AMYA Young Muslim Writers Awards

Background

The AMYA Young Muslim Writers Awards was established in 2012 and seeks to support and encourage the creative and imaginative pens of young budding Muslim writers. It is further hoped that entrants, the thinkers of tomorrow, will be spurred on by the awards to use their pens to promote peace, respect and dignity – all essential qualities of a practising Muslim.

Hadith Literature About the Promised Messiah & Imam Mahdi

Ahādīth Regarding the Promised Messiah and Imām Mahdī

Composed most humbly for the benefit of the Khuddām al-Ahmadīyyah by:

by Tayyab Pirzada

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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the name of Allāh, the Supremely Beneficent, the Sublimely Magnanimous

An Islamic Sense of Welcome

by brother Yusuf, UK

I was recently asked about the above subject, ”An Islamic Sense of Welcome,” and to comment on how we as Muslims deal with and welcome people from different lifestyles and material pathways in light of our motto “Love for All, Hatred for None.”

Have your say: Tom Holland; In the Shadow of the Sword

Please find below an interview with the famous author Tom Holland about his latest book ”In the Shadow of the Sword.” In it, as you will hear in the interview, Holland seeks to point towards human, rather than Divine, origins of Islam. He also questions the authenticity of the hadith literature, dating of Islam and geographical location of Mekka which he situates closer to Palestine and the Mediterranean. There is also a review of the book published in the Guardian which can be read here.

Prayer is Spiritual Ascension

by Tayyab Pirzada, Canada

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 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the name of Allāh, the Supremely Beneficent, the Sublimely Magnanimous 

نحمده و نصلي على رسوله الكريم

و على عبده المسيح الموعود

  We send prayers and blessings upon His (swt) Noble Messenger (saw) and upon his (saw) Servant, the Promised Messiah (as)

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             Salāt (ritual prayer) is the basis of all Islām, and is the means to form a relationship and link with the Creator of the Universe. Without Salāt, a person is lost in the desert of mundane worldliness. Salāt is the oasis that quenches our spiritual thirst. The following is a small compendium of resources taken from the Words of God in the Qur’ān, Ahādith (Sayings of the Noble Prophet^sa), Athār (Narrations of the Saints of Islām and Companions of the Prophet^sa), Writings of the Imām Mahdi Seyyidina Ahmad^as, and Writings of his^as Noble Successors^ra.

Find Your Inspiration

All praise belongs to Almighty Allah Who unveiled, and continues to unveil, to countless hearts the truth of Islam, the blessed Seal of the Prophets (saw), and the Imam Mahdi and Promised Messiah (as).

I suppose the reason I named this post ”find your inspiration” is because I hope it will communicate that inspiration, in my mind at least, is a mindset rather than any tangible thing which one can reach out an grab; it surrounds us at every moment of our lives, but heedlessness often leaves us oblivious to this reality. We are each the same in this regard. The ordinary cycle of life and temptations of the world at times transform man into a state of heedlessness, or, as the Sufis would say,  ghafla.

So, it’s key to our spiritual existences (i.e., the REAL me or you) that we evaluate ourselves regularly and try to find even a glimmer of inspiration to revive us from the depths of heedlessness. The said glimmer could be, for example, a simple thought or memory which unveils the heart to our true pure state and in turn ignites it with spiritual enlightenment.

“Consider This Analogy…..”

by Talib al-’Ilm

Consider this analogy:

”Imagine three children, Yusuf, Abdullah and Ibrahim, aged 3, 5 and 7, respectively. Who is the last child? It is Yusuf, he is the youngest. Now say after 60 years they begin to return to Allah. Yusuf dies first, then Ibrahim. Abdullah remains alive. Who is the last child now? Abdullah. “Last Child” is relative to what? Last in age or last in death?” (Farhan Khan)

On occasion I must admit that it is a matter of some bemusement for me that the opponents of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat often structure their arguments in such a way as to unwittingly support the Ahmadi cause. I have at time metaphorically rolled my eyes to the back of my head and sighed, and I have, I do admit, at times, allowed myself the simple pleasure of an inward chuckle. Yet if I was to be openly ask why this phenomena repeats itself again and again, I would honestly have to admit to being confused over it myself. I suspect it might be because such opponents, when refuted by logic, become increasingly desperate and desperate men have desperate thoughts – their thinking becomes twisted, slithering and sliding into all those mentally hidden chambers of logic where sobriety would not allow it, looking for any half opportunity to let loose its poison before settling on, what to the unprejudiced, upright and sincere man, can never be considered unreasonable.

So for example, certain ulema’ have boasted that they have persecuted the Ahmadi community more than the Quraysh persecuted the early Muslim, quite unwittingly substituting themselves for the Quraysh and the Ahmadis for the early Muslims. Others have written

What is it to Inspire?

by Daud Ahmad Hafiz

Lately many people living in the UK have been concerned by the news that the petrol pumps could soon run dry due to container driver strikes. The country suddenly witnessed mass panic and uproar as many queued for long hours, taking essential time out of their schedules, to ensure that their tanks were full to keep their journeys going.

The progression of the jamaat over the past century has been amazing. Ahmadi Muslims have moved from receiving an audio tape of the Friday Sermon through the post, attentively viewed at family gatherings at the home of a relative with a videotape player, to today watching our beloved Khalifa (abta) in the comfort of every home, courtesy of the MTA revolution. The media revolution has been accompanied by the online advancements we take for granted today as an essential part of our lives; e-mail, alislam, google, youtube, twitter, etc. The result is a truly global and interactive world where, sites like this one, can draw comments and visits from India, Canada, Korea and Nigeria all at once.

How did you choose your new faith?

Click on the picture of brother Jonathon Butterworth to see his inspirational Channel 4 interview about his journey to, and love of Islam Ahmadiyya. Really excellent!

An Important Question

by Yusuf

a brother who recently accepted the Promised Messiah & Imam Mahdi (as)

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One of the most common questions I am asked is:-

“why Islam? What makes it different from any other religion and more importantly why should I embrace it?”.

That question is not always uttered through words alone. It tends to come from a place in a person’s being which intellectually questions the existence of God and the outward practice of Islam. I have to admit that if someone doesn’t know the background of our rituals, then the rituals themselves look very strange. Why would anyone rise before sunrise to wash and pray and repeat that another four times in a day. When we extract the outward ritual which the world sees from the inward life of the person then it does indeed become a matter of speculation. The actions look odd – why bow down, stand up and mutter words in Arabic. Really, to the untrained eye, it just simply looks plain “odd”.

However Prayer does not exist alone, it is an outgrowth from something much deeper. I remember once seeing an old well in the hills of Scotland. There was an old bucket which looked worn and dirty, but when that bucket was plunged into the water that lay far beneath the earth and drawn back to the surface it was transformed and its true use became clear. To any passer by however that bucket was a piece of trash which was kicked around. The frayed piece of rope attaching it to the top of the well however remained intact. A close eye could see its use. That old bucket when viewed properly was refreshing the many travellers who passed by on a hot day and cleansing itself as well as others during the process.