Ghana: Ahmadiyya Imam call for Eid to be the sign of lasting peace

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The Ahmadi Muslims, led by the Ashanti Regional Missionary, Maulvi Masroor Ahmed Muzaffar, used the occasion to pray for peace and prosperity for the nation.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Ghana Web
By Daily Graphic | August 9, 2013

At the celebration of the Eid by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission at the T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School Park, the Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Yaw Adusei, called on Muslims to translate the spiritual significance of Eid-Ul-Fitr into the peace of the nation.

He said this year’s Eid was very significant, as it happened at the time the Supreme Court was preparing to give its ruling on the presidential election petition.

Mr Adusei, therefore, admonished the congregation to continuously pray not only for their welfare but also the peace and harmony of the nation.

“Ghana is at a critical period of its democratic journey and the patience and hospitality of Ghanaians are under serious test,” he said, adding, “This is time to prove to the outside world that Ghana is really democratically mature.”
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Perspective: My name is human

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Though Pakistan was founded by people who believed in a more enlightened understanding of Islam, they were unable to formulate it properly into legislation before the country was taken over by more extremist elements, therefore this country is still in the midst of this debate.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Arieb Azhar | August 6, 2013

There was a time when the Christian church used to insist upon establishing ‘the kingdom of heaven’ on earth through the state. This doctrine was made the basis to justify many crimes of humanity that were committed in God’s name, such as the Medieval and the Spanish Inquisitions and the Crusade wars.

The separation of the church and state in the Christian world was first established by the German monk Martin Luther. His doctrine of the ‘two kingdoms of God’, one of a secular state and one of establishing faith in the hearts of believers through the Gospels, came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. In his book, ‘On Secular Authority’, he advocated the principle of ‘the liberty of conscience’ – which prohibits any human authority from coercing anyone’s spiritual beliefs. He insisted that God requires voluntary belief, and that since coerced belief is always insincere, it must never be allowed.
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UK: Richard Dawkins' tweets on Islam are as rational as the rants of an extremist Muslim cleric

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The whole process of trying to parse the painfully obvious fallacy reminded me of the task of arguing against extremist Muslim clerics when they try to denigrate non-Muslims, the same momentary sense of helplessness and not knowing where to start.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Guardian | UK
By Nesrine Malik | August 8, 2013

My Eid was interrupted by Richard Dawkins tweeting about how few Nobel prizes Muslims have won. His logic rings a bell ...

Today is the first day of Eid, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. I took the day off, as Eid on your own at work without family can be a rather bleak affair, and was surprised to find that when I logged on to Twitter (not a nice place over the past few days) there were lots of genuine Eid messages from non-Muslims and Muslim fasters, luxuriating in their first morning teas in a month. Even David Cameron's "Eid Mubarak" registered quite low on my cynicism scale. I posted my own Eid greeting, and proceeded to bask in the unfamiliar good will of the morning.

Then Richard Dawkins, like a guest arriving too drunk to a polite and civil party, crashed into Eid. His tweet, apropos nothing at all, jarring with all the rest stated:

All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.

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Ghana: Minister calls for spiritual leadership for Wa Zongo community

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Maulvi Abdul Hamid Tahir, the Regional Missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission who led the prayers thanked Allah for giving all Muslims good health and the courage to go through the Ramadan successfully.

Dr. Ephraim Avea Nsoh

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Ghana News Agency
By GNA | August 8, 2013

GNA – Dr. Ephraim Avea Nsoh, the Upper West Regional Minister, has appealed to the Regional Chief Imam and the Muslim leadership in Wa to use time tested practices of Islam to select an Imam for the Zongo Community in the town.

He said an Imam was a spiritual leader whose selection should be peaceful and devoid of rancour to enable him to lead his community as Allah requires of him.

Dr. Nsoh made the appeal when he joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim community at their prayer ground in Wa to mark the end of the Ramadan.

He also appealed to the leaders of the various religious groups within the Islamic religion in Wa to religiously guide the utterances, behaviour and actions of their followers to live together in harmony.
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Perspective: Midnight Oil

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Among this dedicated group a good number were young; the age when sleep is sweet and comforting. But these people knew well that worship is more precious and comforting then sleep. 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Times
By Rashid Arshed | August 8, 2012

I drove into the parking lot of Baitul Hamid mosque in Chino, California. It was very early in the morning. The lights of prayer hall were extinguished and Adhan (call to prayer) had not been called yet. But the Conference room on the ground floor and the rooms upstairs were brightly lit. Lit they were not only by the electric power but by the power of Noor, a spiritual light that was evident in the atmosphere.

It was the last Ashra (ten days) of Ramadhan and about 22 adults, male and female were in Itekaaf. Three people in the Conference rooms were about to finish their Sehri (Ramdhan morning meal), as I could see them through the window. The people upstairs and in the women's area must be also about to close their Sehri and preparing for the Fajr (morning prayers). They must have been up most of the night supplicating and offering Tahajjad (early AM prayers) prayer to seek the pleasure of Allah.

Some of them getting up at one O’ clock, the others a bit earlier or later. Among this dedicated group a good number were young; the age when sleep is sweet and comforting. But these people knew well that worship is more precious and comforting then sleep.
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USA: Dallas Muslim community celebrates Eid to mark end of Ramadan

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"It is also a special opportunity to build bridges of understanding with our non-Muslim neighbors, and that is why we invite all Americans to join us in Eid festivities Friday."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Allen American Star
By Allen American | August 8, 2013

American Muslims nationwide will gather Aug. 9 to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan in a festival known as Eid-ul-Fitr. The joyous day comes as a reminder for all Muslims to reflect on their spiritual condition after a month of fasting and to work towards maintaining and improving it through prayers and righteous conduct.

