The Light July 2020 07

ِ 

July 

2020 

س ی ْ ِ الرَّح 

ن 

س 

س ‏ْب سِ‏ اہللس الرَّْحْ‏ ٰ 

I Shall Love All Mankind. 

The Light 

International Organ of the Centre for the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam 

WE BELIEVE 

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) is the Last Prophet. After him, no prophet, old or new, can ever come. 

The Holy Quran is complete, and no verses are missing from it. 

The Holy Quran is perfect and none of its verses are abrogated. 

Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at 

www.virtualmosque.co.uk 

Editors 

Editor in Chief Dr Zahid Aziz 

Managing Editor Mr Shahid Aziz 

Suriname Dr Robbert Bipat 

South Africa Mr Ebrahim Mohamed 

The USA Mrs Zainab Ahmad 

Mrs Faryal Abdoelbasier 

Contents 

The Call of the Messiah 2 

Why Does One God, With One Message, Produce 

Many Different Religions? By Rabbi Allen 

S. Maller 3 

The Kiswa 5 

Tolerance 8 

Broadcast times (U.K. time) 

1. Mon to Thur 1900 - Urdu & English - Reflections 

on the Holy Quran 

2. Friday Sermon 13:00 

3. Sunday 09:00 – Urdu & English Call of the 

Messiah 

4. Sunday 13:00 English – Lessons in Islam 

First-Sunday of the month: lecture 

15:00. 

Broadcast Venues 

‣ www.facebook.com/LahoreAhmadiyyaMovement 

‣ www.youtube.com/channel/UCloNEE9FUnpX07thpLeKffQ 

‣ Radio Virtual Mosque @ mixlr.com 

Our Websites 

‣ International H.Q. 

‣ Research and History 

‣ The Woking Mosque and Mission 

‣ The Berlin Mosque and Mission 

‣ Quran search 

‣ Blog 

The Promised Messiah said: . . . 

. . . Except for the Holy Quran, there is now 

no revealed book for humanity on the face 

of the earth. And now there is no prophet 

or intercessor for humanity except 

Prophet Muhammad. Accordingly, you 

should strive to harbour sincere devotion 

to this glorious Prophet, giving him precedence 

over everyone so that your name 

may be written in the heavens as one who 

has reached salvation.

June 2020 The 

Light 2 

The Call of the 

Messiah 

by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam 

Ahmad 

The Promised Messiah and Mahdi 

(Editor’s note: Any quotations from the 

Quran are translated from the author’s explanations 

and are not literal translations of the verse 

quoted. This extract is from the book Kishti-e 

Nuh, translation by Akram Ahmad, pages 12- 

13) 

Do not rest content with fulfilling a few 

commandments and thereby fooling yourself 

into thinking that you have done all that is required. 

For, God wishes for your existence to undergo 

a revolution. God seeks from you a death, 

following which He will raise you to a higher 

life. So hasten in making peace with one another 

and forgiving the sins of your brothers. Wicked 

is the man who does not make peace with his 

brother. Such a man will be cast aside because 

he creates dissension. Discard every aspect of 

your selfish desires, let go of mutual grievances, 

and, while being in the right, be as meek as one 

who is in the wrong that God may forgive you. 

Cast aside the fat of lowly desires because one 

plump (with desires) cannot pass through the 

door to which you are called. 

Wretched is he who does not accept this advice 

that came from God and which I have now 

conveyed to you. If you wish that God should be 

pleased with you, then you should embrace 

your brothers in fraternity, like twins in their 

mother’s womb. Greater in piety among you is 

the one who is more forgiving of his brothers’ 

wrongdoings. And wretched is the one who 

shows stubbornness and does not forgive; he is 

not of me. 

Dread the curse of God, because He is Holy 

and has a sense of honour. The evildoer cannot 

attain nearness to God. The evil-doer cannot attain 

nearness to God; nor can the arrogant, nor 

can the oppressor, nor the dishonest. The man 

who does not feel honour for the name of God 

cannot attain nearness to Him. And he who 

seeks material comforts and greedily pursues 

the adornments of the world, like dogs or lowly 

insects or rapacious vultures, cannot attain 

nearness to God either. Every depraved eye is 

distant from God, and each impure heart is unaware 

of him. 

But the one who endures fiery torment for 

God will find deliverance from that anguish. The 

one who cries for God will ultimately rejoice, 

and the one who shuns worldly desires will find 

God. So, seek nearness to God — striving in His 

way with sincerity, dedication, and tireless exertion 

— so that God accepts you as His friend. 

Show mercy to your subordinates, your wives 

and your less fortunate brothers that mercy 

may be shown to you in the heavens. Devote 

yourself to God so that He becomes your Friend. 

The world is but a stage for thousands of 

tribulations, of which plague is but an example. 

