ContentsFROM KHALIFATUL MASIH VABA TO YOU 1

FEAR OF GOD 3

SPEECHES FROM ATFAL ACROSS THE UK 5

LOVE OF GOD 7

ANIMALS IN THE HOLY QUR’AN: SNAKE 9

EXISTENCE OF GOD 11

SPACE & SCIENCE 13

FUN SECTION 17

Tahir Magazine is the official Magazine of Majlis Atfalul Ahmadiyya UK, an auxiliary organisation of

the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

The views expressed here by contributors may not represent the views held by Majlis Atfalul Ahmadiyya

UK, or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

SADR MKA UKMirza Waqas Ahmad

MOHTAMIM MAA UKMusawir Idrees

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFZubair Ahmed

MANAGERSAnser Ahmedi

Muddasser Ahmedi

EDITORIAL TEAMDr Tayyib Hayat

Dr Mahmood AhmadMussaver AhmediDanny LoneTahir Shah

Osama SalaamGhalib Lone

PROOFINGJamal Akbar

EXTRACTS FROM THE HOLY QUR’AN

‘And there is none like unto Him’ [Holy Qur’an, 112:5]

This verse from Surah Al-Ikhlas shows that we should always keep in mind that there is only one God and there is nothing like Him in any way. He is above and beyond anything else and therefore He has the power to do whatever He wants. Once we understand this then we can ask Allah for protection and for help as only He has the power to help us and not anyone else.

“Paradise lies under the feet of the Mother” [Wisdom of the Holy Prophet]

This very important and famous Hadith shows the high status of a mother in Islam for her son or daughter. This Hadith shows that for a person to enter paradise and be successful he needs to focus on making his mother extremely happy with his behaviour and actions. If a person makes his mother angry or upset with him, he will be disobeying the teachings of the Holy Prophetsa as he has told us to be kind and helpful to our mother so that we can please Al-lah and enter paradise. We must put this into practice as we all want to enter paradise and the Holy Prophetsa is telling us how to achieve that.

It is not without reason and special significance that I remind people to be cour-teous and cautious in the use of their words. [Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, page 97]

This quote from the book Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya tells us all that we should ex-press good morals and we should watch what we say at all times. This means that whoever we speak to, we should be polite, respectful and considerate to their feelings even if they are rude to us. This will seperate us as an Ahmadi Muslim from the rest of the world and they can distinguish us by our good behaviour.

SAYINGS OF THE HOLY PROPHETsa

WRITINGS OF THE PROMISED MESSIAHas

The Promised Messiahas stated: ‘If one has knowledge of the life ex-periences of the Holy Prophetsa and is fully aware of what was the condition of the world at the time and upon coming what the Prophet-sadid, one calls out in a trance-like state ‘O Allah bless Muhammad’.

I say most truthfully, it is not mere thought and imagination, the Holy Qur’an and world history fully bear tes-timony to what the Holy Prophetsa did.

Otherwise why would it have been stated exclusively for him: ‘Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! you also should invoke blessings on him and salute him with the salutation of peace.’ (33:57).

Such a call was not made for any other Prophet. The only man who came to this world with complete suc-cess and complete conciliation was him; who was called Muhammadsa.

It is evident from this verse that the pious practices of the Holy Prophetsa were such that Allah the Exalted did not specify any word to praise them or quantify his at-tributes. Words would have been found but they were not used.

That is to say, praise of his pious practices was immeasurable. A verse such as this has not been stated in the glory of any other Prophet.

His soul was so pure and hon-est and his practices were liked by God to such an extent that Allah the Exalted gave the per-petual commandment that in future people should invoke blessings on him as a mark of gratefulness.’

Hadhrat Khalifatul Masihaba said it is a believer’s task to read the teach-ing brought by the Holy Prophetsa and to note his blessed model and when trying to put it in practice, also invoke blessings (Durud) on him in gratefulness of the tremendous fa-vour of this benefactor of mankind.

[Read the Sermon from 5th of Oc-tober 2012 on www.alislam.org.uk]

“and salute him with the salutation of peace.”

2SERMON

FROM KHALIFATUL MASIH Vaba TO YOU

“you should invoke blessingson him as a mark of gratefulness.”

3 FEATURE

ARTICLE: FEAR OF GOD

HOW DO WE FEAR GOD?

DOES GOD PROTECT US?

IS OUR LIFE PLANNED BY GOD?

WHO IS THE MOST POWERFUL?

In this edition of the Tahir Maga-zine we will discuss the relation-ship between you and God and how you can become closer to Him. We will also reference books and articles which you can use for further reading.

As we all know, God is the most powerful Being and has the ability to do whatever He wishes. No creature has that same ability as there is only one God and all living things are di-rectly created and controlled by Him.

This means that every moment of our lives is planned by God and nothing can happen unless He first allows it.