During this month Muslims pay Fitrana, which is an important form of charity spent on the needy so they too can enjoy the festivities of Eid. Fitrana is yet another reminder of sacrificing for the cause of humanity.

"Eid is a time of celebration, reflection, and charity," said Wasim Malik, national vice president of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. "It is also a special opportunity to build bridges of understanding with our non-Muslim neighbors, and that is why we invite all Americans to join us in Eid festivities Friday."
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Ghana: Ahmadiyya leader asks political parties to accept Supreme Court verdict

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Maulvi Yusuf Yawson gave the assurance that Ahmadiyya Muslims would continue to be law-abiding and promote peace, unity and stability.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Ghana Business
By GNA | August 8, 2013

The National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party, the two parties involved in the 2012 election petition before the Supreme Court, have been advised to accept the verdict of the court to ensure peace.

Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf Yawson, Deputy Ameer of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, who made the call, however, said any of the parties that would not be satisfied with the court’s verdict, could seek redress by going for a review of the decision.

He made the call after Muslims said prayers on the occasion of the Eid-Al-Fitr celebration at Ahmadiyya Muslim Conference Centre at Ashongman, Accra, on Thursday.

Eid-Al-Fitr is celebrated to mark the end of Ramadan (fasting) which is one of the fundamental pillars of Islam.
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Ghana: Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission donates to Prisons Service

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An elder of the Ahmadiyya Mission, Yusuf Quaino, who made the donation on behalf of the Mission urged other organisations to do same.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Ghana Broadcasting Corp
By GBC | August 8, 2013

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission has donated quantities of rice, sugar, cooking oil and ninety two copies of the Holy Quran to the Ghana Prisons Service in Accra.

The items are to help Muslim inmates in the country`s prisons to joyfully celebrate the end of the Ramadan and to fulfil their spiritual obligation to Allah.

An elder of the Ahmadiyya Mission, Yusuf Quaino, who made the donation on behalf of the Mission urged other organisations to do same.

In a remark, the Acting Director General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Matilda Baffour Awuah thanked the Ahmadiyya Mission for the gesture.
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Pakistan: Prisoner of a flawed narrative

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The TTP might very well have responded to or was inspired by Ayman al-Zwahiri’s ‘destroying the walls’ jailbreak call, which was launched last year, but their gains and its fallout will be local first and foremost.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Times | Pakistan
By Dr Mohammad Taqi | August 8, 2013

The blame may end with the government of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa this time but the terror won’t stop at its border with Punjab

After last week’s Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) jailbreak, the Pakistani media remained preoccupied with the election for the ceremonial office of the president, which might have gone almost unnoticed had the opposition not boycotted it. After the polls the media has found yet another distractive non-issue, thanks to the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC). The SC, which has claimed to be a ‘people’s court’, took umbrage on its erstwhile supporter Mr Imran Khan’s prickly comments about the judiciary’s role in the general elections earlier this year. Apparently the people’s court is readily offended by what people have to say.
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Canada: Ramadan moves toward a close as Muslim families prepare for joyous Eid

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There are about 30,000 Ahmadis in the GTA and 20,000 more across the country, said Ahmadiyya Muslim Community spokesman J.T. Lone.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Star
By Melinda Maldonado | August 7, 2013

Days before Eid, a Woodbridge family marks the holy month like millions of others, with a little karate and bangle-jingling thrown in.

In a matter of minutes, the kitchen went from karate chops to a place for quiet readings of the Qur’an.

When Masroor, 6, and his sister Areej, 9, bounced in Tuesday evening from karate practice, they traded their uniforms — a yellow belt for Masroor, purple for Areej — for a colourful prayer cap from Uzbekistan and a black headscarf.

The siblings traced their fingers, right to left, over Arabic script on the third-last night of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting during daylight hours. Their parents, Mansoora Chaudhery and Mubarak Ahmed, who were born in Quetta, Pakistan, hadn't eaten in 16 hours.
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USA: Fashion brightens Muslim fast’s end

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A simple dress can cost $60 or $70, while something especially ornate could go for $500 to $600. Generally, she said, women spend $100 to $130 for a dress.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Columbus Dispatch
By JoAnne Viviano | August 8, 2013

It was just a week before the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, but neither 15-year-old Nadia Mirza nor her older sister, Summer, had decided what to wear for the celebration.

One thing was certain: Whatever dress she chose, Summer, 24, would be wearing lots of matching bangles.

The sisters, who live in Worthington, will choose special outfits today to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. They’ll gather to pray with other members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Groveport, then share good food and celebrate Eid al-Fitr with family and friends.

The sisters trace their roots to Pakistan and have closets full of dresses that mirror the south Asian country’s fashion trends.
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USA: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community plans Eid prayers, blood drive in Allen

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Eid services will be in the morning and will begin with congregational prayer, followed by the Eid sermon and blood drive.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Dallas News
By Eden Stiffman | August 7, 2013

In conjunction with Eid-ul-Fitr, the Islamic holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has scheduled a ‘Muslims for Life’ blood drive with Carter Blood Care from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.

The event, open to the public, will be at Baitul Ikram Mosque, 1850 Hedgcoxe Road.

Eid services will be in the morning and will begin with congregational prayer, followed by the Eid sermon and blood drive.

The drive is part of the third annual nationwide “Muslims for Life” campaign that is a memorial effort to honor victims of 9/11. Nationwide, the group hopes to collect more than 11,000 units of blood and help save more than 33,000 lives nationwide to reiterate the message that Islam values the sanctity of life.
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New Zealand: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at celebrates Eid ul Fitr on Friday

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... [T]he community, in line with their tradition worldwide, is donating (to WINZ) 50 food parcels on Eid day, each containing enough dry food to meet the needs of a deserving family for few days.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Jama'at Ahmadiyya NZ
By Staff report | August 8, 2013

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at New Zealand will celebrate Eid ul Fitr on Friday, August 9, 2013.