Hence, reach out to God that He may protect you 

from this tribulation. No calamity befalls the 

world until it has been destined in the heavens 

by Him. And no catastrophe can be dispelled until 

mercy alights from the heavens. So prudence 

lies in firmly grasping the root, instead of vainly 

clutching at outlying branches. Of course, you 

are not barred from using remedies, but you are 

forbidden from entirely relying on those remedies. 

Ultimately, events will unfold as God intends. 

Provided that man can summon the courage 

to rely solely on God, the status of this kind 

of reliance is superior to all other standings. 

Another essential teaching for you is that 

you should not forsake the Holy Quran, because 

therein resides your spiritual life itself — those 

who honour the Quran will find honour bestowed 

upon them in the heavens. Those who 

give precedence to the Quran over every hadith 

report and every saying will be granted priority 

in the heavens. Except for the Holy Quran, there 

is now no revealed book for humanity on the 

face of the earth. And now there is no prophet 

or intercessor for humanity except Prophet Muhammad. 

Accordingly, you should strive to harbour 

sincere devotion to this glorious Prophet, 

giving him precedence over everyone so that 

your name may be written in the heavens as one 

who has reached salvation. 

(Return to contents) 

Lahore Ahmadiyya Community



Why Does One God, With One 

Message, Produce Many 

Different Religions? 

(Printed with the kind permission of 

Euroasia Review 

https://www.eurasiareview.com/21032020- 

why-does-one-god-with-one-message-produce-many-different-religions-oped/) 

Because I think of myself as a Reform Rabbi 

and an Islamic Jew. I am an Islamic Jew, i.e., a 

faithful Jew submitting to the will of God, because 

as a Rabbi I am faithful to the covenant 

that God made with Abraham – the first Islamic 

Jew, and I submit to the covenant and commandments 

that God made with the people of 

Israel at Mount Sinai. 

As a Reform Rabbi I believe that Orthodox 

Jewish religious leaders should not have made 

religion difficult for people to practice. This is 

one of the lessons that prophet Muhammad 

taught, 12 centuries before the rise of Reform 

Judaism in the early 19th century. 

Reform Jews are the largest of the Jewish 

denominations in the U.S. and Canada. In the 

U.K. Reform Judaism is called Liberal Judaism. 

By Rabbi Allen S. Maller 

(Allen Maller retired in 2006 after 39 years as 

Rabbi of Temple Akiba in Culver City, Calif. He is 

the author of an ‘Introduction to Jewish Mysticism’, 

‘God, Sex and the Kabbalah’, and editor of 

the Tikun series of High Holy Day prayer books.) 

Most college students at one time or another 

have asked, ‘If there is only one God why 

are there so many religions?’ This is a good 

question that I as a Rabbi have often been asked. 

This is my answer. The Qur’an declares that 

Allah could have made all of us monotheists, 

with just a single religious community, but 

didn’t, in order to test our loyalty to the prophet 

and the religion each of us have been given. 

“To each of you We prescribed a law and a 

method. Had Allah so willed, He would have 

made you a single people, but (God’s plan is) to 

test you in what He has given you: so compete 

in all virtues as in a race. The goal of you all is to 

(please) Allah who will show you (on judgment 

day) the truth of the matters in which you dispute.” 

(Qur’an, 5:48) 

Why do I as a Rabbi answer this question by 

quoting the Qur’an? 

As a Reform Rabbi who first began studying 

Islam at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem 

over 60 years ago. I think it is vitally important 

for our generation to understand how much Islam 

and Judaism have in common. 

All Monotheists agree that there is only one 

God, who does not want us to associate in our 

worship, any other being. 

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you 

out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall 

have no other gods before me.” (Deuteronomy 

5:6-7) 

“We never sent any apostle without having 

revealed to him that there is no Deity save Me; 

therefore, you shall worship [only] Me.” (Qur’an 

21:25) 

Jews, Muslims and most Protestants also 

believe that the one God, who created the whole 

universe, does not want us to worship God 

through statues, paintings and other objects 

made by human beings. 

“You shall not make for yourself an image in 

the form of anything in heaven above, or on the 

earth beneath, or in the waters below.” (Deuteronomy 

5:8) 




“It has been revealed to you, and to those 

before you that if you ever commit idol worship, 

all your [good] works will be nullified, and you 

will be with the losers. So worship [only] God 

and be among the grateful.” (Qur’an 39:65-6) 

Since the Children of Israel were the only 

ongoing monotheistic community in the centuries 

after the Torah of Prophet Moses and the 

Psalms of Prophet David, there were many occasions 

when a part of the Jewish people were 

seduced into following the majority of non-Jewish 

idol worshippers. The prophets constantly 

opposed those who made and worshipped 

idols. 

