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One of the countless, debilitatingly endemic problems with anti-Ahmadiyya hate sites is that they provide a platform for any old ignoramus to pose as a scholar and offer their own opinions as 'Islam,' whilst providing no supporting evidence whatsoever. Such people seem to become so enamoured with their own reasoning that they place themselves on a pedestal and genuinely believe that using powerful rhetoric in their writing is more important than actually paying any heed to the teachings of The Holy Prophet s.a.w.
In this same vein, very recently a group of anti-Ahmadiyya commentators accused Ahmadi Muslims of trespassing in Mecca. For those of you who don't know, non-Muslims are prohibited from entering Mecca or Medina by the Saudi government's laws. The anti-Ahmadis accuse Ahmadi Muslims of being non-Muslims and therefore trespassing when we travel to Mecca for Hajj. An anti-Ahmadiyya leader, Mr. Shahid Kamal, completes this argument with the following words:
From this little extract alone you can see the sorts of writing strategies employed on anti-Ahmadiyya sites. The short sentences. Catchy rhetoric, such as 'New prophet, new religion' that distorts important theological discussions with pithy remarks. Fancy pseudo-intellectual phrases such as 'normative tradition'. Such commentators sound gleefully pleased with themselves. However not one of the non-Ahmadi Muslim commentators, on the mind-blowingly lowbrow thread in reference, managed to provide a single quotation from either The Holy Qu'ran or sunnah or ahadith to back up their opinions. Instead they have typically presented their opinions as Islam without even considering any evidence.
So here are are our comments on this allegation:
Refutation 1
Firstly, the law by the ruling Saudi government which prevents non-Muslims from entering Mecca or Medina is based on the following verse of The Holy Qu'ran:
As Ahmadi Muslims do not worship idols, this verse doesn't apply to them. In fact, some would argue that it cannot apply to Jews or monotheistic Christians or monotheists from any religion. It can only apply to those who worship idols and this is borne out in the following verse:
The 'Becca' in the verse above is a name given to the valley of Mecca. Clearly, the verse points out that the Ka'aba was created for the benefit of all of mankind and not just the Muslims. Anyhow, either way it is irrelevant for Ahmadis are Muslims and the anti-Ahmadis would do well to heed the words of the Quran, which rejects needless animosity towards peaceful groups:
Firstly, the law by the ruling Saudi government which prevents non-Muslims from entering Mecca or Medina is based on the following verse of The Holy Qu'ran:
As Ahmadi Muslims do not worship idols, this verse doesn't apply to them. In fact, some would argue that it cannot apply to Jews or monotheistic Christians or monotheists from any religion. It can only apply to those who worship idols and this is borne out in the following verse:
The 'Becca' in the verse above is a name given to the valley of Mecca. Clearly, the verse points out that the Ka'aba was created for the benefit of all of mankind and not just the Muslims. Anyhow, either way it is irrelevant for Ahmadis are Muslims and the anti-Ahmadis would do well to heed the words of the Quran, which rejects needless animosity towards peaceful groups:
Refutation 2
At the time of The Holy Prophet s.a.w. there lived a man called Abdullah bin Ubai. He was famously a hypocrite. He called himself a Muslim, however conspired against Muhammad s.a.w. to the extent that he said, 'By Allah, if we return Medina, surely, the more honourable (ie. Abdullah himself) will expel therefrom the meaner (ie. God forbid, Muhammad s.a.w).' Upon hearing such threats and insults, a naturally upset Umar r.a. asked The Holy Prophet s.a.w. if he could kill Abdullah, to which The Holy Prophet s.a.w. replied:
At the time of The Holy Prophet s.a.w. there lived a man called Abdullah bin Ubai. He was famously a hypocrite. He called himself a Muslim, however conspired against Muhammad s.a.w. to the extent that he said, 'By Allah, if we return Medina, surely, the more honourable (ie. Abdullah himself) will expel therefrom the meaner (ie. God forbid, Muhammad s.a.w).' Upon hearing such threats and insults, a naturally upset Umar r.a. asked The Holy Prophet s.a.w. if he could kill Abdullah, to which The Holy Prophet s.a.w. replied:
Despite Abdullah threatening to 'expel' The Holy Prophet s.a.w from Medina, because Abdullah called himself a Muslim, The Holy Prophet s.a.w. also referred to him as a Muslim by calling him his 'companion'. Clearly, The Holy Prophet s.a.w. believed that if an individual called himself a Muslim they received the same rights and treatment as any other Muslim, regardless of what their true belief may be. Why do Mr. Kamal and his cohorts believe themselves to have a greater knowledge than The Holy Prophet s.a.w regarding this issue? We don't care which so called 'unanimous' academics and governments support Mr. Kamal's views. Even if all of the world supported his views and then aliens landed and they also supported his views and then he found a talking chimpanzee who also supported his views and then Joey Barton himself tweeted a declaration of support for Mr. Kamal's views, so long as they all contradict The Holy Quran and The Holy Prophet s.a.w's, then all of those views on Islam are worth less than a 1000 Greek drachma deposited in a Lehman Brothers hedge fund.