According to a community press release, the prayers will be offered at 9.00 am and the venue for the Eid ul Fitr prayers is Baitul Muqeet Mosque and Mission Centre, 20 Dalgety Drive, Manukau.

Eid ul Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadhan.

The National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of New Zealand, Mr. Mohammed Iqbal said the community, in line with their tradition worldwide, is donating (to WINZ) 50 food parcels on Eid day, each containing enough dry food to meet the needs of a deserving family for few days.
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Pakistan: Fighting terrorism

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We also fail to see the growing trends of radicalism and radical movements in non-Pashtun Pakistan that takes various shapes and forms.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Ayesha Siddiqa | August 7, 2013

The executive summary of the Nacta draft for a counterterrorism policy seems to gravitate around a singular state narrative — that terrorism in Pakistan is linked with the Afghan war of the 1980s and continues due to foreign intervention. Moreover, the source of all violence is North Waziristan, and by association, Afghanistan. Such a diagnosis creates problems in comprehending the issue in its entirety. Many people erroneously believe in such theses, resulting in the conclusion that the withdrawal of the US will automatically bring peace in the region. Notwithstanding the fact that America’s invasion was a costly blunder, the US withdrawal at this quick pace will not be sufficient to deal with terrorism.

Following are the reasons which establish that the menace of terrorism will not be addressed with the above perspective in mind.
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I want an answer! Is it a crime to be an Ahmadi?

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I am an Ahmadi Muslim. Yes, my faith and my religion are surrounded by Islamic motions and no one has the right or the power to change my belief or dictate who I am.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Faarieya | Blog
By Faarieya | August 7, 2013

“…If God had willed, He would have made you all in one nation and one religion), but that He (God) left you in different religions to compete in good deeds and society benefits. The return of all of you is to God; then He (God) will inform you about that in which you differ”

In today’s Pakistan words such as ‘justice’, ‘equality’ and ‘fairness’ carry no value. Indeed, I love my country from the depths of my heart but the vile and brutal attacks which are being made in the name of Islam today terrify me and make me question the ‘Pureness (PAK)’ of my country.

I am an Ahmadi Muslim. Yes, my faith and my religion are surrounded by Islamic motions and no one has the right or the power to change my belief or dictate who I am.
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Eye on Extremism: Blasphemy, the ‘crime’ that cannot be spoken | The Washinglon Post

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Sad to say, a conviction based on no evidence is not rare in a case like this, not in a country like Pakistan where torture of Christians and other religious minorities is all too common.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Washinglon Post
By Dwayne Leslie | August 7, 2013

Imagine being hung upside down by your feet.  Electric wires are tied around your ankles and you’re threatened repeatedly with electrocution.  In addition, you are frequently pulled from your cell so that the police can beat you viciously.

Why?

Because someone accused you of making inflammatory statements about God.  And even though your accuser later recanted his allegation, you were still “tried” for the crime of blasphemy, convicted and then sentenced to life imprisonment.  Think about that:  spending the rest of your life in prison for the “crime” of speaking your mind.

It’s absolutely incomprehensible.  Especially for those of us privileged to live in America where we too often take our First Amendment-guaranteed rights to free speech and freedom of religion for granted.  As an American, you can be excused for asking how someone could be imprisoned – or worse — just for something he or she has said or written.
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Pakistan: They came for Facebook, YouTube…then Tribune?

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There is no announcement to customers when a new site gets blocked. No apology. No explanation. No public list. No notice to the website owner. Only the dreaded one liner...

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune | Blog
By Jahanzaib Haque | August 7, 2013

First they came for Facebook, but the social media giant compromised its principles to provide Pakistanis a limited experience of the social network, entering a secret agreement with our government to block access to certain pages in the country.

Then they came for YouTube on religious grounds, and our largely illiterate population applauded the move to limit their access to information and freedom to speak out on an alternate medium outside the control of the state and local media. Google, for reasons of their own, has largely ignored the issue, and we have heaped scorn and hate on the company.

We have had many sections of the web being blocked recently, ranging from websites that monitored and recorded targeted attacks on Shias to the website of evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins. We have had pro-Ahmadi websites and Facebook pages such as Roshni disappear. We have seen the continuation of a massive crackdown on Baloch websites. We have recently seen torrent sites being blocked en masse by some internet service providers (ISPs). We have had individual content targeted for bans such as the Beygairat Brigade’s music video Aalu Anday, a satirical rock song that challenged the dominant narrative of the state and our society.
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Saudi Arabia: No moon sighting on Tuesday, Supreme Court says

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A sighting of the moon would have meant that Ramadan lasted 28 days, which is rare. Lunar months are either 29 or 30 days based on the birth of the moon on the sunset of the last day of the month.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Gulf News
By Duraid Al Baik | August 6, 2013

Ramadan to last at least one more day after Saudi Arabia Supreme Court reports no moon sighting

Dubai: The Shawwal crescent, which marks the end of Ramadan, was not sighted on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court announced, adding that it will hold another meeting on Wednesday.

The court met to hear people who might see the birth of the Shawal moon.

A sighting of the moon would have meant that Ramadan lasted 28 days, which is rare. Lunar months are either 29 or 30 days based on the birth of the moon on the sunset of the last day of the month.

But Ramadan consisting of 28 days is not unique in the recent history of Muslims as it happened 30 years ago.
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Australia: Khalifa of Islam to address Ahmadiyya Annual Convention

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His Holiness has traveled globally to promote and facilitate service to humanity and he regularly meets presidents, prime ministers, other heads of state, parliamentarians and ambassadors of state. 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit:  Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
By Staff Report | August 7, 2013

The  Khalifa of Islam and the Worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad will address the Annual Convention -- also known as Jalsa Salana -- of the of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia.