Prophet Habakkuk proclaims: “Of what 

value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image 

that teaches lies? For the one who makes it 

trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that 

cannot speak.” (Habakkuk 2:18) 

And Prophet Muhammad proclaims the 

same message: “As for the idols they set up beside 

GOD, they do not create anything; they 

themselves were created. They are dead, not 

alive, and they have no idea how or when they 

will be resurrected.” (Qur’an 16:20-21) 

In addition to these two basic commitments 

relating to Divine worship, God requires all of us 

to live a humble, kind and virtuous life, according 

to the rules that each of God’s Prophets have 

given to our nation and tribe: 

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your 

God require of you, but to be in awe of the LORD 

your God, to walk in all His ways and to love 

Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your 

heart and with all your soul, and to keep the 

commandments of the LORD and His statutes 

which I command you today for your good.” 

(Deuteronomy 10:12-14) 

This is why Jesus answered a man who 

asked him which of the many commandments 

God gave to the Jewish People was the most important 

and fundamental one, by saying there 

were two, not just one: 

“The first of all the [Torah’s] commandments 

is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the 

LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your 

God with all your heart, with all your soul, with 

all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This 

is the first commandment. (Deuteronomy 6:4- 

5) 

“And the second, is like it: ‘You shall love 

your neighbor as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18) 

There is no other commandment greater than 

these.” (Mark 12:29-31) 

This teaching of Jesus is the same message 

that Prophet Micah (8th century BCE) proclaimed 

to Israel long before Jesus. Micah said, 

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and 

what the LORD requires of you. Only to do justly, 

to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your 

God.” (Micah 6:8) 

Another religious principle that Jews and 

Muslims share is that God is merciful and forgiving 

to all those who repent their evil ways and 

do good instead. 

As Prophet Isaiah states: “Seek the LORD 

while He may be found, Call upon Him while He 

is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the 

unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to 

the LORD, who will have mercy on him; to our 

God, who will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6- 

7) 

And as the Qur’an states: “But as for him 

who repents after having thus done wrong, and 

makes amends, behold, God will accept his repentance: 

verily, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser 

of grace.” (Qur’an 5:39) 

Finally, Muslims and Jews share the religious 

principle that ritual acts of devotion are 

inadequate if they do not increase our moral 

virtues of self control and ethical responsibilities 

to help other people. People may call themselves 

believers, but still be hypocrites in their 

hearts and attitudes. 

Since the Hebrew Bible covers a period of 

more than eight centuries from the time of 

Prophet Moses to to the time of Prophet Ezra, 

the Hebrew Prophets speak more frequently 

about that part of the People of Israel who failed 




to follow the Torah of Moses. Take for example, 

the public actions of fasting. 

The Qur’an states: “O you who believe! Fasting 

is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to 

those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint,” 

(Qur’an 2:183) and the Torah of Moses 

decrees for Jews a 24 hour day of fasting for repentance 

and forgiveness (Leviticus 16:29, 

23:27). 

Seven centuries after Prophet Moses, 

Prophet Isaiah rebuked that part of the Jewish 

community who were religious hypocrites; who 

strictly observed the fast without being transformed 

by the fast into compassionate people. 

“They lament, ‘Why don’t you notice when 

we fast? Why don’t you pay attention when we 

humble ourselves?’ Look, at the same time you 

fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, you oppress 

your workers. Look, your fasting is accompanied 

by arguments, brawls, and fistfights. 

Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your 

voice heard in heaven. 

Is this really the kind of fasting I want? Do I 

want a day when people merely humble themselves, 

bowing their heads like a reed and 

stretching out on sackcloth and ashes? Is this 

really what you call a fast, a day that is pleasing 

to the Lord? 

No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you 

to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the 

ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the 

oppressed, and to break every burdensome 

yoke. 

I want you to share your food with the hungry 

and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed 

people.When you see someone naked, 

clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own 

flesh and blood! Then your light will shine like 

the sunrise; your restoration will quickly arrive; 

your godly behavior will go before you, and the 

Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. 

Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond; 

you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here 

I am.’ You must remove the burdensome yoke 

from among you and stop pointing fingers and 

speaking sinfully. You must actively help the 

hungry and feed the oppressed. Then your light 

will dispel the darkness, and your darkness will 

be transformed into midday [sunlight].” (Isaiah 

58:3-10) 

Or as the Qur’an says succinctly: “O you who 

have believed, why do you say what you do not 

do? Greatly hateful in the sight of Allah is that 

you say what you do not do.” (61:2-3) 

Thus the same basic message about loyalty 

to the one and only God who created the universe 

and requires all humans to live lives of 

kindness, modesty, faithfulness and justice is repeated 

from Adam to Muhammad. 

