Introduction
On May 23, 2008, Islamic clerics aligned with Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan delivered sermons during weekly Friday prayers in different mosques across Pakistan to mark the Yaum-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat, or the Day of the Finality of Prophethood of Islam's founder the Prophet Muhammad. [1]
The Day of the Finality of Prophethood was organized as part of the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat week that began on May 22, 2008. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Assembly of Pakistani Clergy), which is organizing the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat week, had announced that imams and khutba'a (preachers) would especially highlight the role of the Jewish-Qadiani nexus during the Friday sermons. [2]
Ahmadi Muslims are sometimes called Qadianis by hostile Islamic groups, after the town of Qadian in India where their leader Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the movement in the 1880s. They have been declared non-Muslims in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for allegedly not believing that the Prophet Muhammad is the final prophet of Islam.
At a Lahore press conference, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Secretary General Qari Zawwar Bahadur said that public rallies would be held as part of the week-long programs to condemn anti-Islam conspiracies and blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. He said that participants in the rallies would renew the pledge to combat anti-Islam conspiracies, among them the Qadianis, the Danish newspapers' reprinting of the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, and Geert Wilders's film Fitna. [3]
The following are details about the Friday sermons.
Qadianis Consider Jihad Haram (Forbidden by Islam) and Should Be Ejected from the Pakistan Army
In May 23 Friday sermons in various mosques, Islamic clerics said that the Jewish-Qadiani nexus was engaged in promoting conspiracies against Islam and Muslims. According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Express, they said that the Danish newspapers' publication of Prophet Muhammad's cartoons and Geert Wilders's release of the anti-Koran film 'Fitna' was proof that they surrendered before the truth of the Koran and Islam.
According to the report, the clerics said: "The Jewish-Qadiani nexus is busy with anti-Islam conspiracies. The Muslim Ummah will not permit these conspiracies to succeed, and will not tolerate the gutless and cheating leaders thrust upon the Muslim nations."
The Friday sermons were delivered in key mosques in towns across Pakistan: by Shah Muhammad Ans Noorani in Karachi, Dr. Muhammad Zubair in Hyderabad, Allama Shabbir Ahmed Hashmi in Patoki, Qari Zawwar Bahadur in Lahore, Hafiz Naseer Ahmad Noorani in Lahore, Mufti Hidayatullah Pasrori in Multan, Allama Muhammad Iqbal Azhari in Shujaabad, Sahibzada Ahmed Mian in Multan, and Mufti Ashraf Jalali in Kamonki.
Sermons were also delivered by Maulana Muhammad Aslam Rizvi in Gujranwala, Maulana Ghulam Mohiuddin Sultan in Rawalpindi, Mufti Abdus Subhan Qadri in Peshawar, Maulana Habib Ahmad Naqshbandi in Quetta, Maulana Abdul Quddus Sasoli in Quetta, Pir Hasnain Farooq in Attock, Sahibzada Saeed Daryasharif in Attock, Qari Ghulam Yasin in Mianwali, Haji Aslam in Rokhri, Qari Abdur Rahman Noorani, Malik Bashir Ahmad Nizami, and others.
According to the report, the clerics said that Qadianis are the enemies of Islam and Pakistan, and should be dismissed from top positions in the government and the armed forces. They said: "Qadianis consider jihad to be haram [forbidden by Islam]; therefore they have no right to be recruited by Pakistan's armed forces. They should be dismissed from army posts."
Qadianis Threaten Pakistan's Ideological Foundation
At another conference held by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, at the Minar-e-Pakistan (Pakistan Memorial) in Lahore, a number of religious leaders and clerics delivered speeches criticizing Ahmadi Muslims. During the conference, billed as the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat conference, the group announced that it had finalized a public awareness program against Qadianis, to be launched across the province of Punjab. [4]
According to a report, the speakers said: "A threat has been created against the ideological foundation of Pakistan. Qadianis have once again begun conspiring against Pakistan. No sacrifice will be spared in protecting the ideological foundation of Pakistan."
The speakers at the Minar-e-Pakistan conference blamed all Pakistan's current problems on the Ahmadi Muslims. Qari Zawwar Bahadur told the conference that Qadianis were created only to spread discord among Muslims. Sahibzada Muhammad Atiqur Rahman said that Qadianis were conspiring to end the Kashmir issue. Pir Muhammad Abdul Khaliq said that the Western powers were engaged in negative propaganda against Islam. Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair called the Qadianis were the biggest source of mischief against Islam in contemporary times.
The speakers expressed their dismay over the performance so far of the new coalition government in Pakistan under Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. They were worried over the new government's move to change Pakistan's current constitution back to its 1973 version - a step that could lead to the removal of the "non-Muslim" label from Ahmadi Muslims. It was in 1974 that the Ahmadi Muslims were declared non-Muslims in Pakistan.
Speaking at the conference, Justice (Retired) Nazir AKhtar said that the demand to restore the 1973 constitution in its original version originated with the Qadianis.
The conference also passed a number of resolutions, declaring the two-month-old coalition government the most incompetent and unsuccessful in Pakistan's history, demanding the release of disgraced nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, urging the restoration of the 60 judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf under an emergency law, and calling for strong ties between ruling coalition partners Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League (N), among others.
* Tufail Ahmad is the director of MEMRI's Urdu-Pashtu Media Project.
Endnotes:
[1] Roznama Express, Pakistan, May 24, 2008.
[2] The News, Pakistan, May 22, 2008.
[3] The News, Pakistan, May 22, 2008.
[4] Roznama Express, Pakistan, May 26, 2008.
