HATE MONGERING – NAMF STYLE

Friends – please see below excerpts from a disturbing message that has been written by a so-called Canadian Imam self-described as:

Sheharyar Shaikh is the former President of North American Muslim Foundation.  He is currently the Imam of Masjid Qurtabah. He specializes in Quranic exegesis with contemporary Islamic thought and modernity

This article has been circulated by NAMF, North American Muslim Foundation (who have a Canadian federally listed charitable status and a history of making personal attacks.) How and why the Canadian government is supporting by granting a charitable status to an organization that indulges in attacks and blatant hatred towards another community, is beyond understanding, and goes against everything we stand for.

You can read the full hate filled article on their website as out of respect, I have left out some of the really disgusting and vile material personally attacking leaders of the Ahmadiyya Jammat.

In the attached piece, Mr. Shaikh viciously lashes out at the Ahmadiyya community and asks people to boycott them. Why? For celebrating Prophet Mohammad pbuh!

In the wake of the film “Innocence of Muslims” when other Muslims just ranted, the Ahmaddiya Jamaat took it upon themselves to do something really positive and pro-active. They invited everyone (free of charge) to Roy Thomson Hall tonight (Tuesday Nov 20) to an event about Prophet Mohammad (which is full to capacity). This is a huge undertaking with financial, physical and social implications which the Jamaat absorbed. In terms of outreach stunning fliers, posters and invitations were distributed and their youth stood downtown inviting Canadians to come and experience what they might not know.

Perhaps what NAMF and Mr. Shaikh could not achieve is exactly this – present a positive image of our Prophet by behaving in a way that would honour him. So they come down to abusing and denigrating a community that is peace loving and observant of Islamic traditions. This was never the way of our Prophet so the distinction here is as clear as daylight for those who want to reflect.

For celebrating our Prophet, NAMF supported by Mr. Shaikh are persecuting an already persecuted community. If Mr. Shaikh is a genuine Imam he should know that the Quran tells the Prophet “do not judge, only give the message because Allah knows what is in people’s hearts.” Whatever any Muslim does or believes, they are not answerable to Mr. Shaikh or NAMF, and are allowed to follow their own path unless of course this man thinks he’s God and he knows it all, so he sits as judge and jury?

A leader of the Ahmediyya Jamaat confirmed “I have personally challenged Shehryar many times to have a debate with me in a friendly environment without attacking each other and without using such sinister words. He never even responded let alone saying that it has to be public. He never tabled such suggestion.If he is asking common Muslims not to enter in discussion with Ahmadies, then why doesn’t he take a bold step and have debate with me instead of spreading hate and writing such filthy, abusive and contemptuous articles.”

NAMF ARTICLE 

Ahmediyya and Muslims

Imam Sheharyar Shaikh

I do not believe that one should boycott anyone from holding a dialogue. One always learns something from an exchange, no matter how abhorrent or deviant their beliefs may be from one’s vantage point. One of the few exceptions I make is in the case of the lay Muslim’s engagement with the Ahmedi missionaries and proselytizers. I list this due to the risk of losing one’s iman, thereby destroying one’s eternity as a result of such interactions if one isn’t fully cognizant of the opposing agenda. The mainstream Muslim boycott of the Ahmediyya Jamaat is in the best interest of the Muslims because of its deceptiveness and trickery in getting a lay Muslim to agree to certain points favourable to them in a discussion and its need for Muslims to attend their community events and programs in order to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the wider audience.

At any major Ahmedi event held in the western countries the overwhelming majority of Ahmedi attendees hail from Pakistan with Sunni Punjabi roots. The Ahmedi missionaries have made deep inroads in convincing the lay Sunni Punjabi Muslims, beyond others, of their version of Islam. Sure, a token Arab or a white Canadian may be seen meandering about in the corner, but it does not change the fact that the Pakistani Punjabis at home or abroad, continue to fill their organizational rank and file. If the Ahmedi missionaries subject the Pakistani Muslims of small towns and villages to a “pir”-like persona of Ghulam Ahmed, they present a overly pacifist, rational, “science-friendly” Islam to the urban middle class Pakistanis and young professional Muslims overseas. The latter category, often cut off from their religious support and family system, become easy preys.