The details of each religion do vary from religion 

to religion; but the basics always remain 

the same. As the great poet Jalal al-Din al-Rumi 

taught, “Ritual prayer can be different in every 

religion, but belief never changes.” (Fihi Mafih) 

This will continue until judgement day 

when “Allah who will show you the truth of the 

matters in which you dispute.” (Qur’an 5:48) 


The Kiswa 

The story behind the covering of the 

holy Kaaba 

Short Url https://arab.news/r6ps2 

MAKKAH: On behalf of King Salman, Makkah 

Gov. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal on Wednesday 

handed over the Kaaba Kiswa (black cloth) to 

the senior caretaker of the Kaaba, Saleh bin Zain 

Al-Abidin Al-Shaibi. 

The Kiswa will be replaced on the ninth day 

of the month of Dul Hijjah, following in the footsteps 

of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. 

It was reported that after the conquest of 

Makkah in the ninth Hijri year, the Prophet cov- 




ered the Kaaba in Yemeni clothes as he performed 

his farewell pilgrimage. 

The Kiswa is replaced once a year during 

Hajj after the pilgrims go to Mount Arafat, in 

preparation for receiving worshippers the next 

morning, which coincides with Eid Al-Adha. 

Meanwhile, the General Presidency for the 

Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques has lifted the 

lower part of the Kiswa by about 3 meters and 

covered the raised area with white cotton fabric 

(approximately two meters in width from the 

four sides). 

The move was designed as a precaution to 

maintain the cleanliness and safety of the Kiswa 

and prevent tampering with it. 

The colours of the Kaaba’s coverings have 

seen regular changes through the ages. 

The Prophet Muhammad covered it with 

white-and-red striped Yemeni cloth, and Abu 

Bakr Al-Siddiq, Umar ibn Al-Khattab, and Uthman 

ibn Affan covered it with white. Ibn Al- 

Zubayr covered it with red brocade. 

During the Abbasid era, it was draped once 

with white and once in red, while the Seljuk Sultan 

covered it with yellow brocade. The Abbasid 

Caliph Al-Nassir changed the Kiswa’s colour to 

green and later to black brocade, and this has 

remained its colour to the present day. 

Dr. Fawaz Al-Dahas, director of the Centre of 

Makkah History, told Arab News: “The Kaaba 

was covered once in white, once in red, and 

once in black, and the choice of colour was 

based on the financial means in every era.” 

Qubati fabric was brought from Egypt and 

was one of the best types of fabric used to cover 

the Kaaba. The Yemeni Kiswa was also a quality 

cloth and most famous at the time. 

On why the colours changed over the ages, 

Al-Dahas said that white was the brightest colour, 

but it was not durable. It often became torn, 

dirty, and impure as pilgrims touched it and because 

it was not practical or long-lasting it was 

replaced with black-and-white brocade and 

shimla, which was used for covering Arab tents. 

“The varying financial means controlled the 

type of fabric used for the Kaaba’s Kiswa,” Al- 

Dahas added. 

He noted that the way humans perceived 

the Kiswa evolved after that, and it was replaced 

with a red brocade and Qubati Egyptian cloth. 

Also, an Antaa, which is a rug of leather, or a 

Musouh, a collection of rough clothes, would be 

added to it. 

“The Kiswa used to get changed from time 

to time whenever the fabric was available. This 

has been the case in the eras of the Rashidun Caliphate, 

the Umayyads, and the Abbasids,” he 

said. 

Black was finally chosen at the end of the 

Abbasid era because it was durable and could 

withstand being touched by visitors, pilgrims, 

and people from different cultures from around 

the world. 

With the continuation of the Umrah season, 

Al-Dahas said that the Kiswa was lifted to the 

middle of the Kaaba to preserve it and to prevent 

people from touching it. 

History books speak of the first man to 

cover the Kaaba in pre-Islamic times, Tubbaa 

Al-Humairi, the king of Yemen. They mention 

that he covered the Kaaba in pre-Islamic times 

after he visited Makkah and entered it obediently. 

Historians specializing in the Kaaba’s history 

mention in some accounts that Al-Humairi 

covered the Kaaba with a thick cloth called 

Khasf and later with Maafir, which is originally 

named after an ancient city in Yemen where 

Maafir cloth was made. He then covered it with 

Milaa, a soft, thin one-piece cloth known as Rabitah. 

After that, he covered the Kaaba with Wasael, 

a red-striped Yemeni cloth. 

Al-Humairi’s successors used leather and 

Qubati coverings with many others in the pre- 

Islamic era covering the Kaaba and considering 




it a religious duty and great honour. 

Some accounts point out that the Kiswa at 

the time was layered on the Kaaba, and when it 

became heavy or worn out, it was removed or 

divided. 

Historians confirm in an account that the 

Prophet was the first in Islam to cover the 

Kaaba with Qubati, which is a thin white cloth 

made in Egypt and named after the Copts. 