The 29th Annual National Convention will be held on 4-6th October 2013.

As a guest of honor, Hadhrat Ahmad will also address the broader community, religious leaders, media representatives, NGO leaders, academics, dignitaries and politicians in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad is the fifth successor (Khalifa) and the great grandson of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), who founded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in 1889.
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Pakistan - A dangerous failure

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Mr Ayaz concludes his analysis by asking whether Pakistan is a "failed" country. He finds that Pakistan fares badly on most criteria - in short, the country is on the verge of collapse.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Business Standard
By Talmiz Ahmad | August 6, 2013

With this book, the distinguished Pakistani journalist Babar Ayaz joins the galaxy of Pakistani writers, such as Pervez Hoodbhoy, Saleem Shahzad, Ahmed Rashid and Khalid Ahmed, who have articulated in print their deep concerns about the path their country has taken and their fears about its future. This trend in Pakistani writing has been apparent over the last 10 years, possibly in response to the proliferation of jihadi elements across their country, the bloody and unabated sectarian violence, and the near-total collapse of governance. Mr Ayaz, appropriately, dedicates his work to the victims of terrorism.

In his analysis of Pakistan's malaise, Mr Ayaz has perhaps gone well beyond other Pakistani writers in identifying the "two-nation theory", the basis on which Pakistan was created, as a "genetic defect".
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Muslim Life in the UK: Britain’s Part-Time Wives

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“I am seeing divorced or widowed women and women in their spinster years, wanting to become co-wives. It is the women coming forward wanting this, not so much the men.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Daily Beast
By Jamie Dettmer | August 5, 2013

Multiple marriages are on the rise in the U.K.’s Muslim communities—and the women are the ones seeking out second-wife status. Jamie Dettmer reports from London.

Aisha laughs out loud at the thought of how her colleagues and clients would react if they knew she shares a husband. The laughter makes her loose hijab slip slightly, exposing a few strands of dark hair. “They would be dumbfounded and probably prurient,” she sniffs. As far as they are concerned, her 42-year-old factory-owning husband has only one wife—this thoughtful attorney sipping Earl Gray tea in the sitting room of a pleasant and very middle-class Edwardian house in a leafy residential road in northwest London.

Her immediate family and close Muslim friends know the truth: 41-year-old Aisha is a second wife and for three years has been conveniently—at least for her—sharing her businessman husband with his first bride. “It was my choice to marry him. There was no coercion.” With a wry giggle she says: “I wanted a partner and man-hunted for one using a marriage agency and this suits me.”
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Ghana: ‘NPP has confidence in Supreme Court’

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For his part, an executive member of the NDC, Dr Munawar Issahaq, told the students that the Supreme Court is the highest court of Ghana and that its decisions were binding and should be respected.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Ghana Web
By Daily Graphic | 6 August 2013

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has absolute confidence and faith in the Supreme Court and would, therefore, accept the final verdict in the 2012 election petition no matter the outcome, the Upper West Regional second vice chairman of the NPP, Mr Hafiz Bin-Salih, has assured.

According to him, the laws of the country are in the bosom of the Supreme Court judges, hence, “it beats me when parties in the case speak as if they have the luxury of an alternative to the decision that the Supreme Court shall arrive at.”

He, therefore, called on the leaders of the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to guard against intemperate and vitriolic language and added that the victors in the case must jubilate in moderation so as not to step on the toes of the losers.

Mr Bin Salih was speaking at a sensitisation workshop on the election petition, organised by HELD Ghana, a non–governmental organisation for students of the T. I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School in Wa in the Upper West Region.
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Pakistan: Government to do away with the Ministry of Human Rights

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The important function of the MoHR to harmonize national laws, regulations and practices with Pakistan’s international human rights covenants and agreements will be halted.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int"l Desk
Source/Credit: Asian Human Rights Commission
By AHRC-STM-140-2013 | August 5, 2013

The newly elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to do away with the Ministry of Human Rights and merged it with the Ministry of Law and Justice. Through this act of federal government the human rights portion of the new ministry is to be relegated to a unit of small unit of the Ministry of Law and Justice. The justification given by the government is that it has re-organised the Federal Secretariat, but the civil society of Pakistan accuses Mr. Sharif that he has never been happy with the existence of Human Rights ministry, which was established by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and whenever he came in power he abolished the ministry.

This decision will have a serious adverse impact on the state of human rights in Pakistan, due to several reasons, starting with the difference of mandates between the Ministry of Law and Justice (MoLJ) and Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR).
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Perspective: The weight of persecution

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The story goes something like this: Ahmedis are apostates and attack the very sanctity of the core principles of Islam. It’s pretty convincing, especially if you are unemployed and brainwashed.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Times
By Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari | August 06, 2013

Pakistan has seemingly ensured that no Ahmedi demographic, including the dead, are spared the harsh reminder that they do not belong

“That looks very biblical,” I said out loud while approaching the place Ahmedis call their sanctuary, Rabwa. Incidentally, the name of the city was changed by the state to Chenabnagar, because Rabwa translated to ‘land of God’ and divinity and its access was prohibited for Ahmedis. I wanted to observe what is it like for them living banished in their own country, with their mosques attacked, children put on non-Muslim lists on result sheets, voters added on separate voter lists and their graves desecrated. Pakistan has seemingly ensured that no Ahmedi demographic, including the dead, are spared the harsh reminder that they do not belong.
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Indonesia: Teacher's Alliance Presses Govt to Evaluate Flawed School Curriculum

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The FSGI found that teachers often could not effectively measure student performance under the new curriculum because the parameters were too abstract and sometimes unrelated.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By SP/Nathasia Christy Wahyuni | August 5, 2013

The new school curriculum has many abstract and irrelevant benchmarks that students cannot possibly be tested against, a teachers’ body has said as it urged the government to establish a body to scrutinize the implementation of the new syllabus.

