By Imran Khan and originally published on ArabNews.

My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan. Despite gaining independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis.

I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal — the national poet of Pakistan. The class on Islamic studies was not taken seriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the country because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.

(continue reading…)

Today we will be broadcasting live via ustream at 1.00pm (GMT) as usual, to watch our live prayers and speech and be a part of the virtual mosque click on the link below.

If you miss the broadcast, then we will be putting the videos up in the next few days for people to watch at their leisure.

Live Prayers

Its not enough just to take the pledge to join the jammat.

Money is needed for the propagation of Islam and members are required to make financial sacrifices for the cause of Islam by donating a part of their hard earned income to the jammat for its activities.

The new ‘Ask The VM’ series is now up and running! The first question comes from Steveo_23 who asks

Islam is the name given to Guidance sent by Allah to mankind through the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The name of this Guidance is different from the name of the Prophet to whom it was sent. One reason is that Allah, Himself, says that the name of this religion is Islam. Some religions are named after their founders such as Christianity and Buddhism; others were named by the followers of that religion. But Allah says in the Holy Quran : “The religion with Allah is Islam.” (3:19)

Islam is not just a religious doctrine or dogma in the sense that people normally consider a religion to be. In Arabic, it is called “deen”. Although, this is generally translated as religion, the word deen has a broader scope. The best translation may be “the way of life”. Islam encompasses in its teachings everything about life from small details about an individual’s life such as how to clean one’s teeth to affairs of state such as rules of engagement in war.

The word Islam signifies peace. Firstly, peace between man and God and, secondly, peace between men. The primary significance of Islam is that this Guidance was sent to mankind so that nations submit to Allah and thus live in peace with each other.

Lars Vilks has followed in the footsteps of others in recent times of producing a cartoon which depicts the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a derogatory way. This had led to a predicable uproar from extremists, with numerous arrests of people who had directed death threats at Vilks.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad prophesied that three generations after he passed away, whether Muslim accept his claim to being the Promised Messiah or not, they will accept his interpretation of Islam.

This article shows that this is happening.
Insult and abuse of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is nothing new. It started when he made a claim to prophethood and continues till this day. So we don’t have to wonder how we should react to it, we have the Holy Prophet’s example to guide us. (continue reading…)

Members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, commonly known as Qadianis, when asked say that they regards every person who recites the kalima as Muslims.

But when confronted with statements of their founder Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, they change tack and admit they regard as Muslims only members of their own organisation.

If the Qadianis are sincere and honest why do they hide their true beliefs and trick people?

Our video discussed this issue further.

In a Sunday morning TV programme in the UK, The Big Question, the presenter translated 4:34 of the Holy Quran as “Men are in-charge of women” whereas the correct translation is “Men are maintainers of women”.

We have checked a number of translations of the Holy Quran by Muslims and by non Muslims, and they all translate this verse as ‘Men are maintainers/providers/sustainers of women’. This includes translations of the Holy Quran by such critics as Rodwell and Sale.

(continue reading…)

Whenever Muslims complain about unfair press coverage etc the Western world always says we have total freedom of expression and propagation.

Here we examine whether it is really true and how Muslims should react to criticism, even abuse.

An interesting article was written on The Washington Post website recently.

It discusses the role of religion in US politics. In theory the US is a secular state and religion plays no part in the affairs of the state. In practice, Christians, especially the conservatives, use their numerical strength to ban ideas they do not approve of, particularly in school teaching.

You can read the original article here

This is the final video completing the series.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad explains how Muslims benefited from British rule.

It was under this rule that printing became common place as well as peaceful religious debate which enabled Muslims to learn arguments proving Islams superiority over other religions.