Do Ahmadis Deserve to Live in Pakistan?
The article, “Do Ahmadis Deserve to Live in Pakistan?” is written by Yasser Latif Hamdani on 31 August, 2012. Yasser Hamdani is a lawyer and writer based in Lahore, Pakistan. He has been writing prolifically for Daily Times Pakistan. He also writes for The Friday Times and Express Tribune. As a lawyer, Yasser Latif Hamdani has argued several public interest litigations before the Lahore High Court, including the Bhagat Singh case and the YouTube case where he is arguing for unblocking of the website. He is also well known for his advocacy for an end to persecution of the Ahmadis in Pakistan and for their equal voting right. The Ahmadis are a branch of Muslims who believe in all the five pillars and articles of faith required of Muslims but differ from other Muslims mainly with respect to the status of their founder, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, as a Prophet within Islam. They also believe in the continuation of divine revelation. They believe that God continues to communicate with his chosen individuals in the same way he is believed to have done in the past.
In this text, the writer is discussing the atrocities being committed on the Ahmadians on the basis of their religion. The conditions were not like this for the Ahmadians before the 1974 constitution amendment which declared the community non-Muslim. The writer further discusses and gives examples of the violence and inequalities being committed against the Ahmadians at the current time. The reader thinks that the author is only highlighting the facts and current news without giving his personal opinions. He seems to be voicing in favor of the Ahmadis without giving a slightest hint about what does he believe in about the situatio...
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...e done a very religious duty by posing the Ahmadis as non-Muslim.
The reader thinks that writer has given good examples to prove his point of view but he would have achieved far reaching effects if he had given some more facts about the contribution of Ahmadis in the government of Pakistan. For example, he might have said that the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan and The President of United Nation General Assembly were also Ahmadis. The Success of 1965 War was also because by an Ahmadi General. The writer has blamed the government authorities for starting a religious fight but he could also have said that Pakistani governments have always used anti Ahmadia stance to stay in power and to divert attention from their own failures. No matter what they do to the Ahmadis, religious intolerance has come to stay as the hallmark of Pakistan as a state and as a culture.
“To say pan-Arabism is ‘dead’ would be inaccurate- because it was never ‘alive,’ in any meaningful sense, in the first place.” Assess viewpoints for and against this argument, with special reference to at least one appropriate country.
Over the course of the last century, the Islamic Republic of Iran (formerly known as Persia) has seen colonialism, the end of a dynasty, the installation of a government by a foreign power, and just over three decades ago, the popular uprising and a cleric-led revolution. These events preceded what could be considered the world’s first Islamic state, as politics and fundamentalist religion are inextricably linked in contemporary Iran. Looking at Iran from the mid 1940’s until the present day, one can trace the path that led to the rise of fundamental Islam in Iran in three distinct periods. The first is that which began with the rise of secular nationalism and the decline of Islam. In the second, the secular, western-friendly government eventually gave way to the Islamic revival in the form of a government takeover by hard-line clerics and disillusioned, fundamentalist youth; both motivated and led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rule of Iran by these fundamentalist clerics then led to the formation of the fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that governs present-day Iran. The current government has some democratic appearances, but all real power is in the hands of the supreme leader, an Ayatollah who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics chosen by the Guardian Council. With the Iranian Revolution, political Islam was born, with the fundamentalists holding the reins of power in Iran to the present day.
Democracy and Islam, an article written by Irfan Ahmad1 strives to show that there is a possibility that Islam can move towards democracy. On the other hand, Islam and Liberal Democracy: A Historical Overview, an article written by Bernard Lewis2 discusses how a democracy is unable to work in Islamic States. In this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting the two articles. Both Bernard and Irfan carry weight in their arguments and have certain strong points, as well as weaknesses. The major difference between the two articles is the variation of the core definition of democracy that the writers have, and their distinct perspectives of the workings of a democracy. In addition, the articles also differ in their chosen format and the authors’ thoughts on the Catholic and Western influence. The fundamental dispute of democracy and Islam are strong in both articles, and they are resolved in a respective manner. Irfan was successful in formulating a more compelling case and was able to maintain better structure; however, I am a firm believer that Islam is a theocratic system and it is not compatible with democracy as a system of governance.
During the course of the centuries, Christianity has both flourished and declined in the Persian region. The flourishing, initiated by the first leaders of the Christian Church, has dissolved over time and has become oppressed by other beliefs and faiths, specifically Islam. Blood, sweat, and tears of many persecuted Christians saturate the arid lands, which Islamists primarily inhabit. Many of those Islamists live in direct antipathy to the Christian minority. The current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, once said that “their (Christians) goal is to weaken the (Islamic) religion within the society” (“The Cost of Faith” 15). Many Iranians also feel this way, and have certainly not accepted the existence of a Christian minority within their country gently. From the Islamic conquest in the 7th century, to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranians have not let up on their subjugation of Christians. Indeed Christianity has witnessed various forms of deterrents to their religion, from the modern day imprisonments and executions to the ancient ways of leaders such as Shapur II, who would have them burned or fed to animals (Price 1). The government of Iran has acted severely towards Christians, subjecting them to harsh consequences for not turning from their religion, such as prolonged imprisonment and even ex-judicial killings. Despite all of this, many Christians living under these harsh conditions persevere and Christianity still receives new followers. Christianity in Iran has suffered and continues to suffer at the hands of a militant Islamic regime, and although this is nothing new, it receives little publicity in the West, something...
