet distance from every man and be threatened by every single person who is being nice to her? Will she not be constantly looking over her shoulder in fear throughout her whole life? 

This girl is hospitalised right now. Not only is she internally damaged, she had to get stitches on her back, stomach and legs. A fully grown person can't handle so much wounds, how is a young child supposed to? How is a young child supposed to handle the pain, when they cry when they scrape a knee? 

It has all come down to no moral values, rather no values at all. These rapists, the worst kind of criminals that ever existed, they don't care. They got what they wanted. They got their desire. They don't care who loses their lives in the process or who gets traumatised for life. They don't care if the girl's own parents might never be able to looks at her the same way again. They don't care if the girl lives or dies. They don't care how she is just hanging by a thread. All they could care about is that no body ever finds out it was them because there would a punishment. 

But what punishment would there be really? In our society, has a rapist ever been punished? Have these criminals, who deserve nothing less than death penalty,  been charged for such a heinous crime? Our idiotic law system actually provides a cover for the rapists. If and when this case does go into court, the judge will demand four witnesses. How anyone can expect a victim of rape, especially a five year old girl at that, to bring no less than four witnesses is beyond me. Naturally, almost all rapists acquitted. 

Even if, by a miracle, the rapists does get punished, if best comes to best, he is served death penalty, what then? Pakistan has one less rapist, but how will it affect the girl, to whom adequate security was not provided? Will she be as confident as she was? Will her trauma end there? Will her life be perfect? You answer that. 

I sincerely hope and pray that she recovers soon, and that somehow, by some miracle by God, she is able to move past this and become so successful in her life that this will just become a mere shadow of her past. I also pray that her parents have the courage in them to face everything that they are facing right now and may they have all the strength in the world to bear this. My heart goes out to you. And you are now in my prayers. 

This is for you

This post is for a friend. A friend with a story, a friend with heartbreak, a friend who's going through a very tough phase in their life. This is for you, you know who you are. But this is also for some other people as well, who're going through a rough patch in their lives, I can't possibly name all of them here, but I think all of you know. This is for everyone who's going through the downs in their life. My heart goes out to you all. 

Life is tough. I know that better than anyone. I lost a father when I was 13, a time when a child usually takes their parents for granted, thinking on they're gonna stay in our lives forever. Brought me back to my senses within seconds. Now I'm struggling, not in material matters. But emotional matters. But this does not in any mean your problems are any less insignificant. Your problems are huge in their own way. Your problems are becoming unbearable for you. You're at a point where nothing seems to be right. The world around you is shaking you to your very core. You're not only questioning life, you're beginning to doubt whether you are important, whether your life is worth living, whether anything is worth it, really. 

You're questioning your talents. You do not trust anyone because you've had your trust broken so many times. You are worried, not only about the future but about the past. You worry you are gonna go through life without making a long-lasting impression on anyone. You worry. You don't sleep at night. You barely concentrate on anything. You feel like no one is there for you and no one ever will be. 

I wrote this for you. I just want you to know how important you are. You're important for your family, especially your parents, who are the only two people who will love you unconditionally, even if they don't show it. You have your siblings, who adore you even if they pick fights with you all the time. You have your friends. Yes, a lot of them broke your trust, a lot of them betrayed you, yet others were never true friends. But you have friends who love you to the moon and back. You have friends who can't live without you. You have friends who miss your company and realise instantly when you're not there. And lastly, you have me. I may not be much of an important part of your life, and I may not be able to imagine the pain and hurt you're going through, but I'm still there to try and cheer you up, to make stupid, funny jokes, to listen to you, to tell you you're worth it. And I won't leave. I'm right here. 

You should know how valuable you are to me. Not because I have some ulterior motive, but because I love spending time with you,  I love sharing my thoughts with you, I love having discussions with you. You aren't a waste of space, you aren't a waste of time, your life isn't that invaluable that you just throw it away like it's nothing. 

You should know how special you are.  You don't deserve whatever is happening to you but you should know that Allah does not burden anyone with more tragedies and burdens than they can bear. And all these rough patches are to make you turn to Him and pray to Him and cry to Him alone. Remember Him in your sorrows, He will turn it into happiness so fast you won't know what happened. 

