Vol. No. 15, Issue Nos. 7August 2018

IN MEMORY OF JALAL-UD-DIN AKBAR IBN-I ABDULLAH, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

Editor: Nasir Ahmad B.A. LL.B.

MOTTO ISLAM: I SHALL LOVE ALL MANKIND

EID GREETINGS 2Iain Dixon, Manchester

POWER OF WORDS 2Iain Dixon, Manchester

A CALL FOR A UNITED BROTHERHOOD! 4Imaam Iqubal Hydal, Trinidad

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ACT OF SACRIFICE BY PROPHET ABRAHAM 5Dr. Zahid Aziz, Nottingham, UK

A TEACHER OF THE GOETHE INSTITUTE LAHORE IN GERMAN MEDIA 11Ms. Tayyaba Anwaar Ahmad, Lahore, Pakistan

‘A WELCOME TO PAKISTAN’ IN BERLIN 15

ACTIVITIES AT THE BERLIN MOSQUE, GERMANY 17Imam Amir Aziz, Berlin

PageCONTENTS

this Eid and always!

May the blessings of Allah, BE SHOWERED ON YOU

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A meaningful Eid greetings….

“Let us reflect on the power of sacrifice… Not just be informed but transformed by

the example of Abraham … the Imam to the nations.”

Iain Dixon, Manchester.

Wishing you and the whole Jama’at a great Eid next week! Eid Mubarak!

I am with family in Lincolnshire for the next few days, so won’t be able to

come to the Mosque for Eid day.

So.....Have a beautiful Eid, full of love, life and deeper friendship with Allah

and with one another.

May we learn and reflect on the power of sacrifice, and may our lives not just

be informed........but transformed by the example of Abraham......the Imam to

the nations.

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THE POWER OF WORDSWords can hurt, heal and destroy but can heal also!Our words can hurt. Our words can heal. Our words can destroy. Our words can build up. Are we careful with the words we use? In many ways our words are like toothpaste. Once toothpaste has been squeezed out of the toothpaste tube, it is impossible to push the toothpaste back into the tube! In the same way, once our words have come out of our mouths, it is impossible to retrieve them! Whatever we have said, whether good or bad......they are squeezed out into the world forever........with either the power to do good, or the power to do evil.

Do your words harm, or do they heal? We praise our beau-tiful Allah for the gift of words. He after all is the inventor

of words. He speaks his purposes into being. Words can be like containers, carrying knowledge, wisdom, and encouragement to others. Our words can also be used like hooks. As a shepherd can use the hook at the end of his rod to catch a sheep and pull

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it from danger, so our words can alert others to dangers ahead, and cause them to move to safety. But words can also destroy people, discourage people and intimidate people. Are you in the construction business, or the demolition business? Do your words build up people, or tear them down?

How do you use your words?Seven of my favourite words in the (English translation) of the Honoured Quran are found in Surah 4:163. We are told there: “ and to David we gave the Psalms.” The Psalms are songs and praises to Allah. But they are so much more. Just as pure white light is an amazing blend of all the colours of the rainbow, so too the Psalms of David are an amazing blend of praise, prophecy, and practical wisdom and guidance for us.

“And to David we gave the Psalms.”

The Psalms of David are preserved in the Bible scriptures. We read there: “ Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD.”- Psalm 19:14. What a challenge this is! That all the words we speak are to be acceptable in the sight of Allah! We are also told: “ Keep thy tongue from evil , and thy lips from speaking guile.”- Psalm 34:13. Whether we are in a mosque, or in our homes, or even in our places of employment, we are constantly being challenged to guard our lips, and to speak only in a way that glorifies our creator. Our words can be like deathly snake venom, or have the healing properties of sweet honey. You make the choice!

Guard your lips!David prayed a simple prayer: “ Set a guard over my mouth LORD, keep watch over my lips.”- Psalm 141:3. Allah wants us to pause each day, and reflect on the words we use. Do we ask Allah to guard our mouth? Do we work in harmony with heaven each day in seeking the best words, the words that will glorify our Creator, and uplift mankind? This world puts us under pressure to compromise, and to conform to its standards. But we are to be different. We are to be a set apart people. Rather than being shaped by the influences of the world around us, WE are to change the environ-ment around us. A Thermometer is AFFECTED by the temperature that SURROUNDS it. But a Thermostat SETS the temperature around it. Allah challenges each one of us to be like a Thermostat, setting the standard around us, changing the environment around us with our words.

So let us be a people of kind words, encouraging words. Let us be in the construction business, and not in the demolition business! When we enter a dark room, one flick of a light switch brings light to the whole room. May our words be as powerful as a light switch......bringing light into a darkened world! David said of Allah’s words: “ The entrance of YOUR words gives light, it gives understanding to the simple.”- Psalm 119:130. May we humbly imitate our creator, and use our positive words to give en-couragement and guidance to those that dwell in darkness. Ameen.