“We call for the establishment of an independent team by Vice President Boediono,” Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI) secretary general Retno Listyarti said on Monday.

She added that committee members should not be officials from the Ministry of Education but instead “should be academics who are really independent and understand the 2013 curriculum.”
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USA: Ahmadiyya Muslims break the fast in Russiaville

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“It really is cleansing. Even if you’re not truly religious, just having this what, I would call, control over yourself really helps in day-to-day life, not to mention everybody gets an opportunity to lose some weight.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Kokomo Perspective
By Alyx Arnett | August 5, 2013

Last week, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community gathered in Russiaville to break their fast as part of the typical Iftar dinner service during Ramadan.

A group of around 30 Muslims from Indianapolis, Lafayette, and Kokomo met at the home of Imran Malik, the president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, where they prayed and ate at sunset.

This year, the fasting is even harder, said spokesperson Muzaffar Ahmad.

Since Ramadan is based on the Islamic lunar calendar, the holiday starts 10 days earlier each year, making the days even longer during this time of the year, he said.

“If you just have breakfast at 5 a.m. and don’t eat or drink anything until almost 9 at night nowadays, it’s pretty intense as you can imagine,” he said.
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USA: Sikhs, Mormons, Buddhists, others added to hate crime stats

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"You've reminded us of the American values that hold us together as one community. You've reminded us of the values that define us as one people."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Associated Press / Deseret News
By Frederic J. Frommer | August 4, 2013

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will begin keeping numbers on hate crimes committed against Sikhs and six other groups, in connection with Monday's one-year anniversary of the killing of six Sikh worshippers in Oak Creek, Wis.

Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement Friday in a blog post, which The Associated Press obtained ahead of its official release. Holder said FBI Director Robert Mueller had approved a recommendation from the agency's advisory policy board to track hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus, Arabs, Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Orthodox Christians.

"Having accurate information allows law enforcement leaders and policymakers to make informed decisions about the allocation of resources and priorities — decisions that impact real people, and affect public safety in every neighborhood and community," Holder wrote in the blog post. "Today, I am proud to report that we have taken steps to collect this information."

The addition had long been sought by members of the Sikh community. more ...

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UK: Reflections on Ramadan by Ahmadiyya members

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Muslims have been urged to intensify their hours of worship, value their spiritual existence and by their abstinence and develop compassion and understanding for people who are less well off than themselves.

Photo: Paul Welch / Huddersfield Examiner

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: Huddersfield Examiner
By Huddersfield Examiner | August 5, 2013

Worshippers are marking the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which draws to an end on Wednesday.

Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association have been reflecting on the meanings behind the 30-day period of self-denial, during which Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and smoking between dawn and dusk.

Fathul Haq, spokesman for the group, which is based at Lower Fitzwilliam Street, said: “First and foremost it is a spiritual exercise designed to bring one closer to one’s maker.”

He said Muslims have been urged to intensify their hours of worship, value their spiritual existence and by their abstinence and develop compassion and understanding for people who are less well off than themselves.
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UK: Woman fined after bringing horse into McDonald's

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The woman then led the horse into the Bury New Road restaurant ,where it "ended up doing [its] business on the floor". Police arrived on the scene and issued the woman with a fixed penalty notice.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Digital Spy | UK
By Sam Rigby | Jul 22 2013

A woman has been fined after bringing her horse into a McDonald's restaurant in the UK.

The woman - who has not been named by police - brought the animal into the restaurant in Greater Manchester on Saturday (July 20) after being refused service at the drive-through, BBC News reports.

McDonald's explained that it does not serve drive-through customers who are on horseback.

The woman then led the horse into the Bury New Road restaurant ,where it "ended up doing [its] business on the floor".

Police arrived on the scene and issued the woman with a fixed penalty notice.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "The sight and smell of this caused obvious distress and upset to customers trying to eat, as well as staff members.
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Egypt: Two mausoleums bombed in north, central Sinai

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Unknown assailants destroy shrines in restive Sinai Peninsula, which has seen rise in attacks against security forces since Morsi ouster.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Ahram Online
By Ahram Online | August 5, 2013

Two mausoleums in North and central Sinai were bombed by unknown assailants late on Sunday, state news agency MENA reported, as militant attacks continue to rock the lawless Sinai Peninsula.

Bombs detonated at the sites of two separate shrines, one in the village of Rawda on the international freeway in northern Sinai and the second in Al-Hasna district in the center of the Peninsula, wrecking the domes and walls of both buildings, MENA added.

No deaths or injuries have been reported.

In May 2011, the Sheikh Zuwaid shrine in the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuwaid was blown-up in the same manner.
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Middle East: Media surveys find mix of freedom, controls and contradictions | CNNi

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"There's a big family market in the Middle East. You sit in a living room with your parents or peers and watch TV. During Ramadan, it's the biggest activity. But that doesn't mean you trust it."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: CNN International
By Daisy Carrington | August 4, 2013

(CNN) -- The Arab world's relationship with media is -- like the region itself -- complicated and often contradictory and one that has been changing rapidly since the Arab Spring.

While social media as emerged as a powerful new means of communication and news, two new surveys on media in the region have revealed its rise has not necessarily led to the demise of older, more established media.

TV is the most popular (but not most trusted) news source

Last month, ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller published their fifth annual Arab Youth Survey. The survey was the result of 3,000 face-to-face interviews with men and women aged 18-24 across 15 different countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
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Eye on History: King David-Era Palace Found in Israel, Archaeologists Say

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Prior radiocarbon analysis on burnt olive pits at the site indicated that it existed between 1020 B.C. and 980 B.C., before being violently destroyed, likely in a battle against the Philistines.