Last of all, I want you to know that do what you believe in. Don't let others step over you. Because belief and faith is the only thing that you really have. Stand firm by it. Stand up for what you believe in. Stand up for yourself. And do what pleases you. (Provided it's not illegal or immoral in any way). Do what you need to do to survive. Write journals, blogs, poetry, take up a hobby, learn a new language, go out and have fun, do what makes you happy. And take every new day as a new step. Take baby steps. Figure your life out slowly, there's no rush. And smile. Soon this fake smile will turn into a real one. 

Once again, I am always here for you. Day and night. 

Feel better soon. 

The life and character of the Holy Prophet (saw) by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad - a humble summary

Yesterday I completed the book, The Life and Character of the Seal of Prophets (saw) (the first volume) written by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad. Even though in no way can I ever do justice to this beautifully written book, a friend asked me to write my thoughts on this book and I just couldn't say no. So here it goes. But before I start, I would firstly love to recommend this book to each and every one of you if you have not read it before. It is such a page turner that even if you don't like reading religious books, you will not be able to put this down until you've reached the end. Secondly, I apologise for any shortcomings because I'm just a mere amateur writer, and Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad's way of writing this book has left no comparison. So please forgive anything i leave out or don't justify correctly, for I am but a mere human. 

This book is about the life of the Holy Prophet(saw) up to the time of migration to Madinah. The time, relating after the migration is covered in the second volume of this book. It starts with the social, economical, climatical, geographical and topographical description of Arabia before the time of The Holy Prophet(saw)'s birth. Arabia was full of all kinds of immoralities and wrongdoings including, worshipping idols, fornication, fighting over petty matters, no respect for anyone especially women, daughters being buried alive etc. It was in this time of sin that the Holy Prophet (saw) was born to Hazrat Abdullah and Hazrat Aaminah. His father, Hazrat Abdullah, passed away before he was even born. His mother, Hazrat Aaminah, also passed away when The Holy Prophet (saw) was just a young child of 6. However this was not the only tragedy to befall The Holy Prophet (saw) for when he was 8, his paternal grandfather, Hazrat Abdul Muttalib, who the Prohet (saw) was quite fond of, and who took him under his care after his parents passed away, left him to go to Allah as well. Thereafter, the Holy Prophet (saw) was taken under the care of Hazrat Abu Talib, his paternal uncle. 

Even at such a young age, the Prophet (saw) was always very trustworthy and was frequently known by the name of 'Amin' - the trustworthy. He was always honest in bis dealings, not caring at all whether he got a profit or a loss out of it. This was the reason why when the Quraish had any kind of dispute, usually the Holy Prophet (saw) would be asked to help settle it, since he would always be fair in his decision. Take the example ofthe rebuilding of the Ka'abah. Every tribe of the Quraish wanted to be the one to place the Hajre Aswad (the black stone) on the wall of the Ka'abah. Therefore, they decided that whoever comes first to the Ka'abah in the morning will settle this dispute. It turned out that the first person to arrive the next morning was none other than the Holy Prophet (saw) himself. Therefore, he was asked to settle this quarrel. So he placed the Hajre Aswad on a piece of cloth and asked every tribe to hold the corners of the cloth while he placed the Hajre Aswad on the wall of the Ka'abah. In this way, no tribe was left out and the dispute was settled peacefully. 

Due to his honesty in his dealing, a woman by the name of Khadijah noticed him and asked him to do her dealings for her. He complied and so she sent with him(saw) a servant of her own as well. When they returned back with profits, the servant of hazrat Khadijah mentioned how honest he had been in his dealing. Hazrat Khadijah was so impressed that she immediately sent a proposal to The Holy Prophet (saw) even though he was 15 years younger than her. Nonetheless, he accepted and they were married. She bore him 4 daughters (Hazrat Zainab, Hazrat Ruqayya, Hazrat Umme Kulsoom and Hazrat Fatima) and 2 sons both of who died in their early age. 

When the Holy Prophet (saw) was around 40 years of age, he started to prefer solitude more and more. He would go into the Cave Hira and meditate there, for days at a time. It was during one of these periods of meditation that Hazrat Jibrail (as) brought The first five verses of Surah Iqra as the first revelation to the Holy Prophet (saw). He was so shaken after the incident that he came home trembling, and asked Hazrat Khadijah to cover him up with a mantle. Then he related the incident to her. She immediately took him to cousin of hers who declared that he was the Prophet that was announced to arrive in this age and that all of his tribesmen would severely persecute him. 