The accounts mention that in the conquest 

of Makkah, the Prophet kept the old Kiswa used 

in the era of the polytheists and did not replace 

it until a woman burned it while trying to scent 

it with incense. It was then covered with a Yemeni 

cloth. 

Muslim kings and sultans then continued to 

undertake covering the Kaaba and caring for it. 

During the Saudi era, the Kiswa has received 

great attention. The Islamic state that existed in 

Egypt at the time continued to send the Kiswa 

for centuries. 

The Saudi founder King Abdul Aziz gave directions 

for the establishment of a private 

house for making the Kiswa in Ajyad neighbourhood 

close to Makkah’s Grand Mosque, the first 

house dedicated to weaving the Kiswa in the Hijaz 

since the Kaaba was covered in the pre-Islamic 

era until the present era. 

It was the factory where the first Kiswa in 

the Saudi era was manufactured in Makkah. 

Production was later moved to Umm Al-Joud. 

The new location was equipped with the latest 

advanced machines in the weaving industry at 

the time and continued to produce Kiswas that 

surpassed all previous ones. 

A royal decree was issued by King Salman to 

change the name of the Kaaba Kiswa factory to 

the King Abdul Aziz Complex for the Kaaba’s 

Kiswa. 

The desalination department is the first of 

the complex’s sections. It is responsible for the 

purity of water, which reflects on the quality 

and texture of silk, and the desalination of 

groundwater for washing and dyeing silk. 

The dyeing process starts after the removal 

of the waxy layer coating the silk threads. The 

silk is then dyed in black and green using hot 

tubs and special chemicals mixed and weighted 

in specific rations to ensure the required degree 

of colour stability. 

The cotton lining of the Kiswa is also 

washed and the silk is then dyed with black for 

the outer drape and with green for the inner 

one, as is the case for the covering of the 

Prophet’s chamber. Every Kiswa requires 670 

kg of natural silk. 

Various tests are carried out on silk and cotton 

threads to ensure their conformity to required 

standards in terms of the strength of silk 

threads and their resistance to erosion and climatic 

conditions. Tests on the silver-coated 

threads are also conducted to ensure their suitability 

and high quality. 

With regard to machine textile manufacturing, 

the complex is equipped with advanced Jacquard 

machines, which create woven Qur’anic 

verses and produce black silk engraved with 

verses and prayers as well as plain silk made for 

printing verses and silver-thread and goldplated 

embroidery. These machines use 9,986 

threads per meter to weave the Kiswa in record 

time. 

In the printing department, the process of 

placing the first drawing starts from printing 

the Qur’anic verses and Islamic motifs on the 

Kaaba’s belt. The section also prepares the Manasij, 

two sides made of solid wood, and white 

raw fabric is pulled between them. The plain 

silk is then placed on top and the belt of the 

Kiswa is printed on it before the Kaaba’s door 

and the embroidery are added. Workers use 

silkscreen printing for the Qur’anic verses with 

white and yellow ink. 

The belt department takes care of embroidering 

the gold, silver, and motifs. This process 

is carried out by placing cotton threads of different 

densities over the threads and the motifs 




printed on the black fabric. Technicians then 

begin making the necessary stitches of fillings 

and domes using silver wire coated with gold. 

Sixteen pieces are produced for the Kaaba’s 

belt with Qur’anic verses written on them; six 

pieces of different sizes under the belt; four firm 

pieces for the Kaaba’s corners; 12 lamps below 

the belt; five pieces above the corner of the 

Black Stone, and the outside curtain of the 

Kaaba’s door. (Return to contents) 

Tolerance 

For Judaism and Christianity at the 

heart of Islam, MWL 1 chief says 

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1679091/saudi-arabia 

(Note: The Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza 

Ghulam Ahmad, was the first person who, in recent 

times, suggested that Islam teaches tolerance. 

He wrote to the Viceroy of India and proposed 

a hate-speech law. This law was enacted 

by the British Government a few years ago. The 

Promised Messiah prophecied that after the 

passing of three generations people will begin 

to accept his interpretation of Islam, taught to 

him by Allah. We are a fortunate generation that 

this prophecy has come true before our eyes. It 

also places a heavy duty on us to make sure that 

the world knows about The Promised Messiah 

and his interpretation of Islam.) 

“The Qur’an instructed Muslims to be righteous 

and benevolent to non-Muslims as long as 

they are peaceful and do not attack you or fight 

you. Muslims treated well the Jews who refused 

to enter Islam, starting with the Prophet, peace 

and blessings be upon him, until our time,” said 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, 

secretary-general of the Muslim World League 

(MWL), a leading religious Muslim non-governmental 

organisation based in Makkah. 