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A CAll for A united brotherhood!is sighting of the moon A phenomenon governed

by A different lAw of nAture

Imaam Iqubal Hydal (B.Sc., Dip. Ed.) Trinidad.

Sighting of the moon still a problem for the Muslims!Once again there is controversy in the Muslim community with respect to the date of ‘Eid. This time it is not the sighting of the moon for `Eid-ul-Fitr which is sighted the evening prior to ̀ Eid-ul-Fitr, but rather the sighting of the moon for ̀ Eid-ul-Adha, a fes-tival which occurs ten days after the moon has been sighted for the beginning of the month of Zul Hijjah. To explain why the controversy has arisen with some Mosques con-tending that ‘Eid-ul- Adha is on Wednesday while others are following Saudi Arabia’s pronouncement of ‘Eid on Tuesday, I refer to the post issued by Dar al-‘Uloom.

The Moon Sighting Committee of Dar al-‘Uloom sighted the moon (hilaal) on Sunday 12th August. The new moon was born on Saturday August 11th at 9.57 a.m. and sun-set was at 6.27 p.m. The hilaal (crescent) was therefore 8h 30m old. Such a hilaal is too faint and near to the horizon to sight it. The next day August 12th it is 24 hours older and its age is now 32h 30m. Such a hilaal is easily visible with the naked eye. Dar al ‘Uloom, therefore, proclaimed Monday August 13th as the first day of Dhul Hijjah consequently making the day of ‘Arafah, Tuesday 21st August and `Eid-ul-Adha Wednesday August 22nd.

In Makkah however, the new moon was born on Saturday August 11th at 12.57 p.m. (Makkah Time) and sunset was at 6.54 p.m. The hilaal (crescent) was 7h 57m old. Such a crescent cannot be seen either by the naked eye nor with optical instruments as it is too faint and low on the horizon. However, a crescent (hilaal) was born and it set (moonset) at 7.06 (Makkah) time. The fact that the crescent (7h 57m) set after sunset, according to Makkah calendar, makes the next day, August 12th , the first day of Dhul Hijjah. This makes the day of ‘Arafah Monday August 11th and `Eid-ul-Adha Tuesday 12th.

It is to be noted that Makkah uses calculation rather than Moonsighting. Once a cres-cent is born after new moon, regardless of its age, and it sets after sunset, the new Islamic month begins. This controversy will always arise since there is no uniformity among Muslims with respect to the determination of the lunar months. Those who choose moon sighting follow the hadith :

“Do not keep the fast until you see the hilaal and do not discontinue the fast until you see it, and if it be veiled to you, have it measured.” (Bukhari, 30:31).

Those who use calculation, follow the Qur`an:

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“He it is Who made the sun a shining brightness, and the moon a light, and ordained for it stages that you might know the computation of years and the reckoning. Allah created not this but with truth. He makes the signs manifest for people who know”(Qur’an,10:5).

The Ahmadiyya Anjuman for more than thirty years has followed both the Qur’an and Hadith, using sighting and calculation in the determination of its dates. The youngest crescent that has been observed by us was when it was 17 hours old. The Anjuman, therefore, bases its calendar on the fact that once a moon is at least 17 hours old, the crescent is visible and the lunar month has started.

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A comparative Study of the Act of Sacrifice Performed by Abraham -- in the light of the

Bible and the Qur’an Sacrifice is an act which cannot possibly be attributed to God,

but can only be done by manDr. Zahid Aziz M.Sc. Ph. D.

(Text of Id-ul-Adha Khutbah delivered on 22 August 2018 at the Lahore Ahmadiyya Centre, Darus Salaam, Wembley, UK)

“And when Abraham and Ishmael raised the foundations of the House: Our Lord, accept from us; surely You are the Hearing, the Knowing. Our Lord, and make us both submissive to You, and (raise) from our offspring, a nation submissive to You, and show us our ways of devotion and turn to us (mercifully); surely You are the Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful. Our Lord, and raise up in them a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them Your messages and teach them the Book and the Wisdom, and purify them. Surely You are the Mighty, the Wise.”

(The Holy Quran, 2:127–129)

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The festival we are commemorating today — Id-ul-Adha — marks the event of the readiness of Abraham even to sacrifice his son Ishmael when Abraham thought that he had been commanded by God to sacrifice him.

The first question which comes to mind is: Why should Muslims, the followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, be required to mark this event, in the life of another prophet Abraham? Why doesn’t Islam require instead the commemoration of some event in the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw).

The answer is that this shows the broad approach and attitude of Islam. It is giving honour to a man who is a revered religious figure of at least two other religions —

Judaism and Christianity — and some scholars believe that the Hindu sacred figure Brahma mentioned in their scriptures is the same as Abraham, so that he is respected by a vast mass of humanity.