Hazrat Khadijah was the first person to accept Islam. Soon after, Hazrat Abu Bakr accepted Islam as well. During the early times of Islam, where the Prophet (saw) taught people to believe in the Unity of Allah and to stop worshipping idols, he preached secretly until another revelation came asking him to preach out in the open. Soon he started preaching to different tribes of the Quraish, but except for a few people, most of the Quraish just laughed him off, and told him that he should not expect them to stop worshipping the idols that they'd been worshipping for past decades. Furthermore, they started creating problems for the Holy Prophet (saw) and his small amount of followers. Most of the early followers of Islam, with the exception of Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) , were weak or slaves. Their masters would smoulder them using coal, or put heavy stones on them in the scorching heat but not one of them renounced Islam. 

When the Quraish realised that the Holy Prophet (saw) was not going to back down under any circumstances, a delegation of the Quraish went to Hazrat Abu Talib, who was the head of the clan at that time, asking him to stop his nephew from degrading their idols. When the delegation presented itself in front of Abu Talib for the third time, he called upon the Prophet (saw) and asked to stop preaching against the faith of the Quraish. At this the Prophet (saw) that even if The Quraish placed the sun on one of his hands and the moon on the other, he would not stop preaching until Allah Himself took his life away. At that Abu Talib was very impressed and told the Prophet (saw) to preach the word of Allah. 

Soon, when the persecution of the Quraish went to extreme ends, some of the Muslims decided to migrate to Abyssinia. This was done very secretively because if the Quraish found out, they would torture the immigrants to no end. Therefore, they successfully migrated to Abyssinia, whose king, Negus, was very kind to them and they were allowed to settle there in peace. After some time, the Quraish presented themselves in front of the king of Negus, asking them to give the immigrants back because they were preaching the wrong faith. He then called upon one of the immigrants, who told Negus about the preachings of Islam. Negus was very impressed and told them that they could stay for as long as they liked. The Quraish, thoroughly displeased, decided to instigate Nuges against the Muslims and said that they had no love for Jesus (as) and that they do not consider him a prophet of high ranking. When asked, the immigrants tod Negus that they just did ot consider him the son of God, but they had complete faith in him being one of God's chosen prophets. Upon that, Negus asked the Quraish to return and also returned all the presents that they had given to him.  

Soon after, both Hazrat Hamza (an uncle of the Holy Phophet (saw)) amd Hazrat Umar (ra) accepted Islam. Hazrat Umar was actually on his way to kill the Holy Prophet (saw) when he found out that his sister and his brother in law had already embraced Islam. Furious, he went to there home and heard his sister reciting Surah Taha from the Holy Quran. When he heard these words, his heart melted and he immediately went to the Prophet (saw) accepted Islam. When the Quraish came to know of this, they were even more furious because now more influential people were entering the folds of Islam. Thereafter, they decided to completely boycott the Muslims. The document relating to the boycott was hung outside the Ka'abah for everyone to see. The Muslims were forced to live in a valley outside Makkah for 2.5-3 years with nothing to survive on. Sometimes people secretly sent them food but even that was stopped after a while. At the end of three years, the Holy Prophet (saw) received a revelation from Allah that all that is left of that document is the word Allah on top. When the Quraish went and checked, it turned out that ants had completely eaten all of the document except for the word Allah, thereby rendering the boycott void and the Muslims came out of their boycott, free to go wherever they pleased. 

Because of the extreme conditions and because of their old age, soon after the boycott was lifted, Hazrat Abu Talib and Hzrat Khadijah both passed away in the 10th year of Prophethood. The Holy Prophet (saw) was so grieved by the deaths of both his closest family members that he named this year - Aam-ul-Huzn (the year of grievances).  After this, The Holy Prophet (saw) received a revelation in relation to marrying again and as it turns out, Allah wanted him to marry non other than Hazrat Aisha, who was the daughter of Hazrat Abu Bakr. Since she was seven years old at the time, therefore, the decision was made to wait a while longer. Meanwhile, The Holy Prophet (saw) also married Hazrat Saudah in order to prevent persecution and for showing love and harmony. 