Sheikh Al-Issa has been leading by example 

since taking up that position in 2016, tirelessly 

traveling the world, forging relationships — 

with governments, religious institutions (including 

the Vatican) and NGOs (including the 

American Sephardi Federation and the American 

Jewish Committee) — and announcing historic 

initiatives to counter extremism, guarantee 

religious freedom and improve human welfare. 

Most recently, Al-Issa called on members of 

different religions to unite against the COVID- 

19 pandemic, stating: “We want Muslims and all 

other citizens to be aiding one another in this 

time of common challenge, without discrimination 

for religion or race, for gender or ethnicity.” 

MWL today is drastically different than the 

organisation it was even five years ago, when it 

was still an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Despite Al-Issa’s exemplary humanitarian, 

educational and outreach efforts all over the 

world, including with Jewish communities, 

some remain skeptical about MWL’s agenda and 

Islam’s doctrinal teachings concerning other religions. 

They variously claim that the essence of the 

religion eschews equal treatment for non-converts 

and that any attempts to disassociate from 

controversial interpretations is merely whitewashing, 

and they have tried to tie MWL’s actions 

to regional politics. Such criticisms are 

sorely mistaken. 

In an exclusive interview, Al-Issa addressed 

these issues and other controversial topics 

forthrightly. 

The question of how a religion that proselytises 

can be respectful of other religions and 

their members who do not convert is nothing 

new. Christian missionaries used to convert 

Jews under duress. 

Today, non-violent groups such as “Jews for 

Jesus” use persuasion, not torture, but concerns 

linger about the targeting and manipulation of 

1 Muslim World League. 




vulnerable individuals who lack Jewish education. 

Does Islam have some unique issues that 

Christianity does not? Concerns are understandably 

compounded by the images of Islamist 

and terrorist organisations indoctrinating 

their followers and converts through deception 

or force. 

Al-Issa responded that most religions except 

Judaism practice proselytisation. That fact 

does not inherently signify a lack of respect, nor 

mean that practitioners of various religions 

should be locked in an illogical and endless 

struggle. 

“We, as Muslims, respect, love, understand, 

cooperate, coexist and tolerate everyone. Our 

historically documented and verified actions 

demonstrate this, and in the Muslim World 

League we have played a major role in this aspect, 

pursuant to our Islamic values,” said Al- 

Issa. 

“With our Jewish brothers, we concluded 

agreements and mutual cooperation, and we 

love them and respect them greatly, far from the 

problems of politics, as our principle is not to 

interfere in politics.” 

Al-Issa emphasised that it is permissible to 

engage in normal business and friendly relations 

with members of other faiths, including 

Jews, as was the case in the Prophet Muhammad’s 

time. 

Political disagreements are separate from 

religious precepts. Moreover, he added, Islam 

considers Jews and Christians to be Peoples of 

the Book who are accorded privileges in jurisprudential 

proceedings. 

At the same time, Islam respects other religions 

and guarantees the rights of all people to 

religious choice. 

But what about the Qu’ranic quotes, as well 

as hadiths and alleged accounts, that point to a 

conflict between Islam’s prophet and the Jews 

of Arabia? 

Most modern-day discussions feature 

claims of enmity, persecution and even a massacre 

resulting from the Jews’ refusal to convert to 

Islam. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth, according 

to Al-Issa. 

The Qu’ranic references criticising Jews that 

some have taken to mean a generalised attack 

on all Jews actually admonish specific followers 

of Judaism who went “off the derech” - strayed 

from the faithful commitment to the letter and 

spirit of their own Abrahamic tradition, he said. 

To illustrate his point, he presented two 

seemingly paradoxical quotations: The Qur’an 

differentiates between the types of people, as 

the Almighty says: “They are not [all] the same; 

among the People of the Scripture is a community 

standing [in obedience], reciting the verses 

of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating 

[in prayer].” 

The Almighty also said: “And among the 

People of the Scripture is he who, if you entrust 

him with a great amount [of wealth], he will return 

it to you. And among them is he who, if you 

entrust him with a [single] silver coin, he will 

not return it to you unless you are constantly 

standing over him [demanding it].” 

God says: “Indeed, those who believed and 

those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans 

[before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among 

them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day 

and did righteousness - will have their reward 

with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning 

them, nor will they grieve.” 

The Qur’an instructed Muslims to be righteous 

and benevolent to non-Muslims as long as 

they are peaceful and do not attack you or fight you 

- said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al- 

Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World 

League (MWL) 

The Qur’an speaks to different categories of 

people, but due to historical misinterpretations, 

mistranslations and, at times deliberate distortions, 

there is an appearance of a contradiction. 




Those who focus on the allegedly anti-Jews 

passages ignore how Muslims engaged in 

wrongdoing are castigated in a similar vein. Additionally, 

even when critical of specific Jews, 

the Qur’an speaks positively of the legacy of Jacob 

and calls on the Jewish community not to 

depart from their historic mission. 