Islam does not teach that God’s true guidance to mankind was given for the first time through the Prophet Muhammad, and that the religions which existed before his time were false. On the contrary, it teaches that God had been raising His true messen-gers before the Prophet Muhammad in all nations. Many of these prophets and their stories are related in the Quran. Their examples are also an inspiration for Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad’s life showed a reflection of the qualities of all these proph-ets, so that a Jew can see Moses in the Holy Prophet Muhammad, a Christian can see Jesus, and even a Buddhist can see Buddha in the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Prophet Muhammad came to revive the same fundamental teachings as all these prophets had been giving. The followers of earlier religions had drifted away from the original teachings given to them by their prophets, and the Prophet Muhammad came to remind them of those original teachings.

Significance of Abraham

It is here that Abraham becomes significant. From his son Isaac there grew the nation of Israel and the Jewish religion. Later, after the coming of Jesus in the nation of Israel, the Christian religion developed. Yet these two religions came to hold opposite and contradictory beliefs, as below:

Jewish religion Christian religion Belief in One God. Belief in Trinity. Following the Law leads to salvation. The Law is a curse. Only belief in atone-

ment leads to salvation.

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Only outward forms and rituals of wor-ship are of importance.

Only the spirit of religion is important, the form does not matter.

How could religions arising from one origin hold such opposite, basic beliefs? Islam gave its judgment on these differences. It said that this divergence was a result of the departure, by both Jews and Christians, from the simple and basic principles of religion taught by Abraham. The Jews made the law too complicated and elaborate, and the Christians made the beliefs too complicated.

The religion taught by Abraham was as follows: belief in One God, and devotion to and love for Him in one’s practical deeds. The Christians lost sight of the belief and the Jews lost sight of the teachings about deeds. Islam offered to Jews and to Christians an easier path than the one that each of them was following. For Jews, it simplified the practice of religion, and for Christians it simplified the doctrine and creed of religion. The Quran says in a verse, after saying that the Prophet Muhammad is mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel, that he has come to remove the burdens and chains which

were on the followers of these books (7:157).

Ishmael and the Arab nation Abraham had another, older son, Ishmael. Through a command from God, Abraham settled him along with his mother Hagar in the utter wilderness where there now flourishes the city of Makkah. God promised Abraham that from Ishmael would grow another nation, and in the distant future when the followers of Abraham through Isaac had turned away from his true teachings, a man would be raised among the nation of Ishmael who would restore those teachings to their original form. This is stated in the verses quoted earlier.

In fact, in that nation which grew up from Ishmael in the peninsula of Arabia, no prophets arose till that Promised Prophet, while in all nations of the world numerous prophets came, such as Moses, David, Jesus, Buddha etc. One deep wisdom in this was that the nation in which the Last Prophet arose, to judge between all the various reli-gions prevailent in the world, that nation — the Arabs — had no prophets or religious traditions of its own, so that that Last Prophet could be a fair and impartial judge of all the earlier religions. If there had been prophets among the Arabs before the Prophet Muhammad, as there had been among the Israelites, then he would be considered biased in favour of his ancestral religion. And his followers would naturally have re-vered those Arab prophets as being their own, and held them above the prophets of other nations. But as it is, all the prophets before the Prophet Muhammad, whom the Muslims respect and revere, belong to other nations. This means that the Muslims believe in and honour even the prophets of nations with whom they have been at war.

Incident of sacrifice Turning to Abraham’s act of sacrifice that we are commemorating, the Holy Quran gives the following account:

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“(Abraham prayed): My Lord, grant me a doer of good deeds. So We gave him the good news of a forbearing son. But when he became of age to work with him, he said: O my son, I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice you; so consider what is your view. He said: O my father, do as you are com-manded; if Allah please you will find me patient. So when they had both submitted and he had thrown him down upon his forehead, and We called out to him saying, O Abraham, you have indeed fulfilled the vision. Thus do We reward the doers of good. Surely this is a manifest trial. And We ran-somed him with a great sacrifice.” (37:100-107)

The main points of this incident are as follows:

1. It was after much prayer that Abraham at last had a child, and that too in old age. 2. But he was then commanded to settle the infant and his mother in the wilderness

of Arabia, which he immediately did. 3. Now when Ishmael reached his teens, Abraham saw in a dream that he was sacri-

ficing him. 4. His attachment to his son was not only of love, but the son was of material value to

him as well. He could work and Abraham was old. 5. As human sacrifice was a common practice, although of course it was wrong and

barbaric and not sanctioned by any teaching from God, Abraham thought that the dream was a command to sacrifice his son literally.