After the boycott was lifted, the Holy Prophet (saw) decided to visit Taif in order to spread the message of Islam outside the vicinity of Makkah. When he went there, the chief of Taif not only mocked his message, but also set miscreants of Taif after him who pelted him with stones until he was completely covered in blood. Regardless, the Holy Prophet (saw) still prayed for the people that they may find their way back to the straight path. 

During the period of Hajj, when people from Yasrib (now known as Madinah) came to fulfill their duties, The Holy Prophet (saw) preached to one man the message of Islam. He returned next year with 12 people who were willing to take the Ba'ait on his hand. In e year after that, around 70 people came from Yasrib to pledge allegiance to the Holy Prophet (saw). In this way, Islam was introduced in Yasrib as well. 

When the persecution of the Quraish got completely out of hand, The Holy Prophet (saw) advised his followers to migrate to Yasrib. Thereafter the Muhajireen (immigrants) migrated secretly in groups of threes and fours to Yasrib and since they had left all their belongings behind, the Ansar (helpers, who were the residents of Yasrib), took them under their roofs and gave them food and shelter. After a while, the Holy Prophet (saw) was also advised to migrate to Yasrib because the Quraish had planned to kill him and had even besieged his house. So the Holy Prophet (saw) laid Hazrat Ali (ra) on his bed, and along with Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) escaped from within the reach of the Quraish. They took a different, alternative route to Yasrib so that they would not get caught. During their travelling, they decided to stay in Cave Thaur for three days during which the Quraish came close to almost catching the Holy Prophet (saw) but Allah shows His miracles in beautiful ways. The Quraish were standing right in front of the cave in which the Holy Prophet (saw) and Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) were residing but they never discovered them and went back hopeless. The next morning, the Holy Prophet (saw) completed his journey and arrived in Yasrib from where the calendar of After Hijri starts. 

(I have left out the incidents of Isra and Miraj, and there are so many more incidents that I have missed but if I included everything written in the book, then I could write a book myself and I'm not qualified for that. So it's just a basic idea of how the life of the Holy Prophet(saw) was before Hijrat to Madinah)

7th September, a horrifying day for Pakistani Ahmadis

Today is 7th September, 2013. 40 years ago, on this day, Bhutto took the step of declaring the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan to be non-Muslims and forcefully turning them into a minority, according to the wishes of all the religious extremists, regardless of the fact that Ahmadis had sacrificed their life, blood and honour for the making of Pakistan. 

Ahmadis, after this declaration, were not allowed to offer prayers or call their prayers Namaz. They were not allowed to call their places of worship 'mosques'. They were not allowed to say or print words like 'InshAllah' 'Bismillah' 'Allah' 'Muslims' etc. They were not allowed to preach or carry out their religious activities. They were not allowed to call their Holy Book 'Quran'. They were not allowed to recite the Kalima Tayyaba. Basically, to summarise it, they were not allowed to say or do any thing which would make them look like Muslims. If they made the mistake of doing so, they would have to pay a heavy fine or be imprisoned for 3 years. 

After this horrifying declaration, there could have been protests, there could have been violence by the Ahmadis, there could have been bloodshed. But.. There was nothing. Every Ahmadi was asked to pray vehemently, every Ahmadi was asked to kneel down to Allah, who was the Only One who could help them. And not one Ahmadi objected to that, every Ahmadi was so united under the orders of the Khalifa and the love for Ahmadiyyat, that they did exactly what they were ordered, no questions asked.  This situation was not an easy one to go through, but not one Ahmadi raised a voice of protest. 

40 years later, here we stand. The message of Ahmadiyyat has reached the corners of the Earth and millions of people convert to Ahmadiyyat every year, new countries discover this message of peace and love. All except Pakistan. Pakistan remains the same, proud and arrogant of declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Instead of trying to tone the hate speech, they have heightened it to a level of insanity. Famous journalists, anchors and talk show hosts are inviting people, especially religious extremists to their shows, to promote hatred against Ahmadis. Ahmadis are publicly declared Wajib ul Qatal on television and national newspapers. Banners are seen throughout the country, declaring anyone who talks to Ahmadis or shakes hands with them, to be a non-Muslim as well. Notices are hung outside shops, announcing that Qadianis (a degrading word used for Ahmadis) to not enter their shop because they will not be entertained. Question and answer sessions with religious extremists declare a nikkah of an Ahmadi void. 

