Yesterday, the London edition of the newspaper, 'Jang', published a certain news item, which is not even remotely connected to the beliefs of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. This has been published solely to create mischief. It is not only against our beliefs, the incident it refers to also is not true. It did not ever take place. This news item has perhaps also been printed in Pakistan, etc, as well. If not yesterday, it would have been printed by today. These newspapers are very swift in printing such news items to increase their sales. They have developed the habit of committing crude improprieties, and printing utter fabrications to increase their circulation. We are all too aware of their Pakistan edition in that it speaks nonsense and untruths about us every now and then.
A wave of extreme indignation has been generated among the Muslims because of the recent publication of absurd and outrageous caricatures in Danish newspapers, which were later reproduced in newspapers of other countries. Due to this, the Muslims are feeling severe indignation. Strike actions are being taken, and rallies are being carried out. Anyway when there is no one to watch over how anger is expressed, and no one to stem the flow of it and to give it the right direction then such reactions materialise. No matter what sort of a Muslim one is, whether or not regular in Prayers, whether or not abiding by the commandments, but when the reputation of the Prophet(sa) is at stake his sense of honour is aroused, and he is prepared to give his life for it. To publish this news under such circumstances, and that too on a Thursday, when today, Friday, many places are planning to take out rallies, to take strike actions and similar other reactions has been done solely to create an atmosphere against the Ahmadis. It is a most cruel and seditious attempt to use this news item to incite the uninformed Muslims to target the Ahmadis with oppression. Anyhow, they always try not to let go away any opportunity to arouse the uninformed Muslims against the Ahmadis.
Many among you would have read this news item, however, as everyone does not read it, I shall read the news item.
The news item has been attributed to Dr. Javed Kanwal who is the newspaper's reporter in Denmark.
He writes it as news from Copenhagen:
On the condition of anonymity while discussing the issue of the caricatures, a responsible officer of the Danish secret service has told the Daily 'Jang' that in September 2005, the Qadianis held their Annual Convention in Denmark which was attended by leading figures of the Qadianis. On this occasion, a delegation of the Qadianis met with a Danish Minister and while discussing Jihad, told him that they alone were the standard bearers of true Islamic teachings.
So far so good, although we have not specifically told them that but it is our claim indeed that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the standard bearer of the true teachings of Islam.
He goes on to write:
Their Prophet, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani had abrogated Jihad.
This is correct, but the abrogation was declared with conditions.
Then he writes:
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani has, God forbid, changed the Islamic commandments.
This is a baseless accusation and allegation. Note their mischief that follows.
He writes:
This is because the teachings and the era of the Holy Prophet(sa) have come to an end, God forbid.
The newspaper further writes:
On the assurance of the Qadianis that the followers of the Holy Prophet(sa) are only limited to Saudi Arabia, on 30th September 2005, the Danish newspaper published twelve caricatures with reference to the Holy Prophet(sa). The focal point of these was to attack the philosophy of Jihad. The high-level Danish officer said that they were certain as of the beginning of January that the Qadiani claim was right because up till January no country other than Saudi Arabia had made a formal complaint to them. The silence from OIC confirmed their conviction. The responsible officer let our reporter listen to a video tape of this meeting with a recoding of the conversation in Danish, Urdu and English languages. (Daily 'Jang' London 2nd March 2006 pp. 1 and 3)
As if the conversation with him took place in three languages! Lies have no legs. It is a most outrageously baseless news item. Dr. Kanwal seems to be a very special correspondent of the newspaper, 'Jang'. It was first thought that he was from Denmark but now it has transpired that he is from Italy and represents 'Jang' and 'Geo' from there. As far as I have gathered the information, legally he cannot give news with reference to Denmark to any newspaper.
The first thing is the accusation that the Community held a convention in September. Last year the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community did not hold the Annual Convention there at all. Due to my visit, a combined Annual Convention of the Scandinavian countries was held and that too in Sweden. It was seen on MTA (Muslim Television Ahmadiyya) by all as to what was said there and what was not said.
During my visit to Denmark, a reception was held in a hotel which was attended by some sections of the press and other well-informed friends. Some officials were also present there and a lady Minister had also come. The beautiful and peaceable teachings of Islam were mentioned there with reference to the Holy Qur’an, Ahadith, and discourses of the Promised Messiah(as). Whatever was said there was clear and unambiguous. Nothing was said surreptitiously. The newspapers gave it coverage, in fact a little was also shown on the television. There was no separate meeting. It was just my speech at the reception which I think MTA has shown. If they have not, they may do so now. Anyway, it is true that maybe in that speech a mention was made of people like this writer, in that it is these few people who bring Islam in disrepute, otherwise the majority of Muslims disapprove of this sort of Jihad and terrorism.
Anyway a huge fabrication has been attributed to us that belie even the most habitual of liars, who would think twice before speaking up in that everything is on record these days. In fact according to this person a videotape exists in Urdu, English and Danish. If they are truthful they may show the tapes, show them to us as well, in this way it can be made clear who said what.
I say to the fabricator of this false news, "It is entirely a big lie, and I invoke the curse of Allah on liars by saying: la’natullahi ‘alal kadhibin."
Firstly I would say to those who have spread this false news:
It is nothing but an absolute lie, and
(The curse of Allah on those who lie)
If they are truthful, they may repeat the very same words. However, if they had an iota of fear of God they could never repeat these words. Generally, these people have a little fear of God, if any. However, even if they do not repeat these words still having spoken a lie of this great magnitude they have come under this prayer of the Promised Messiah(as). In any case, such contemptible improprieties have been taking place against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the past, and continue to do so. Whenever they try to stab us in the back in their presumption, Allah the Exalted causes them to fail, and manifests His love for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in a way that brings forth His enhanced Grace.