6. Abraham was a man who argued and questioned. According to the Quran, he ar-gued with his people about the wrong of idolatry (37:85-96), and he argued with the king of his time (2:258). Once he wanted Allah to tell him how the dead will be raised to life. Allah said to him: Don’t you have faith? Abraham replied, yes, but that he wanted his heart to be satisfied about it (2:260). Such a man would not blindly and unthinkingly carry out an order. Abraham would have realized that God must have some higher purpose by asking for this sacrifice, even if Abraham didn’t know what it was. His repeated experiences in life taught him that the result of obedience to God is always good and it enhances faith in God and love for Him. The concept of unthinking, blind obedience to orders has an unfortunate history in the world. Examples of its disastrous consequences are everywhere, in all times. In fact, the Quran accuses the opponents of all prophets of unquestioningly obeying their religious leaders, their forefathers and their customs. If it is true that Muslims are required to follow Islam without applying any thinking, then Muslims cannot object if followers of other religions also obey their religions blindly, and ignore any arguments Muslims present to them in support of the truth of Islam.

7. Abraham told his vision to his son and asked him: What is your view? If Abraham was merely blindly obeying what he thought was God’s command to him, why should he ask his son’s opinion? This teaches us that parents should seek their children’s opinion about their lives. Abraham was not forcing this sacrifice upon Ishmael; the son’s willingness was a part of this act of sacrifice. The son said: “My father, do as you are command-ed; if Allah please, you will find me patient.” And the Quran then says: “So when they both submitted”; it was a submission of both of them.

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8. But then God stopped them from going any further and said that Abraham had already fulfilled the vision. He had already done the real sacrifice required by set-tling his son in the desert.

9. To commemorate this event, and to recall its lessons, the practice of sacrificing an animal was instituted as a symbol.

10. The Bible also contains the story of the sacrifice by Abraham (Genesis, 22:1–14). It mentions Isaac, not Ishmael, as the son whom Abraham was told to sacrifice. Muslims have argued against this, but they have merely focused on the issue of which son is mentioned in the Bible and which son it is according to Islam. But there are other key differences of the Bible with the Quran’s version. In the Bible story, Abraham doesn’t see a dream but is directly commanded by God, in words, to take his son and sacrifice him. Also, Abraham doesn’t mention this to his son. He takes his son to the place of sacrifice without telling him that he would be sacrificing him, and in fact Abraham gave the son the impression that a lamb would be sacrificed.

It can be seen how the account in the Quran is much more inspiring, where Abraham takes his son into his confidence fully and offers him the choice and they both sub-mit. Today, in terms of parent-child relationships, Muslim societies are more like how Abraham is portrayed in the Bible — not consulting the child about its future and keep-ing it in the dark — while modern trends favour the behavior of Abraham as portrayed in the Quran. Also, by calling it a dream the Quran leaves scope for the interpretation that Abraham misunderstood it as being an actual command from God. The Bible version doesn’t allow that scope.

Concept of sacrifice This event also taught that human sacrifice was a wrongful practice. This practice prevailed very widely in the ancient world among most nations. Indeed, it continued among certain Hindu castes till modern times and had to be banned by law. Usually, a child was sacrificed physically in the belief that the offering would please certain gods.

Leaving aside the extreme of human sacrifice, the practice of sacrificing something such as an animal or burning some foodstuff such as butter or ghee, as a gift to certain gods, is an almost universal practice. It is believed that you make some god happy by giving him a gift, just as you make a person happy by a gift, so that the god would return the favour in some way.

But the Quran presented the true concept of sacrifice. It is that God does not need anything from man. The Quran says:

“He feeds and is not fed” (6:14), “I (God) desire no sustenance from them, nor do I desire that they should feed Me.” (51:57)

What God wants is for people to sacrifice their lower and material desires for a higher purpose. We all want to have physical comforts and to satisfy our material desires,

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but God tells us that for our moral and spiritual progress, for the betterment of our character, and to make us real human beings, there are times when we must sacrifice, willingly and voluntarily, some of our material possessions for a good cause.

The sacrifice of the animal that is carried out is just an expression of a person’s will-ingness to sacrifice his own animal desires. The Quran clearly says that it is not the flesh nor the blood of the animal that reaches God, but the dutifulness on your part. The sacrifice is accepted if it leads you to be more dutiful, to make a sacrifice of your own self and not of just the animal.

Christianity’s highest sacrifice The concept of sacrifice is so universal that Christians believe in what they consider to be the greatest sacrifice for mankind: the sacrifice by God Himself of His son, Jesus. It is believed that God sacrificed His son on the cross to make him suffer punishment for all the sins of mankind.

However, sacrifice is an act which cannot possibly be attributed to God, but can only be done by man. For, sacrifice means that you lose something which you possessed so that you then have to undergo hardship and loss because of that deprivation. But as God is All-powerful, how can He be said to make a sacrifice? He cannot possibly suffer a loss because He has the power to have anything. To give an analogy, suppose that a man could print as much money as he liked. Then no matter how much he gives in charity, even if it is billions, it is not a sacrifice.