This does not end here. Ahmadis are being threatened constantly. In the last 15 days, three Ahmadis have been martyred in Karachi. In 2010, during two attacks on mosques in Lahore, 86 Ahmadi Muslims lost their lives while hundreds more were injured, while the police stood and watched, without providing any assistance. The Tehreek-i-Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack however nothing was done to catch the culprits. In the talk shows that aired afterwards, instead of showing sympathy to the Ahmadiyya Community, the talk show hosts mercilessly degraded the Community and pestered the Ahmadiyya spokesman with questions which were not even related to the attacks. 

Even the dead are not left in peace. In the Ahmadiyya graveyard of Lahore, many graves were exhumed, grave stones were broken. On the grave stone of Dr. Abdul Salam, the Nobel Prize winner from Pakistan and a proud Ahmadi, the word 'Muslim' was chalked. Ahmadis are constantly being threatened that they should convert back to the 'real Islam' or they will have to suffer the consequences. Pamphlets have been spread asking people to not buy goods from Ahmadi companies or they will not be considered Muslims. 

This is just a basic oversight of the life that Ahmadis have to deal with. And yet they do not protest. They do not kill, rape, kidnap or torture anyone because of it. They do not even hate anyone because of it. Why? Because their motto is - Love for all, hatred for none. And regardless of how many abuses, taunts and mockery has been thrown onto them, they will always reply will love and peace, no matter what. Try it and see for yourself, if you don't believe me. 

At the end, I would just like to say something here - we, Ahmadis, we have our Allah to pray to, we have our Holy Prophet (saw) to follow, we have the Holy Quran as a code of conduct for us to act on, we have the Promised Messiah (as) to bring us back to Islam, we have Khilafat that binds us together tightly, that unites us all from all over the world. What do you have? Curses, abuses, killings, torture, hate speech is not going to get you anywhere. And if you say it's in the name of Allah, then know that Allah commands nothing of that sort. It is your own minds and hearts that want to do this, but you just want to brainwash the nation into thinking it is Allah's act. 

So, instead of spewing profanities and hatred on us, just pray and do what your religion commands you to do. It is for Allah to decide who is wrong and who is right, and that decision will be made on the Day of Judgement. You are not anyone to declare who a Muslim is or isn't. You do not know what is in the hearts of anyone. As the Quran says - for you your religion, for me my religion. Let it be. And let Pakistan live in peace. Let us live in peace. You may take away all of our rights from us (most of which you already have) but you will never be able to take our love for Islam Ahmadiyyat away from us. You will never be able to take our love for Allah away from us. And He is the Only One who is Watching and He is the One who will punish the evil-doers. Peace. 

Jalsa Salana at home.

30th August to 1st September 2013 marked the 47th Jalsa Salana UK. 31 thousand people from 89 countries went to this Jalsa Salana, some for the first time, some for the second and some were just regulars of the Jalsa. A lot of people were not able to go because of visa problems, and personal issues. Regardless, MTA International did a fantastic job to keep everyone, who couldn't make it, updated about all the ongoings of the Jalsa.

I was one of the people, who wasn't able to go to the Jalsa Salana. The greatest incentive to go to this Jalsa, other than the religious atmosphere and the spiritual aura, is that one gets to hear Hazrat Khalifa tul Masih the fifth (aba)'s speeches in person, hear his voice, see him and the blessings that revolve around him. Khilafat is indeed one of the greatest blessings that Jama'at Ahmadiyya has received by Allah. So, this Jalsa is attended by a lot of people so that they can see and meet Huzoor (aba) in person. 

Before the Jalsa started, I was excited for the Jalsa, but I didn't feel like I was missing out on it. I mean, I was watching it live, right? But as soon as the Friday Sermon started, my tears wouldn't stop, because I knew that people attending the Jalsa were indeed blessed to be where they were, and to pray behind the Khalifa of Islam. They would be eating from the langar of the Promised Messiah (as). They would be hearing live speeches and see in person, the Khalifa of Islam. 