Al-Issa said: “The Qur’an admonished a 

group of Jews, not all Jews, and reminded them 

of the honor of affiliating with the Prophet Jacob, 

peace be upon him: ‘O Children of Israel! 

Remember My favor which I bestowed upon 

you, and that I favored you over all nations.’” 

But what to make of the alleged massacres 

of the Jews that have become so closely associated 

with the extremist outcries of “Khybar, 

khybar ya yahood?” 

They, too, should be viewed in their proper 

context. Al-Issa pointed out that there was no 

mass extermination of Jews qua Jews. On the 

contrary, the issues that led to tribal violence 

were purely political, not religious. 

Indeed, he continued, affiliation with a religion 

does not preclude criticism for errors. 

Contemporary audiences should look to the 

example of the prophet himself, Al-Issa said. 

“The prophet, peace be upon him, stood out 

of respect to a passing Jewish funeral, lived next 

to a Jew, and married Safiya, the daughter of 

Hayy bin Akhtab from Bani Al-Nadir. He told 

her: ‘You are the daughter of a prophet, your uncle 

is a prophet, and you are the wife of a 

prophet.’” Muhammad was referring to the fact 

that his wife was descended from Aaron and 

Moses, peace be upon them. 

From this quote it follows that Muhammad 

not only respected Safiya’s Jewish heritage, but 

encouraged her to take pride and inspiration in 

her lineage. 

Al-Issa also emphasised Muhammad’s signature 

achievement, the Madinah Charter, as an 

example of Islam’s position on religious existence 

put into practice: “The Prophet, peace be 

upon him, has signed the most important Islamic 

constitutional document, which is the 

Madinah Charter, which preserved religious 

and civil rights, as well as provided for Jews and 

others to live within Madinah in dignity as part 

of the ummah (community).” 

What about the idea that Muhammad and 

his followers slaughtered the Jews who refused 

to convert? 

Due to misinterpretations and politicised 

stories by later clergy, many now believe there 

is inherent enmity towards Jews who do not become 

Muslims, and all outreach efforts by Muslims 

is, therefore, “fake news.” 

Al-Issa firmly rejected this criticism: “Islam 

gives freedom to everyone in accepting or rejecting 

Islam, and there is an explicit verse considered 

one of the most important constitutional 

texts in Islam that says: ‘There shall be no 

compulsion in religion.’ And the position of Islam 

on the Jews who refuse to enter Islam, according 

to the Qur’an, is respecting their choice 

while preserving their dignity and their religious 

and civil rights, and living with them in 

peace.” 

The conflicts that followed in subsequent 

generations, he affirmed, were entirely political, 

even though both the contemporaneous parties 

and future scholars frequently attribute clashes 

and persecutions to religion. 

Religion is an expedient cover for power 

grabs and there is also “often confusion in terms 

and translations, or by the misunderstanding of 

Islamic religious texts. When the Qur’an discusses 

a topic related to a specific situation or 

religious group, some people will mistakenly interpret 

that as an attack on everyone or as a position 

against the existence of that religion.” 

Islam’s original intent concerning the relations 

between Muslims and Jews is clear from 

the treatment of non-converts. 

As Al-Issa puts it: “Muslims treated the Jews 

who refused to enter Islam well, starting with 

the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, 




until our time. 

“The neighbour of the prophet was a Jew, 

whom he visited and accepted his hospitality, 

and considered all the food of the Jews permissible 

for Muslims, permitted marriage to them, 

and built a family from a Jewish mother, and the 

Jewish community lived with Muslims in Madinah 

in peace.” 

Surveying thousands of years of Jewish life 

in the lands of Islam, it is easy and nevertheless 

wrong to present a single narrative. 

There were periods of incredible coexistence, 

when Muslims and Jews worked together 

to make great advances in trade, science, philosophy, 

and other fields. 

At different times, there are instances of 

conflicts and persecutions. Al-Issa rejects any 

basis for bigotry in Islam, instead asserting that 

such instances were caused by motives divorced 

from religion. 

Al-Issa went on to explain how Muslims 

have been prime targets of Islamist extremists 

throughout time. “What happened in the past is 

still being done by some extremists (that are 

present in all religions) who, by their misunderstanding 

of the teachings of Islam, do not represent 

the majority of Muslims or Islam at all. 

They only represent themselves, and with their 

extremist ideas they offend us as moderate 

Muslims and Islam more than they offend other 

religions. 

“Muslims have suffered more violence and 

terror from extremists than non-Muslims 

have.” 

Indeed, those who believed and those who 

were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before 

Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who 

believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness 

- will have their reward with their Lord. 