Knowing this, we must under-stand that everything apart from God has not any power and that all power lies with God alone.

Let’s think of this in another way, Imagine yourself standing next to a policeman in the street. You will re-alise that no criminal or bad person can harm you because the police-man will arrest them immediately.

Therefore, you will feel protected and secure because you know the policeman is in control of the situ-ation and has the power to arrest a person who wants to hurt you.

In a similar way, if you recog-nise that God has all the power you will become fearless of all oth-er things because you know that God is protecting you at all times.

For example, if a mother has a baby then naturally she would protect the child as it grows up and do everything to keep away all harm and bad things.

Similarly, God has created you and so He is always protecting you. Therefore, if you recognise and reflect on the power of God you will become a person who is fear-less in all situations and circum-stances and only fears God because you know He has all the power.

This is explained precise-ly in Surah Al-Baqarah from the Holy Qur’an, when God says:

“whoever submits himself completely to Allah, and is the doer of good, shall have his reward with his Lord. No fear shall come upon such, neither shall they grieve.” [2:113]

In the next article on page 7 we will discuss how you can in-crease in your Love of God.

FEATURE FEAR OF GOD 4

ARTICLE: FEAR OF GOD

WHO IS THE MOST POWERFUL?

5 ATFAL SPEECHES

SPEECHES FROM ATFAL ACROSS THE UK

We should also obey Al-lah and his Messengers because if we do, we will get rewards.

If we obey Allah and His Mes-sengers we will get rewards such as nearness to Allah, which is the purpose of our lives, we will gain a better, more religious and more obedient mind and personality.

If we obey Allah He will also help us in our time of need. He will also forgive our sins and help us wash away our impurities.

Finally I would like to conclude that obedience towards his messengers is vital because if you are obedi-ent to Allah and His Messengers, you will have lots of rewards. But if you go astray, then you won’t be loved by Allah and you will find your life scattered in pieces.

OBEDIENCE TO GODAllah is the sole Creator of the universe and the Maker of heavens and earth. This is one of the many reasons why we should obey Allah. This is significant because we should be grateful to Him for creating us. Another reason is that Allah listens to our supplications and prayers.

Allah is alive and we should be-have towards Him in a way which shows that He is present in our daily lives. In public and in private Allah is watching our every action so we should obey His instructions so that He is pleased with us.

Allah also provides for all our needs and forgives our sins. Allah does all these things for us and we should repay Him by being obedi-ent to Him and His Messengers.

The reason why we ought to obey Prophets and Messengers of Allah is that they are the selected people through whom Allah conveys His guidance to mankind. To obey them will help us to get closer to Allah, which is our main purpose of life.

ATFAL SPEECHES 6ACROSS THE UK

BY ZERGHAM DINAGE: 14

REGION: EASTFAVOURITE SUBJECT: SCIENCE

FAVOURITE SPORT: JUDO

SPEECHES FROM ATFAL ACROSS THE UK

7 FEATURE7

ARTICLE: LOVE FOR GOD

HOW DO WE LOVE GOD?

CAN WE LEARN TO LOVE GOD?

WHAT WAYS CAN WE LOVE GOD?

Think of someone you really love... feel inside yourself that love you have. True love is a hidden and personal experience which can be felt for your parents, brothers and sisters.

So how can a person love God and increase the inside real feeling of love for God? The Promised Messiahas says that we should think deeply about examples that look like a real love.

The first example is - to love someone, you need to love (a)the personality of that person and (b) whatever things he or she likes.

You have to love both these things so much that you want to make the person happy with you and you serve them by giving them things that they need.

The next example - which is a deeper love, is when every-one thinks that you have got ALL your personality and preferences from the person whom you love.

This is from loving to COPY in perfect detail as well as passionately following all the WISHES of the person you love.

The third example - the greatest, which is called True Love or unity, is when you can see that your whole character, instincts and reflexes are no different from those of the person you love.

There is no other way for tru-ly loving someone unless these three examples or levels are ea-gerly observed in a genuine, person.

Love your parents like this. Love Hadhrat Khalifatul Masihaba like this and most of all love your Creator like this.

Now think of God ...as some-one you really love and be-gin to interact with Him by think-ing of what he likes and dislikes as well as copying his personality.

[Further reading: Essence of Islam Vol. 1, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ah-mad, Chap. Holy Prophet’ssa near-ness to God Almighty, pp. 238-240, Ed. 2007. www.alislam.org]

LOVE FOR GOD 8FEATURE

ARTICLE: LOVE FOR GOD

Snakes belong to the animal class of Reptiles. This group also includes Croco-diles, Lizards, and Turtles. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals that raise their body temperature by lying in the sun or lower it by crawling into the shade.