Secondly, that sacrifice on the cross is claimed to take away the sins of mankind by paying the penalty for all the sins ever committed. But that sacrifice has not stopped, nor can it stop, people from sinning. In contrast, it is the concept of sacrifice as pre-sented by Islam — the sacrifice by a person of his lower desires — that can take away sin by training people to abstain from wrongdoing.

Our sacrifice Finally, to commemorate Abraham’s sacrifice, we should make some real sacrifice of our desires and our possessions. Abraham made his sacrifice for the cause of religion, so that a nation be raised in the barren land of Arabia among whom the great Last Prophet would come. Our Movement, the Ahmadiyya Movement, provides us also with the opportunity to make sacrifices for the cause of religion, so that people in the future have the true guidance available to them through our humble work and striving.

May Allah grant world-wide acceptance to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, as He prom-ised to Abraham, and may Allah bring together all the followers of Abraham under the banner of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and make them recognize that the Prophet Muhammad now represents Abraham and indeed he represents all the prophets be-fore him.

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A TEACHER OF GOETHE INSTITUTE, LAHORE

APPEARS IN GERMAN MEDIA

A brief talk with a German Journalist on a train journey made headlines in German Newspapers

The Interview appeared in:Rhein-Necker Zeitung and Berlin Zeitung of 11 July 2018

Tayyaba Anwar Ahmad

“The world is not round or is it the football? Goethe, Iqbal, Heidelberg and three rejected visa applications – the astonishing world cup story of a German teacher from Pakistan, who has never been allowed to enter Germany. TAYYABA ANWAR AHMAD is clearly proud of it. On her chart paper, it says unmistakably: “We made the football”.

Tayyaba Anwaar Ahmad narrates her story in rather accent-free German, although she has never been to Germany. That’s astonishing in itself but her story holds even more surprises in store.”

Photos: Rosner

The world is not round or is it the football. Goethe, Iqbal, Heidelberg and three rejected visa applications – the astonishing world cup story of a German teacher from Pakistan, who is never been allowed to enter Germany. Tayyaba Ahmad is clearly proud of it.

The official World Cup ball “Telstar Mechta” is produced in the Pakistani city of Sialkot. Photo: dpa

Tayyaba Ahmad is obviously proud of it. On her cardboard sign is unmistakable: “We made the football”. Photos: Rosner

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On her chart paper, it says unmistakably: “We made the football”. Photos: Rosner The official World cup ball “Telstar Mechta” is produced in Sialkot, a city in Pakistan. Photo: dpa A striking world cup story Message of the east By Maik Rosner Moscow. Tayyaba Anwaar Ahmad narrates her story in rather accent-free German, although she has never been to Germany. That’s astonishing in itself but her story holds even more surprises in store. The 37 years old woman from the city of Lahore in Pakistan tells her story on a train journey during the world cup in Russia, and her story tells us in turn a lot about the world around us. About, how it works or doesn’t work. Or for whom it works well and for whom not so well.

An example of it can be seen on Wednesday, 27th of June, two weeks ago from now, but it’s only visible at a second glance. Tayyaba Ahmad is in the stadium of Nizhny Novgorod. She watches the match between Switzerland and Costa Rica which ended 2:2. She has painted a Pakistani flag on her face and holds a flag of her home country in her hand. Costa Rican fans are seated near her. They are wearing football jerseys of their team. One of these men from Costa Rica has a muffler with Swiss flag on it around his neck. A woman from Pakistan is in middle of fans from Central America, who are also showing the colours of opposing team from Europe. it’s a picture that could have hardly been arranged better by the PR-Strategy team of FIFA itself. In the same way, FIFA likes to present itself as an institution of global understanding among nations and in some way it corresponds with the understanding among people and nations at the world cup.

In the past four weeks people from all over the world have celebrated peacefully with each other. It was and is still till the final on Sunday (1800 hours) a successful party. But that’s just the apparent picture from the surface. How unequal and unfair the world is, in Russia or elsewhere, has not been shown by the colourful images of happy people on TV. Nor is it shown that how privileged these world cup tourists are in comparison to a lot of their fellow countrymen, who could neither afford a ticket to a world cup match in the first place nor a journey to the venue. That’s not true only for a lot of people from Costa Rica or for instance from Pakistan but also for many from the host country of Russia.

That the football is above all a gigantic business, in which things are squeamish, can also be seen, at least indirectly, in the picture with Tayyaba Ahmad at the stands in Nizhny Novgorod. “We made the football”, states the placard in her hands. She says, “We don’t have a team in the world cup, but we are there through the official ball.” She doesn’t say it with a submissive gratitude that can be seen partly in Pakistani media to be allowed to produce the ball.