This aerial picture shows David's palace and the Byzantine farmhouse
that was build on top of it.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Yahoo News | Live Science
By Megan Gannon | July 20, 2013

Archaeologists say they've uncovered two royal buildings from Israel's biblical past, including a palace suspected to have belonged to King David.

The findings at Khirbet Qeiyafa — an fortified hilltop city about 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem — indicate that David, who defeated Goliath in the Bible, ruled a kingdom with a great political organization, the excavators say.

"This is unequivocal evidence of a kingdom's existence, which knew to establish administrative centers at strategic points," read a statement from archaeologists Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

The IAA announced the finds as a seven-year long excavation at the site is wrapping up. The government agency and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority have halted the planned construction of a nearby neighborhood, hoping to make the site a national park.
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Perspective: What kind of woman is willing to share her husband? | Jemima Khan

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... [P]roblems arise only when the husband does not treat both wives equally, as explicitly mandated in the Quran, or when the wives are not mature enough to rationalise and accept the situation.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: New Statesman | UK
By Jemima Khan | April 23, 2013

Why more and more Muslim women in Britain are choosing to become “co-wives”. For many divorced, widowed or older women, could polygamy be a practical answer to their problems?

Farzana is a senior nurse, 36, attractive, selfpossessed and articulate. “I have begun to consider polygamy,” she tells me at a matchmaking event in central London for divorced and widowed Muslims interested in marrying again. “When you think about love in an Islamic way, the co-wife idea makes sense.”

According to Mizan Raja, who set up the Islamic Circles community network and presides over the east London Muslim matrimonial scene, women are increasingly electing to become “co-wives” – in other words, to become a man’s second or third wife. As I reported last year in the New Statesman, Raja gets five to ten requests every week from women who are “comfortable with the notion of a part-time man”. He explained: “Career women don’t want a full-time husband. They don’t have time.” So couples live separately, a husband visiting his wives on a rota.
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Eye on science: Monogamy may sound sweet, but why it evolved isn't

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Because primates breast-feed their offspring for a long time, even for years, and competing males kill off infants if the dad doesn't stick around to fight them off.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Yahoo News / AP
By Seth Borenstein | July 29, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Only a few species of mammals are monogamous, and now dueling scientific teams think they've figured out why they got that way. But their answers aren't exactly romantic.

The answers aren't even the same.

One team looked just at primates, the animal group that includes apes and monkeys. The researchers said the exclusive pairing of a male and a female evolved as a way to let fathers defend their young against being killed by other males.

The other scientific team got a different answer after examining about 2,000 species of non-human mammals. They concluded that mammals became monogamous because females had spread out geographically, and so males had to stick close by to fend off the competition.
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Fox News anchor doesn't get why Reza Aslan, a Muslim, would write about Jesus

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Fox News anchor doesn't get why Reza Aslan, a Muslim, would write about Jesus. Never mind that he's a religious scholar ...

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: MSN
By Jennifer Odell | August 1, 2013

"You're a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?"

That's how Fox News anchor Lauren Green kicked off an interview last week for "Spirited Debate" with religious scholar and bestselling author Reza Aslan. Aslan's new book,"Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth," posits that Jesus Christ was a political insurgent and looks at his affect on the unstable times in which he lived.Green, however, was not so interested in the content of the book. What she wanted to talk about was the bias and possible secret agenda that she implied had fueled Aslan's interest in the subject of Jesus.

"Well, to be clear," Aslan replied after Green's question led him to make the international sign for "are you effing kidding me?" with his eyebrows. "I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades … who also just happens to be a Muslim."
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USA: Sertoma Club, Ahmadiyya Muslim mosque to partner on blood drive in Round Rock Texas

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“We just started to talk and it came to the point that we sat down [and] worked through misunderstandings. I am very happy about this and would like to thank Ahmadiyya Muslim community for the hospitality that they have shown me over the past few weeks.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Austin American-Statesman
By Brad Stutzman | August 3, 2013

After the denial of a Fourth of July parade application led to a rocky start in their relationship, the Round Rock Sertoma Club and Bait-ul-Muqeet Mosque are vowing to work together, for the betterment of each organization and the community as a whole.

The mosque and Sertoma issued a joint statement this week, promising to partner on a school supply campaign and a blood drive.

As previously reported in the Leader, the controversy began when Will Williams – representing Sertoma – denied the mosque’s application to be in the annual Fourth of July parade the local Sertoma sponsors through downtown. Williams cited “safety reasons,” but members of the mosque said they felt they were being discriminated against because of their religion.
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USCIRF Vice Chair Calls on US, Obama to Stop Ignoring Saudi Arabia's Religious Freedom Violations

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"If we were to write…how you would define a Country of Particular Concern that restricts religious freedom, Saudi Arabia would be the poster country."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Christian Post
By Tyler O'Neil | August 3, 2013

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, vice chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), called on the State Department to reconsider Saudi Arabia's religious freedom violations and identified with Raif Badawi, a Saudi website editor who was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes on Monday

"Our goal is to highlight to the American people that the State Department can no longer give this indefinite waiver to Saudi Arabia," Dr. Jasser, author of A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot's Fight to Save His Faith and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, told The Christian Post in an interview Thursday.
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The World's Muslims - Religion, pilitics and socity | Pew Research

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Few U.S. Muslims voice support for suicide bombing or other forms of violence against civilians in the name of Islam; 81% say such acts are never justified, while fewer than one-in-ten say violence against civilians either is often justified (1%) or is sometimes justified (7%) to defend Islam.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Pew Research
By PEW Research | April 30, 2013

A new Pew Research Center survey of Muslims around the globe finds that most adherents of the world’s second-largest religion are deeply committed to their faith and want its teachings to shape not only their personal lives but also their societies and politics. In all but a handful of the 39 countries surveyed, a majority of Muslims say that Islam is the one true faith leading to eternal life in heaven and that belief in God is necessary to be a moral person. Many also think that their religious leaders should have at least some influence over political matters. And many express a desire for sharia – traditional Islamic law – to be recognized as the official law of their country.