Refutation 3
During a battle to defend Islam, one of the companions overpowered a disbeliever. The disbeliever, overcome with fear, converted to Islam by pronouncing the kalimah. The companion ignored this and killed him anyway. News of this event reached The Holy Prophet s.a.w. and he became so upset he began to repeat the following words again and again:
There are two things in this statement that we find remarkable. Firstly, The Holy Prophet s.a.w. did not think even his companions were worthy of judging who is or isn't a Muslim. Secondly, The Holy Prophet s.a.w here hasn't even expressed the recitation of the full kalimah (There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger) as the minimum proof of being a Muslim. He has said that even saying just, 'There is no God but Allah' can be used as a statement for proving yourself a Muslim. Ahmadi Muslims certainly believe in and recite the full Kalimah, with no additions or subtext. There is no doubt that sincere Ahmadis are certainly Muslims according to The Holy Quran and the traditions of The Holy Prophet s.a.w.
Refutation 4
From the above hadith we can see that when The Holy Prophet s.a.w. was the ruler of Medina, he was perfectly happy for Christians to visit the city and meet him in his own mosque. There he would let them pray inside the mosque and not even pray in the direction of Mecca, but he allowed them to pray towards Jerusalem. Moreover, he also allowed Jews and people of other faiths to live peacefully in Medina.
This was how The Holy Prophet s.a.w. taught Muslims to treat people of other faiths. Are the anti-Ahmadiyya group seriously suggesting that Ahmadis who call themselves Muslims and profess that 'There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger' and offer salam have less right to visit Islamic cities and pray there than the Holy Prophet s.a.w. gave to Christians?
Refutation 5
Later, when The Holy Prophet s.a.w conquered Mecca, he did not force anyone to convert. In fact, he followed the teachings of the Holy Quran:
As such, pagans and people of other faiths were allowed to continue practising their own beliefs in peace in Mecca. Mr. Kamal and his sympathisers though seem to think that this policy of The Holy Prophet s.a.w's is, God forbid, outdated. They think that The Holy Prophet s.a.w would have been wiser to prevent any non-Muslim and even some Muslims such as Ahmadi Muslims from entering this city. Once again, they feel their forceful rhetoric is so wonderful it overrules The Holy Prophet s.a.w. himself.
Refutation 6
On Mr. Kamal's coinage of the phrase 'New prophet, new religion,' we would like to humbly draw his attention to the following statement of The Holy Prophet s.a.w.:
Does Mr. Kamal believe that. God forbid, The Holy Prophet s.a.w. thought his own son was so much superior to himself that had he lived he would have brought a new religion, which would have superseded the religion of Islam? Or alternatively, does Mr. Kamal agree that The Holy Prophet s.a.w. believed it possible for a prophet to come within the framework of Islam, as a subordinate prophet and servant of The Holy Prophet s.a.w who will bring no new law but follow only the law of Islam?
Refutation 7
When, according to The Holy Qu'ran, the prophet Abraham was followed directly amongst his own children and family with the prophets Ismael, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, did these prophets follow the religion of Abraham or did they bring their own 'new religion'? When Moses was helped by his brother, prophet Aaron, did Aaron bring a new religion? Did Moses' followers David or Solomon bring new religions?
We have presented similar arguments to similar allegations before. What we find interesting is that several anti-Ahmadis on twitter and in the comments on our own site respond to arguments highlighting the teachings and traditions of the Islamic prophets by saying, 'do not present us with the examples of the prophets'. Bemusingly, anti-Ahmadis seem to declare Ahmadi Muslims non-Muslims for following the teachings of the Islamic prophets more carefully than the anti-Ahmadis do.
We could go on giving more refutations and arguments against this allegation, but we think that at this stage it's all getting a little embarrassing for the self-proclaimed enlightened scholars of the anti-Ahmadiyya group, who apparently have little to no grasp of some basic, fundamental teachings of The Holy Qu'ran and The Holy Prophet s.a.w.
We could go on giving more refutations and arguments against this allegation, but we think that at this stage it's all getting a little embarrassing for the self-proclaimed enlightened scholars of the anti-Ahmadiyya group, who apparently have little to no grasp of some basic, fundamental teachings of The Holy Qu'ran and The Holy Prophet s.a.w.
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