Tayyaba Ahmad says it with a class. Because she has an understanding, what that means. She previously spent seven years working for a global advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather in Lahore, including a campaign for the Cricket World Cup in support of Pakistan, and also at other campaigns for multinational like Coca Cola and Nestlé. She has earned comparatively well for the wage level in her homeland, but not much in global comparison. So is the case with the official world cup football.

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The ball has been produced by the manufacturer 0, in the city of Sialkot in Pakistan. Around 85 percent of all footballs worldwide, about 60 million per annum, are pro-duced in the said city. Child labour is forbidden by the law, after it was made public in nineties. Today men and women earn roughly the equivalent of 90 Euros a month, other sources mention of a little more amount. But the group-stage game ball they produced, “the Telstar 18” is either way an untouchable luxury product for them. At the German adidas homepage, it is available for 149.95 Euros. Same is the case with the “Telstar Metcha”, with which the game has been played in round of sixteen. Both are currently sold out online, but cheaper replicas are still available. They are also available in Pakistan. The original product produced there is sold in the country of about 193 million population only at one adidas-store at “Centaurus Mall” Islamabad, and that too so far only the model from group matches. Elsewhere in country, as in Lahore with its official eleven million inhabitants, one can order the ball online, ac-cording to adidas-store in Islamabad for *41,100 Pakistani rupees (about 148 euros). Perhaps there is a lack of interest in the said country where cricket is at large the most popular sport. Furthermore, it is also likely that not enough wealthy customer-base is there in Pakistan in order to make the product made in their own country available to them on a high profit.

Tayyaba Ahmad has bought the original game ball in Russia for 9000 Ruble (around 123 euros), as a surprise for her friend. “That was by far the most expensive present”, she said.

Word Mechta, the name of the game ball in the Round of 16, comes from Russian. It means dream or ambition. Tayyaba Ahmad also has dreams and ambitions, and that’s why she learnt German. Everything started with her love for the literature. She has read a lot from Muhammad Iqbal, who was born in 1877 in the same city where in the meantime the footballs are getting produced at low-priced labour for adidas. Iqbal was a Muslim philosopher and political thinker, he is considered as national poet and spiritual father of Pakistan. He died in 1938 in Tayyaba Ahmad’s home city Lahore. She also calls him Allama, which means a great scholar. He is considered as most important Islamic philosopher of modern era. She adores him, also for one of *his messages that she expressed as, “the book of learning is always open.” But she has realised that it’s not always true. The book of learning is not equally and completely open for everyone, especially not for those, who for instance produce the footballs for the world market. Or for those, who just have a wrong passport. She has learnt that too from Iqbal indirectly. The world is after all not that round, how the coloured world cup pictures try to make us believe.

Tayyaba Ahmad has written a poem about that. It says, that the roads leading to the city of learning are at some places open and elsewhere closed. “I have also written that, I too deserve my share of learning at Heidelberg” There, at the oldest university in Germany, Ruprecht-Karl, founded in 1386, she wanted to study modern languages and literature of South Asia.

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She stayed in contact with the professors via Internet and the university had sent her the admission thrice. “They wanted to have me as student”, said Tayyaba Ahmad. But the German authorities didn’t want her. Three visa applications were refused, two in 2013 and the third in 2014. That Tayyaba Ahmad has this desire to come to Heidelberg has also to do with Iqbal. He studied law and philosophy at Cambridge, Munich and Heidelberg and obtained his doctorate at the University of Munich. He studied Goethe, Nietzsche and Heine among others and was influenced by them.

Iqbal also wrote a book in Persian in response to the West-Eastern Divan, Goethe’s most extensive collection of poetry, which was yet again inspired by the Persian poet Hafiz. Iqbal’s response is called Piyam-e Mashriq - “The Message of the East”. Everything is connected with everything else. In Heidelberg there is Iqbal-Ufer, a part of a street B72 on the southern bank of the Neckar. Near that stands a commemorative plaque made of stone with Iqbal’s poem “Greeting to the Neckar” engraved on it. There is a monument dedicated to Iqbal in Munich as well on the Habsburger Platz near the Ludwig-Maximilians University. Tayyaba Ahmad would like to follow his footsteps and likewise to study further.