The percentage of Muslims who say they want sharia to be “the official law of the land” varies widely around the world, from fewer than one-in-ten in Azerbaijan (8%) to near unanimity in Afghanistan (99%). But solid majorities in most of the countries surveyed across the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia favor the establishment of sharia, including 71% of Muslims in Nigeria, 72% in Indonesia, 74% in Egypt and 89% in the Palestinian territories.
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Pakistan: YouTube site to stay blocked till filters in place

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Advocate Kakakhel argued that students were facing problems searching for academic content. The bench, however, was informed that unless a solution was found, the ministry would not unblock YouTube. 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By ET Correspondent | August 2, 2013

PESHAWAR: YouTube cannot be reopened unless a mechanism is adopted to permanently block blasphemous material on the website, the Ministry of Information Technology informed the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday.

A PHC division bench was hearing a petition by Mina Muhibbulah Kakakhel challenging the ban on the video-sharing channel.

Advocate Kakakhel argued that students were facing problems searching for academic content.

The bench, however, was informed that unless a solution was found, the ministry would not unblock YouTube.
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Russia: Underground Islam

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On March 1, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reiterated in a live radio interview that there are no plans to build any more mosques in his city, because practicing Muslims are not really Muscovites anyway.

Photo credit: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Slate.Com | Roads & Kingdoms
By Simon Shuster | August. 2, 2013

Underground Islam: Moscow’s intolerance is forcing Russian Muslims to take shelter. Is the city breeding a more radical brand of Islam?

MOSCOW—Because the Islamic calendar is about 10 days shorter than the Western one, the sacrificial slaughter of rams during the Muslim holiday of Kurban Bayram often catches the residents of Moscow by surprise. Last year it happened in October. The year before that it was in November. In 2006, nobody paid much attention to the ritual because it coincided with New Year's Eve. But on most years, Muscovites only realize that it's Kurban Bayram when state TV plays footage of horned beasts being sold out of trucks and sliced open in the streets. Or, on rare but highly publicized occasions, when unsuspecting residents find pools of ram blood in their parking lot or in the sandbox of their local playground after Kurban Bayram.
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Perspective: Cleansing Pakistan of Minorities

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The extent of Maududi’s influence became visible as early as 1949, when the Objectives Resolution, defining the foundational principle for Pakistan’s Constitution was passed by the Constituent Assembly.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Hudson Institute / Current Trends
By Farahnaz Ispahani | July 31, 2013

Pakistan’s religious minorities are widely viewed as embattled or under attack. This paper undertakes a comprehensive analysis of Pakistan’s policies towards its religious minority populations, both Muslim as well as non-Muslim. It is not only Pakistan where Muslim as well as non-Muslim minorities are under attack. Rather, this is a phenomenon which is prevalent in a number of Muslim-majority countries. In the context of a Muslim world comprising 1.4 billion people, with an extremely young population, not only is it important to recognize how Pakistan treats its minority populations but it is equally critical to note the role of stateless actors or extremist groups in all Muslim countries.

When Pakistan was founded in 1947, its secular founding fathers wanted to create a homeland for South Asia’s Muslims, not an Islamic state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, recognized as Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader), clearly declared that non-Muslims would be equal citizens in the new country. But Pakistan’s trajectory after independence has been very different.
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Canada: Baitur Rahman mosque in Delta, BC

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“People get their impressions from television, where Muslims as a group have been portrayed as terrorists. However, a very small number cause disorder and havoc.”

From left, imam Balal Khokhar, Ahmadiyya Muslim president Rizwan Peerzada
and regional president Muhammad Chaudhry outside the $8-million
Baitur Rahman mosque in Delta, which opened in June. Ric Ernst/PNG

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Province
By The Province | August 2, 2013

Terrorist acts committed by Islamic extremists around the world have made life difficult at times for Muslims living in B.C.

Leaders at the new Baitur Rahman mosque in Delta, aware of TV-fed perceptions, are at pains to emphasize their ­friendly intentions.

“We promote love for all and hatred for none,” says Rizwan Peerzada, president of a 124-year-old Islamic sect known as Ahmadiyya Muslim.

Ahmadi is a relatively new branch of Islam — Shia and Sunni are others — which has millions of followers in 200 countries around the world.

Regional president Muhammad Chaudhry says fanatics can “hijack” religions for their own purposes.
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Anything for a buck: U.S. Postal Service wants to deliver alcohol to your doorstep

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"There's a lot of money to be made in shipping beer, wine and spirits," Donahoe said. "We'd like to be in that business."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Andrew Miga / AP | August 1, 2013

WASHINGTON -- Special delivery from the post office – beer, wine and spirits, if Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has his way.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Donahoe said Thursday delivery of alcoholic beverages is on his wish list as the agency considers ways to raise revenue and save money after losing $16 billion last year. He also said he endorses ending most door-to-door and Saturday mail deliveries as a way to help stabilize the service's finances.

Donahoe said delivering alcohol has the potential to raise as much as $50 million a year. He mentioned how customers might want to, for example, mail bottles of wine home when they tour vineyards. Donahoe said his agency has looked at the possibility of using special boxes that would hold two, four or six bottles and ship for a flat-rate anywhere in the country.

"There's a lot of money to be made in shipping beer, wine and spirits," Donahoe said. "We'd like to be in that business."
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China: The absurd Ramadan ban is going to seriously backfire on Beijing

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At a teachers college in Kashgar, Xinjiang, professors locked students in the cafeteria, so that the students were unable to celebrate the religious holiday with their families.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: PolicyMic
By Alexandra Ma | August 1, 2013

As Muslims around the world continue to observe the holy month of Ramadan, the Chinese central government has banned it altogether for the Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang, China, making it the latest episode of Beijing's crackdown on the ethnic minority.

