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Glasgow:  A UK-based human rights organisation is calling on the authorities in Pakistan to release a 72-year-old doctor who was arrested for ‘posing as a Muslim’ after being secretly filmed by a patient at his surgery. Global Minorities Alliance, a Glasgow-based human rights organisation which advocates for the rights of minority communities the world over, denounced the imprisonment as a further example of Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws being used to persecute minorities and whip up religious hatred rather than seek justice in a country which is increasingly being divided by violence. Mr Masood Ahmad, a member of the Ahmadiyya community, was charged under Pakistan’s anti-Ahmadiyya blasphemy legislation after a religious leader posing as a patient attended his homeopathy clinic in Lahore and secretly recorded him reading a verse from the Quran. Mr Ahmad, who has dual Pakistani/UK nationality and previously lived in London, was arrested shortly after and is now in pri...

A 17 year old Ahmadi boy, Arsalan Sarwar, was shot fatally in Satellite town area of Rawalpindi yesterday, it is reported. According to the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya Pakistan spokesperson, Saleem-ud Din, the circumstances surrounding the youngster’s killing are not yet clear. Mr Din said he did not want to speculate without full and accurate information. “I will have further details and I will update tomorrow.” "Please bear with me in the meantime and do not speculate without facts," the Ahmadiyya spokesperson further cautioned. According to some unconfirmed reports in the social media, the victim was seen installing decorative lighting on the day of Eid Milad-un-Nabi, the Holy Prophet Muhammad's birthday, when he was killed. Many rights groups say the Ahmadi killings are the direct result of a reckless disregard by Pakistani authorities of the hate-materials routinely published against Ahmadis which openly provoke and incite public to kill Ahmadis. “Governmen...

A one-and-a-half-year-old infant was buried four days after she died from pneumonia in Toba Tek Singh, Punjab province.   The girl, who was from an Ahmadi family, died on December 19, and was taken for burial the following day. At the cemetery the local clerics gathered with approximately fifty men who were armed with sticks and batons. The girl belonged to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam, declared non Islamic through constitutional amendments. The men refused to let the Ahmadis bury the girl in the common graveyard and prevented them from digging the grave. In Chak 312-JB Kathowali, Gojra, Toba Tek Singh, the Ahmadi and local Muslim population have lived together for six decades after the creation of Pakistan and the graveyard was used by both communities without dispute. However, from the last year the Muslim fundamentalist tried to introduce some families, particularly unmarried persons, who became busy instigating the people to agitate against the Ahmadis in order to dislodge...

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to forward this statement regarding persons who chose to join the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam and the treatment they received thereafter. It is extremely perturbing that we have to bring to the notice of the world’s community the plight of two innocent, loyal citizens of Saudi Arabia who had committed no offence at all, were arrested on 14 May 2012 just because they had chosen to join the The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to forward this statement regarding persons who chose to join the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam and the treatment they received thereafter. It is extremely perturbing that we have to bring to the notice of the world’s community the plight of two innocent, loyal citizens of Saudi Arabia who had committed no offence at all, were arrested on 14 May 2012 just because they had chosen to join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for the betterment of their understanding and practice of the teachings of Islam. It is a heart rendering...

By Abdul Shafi Bharwana, Editor African Crescent The article was published in “African Crescent” as an Editorial for November 2013 issue “These days, I am in inner Sierra Leone and am working in Tungie, the capital of the Goroma Chiefdom.  This place is 50 miles away from the closest post office, and 25 miles away from a paved road.  By the grace of Allah Almighty, the Paramount Chief has become an Ahmadi, and I have been staying at his house for the last 3 weeks.  He has started the construction of a mosque.  He was a Christian before.  May God help us; it is possible that many people in his Chiefdom will accept the truth.” This is part of a report by first Ahmadiyya Missionary in Sierra Leone published in the Sunrise of January 20, 1940. Today we learn from history that Maulana Nazir Ahmad Ali, first Ahmadiyya Muslim Missionary arrived in Sierra Leone in 1937. Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Sierra Leone established the first Muslim Primary School in 19...

There are four fundamental forces in nature, namely, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force and gravity. Electromagnetism can be observed in daily life experience. For instance, lighting is a natural phenomenon. Weak nuclear force is manifested in radioactivity, which is used to cure cancer. Strong nuclear force, on the other hand, is responsible for keeping the nucleus (protons and neutron) together. Whereas, the gravity is observed in everyday life, for example, the planets of solar system rotate around the sun due to gravity. It is important to note that electromagnetism and gravity are long range forces, i.e., these forces can act for longer distances, whereas, weak and strong nuclear forces are only manifested at very short distances, i.e., of the size of a nuclei which is about  10 -15  m . Gravity is very weak as compared to other three fundamental forces and it only manifests itself on massive objects. Since the mass fundamental particles like...

Roasted coffee beans Coffee About 1,600,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed every day around the world. Billions of people rely on it as part of their daily routines. And yet, very few people are aware of the Muslim origins of this ubiquitous drink. According to the historical record, in the 1400s coffee became a very popular drink among Muslims in Yemen, in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Legend goes that a shepherd (some say in Yemen, some say in Ethiopia) noticed that his goats became very energetic and jumpy when they ate beans from a particular tree. He had the courage to try them himself, noticing they gave him an energy boost. Over time, the tradition of roasting the beans and immersing them in water to create a sour yet powerful drink developed, and thus, coffee was born. Regardless of whether or not the story of the shepherd ever really happened, coffee found its way from the highlands of Yemen to the rest of the Ottoman Empire, the premier Muslim empire of the 1...

“This is just a small step towards ensuring that we all take responsibility of keeping our surroundings and country clean and beautiful.” The residents of Auckland were shown the way by a group of Ahmadiyya Muslim Youths for the first day of 2014 by keeping Auckland parks clean and beautiful. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s Auxiliary Youth division known as Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya New Zealand organized a New Year’s Day clean-up of four parks in Auckland. The Community took heed of their worldwide Spiritual Leader; Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad’s advice during his recent visit to New Zealand to organize a regular New Year’s clean up initiative in New Zealand. The Community’s National President, Mr. Mohammed Iqbal present with the group said, “This is just a small step towards ensuring that we all take responsibility of keeping our surroundings and country clean and beautiful. The practice we have initiated was also a regular practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and...

Christianity is the world's largest religion, yet being a believer can be dangerous: A report finds that Christians are discriminated against in 130 countries - and the situation is only getting worse. Three years ago, Asaia Bibi was a farm worker in Pakistan when she became subject of a dangerous accusation: "You insulted the Prophet!" In no time, the mother of five had been shepherded to the district court in the town of Nankana Sahib in Punjab province. The judges found Bibi, a Christian, guilty of blasphemy and imposed the death sentence. It turned out Bibi was the victim of character assassination. Nonetheless, she remains in prison, and execution still looms. Blasphemy legislation in Pakistan makes it easy to put unpopular people behind bars, be they Christian, Muslim or atheist. There is a growing number of similar stories, according to the "Ecumenical Report on the Religious Freedom of Christians Worldwide" which was published recently as joint resear...

Pope Francis has announced that he will make a pilgrimage to Israel, The West Bank and Jordan in May, underscoring a fresh U.S. push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. “As of now I ask you to pray for this pilgrimage,” he told worshipers in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, according to Vatican Radio. Pope Francis said he would be visiting Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem May 24-26. While there, he planned to meet with the representatives of the Christian Churches of Jerusalem, together with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. They will celebrate Mass together at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where the faithful believe Jesus was crucified and buried. The announcement was made just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a new bid for peace.