She learnt German for the same purpose, as her first visa application among other rea-sons was rejected because she didn’t know German at that time. She took a German language course after that and scored 98.5 percent in the test, as she says – but again got refused. One of her visa interviews at the German Embassy, Islamabad lasted for 45 minutes and she was asked there again and again if she really does not have any relatives or friends in Germany. She replied in negative multiple times. As she didn’t comprehend initially the background of these questions. Then she suspected that there is a possibility that she might be seen as economic refugee in the eyes of the authorities. Later she received the renewed visa rejection which stated that there are doubts on the purpose she stated in her visa application, narrated Tayyaba Ahmad. But she only wanted to study and be part of academics, which she couldn’t be in the same manner in Pakistan. Otherwise she could have definitely applied the visa with a different reason. In her passport, it says Ahmadiyya under Religion. It is a branch of Islam that is not acknowledged by majority of Muslims, also not by the authorities in Pakistan. The Ahmadiyya is considered worldwide the most persecuted Muslim community. In Pakistan, there has been repeated discrimination over decades, includ-ing riots, attacks and killings. Many Ahmadiyya have already fled, many to Germany, some to Switzerland and other countries. In 2012 European Court of Law ruled that the members of Ahmadiyyah community from Pakistan who seek asylum and plead religious discrimination could not be to returned to their home country and make themselves known there. Tayyaba Ahmad believes that she being the member of the community is the unofficial reason for the refusal, because she stated her motive to study in Heidelberg. Perhaps, as she speculates, that the German authorities thought that there is a risk that she would plead religious persecution, thus could not be sent back home.

Sometime it is wiser to not be purely honest and genuine to your core, Tayyaba Ahmad has also learnt that. The match ticket of world cup game between Costa Rica and

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Switzerland made it possible for her to get the so called Fan-ID, and with that the visa to Russia.

Travelling with a Pakistani passport is very often really complicated to nearly im-possible. Her real destination was not the football match, instead the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the world-renowned art museum. If you are reading this story now, she is already gone back to her homeland near the borders of India, to work at the Annemarie Schimmel Haus of Goethe Institute in Lahore. Schimmel was a German Islamic scholar whose favourite poet was also Muhammad Iqbal. She has translated a lot of his work in German. Everything is connecting itself to everything else. Tayyaba Ahmad works there as teacher, she now teaches German. The language of the coun-try, around which a lot from her life revolves and that she is not allowed to visit.

“As a teacher, it is not authentic that I teach German but have never been to Germany”, she says. Yet she also adds: “I love Heidelberg. I have lost my heart to that city.” But she knows the city only through books and internet. One of Iqbal’s theses sums it up in very simple words that ‘love is not mutual, but that it is enough to make something from your side of it.’ For example through learning. *148 Euros are about 21 thousand PKR **“The book of learning is always open” is the motto of Heidelberg University, not a saying by Iqbal.

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IN THE CITY OF BERLIN – THE BERLIN MOSQUE SHINES NOW IN ITS RENOVATED GLOW

For the First time since 1947 ‘Welcome to Pakistan’ has been officially paraded through local busses

THE MOSQUE WAS COMPLETED IN 1927 BY THE LAHORE AHMADIYYA MOVEMENT AND IS regarded AS THE MINI TAJ MAHAL.

BERLIN: Berlin›’s iconic yellow buses are carrying brand Pakistan on the streets of the city on nation’s 72nd Independence Day.

This branding campaign is running under the theme of ‘Emerging Pakistan’.

The initiative is a part of celebrations planned by the Embassy of Pakistan in Berlin for the 71st Independence Anniversary of Pakistan this year

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Berlin caters to hundreds of tourists, especially during the summertime, who will get to see these buses daily. For a brief time, many Berliners will see these buses portraying the diversity and beauty of Pakistan.

Speaking to this correspondent, His excellency Jauhar Saleem, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Germany said, “We are endeavouring to showcase beautiful Pakistan, perhaps the best-kept secret in the world of tourism.”

These special buses showcase the natural beauty of Pakistan with its highest peaks, majestic landscape, Made in Pakistan Football used for FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, monuments representing ancient civilisation, magnificent architecture and vibrant and diverse culture.

The banners on buses aim to attract foreign tourists to the wonderful land of Pakistan, for many that still remains unexplored.

Although for many Germans and Europeans, in particular, northern areas of Pakistan offer a mesmerizing adventure, an ancient Indus civilisation of Mohen-Jo-Daro have always fascinated German archaeologists and researchers. Also, the culture and the ethnic richness of Pakistan is appreciated all over Europe.

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ACTIVITIES AT THE BERLIN MOSQUE, GERMANY

Report for the month of July 2018

Amir Aziz M.A., ImamInto the Fold of IslamWith the blessings of Allah in the month of July two young people accepted Islam. A young boy had a long discussion with Mr. Amir Aziz, Imam of the Berlin Mosque and at the end he decided to accept Islam. Next day a young girl, after having long discussion and asking several questions also accepted Islam . May Allah help them to be steadfast and prove that a Muslim is a more law-abiding and responsible citizen. Due to new privacy policy adopted in Germany these names are not shared without their permission.

A glimpse of the Visitors’ BookHere is a brief view of visitors who visited the Berlin Mosque in the last two months. Signatures of some of the visitors from the Visitors’ book shows names of countries, institutions and variety of visitors who visit the Mosque. Following are the names of countries from where the visitors came and signed the Visitors’ Book : Belgium, Uruguay, Denmark, USA, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria and from vari-ous cities of Germany.

