The Muslim News

The Malaysian Prime Minister

with Ahmadi Imam Maulana
Tufail after Eid-ul-Fitr
prayers, 1961

Mary and Jesus
Set forth an example for those
who believe ... Mary ... who
guarded her chastity, so We
breathed into true believers of
Our inspiration, and she accepted the truth of the words of
her Lord and His Books, and
she was of the obedient ones.
These words give the status of
Mary, mother of Jesus in a
major world religion. When I
asked someone who might
have said these words, the
reply was that it was probably
a Catholic. It surprises people,
especially
our
Christian
friends, when we tell them
that these are the words of the
Holy Quran in Chapter 66,
verses 11 and 12.
The Holy Quran says that
when a true believer accepts
the words of Allah the way
Mary accepted them, and
when he is as obedient to
Allah as she was then Allah

January

2014
Issue 18
Crown Prince
(later King)
Faisal of Saudi
Arabia with
Ahmadi Imam
Maulana
Aftab-ud-Din
at the Woking
Mission

Prince (later King)

Sunni Muslim
Saud of Saudi Arabia at soldiers of the British
Woking
Army at Woking

Next Meeting
Sunday, 2nd February,
2014 at 15:00
Dar-us-Salaam,
15 Stanley Ave, Wembley,
HA0 4JQ
breathes into such a person His
spirit and grants that person
inspiration. Thus the highest
status a true Muslim can
achieve is to become like Mary.
Can anyone give an example
from any other religion
where the mother of the
founder of a different, nay a
differing, religion is granted
such high status?
Elsewhere the Holy Quran
says: And We made the son
of Mary and his mother a sign
(23:50). Here, the Holy
Prophet Jesus and his mother
are made a sign of righteousness for all humanity. I say this
because the Holy Quran has

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guidance and a message for all
people for all time.
The verse quoted above is just
one example of the high station
awarded by Allah to Jesus. It
says about him: We gave
Jesus, son of Mary, clear arguments and strengthened him
with the Holy Spirit (2:87).
Allah did not keep the Truth
reserved for a chosen people,
but through his prophets gave
it to all nations, eventually
bringing all the truths together
in the Holy Quran. Just as the
honey bee collects nectar from
many different flowers and
combines it to make healthgiving honey, in the same way
the Holy Quran provides us

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore (UK)

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with spiritual honey for our

spiritual health.
Let no one be in any doubt of
the respect, nay reverence in
which Muslims hold all prophets, all holy scriptures and all
righteous people.
The Holy Quran says: Surely
those who believe, and those
who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever
believes in Allah and the Last
Day and does good, they have
their reward with their Lord,
and there is no fear for them,
nor shall they grieve (2:62),
showing that no one is deprived of Allahs grace or
bounties in this world or the
next. All those who believe
shall be rewarded, so long as
belief is accompanied by action and they do good.
So we request our friends not
to be afraid of Islam and not to
think that it excludes nonMuslims from the fold of love
or friendship.
We wish you all a Merry
Christmas and a happy,
healthy and prosperous New
Year.

An Islamic
Thanksgiving
by Jo Ellen
One question Im often asked,
as a Muslim, is whether I celebrate Thanksgiving.
Others wonder this because
they know I do not celebrate
holidays such as Christmas,
Easter and Halloween, or All
Saints Day. Unlike those holidays, however, Thanksgiving
is a non-religious, cultural
holiday, with ideals that are
fully in tune with the Islamic
ethos and it happens to be
one of my favorites.
Almost all Muslims I know
celebrate Thanksgiving. Those
who dont are often either
fairly recent immigrants who
have not yet established that

tradition, or those who follow

the Prophet Muhammads saying that the two Eids (holy festivals) of Islam have replaced
the festivals of the early pagans; they stick to this saying
so far that they hold no other
cultural celebrations, including
birthdays. This interpretation,
however, is that of the minority.
A few other Muslims are keenly
aware, and critical, of Americas treatment of Native
Americans. Muslims usually
strive to teach these less savory stories to our children and
students, but very few opt out
of Thanksgiving because of
them. Most see the potential of
Thanksgiving, and view it with
modern interpretations.
As for my family, we eat a turkey, preferably one raised and
harvested according to Muslim
dietary guidelines. Instead of
ham, we may also do a leg of
lamb.
More importantly, we look forward to gathering with extended family cousins, aunts
and uncles we sometimes only
see on this day. We love how,
not only is the gathering in line
with our injunctions to maintain family ties, but how we can
fulfill other injunctions, such as
giving thanks.
When we gather and each person vocally shares what he/she
is thankful for, I think of the
verse, "Worship God, and be of
those who give thanks" (Quran
39:66) and the hadith, "He who
does not thank people, does
not thank God." I am happy to
have this yearly opportunity to
be with family and openly give
thanks and appreciation for
our blessings, whether we live
in adversity or prosperity. I am
thankful just to have that
opportunity.

From my family to yours, we

wish you a happy and blessed
Thanksgiving.
(Jo Ellen Thomas is a Muslim
homemaker and home-school
parent who lives in
Indianapolis.)
(From www.indystar.com,
23 November 2013)

100 Years
In 2014 it will be one hundred
years since the creation of this
Jamaat. A small group of people, men and women alike,
were determined to spread
Islam in the West. They depended on help only from Allah
and overcame what seemed to
be impossible odds and trials:
the First World War, the Second World War, the partition of
India into India and Pakistan,
an attempt to annihilate them
in 1953, being declared heretics in 1974 and persecution
thereafter, bans on literature,
persecution, torture, murder,
kidnap the list is endless. A
person who depended only on
material resources would find
it astonishing that we survived.
Our survival is a sign of Divine
support, for without it this little band of people without
much in way of material resources could not have survived. But when Allah helps us
overcome such seemingly insurmountable odds then he
wants us to do something in
return. He wants us to double
and quadruple our efforts to
propagate the truth. If we do
not, we shall be the losers.
Our survival is a miracle, but
Allah creates miracles for a
purpose. The purpose for our
survival is that the survival of
the true Islamic teaching is directly linked to it. If we fail in
this we would fail in our duty
to Allah.