Robinson B.A. 1 Mar 2000 (last update), Islam, Hp. Online. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Available:
The nexus between Islam and Iran is a complex one. Islam was brought to Iran via Arab-Islamic conquest in 650 AD and has played a shifting, anomalous role in this nation-state ever since. The ideas of nationalism, secularism, religion, and revolution are unique in this Muslim country. Iranians, unlike many of their neighbors, hold on very strongly to their pre-Islamic roots and achievements; sentiments of nationalism are apparent throughout Iranian history and in the everyday conversations of Iranians. In order to illustrate the role of Islam in Iran and the contemporary Iranian situation, I will analyze the concept of an Islamic state, the legitimacy of Islam in modern-day Iran with notes on the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the compatibility of Islam and Democracy, changes in access to information in Iran today, and recent movements and trends in Iranian’s youth population.
Attacks on the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority have increased over the last 12 years. These attacks have been led by the government. Since 2005, more than 1,006 Bahai’s have been arrested, and the number of Bahai’s in prison has risen drastically. Also since 2005, there have been many documented accounts of physical violence against Bahai’s,
The article " Do Ahmadis deserve to live in Pakistan?” was published in the Friday News on September 6, 2012. In this article, Hamdani highlights the problems Ahmadis face as a minority group in the Muslim majority country like Pakistan by giving plenty of examples. He also explains how with the passage of time the problems for Ahmadis have increased. He also tries to explain the importance of the Ahmadi sect in Pakistan by hinting that they had played a vital role in its creation. Hamdani also highlights that Ahmadis are still working for the prosperity of the country but the people and Government of Pakistan do not give them any significant importance and ignore their praiseworthy work b...
In Zainab Ali's book, "Unveiling Islam: What Muslims Believe," she explains the basic beliefs of a Muslim. She also elaborates on the images of Muslims in the media created by important leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Louis Farrakhan and how they contradict the Islamic belief. The writer then gives her explaination of these contradictions with respect to Islamic rules. She focuses on the rules of the faith - the five pillars of Islam - by provinding explanations, definitions, and examples. After an elaboration of each pillar, the writer explains the relevance of the pillars in life and the affects that the pillars have on the character of a true Muslim. She then compares this character to the characters of the Islamic leaders in the media to support her claim that people of the Islamic faith are not compatible with the images portrayed through the media. By making this claim, the author is trying to correct the misunderstandings of the Islamic faith and of the Muslim image by providing examples, explanations, and comparisons to define a "true" Muslim.
CHANDRA, ABHIMANYU. "Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid." The Yale Review of International Studies RSS. N.p., Aug. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Hamid’s fiction deals with varied issues: from infidelity to drug trade in the subcontinent and, in the light of contemporary developments, about Islamic identity in a globalised world. His first novel, Moth Smoke (2000) won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award in 2000. His other novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Decibel Award and the South Bank Award for Literature. This book serves as a testament to his elegant style as he deftly captures the straining relationship between America and Pakistan.
Moreover, the eminent Muslim scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hanooti, member of the North American Fiqh Council, adds:
The turbulent world we live in today has countless imperfections. John Esposito, a professor in Georgetown University, states both alternative and intriguing ideas on the future of Islam and its upcoming era of reformation. The main issue is the extremists and fanatics who use Islam in order to justify their terrorist actions. Furthermore the Western media has stained the religion of Islam to the point where Muslim-West foreign relations have declined since the 1970’s. As stated by Esposito within his book, “The Future of Islam”, Islam had become the center stage of media networks and many news agencies; one witnessed “an explosion of interest in and coverage of Islam.” Islam has since then become a sensationalized topic and also has become the headlines of the 21st century’s history. Esposito further states how this misconception of Islam is a controversial and important role in today’s politics. Today’s Muslim population of over 1.5 billion people plays an integral role in today’s global history and Western society. Esposito’s main objective of this book is to explain “how we got to where we are and what we need to understand and do to create… ‘a new way forward’.” Esposito also explains throughout his book how Islam has been both a “source not only of compassion, morality, and virtue but also of terror, injustice, and oppression.” His ideas can be thought of as both promising and controversial to say the least.
Lawrence Auster wrote an eye-opening blog excerpt titled India and Pakistan: Why the Mass Killing Occurred. The content of this excerpt explore the fundamental issues of identity and religion that led to the violence in 1947. The author makes his point by utilizing current event such as the train massacre in 2002, in which 50 Hindu women and children were burned alive. The blog is for an audience with some prior knowledge on the topic and continues to expand upon that knowledge. The blog is a secondary source because it introduces its own unique ideas regarding the issue and was written after the time of the event. It was very helpful to my research because it simplifies the wordy information often found on scholarly sites and condenses it into something comprehensible and relatable to the reader.
As the Hindu’s in northwest India moved south, the Muslims moved north into Pakistan; millions were displaced, thousands were slaughtered as a result of the riots and the birth of both countries was met with death and destruction. Many believe that Muslims went along with the partition and moved to Pakistan “not because they viewed it, as official Pakistani narrative suggests, as the lan...