One thing not brought readily to the table are Mirza Ghulam Ahmed’s bizarre visions, his 20-year obsession with a 14 year old girl, Muhammadi Begam, his absurd religious interpretations, his claims of being 202 historical/honoured figures of other nations (male and female), his use of foul language toward his opponents, vulgarity in his writings, abnormal quirks of behaviour and his unfulfilled prophecies which he presented as evidence of his truth. Of the 86 books Mirza wrote in his lifetime (most of which are rubbish and can be readily read at www.alislam.org) the Muslims are usually presented two works:  Mirza’s The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam and Revelation and Rationality, Knowledge and Truth penned by his grandson, Tahir Ahmed (along with a team of helpers and translators).

The Ahmedi missionaries frame the discourse by limiting the discussion to the present status of Jesus – whom the mainstream Muslims believe to have ascended physically into heaven by divine miracle. Whether Mirza Ghulam Ahmed fits the profile of a divinely sent prophet, let alone Jesus (peace be on him), is largely neglected. But herein lies the test. Even if the world accepts Mirza’s half-baked theory of Jesus being taken off the cross, carried to India to live a happily married life with kids and eventually buried there at a ripe age of 120, it still needs to be proven how Mirza the claimant qualifies to be Jesus upon his return. Mirza certainly did not “break the Cross” if that means Christianity’s final annihilation – much as their cult claims. He certainly did not “end all wars”, religious or secular; WWI broke out a few years after his death.

Now comes the point of how to deal with the Ahmediyya Jamaat, especially in the west. The overall best policy for the Muslims is to not deal with them at all, unless strictly for da’wah conducted by those who are acquainted with this cult’s vile agenda. It neither is, nor ever will be inshaAllah a serious threat to the global Muslim community. Our organization was approached many times to hold debates with them, and let it be known that we are always ready to hold a debate so long as it is public.  With reference to the upcoming conference on the Prophet (s) to occur in the Roy Thompson Hall on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012, (for which we have so far received 4 invitation cards, 2 email invitations, a letter by mail and personal invites), I strongly advise the Muslims not to attend it. The purpose behind the event is to to attract the naïve Muslims to their ground for possible conversions by posing themselves as the foremost “defenders” of the Prophet (s)’s honor. Secondly, it is to present themselves as peaceloving Muslims to the Canadians so as to win their sympathies and support.

How shameful it is that the Acting Consul General of Pakistan in Toronto, Imran Ali, has emailed all Pakistani-Canadians “requesting” them to make “the (Ahmedi) event a success” – this too from his official capacity! Subhannallah, to my knowledge the Consul General Imran Ali has never officially promoted any mainstream Muslim event, let alone for a cult that heavily relies on obtaining immigration visas to Canada based on false claims and smearing Pakistan’s image. I have heard the Ahmediyya leadership vilify Pakistan before non-Muslim attendees during their Ahmediyya conference at University of Waterloo.  What I have not heard is their use of “Zindabad”(long live) for Pakistan at their events as they routinely do for others.

And here is the Consul General of Pakistan Imran Ali so concerned to promote an Ahmediyya event that he even asks us to “invite fellow Canadians” to it. I can just see the Ahmediyya leadership ‘high fiving’ each other to be able to so easily exploit such a gullible and incompetent diplomat; a cult he called “Muslim” in the email – perhaps not knowing or caring that the Ahmediyya Jamaat has a non-Muslim status in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which he represents.

Article 260 of the Constitution of Pakistan states:

A person who does not believe in the absolute and unequal finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him), the last of the Prophets or claims to be a prophet in any sense of the word or of any description whatsoever, after Muhammad (peace be upon him), or recognize such a claimant as a prophet or a religious reformer, is not a Muslim for the purposes of the Constitutional Law.

The Application for Pakistani passport contains the following declaration:

DECLARATION (FOR MUSLIMS ONLY)

I do not recognize any person who claims to be a prophet in any sense of the word or of any description what so ever after Muhammad (peace be upon him) or recognize such a claimant as prophet or religious reformer as a Muslim. I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiani to be an imposter nabi and also consider his followers, whether belonging to the Lahori or Qadiani group to be non Muslims.

Please write to Imran Ali Chaudhary expressing your disappointment at  imranali@pakmission.ca or call him at 647-821-7166.

You need to remind Imran Ali albeit with respect that his responsibility as Consul General is to improve consular services of Pakistan in Toronto, for which he is paid for by the taxpayers, and certainly not to promote Ahmediyya events in his official capacity. Jazakallah khayr.

Sheharyar Shaikh is the former President of North American Muslim Foundation.  He is currently the Imam of Masjid Qurtabah. He specializes in Quranic exegesis with contemporary Islamic thought and modernity

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North American Muslim Foundation was established in 1975 as federally registered charitable foundation dedicated to helping the community for a better tomorrow.