Anjuman-i Urdu Adab, Berlin 1 July. Anjuman-i Urdu Adab, Berlin organized a programme in the honour of a fa-mous Indian writer Ms. Noor Zaheer, daughter of famous writers Sajjad Zaheer and Razia Sajjad Zaheer. Late Sajjad Zaheer was member of Indian delegation who took part in the Simla Conference in 1945. Mr. Amir Aziz, Imam of the Berlin Mosque also recited his poem on this occasion.

An Evening of Afsana 2 July. An Evening of Afsana (Fiction) was organized in honour of the above mentioned guests by Pakban International-on-Line Newspapers. Imam of the Berlin Mosque was asked to present his latest Afsana which was appreciated by the guests and audience.

Visit of Ex- Imam of the Berlin Mosque 13 July. Brother Ahmed Saadat and his wife Dr. Amina Saadat visited the Berlin Mosque and attended the Friday prayer. It was a pleasant surprise to meet the couple who stayed in the the Mosque for some time . May Allah bless them.

Visit of sister Saleema Malik from Pakistan 20 July. Sister Saleema Malik Sahiba, daughter of Bro. Izaz Illahi Malik, (Vice President of Central Ahmadiyya Anjuman in Lahore) and her daughter visited the Berlin Mosque and attended the Friday prayer. It was a pleasure to host them. Their participation was encouraging in the sense that our members who visit Germany make it a point to visit the Berlin Mosque as well and see this thriving centre which is a living example of their love and dedication for Islam.

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Visit of Unterwelten Organization in Berlin22 July. A group of twenty people from Unterwelten organization visited the Berlin Mosque. Unterwelten are the bunkers built in Berlin for shelter during the bombing by the Allied forces in the Second World War. A brief presentation about the Berlin Mosque and its activities, a question/ answer session were held. The organization in its annual magazine published details of the Berlin Mosque. Please find attached a page carrying the details.

Interfaith programme in the Mosque 24 July. An interfaith dialogue was organized in the Mosque by HWPL organization. Representatives of Christianity, Buddhism and Islam participated in it . Imam of the Berlin Mosque, Mr. Amir Aziz represented Islam and talked about the topic, “Beginning and End of all things”. It was an interesting event.

Message of Islam and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman in South KoreaWith the blessings of Allah message of Islam and efforts of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman have reached South Korea. Attached are some of the letters sent to the Imam of the Berlin Mosque which will give you a fair view of the work of the Berlin mission and its work. The Imam of the Berlin Mosque has been invited by an organi-zation in South Korea to attend their conference and give lectures there in September.

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TWO LETTERS FROM KOREA

AN EVENING OF AFSANA

Courtesy: Pakban International on-line-News

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blessings of Allah be on him). LOVE also generates peace and happiness in the society. Follow the commandments of ALLAH and His Messenger, the Holy Prophet MUHAMMAD and earn an ever-lasting life here in this world and in the Hereafter. May Allah bless you all.

Ahmad Nawaz, Hayward, California I have just finished reading the February 2013 issue of the HOPE Bulletin dedicated to the memory of the late Br. Akbar Abdullah. I must say that your team has worked very hard to collect facts about the life and contributions made by our late Br. Akbar. The formatting of the Bulletin and photographs have made it very impressive and visual. Br. Akbar deserved such a beautiful dedication. I wish to congratulate you for making the Bulletin more than just a news bulletin. The brief life history of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sas) by our new sister in the fold of Islam, Christiane Backer, is very impressive and shows how his Perfect Example has inspired her thoughts and behaviour. I am sure her book “From MTV to Mecca” must be worth reading. Thanks for introducing the autobiography of a highly popular figure in the Western media, who, by her own study, has adopted Islam, and is facing challenges with firm faith and conviction.

CONTACT INFORMATION

The HOPE Bulletin E-mail address: thehopebulletin@hotmail.com

ISLAM stands for: I SHALL LOVE ALL MANKIND

Photographs : Amir Aziz, BerlinDesign & Formatting : Erwan Hamdani, Jakarta, Indonesia

http://www.aaiil.orghttp://www.Lahore.ahmadiyya.org

http://ahmadiyah.orgFor Books on Islam and the Ahmadiyya Movement: Translations of the Holy Quran in Urdu, English, German, French,

Russian, Arabic, Javanese, Indonesian, Dutch, Spanish and Turkish. Visit our websites.

Group Photo: Bro. Yusuf, Ahmed Saadat, Imam Amir Aziz and Tamer Sharif. Bro. Tamer Sharief, an Egyptian youngman extends

help at the Mosque.

Courtesy: Annual Magazine Unterwelton