Dr. Al-Issa explained - The source of much 

falsehood is attributable to the Ottomans, who 

were behind mistranslations and misapplications 

of the Qu’ran. 

Distribution of questionable hadiths by 

clerics of different backgrounds likewise led to 

confusion and divisive views. 

Later, political movements, using theology 

as a cudgel, deliberately came to distribute inaccurate 

information. And, in non-Arab Muslim 

communities, understanding was severely 

skewed by the lack of access to original source 

material. 

Poorly educated or ignorant self-proclaimed 

imams would use populist rhetoric and 

sensationalist sounding quotations out of context 

to fire up the public. 

The Muslim Brotherhood came to rely on 

these combinations of factors to push an intolerant 

and violent interpretation of Islam that 

was mainstreamed with the help of media, governments, 

political organisations, and other allies 

and fellow travellers. 

Al-Issa compared the Muslim Brotherhood 

to Al-Qaeda and Daesh in a recently launched 

Ramadan program on Saudi Arabia’s bestknown 

channel, MBC. 

The Muslim Brotherhood ideology, which 

incorporated the religious rhetoric of some Ottoman 

Sufi sects, and of Bolshevik, Nazi, Jacobin, 

and later extremist Salafi teachings, has 

managed to become a source of discord among 

Muslim communities. 

The inflammatory pulpit imams and Brotherhood 

ideology are the gateway drug leading 

students to join Al-Qaeda, Daesh, Hamas and 

other terrorist organisations, who hunt down 

and punish Muslims deemed insufficiently subservient. 

Within the Brotherhood camp, there is remarkable 

flexibility in making alliances with 

seemingly divergent schools of thought, such as 

with the Iranian Khomeinists. 

The Brotherhood conveniently claimed to 

no longer engage in violent direct action but, as 

the appreciation for Islamism is dying out in the 

Arab world, thanks in part to reforms instituted 




by Arab governments, it now appears to 

acknowledge direct involvement in terrorist activity. 

So what effect, if any, has MWL’s activity had 

on the discourse in the Muslim world? To start 

with, Al-Issa practices what he preaches in Arabic 

and uses the substantial soft power of the 

MWL to advance his campaign to assert the 

true, inclusive and benevolent nature of Islam. 

Anyone in doubt can refer to the Charter of 

Makkah, a historic statement drafted by Al-Issa, 

who then convened a meeting of 1,200 pre-eminent 

Islamic scholars near Islam’s holiest site, 

the Kaaba, to debate and sign the document. 

The Charter of Makkah answers those, who 

deny or distort the truth, both within Islam and 

without. 

In one episode of his MBC program, Al-Issa 

discusses how all religious places of worship 

should be protected — in other words, the attacks 

on Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and other 

places of worship by terrorists have no basis in 

religious teachings or practices, but are the result 

of politics and distortions. 

In another episode, he discusses the empowerment 

of Muslim women throughout history, 

which is contrasted with the limited public 

role and the presumable marital subjugation accorded 

to them in various communities and 

contexts based on cultural, rather than religious, 

traditions or erroneous (perhaps deliberately 

so) readings of texts. 

Al-Issa is working to undo decades of denial 

about women’s influence in Arab and Muslim 

societies. 

There is no question that this shift in the intellectual 

discourse is having an effect as more 

Middle Eastern countries are opening their media 

to portraying positive roles for the Jewish 

communities that once lived in their countries. 

One Saudi columnist, impressed by MWL’s 

position and Al-Issa’s visit to Auschwitz, calls 

for wider recognition of the “Jewish tragedy” 

(the Holocaust) in the process of bridge-building. 

Another example is the MBC Ramadan 

drama “Um Haroun.” Based loosely on true stories 

of the Bahraini Jewish community, the series, 

which had a Kuwaiti director and star, aired 

in Saudi Arabia. 

There is a desire to undo the damage of decades 

of politicisation of Jewish life that led to attacks, 

expulsions and fear. 

Egypt, too, in addition to its recent restoration 

of synagogues, has just as importantly 

opened up to a more sympathetic portrayal of 

Jews in a Ramadan series. 

The acceptance of this portrayal by the public 

is just as much of a breakthrough and an example 

of “positive soft power” of religious institutions 

as the political determination that made 

such moves permissible to the media. 

At the end of the day, actions speak louder 

than words. Religions are a combination of doctrinal 

teachings and practices. 

Al-Issa’s hard work is leading the way in 

showing that a combination of correct beliefs 

and righteous actions can withstand even centuries 

of obscurantism and political hijackings. 

It is up to each generation to return to its 

roots and to use history and knowledge as an 

inspiration for the building of tolerant, humane, 

respectful, and intellectually open societies. 


Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore 

Founders of the first Islamic Mission in the UK - established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission. 

E-mail: editor.thelight@aaiil.uk 

Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk

The Light July 2020 07

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