Soon after, the Jalsa proceedings started, with each session, each speech, each nazm better than the last. Each speech was ending with slogans which echoed throughout the marquee, each nazm ended in tears, each dua ended with a vow to be closer to Allah, Ahmadiyyat and the Khalifa of Islam. Advices and orders were given by Huzoor (aba) to men and women, old and young alike which everyone vowed to follow till their end. Huzoor also boosted the morale of all the Ahmadis facing persecution and constantly requested each and every Ahmadi to make dua a part of their daily lives. 

Then came the time for the Aalmi Ba'ait where the old and new vow to follow the 10 commandments of Ba'ait to the best of their abilities. It is a very emotional process to do Ba'ait at the hand of the Khalifa. When it started, even though I was watching from thousands of miles apart, I could not control my tears. I was literally choking on my own tears while trying to utter them. When the part for repentance came which is "astagfirullaha rabbi min kulli zambin wa atoob o ilaeh", I was literally letting out a waterfall, seeking forgiveness from Allah and begging for His mercy. 

Then Huzoor's (aba) last speech about how we are and will always be Muslims and how no one has the right to call us anything but, was such a powerful speech, I'm sure everyone present would have just awed at the marvel with which Huzoor (aba) presented his speech. Then came the dua and the nazms. Another emotional part of the Jalsa where the people from all around the world do nazm, especially the Africans who have that special tune no one can really pick, and the Arabs with their beautiful recitations of the Qaseeda. 

We owe all of this to the blessings that Khilafat has bestowed on us. If it had not been for Khilafat and Allah's blessings upon it, today there would not be a channel known by the name of MTA International, nor would the message of the Promised Messiah (as) be reaching the corners of the earth. Even if I did feel like I was missing out on yet another great Jalsa Salana, MTA made it posssible for me to hear all the sessions live, and the official Jalsa Accounts on Twitter #JalsaUK and #JalsaConnect made it possible to see pictures of the marquees, the stalls, the food, the preparations, the people excited to show their msgs, the team of volunteers, the guests, and most of all, pictures of Huzoor (aba) during different times of the Jalsa. 

Furthermore, as soon as I begun to feel left out, all I had to do was log into Twitter and voila! 90 of my followers were tweeting Jalsa related tweets, quoting parts of speeches or nazms that they'd heard, or commenting on the Jalsa photos they saw, or asking people, who were present at the Jalsa, about their experience. People were posting videos of Jalsa, pictures of sunset, sunrise, marquees and the food at the Jalsa. People were showing the love all around Hadeeqatul Mahdi. And that was all I needed. To know that we're all in the same boat, and that all we needed was support of each other to boost our own morales. And by the end of the Jalsa, I think all of us were tearing up. Most of it was because the Jalsa had ended but I think part of it was also because our Ahmadi Twitter family had made it through and all of us were together in this one boat named Ahmadiyyat. :) 

May Allah bless Ahmadiyyat even more and may The Promised Messiah (as)'s message reach every ear in this world, and may every soul be forever bound to Allah and Ahmadiyyat - the true Islam. Thankyou Allah for blessing us with MTA without which we would still be waiting for news of the Jalsa. And regardless of the banning of all Ahmadi sites, proxies were used and some other sites were established before hand to ensure that The proceedings of Jalsa were provided to every Ahmadi Muslim throughout the world. And JazakAllah to JalsaConnect and JalsaUK for making us feel like we were not missing out on anything. I hope you will be able to do this on the next Jalsa as well. May Allah bless all your team. 

I would also like to mention here that MTA did an amazing job with showing people all around the world, different religious documentaries and interviews of people who were there at the Jalsa, regardless of whether they were Ahmadi Muslims or not. It made all of us feel we were there at the Jalsa instead of sitting at home, eyes glued to our TV screens. 

MTA ZINDABAD!!

To close this post, I would like to say JazakAllah to all of the people (on my Twitter) whose tweets, I loved throughout the Jalsa because of their live commentaries and prayers and updates, may God bless each and everyone of you. These include tweets in English, Urdu, German, Indonesian, Hindi, Arabic and so many more. May Allah bless all of you, and may all of your hard work pay off in converting someone to Ahmadiyyat through Twitter.