From: khalid@bu-bio.bu.edu (Rasheed A. Khalid)
Newsgroups: news.groups,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.jewish,soc.culture.iranian,soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Re: CFV: soc.religion.islam.ahmadiyya moderated
Summary: EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE HIS/HER OWN RELIGION
Date: 17 Nov 92 16:17:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: bu.102313
Followup-To: news.groups
Organization: Biology Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA


In article <1e9kpbINNm5v@CURIE.SYSTEMSY.CS.YALE.EDU> ahmed-shakil@cs.yale.edu (Shakil Waiz Ahmed) writes:
>
>In article <Bxu60p.KA6@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, ijaz@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Tahir Ijaz) writes:
>
>> I call myself a Muslim, the same way you call yourself Shakil.
>> If I call you something else, you will still be Shakil, and if you
>> call me a non Muslim, I will in fact remain a Muslim, unless you are
>> God.
>
>But God has spoken to us through the Qur'an, and he has told us what
>constitutes a Muslim.  If you disagree with God, it is your problem,
>but don't expect all other Muslims to regard you as one of them...
>

How do you know that Tahir disagrees with God?  Do you know God better
than he does?  Or, does God pass messages about him to him through you
as a moderator or something?  Grow up, man!  The world has gone far ahead
of Muslim Mullahs like you.  There are many better things to do than
declare one another non-Muslim.  Such an approach has never been productive.

You keep referring to the Qur'an, as if you were the one on whom Qur'an was
revealed.  I don't think that you understand the Qur'an better than Tahir
or any other person who I know.  The Qur'an does not mention anywhere that
someone who does not declare  Muhammad (May peace and blessings of God
be upon him) the last prophet, is a non-Muslim.  Neither does it mention
anything about Moses, Jesus, the great Buddha or Krishna (May peace be upon
them) being last prophet.  This "last prophet" thing is not new -- people
in the past -- even followers of Joseph (May peace be upon him) began to
say after his departure that no prophet will come after him.  It is out of
extreme love for that person, that ideas like this are given birth to, even
though they have no scriptural or rational background.

Muslims' false idea of Muhammad (may peace and blessings of God be upon him)
being last of all seems to stem from a verse of the Holy Qur'an (revealed
to the Prophet and not to Mr. Shakil) which goes like this:

Muhammad is not the father of any of men but he is a messenger of God and
the Seal of the prophets. (the arabic is Khatamun Nabiyyeen)

This expression: Seal of the prophets, has been taken by these Mullahs to
mean last of the prophets, which it does not mean.  An idea of this can
be had from the fact that the word "Khatam" (seal) has often been used in
arabic literature to mean perfect in every sense, and the greatest of all,
but not the last, of all:

1.  Khatam-ul Aulia (Seal of friends, referring to closeness to God)
has been used for Hazrat Ali (may God be pleased with him), the fourth
successor or caliph after the Prophet of Islam.  Have there not been
people close to God after his departure?

2.  Khatam-ul Atibbaa' (Seal of physicians) was used for Bo'Ali Saina;
have there not been countless physicians/doctors after him?

3.  Khatam-ul Khulafaa' (Seal of Caliphs) was used by Sunni Muslim
scholars for the first Caliph after the Prophet of Islam -- certainly not
the last -- there were many others after him.  The same term (Khatam-ul
Khulafaa') was used by Shia Muslim scholars for Hazrat Ali (Karamallah
wajhu) as greatest of caliphs.

4.  Khatam-ul Masajid (Seal of Mosques) was used for Masjidi Nabwi
(Mosque of the Prophet).  Are mosques not being built everywhere to this day,
in violation of the "Khatam = last" theory (proven wrong)?

For the sake of brevity, I have given only four examples of the forty or so,
that I have.  If desired by someone, I can send (or post) all forty examples
with exact references as to where the term Khatam has been used to mean
greatest and not last, of all.  What good is there anyway, in being last
of all; I used to think that being first of all is an honor, rather than
being last of all.  According to present Muslim Mullah ideas, the most
important thing is to believe that Muhammad (on whom be peace and blessing
of God) is the last prophet; once you have this belief, it does not matter
how many people you kill; how many times you tell a lie; how many frauds
you commit; how many times a day you declare holy war upon someone or some
country you do not like, who may or may not have wronged you, and the list
goes on and on and on.  I am not saying it's in their books -- their actions
speak of themselves all around the world.

The question is: if Khatam in arabic has continually been used for greatness
rather than being at the end of a process, where did the idea of last come
from?  Well, in Urdu and Punjabi, local vernaculars of the Indian subcontinent,
the word Khatam means "end" or "finish".

Therefore, the Ahmadis have every right to have their newsgroup on the net
with the name soc.religion.islam.ahmadiyya.  They have the right to choose
what religion they should belong to and Mullahs have no right to snatch
their religion name from them.  Everyone should vote "YES" for the proposed
newsgroup, the real call for votes for which will be announced soon.

>> Dr Tahir Ijaz, M.D.
>  ^^             ^^^^
>
>Isn't this redundant? ;)
>
>-- Shakil

My regards to readers,
Rasheed A. Khalid,
Boston,
Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
e-mail address: khalid@bu-bio.bu.edu