This religious discrimination is only directed towards the Uighurs in Xinjiang. Ramadan is not banned anywhere else in China. The underlying issue is that Beijing is so paranoid that the Uighurs would unite and demand independence from the Chinese government, that it is prepared to control even the smallest aspects of their daily lives, such as private acts of personal religious devotion.

Yet, ironically, it is this repression that could ultimately turn the government's fears into a reality.
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Pakistan: Christians still waiting for justice 4 years after Gojra attack

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Despite dozens of people being arrested in the immediate aftermath, no one has ever been convicted or imprisoned for the crime.  In 2011, the prosecution ground to a halt when a court acquitted 70 suspects, citing lack of evidence.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Christian Today
By Susie Turner | August 1, 2013

Four years after the horrific murder of eight Christians in Gojra, Pakistan, the community is still waiting for justice to be done.

The victims, who included children, were burnt alive when a mob of extremist Muslims went on the rampage in the Christian town on 1 August 2009.

Dozens of houses and a church were also torched during the attack, which was triggered by allegations of local Christians desecrating the Koran.

Some eye witnesses claimed that the police stood by and ignored pleas for help from the Christians as the attack unfolded.

A subsequent investigation concluded that the Koran had not been desecrated as alleged.
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Syria: Rebel Council Bans Croissants In Aleppo As Forbidden By Islam

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Are croissants really a symbol of colonial oppression? The supposed link seems to derive from a tale told in a 1938 French cookbook.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Carlo Davis | August 1, 2013

As forces loyal to embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are launching continuing assaults on Aleppo, some fighters in the city have set their sights on a new enemy: croissants.

A religious judicial council in Aleppo has issued a fatwa clarifying that croissants are forbidden under its interpretation of Sharia law, according to a report in Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat, translated by Al-Arabiya.

The fatwa or religious ruling, a copy of which circulated online, condemns croissants as a symbol of colonial oppression. According to Asharq Al-Awsat, the fatwa specifies that the pastry's "crescent shape celebrates European victory over Muslims."

The ruling appears to have been made by Sheikh Abu Mohammed of the Islamic court Hayaa al-Sharia. Since its establishment, reports Al-Monitor, Hayaa al-Sharia has also investigated people for drinking alcohol and wearing shorts.
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Pakistan: Blasphemy-accused Aasia Bibi shifted to Multan women's jail over security concerns

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According to the Express Tribune, even within the jail, she has been kept in a separate cell and will be allowed to come out for only two hours daily.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Business Standard
By ANI | August 1, 2013

Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death on blasphemy charges, has been shifted to the Multan women's prison amid high security.

The move comes as Bibi fears for her life following a recent attack on the central jail in Dera Ismail Khan leading to hundreds of prisoners fleeing.

According to the Express Tribune, even within the jail, she has been kept in a separate cell and will be allowed to come out for only two hours daily.

Sources said that after the DI Khan jailbreak Aasia, 32, faced death threats, adding that the Shiekhupura jail, where Aasia was kept earlier, was vulnerable to a DI Khan jail siege-like attack.
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Bangladesh: Jamaat-e-Islami’s running history of controversy

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The party took an active part in the genocide perpetuated against Bengalis by Pakistani forces, in the name of saving the nation, the same one they opposed when the Muslim League was demanding its creation back in 1947.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Dhaka Tribune
By Kamran Reza Chowdhury, Manik Miazee
Date: August 2, 2013

The party was formed in 1941 by Abul Ala Maududi

The Jamaat-e-Islami has stood against people’s interests.

The party formed in 1941 by Abul Ala Maududi, who mixed religion and politics, it went against the fundamentals of democratic ideals, which advocates for the separation of state and religion in politics.

Due to Maududi’s controversial political views, his party has been banned four times – once before the partition of India, twice by regimes in Pakistan, and after the birth of Bangladesh in 1972.
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Point of view: Cause of irregular migration! | Laiq Ahmed Atif

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...[T]he ratio of migration is very high in those countries where there is no or very little rule of law, where there is no peace and security and where persecution, tribal conflicts, political turmoil and social and economic problems are very pronounced.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Malta
By Laiq Ahmed Atif | August 1, 2013

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that works according to the specific symptoms of a patient. A homeopath prescribes the medicine according to the symptoms and targets the root cause of the disease. Once the root cause of the disease is found and a prescription is issued accordingly, even a little dose of the prescribed medicine would start having a positive effect on the patient.

The issue of irregular immigration can very much be likened to homeopathy in two basic ways. First, in trying to find the root cause of the problem and, then, in targeting the root cause, instead of addressing the problems of its effects. Once the root cause is found and given due attention, I am sure the problem can be solved, if not completely but at least to a satisfactory level.
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Bangladesh court declares Jamaat-e-Islami illegal

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Top Jamaat leaders are being tried for crimes during the war and four of them have been sentenced to death for murder, mass murder, rape and religious persecution.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The News International
By AFP | August 1, 2013

DHAKA: Bangladesh's main Islamic party was banned from contesting next year's election when the high court ruled Thursday that Jamaat-e-Islami's charter breached the country's secular constitution.

"It is hereby declared illegal," said Moazzem Hossain, the chief judge hearing the case amid tight security outside the courthouse in Dhaka.

A lawyer for the Bangladeshi election commission, which oversees preparations for elections due next January, said the ruling meant Jamaat could not field candidates.

"As a party Jamaat's registration with the election commission is declared illegal, with the consequence that they cannot contest the election as a political party," Shahdeen Malik told.
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