BACKGROUND

PHYSICAL FEATURESBody - Snakes have a long and slender body and they slither across the floor and up trees. Some of them are very deadly creatures and can move extremely fast.

Camoflague - The colour of snakes differs depending on their enviornment but they can all blend into their surroundings with a green or yellow skin colour. This makes them difficult to see by predators. Also, if you are walking in the jungle or desert be careful because you could easily step on a snake, ouch!

Venom - Some snakes such as Vipers have venom which is poison and they use it against other animals to attack when they are in danger or looking for prey.

IN THE HOLY QUR’AN

In the Holy Qur’an the word ‘Serpent’ is used to describe the snake which is mentioned at the time of Prophet Mosesas in many Surahs (Chapters). It says in the Holy Qur’an:

“And it also said: ‘Throw down thy rod.’ And when he saw it move as though it were a serpent, he turned back retreating and did not wait.” [28:32]

ANIMALS9

ANIMALS: SNAKE

SNAKE 10ANIMALS

ANIMALS: SNAKE

11 FEATURE

ARTICLE: EXISTENCE OF GOD

WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE?

WHO IS RUNNING THE UNIVERSE?

WHERE DOES GOD LIVE?

Can you name anything around you that was not made? If you cannot it is because nothing makes itself! Is it right to say that the whole uni-verse and everything in it was made by itself, worse still to say that it happened by accident or chance?

Some people say such things only because they think that by be-lieving the universe created ‘it-self’ they can then avoid having to obey anyone other then themselves. As if they are their own God.

Do you feel that YOU made yourself, or were made randomly by accident?

In the Holy Qur’an it says that proof for the existence of God is in the Earth which means that by look-ing at the planet in a scientific way you will see the presence of God.

“And in the earth are Signs for those who have certainty of faith, And also in your own selves. Will you not then see?” [Holy Qur’an, 21:22]

In this verse it also states that if

On this very basic level you will easily find proof for the existence of God which many overlook because they don’t want to accept the truth.

To say that the universe with all it’s complex details and life forms was made by accident or by chance does not make sense. It is too sophisticated to be random and it is being sustained by some-thing more powerful. We know that powerful being is God Almighty.

Allah is everyone’s Master and Maker. His creation is always well organised and has a proper purpose.

For example if you do some-thing randomly in school you will get punished. If you say then that your random act was based on the fact that you are made random-ly in a universe made by chance then you may get doubly punished.

FEATURE EXISTENCE OF GOD 12

ARTICLE: EXISTENCE OF GOD

We have nine planets in our Solar System. These planets circle around the sun which is called orbits. A lot of astronomy peo-ple like to think of the Solar System been made up in two parts

We have the Inner Solar System which has Mercury, Venus, Earth and not forgetting Mars. These are closest to the sun and are called the terrestrial planets simply because the have very solid rocky surfaces. The Outer Solar System has Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune these are sometimes called the gas giants

Out past Neptune you’ll find the small planet of Pluto which has a solid but icier surface. Many don’t class this as a planet anymore because it is so small.

These two systems are separated by the asteroid belt Our Solar Sys-tem also contains comets, moons, dust, gas and some minor planets.

Over the next editions of the Tahir Magazine we will go through all the nine planets and their qualities, this edition will focus on Venus.

BACKGROUND

13 SPACE

SPACE & SCIENCE

PLANET VENUS: FAST FACTS

PLANETS & SOLAR SYSTEM 14SPACE

The atmosphere of Venus is mainly made up of Carbon Dioxide.

It’s size is slightly smaller than Earth.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun.

Venus features no liquid water.

Venus is approximately 67 million miles from the Sun.

Venus is the hottest planet in our Solar System.

Venus is one of the brightest objects in our night Sky.

Venus can be seen early in the morning and just after sunset.

AnswersACROSS

1 Rhinoceros3 Giraffe6 Dog

8 Penguin9 Turtle12 Zebra

13 Crocodile

DOWN2 Elephant4 Horse5 Monkey7 Cat

10 Rabbit11 Lion

FUN SECTION

What goes round the house and in the house but never touches the house?Sunlight

What is it that you can keep after giving it to someone else?Your word

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?Footsteps

What gets wetter as it dries? A towel

What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?Your name

RIDDLES

JOKESQ. What type of animal needs oil?A. A Mouse, because is squeaks!

Q. In which school do you learn to make ice cream?A. Sunday school!

Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?A. To show everyone he wasn’t chicken!

WORD SCRAMBLEThere are many animals metioned in the Holy Qur’an.

Rearrange the letters below to reveal 6 animals.

EPA _ _ _GFOR _ _ _ _

GIP _ _ _ NOIL _ _ _ _

ANETOPEL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _GERTI _ _ _ _ _

FUN SECTION

ATFAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2013

teams: 12 (southern regions)

location: The Hub (Mitcham)

website: www.atfal.org.uk